The Indie Business Experience
April 12, 2010
A Publication of The Indie Beauty Network
ISSN 1530-9630 | Volume 11, Issue 11
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1. "How To" Monday: How to Spice Up Your
Life
2. Meet Our New and Renewing IBN Members
3. This Week's Indie
Business Radio Show: Charlon Bobo on Writing
More Than an E-Book
4. Indie and Small Business Resources:
Encouragement, Inspiration and More!
5. About dM, the Chief Executive Indie: How Can I Help
You??!
Make It Yourself: Cu-Berry Mask
1. "How To" Monday: How to Spice Up Your Life
Do you ever want to spice up your life? I don't mean with a hot new
boyfriend or a funky new dress or salsa dance. I mean with people who like
the same things you do. It's not sexy or anything (well, I suppose it could
be), but it is fun and wonderful to just connect with new people who like
what you like.
This is especially exciting for curious people like me. I like learning new things and see how other people live, so finding new people revs up my engine. But even if you're not especially curious, you can spark your imagination (which leads to more creativity, right?) by meeting new people and checking them out.
Nothing is better for this than Twitter. It's permissive stalking at its best, yes?
So, to find new people who can get your imagination rolling and spark your creative engines, go to this link and search using a hashtag for things you are interested in. Here are some thoughts to get you started:
1. If you like cucpakes, search on #cucpakes. You'll find people who make cupcakes, people who eat cupcakes, pictures of cupcakes, places to order cupcakes, cupcake molds, and places you can go to get cupcakes when you visit different cities and towns.
2. If you like LadyGaga, search on #ladygaga. You'll connect with lots of people who are gaga over LadyGaga, information about LadyGaga concerts, new tracks, LadyGaga fashion, and more!
3. If you like purses, search on #purses. You could spend all day everyday just finding out about new purses, where to buy them, who makes them, how many compartments they have, what shoes they will match, what they are made of and what fun it is to spend too much money collecting them.
Now the best thing about all of this is not that you can find new cupcakes, purses, or the latest on LadyGaga. The best part is that you'll find people who like cupcakes, purses, and LadyGaga. That's the stuff of life, right?
Follow the ones who point you in the direction of the most interesting stuff. Make a column on Tweet Deck (or whatever you use) to keep track of Tweets having to do with the things you love.
Voila! It's not fancy or especially exotic, but it's enjoyable. Do this, and you'll never be bored, your curiosity will always be satisfied, and you just might develop some new relationships that will help you both personally and professionally.
HOT This Week At Indie Business Blog:
1.
4 Foundations of Meaningful Work: there may be more, tell me what you
think
2.
Small Town Magic: get a dose of artisan creativity here, then go find
some in your town
3.
Video and Indie Business Radio with Marathon Runner Laura McClain:
inspiration and the fabulous iPhone "RunKeeper" app
4.
Video and Indie Business Radio Interview with Author Melinda Emerson:
the video is funny, with burnt veggies and more
5.
When Things Don't Go As Planned: a/k/a why I'm darned glad spring break
is over!
6.
Roasted Vegetables With Thyme, Olive Oil, and Balsamic Vinegar: if you
haven't planned tonight's dinner, this might be the ticket
7.
Failure Is Not Failure, Unless You Make It So: all about why it was OK
for me to cop out a few hundred feet from the top of the mountain
8.
Should You Reorganize the Categories At Your Blog?: I did, and my life
and business (and sanity!) are better off because of it
9.
How Disqus Can Help You Be Successful Online: tips for using my favorite
blog comment manager
Thanks for allowing me into your email boxes and have a great week!!
2. Meet IBN's New and Renewing IBN Members!!
Here
is a listing of the new and renewing IBN members! Website links are included
where appropriate. You can see an entire
official membership
directory at our flagship website. You can also meet members who are
active in our social networking site
here!
If it's time to renew your membership, click here! To join and start putting IBN to work for you today, click here!
Victoria's Lavender | Marilyn Thompson | Oregon
IBN Member Since April 2009
All of our products contain lavender essential oil or lavender buds. We have
created several blends with lavender to provide variety with the amazing
benefits that lavender offers.
Muileh Skincare | Vivian Dawson | Connecticut
IBN Member Since April 2002
Muileh Skincare, LLC creates aromatherapeutic bath and body care
products from locally grown plants and herbs; essential ingredients such as
shea butter and Dead Sea salts are harvested from land and sea. All products
are prepared in small quantities to ensure the highest quality product.
Products within the Muileh Skincare line include exfoliating vanilla brown
sugar polish, soothing bath soak blends, gentle cleansing soaps and gels,
decadently rich moisturizing lotions and invigorating foot salt scrubs.
Smell Bent
| Brent Leonesio | California
Smell Bent is a fun and affordable niche perfume company based
out of Los Angeles. We specialize in creating playful and irreverent scents
which delight the nose and tickle the funny bone!
Boutique Botanica | Donna Massey | Texas
Boutique Botanica has been producing naturapathic blends from
essential oils for more than 15 years. Our blends have a loyal following
because they work. We also produce a very unique product called MilkShake
Bath which can be used as a bath or shower gel and leaves the skin silky
smooth...a real customer favorite. We also have a large variety of handmade
soaps, creams, lotions and scrubs, in addition to a very pure skin care
line.
Valon Products, Inc. | Erick Schmid | New York
We are a manufacturer of body wash, shampoo, conditioner, hand soaps and
lotions. We offer custom fragrances and private label. Supplying health
clubs and spas. We also offer private label and retail bottles. Everything
we manufacture is organic and always green. In addition we manufacture
everything fresh to order.
Flutterby Beauty | Jennifer Lamb | California
Irresistibly scented bath and beauty essentials made with high
quality ingredients. Over 100 fragrances available, many of which are
exclusive blends we created and cannot be found elsewhere! Luxurious
butters, nourishing oils, and natural botanicals are carefully selected to
create our pampering products. Providing top-notch customer service is very
important and we believe communication is the key. Free samples are included
with every order give you an opportunity to try a new item or scent.
Zoe
Organics | Heather Hamilton | California
Zoe Organics is devoted to creating beautifully handcrafted
organic skincare products. We believe in pure, organic ingredients, fair
trade and social responsibility. Zoe means “life,” and our mission is to
celebrate and protect the lives of our children, family, community and
planet. Zoe Organics uses only the most pure, organic ingredients because we
believe in the necessity of eliminating toxins from our bodies and the
environment. We also believe that green living doesn’t require that we
compromise quality or aesthetics. We practice fair trade and social
responsibility, with the goal of enhancing lives in every community we
touch.
Speckled Bird Bath & Body Treasures | Theresa
Matthews | Illinois
Apprentice member.
3. This Week's Indie Business Radio Show: Charlon Bobo on Writing More Than an E-Book!
<
--- Featured photo: This week's radio show guest, IBN member Charlon
Bobo
If you don't have an e-book out now, you're probably thinking about how you can create one, right? No matter what kind of business you have, what product you make, what service you offer, an e-book can showcase your expertise in ways that make your business more profitable while creating new opportunities for you to expand your personal and professional horizons. But all e-books are not created equal. On today's show, we'll talk about that with Charlon Bobo, author of "How to Write An E-Book That Gets Results!"
Indie Business Radio airs live on Mondays at 1:00pm New York Time. There are two ways to join the live show:
Listen Only: Click here at 1:00pm New York Time and follow the instructions to choose your audio player.
Listen and Chat: Once you activate your audio player (above), you can join us for the accompanying live chat on Savorchat at 1:00pm New York Time. Just click the link, sign in using your Twitter or FaceBook account, and you can join us live!
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4. Indie and Small Business Resources: Give 'N Take (and Then More Give!) @ Our Social Networking Site!
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New Discussions: New Blog Posts: |
New Photos and Videos: Upcoming Events: |
5. About dM, the Chief Executive Indie: How Can I Help You??!
I would love to speak at your next women's group or conference gathering??
Donna Maria Coles Johnson, the Chief Executive Indie, helps small and independent businesses owners, combine smart sales and marketing strategies with integrated, branded digital media tools to create relationships, expand their sphere of influence and increase sales. Through her blogs and weekly radio show, dM delivers helpful and entertaining content that inspires, encourages and informs small business owners worldwide.
Known for her innovative yet friendly style, dM's expertise has been showcased in Entrepreneur, Global Cosmetics Industry, Working Mother, the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, National Public Radio, ABC World News This Morning, WUSA-TV9 (CBS Washington, DC affiliate), Ebony and a host of other regional and national media outlets.
Whether the topic is integrating career and family, leadership, small business ownership or new technologies, dM has a life-changing presentation for you and your audience. Contact dM today at donnamaria @ indiebeautynetwork.com to discover how she can contribute to your unforgettable conference or gathering event.
If this issue of The Indie Experience has been useful to you, please feel free to hit the Forward key and share it with a friend!!
See you next week! In the meantime,
Enjoy your life, build your business and have your way!
Donna Maria
Editor, The Indie Experience Newsletter
www.IndieBusinessBlog.com
Copyright (c) 2000 - 2010 by IBN and Donna Maria. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized distribution or reproduction is prohibited. IBN does not necessarily endorse any product, event or ideology featured in this newsletter or on IBN's website. All information is provided on an "as is" basis and no express or implied warranties are given. Any use of the information contained in this newsletter or on IBN's web site, including recipes, is solely at your own risk. IBN and Donna Maria disclaim any liability in connection with the use of all recipes, products reviewed and other information. Except for sponsorships, this newsletter refuses compensation from companies to feature or mention their names or products. Opinions expressed in any Product Review are personally those of the reviewer and do not represent the views of IBN, Donna Maria (unless she is the reviewer) or any other person or company.
