To highlight a couple of the women and their businesses, I wanted to give them a quick shout out here:

Just Be - a company completely devoted to bringing out the best in you. I got a gift bag with an autographed copy of their thought-provoking journal and book.

Toilet Tattoos – Yep, you read that right. Totally awesome name for an interesting product.

Better Bit of Butter - I got one of Christine’s completely adorable cookies. She can customize anything and ship them to you. get your company logo or sports icon put on cookies for your next holiday party or special occasion. Absolutely too cute (and almost too cute to eat).

Jennifer Fecowycz of Creative Memories - I got tons of cute stuff in my gift bag from Jennifer including an awesome album. How did she know I was a scrapbooker??

There were tons more, but there is not enough time to mention them all. Again, I had an awesome time and I’m looking forward to watching these ladies grow their businesses!

“Daryn Kagan is the creator and host of DarynKagan.com, an inspirational online community that features a daily Web cast of stories that, “Show the World What is Possible.” DarynKagan.com has become a daily destination for thousands of Internet users who seek news stories that inspire.  Launched in November 2006, the Atlanta Journal Constitution described DarynKagan.com as “a lively gathering spot,” while the Boston Globe noted DarynKagan.com is “bucking the media tide,” with its “emphasis on stories that illustrate the triumph of the human spirit.” 

You can read more about Daryn here.

 Daryn is a former CNN anchor. She worked there for twelve years before she was told that her contract wouldn’t get renewed. At first she was sad, but inside she knew she was done. She talked about how we all do daily news casts in our heads. You collect stories in your head and she realized that inspiration comes in pieces.

While it was upsetting, she knew that something was coming. She looked at the possibility of launching a site about positive news (awesome). She was inspired by another reporter who focused on war zones. And she thought “why not positive stuff?”

Incidentally, she featured Allison Clarke as one of her first features on her site. She does love bucket stories… all great love stories. She does daily videos, email blasts, and focuses on uplifting stories. Daryn reinvented herself from what the world knew her as. She talks about what happens when the thing that you do and how you define yourself goes away? She says it’s an opportunity to reinvent yourself as something bigger and better.

Daryn doesn’t miss the news world. She loves that she did it, but she loves what she’s doing even more. The most surprising thing for Daryn has been finding out that you can’t do everything yourself. That’s what she wanted to do in the beginning, but her younger sister convinced her otherwise.

Daryn actually pitched her positive site idea to Yahoo! And they passed. So she did it herself. Her sister encouraged her to start her own site, rebrand herself and grow from there. Daryn had no desire to own her own business. Daryn says she has thing about getting picked. By doing her own thing, she was able to “pick herself.”

You can tell she loves her life and she loves what she does. Again, the excitement in the air is infectious. Daryn goes on to discuss that when you give your all and when you stay positive, what you need shows up in front of you.

Daryn’s first big step was to register her own domain. She picked her name. When she went to purchase it, the name was taken. She had been cyber squatted. She was told to prepare lots of money. She sent the current owner a nice email. He called her the next day and they chatted. He told her she could have it without any issues and it all went smoothly.

Daryn’s book, What’s Possible, is all about people who overcome amazing obstacles and do amazing things. She features two Launching Ladies in her book. She has done a lot in 18 months: a new site, her new book, and two documentaries.

Daryn has a great business strategy. She doesn’t have a Web site – she has a media company. She owns her own stories on the site, corporate speaking engagements, and advertisements all work to her revenue model. She talks about how individuals are getting the power that newspapers and traditional media has.

Awesome lady. Awesome site. Check it out.

“Ideas need support and action in order to grow and thrive. The Incubator was designed to give you and your ideas a perfect “growth” environment. It’s equal parts focus group, resource-sharing space, and supportive community, and then another intangible part that you can’t really imagine until you experience it.

The group consists of 10 or so other resourceful, inspiring women who each help one another take their projects, businesses, or ideas to a new place. One night a week for four weeks (or mornings, depending on the schedule), under the leadership of a trained Ladies Who Launch facilitator, you will meet with your group, complete “homework” for yourself and for each other, and find an uncommon bond that exists between women traveling down their own path.”

There is a lot more information on the Ladies Who Launch Incubator page.

 This panel includes:

Rosalie Giaimo of Who Does That? (event planning)

Dawn Hanson of The Fairmount Group

Shannon Tarr of Glam Push Presents

Eileen Smotzer of Real Hot Attitude

These ladies are all sharing their experiences in their incubators. Many of them share that the Incubators have been life changing. The networking and the creativity that happens has such an impact on their lives that they are all nearly giddy on the stage!

Some of these women are launching their business on top of working 40 hour work weeks. They are all truly inspirational and the day is only half over. Off to lunch!

Chesapeake Bay Candle is something that I’ve heard of (I heart their candles) but Blissliving Home is new to me. Their mission, as stated on their Web site, is:

“It started with a quest for bed linens that combined sublime comfort with modern, tasteful design. After searching the world, we realized that we must make our own dream come true — and if we desired it, others did too. And so was born Blissliving Home.

Already dressing many a bed in Asia, our exclusive sheets, shams and covers are only now available in the United States. Each piece is crafted of fine cotton from the Orient, sumptuous silk from India and China or beautiful cotton jacquard from Italy.

Imagine easing into slumber in silken sheets, or opening your eyes to refreshing graphic patterns. Along with bedding to please your senses, we offer fragrant candles and other accents that bring to your bedroom the colors, textures and influences of exotic destinations. We invite you to discover all you need to create your sanctuary where you can rest and recharge, with stylish, simple solutions from Blissliving Home.”

Wow! I’m in! Where do I sign up??

 Mei Xu (pronouned May She) joins us with an amazing story. She came to America not even knowing the language and now has a billion dollar company.  She loves Ladies Who Launch (at this point, who doesn’t?) and she believes that business is a journey and it can take you absolutely anywhere.

Mei was trained as a diplomat in China at the age of 12.  She was able to learn the language and pick up on the culture very easily. She came to America for a graduate degree in journalism and was unhappy in her job (that has never happened to me. Okay, you caught me. But I’m not there now). She took the risk to launch her own business.

She lived in NY and her husband lived in Maryland. She had ample opportunity to shop. I’m jealous. She says she is a shopaholic even though she was raised in a communist country. I’m cracking up as I type this.

She realized that something was happening in the home decor industry in the early 90s. There was a disparity between home decor and fashion. Her husband gave her the suggestion to start the business in 1994 and they both quit their jobs to start the business (yikes). If you look at the difference between 1994 and now, lots of businesses are now in this space.

Being a world traveller, Mei was able to identify trends in other countries that helped her with the concept behind her business. She used her friends as her focus group (there was no Ladies Who Launch back then).  She loved what she did and she had very high standards. She talks about how she bounced product ideas back and forth until she found her bliss in candles.

Big piece of her advice: start with the niche and grow from there. Don’t start with the big idea. She went to a gift show in an 8×10 show space and picked up $90,000 worth of orders. Wow.

She did it all herself in the beginning including running to UPS to ship those orders. She talks about growing and finding vendors. Vendors are as important as your customers. She looked for ways to finance her business, build a sound business plan, and become a reliable business. She is now manufacturing internationally.

She discovered that many people were buying the candles as a decor item, but not burning them. So she came up with fragances to encourage her customers to actually use her candles. She learned how to create her own fragances. She says she started the business in her basement. She also says basements are precious. She experimented with colors and fragrances. Some of her designs were mistakes. You have to love oops moments.

Her next tip is even if you are starting small, expect and envision yourself at the big events. Attend the biggest events as a buyer and explore what other companies are doing. Draw inspiration from what is around you and at the premiere events in your industry.

All of Mei’s candles were hand poured and they were original pieces of art. She also says that the US is the only country in the world where so many people are open to new ideas. Not just small businesses, but large corporations as well.

Mei is phenomenal. I love the candles and I love the concept on the whole!

Their mission is:

“Flashes of Hope is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating uplifting portraits of children fighting cancer and other life threatening illnesses. The portraits, taken by award-winning photographers, help children feel better about their changing appearance by celebrating it. For families of terminally ill children, it’s especially important to have a portrait that preserves forever the beauty, grace and dignity of their child.”

Allison has an amazing task in front of her. I got to speak to one of her colleagues before coming into the presentations and we talked about how it is so important to catch people in their moments of strength. Powerful stuff.

Victoria and Allison sit down on the couch on the stage (I love it) and start talking about Flashes of Hope.  This organization works with professional photographers to capture beautiful moments of children who are terribly ill. She says that there is a lot of misconceptions around it. She mentions the St. Jude’s Telethon which I worked on for several years in my hometown.

She talks about the touching moments and the gifts of the program including the joy during the photo sessions and the images regardless of the outcome of the treatments. Allison’s son had cancer at 20 months old. He’s now 8 1/2 years old.

She started doing these during her son’s treatments (she also had a newborn). She started the photo shoots 3 weeks after she got the idea. Phenomenal.

She also talks about some of the people she’s worked with including teenagers who come out of their shells, parents who rarely smiled until the session. She says “have the idea, believe you can do it, and find people who can help you do it.”

Victoria asks about structuring the business as a non-profit. Allison says it’s harder work to have a for-profit than a non-profit. I been there. I relate. She talks about raising money (which she hates) but she loves the flexibility of her schedule. This year, she will provide free packages to 3,000 families in 30 cities. This year, 12,000 kids will be diagnosed with cancer.

Flashes of Hope started in 2001 and became a non-profit in 2002. It really took off in 2004. She was originally doing all the shoots herself even though she is not a photographer. She knew the difference between cookie cutter photographers and amazing photographers. That’s what she does.

They are 20 cities on their waiting list to launch programs. They are now going into camps. Which is brilliant. There are a lot of struggles in the non-profit world, including financing and management.

Victoria talks about getting to the point of having a lot of opportunities and resisting the temptation of jumping into all of them.  Pick and choose carefully for long-term success.

Allison shares a bit of her experience including having board of directors for every chapter and finding administrative space. She talks about feeling overwhelmed and how she met others who volunteer to run and manage each city’s chapter. The national organization handles all the fundraising so that the chapter directors can focus on the kids.

Allison has a phenomenal story and even more phenomenal organization. Please visit Flashes of Hope and find out how you can help more.

Today will packed full of speakers with tons of information and great tips for all the ladies here. Keep checking back for live blogging posts and I will also be attempting to live twitter. If you’re not following me, I’m amcmoore.

The Cleveland live event will take place May 16, 2008 at the Cleveland Play House. I will be speaking about SEO and leveraging social media to promote online businesses and company Web sites. I’m very excited about it all and thanks to Margey Lowery for inviting me to speak!