The Business of Independent Business

Two years ago I took a gamble. I left my job to go start a new business. It’s the kind of thing that happens all the time, but it sure feels like a big deal when you’re the one doing it.

I had started and run a business once before, back in 2001, but the circumstances were different this time. This time I was on a mission.

I’ve been lucky in my career to work at businesses of many sizes, but for me the “small business” has always been the source of some fascination and much admiration. These are the businesses that are all around us but are also nearly invisible.

Running your own business is tough. Ask anyone who’s done it or tried. And today we’re stuck in a kind of endless race: loads of new technology empowerment, offset by the effort and knowledge needed to stay on top of all that complexity and change.

Paradoxically, there is also a myth out there that we are in a golden age of entrepreneurship, fueled by an illusion of wildly successful startups and television shark tanks. From the legend of Zuck to the artisan bread baker who reaches international stardom, the culture is enthralled by a cult of hyper growth. Yet the hard truth is that the barriers to independence have grown steeper, and we are creating fewer businesses than ever before.*

So, in response to these conditions, we set out to solve two problems. 1) How to give everyone the knowledge and self-assurance to successfully start their own business. 2) How to structure a market for vetted products and services that can help.

I’m happy to say that today we are launching our beta that starts to address both. There are 3 parts:

Action Plan

No two businesses are the same. You answer 28 questions about yours; we send you a custom, 20+ page Action Plan that lays out what you need to know. 100% and always free.

Guides

We’re launching with 12 guides on topics like Business Model Basics, Hiring People, Finance Basics and more. New content will be added every couple of weeks. Like all the resources on indie.biz, these guides will always be free.

Marketplace

We review the best products and services out there and make it easy to compare so you can find the best fit for your business. If you buy something we tell you about, we get a commission. We are starting with Accounting Software and Legal Services and will be adding new categories soon.

Over the course of the last two years we’ve talked to hundreds of people who are either starting or running their own business. What you learn quickly is that the vast majority of them are not “business people”. They are people who learn the business-side so they can build something they believe in. Many of them learn things the hard way over a period of years, and have the bruises to show for it. But we also learned and were inspired by the passionate energy and belief that drives these people to press forward despite the headwinds.

The problems we face are nothing compared to the advantages we have. This country was the birthplace of the modern business. My hope is that together with you we can continue building on that legacy. I can’t wait to see what we do together.

Michael Megalli

Founder, indie.biz

March 7, 2017

* For a great overview of how we got here and some big ideas for getting out, I highly recommend David Smick’s The Great Equalizer.