Fiona Volmrich: a fearless serial entrepreneur.

• Author: Roberts, Julie
• Position: Around Utah

Some people think the American dream is dead--but South African native Fiona Volmrich clearly disagrees. "I believe in the American dream. I live it. I chase it. I am grateful for every day I live in the U.S.," she says.

Considering Volmrich's track record as an American entrepreneur, it's not surprising that she speaks so confidently about business opportunities in the United States. She moved from a small town in South Africa to the United States 27 years ago--and has been creating and managing new businesses ever since.

One of her riskiest projects originated when she decided to create a software program. The idea was born out of the frustrations she experienced while operating her destination management company, DestinationVIP. The software, called Viper, was used to streamline processes--such as tracking leads, preparing proposals and generating contracts--for group travel businesses.

Despite Volmrich's proven expertise in global destination marketing, she says it was "completely idiotic" for her to think she could be successful with software because she knew nothing about it at the time. At first, Viper was only in use by DestinationVIP, but despite the odds being against her, other industry players began to notice the software when a few large destination management companies were considering DestinationVIP as an acquisition target. That's when it occurred to Volmrich that the Viper system might be more valuable than DestinationVIP. She ended up selling that company, but kept Viper and spun it off as its own new company, Park City-based VIP Event Resources (VIPER).

Even though the Viper launch sounds like a classic success story, Volmrich says it wasn't easy to break into the tech arena. In fact, she says, "it was one of the hardest things I've ever done--diving into a new job at 100 miles per hour."

One area of...