Shannon's thoughts on marketing, public relations, social technology, entrepreneurship and other things

What is Indie Business?
Indie Business is Indie Business Media, LLC, the company I own with my husband. One of our subsidiaries is the Indie Beauty Network, a trade organization that provides educational and small business networking services, and products liability insurance, for our small manufacturers of health, beauty and lifestyle products. Another subsidiary is INDIEgu, an e-commerce hub for American handmade and artisan products like soaps, candles, fragrances and confectionery goodies.

When did you start?
We launched on January 16, 2000, the day we also published our first online newsletter. Launching this business with a newsletter was the biggest and most important professional achievement of my life.

Really, launching a newsletter was momentous?
Yes, because the newsletter is one of the most fun and effective tools I use to connect with my customers and other stakeholders. It allows me to do four things that are important to me: have fun, help others, increase profitability and stay in touch with people easily and consistently.

Are these four things your priority?
Yes, in the sense that I use them to evaluate how I am doing as a business leader. If I am having fun, helping others, earning a profit and staying in touch with those whom I serve, then I am achieving my purposes as a woman and a business owner. In the case of the newsletter, for example, since I was a journalist/public relations major in college, I learned a lot about publishing. I combined this formal education with my love for the writing process, and this makes newsletter publishing not only effective, but also fun for me. Writing is professionally and personally satisfying for me, as is reaching out and connecting with other people.

Tell me about the newsletter.
The Indie Experience Newsletter is published each Monday. The tagline for the newsletter is my own personal motto, "Enjoy your life! Build your business! Have your way." It is a news, business and product resource.

How do you use media to get the word out about your business?
Connecting with and nurturing relationships with all kinds of media outlets is an integral and enjoyable part of my business. I share information and publish content that helps people, and this ultimately grows my business. I enjoy training others to use their own branded media outlets to do the same through my one-day The Media Is You training workshops. When it comes to media, I employ what I call the trifecta: passion, instincts and training. It's a part of my purpose to help others use media outlets, to discover their voice and share their passions and ideas with the world.

Nugget of knowledge: Everyone needs to be their own best media outlet.

How did you get started on our entrepreneurial journey?
I had a traditional 9-5 job and I was unfulfilled because I didn’t learn anything about myself. I was paid to perform, not to grow. I wanted to grow, and when I realized that a traditional workplace was not helping me do that, I decided to create my own workplace by launching a business that I could design to fit my life -- instead of designing my life to fit my profession. I decided I wanted my life mantra to be, “Enjoy my life! Build my business! Have my way!" So I created that for myself and my family, and now, I help others do the same.

You’ve also found another stream of income as a public speaker, what are some of the messages you share with young people when you talk with them?
This is a great question, since I'm just back from lecturing to graduate students at Georgia State University's J. Mack Robinson College of Business. I encourage young people to start a blog, to be in control of their online identity, their brand and to use technology to reflect skills, integrity, humanity, and professionalism. Young people must be careful to take control of their online personas. If they don't, future employers, business partners, spouses and children could uncover unfavorable things (true or not), which can hurt them in down the road.

"You may not be able to control what people say about you online, but if you aren't a proactive part of the conversations about you on the Internet, you're abdicating your responsibility to present the best possible reflection of yourself to the world."

What are some of the keys to your success?

• Patience: I am willing to do tiny things no one else sees in order to take the big steps that are more visible.
• Focus: I'm not trying to be all things to all people. I have a niche and I do my best to serve it.
• Faith and Family: My husband and personal faith are integral to everything I do, and everything that is done to me.
• Persistence: I don't give up. When an obstacle comes, I assess it and figure out how to go over, around, under or through it so I can achieve.
• Humility: I ask for help when I need it. This is one of the most effective ways to achieve your goals.
• Relationships: Life and business are nothing without them so I try to maintain healthy, interdependent relationships.
• Technology: I embrace it every step of the way. I use it to position myself as someone here to help, offer a service you need, and bringing value to your life.

Finally, life is a process of constant rebranding...I’m in a constant state of beta.

This week’s Awesomely Fantabulous Woman is @DigitalSista aka Shireen Mitchell, if you don't know her, then you must be brand-spanking-new to the social space. She has a passion for inclusionary technology that is accessible to everyone regardless of ethnicity, class or education. Shireen was tech savvy before it became cool.

How did you get started in technology?
My first introduction was through Pac-Man, which was originally designed for girls. Ironically, today most video games are geared to boys and men.

Pac-Man, how old were you?
I was 10 years old and I played every day until it was dark outside, which was my curfew. The store owners didn’t want me there because they couldn’t make money off of me. I would go to the corner store and beat everyone.

You say you beat “everyone,” does that include the boys too?
It was only boys; I was the only girl playing at that level.

What did your Mom think about you spending all of your time playing video games at the store?
My Mom didn’t believe I was down there playing video games. She thought I was going there because of some boy, so to keep me home she bought me an Atari game console.

Really, a sort of “if you can’t beat them, join them” strategy.
You can say that, she even bought me my first home computer.

When did you become interested in technology?
It was 1984, I was 14 years old and technology became a core part of my being. I played games and experimented with different programs. And by high school people began trying to direct my interests away from technology.

That doesn’t make sense, why do you think they did that?
I had been in accelerated academic programs since the 7^th grade, which meant I was taking mostly math and science classes. For instance, I took law instead of history. I was doing 11^th grade math in 9^th grade, so it didn’t make much sense but the comments I continued to hear was that I couldn’t get a job doing this. At the time I didn’t know what they meant; I understand these tracking methods now.

It wasn’t easy for my Mom. I know I was a little rebel. I was smart; I knew it and I wouldn’t back down from it. I was doing work above my classmates and many of my teachers didn’t know what to do with me. So, I got bored because I felt like I was being ignored; I was insulted. The principal said I had an “attitude problem.”

How did you handle it?
By college, I acquiesced some and majored in psychology, while spending my spare time with my techie friends. I would study for school and study tech manuals for fun. It was nuts. My tech click only studied the manuals while I studied both. We were very competitive, the guys would try to hide things from me and keep me from learning, but they couldn’t. I would buy individual components and build my own PCs and servers.

The “guys,” they were guys?
Yep, it was four guys and me. Gender didn’t come up. It wasn’t a trigger in my head at the time. When AOL comes on the scene, a couple of them drop out of school and go there to work. They still haven’t finished school and still work at AOL. Another one became a CIO. I decided to finish school. Every now and then, I think about what if I had gone to AOL in its heyday, with the stock options…hmm.

How did you get from psychology to digitalsista?
I was doing the back end work for Sister Circle, one of the first communities for Black women and the founder encouraged me to start my own web management firm. I jumped in and began to notice I’m only one of a few women in the field, so I started doing trainings at a local bookstore. Men would attend the sessions and try to challenge me by using tech terms. I wasn’t intimidated at all; I knew what I was talking about and they usually used a term in the wrong context. What happened is the men intimidated the women in the classes, not me. I started holding women only sessions, which would eventually grow into DigitalSistas, a place for girls and women to support and encourage their tech dreams. “Someone will always present a barrier; it’s up to you whether or not you’re going to accept it.”

This week’s Awesomely Fantabulous Woman is Liz Scherer. She is a wordsmith of the first order, beginning her writing career at the old age of 7. If you don’t know her, you should follow, friend and connect with her ASAP. We had a great conversation and I learned a lot about Liz and her secret to success, which makes me want to be even more like her.

I began by asking Liz how she would describe herself:
I’m a writer and a journalist specializing in health, particularly women’s health. I’ve been writing since I was a child, and I was first published when I was 7, it was a poem. I transitioned to non-fiction after I graduated from college. I wanted to combine my business skills  and my passion for writing, which lead me to healthcare public relations. This is about the time I also  started getting published as a medical writer.

I didn’t know you’re a writer, I thought you were in marketing?
People don’t know how to classify me because of my different hats. Marketing is an underlying foundation, but I’ve always been a writer. The 80s were when I started getting paid as a writer; I was first published in 86. Then I began health reporting as the digital space grew.

I know you’re passionate about women’s health, what was the impetus for your blog, Flashfree?
I started my blog in 2008 because I finally had something to say.

Come on Liz, those of us who know you, know you always have something to say.
Seriously, I had gotten away from creative writing for some time and I needed to write about what was happening to me, my body, in my own voice.

Why write about such a personal issue?
Well, I’ve been a long time advocate of women’s health, it’s a key interest of mine. As I started my journey through this stage of life, I began doing research, and I found there wasn’t a lot being written for me. I’m a “tail gater” not quite old enough to be an official baby boomer and I’m a little too old to be part of Gen X. I was unhappy with the information I found about perimenopause. In particular, there was also limited information on natural alternatives to HRT.

How much longer do you think you’ll keep writing about menopause?
Right now, I do it because there’s a need and I enjoy it. When there isn’t a need or it stops being fun, then I’ll stop.

You’re also a contributor to Women Grow Business, how long have you been in business and how have you managed to stay relevant?
I attended a TEDxEast event and heard a presentation by Baba Brinkman about evolution, and from there I was able to put a name to something I had been doing my entire career. I call it “Evolutionary Marketing,” which is based on a three -ronged algorithm: performance, feedback and revision.

Please explain.
Sure. Performance equals quality control, for instance, making sure I deliver well-researched, well-written content on schedule. Feedback means client retention, am I listening to my clients, am I still meeting their needs, is my business growing? Finally, revision is the evaluation and adaptation stage, these are my business drivers.

So, these are the keys to your longevity?
Yes, I keep adding new skill sets, offering a mix of services to my clients. “My adaptability has allowed me to run my own business and be successful  since 1992."