As we transition from one year to the next, this moment offers a perfect opportunity to reflect on 365 days of growth and prepare to stride confidently into the new year. In this post, I take a closer look at how the Indie Business Network evolved during the previous year, putting our shared experiences into perspective. By evaluating our progress, we can set the stage for a strong and purposeful start to 2025.
This post takes a look at two specific areas of growth: (1) our member services; and (2) our corporate strategy.
I. Member Services
As always, our priority is engaging with and serving IBN members. We do that in several ways. Here are a few 2024 highlights.
Indie Business Blueprint™
We launched the Indie Business Blueprint, the most comprehensive program to help you create, launch, lead and grow your business. It's now available ON DEMAND as soon as you join the Indie Business Network, with your IBN membership!
Here's what's included for you:
• Six 90-minute intensive training modules covering all four phases of the Indie Business Blueprint: Emerge > Execute > Evolve > Expand. We also have a bonus module called, “EXIT,” because we will all exit our businesses at some point. It is important to plan for that — and most people don't.
• Six 90-minute mentoring modules covering the core pillars of online business success:
– Email Marketing and List Building
– Social Media Marketing
– Online Retail Sales
– Wholesale Retail
– Memberships, Recurring Revenue Options, and Subscriptions
– Entrepreneur Mindset and Leadership
Three interactive Q+A and round table discussions
Select Bonus Content
– Product Vision Caster (to help you create a solid new product without the guesswork!)
– A Year of Weekly Content Ideas (to help you systematize content creation like a pro!)
and more!
It's available on demand NOW when you join the Indie Business Network!
The Indie Business Blueprint is currently available exclusively to our members.
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 43 blog posts showcasing our members, along with links to purchase their amazing products.
Here are a few of the most popular articles:
- 9 Fresh Product Picks for Your Home’s Springtime Spruce-Up
- Pumpkin and Spice is Twice as Nice: Shop Limited Edition American Made Artisan Products
- Dewy-Fresh Skincare That’ll Give You a Golden Summer Glow
- Give a Gorgeous Floral Gift That Outlasts Traditional Bouquets
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.
Indie Business Network Robin's Roses Entrepreneurial Scholarship Program
IBN's Robin's Roses Entrepreneurial Scholarship Program is named 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 awards quarterly scholarships to American Maker Entrepreneurs who might not otherwise be in a position to take advantage of the valuable and transformative experience IBN offers. The scholarship includes a year of membership and mentorship, along with private group coaching and one-on-one email coaching with our founder, Donna Maria. The graphic below showcases our 2024 scholarship recipients. Meet them and learn more about their businesses at these links:
Meet Cat Nash of Mother Wolf Candle Co: Wheat Ridge, CO
Meet Savannah Reed of Safe & Sound Soap Co.: Readyville, TN
Dayna Undersmith: Denver, CO
Shawaunna Middleton (Charlotte, NC), Hinda Pugh (Jacksonville, FL) and Gabriela Huanosta (Los Angeles, CA)
If you or someone you know is interested in exploring scholarship opportunities, click here to learn more about how to apply for our quarterly scholarship opportunity.
Maker Monday Member Training (14 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!!
There will be more to come — with a few new podcast format surprises — in the New Year. 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:
Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals
Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect
Worthy: How to Believe You Are Enough and Transform Your Life,
The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World
Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity
Buy these and other Indie Business Book Club picks at IBN's Amazon shop.
Indie Business Network 2024 Holiday Gift Guide
Our 2024 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 2024 Indie Business Network Holiday Gift Guide.
Indie Business Network Focus of the Month
The Indie Business Network is the premier entrepreneurial coaching community for American Makers and Artisan Entrepreneurs that also members affordable insurance and leadership training services. Each month, we focus on a strategy that will help you plan, launch, grow and/or expand your life and your business so you can achieve what we call The Ultimate Trifecta: a joyful life, a profitable business, and a meaningful legacy. Here are some of the monthly areas we focused on in 2024.
Rest & Rejuvenate: We explored the topic of rest: what it means, how to understand it, and how we can fully embrace and incorporate it into our busy lives so we can benefit as leaders and entrepreneurs.
Protect Your Trademarks: We took a deep dive into the benefits and details of registering your trademark with the United States Patent & Trademark Office, including why to do it, how to do it, and what is involved it doing it.
Crush the Holidays: Among other things, we gathered around several topics that allowed us to leverage the holiday season in targeted and efficient ways.
II. 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 quarter century, 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 2024, we expanded our strategy to introduce new types of insurance products (including business and wellness coaching), emphasize quarterly business planning and progress tracking, and prioritize personal development for our members.
Looking ahead to 2025, IBN's strategy will continue to evolve. We’ll introduce a modernized approach to goal setting and achievement, create new opportunities for in-person gatherings across the United States, and offer more mentoring and coaching from me, as well as from trained mentors and entrepreneur coaches.
Stay tuned—these exciting initiatives will launch in the first quarter of the New Year!
Alignment
Like most small businesses, resource alignment is a constant a challenge for IBN. For many years, much of the responsibility rested on my shoulders as a mother with children still at home. With both of my children now in college, that dynamic has shifted. This change allows me to serve as more of a personal resource in new and innovative ways, while also creating opportunities to grow and expand the company by adding resources that were previously out of reach. To that end, we have streamlined our staffing.
IBN has also relocated our offices from Charlotte, North Carolina to Washington, DC — our very first home! This unexpected move has opened up fresh opportunities to realign our resources and strengthen our impact in our Nation's Capital, where it all began 25 years ago. Among other possibilities, I anticipate this transition will enhance our ability to advocate for small businesses at the national level. I’m thrilled to leverage this move to benefit our incredible members in meaningful ways.
Execution
Execution is all about setting small goals and working toward them in a disciplined and methodical way. We will use 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 beautifully captures the extraordinary power that emerges when small things unite with a shared purpose. Spiders, though often unnoticed, possess unique qualities: they are quiet, blend seamlessly into their surroundings, and are typically small and harmless. A single spider may seem insignificant, but the idea that many working together could weave a web strong enough to immobilize the king of the jungle is a compelling metaphor for the strength of teamwork and collaboration.
Individually, we may feel isolated and limited. But united in community, our collective efforts can overcome any challenge and achieve remarkable success. The Indie Business Network thrives on this principle, bringing entrepreneurs together to brainstorm, solve problems, and celebrate small business victories across the nation. Together, we prove that connection and collaboration can turn even the smallest actions into transformative achievements.
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 2025.
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 2025! We are so ready over here at the Indie Business Network!
