What They Know For Sure

Forbes Magazine recently asked 20 rich business people — I’ll call them "Richies" — a series of questions. One of them was, "What was the hardest lesson you ever learned?" I thought the answers were insighful.            1. Don’t Lose Focus. One Richie said that losing focus caused him to go bankrupt.…

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Peek-A-Boo, Who The Heck Are You?

As the leader of the 600+ member Indie Beauty Network, I work directly or indirectly with hundreds of companies to help them maximize their potential in life and in business. For most, both life and business center in large part around the Internet. We shop there, we sell there, we network there, we learn new…

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Beauty And The Blog

All Indie businesses are special, but face it, these days, anyone with a credit card and time on their hands can launch a competing business in no time flat. Suddenly, your golden egg looks like just like the one at a website that launches the next day. What’s an Indie to do?        …

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Eat What You Kill

Kill It, Drag It Home and Eat It I once worked for a man named Randall Robertson. One day, we talked about how we could contribute years of blood, sweat and tears at a company and get nothing out of it but a pay check. Having been told all my young life that a pay…

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Fear Of Flying? Get Over It!!

People are afraid of different things. In the end, sadly yet all too frequently, they are afraid of success. Afraid that their business will succeed beyond their wildest dreams and propel them skyward. They have a fear of flying. OOOPS!! PICTURE INTENTIONALLY DELETED How do you get over a fear of flying? By flying of…

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What Really Happens Behind Closed Doors?

More and more these days, there’s a business happening behind those doors. According to "Home Offices On The Internet," a study by International Data Group, nearly a third of US households includes an income-generating or corporate home office. If that’s true, you have a world of valuable, low-cost networking opportunities right outside your front door.…

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Eye Spy With My Little Eye

If You Have A Talent, You Have A Business Rebecca Picard loves playing "Eye Spy With My Little Eye" with her 6-year old son. But when she aims her Nikon D2X at a subject from her Brattleboro, Vermont, home and photography studio, it’s more than just child’s play.            Like so many…

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Keep More Of What You Make

A friend told me that she if she doesn’t pay her mortgage by the 16th of the month, a late fee is charged. Last week, she was running a little late and was not ready to mail her check until the 15th. So she called the mortgage company and asked if she could pay by…

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Everyone’s A Winner

I watched a little Joel Osteen last night. His message encouraged people to take time after work to adjust their attitudes so they did not bring workday stress into the home. Good advice. The problem is that for most people, the distinction between work and home is blurry at best.             …

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You Have Not Because You Ask Not

When it comes to money, I want to be like my mother when I grow up. But when my father passed away a few months ago, my life sort of stopped. And when that happened, I wrote three checks without first depositing money into the checking account. The bounced check fees totaled over $100. Ooops.…

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Take Your Pics

This is a nice picture. But who cares? It’s not your picture. Stock photos can be used at a website to complement the products being sold. But while they can set the mood for the products, they can’t represent the products.              People want to see what they are buying, not…

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Don’t Make Me Work Too Hard

Alright already! So the 2007 Love To Be Indie Contest was great, but it was making people work too hard. That’s what I was told anyway.              I was testing that theory with new simplified contest rules but that’s not working either so I’m bagging this contest and will return soon…

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Mango Body Butter Forever!

                     A life well lived. A passion well executed.                                                     Anita Roddick :: 1942 ~ 2007 Get Anita Roddick’s book, Business As Unusual, and be inspired to put your talents and passions…

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Indie See, Indie Do

We start out in business excited about the great stuff we’re going to do. But it’s easy to get carried away with all the enthusiasm, and forget how important it is to stick to the basics and keep things as simple as possible.              My mom says it’s great to learn…

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