The Startup Princess Kingdom Expands in Utah with Make a Wish, Make it Happen Conference

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We Made a Wish and Made it Happen! Yesterday we held our first Startup Princess conference and produced our largest event EVER. It was a true joy and honor!

95 Startup Princesses from all over the state (from St. George to Logan, a 6 hour radius) gathered to learn, share, and connect with each other….and to receive their Magic Wands. I enjoyed teaching them the symbolism and The Wisdom of the Wand. It always touches me so much to tell new members. You have every talent, gift, and ability to make all of your dreams come true, and now you have a great network and the Fairy Godmothers to guide you. (Here on the right is Startup Princess Raw Melissa, who attended our very first Startup Princess event in August 2006 at my home with 4 other women. On the left is Startup Princess and avid reader Rachelle Knight with her new innovative book journal prototype, Read, Remember, Recommend being released later this year).

The conference was spectacular–the people who attend a conference shape it, so really I’m saying STARTUP PRINCESSES are SPECTACULAR. Plus, the quality and content of the presentations were INCREDIBLE (I can brag about our Startup Princesses!), the networking was exciting to see, the Startup Princess ’show and tell’ tables (participants brought product samples to display) and the energy was high all day…I was very pleased. I loved meeting new friends and hearing more inspiring startup dreams and hearing and SEEING demo products and established new businesses! We’ll be featuring many more new Startup Princess profiles soon from new members…stay tuned! (Anyone who was there and has already launched, please contact me and we’ll facilitate adding your profile on this site.) Here at the left is Startup Princesses Heidi Brady of Dazzle Promotions and Corey Olauson of newly launched Kings Cross Greeting Cards . To the right is Keynote Speaker and Fairy Godmother Becca Levie, her presentation was a highlight of the day for many–her life story and business success is a true triumph.

My only regret (besides some tech issues) was that I could not personally hear every woman’s startup dream, (the downside of growth!) I always see my role as connector–to hear someone’s needs and connect them with someone who can assist them, I was able to do that for a few people yesterday but I would have loved to have done much more. I hope new members will email me with any questions or if I can help them move forward to make their startup dreams a reality.

If you missed the event, you can order a copy of the conference DVD for $35 (2 DVDs with 2 Keynotes, 8 breakout sessions). You can contact me for my paypal info.

I want to recognize and thank Ken Fakler and Laurie Ann Thomas of the Orem Small Business Development Center, a major sponsor to Startup Princess and co-sponsors of our Utah County events, including our conference. As part of their sponsorship, Laurie Ann has been my Administrative Assistant handling a range of details from handling the conference facility to arranging the registration, receiving funds, managing correspondence, etc. She’s incredibly reliable, plus delightful to work with in every way!! The conference ran more smoothly because of both of them! Here is the three of us (Ken, Laurie Ann, and myself, Kelly).

I also want to recognize and thank The AMAZING and Talented Leslie Smoot (former assistant props and then art dept. coordinator for Touched by an Angel for 10 years), my partner in producing the conference worked her design magic with securing sponsors to help decorate the conference with centerpieces–The Flower Basket and Red Mountain Wholesale Floral. Our presenter gifts were sponsored by Anastasia’s Attic a beautiful silver bracelet that says “Expect Miracles.” Another major sponsor was Issimo Productions who created a Startup Princess branding and foundation piece that revealed The Wisdom of the Wand, a film that will be featured on our new redesigned website in the near future, which will become a book in 2008 and more! Also many of our guests donated prizes–it was wonderful to have a whole Treasure Chest full of gifts!

One of our conference exhibitors, Jason Alba of Jibber Jobber wrote a very generous and thorough summary post about our Startup Princess conference. It was my pleasure to have Jason join us for the event, he’s one of the few men I can call a Fairy GodFATHER and he doesn’t mind–he’s been a mentor for me to figure out our Startup Princess business model and helped me strategize to get to this point. I also call him Startup King and Wizard sometimes because he’s so darn magical at networking and uplifting all he comes in contact with, if you don’t know Jason…get to know him! I’d be happy to make an introduction. He just published the book Linked In, Now What? I highly recommend it, it’s a great resource for those who want to learn more about how to use their Linked In accounts better.

At the start of the conference I challenged everyone to write 3-5 Wishes and create a strategy for how to “Make it Happen,” we expanded our “Network Kingdom” by finding out what resources each other have.

So what’s next for Startup Princess?

Here’s my 60 day wishlist:

• New site redesign finished (thanks to sponsor and Fairy Godmother Sarah Lewis of Blogging Expertise).
• November 15th Networking Tea Party at Provo Academy Library featuring Fairy Godmother Kim Scoville, Attorney. Her Topic: How to Protect Your Intellectual Property; and we’ll feature Small Group Networking; with Goal of 50 attending Startup Princesses
• Finish editing our eBook, “Love, Your Fairy Godmother” and release it by Dec. 1
• Start sending our national monthly newsletter by Nov. 15
• Finish the DVD for the conference and mail out by Nov. 13

What’s your wishlist? Share with us here by commenting on the site, perhaps there’s something on your list that we can help you with! Ask!!

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