Happy Indie-preneur Day! 7 Sparky Tools to Help you Celebrate your Independence

Indie.
It’s everybody’s favorite power-to-the-people word, especially when you check out the dictionary definition and discover its intrinsically American qualities: free from external control and constraint; “an independent mind”; “a series of independent judgments”; “fiercely independent individualism.

All of which translates so smoothly into a star-spangled new word: Indie-Preneur. Being an entrepreneur is so last century.

On this pivotal Independence Day 2011, it’s time we re-defined ourselves with a word that better represents the burgeoning world of plucky, passionate, indie-innovators who are busily working to rebuild our country. Our chances of rebounding may be vastly increased by honoring — not resisting — today’s fluctuating and increasingly independent workscape. Indeed, Indie ‘tude celebrates all that made the U.S.A. revolutionary 235 years ago.

An Indie-preneur may be working solo, as part of a team, small business, non-profit or even work fearlessly within a giant organization. Indie-preneurism is a state of mind; a style of being; a scrappy, bootstrapping never-say-die way of life. Indie-ism is finding new solutions to pressing old problems by honoring our inner quirks and creativity; that eccentricity that provokes us to see things in a different way. Indie can scale big or stay small. There is no hard and fast definition of Indie. (Except this: note the word: ‘fiercely’ above.)

And no, Indie is not a synonym for maverick. (But it is a synonym for Gigster)

Here’s the Third Annual Indie-Preneur Award, which goes to: Taryn Voget, CEO/Founder of The Everyday Genius Institute. Here’s why:

Not much more than a year ago, Taryn, along with noted Behavioral Scientist Tim Hallbom, kicked off the Everyday Genius Institute product line with the promise: With the right strategies, anyone can become a genius.

Now, thanks to Taryn’s blood, sweat and indie-perseverance, the Everyday Genius Institute’s “Study Smarter, Not Harder” DVD has landed in retail powerhouse OfficeMax — and will soon be in Staples, Barnes & Nobles and more.

What just goes to prove what smart start-ups know — you don’t need a crammed org-chart to make things happen. You just need one fierce, fire-in-the-belly Founder –like Taryn Voget.

Not surprisingly, Indie-Preneurs are fervent do-it-yourselfers. Here are 7 easy online tools to help you celebrate your independence:

Do It Yourself Logo Design: Logoyes.com LogoYes offers do-it-yourself logos to small businesses around the world. Guru’s Note: Logoyes is simple, fun, and even if not the perfect customized logo for which you’d pay thousands, it’ll do in a pinch. Consider it market research and explore colors, fonts and symbols.

Or tap into a world of talented graphic designers for bargain prices starting at $275. I’ve had great success with LogoTournament, especially with the logo for popular music tech blogger RedSaid. Here’s what they say: Get the logo that you really want by choosing from 50-200+ custom designs, instead of settling on a design from a handful of options that a traditional design firm provides. See your first company logos within hours, not weeks. Guru’s note: Clients sometimes come to me wondering if they should hire me to do a whole Name Generation project when they already have a name they think might work. I suggest they check it out on Logo Tournament by unleashing their name and creative brief on the site’s zillions of gifted designers. If the potential name communicates what they want it to, then they should move ahead on their preferred name. If not, I’m here to help.

Did you drool over that shimmering new box of crayolas every fall? Then prepare. Once you enter this site, you’ll be lost in color lust for hours. Colourlovers.com calls itself an international creative community that helps people discover their inner designer. There are now 656,197 COLOURlovers around the world who have created 4,012,636 Colors, 1,647,242 Palettes and 1,617,245 Patterns. (Including quite a few of mine) Guru’s Note: This site is a powerful brainstorming tool. During my Lab360s, each participant creates colors and names for whatever product we’re focusing on that day. Sparks the imagination! Also a valuable tool for banishing writer’s block.

More great ColourLovers news: The company recently raised $1 million from investors including Atlas Venture, Morado Ventures, Founder Collective, Charles River Ventures, 500 Startups, Seraph Group & Zelkova Ventures, Matt Mullenweg, Alexis Ohanian, Don Hutchinson, Dharmesh Shah, Jared Friedman, and Shawn Bercuson.

And even better, COLOURlovers used the indie-preneur’s best friend –Angel List — to build the round.

Got new website? Get new feedback. Launchly showcases new websites to an audience to help site owners get the attention and feedback necessary to succeed. Launchly’s big plus: instead of just showcasing a startup and letting it fall by the wayside, Launchly allows apps to resubmit new iterations and build on their ideas. Guru’s Note: Yes, Ms. Website Owner, you do need Feedback– and from more than just the peeps you drink with and their cousins-in-law. Website/app development very quickly becomes a myopic process — a site like Launchly is very reasonably priced ‘insurance’ in a world of fickle marketplaces and even fickler users.

Another smart way to test your site is a user experience tool called Userlytics that market research pros like me have been fantasizing about for years. Here’s the description: With Userlytics you can capture videos of participants’ screen navigation, spoken remarks and facial expressions – right from their home or workplace, within days, even hours. And even better, Userlytics offers a free study so you can test the service.

Small Business meets Big Government: SBA.gov is a web portal operated jointly by 22 different federal agencies — a kind of one-stop-resource for small businesses. With links to federal programs, links for various rules, regulations and laws, state-specific and industry-specific links, it’s just what we Indies need to stay within the lines, at least occasionally. Guru’s Note: My favorite part of this upgraded site is the new Startup America section, which delivers everything you need to know about this White House initiative to celebrate, inspire, and accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship throughout the nation. The White House has enlisted Steve Case, the co-founder of AOL, and Carl Schramm, who runs a group that encourages entrepreneurship called the Kaufman Foundation, to head the “Startup America Partnership.” They’re leading a privately funded board that will encourage large companies and foundations to provide seed money to start-ups. Follow the action on Twitter.

And then there’s the Patron Saint of the Indie-Preneur: TED. “Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world” from the landmark conferences have now been translated into 51 languages and counting. After the fireworks this weekend, set off a few more by tuning in to TED.

Now go out and set off some fireworks of your own.