Monday, October 5, 2009

Incredible Woman #9 - Kelly Anderson. Monday's questions

KARA: "Tell us about yourself, Kelly. What are your hobbies, talents, etc. What makes you an incredible woman?"

KELLY: "I’m so honored to be featured on your blog, Kara, thank you for this kind opportunity. I believe every woman is “incredible” and could have her own fascinating biography documented on PBS and we’d all love watching it, so I think this concept is wonderful. As for me? Hmm...I guess it’s not the day to be “humble”, eh? Alrighty then! I’ll answer with confidence and say that I’m “incredible” because I believe anything is possible, I don’t limit myself in any degree on anything, ever. Sure I have doubts and fears, but for some reason I don’t have “stop signs” in front of me, if there is a road block, I call God to help me go around, over, under, or through it. Family, mentors, and friends, also ensure “incredible” factors too, of course! With God, Nothing is Impossible is a wonderful mantra!

I have enjoyed being involved in many different hobbies and activities in my life. I grew up in LA where there was an abundance of culture and opportunity to nurture my creative talents in art, music, dance, theatre, fashion - and now I live in Utah where I’ve learned to develop interest in raising a family (3 kids), creating a home, enjoying nature, hiking, gardening, cooking, exercise and much more.

Lately I have been involved in entrepreneurship and I manage/founded Startup Princess.com - an organization to support women entrepreneurs, and I love that because I get to be around brilliant creative women all the time and be inspired by them and help them move their ideas forward in business. We have events, conferences, and a blog to help women in business. I also recently started coaching privately and in small groups which I love.

Besides Startup Princess I’ve also been into a variety of competitions lately. I wasn’t that competitive as a kid, but for some reason, I think as an adult I’ve been motivated by competitions because I’m interested in the challenge and opportunities available. I just completed my first sprint triathlon in the Spring and loved it, in 2008 I competed for Mrs. Utah and won 1st Runner up, and in 2005 I won 2nd place at a MBA national business plan competition in North Carolina against 76 teams. All great experiences!

One of my favorite things I’ve been involved with has been One Heart Bulgaria, a non-profit that I helped start in 2005 being particularly invested because I served an LDS mission there. I’ve had the pleasure of volunteering with the orphans on a couple of service trips, most recently in March. I’ve also serve as a Trustee for the organization and have served on the board, participating on many projects."


KARA: "You are a busy wife, mother, and business owner – how do you balance all of those things? Tell us about your family. Describe your typical day."

KELLY: "I don’t believe in “finding balance”, I believe in creating peace by continuing to fill one’s personal “bucket” (so you have something to offer others) and getting help where needed. My husband and I are both entrepreneurs with him being the main provider of our family. He runs Wholesale Works, a wholesale consumer electronics company. I’m homeschooling my three kids (3, 5, 9) this year in addition to managing the day to day details of Startup Princess so yes, it’s a bit busy at my house. I’m really happy about our choices and am very grateful that I decided to create our own schedule this year and it’s really eliminated a lot of stress.

I don’t have a lot of expectations of what has to be accomplished on a daily basis so much as what needs to be done on a weekly or monthly basis so that is a huge relief. I love the concept of using a 3x5 card for my To Do List and I try to keep my list at 5 things so I don’t overextend myself. Saturdays is a big family chore day but we did just give in and hire some help twice a month to help us with deep cleaning since we weren’t keeping up very well. I freeze a lot of meals/double recipes all the time. I also take time to myself on Saturday afternoons once in awhile to go shopping, run errands, etc. which helps with the sanity and peace.

My typical day- or my ideal day? I’ll tell you what I’m trying to do most of the time:

7:30am wake up, get myself ready, private devotional time, check email if I need to
8:30am the kids are usually up by this time, we eat together, read scriptures together
9-2pm we do homeschool together in the basement in our “school room”, with a break for lunch and I check email or make calls if I need to
2pm-6pm kids play, I work on Startup Princess, throw in laundry, clean up a bit, etc.
6pm I make dinner
8:00pm Bedtime for my kids (ideally!)
Time with my husband/work projects
Midnight/1am- go to bed"

I'm so excited to have you meet Kelly - I met her several months ago at a bloggers conference, and immediately liked her. She is an inspiration to me. I hope you come back often this week and enjoy getting to know her!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I have to agree that Kelly is an amazing person. We served together in Bulgaria. Small world that you know her too.

Patty Hulce said...

There's no doubt that Kelly is an amazing person, and an inspiration to so many women. I'm very lucky to call her my friend.

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