Whether you describe it as the end of an old year or the start of a new one, it's December 29 and that makes it the perfect time to reflect on 365 days well traveled and make plans to move with confidence into a new year. In this post, I reflect upon and evaluate how the Indie Business Network has evolved over the past 12 months. I put our collective experiences into perspective and evaluate our progress so we can begin 2024 with definitive forward motion.
This post takes a look at three specific areas of growth: (1) our team; (2) our member services; and (3) our corporate strategy.
The Indie Business Network Team
Our Team is small but mighty.
It has never been a goal of mine to grow a “big” company. My goal instead has been to grow a company that served well. Along the way, I have added (and subtracted) Team members as needed. Over the years, IBN has attracted and retained talent beyond my wildest dreams. For those of you who have never met them, let me introduce you!
Jennifer Smith
Jennifer Smith has been my external brain since 2012. She actually thinks for me. She anticipates my needs and the needs of IBN members. She knows this business like the back of her hand and she establishes, evolves and executes our systems with relentless precision. Most days, she tells me what to do and how to do it. Jennifer is smart and detail-oriented, and when we disagree, Jennifer is almost always right. Without Jennifer, there would be no Indie Business Network.
Here is a short list of some of the things Jennifer does:
- manages my personal enthusiasm so it does not distract or fluster the Team (yes, this is a regular issue)
- helps to manage our very active member Entrepreneur Community
- creates and posts branded graphics to social media, including TikTok, Instagram and Twitter
- drafts emails and blog posts for my review, and proof reads my work for publication
- updates and manages this and other IBN-owned website properties
- maintains IBN's schedule of events, including Indie Business Podcast, Maker Monday Q+As, Indie Business Book Club, etc.
- coordinates weekly Team member tasks to keep everyone on track
- delegates workload items from one Team member to another as needed
- generally keeps me from going off the deep end
Larissa Lewis
Larissa Lewis joined the IBN Team in 2017 as a social media manager, mostly on Twitter. Today, as our Chief Writer + Content Creator, Larissa works behind the scenes to create and publish almost all of our Instagram and blog posts.
As the only daughter of IBN's very first member, the late Kathleen Lewis of Kathleen Lewis Beauty Worldwide, Larissa is extra special to us around here. Inspired by her mom's entrepreneurial spirit, Larissa uses her writing skills to help us tell the interesting and unique stories of our innovative members in this blog and across the Internet.
Cherish Driskell
I met Cherish over a decade ago when she joined the Indie Business Network as a member with a bath and body product business. When she closed the business and began a journey that included exploring her talent for all things digital, we began to work together on a variety of projects that included graphic design and creative and digital arts. Today, Cherish edits the Indie Business Podcast. Among other things, she adds music to the background, uploads and organizes content and adjusts sound levels. All of sounds easy, but since I record podcasts in venues ranging from quiet conference rooms to hotel lobbies, making me and my guests voice pleasant sounding is not always an easy task.
I hosted my first podcast episode way back in 2005 (here's the first episode), when there was no real way to save MP3 files. One of Cherish's projects over the past year has been to organize, edit and save hundreds of decade-plus podcast episodes in a format that you can enjoy today. The result is our “podcast vault.” Thanks to Cherish, IBN's audio intellectual property will not be lost to posterity. You can enjoy hundreds of podcast episodes dating back to 2005 at this link. In case you don't have thousands of hours at your disposal, here are some of my personal favorite episodes to get you started:
Lisa Price: founder of Carol's Daughter (bonus episode here)
Jack Canfield: author, motivational speaker and co-founder of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series
Paula Deen: chef, cookbook author and Food Network and television personality
Ramit Sethi: author of “I Will Teach You to be Rich”
Pam Slim: author of “Escape From Cubicle Nation” and more
Brian Solis: futurist, digital anthropologist, speaker and author
Shama Hyder Kabani: author and founder of Marketing Zen
Ali Brown: women's entrepreneur coach and entrepreneurial leader
Warren Brown: chef, cookbook author and Food Network and television personality
Chelsea Gaarder
Chelsea joined our team at the beginning of this year as our Brand Experience Specialist. She helps to execute the brand experience by supporting relationships in and outside of the organization. Chelsea is an excellent planner with great administrative skills. Among other things, she co-hosts our Maker Monday Q+A meetings, helps to organize the Robin's Roses Entrepreneurial Scholarship Program and helps me plan, organize and facilitate the Indie Business Podcast.
Chelsea asks great questions and is very personable. Her background in the field of personal growth, counseling and self- improvement makes her a great complement to my own personal interests and ambitions. We make a great team, and I'm looking forward to working with her in 2024.
Other team members include Jeff Arnold, Lepeka Apana and Tenika Jones, all of whom work diligently behind the scenes on member communication, database automation and website development and programming as needed. Everyone on board is fully settled into their respective roles and ready to hit the accelerator again in 2024.
Member Services
As always, our priority is engaging with and serving IBN members. We do that in several ways. Here are a few 2023 highlights.
Indie Cruise 2023
After 12 years, this year, we hosted the last and final Indie Cruise in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We had a marvelous time snorkeling, sailing, masterminding, dancing, spa-ing, exploring, dining, yoga-ing, and just enjoying being together.
Indie Cruise has given me a fantastic 12-year run of leading women (and a few good men) on exotic mastermind retreats to 18 ports of call. It ultimately became so much more than it was when I first hosted it in 2011.
Indie Cruise has been so much more than a business trip. So much more than a retreat. So much more than an entrepreneurial mastermind. So much more than the sharing of business ideas over spa and food and excursions.
Really, it's been the intertwining of our hearts together in a way that will be forever impossible to duplicate.
Indie Business Network Maker Planner™
Studies show that writing down goals, making them plain, and putting them in front of your face every day maximizes the chances that you'll achieve them. To facilitate increased goal achievement for our members, we launched our quarterly paper planner this year. Our planner helps you:
• Forecast your future
• Create your quarter
• Design your days
Using IBN's planner, you can prioritize the most meaningful work that leads to the achievement of your goals.
Our planner includes the Indie Business Blueprint (formerly the Maker Method), IBN's signature 4-phase approach to entrepreneurship. (More about the that here.) It includes monthly, weekly and daily spreads to help you stay on track. It also includes a future goals spread so you don't forget about quarters to come, key business metrics trackers, weekly online marketing planning spreads and lots of space to celebrate wins, brainstorm new collaborations, and track high leverage activities.
IBN's planner is currently available exclusively to our members, and only on a quarterly basis. Meanwhile, you can take a look at the planner here.
If you like using analog planners, here are five ways our planner can help you build your best business.
Indie Business Blog and Social Media Features
We are so proud of the way this blog and our social media feeds showcase the creative products our members offer.
This year, the Indie Business Network Blog featured 42 blog posts showcasing 279 members, along with links to purchase their amazing products.
Here are a few of the most popular articles:
- You’ll Wanna Binge This Showstopping Slate of 9 Movie and TV Candles
- Spring Clean Like a Pro With These Non-Toxic, All-Natural Household Cleaners
- Candles and Scents That Will Supercharge Work-From-Home Creativity
- Pack a Picnic Basket for Your Senses With Food-Scented Candles and Soaps
- In-Flight Beauty Essentials For Glowing, Hydrated Skin at 35,000 Feet
Binge all of our Featured Member blog posts here. Go shopping while you're at at — I guarantee it won't take long to find that perfect gift for yourself or a loved one.
Reintroduction of the Indie Business Network Scholarship Program
This year, we reintroduced our scholarship program, renaming it Robin's Roses, in honor of my dearest friend who is the main inspiration for the launch of the Indie Business Network. You can read some of the story here.
Robin's Roses offers entrepreneurs, who might not otherwise be in a position to take advantage of the valuable and transformative experience we offer, a year of membership and mentorship. Scholarship awardees enjoy private group coaching and one-on-one email coaching with our founder, Donna Maria. Click here to meet a recent scholarship award recipient.
If you or someone you know is interested in exploring scholarship opportunities, click here to learn more about how to apply for the quarterly scholarship opportunity.
Maker Monday Q+A with Donna Maria (30 episodes)
We continue to provide our members with live weekly coaching, with curated experts to help our members be successful in their personal and professional lives. During these live-streamed virtual events, which are available for replay 24/7, members get real-time answers to the toughest issues faced in business right now.
Among other amazing people, our guests this year included life coaches, book marketing specialists, insurance experts, search engine optimization advisors, authorities on social media platforms like TikTok and Youtube and so much more. We have so much in store for 2024!!
Indie Business Network Podcast
In 2023, we hosted six episodes of the Indie Business Podcast. Here they are for your listening pleasure:
- Life in the Expand Phase with Toushonta Hogan of Scentsational Soaps – Episode 93
- Make More Than Products with Chelsea Selby Randazza of Witch Baby Soap – Episode 94
- The Power of Personal Pace with Artist Entrepreneur Rachel Beyer – Episode 95
- The Joy of Getting Over Yourself with Kimberly Cross of Zhi Bath and Body – Episode 96
- The Introvert Entrepreneur with Catherine Robinson of Wildwood Aromas – Episode 97
- No-Stress Content Creation Strategies with Larissa Lewis of Jargon Gist – Episode 98
There will be more to come — with a few new podcast format surprises — in 2024. We cannot wait to share it all with you!
Indie Business Book Club
One thing I know for sure is that nothing nourishes an entrepreneurial mindset like books on business and personal development. This year, we read several books on topics that help us be more successful in our businesses and in our lives. Here are the books we read, with links to more detailed information:
• The Self-Employed Life: Business and Personal Development Strategies That Create Sustainable Success
• People Buy You: The Real Secret to What Matters Most in Business
• Mind Your Mindset: The Science That Shows Success Starts with Your Thinking
• Belonging to the Brand: Why Community is the Last Great Marketing Strategy
• Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big
• The Minimalist Entrepreneur: How Great Founders Do More with Less
• How to Grow Your Small Business: A 6-Step Plan to Help Your Business Take Off
• Buy Back Your Time: Get Unstuck, Reclaim Your Freedom and Build Your Empire
• Nothing Is Missing: A Memoir of Living Boldly
Buy these and other Indie Business Book Club picks at IBN's Amazon shop.
Indie Business Network 2023 Holiday Gift Guide
Our 2023 Holiday Gift Guide featured member products and editorial content to uplift, inform and inspire you.
For each product, you'll find a lovely picture of the featured product, with a direct link to where you can easily and quickly drop it into your shopping basket. Many featured products include coupon codes — some of them are still active as of the date of this post, and since it's so late in the season, you may be able to take advantage of even more year-end pricing adjustments.
Check out the 2023 Indie Business Network Holiday Gift Guide.
Corporate Strategy
Corporate strategy is all about envisioning the future, aligning that vision with the resources required to make the vision a reality and then executing a clear and specific plan to move the business toward the vision. Here's a quick look at IBN's current corporate strategy.
Vision
While IBN's corporate strategy has evolved over the past nearly 24 years, our vision has been consistent. It is:
To empower and encourage women to maximize their potential through small business ownership.
In 2000 when we launched, we served cosmetics companies exclusively. In fact, the original name of the organization was the Handmade Toiletries Network. (A bit more about that here.) Over the years, our membership has expanded to include companies that sell all sorts of consumer products, as well as service providers.
In 2023, our strategy evolved to include new types of insurance products, a renewed focus on helping our members plan and strategize business progress on a quarterly basis and an expanded emphasis on personal development.
In 2024, IBN's strategy will evolve further to include a modernized approach to goal setting and achievement, new opportunities for in-person gatherings throughout the United States and more opportunities for mentoring and coaching from me personally as well as other trained mentors and entrepreneur coaches.
Stay tuned for more these initiative during the first quarter of the New Year!
Alignment
As it is for most all small businesses, resource alignment has always been a challenge for IBN, primarily because most of the buck has stopped with me — a mother with children living in the home. Now that my children are both in college, that is no longer the case. This opens up new opportunities for me to align myself as a personal resource in new and different ways. It also frees me to explore new ways to grow and expand the company by adding new resources that would not have been easily added in the past.
In 2024, IBN will relocate from our current home in North Carolina to our first home in Washington, DC! This new and unexpected change will also create some new ways to realign our resources. Among other things, I expect that it will produce new opportunities for IBN to advocate for small businesses at the national level. I'm looking forward to using this move to align our resource for the benefit our amazing members.
Execution
Execution is all about setting small goals and working toward them in a disciplined and methodical way. We will use our branded planner and our proprietary Indie Business Blueprint methodology to do this. The best part is that we will forge ahead with this execution ourselves as we also teach the methodology to our members and execute it alongside them. In this way, we will remain focused as a team as we also help our members stay focused on project that tie directly back to their vision.
It's a very exciting time for us and our members!
_______________________________
In Closing …
“When Spiders Unite They Can Tie Down a Lion …”
This Ethiopian proverb summarizes the power that manifests when small things unite together with a single purpose. Spiders are generally silent. You don't really see them coming. They tend to blend into their environment. They are not large in size. While some are poisonous, spiders are generally not a threat to humans and a lone spider cannot do much harm.
While I'm not sure it's literally true, the notion that a bunch of spiders can spin a web that can immobilize the king of the jungle is a forceful reminder of the power of teamwork and collaboration.
Isolated and separate, we are disconnected and powerless. But when we come together in community, we can achieve anything. The Indie Business Network harnesses the power of entrepreneurial community to brainstorm, problem solve and celebrate small business success on a nationwide scale.
Happy New Year!
This year has been fantastic, and none of it would have been possible without the support of our wonderful members, supporters and friends. Thank you so much for the honor and privilege of serving you, and for sharing your experiences with your friends and community members and talking IBN up within your various spheres of influence.
As great as this year has been, the next one will be even better, and we can't wait to share with you all of the exciting new things to come in 2024.
Indie Business Network members, we love you, and we love serving you!
Here's to a great new year and the achievement of all of your wildest entrepreneurial dreams and goals. I am so proud of every one of you!
By the way, if you are not a member, you are denying yourself lots of entrepreneurial goodness! But it's not too late. You can click here to learn about our member benefits, and join today at this link so you don't miss out on anything else!!
Bring on 2024! We are so ready over here at the Indie Business Network!
