5minutesformom.com is a fantastic website created by two twin sisters who know how to really share their wisdom. I had the honor to get to know one of the twins, Janice, through many Startup Princess events. Janice has posted a sweet and wonderful review about Cheeky & Swank today. We are just tickled pink with all the love sent our way recently. Thank you Janice!!

5minutesformom.com is also giving away two of our bibs, so head on over and get signed up. I’m pretty sure you’ll love all the amazing features, articles and info on 5minutesformom.com.

I had the amazing opportunity to meet and get to know Heather Bailey last weekend at the Startup Princess Touchpoint Conference. (Okay, so I only got a chance to chat with her over dinner, and mostly I picked her brain about business and design, but she was fabulously kind to me). She was one of the keynote speakers and spoke about creativity in life and business, which she has been a screaming success at!
If you love Heather Bailey’s website, you’d love her even more in person. She was incredibly genuine and sweet. She was constantly bombarded by us “fans” in between sessions and was so gracious to speak with everyone in depth, to the extent that I don’t even know if she got to eat her lunch. ha ha. It was wonderful to hear her “story”. It’s so encouraging to learn that others have overcome struggles and doubt and have persevered and come out on top. Thank you Heather for sharing your story!!
If you have a chance to attend anything hosted by Startup Princess you better jump. Kelly King Anderson and Michelle McCullough do a excellent job and providing wonderful motivating speakers for Women Entrepreneurs.
I met some new amazing women and hung out with the many exceptional women I have met through this great organization. Here are just a few……
Allison of Petitelefant.com

Janice of   5minutesformom.com

Carrie of  Thisismejournal.com

Kelly  fo Just-spotted.com

Rachel  Todaysmama.com

Pam of Wasatch Woman Magazine

And there are many, many more wonderful women that I met……..

Thank you Startup Princess for putting on a great event!

Last week I attended an amazing conference called Moms Who Make It: Empowering Creativity in Life and Business in South Jordan, Utah. It was successfully put together by Quinn Curtis, of CreatedbyMom.com and Emi Hill of Gorgie Tees.

Wow, where to start…First I need to thank Quinn and Emi for being the dreamers and creators of this fabulous event. The entire day was filled with small, hands on mini-classes (it was really hard to chose which one’s to attend, they were all so relevant and informative). We then listened to keynote speakers and a fabulous panel discussions about “Using Difficult Life Situations as a Catalyst to Change”.

Here is a list of some of the incredible speakers…….

Laura Biswas of www.embraceyourfinancialpath.com

Kelly King Anderson www.startupprincess.com

Josh Unfried of www.momfaves.com

Sugar Jones at www.sugarjones.tv

Cari Greer, Owner/Manager, Sole Desires

and many many more……

These are moms who make it happen! If you live in Utah and have a chance to go next year, I’d highly recommend it!!

PS I was also nominated and honored as a “Mom who is making it“. Thanks Quinn! **blush**

We all sign our kids up for piano lessons, dance, soccer, or art classes. Do we expect them to learn the skills on their own? Of course not! They have coaches and teachers who teach them what to do to succeed. So why do we think that as adults and entrepreneurs we can just wing it and figure it out on our own?

I have become a believer of coaching. I used to think it was silly to have to pay someone to tell me how to organize or improve my life and business. Granted,  I’ve bought and read a ton of books on the subjects and had some improvement. But I now understand why having a real person helping me can be much, much more effective. My situation is unique, as is yours, and I needed someone who could give me solutions to my unique issues.

It all started with my sister Laura Biswas (@laura_biswas). She is a coach for women entrepreneurs who are starting their companies. She helped me with the nitty gritty finances and the emotional challenges of running my own business.

I also have been part of a fantastic women’s business support group called Startup Princess. It’s a fantastic group of mentors and newbie’s sharing and supporting each other. Kelly King Anderson (@startupprincess) is so well connected and inspirational.

And then I met Sarah Shaw (@entreprenettes). She is the answer to my prayers. She is helping me create a master plan and given me exact steps on how to market and get my products on more store shelves. She has referred me to some amazing sources. I could never have done this on my own and I’ve only been working with her for 1 week.

Why is it so hard for us to ask for help? Many of these coaches have walked these paths many times and can help us not make the same mistakes they did.

Hmm….kinda sounds like what I tell my kids.

The keynote speaker was Holly Buchanan who is the co-author of The Soccer Mom Myth. If you’re in the marketing/design world at all, this is a must read. (Also, gotta watch the hilarious video located on the bottom right of the Soccer Mom Myth website).

Holly opened our eyes to different personality types and how they respond to information. Is your website designed for these different personality types? Women also process information different than men. We categorize our customer base as “The Soccer Mom”. But a women with 2 kids, lives in the suburbs, has an average income of over x amount can be very different from her neighbor who has the exact same demographics. They both have very different personalities and respond differently to the information on your website. Are you taking this into consideration?
Find out your personality type: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

What type are you: Spontaneous, Methodical or Humanistic? A huge amount of us at the retreat were ENFJ’s. A bunch of humanistics spending a weekend together teaching and mentoring each other. Kinda funny.

Looking over my notes, I could write pages but instead I’m going to list some key points she made:

*Never Say: “We understand Women”.  SHOW HER YOU UNDERSTAND HER!

*“The Internet has given women a voice and they are screaming their heads off” –Wenda Harris Millard

*$6 out of every $10 spent on the Internet is spent by women.

*Women have more questions than men. They have more criteria/information that they want to reap from a website. Does your site have it?

*You have 4 sec. to tell someone who you are and what you do.

*She spoke about the importance of a Viral-Video on your “About You” page. Holly sold more books/speaking engagements from her video than anything else. The internet is about getting personal. Make your “About You” personal.

On your website:

*Product descriptions are very important. Answer questions. What questions would your customers have? Use your customers language-use online surveys to help you find that out.

*Product reviews: Testimonials a must. Have a 5 star rating and a written review.  Even if a review is negative it statistically will sell more. Fans will come to your defense. This gives an opportunity for people to talk and for you to solve the problem.

And it goes on and on, fantastic info. I’m reading her book right now and it amazes me how much purchasing power women have on the internet and in the world. Why has it taken so long for ad agencies to see this. (Or why some still haven’t).

Next post will be about our PR Pro: Janet Meiners Thaeler from newspapergirl.com. Stay tuned….