10 Signs It’s Time To Move Your Small Business Out Of Your Home

Ilaunched Indie Business from a spare bedroom in my Washington, DC, home in 2000. Since my family and I moved to North Carolina in 2006, our office has been in a room on the first floor of our South Charlotte home. In September 2010, I told you about our move to a co-working space in…

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Welcome to Our New Website!

Welcome to our new website! We are excited that you are here with us to celebrate a new look. Watch our short welcome video … we’re so glad you’re here! When we began serving handmade entrepreneurs in 2000, the handmade beauty industry hadn’t fully formed yet. It’s always growing and shifting of course, and Indie…

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#HandmadeChat: April 2013 Lineup

On Thursdays at 8pm ET, IBN hosts #HandmadeChat, a weekly Twitter talk show to coach, inform and inspire handmade and creative entrepreneurs. If you’ve never attended, now is the time. #HandmadeChat is a fun, inspirational and supportive event where you’ll learn so much about making your business more successful. As you’ll see below, you can…

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#StartSomethingStupid, with @RichieNorton

Looking back, I am still stunned at what has happened in my life since I quit a pretty “secure” job to start making beauty products full-time. Of course, I’m not making products to sell anymore, but I still marvel at how the “stupid” idea of starting a nationwide trade organization from scratch now empowers many…

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Video: #IndieCruise MasterMind 2014 Registration Now Open!

Iam pleased to announce that #IndieCruise MasterMind 2014 will set sail January 26-February 1, 2014 for a 6-Night cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Falmouth, Jamaica, Grand Cayman Island, and Labadee, Haiti. Our cruise designer is Suzanne Niemeier at The Cruise Authority. Call her with your registration information…

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April 2013 Theme and Book Club Pick: #LeanIn by @sherylsandberg

Iam pleased to announce our April 2013 Theme and Indie Business Book Club pick: Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. If you are an IBN member, click here to join me in our private Facebook book club group, and request to join in the upper right. For…

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IndieMeetup: Newark: March 27, 2013: with @SoapCoach

Today’s the day — #IndieMeetup Newark, hosted by IBN’s Local Director: La Shonda Tyree. The fun goes from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at The Crop Shop, 720 Monroe Street in Hoboken.   In case you have never been there, The Crop Shop is a wonderful arts and crafts boutique offering classes to help kids and adults…

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#IndieMeetup: Chicago: March 23, 2013: with @AstridaNaturals

Tomorrow’s the day — the first #IndieMeetup in Chicago, hosted by Maia Singletary, our new Local Director there! The fun starts at 1:00 at the Overflow Coffee Bar at 1550 S. State St. in Chi-town.   By he way, Overflow Coffee is not just any old coffee spot. It’s Indie and woman owned, and all…

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The Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care Act of 2013 Is Introduced

According to a press release at the website of Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), he and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) yesterday introduced the The Safe Cosmetics and Personal Care Act of 2013 (PDF). If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that this is not the first piece of cosmetics legislation that has…

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Let’s understand the patent application process, with @BreastChekKit

Did you know that simple things we do every day without thinking can form the basis for a multi-million dollar income stream? Consider my friend, Linda Lewis, inventor of Breast Chek Kit, a patented seamless breast self-exam shirt that makes it easy for women to conduct and track monthly self-breast examinations comfortably and privately. Who…

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