Entrepreneurs: A Study of Success

In my prior post, I was talking about how I crashed a celebrity event in L.A. Details are posted here.

And while I was there at the Boom Boom Room's Golden Globes Gifting Suite, I decided to take the opportunity to interview some entrepreneurs, many of whom were amidst their first "big break" at this celeb giveaway event.

The BonBon Cupcakes ladies I told you about (see last post) got their idea in a very simple way: necessity is the mother of invention.



What's a darling child to wear to a wedding in the middle of July? Without an answer, mom decided to get crafty. She cut the feet off a pair of tights, shortened them to capri length, and added some frouf. Voila! Everyone wanted to get their mitts on a pair, and the rest, as they say, is history.




I met another entrepreneurial couple who was tired of getting dirty looks when they took their little tykes to grown-up restaurants (and good luck finding a nice restaurant in L.A. that even HAS a high chair!) so they created their own family restaurant.
It's called Giggles 'n Hugs and they have REAL food (not just pizza/crap) and a HUGE play area for the kids -- all supervised! Mom & Dad can take the kids somewhere fun where even the grown-ups can enjoy a real meal w/uninterrupted conversation!

Visit www.gigglesnhugs.com for more info and directions. (BTW, this idea took only 5 years from conception to fruition). And according to the owners, they get celebs in there all the time -- on a repeat basis, no less! Mmmm, I wish we had a place like this in Colorado!



Lori Rose was perhaps the most laid-back entrepreneur I met at the event. As the owner of Green Girl, she creates absolutely gorgeous green backs for shopping, toting, or whatever we gals need. Now we can be green and still be stylish, thanks to Green Girl's exceptionally high quality bags.


Again, a simple idea borne of necessity. As in, I want to be eco-friendly, but I don't want to carry around tacky, cheap, flimsy, ugly-colored bags. Hmmmm....what if I created stylish, high-quality bags instead? Yep, virtually instant success for Lori.

What I found most interesting about meeting Lori was the fact that she was so casual about marketing. She mentioned to me that whenever she checks out of a store or grocery, people all around are always commenting on her bags (other customers in line, the checkout clerk, etc.) I asked her if she passes them a card when that happens.

She looked genuinely shocked.

"No, I don't. I really don't like to be pushy."

Hmmm, I was intrigued. Think that's a limiting belief? That slipping someone a card means being pushy? Might want to use your fave Truth Testing method right now to see if you're saddled with this same belief or something similar....if you do, you'd better believe it makes it tough to make connections, meet people, and get the word out about your product or service.

"Really?" I was authentically surprised at her response.

"Well, I don't really need to do that -- we were featured on 'Sex and the City' and it's really taking off," she said.

I gently reminded her that you never know who someone knows, who they are related to, and who they could connect you to. And just because things are taking off, that doesn't mean they can't REALLY take off in an even bigger way, right?

Lori considered my response.

Then a celebrity was approaching (very cute, the PAs rush the table to let the rep know the celeb is coming over) so I offered to bow out and let her do her thing, and you know what?

She offered me my choice of Green Girl bag. And I gladly accepted and picked out a little black and white number. Their website is still under construction but you can catch a glimpse of the cool product here. thanks Lori!




Racing fans might be impressed that I had a chat with Steve Strope of Pure Vision. (Is he famous? Hell yeah, he's even got his own line of Hot Wheels cars!)




Again, an idea that sprang from an unfulfilled need -- Steve noticed how many women (wives, girlfriends, daughters) of racers and racing fans were left out of the proverbial loop when it came to merchandising. So he launched his own line of racing and muscle car merch for girls. It's called Girlie Gear (high octane apparel) and the kids stuff he had on display was absolutely darling.


Perhaps a bit out of place among celebs (I didn't see any of the stars from Talladega Nights there) but definitely a cool concept. Please direct all your female fans of NASCAR and racing here for the coolest girl gear on the track: www.ShopGirlieGear.com

Of course, I met all sorts of entrepreneurs I won't bore you with their details here....some were skeptical, probably figured I was just there to score some swag...some were so excited about their product yet so clueless that I wasn't interested so they just kept talking and I had to wait for them to take a breath so I could politely escape...some were out of giveaways already (in the early AM on day 2 of a 2-day event)...and there were those who either looked so overwhelmed or so frickin bored that I didn't even bother to approach them. And one lady wanted me to call her and make an appointment to chat, even though there was NO ONE anywhere near her table at the time. Um, no thanks lady, there's dozens and dozens of other folks here who would love to chat with me right now.

Oh, and there was one guy who wanted to trade me his $12.95 book (which isn't even out yet, so he had nothing at all to give the celebrities much less little ol' me) for about $100 worth of product from another booth. Yeah, sure, I'll be right back with that, dude.

Perhaps the most fascinating entrepreneur I met was Sheila Oberaigner, creator of Snugaboo. This idea was 13 years in the making -- honestly, what's the last thing YOU committed 13 years of your life to? The only answer I can personally come up with is my marriage! She refused to settle, sending for prototype after prototype until the finished product was perfect. Even now, these unique items are 70% handmade, so they are sturdy and cool and fun, but without the feel of being mass-produced. Sheila also held the intention of doing much more than just making cool blankets that kids can make-believe with -- she wanted to create a way to make a positive impact on the world. Which is where the idea for the Freckle Rewards was borne. Teaching kids to be kind (think golden rule) and good and earn cool freckles (temporary tattoos that match their Snugaboo) as a payoff. What a fun concept, and so long in the making but so worth the payoff! Visit the Snugaboo blog here.

And Sheila was nice enough to gift me a Snugaboo ("Frankie" is the blanket pictured here on this boy) for my own little pretender.




Oh, and how did Sheila start Snugaboo in the first place? She needed a unique shower gift idea. Again, necessity and all that. Seeing a pattern here?

And I love their motto: "Be good."

How many great ideas have you come up with but never acted upon? Sure, Sheila took 13 years to bring Snugaboo to market, but at least SHE ACTUALLY DID IT. And was part of the Golden Globes celebrity weekend. How about you? Are you getting into action? Or still dreaming of making your fortune or following your passion "someday"?

and if you're complaining that you never get the good ideas, or you don't have the connections and capital to get started, then why not leverage someone else's fabulous idea for fun and profit? That's exactly what my hubby Andy does.

But wait --- I didn't tell you the best part yet. The thing that made my "crash" totally worthwhile.

One lady was so excited, she asked if she could have her picture taken with me. And yes, she knew I wasn't "Amy Grant that singer."

That totally made my day. Well, that and the very cool swag I scored.

How I Crashed a Celeb Event in L.A. (and Loved It)

(But is it really considered crashing if you're technically invited, but not on "the list"?)

When I was in L.A. last week for that event I told you about (which was kick-ass, by the way. I came home with pages of notes -- not just great ideas, but real tangible stuff I've already begun putting into practice) I kind of crashed a celebrity event and got to meet a bunch of very cool entrepreneurs.

As an entrepreneur, it's been my experience that the more connections you can make, the better off you'll be. You just never know who you'll meet, and who they'll be connected to.

We were having a sushi dinner with a bunch of associates in L.A., and we struck up a conversation with 2 gals at the next table. (If you've ever been out to dinner with my husband Andy, you know this is not an uncommon occurrence.)

Turns out these 2 moms have turned a simple idea into a majorly profitable business. Bonbon Cupcakes might sound like a frou-frou name (although perfectly fitting for their product -- girls' microfiber tights trimmed in ruffly bows and wrapped up to look like a cupcake straight from your favorite local bakery) but these gals are serious about their business.



So serious in fact that in less than a year, they shifted from handmade items sold to friends and family to a full-scale operation with manufacturing ops in China. And now the celeb's kids will be sporting these darling cupcakes...which is where I enter the story...

So these two part-time-entrepreneur/full-time-moms were telling us how they were invited to participate in a celebrity gifting event, in conjunction with the Golden Globe Awards.

Not too shabby indeed.

While they told us all about who they got to hobknob with at this event (see pix on their blog here) we were doubly impressed.

And that's when they invited me to come check it out.

Hell yeah!

After all, it was literally one floor above the conference I was attending, in the same hotel. So it's not like it was out of my way or anything!

OK, so I wasn't on the list. Who cares? I've got confidence and that's pretty much all it takes to effectively crash an event (you've seen "Wedding Crashers," right?)

So of course I did.

Then I decided to walk around. I wasn't specifically out to meet celebs (I'm SO bad with names anyway, I seriously doubt I would have known who I was looking at) or to score some free stuff (ok, maybe a little. Who doesn't like cool free stuff?) but in all honesty, it was my first "crash" of any kind of event, so I was kind of excited.

The only famous person I saw was Joely Fisher (and someone had to tell me who she was) but I did get some cool stuff for my kids.

And just so I wasn't completely out of place, I decided I needed a legitimate reason to be there.

So I figured I would interview some of these fine entrepreneurs for this very blog. You can read about "A Study of Entrepreneurs" by clicking here.

My Personal Epiphany around "Body"...from which you just might learn something valuable for YOU

The most extraordinary thing happened to me last week. And like many profound moments, I didn't realize the extent of its impact until later. Just now, actually...

Last Thursday (New Year's Day) we went skiing with some friends. One of them (Fred) is a full time engineer who is starting a part time personal trainer business, so we were talking about exercise and physical fitness, stuff like that.

We were also talking about accountability and Fred was telling me that it's the reason most people hire a personal trainer in the first place.

I told him that wasn't an issue for me, and that wouldn't be my reason for hiring him.

Naturally, he asked what would be -- and I said "training." I explained that there are certain areas of my body I'd want to target, and I would love to have training on the most effective exercises for those areas, as well as the correct way to do them.

When he asked me, "What areas, specifically?" I started to respond and then hesitated.

I paused because I was about to rattle off a few improvements I had in mind, and I didn't want him to get the wrong impression about the way I feel about my body. So I prefaced it with a little disclaimer.

"I love my body, I really do. And there are a few adjustments I'd love to make."

I didn't really see the profound impact of this statement of Truth until just recently.






After all, I've spent the past YEAR working on body issues for myself (and not surprisingly, for others as well).

When I recently realized the impact of this statement, I was nearly moved to tears.

One year ago, when I began this journey of intense PHYSICAL transformation of my body

And I hope you can understand what a WHOPPER of an issue this was for me -- I am the Lightning Fast queen, and I am accustomed to producing rapid-fire results. I have been known to get frustrated when even a colossal issue takes me more than a week to dismantle and dissolve. So for me to even have the diligence and persistence to work on something this intensely for a YEAR -- can you get how big an issue that would have to be?

And I didn't do it all alone, either. Like every great coach, I have coaches of my own. Specifically, at one point last year I had FOUR body coaches I was working with at the same time. Now I've got just 1 (well, and another one kind of part time/as needed).

Needless to say, I have learned an immeasurable amount about myself during this year-long journey.

I went through these phases during the process:





1. Being completely disconnected from my body. I was so "out" of my body, I didn't even know how much I despised it. Back then, someone could have said to me "Raise your right arm" and I would have to take a moment to think about how to do that. Lemme think, which one's right? which part's the arm? how high should I raise it? I'm not kidding here! I was completely out of touch.

In fact, when I started Pilates last January, my instructor asked me, "Are you sure you want to be here? Because your mouth is saying yes, but your body is saying 'get the hell away from me.' " I was so clueless, I said, "Really?" And Pilates was so HARD back then -- because the only relationship I knew with my body was that my brain had better dominate it, or else. So it was a constant struggle just to do each exercise properly.





2. The next step was realizing how out of touch I was, exploring why I was in constant resistance around my body, and doing massive amounts of clearings. Lemme just check in and see how many of my own beliefs I cleared related to body stuff during 2008.

I get this number: 10,072,472. (-ish.) Feel free to check that # with your preferred Truth Testing method. Over 10 million limiting beliefs. Is it any wonder I had tried every diet and exercise plan under the sun, and nothing gave me lasting results? My God, look at what I was up against??? 10 million obstacles to slimming down and looking great! Is that insane or what? Look how much there was for me to work through before I could start dropping weight. Holy crap! Now THIS is what I believe makes me an expert on weight loss. You can check and see right now if you have anywhere near that many limiting beliefs, and if you get that's it's less than 10 million, then you KNOW I can help you overcome this once and for all, right? You betcha.

3. The third stage I went through was impatience. Can you imagine that after clearing, oh say, 7 million limiting beliefs around body, health, fitness, sexy-ness, and beauty, you'd wonder "are we almost there yet? have we even made a dent in the stack? how much longer is this gonna take?" Yeah, I did just that -- I started to get VERY impatient, and right about the time I was ready to just give up and chuck it all, my coaches and I got some good news. We discovered a massive issue around body and weight, and we all checked and got that it was my LAST major issue to clear. Hooray! Can you imagine how good that felt?



Until I realized it wasn't. After the fifth "final issue" to clear, I started to get despondent. "Yeah, right" I thought. "I'm not getting my hopes up this time." And after asking one of my coaches to check in about all this "last time!" nonsense, receiving her answer moved me right into the next phase.

4. Self-Sabotage. The reason I kept clearing the final big issue and then finding another big issue is because I was creating new issues because, well, that's another story and this post is already getting waaaaaay too long. Let's just suffice to say that self-sabotage is something we all do, we've all been there, and yet it still sucks. More clearings, more work to do, more waiting, more letting go, more dropping resistance, more allowing divine timing to work its magic. *sigh*

5. The more I let go, the more I eased into my fifth phase: Acceptance. Now I knew I couldn't rush anything, so I might as well get used to the idea. This led me into a certain freedom called "neutrality" around my body. I no longer hated my body, no longer resisted my body the way it was, no longer thought only of what was wrong with it and what I wanted to change -- I moved into a miraculous space of simply feeling neutral about my body. I could look in the mirror naked (or clothed) and just see what it looked like. Like looking at a clock, or a laptop, or a candle. I could see colors, shapes, sizes, dimensions. I could look without opinion or judgment. I didn't love what I saw, but I didn't hate it either -- I had achieved neutral.

5. Next stage involved identifying food addictions and sensitivities and clearing them. I had already cleared a biggie for me (sugar) so next came soy, corn, and the whopper -- WHEAT. I also opened up lines of communication with my body, so that I could hear and understand messages I got about what nutrients, foods, and types of exercise my body was craving. And since I no longer had a need to treat my body poorly by trying to dominate, deprive or otherwise "show it who's boss," I became able to lovingly give my body what it needs and also meet my own emotional, mental and spiritual needs. This is when I actually started to see dramatic physical changes, and my fear that it wouldn't last was gone (must have cleared all that during the self-sabotage stage).

6. And this stage sneaked up on me...Loving my body. I didn't even know I had arrived here until the conversation with Fred when I announced it "I love my body, I really do."






Have you ever heard yourself say something, and you don't really realize it's true until it comes out of your mouth? That's the kind of experience this was for me. It was like "wow! I really DO love my body! it's not just some stupid affirmation, it's now TRUTH. How cool is that?!?!"

And this is where I am now. Dropped a bra size, a dress size (nearing 2 dress sizes) and every few weeks, I find I am tightening my belt a notch. New jeans I bought when Lauren was in town in early December are starting to get too loose on me to wear. This is one of the greatest feelings in the world -- the payoff after persisting for A YEAR. And a year for me is like 10 years for most people -- I just go fast, fast, fast and I don't have the patience for anything less than instant.

Well, maybe that was the old me.

Now let me ask you. Would you have kept going? How long would you keep going if you KNEW you could not fail?

What do YOU want so badly that you will persist at it -- without exception? Is that how you feel about your goals?

If not, I recommend setting new goals. This might help.

I'd love to hear about a time when you persisted without exception and it paid off in spades. Share your success story with us!

Welcome to 2009 - Let's Divinely Align

Welcome to 2009 and congratulations for surviving 2008!

And I am completely serious when I Say that. For many of us, 2008 was strewn with challenges including everything from dismantling processes, deteriorating relationships, health problems, money problems, career problems, and much more.

If all that sounds like it sums up your year YOU ARE NOT ALONE. 2008 was a crappy year for most of us -- especially those of us on the path, tapping into various forms of energy and elevating ourselves toward enlightenment.

And yet, 2008 tested our very limits with the constant manifestation of Murphy's Law.

The good news is that 2008 was a year of DESTRUCTION -- breaking down the old ways to make room for the new. 2009 is a year of CREATION.

That's why I've chosen "Divinely Align in 2009" as this year's motto -- because before we begin to create, it will be essential for us to know what we want.

I put together a great resource for you -- it's called the New Year's Resolutions Resource Center and you can click here to access it.

Feel free to share that resource with everyone in your life who you think would benefit from it.

More about the year of creation coming soon -- but now I'm off to go skiing with some friends!

Happy New Year!!