I recently co-hosted a two-day event filled with entrepreneurial lessons: 2x4Live: Nashville, with three business colleagues: Lela Barker, Anne-Marie Faila and Kayla Fioravanti. If you were there, you already know what a treat it was. If you were not there, then strap yourself in for an overview of the presentations you missed. Entrepreneurial Lessons from…
Recently, Instagram announced that it will change the order in which posts are displayed to users. Currently, posts are displayed in chronological order, so that your followers see what you post in the order you post it. While it’s not completely clear how posts will be displayed after the change is implemented, it is clear…
When it comes to entrepreneurship, the saying “Go big or go home,” can be interpreted to mean that if your business if not big in size, then it somehow doesn’t count. I disagree with that philosophy. Bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better, and it sure doesn’t mean stronger or more profitable. In fact, a business that…
This is a guest post by IBN member Donna DeRosa, an author and personal development and lifestyle management coach. Follow Donna on Twitter and Instagram. If you would like to submit a guest post for this blog, please read the guidelines here. According to 2010 census statistics*, 8.1 million people have difficulty seeing, and 7.6…
Hearken back to the early days at the launch of your business. Remember how excited you were? How giddy you felt? Finally, you were going to have a business of your own. You were in love with it and everything else in the world, and then BAM!! You began to get into a rut. The…
Blab closed in August 2016, so we removed the video. You can still read the tips and strategies Anne-Marie and I discussed in this post. While planning is critical to success as an entrepreneur, flexibility is equally important. There are times when you just have to ad lib your business, not knowing exactly what to…
I have written previously about the power of the pause, and how important it is to step away and press the reset button from time to time. I did so last week. I am freshly returned from my 6th Annual #IndieCruise Mastermind Retreat for Creative Entrepreneurs, and I have firmly pressed the reset button. Here…
Blab closed in August 2016, so we removed the video. You can still read the tips and strategies Melody and I discussed in this post. This Blab was recorded live on New Year’s Day on the Indie Business Blab channel. I hesitated to share it because there are times when the audio overlaps, resulting in…
It was incredibly difficult to whittle this book list down to twelve, but I did it so I could present you with a monthly reading list for the New Year. I believe anyone can benefit from these books, whether or not they are an entrepreneur of any kind, and whether or not they have a…
There are surely more than five fatal mistakes in business, but not all of them can be addressed effectively in a single blog post. These five mistakes can. If you hunker down and focus, you can begin to take corrective action on these five mistakes in as little as an hour. Do you see anything…
Are you disappointed by this year’s online holiday sales? Do you feel overwhelmed at the notion that your products, as great as they are, will still be collecting dust on a shelf at the end of the holiday season? Do you feel like you are not privy some kind of secret magic sauce that others…
Content is important, but community is king. In fact, it’s not only king, but it’s also queen. Content is everywhere, but community is everything. Content is all over the place, and most of it is either an overly sales-y waste of Internet real estate or a repeat (often plagiarized) of content someone else has already…
As a Maker and Handmade Entrepreneur, it sometimes seems impossible to separate your self from your business. This is not necessarily always a bad thing. The democratization of business and the work-life merger have made entrepreneurship accessible to everyone with a good idea and a mobile device. But while the era of sharp distinction between…
It is true that entrepreneurship requires big thinking. But today, its easier than ever to put the cart before the horse and begin thinking big before actually thinking, period. About six months into my career as an attorney, the managing partner called me into his office to question my billable hours. I was barely meeting…
Iam so so tired of hearing people say “Not everyone can be an entrepreneur.” Why the heck not? Because you have to work hard? Because you weren’t raised in an entrepreneurial family? Because you must have tenacity and determination? Because you must have a certain mindset? Who is born with any of those things? Not…
I‘m very fortunate. I had a vision for my business from the moment it started. Over the years, I have taken it for granted that everyone else did too. I have learned that this is not true. If you don’t have a sustainable vision for your business, you will after you take the steps outlined…
As we pause to honor the workers and Makers who offer such valuable contributions to our nation, I am pondering the incredible merger of work and life we are witnessing today. This is not the first time America has seen the work-life merger. Life and work were a cohesive whole just two generations ago when…
The longer I am in business, the more I appreciate the importance of managing my entrepreneurial energy. In the early years of my business, it was as simple as getting up, getting a bunch of stuff done, and then calling it a day. That’s still the big picture, but now that my business has matured…
One of the things we discuss from time to time in the Indie Business Network is how to incorporate philanthropy into your business model. I hosted an exclusive member Success Call on this topic a few months ago, and it was one of the most well attended ever. The interview here shares a high level…
Business is built on real relationships with real people, yet too many Makers and Creative Entrepreneurs think that if a marketing strategy does not produce quick sales, it’s not a good marketing strategy. That’s not true, and I’m going to tell you why. After 15 years in business, I’ve learned that the marketing strategies that…
This quote from my Shareable Image Gallery makes it easy to remember why it’s so important to maintain a manageable product line. No matter what kind of business you have, if you have too many products in your line, you will never have enough time to actually marketing and sell them. “ It’s better to…