Donna Maria is an entrepreneur mentor, the founder and CEO of the Indie Business Network, and the host of the Indie Business Podcast and the Indie Business Retreat. She has been recognized as one of the most trusted voices for Makers and Creative Entrepreneurs. Her coaching and consulting enterprise trains thousands of new and evolving entrepreneurs every day.
My husband business partner and I are turning the unused space in the loft above our detached garage into a studio where I can record and share more videos to empower you to make smart decisions in all aspects of your business. We’re kicking things off with a series of videos to help you turn…
The Vault is an archive of my first podcasts so there is a record for you to enjoy. Welcome to the Vault Episode 182 featuring my interview with Rebecca Bollwitt. Rebecca is the author of “Blogging: Create and Maintain Valuable Customer Connections to Drive Your Business.” This episode delves into the world of blogging, a topic…
The Vault is an archive of my first podcasts so there is a record for you to enjoy. Welcome to the Vault Episode 181 featuring my interview with Deborah Douglas. Deborah is the Managing Director of Douglas Group, a highly successful middle-market banking firm known for its remarkable 95% success rate in assisting business owners with…
Money is neither good nor bad. It’s intangible. It doesn’t think. It doesn’t feel. It does nothing on its own. Making money is something the government does. They design it, they print it, they make it. We don’t make money, we earn it. We either earn it honestly or we earn it dishonestly. There are…
It’s that time again, time for Sunday Soup! If you get two Soups today, please disregard the other one with my apologies. It’s been one of those weekends! You asked some great questions last week and I am here again to answer more. Ask me about social media, leadership, small business success, mompreneurship, family business…
Yesterday, I read a post at my social networking site by a person who hopes to one day own her own business. Her post shared her anger and disappointment at receiving a raise at her job of twenty-six cents, covering her past 24 months of service. I related to her situation since similar things happened…
This afternoon, I attended the Annual Pride Entrepreneur Education Program (PEEP) Luncheon. PEEP is a non-profit organization devoted to eliminating socio-economic disparities in the African American community by promoting education, financial literacy, attainment of technical skills and entrepreneurship. This video, produced by my company and presented during the luncheon, features the inspirational story of Dr.…
Other than tonsillitis and a hernia as a small child, a fractured shoulder a decade ago and the occasional cold or flu, I have been blessed with good health. As a teen, I was a cheerleader and played tennis almost daily. In college, I walked practically everywhere I went. But law school and practicing law…
For those of you who don’t know, in addition to teaching and speaking about small business leadership and success, I also lead IBN, a trade organization for manufacturers of health, beauty and lifestyle products. Recently, the business building conversations at IBN’s private networking area have increased considerably. If you haven’t visited for a while, today…
Last year, at my invitation, several members of IBN gathered in our private online networking area to discuss how we could support each other on Twitter. It was decided that on Fridays, each participant would select a person, comment on one of their blog posts and then ReTweet the post on Twitter. The goal was…
it’s that time again, time for Sunday Soup! Tomorrow’s radio show features Deborah Douglas, a CPA and the author of “Ripe: Harevesting the Value of Your Business. Deborah will take your questions and share tips about how to position your growing business to fully realize the rewards of business ownership! Join us at 1:00pm New…
Publishing comments at influential blogs in your field can help expand your sphere of influence efficiently and effectively. I call this “comment blogging” (I think I made up that phrase?), and I do it regularly. If done over a period of time, comment blogging can result in new client prospects, exciting collaborations and valuable features…
Recently, I interviewed Shiv Singh live on Indie Business Radio. Shiv is the author of Social Media Marketing For Dummies (affiliate link). He is also the Global Social Media lead at Razorfish, a brand engagement company. Shiv thinks that, in some ways, the term social media is a misnomer. In fact, in his social media…
The week is off to a fantastic start! It started off with the early morning publication yesterday of this week’s newsletter. I love publishing early on Mondays because my readers see the inspirational story of one of my IBN members as quickly as possible after the start of a new week. It’s amazing how much…
The Vault is an archive of my first podcasts so there is a record for you to enjoy. Welcome to the Vault Episode 180 featuring my interview with Tris Hussey. Tris is the author of “Create Your Own Blog: 6 Easy Projects to Start Blogging like a Pro.” With a blogging journey dating back to 2004, he’s…
Blogging has enhanced my life in many ways. A blog is an extremely versatile platform and can be used by small and independent business owners in many ways. I recently suggested that startups could use blogs as a business planning tool. As Tim Berry, author of The Plan-as-You-Go Business Plan (affiliate link), pointed out in…
It’s that time again, time for Sunday Soup! We had freezing snow and rain here Friday night, so this is a weekend of hot chocolate and sledding. How’s the weather where you are? You asked some great questions last week and I am here again to answer more. Ask me about social media, leadership, small…
Last week, I shared some tips to spruce up your FaceBook Fan Page. Yesterday, I asked people at the Indie Business FaceBook Fan Page to share their Fan Page links, along with their tips and questions about attracting more people to a FaceBook Fan Page. My goal was to crowd source some new ideas so…
I agreed with many of the things President Barack Obama said in yesterday’s State Of The Union address. We do need health insurance reform. We do need to tackle the issue of childhood obesity. We do need to invest in the skills and education of American people. We do need to increase our exports to…