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Mormon Stories #682: Sara Urquhart – Building a Successful Business as a Stay-at-Home Mom Pt. 1

3,286 views · Published 20 December 2016 · 1:15:53 · Indexed 25 September 2026

Channel: Mormon Stories Podcast · 2016 · Education

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Sara Stanley Urquhart was the founding director of Altitude Summit, the premiere conference for creative entrepreneurs, stylish social media influencers, and design bloggers. Past speakers at the conference include Martha Stewart, Ben Silbermann (Pinterest founder), Jessica Alba, Jordan Ferney (Oh Happy Day!), Liz Stanley (Say Yes), and Heather Armstrong (Dooce).

Sara created this successful business as a means to generate income when her husband, Stephen H. Urquhart, decided to run for the Utah State Legislature.

In this two-part interview, Sara discusses:

- Part 1: How she created Altitude Summit as a stay-at-home mom with four children.  She also discusses the design blogging industry as a whole.
- Part 2: Her Mormon faith transition. https://youtu.be/M8JEacMwhT0

Additional Bio Info: Sara runs an eponymous consulting business. She sits on the Salt Lake City Planning Commission and board of directors for the Women’s Resource Center at the University of Utah.  She is the founding board president of the St. George Family Support Center (2007-09). She was a member and board chair of the St. George Art Around the Corner Foundation (1998-2009). Sara has her bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and her Masters of Emergency Planning from Jacksonville State University. Sara and Stephen have four children.

Altitude Summit
https://altitudesummit.com/

Oh happy day
https://ohhappyday.com/author/jordan/

Say Yes
https://sayyes.com/

Design Mom
https://designmom.com/

00:00 Introduction
01:07 Sara Urquhart - Altitude Summit
03:26 Why Sara's personal story is also interesting
04:33 Sara's upbringing in the church. Doing the mormon program
05:42 Mom worked a little out of the house. Culture of women not working out of the home. Sara partly having to do raising the younger kids
07:52 BYU political science major. Meeting her husband, starting a family
09:22 Husband joins the Utah State legislature. Taking a financial cut. How did that conversation go?
13:08 All siblings and spouses on a trip together. The idea for her business. Taking it on
15:36 Were there other blogging events at the time?
16:14 Organizing the event for the first time. Scheduling during Sundance
18:57 The event happens! 150 people attend. They had a shortfall. Sponsors by having a conference as part of event
22:01 Since a yearly conference. Other events. Sara selling the company
23:15 How did you learn to run an event?
24:57 Success factors in starting the company. Using skills she learnt eg in church by organising ward party
27:52 How did you make that work with your spouse, 4 children? Transition out of the church did help
31:27 Being a working mom also beneficial for her kids. Raising them to be independent
35:54 Having great kids. It worked out fine
36:42 Discussing screen time with the kids. Checking the quality of the decisions they make
38:14 Never giving an idle threat - being a consistent parent (opposite of her own parents)
39:13 Did you something to prevent the kids making bad decisions?
40:56 Learning to be a parent with the help of her mother in law
42:35 Did the kids ever get resentful when you were working? Being open about choices and consequences?
44:07 Would you have enjoyed being a full time stay at home mom? Always having been busy.
46:04 Self care - exercising, getting enough sleep
46:57 How Alt Summit did at its peak. Largest event 800 people. People paying 500-700 dollars. Serious business
49:24 The blogging industry - Margi's questions
50:10 Blogs show a perfect lifestyle. Women reading it can feel a discrepancy. How are bloggers responsible about this?
54:27 The idea of privilege. A lot of the audience will not have the money to be a blogger. Sara's thoughts
57:00 The main tips for bloggers. Have to start. John sometimes cringing about his early podcast episodes
58:58 Perseverance as the key to success. How find sponsors? They find you! Finding a profitable niche
1:00:52 Finding a network to be open about prices so you know what to negotiate with sponsors
1:04:00 For the reader sometimes the connection to the blogger can be ruined by the sponsor information
1:06:40 Staying successful as a blogger. Be consistent and steady. Creating a community
1:09:09 The favorite parts of organizing the Alt Summit. Being able to not be present at the event!
1:10:54 It sounds we're hearing a charmed life. When it was hard for Sara
1:13:23 Moments when Sara just wanted to quit
1:14:52 Time to sell

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