Small Business Owners Can Learn a Lot from These 6 Great Podcasts
Whether you want to hone your leadership skills or engage in more effective marketing, podcasts are a great tool for small business owners looking to gain more knowledge. There is a wide range of podcasts directly applicable to small business ownership. Importantly, not all of these podcasts offer sound or accurate advice, so it is important to be discerning about the podcasts you choose to follow.
The following are some of the best podcasts currently available to small business owners. These podcasts cover a wide range of topics, so feel free to jump between them and find the episodes that most directly answer the questions you currently have about managing and expanding your small business.
- How I Built This
People looking to scale their small business should definitely check out How I Built This. Host Guy Raz dives deep into the stories of entrepreneurs who have developed their small businesses into major international corporations. Some of the featured entrepreneurs include Betterment’s Jon Stein and Patagonia’s Yvon Chouinard.
Since the interviews cover such a wide breadth of businesses, you can easily find something applicable to your business, whether it is a brick-and-mortar retail establishment or an online-based tech company. Look throughout the large library of interviews to find some entrepreneurs who might be able to inspire you in your current position.
2. Business Schooled
Many people think immediately of Silicon Valley whenever the concept of entrepreneurship comes up. While Silicon Valley is one way to go when building a business, it is far from the only way.
Business Schooled is a podcast that recognizes the many other paths to small business ownership. Hosted by Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, the podcast focuses on businesses based outside of Silicon Valley and entrepreneurs who are not the typical millennial tech developer. If you need inspiration for continuing down your nontraditional path, this is a great podcast to check out, especially since it shows how these less-traveled roads can also lead to success.
3. Social Media Marketing
The website Social Media Examiner has become a trove of information for small business owners who want to expand their business’ presence on social media. The website’s podcast, Social Media Marketing, is also extremely helpful. The podcast appreciates that small business owners are extremely busy and have limited time to devote to marketing. Thus, the episodes are focused and provide listeners with the key tools they need to succeed while exploring important topics with small business owners who have achieved great things using social media marketing.
4. Breaking Down Your Business
Hosts Brad Farris and Jill Salzman expose small business owners to a wide variety of topics that have probably caused them stress at some point, offering helpful pointers on how to deal with these situations. Delivered in a conversational tone, each episode is only about 20 minutes, so it is easy to fit them into your day. The episodes focus on the key tools that small business owners need to know about, and many of them break down topics into the five most important things for business owners to know. If you often feel overwhelmed by the amount of information offered on business podcasts, then Breaking Down Your Business may be the perfect solution for you.
5. The Tim Ferriss Show
While The Tim Ferriss Show has received some flak for its irreverent nature, the show does have some excellent insights for small business owners and has frequently been at the top of business podcasts on iTunes. The episodes are about two hours long, so they are a time investment, but they typically pay off by providing excellent insights.
What distinguishes this show from others on the list is the wide range of guests Ferriss invites to interview. In addition to business owners, he also talks to musicians, scientists, professional sports players, and more. Ferriss believes that all of these successful people have something to teach entrepreneurs. He helpfully distills their stories to great take-home points for small business owners.
6. Masters in Business
If you are a small business owner who wants to learn more about finance and investing, Masters in Business is a great place to start. Hosted by Bloomberg Opinion columnist Barry Ritholtz, the podcast covers topics related to investing, business, and financial markets. Episodes focus on interviews with leaders from these industries and explore their careers and the insights they have for small business owners. Both finance pros and newcomers will learn a lot from these interviews. This podcast is particularly good for any small business owner who wants to grow their company or engage more in investing. In addition, Masters in Business is a great way to gain insight into certain industries.
