Podcasts are my BFF. They’re my favorite way to fill the downtime while driving, taking public transit, walking the dog, or cooking dinner. Plus they’re way more educational than TV, and they’re free!
Some of the best entrepreneurial advice I’ve learned has come from podcasts, from finances to managing employees to find time for, well, the rest of your life.
Here are eight of my favorite podcasts for entrepreneurs, all of which can be downloaded free online.
HubSpot has always been a favorite resource of ours for all things marketing related. In fact, it’s the platform we use to run this very website.
So naturally their podcast, The Growth Show, is another rich source of information. It covers the marketing topics you’d expect from Hubspot, along with tons of other business topics from taking risks to dealing with rejection to living a more enriched life.
Each week the show welcomes a new guest who has achieved noteworthy growth in business. The guest explains in detail how he or she did it, and the stories are always as diverse as the entrepreneurs telling them.
A must-listen for the ladies in the audience, Being Boss is the podcast for the woman with her sights set on the corner office—or the art studio, or the shop with her name on the door. Each week there’s a full-length episode, where the hosts typically chat with a guest, and a mini-sode where they answer audience-submitted questions on business topics.
Being Boss tackles the tough issues many female entrepreneurs feel challenged by, whether it’s raising your prices or raising a kid while you grow your business. I love it because there’s also a healthy dose of lighter material, which feels a lot like catching up with an old friend over coffee or a glass of wine.
If you’ve ever watched a Gary Vaynerchuk video, then you know his signature brand of in-your-face, no-BS knowledge for budding entrepreneurs. The #AskGaryVee Show is his personality in podcast form.
The fast-paced show takes the form of a question-and-answer forum, with Vaynerchuk dishing up answers to audience-submitted questions on building a business from the ground up. Gary’s inner circle of employees serves as the supporting cast and provides some pretty fun banter.
The #AskGaryVee Show is great when you’re short on time or just need to kill a few minutes. Unlike other podcasts that often run an hour or more per episode, Gary’s are typically no more than 15 minutes each. I really like them for sneaking in bite-sized nuggets of wisdom on short drives.
What if marketing whizzes Neil Patel and Eric Liu could teach you to market your business like a pro in just ten minutes a day? That’s the premise behind Marketing School, the duo’s new podcast released in 2016.
Because the episodes are just ten minutes apiece, it’s easy to soak up the ‘need-to-know’ highlights on lots of different topics in just a short window of time. Their advice is also super practical, with real-world steps you can take to put it into practice for your business rather than just talking in broad or conceptual terms.
If you’re new to marketing, a great idea would be to set aside a few minutes of your day each morning (maybe take an energizing walk at the same time) and squeeze in an episode or two.
The Tim Ferriss Show is regularly ranked the number one business podcast on iTunes, and it was the first podcast in its category to surpass 100 million downloads. How’s that for social proof?
Tim’s show is all about being the best version of yourself, whether that applies to your business, your philosophy, your family or anything else in your life.
On the podcast, he takes extraordinary guests, from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Malcolm Gladwell, and deconstructs exactly what it is that makes them such a success. Then, they share insights on how to apply the same tactics and techniques to your own life.
I first came across Brian Clark through Copyblogger, his massively successful online platform that teaches people to be better copywriters. Clark took what he learned building Copyblogger (and several other successful businesses) and turned it into a podcast.
As its name suggests, Unemployable is dedicated to people who just can’t fathom working for someone else, namely, enterprising freelancers and creative entrepreneurs. Clark’s topics of discussion ring true for so many things I’ve dealt with in running a business, like hiring great people online and how to scale effectively (or why you might not want to).
If you’re a new entrepreneur, or if you dream of making the leap from your full-time gig into building a business of your own, Unemployable is a great resource.
Money for the Rest of Us is a podcast about, well, money. As the website puts it: “how it works, how to invest it and how to live without worrying about it.” Sign me up!
It’s hosted by longtime financial adviser J. David Stein, and it’s presented for John Q. Public; in other words, you don’t have to hold a financial degree to understand the concepts up for discussion.
While Money for the Rest of Us isn’t geared specifically toward entrepreneurs, it covers a lot of topics those in our niche will find interesting: how to make sure you’re setting aside enough for retirement, common misconceptions about investing, and timely news in the financial world.
Pat Flynn’s story fascinates me. He was laid off from his job in architecture at the height of the economic downturn. He hadn’t gone to school for business, or web development, or anything like that. But, because he was desperate to make ends meet for his family, he started earning income little by little from a website he cobbled together himself.
Cut to years later and Pat Flynn has raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars in passive income earned online. No, it’s not as cushy as it sounds—there’s lots of work involved. But on his podcast, Pat shows you the techniques he used to make it happen and shares the pitfalls he encountered along the way.
Even if you’re not in the passive income realm, you’ll find a lot of useful takeaways related to online marketing and how to better sell whatever it is you sell.
Come across any great podcasts lately? We’re always open to new recommendations. Leave a comment and share them with us!
Stay in the loop with our latest posts on running a more profitable business! Subscribe to our blog below.