As maker entrepreneurs, we often feel crazy amounts of pressure to make more stuff and check off boxes, often without considering the enduring significance and long-term impact of what we are creating. Sure, it’s great to have sales every day, but they really don’t matter unless they are tied to outcomes that make a long-term…
A thrilling moment is on the horizon for the Indie Business Network as we eagerly anticipate the arrival of our 25th year of continuous service! Thanks to the unwavering support of our extraordinary members, we’re gearing up to commemorate a quarter-century of dedicated service to small business owners across North America. Save the date: January…
If you’ve ever struggled with self-doubt or generally felt like you don’t have what it takes to truly achieve your highest dreams and aspirations, then our March 2024 Indie Business Book Club pick just may be the super catalyst you need right now. Authored by Jamie Kern Lima, co-founder with her husband of It Cosmetics,…
Hospitality is defined as “the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.” The benefits of offering high degrees of hospitality in your business become obvious when you consider how important it is to make every effort to receive your customers and clients in ways that reflect how much you value and…
If you’re like me, every year starts off as my best year ever. The trouble is that about a quarter of the way through the year, my motivation can begin to wane and I can start to feel like I am not making the progress I should be making. If that feeling continues for too…
Nearly 24 years ago, I left a fantastic career track in corporate America to launch the Indie Business Network. Everyone I knew thought I had lost my mind. At the time, it was a disaster of epic proportions to be fired or laid off, and no one was quitting their job — even if they…
As entrepreneurs, we are understandably concerned with how we invest our limited financial resources. As it turns out, we should be at least as concerned with how we invest our limited hourly resources. After all, we can make more money. But we cannot make more time. Our next Indie Business Book Club pick takes this…
At the Indie Business Network, we help you design a business around the kind of life you want to live. It’s not easy, but it is absolutely exciting and so freeing to do the work associated with building a business that suits your life, complete with only those things that make your heart sing. We…
At the Indie Business Network, we help you design a business around the kind of life you want to live. It’s so freeing to be able to build a business that suits your life, complete with only those things that make your heart sing. Nothing more and nothing less. That’s why we’re so excited about…
One of the greatest things about being in business today is that success is no longer defined mainly by the financial bottom line. While profitability continues to be important, other definitions of success have taken center stage as more founders reject the notion of growth for growth’s sake in favor of a lifelong experience of…
When it comes to growing and nurturing an online business today, the hot button phrase that describes you as the CEO is “content creator.” That is — you must create and share information that attracts a specific type of person to the corner(s) of the internet where your content lives, and give them opportunities to…
As an entrepreneur, you know that a little voice lives inside your head. You also know that the little voice does not always tell stories that work in your favor. In fact, the little voice often works overtime to insert gobs of fear, uncertainty and doubt into your everyday life. If the little voice roams…
Very early on in my entrepreneurial journey, I learned that the only thing about my business that cannot be copied is me. The same is true for you. Whether it’s a product or a service, it can be duplicated. But there is only one you, and when the one and only you is integrated into…
Our January 2023 Indie Business Book Club selection is The Self-Employed Life: Business and Personal Development Strategies That Create Sustainable Success by Jeffrey Shaw. I have been self-employed for near a quarter of a century. Those of you who know me well will not be surprised at the selection of this book, which highlights and…
Our December 2022 Indie Business Book Club selection is The Richest Man In Babylon by George S. Clason. While it may seem like an odd choice for our book club, at nearly 100 years old, this book is regarded as a classic of personal financial advice. As entrepreneurs, how could we not take advantage of…
Our November 2022 Indie Business Book Club selection is Marketing: A Love Story: How to Matter to Your Customers by Bernadette Jiwa. The book is under 100 pages and can be read in an afternoon. It’s mainly about how to position your ideas to resonate with your target customers in ways that influence them more…
Our October 2022 Indie Business Book Club selection is Live What You Love: Notes from A Passionate Life by Bob and Melinda Blanchard. This book celebrates the fact that there is more than one path to success. And that’s why you have to read it. In this book, we will meet the authors, a married…
Our September 2022 Indie Business Book Club selection is To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others by Daniel H. Pink. At its core, this book is a reminder that we all spend a considerable amount of time and energy trying to convince others to do what we want them to do. •…
Our August 2022 Indie Business Book Club selection is YOU-NICORN: 30 Days to Find Your Inner Unicorn and Live the Life You Love by our Indie Business Network member, Danielle A. Vincent. YOU-NICORN is a 30-day, step-by-step program to help you get a better perspective on your thoughts, improve your relationships, clarify your goals, and find…
Our July 2022 Indie Business Book Club selection is The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life and Your Success, by Darren Hardy. I first encountered the author after I agreed to be a blogger for Success Magazine. Shortly after I signed the contract, Darren Hardy purchased rights to the Success Magazine brand and changed…
Our June 2022 Indie Business Book Club selection is Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur, by Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby. Like many American Maker Entrepreneurs, Derek did not start his business “on purpose.” Instead, doing something he loved (making music) led organically to a business opportunity, which led…