I hosted IBN’s first Site Party on Cyber Monday and had a great time doing it! The best news is that our featured Indie, Charlene Sevier, sold 11 pieces of her beautiful handmade jewelry in under 60 minutes! As you may recall from this post announcing the party, Charlene makes combines a passion for beads…
I am pleased to announce IBN’s first online Indie Site Party on Monday, November 30 — Cyber Monday — at Noon New York time!! Our first party will be hosted at our social networking site and will feature IBN member Charlene Sevier, The Bead Dreamer, of Newport News, Virginia. Indie Site Parties are just like…
I am often asked what I do. While I am involved in lots of business activities, my initial answer is always the same: I lead the Indie Beauty Network (IBN), a trade organization that provides business and advocacy services to small companies that make health, beauty and lifestyle products, and also to the companies that…
This week’s Indie Business Radio, show features Michael McLaughlin, author of Winning the Professional Services Sale: Unconventional Strategies to Reach More Clients, Land Profitable Work, and Maintain Your Sanity. Michael is a management consultant and speaker with more than twenty years in the professional services industry. He is the founder and a principle of MindShare…
These are my prepared remarks for tonight’s event. I wish everyone reading this could be here, but since that’s not possible, I wanted to give you a flavor for what fun we are going to have and let you know that I hope to see you at a future event when I come to a…
When I launched IBN in 2000, there was a small but growing number of people making soaps, cosmetics and other consumer products in very small quantities. With the explosion of the Internet and the availability to everyone of multiple e-commerce opportunities, micro-manufacturing in many markets has grown tremendously. Up until 2005, Illinois-based RLI Corp. provided…
I usually don’t blog about baking, but I do love to bake. I don’t get to do it often because I’m such a busy Indie, but I like to make time for baking during the holidays because it seems to enrich my family life to do so. My kids love me for it and my…
As you may know, I am the founder and CEO of the Indie Beauty Network, a trade organization representing small and independent manufacturers of cosmetics, candles, aromatherapy products, soaps, jewelry, confectionery products and other health, beauty and lifestyle accessories. My members manufacture products on a micro-scale, often by hand from scratch. In addition to manufacturers,…
If you enjoyed my article containing 10 ways small business owners can use Twitter Lists to expand their sphere of influence and build trust and credibility, then you’ll be happy to know about this new Twitter widget creator allowing you to quickly and easily aggregate specific List content into a widget that can be displayed…
I am pleased to announce that, on December 3 and 4, I’m leading another delegation to the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA). The purpose of my visits is to share small business perspectives on pending cosmetics legislation, and also on current rules, regulations and current events affecting the cosmetics industry. This is my second…
In a day and time when “social media” is just a word I’ve heard when things were being said, I think it is vital that anyone saying they are qualified to teach you how to use social media should be able to validate the depth of their experience as a successful user of new media…
In this post, I told you about the FDA/FTC warning letter to Dr. Andrew Weil. In this post, I want to tell you about the voluntary suspension of a food labeling program by the above companies. The suspension is the ultimate result of a letter from the FDA to the companies (see here) which called into…
I am delighted that longtime IBN member Kaila Westerman will join us at The Media Is You – San Francisco! Kaila is the owner of TKB Trading, LLC, a San Francisco-based supplier of cosmetics colorants for use in toiletries, soap and cosmetics. Kaila also sells waxes, lip product bases, containers, lipstick molds, and associated products.…
Last week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (PDF). The Guides were issued pursuant to the FTCs authority, as granted by Congress in Section 5 of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 45, to protect consumers from deceptive trade practices with regard to endorsements and testimonials…
I read an interesting post today at the the CPSIA Comments & Observations blog. Maintained by Richard Woldenberg, chairman of Learning Resources, a manufacturer of learning toys and hands-on classroom educational materials, the CPSIA Comments & Observations blog tracks activity with regard to the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) implementation of the Consumer Product Safety…
UPDATE 2/12/2010: As of today, Indie Business Advocate.com has been closed. All small business advocacy and public policy posts can be found in the Advocacy Category at this blog. Thank you. For as long as I have served small and independent business owners, I have observed how challenging it is to have an impact on…
A recent segment of 60 Minutes was devoted to the life and work of Don Hewitt, the new magazine’s creator, who passed away in August 2009. As you may know, 60 Minutes is the longest-running prime-time television broadcast in the country. I enjoyed learning about Hewitt’s perspective on the show’s phenomenal success, which he says…
Last week, I shared plans to return to Washington, DC on a fact-finding mission with regard to the FDA Globalization Act of 2009 (FDAG 2009). If you have not done so, please read that post for background and context. This post provides a high level overview of what I learned on that trip. (If you…
[This post was originally published on my Twitwall on March 12, 2009. I think it is important for context to share it with you at this blog as well. You can see the comments on the original post beneath the post itself.] A 32-page report (PDF) entitled “No More Toxic Tub” has been released by…
[This post was inadvertently published yesterday. I recalled it, but not before Feedburner picked it up. I apologize for the inconvenience.] A few days ago, Twitter announced Twitter Lists, a great new feature that allows users to create pubic and private lists of people on Twitter. If you read Item #9 on Top Ten Actions…
One of the thousands of things I wanted to be when I grew up was a news anchor, and my major in college was Journalism. While I never worked as a journalist, the fact that I trained to be one explains why I have been an early adapter of the concept that small and independent…