Shannon Young asked:


It was another typical day for Becky Anderson. Dishwashers and dryers were running, kids were screaming, and tractors were clanking over the fields.

Becky was a busy mother of nine children, and her husband was one of the largest farmers in the state of Utah. Her house was noisy to say the least. They were working around the clock harvesting, picking, and running the packing shed. It got to the point where it wasn’t fun anymore. They decided to sell part of their farm and down size.

When they sold their farm, Becky had a lot of time on her hands. She was so used to doing the books for the farm, juggling her kids’ schedules and running everywhere to keep their ship afloat. When they sold the farm, she was bored.

Tractors aren’t for Girls

One day, she came home and saw her twelve-year-old daughter on a tractor.

“I about hit the roof,” she said. “It was okay to have the boys on tractors, but not girls! I didn’t think so. I told my husband I was not putting our girls on tractors.”

Becky’s husband explained, “Well, these girls need to learn the value of the dollar and hard work.”

Becky thought about it, and decided she was going to find another way to teach her daughters the value of hard work. She marched over to the University Mall in Orem and told the leasing director she wanted to open a store. He asked her what type of store, and she told him she wanted to open a bath shop. The man laughed at her. She looked at him and told him she was serious.

The Beginning of For Every Body

In 1995, there weren’t any bath shops in Utah County. Becky had seen one in California, and wanted to open a shop in Utah.

When Becky told her husband, he exclaimed, “I am not signing anything with you. When you go down, you’re not taking me with you!”

Becky decided to sign the lease and go for it. In the meantime, she was trying to decide what she should sell in her store.

“If I hadn’t been this crazy, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” Becky said. “I really went out on a limb. I think raising nine kids gives you a little bit of courage you wouldn’t have, because you’re in there fighting with teachers, coaches and the whole bit.”

Becky flew to Denver to find some bath products at one of the merchandise marts there. She bought anything she could find to sell in her store.

She had a background in chemistry because she wanted to attend medical school. Instead, she dropped out and got married young. Her chemistry background helped her produce lotions and body washes in her home. Her daughters helped her. Every day they made new product and sold them at the mall. They sold out every day.

The rest of the story is history. For Every Body went national in 1997 and international in 2006. Becky hasn’t lost her motivation and it has been almost 12 years since she launched in November 1995. She has gone over several bumps and rocks along the path, but she surpassed all expectations of what her friends and family thought the company would be.

“It’s okay to dream big, but without action it’s not going to happen,” Becky said. “Productivity is the deliberate, strategic investment of your time, your talents, your intelligence, your energy, your resources, your opportunities in a manner calculated to move you measurably closer to meaningful goals.”

Recognitions

Becky received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2006 and was also listed with the “30 Women to Watch” in Utah Business Magazine in 2006. She has been asked to speak at women’s groups and universities in Utah.

Today, For Every Body is one of the fastest growing premium fragrance product companies in the United States. It owns and operates one manufacturing plant in the U. S. and an extensive Asian supply chain. It has been named on the MountainWest Capital Network’s 100 Fastest Growing Companies list for the past five years. The company sells products across the U. S. and internationally. It also runs retail stores in Utah. For Every Body’s products include candles, air fresheners, home décor and bath and body products. Products are produced for 88 retail chains and 6,457 Independent chains including Kohl’s, Jo Ann Fabrics and Crafts, Home Depot, Ross, TJ Maxx, Lowe’s, and Zellers.

Community Involvement

For Every Body is actively involved in the community. They donate over 1,600 ****** cancer awareness candles to local hospitals each October to raise awareness of ****** cancer locally. They also donate to local high school sports teams and give away gift baskets to local businesses. In 2005 and 2007 For Every Body also contributed to the Pray 4 Tori campaign to raise money for 15-year-old Tori Schmanski who suffered from a traumatic brain injury from a tragic car accident in June 2005. Candles were made especially for Tori to help raise funds to pay for her medical bills.

To learn more about For Every Body, visit www.foreverybody.com



Quinlan

Will Smith asked:


Omniture, an industry leader in web analytics is based in Utah Valley. The company’s software is used by all Fortune 500 companies to track web user data on their respective websites. This data is then used to determine user behavior, which when used correctly, can be a resource for designing better web pages that generate greater online revenue. Their flagship product is called Site Catalyst and in many search marketers opinions, is the best software available for web analytics.

Omniture is also one of the of the largest employers of the valley. They have also been know to be one of the best paying employers their too. It’s been said that the salaries being offered by Omniture exceed the local average by as much as 75%. Ironically, they still struggle to find qualified personnel to meet their continued growth rate.

A new and upcoming Internet company based in Utah Valley is called OrangeSoda. Don’t let the name full you, they have nothing to do with the actual orange soda soft drink. They are an internet marketing company that assists small businesses with boosting their online presence.

To do this, OrangeSoda has created a technology platform that services the two major online marketing channels, pay-per-click, and search-engine-optimization, thus giving their clients the opportunity to display their business ads in the search engines sponsored listings and the natural listings. OrangeSoda appears to be growing very fast, as their name is mentioned more and more among the major internet marketing publications.

Another upcoming company, which is also a web analytics based business, is BLVD Status. Located in northern Utah Valley, they provide a free platform for tracking a web sites web analytics. Unlike Omniture, whose enterprise web analytics software can be extremely expensive, BLVD Status offers a simpler platform that is more suited for smaller websites, and could be compared to Google Analytics.

The product is gaining quick notoriety, and positive reviews across the web. The interface is user friendly and provides the necessary reporting fields for a successful review of a web sites usability and function. It will be interesting to see how long they keep their product free, as there isn’t any other potential revenue source for their business.

These three companies are among the elite for Utah Valley’s internet technologies. But with a rapidly changing internet market place, and Utah Valley’s growing reputation for technology talent, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see even more tech companies start up with in this area.



Morgan

Gabe C asked:


I opened a Photography L.L.C. Business. I have only made about $2,000 for the year. I take pictures of cars so that the owner can put them on the internet. I didn’t collect state taxes from my one contract. Because it is a classic car business and the owners says that I don’t collect taxes from him, if he is going to sell the cars??? This is what his CPA advised him. How do I pay my taxes. I’m the only one who works in the company. I was paid as a private contractor from the classic car dealer. I live in Utah. It’s as a home base business. I don’t want to get rocked from an accountant, if I don’t have to. Any help would be wonderful. Thanks.

Also, I work at a company where I get paid salary 30k per year I do the photo business on the side. I don’t know if anybody needs this information to help out.

Ryan

orikiller asked:


I live in Utah and I was trying to find a refinishing company to redo my countertop and bathtube because they look like crap. So I’ve just be trying to decide if I should just rip them out or get them to redo them to look good. Are they good quality, attitude, and price?

Dirk

James B asked:


For just the standard work office or business. Are there, and if so what are the nepotism laws in the state of Utah?

Joey

Rev. Cleophus asked:


SALT LAKE CITY – Brent Tenney says he feels pretty safe when he goes to class at the University of Utah, but he takes no chances. He brings a loaded 9 mm semiautomatic with him every day.

“It’s not that I run around scared all day long, but if something happens to me, I do want to be prepared,” said the 24-year-old business major

in 2004 the Legislature passed a law expressly saying the university is covered by a state law that allows concealed weapons on state property. The university challenged the law, but the Utah Supreme Court upheld it last year.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18355953/

Coleman

Tommy G. asked:


http://www.utah.gov/business/running/government_running.html
These are a few things required in Utah your state will also have its requirement. The federal government has theirs too. Educate your self as to what a business has to do and you may begin to understand why they move to other countries when they get large and why small businesses fail.

Davin

Brian McCoy asked:


So what makes Wealth Masters International appealing to some online marketers and gives others such reservation? Here is a short business review of the fairly new company

Who’s Running the Company?

Kip Herriage founder and CEO of Wealth Masters International, a Texas based company, incorporated in 2005. The background of Kip is in finance with 15 years on Wall Street. Karl Bessey, Predident and Co-Founder of WMI has a very different background. He was an underground coal miner in Utah for 22 yrs before becoming involved in the MLM industry.

Kip and Karl founded WMI with the vision “to create success and wealth in others, one person at a time.

What Is The Cost To Join?

Wealth Masters International is broken down into three courses: m1, m2 and m3. The m1 course is sold for $1495, m2 for $8495, and m3 for $12,995. You are not required to purchase the m1, m2,or m3 products to become a Consultant with WMI. You have the option of choosing to pay $149 to become a yearly consultant for WMI. If you decide on this option, you will be passing up your first 3 sales and the sponsorship of those people to your sponsoring consultant. Following the third sale and member pass up, the “newbie” is now “qualified” and enters the WMI Compensation Plan as a “Consultant”. The $149 fee is a small price to pay comparatively to the $20,000 price tag, but you are required to pass up your first 3 sales along with sponsorship. From there the business model is similar to that of an MLM company. If you are not qualified to receive certain percentages of your sales yet, then they are passed up to your sponsor.

Wealth Masters International recommends joining with their “platinum plus program” which consists of all three courses and is priced at $20,750.

What If Anything Makes This Company Stand Out From The Rest?

WMI is a new company without the long term backing of other companies. We are yet to see if they will even be around in 5 yrs or end up as the next online scam. A few of their products available are repairing you credit, education of the family, incorporating your business, etc. One major draw back is that the products are distributed by mail rather than completely online. Internet automation just cuts down on a lot of paperwork hassle. At this point the company consists of a lot of Big MLMer’s who have switched over to test the direct sales water.

So in the end what really stands out about this company is a couple of things. You DO NOT get to keep 100% of the commissions. You will be CONTINUALLY passing up money to your upline over and over again. But the truly shocking thing is the price tag to sign up. If you are going to spend $20,000 on a program, you better make sure that the returns are immediate, and that you have all the support in the world from your sponsor.



Vernon

Christian Jacobsen asked:


Mortgages are a funny thing. There are more lenders out there than one can shake a stick at, and beware; not all of them are scrupulous. According to statistics approximately 30% of the mortgage brokers operating in the U.S. are considered to be suspicious or do not meet the standards of proper business practices. Ask yourself, is my prospective broker in that 30%? The question remains how can you be sure that your broker is above board? Well there are a few ways, but they involve some legwork. Considering that you are purchasing a house, a fairly expensive commodity as purchases go; it might be a good idea to do the research.

A good idea is to start with your local Chamber of Commerce. Chambers usually have some great resources on financial institutions and you might even be able to find a lender who is a member of the local Chamber. Another good spot to look is the Better Business Bureau. But do be careful, businesses that run afoul of the BBB tend to change names quickly so it pays to find out as much info about your lender as possible.

There are definite things to look out for when securing your financing, does the lender explain everything? Do they take the time to walk you through the terms of your loan, detailing everything from start to finish? Do they seem to want to rush the process and have you sign quickly and without much explanation? One of these approaches should be setting off alarms. Make sure that the lender explains the type of loan you are receiving. The last thing you want to do is sign your agreement, only later to discover that you have signed up for a “balloon loan” where the balance of the loan is due after only 5-7 years when you were expecting a standard mortgage spread over 20-30 years.

The best practice is to use lenders that are recommended by the Chamber of Commerce and the BBB. Stick to institutions that have a longstanding reputation in the community and have the references and customer testimonials to prove it. If you are dealing with established banks then usually the bank’s reputation will speak for itself but in utilizing private lenders be sure to do the homework.



Abel

Mike Morley asked:


As a new election season began, my thoughts once again turned to our founding fathers and their impassioned efforts to secure for us, the succeeding generations, through the formation of a Constitution, the inalienable rights and liberties won through years of struggle and battle. Likely, it was the re-dedication of the newly refurbished Utah State Capitol Building and the legislature’s return to their historic chambers that has caused me to reminisce and think more of the founding fathers of this great State of Utah. I hope you will indulge me as I share briefly the lesser-known history of our own Utah Constitution.

As early as 1849, a constitutional convention was organized in the hopes of obtaining statehood. Of course, the dreams were a bit loftier back then as the first convention created the state of Deseret which encompassed all or part of the current states of Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon and Idaho. Lacking the required 60,000 eligible voters (free and male), the federal government gave little consideration to this attempt.

Five subsequent constitutional conventions and attempts at statehood in 1855, 1861, 1872, 1882, and 1887 met similar fates. I can only imagine the hope, anxiety, and eventual frustration that accompanied each request. Finally, in 1894, some 45 years after the first convention was convened, Congress passed the Enabling Act which provided specific steps the Territory of Utah must take to achieve statehood.

On November 6, 1894, 107 delegates were elected from across the territory to frame a new constitution. I find it interesting that this is only three more than the number of current legislators. Like our current legislature, the convention delegates represented every part of the state and many walks of life from agriculture to finance to business owners and educators. And, like our current legislature, the majority were Republicans. Bringing with them varying opinions and life experience, they set aside egos and differences and for 65 days from March 4 to May 8, 1895, they worked to formalize our state’s constitution. Ratified in the general election that fall, the new constitution took effect on January 4, 1896 when Utah was proclaimed a state by Pres. Grover Cleveland. The Constitution of Utah, although patterned after the U.S. Constitution and several state constitutions, contained provisions unique to our state including:

• Giving women the right to vote

• Banning lotteries

• Requiring a balanced budget

• Establishing public schooling “free from sectarian control”

I express my gratitude to the great founding fathers of our state and to modern-day patriots among us for whom the motto of the convention, “Our liberties we prize and our rights we maintain” still has great meaning.



Milburn