Here is our list of the best small business podcasts
Congratulations to our Best Small Business Podcasts! Here are the podcasts we find most useful and interesting to small business owners. These podcasts range broadly in focus, tone, and content, but they all strive to present actionable advice that small business owners and entrepreneurs can take away from every episode.
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Best Entrepreneurship Podcasts
Entrepreneur on Fire
Podcast Host: John Lee Dumas
Favorite 2015 Episode: “Josh Shipp: Former at-risk foster kid turned teen advocate”
About the Podcast: Like many of the podcast hosts I talked to, John Lee Dumas originally got into podcasts as a listener. Driving home from his job every day, he wanted to learn as much about entrepreneurship as possible. Eventually, though, he ran out of episodes to listen to. So he decided to start his own. It would take some effort to run out of business podcast episodes nowadays, thanks in part to the 1000+ episodes John has recorded himself. One of the consistent themes on his show is the importance of finding a mentor. He encourages his listeners to find someone they want to emulate and try to learn everything they have to offer. It never hurts to reach out to them personally: even if they can’t mentor you, they often will know someone who would be the perfect fit.
Being Boss
Podcast Host: Kathleen Shannon and Emily Thompson
Favorite 2015 Episode: “How to Fall in Love with Your Business, with Jennifer Dopazo ”
About the Podcast: Kathleen and Emily focus on creative entrepreneurs. That’s something that can mean different things to different people. It might be someone who makes things with their hands, someone working in another creative field, or anyone else building a living outside of the norms of a 9-5 job. Being Boss is only six months old, but it’s something Kathleen and Emily have been thinking about for years. And they’ve already found a dedicated audience of creative entrepreneurs looking for ideas and advice on how to grow a business.
Metropolis Radio Podcast
Podcast Host: Deborah Shane
Favorite 2015 Episode: “CNN Hero of the Year Pen Farthing, Founder of Nowzad”
About the Podcast: Deborah Shane describes launching her first business as a ‘leap of faith’. It’s hard to know how a business is going to go at first, and sometimes you have to experiment a bit before you find out the most successful strategies and methods. In 2009, Deborah launched the Metropolis Radio Podcast, and since then, it has proven a resounding success. Career transition is one of her areas of expertise, and if anyone knows, it’s Deborah: she started her career as a musician and songwriter, transitioned into broadcast radio sales and management, and launched her own business from there.
The New Business Podcast
Podcast Host: Chris Ducker
Favorite 2015 Episode: “Super-Charging Your Entrepreneurial Productivity, with Mike Vardy”
About the Podcast: Chris Ducker is one of the foremost thinkers on entrepreneurship in the digital age. Known as the “Virtual CEO”, he specializes in finding innovative ways to make running a business easier. On his podcast, he explores that concept in depth with a wide range of interviewees with expertise on subjects ranging from finance to social media to digital marketing.
Best Small Business Podcasts
Small Business Unstuck
Podcast Host: Barry Moltz
Favorite 2015 Episode: “Art of the Start, Marketing Must-Do’s, Redefining PR, Self-Storage Solution and Mad Tax Refund”
About the Podcast: Barry Moltz knows a lot about running a business. That comes from 15 years of successes, failures, and quite a bit of small business craziness. As the name says, Barry launched the Small Business Unstuck podcast to help get small businesses unstuck. He closes each podcast with the same message: Love everyone, trust a few, and paddle you own canoe. By that he means small business owners should embrace their community, develop a small group of peers and mentors they can trust, but know that at the end of the day, it’s up to themselves to drive their business.
Smart Companies Radio
Podcast Host: Kelly Scanlon
Favorite 2015 Episode: “The Inside Scoop on the Founding of Twitter, with Nick Bilton”
About the Podcast: Smart Companies Radio started as a local radio show in Kansas City. After coming on a friend’s shows, an executive at the station asked Kelly Scanlon if she would launch her own show — and that’s how Smart Companies was born. Thirteen years later, Kelly launched her podcast to a nationalaudience, while still maintaining her local show. She always offers listeners something they can take away from each show and act on immediately to improve their business.
Accelerate Your Business Growth
Podcast Host: Diane Helbig
Favorite 2015 Episode: “Top 5 Marketing Tips to Boost Your Sales Efforts This Year”
About the Podcast: Accelerate Your Business Growth is a podcast that aims to help with all aspects of starting and running a small business. From managing employees to boosting your sales to expanding your marketing reach, Diane Helbig engages small businesses on all fronts. She fosters engaging conversations with her guests and audience to help entrepreneurs and small businesses succeed.
The WOW Small Business Show
Podcast Host: Bryan Orr
Favorite 2015 Episode: “What Entrepreneurial DNA do You Have?”
About the Podcast: The WOW Small Business Show is all about small business owners, with a special focus on local businesses such as brick and mortar stores and service businesses. If you’ve ever been in those shoes, you know how hectic it can get, and how many different things you have to worry about aside from your job itself: customer service, accounting, marketing, managing employees, logistics — just to name a few. Bryan Orr addresses these kinds of concerns in every episode of the WOW Small BusinessShow, and aims to make all aspects of running a small business more manageable for his listeners.
350 Third
Podcast Host: Scott Barstow and Anders Brownworth
Favorite 2015 Episode: “Self-Driving Cars”
About the Podcast: Scott Barstow and Anders Brownworth focus on the leading edge of technology: drone shipping, self-driving cars, online privacy, decentralized networks. They’re not interested in pure speculation, though. Instead, they peer over the horizon and assess what impact technological developments will have on business. Their audience is a mix of small business owners and startup CEOs, as well as more hardcore technologists who like hearing about how new technologies will fit in a business context. 350 Third is all about staying current and anticipating new developments at the intersection of technology and business.
The $100 MBA Show
Podcast Host: Omar Zenhom
Producer: Nicole Baldinu
Favorite 2015 Episode: “Five Reasons Why You Should Build a Business Today”
About the Podcast: The $100 MBA is a unique podcast based on a simple but effective idea. Omar Zenhom aspires to teach listeners concrete business skills by providing a ten-minute lesson every day. In less then a year, the show has become a phenomenon on iTunes. Omar has a couple pieces of advice he keeps coming back to on his show. One is that communication is the mother of all skills, and it always pays to work on it. The other is that launching a business doesn’t necessarily require heavy financing. For many businesses, you can start small and build small, refining your business as you go.
Breaking Down Your Business
Podcast Host: Brad Farris, Jill Salzman
Producer: Lightning Atkinson
Favorite 2015 Episode: “I Know a Guy Who Could Do That…”
About the Podcast: Brad and Jill describe Breaking Down Your Business as “the Car Talk for small business”, “the most entertaining business podcast in the world”, and sometimes as “the small business podcast for people with ADHD.” It’s hard to disagree with them: Breaking Down Your Business is a rapidfire podcast that strives to offer quality advice without being boring. In each episode, Brad and Jill sit down with real life small business owners and entrepreneurs to talk about what’s driving them up a wall — and how to make these big problems just a little bit smaller.
Excellence Expected
Podcast Host: Mark Asquith
Favorite 2015 Episode: “The Art of Social Media, with Guy Kawasaki”
About the Podcast: Mark Asquith named his podcast Excellence Expected because he knows from experience that small business owners expect excellence of themselves. In every episode, he tackles a specific issue in three steps: define, challenge, and conquer. By honing in on a specific problem, he offers specific advice that business owners can take immediate action on. His biggest advice is to stay honest, and he means that in a big way: with your customers, with business partners, with employees, with your family, and — perhaps most importantly — with yourself.
Best Online Marketing Podcasts
Boagworld Show
Podcast Host: Paul Boag and Marcus Lillington
Favorite 2015 Episode: “Become a kick-ass digital project manager with Brett Harned”
About the Podcast: When Paul Boag first discovered podcasting in 2005, he was surprised to find there wasn’t a single podcast about web design. So he decided to launch his own. Since then, he’s strived to keep his show accessible to anyone with an interest in web design, ranging from entrepreneurs and business owners to designers and developers. His advice for anyone launching a digital product is to start as simple as possible, and to build from there based on your customer’s needs.
Moondog Marketing Podcast
Podcast Host: Jon Buscall
Favorite 2015 Episode: “Ten Split-Testing Techniques to Get More Customers”
About the Podcast: Jon Buscall started listening to podcasts in 2010, and soon felt the urge to try it out himself. So he bought a microphone and some recording equipment and launched a podcast through Moondog Marketing, his international marketing agency. The podcast was an immediate hit, not just with listeners but with potential clients: within two weeks, his first audio post was already drawing serious business leads. Jon advises that content marketing is a commitment, not just a campaign. To be successful at it, you have to identify your goals and key metrics and make a sustained effort to fulfill them.
Influencer Economy
Podcast Host: Ryan Williams
Favorite 2015 Episode: “Breaking Crowdfunding Records & Video Game High School, with Freddie Wong”
About the Podcast: Ryan Williams got the idea for the Influencer Economy while working as the director of marketing at Machinima, where he launched their Youtube channel and several mobile apps. More and more, he wanted to create his own content. So he launched his show, in which he interviews some of the biggest leaders in the world of online influence and social media. His audience is a mix of media and marketing professionals, startup workers, small business owners, and fans of the show’s guests. But they’re all passionate about ideas and companies, and eager to learn more about connecting with online audiences.
Social Geek Radio
Podcast Host: Deb Evans and Jack Monson
Favorite 2015 Episode: “Using Marketing Graphics for Franchises, with Guy Kawasaki and Canva”
About the Podcast: Deb and Jack created Social Geek Radio to discuss how franchises can make the most of social media. They apply everything from events to online reputation to crowdfunding to the world of franchises. According to Deb and Jack, digital media moves so fast they could talk about the same subjects year-to-year and never have the same discussion. Their advice is to experiment without fear of mistakes. Sometimes you have to try an idea before you know how well it will work — and when something does work and drives business, that’s when you do more of it.
Internet Business Mastery
Podcast Host: Jeremy Frandsen and Jason Van Orden
Favorite 2015 Episode: “How to Sell Your First Product”
About the Podcast: Jeremy and Jason quit their jobs 13 years ago and launched their first podcast a couple years later. Back then, Google didn’t know the term “podcast” and would even autocorrect it for you. From the start, Jeremy and Jason hoped to help other entrepreneurs apply the lessons they had learned from the same road, describing the obstacles they overcame and the mindset shifts they made along the way. For people interested in launching a business, Jason says you don’t necessarily need to start with a product if you can identify an audience and work from there. If you start talking to a prospective audience, you’ll build a relationship. From there you’ll not only learn how to reach that audience, but you’ll get a strong sense of what unfulfilled desires they have. And once you know that, you can start to figure out how to fulfill those needs.
Have a favorite small business podcast that was not included ont his list? Let us know in the comments section below.
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PodVader
Thanks for including some of our top business shows on BlogTalkRadio. Good to see them get the recognition they deserve.
Natalie Denyse
Hi Michael – you’ve compiled a great list! Feel free give Small Biz Stories a listen. We feature small business owners in 20-30 minute, behind-the-scenes episodes to hear how they beat the odds to achieve their dreams. Hope you enjoy it!
iTunes: http://ow.ly/PJRR8
Stitcher: http://ow.ly/Oc7k2
Michael X. Heiligenstein
I’ll have to check it out!
Mark Asquith
Wow, Michael – thank you SO much for including Excellence Expected in this list. It’s a great, great honour.
Thank you.
Mark
Michael X. Heiligenstein
For sure. We think Excellence Expected is a very insightful listen for small business owners.
Deb Evans
Franchising and the use of digital marketing (social media) has been a passion for years. The ability to share tips, tricks, and share what industry experts are doing to build and grow their business through our Social Geek Radio podcast weekly has been very rewarding.
The recognition is awesome! Thank you!
Michael X. Heiligenstein
Definitely, we’re very excited to feature Social Geek Radio. One of our analysts has been researching franchises recently, so keep an eye out for some great franchise content coming up on Fit Small Business!
Kelly Scanlon
Thanks for including my podcast, and congrats to everyone on the list!
Michael X. Heiligenstein
You’re very welcome! I think it’s really cool that you put together segments for both national and local businesses.