~by Haley Lynn Gray~
Starting a small business is like trying to wrap your hand around a greasy watermelon. Growing said business is like pushing a growing boulder uphill, while maintaining the multiple responsibilities of a business is a juggling act unlike any other. Wherever you are in the adventure of being an entrepreneur, wisdom and guidance from other professionals is an invaluable resource you should be utilizing.
Here are, in no particular order, some of the best business blogs I’ve found.
20. Harvard Business Review
Harvard’s known for being the crème de la crème of colleges, and this blog is in the same vein. Tap into this for useful tidbits on leadership, strategy, and innovation from some of the world’s top business and management experts.
19. Small Business Trends
You’d be hard pressed to find a blog more expansive and extensive. Founded in 2003 – way back in the Internet’s dial up days – it now has over 6 million readers every year. There isn’t a topic about small business they haven’t tackled from multiple angles, so their archives are a gold mine of great info.
18. The Franchise King
Being profitable within a franchise is a different animal altogether than starting your own operation from scratch. Whether you’re trying to decide if being a franchise owner is for you, how to evaluate a franchise’s potential, or keys to running a successful branch within a franchise – this blog is an excellent guidebook for you.
17. Startup Savant
A blog that dishes out a lot of helpful advice and tools for a new business owner. The resources usually must be purchased, but that produces two benefits: no annoying ads on this blog, and a percentage of the proceeds go towards a charity for children’s education.
16. The Entrepreneur’s Library
While enormously useful ways to get information, blogs are essentially potato chips of knowledge. Books are meals. You’ve only got so much time to read, so the trick is reading the right books for you. Let this blog help you with that. Its purpose is to help entrepreneurs find the best business books to further their knowledge, skills, and success.
15. Blogtrepreneur
If you are an entrepreneur for whom blogging is a necessity this is a concise path to learn about both. Dedicated to providing relevant advice for both fields, it is a top blog for entrepreneurs and a good hand holding tool for aspiring bloggers.
14. Business Insider
A powerhouse finance blog, Business Insider has its articles organized into five daily charts: tech, money & markets, briefing, ideas, and executive life. They do a great job of picking stories for these sections, so you’re bound to find useful insights and information between them.
13. TechCrunch
TechCrunch focuses on new Internet products and technology news and development. If your business is very online or technology oriented then you shouldn’t pass this one up. Even if not, with laptops, cell phones, and software constantly evolving, every entrepreneur will eventually need to know what’s what about some kind of hardware or program. These guys are the gurus.
12. Smart Passive Income
The title pretty much says it all. If you’re more interested in running a side business rather than busting 60-plus hours a week, then consider this our go-to. This site constantly provides experiences, news and tips on passive income makers such as royalties, rental income, profiting from an online business, and so on.
11. The Entrepreneurs Source
This blog is from the Entrepreneurs Source, a franchise and business coaching company backed by 30 years of experience. Naturally, their blog is a support tool largely dedicated to newer business owners or those considering a franchise or startup. If you are still trying to figure out if you want to be an entrepreneur, or how being one would work for you, this is a good place to start. As a bonus, you can schedule a free meeting with a local business coach.
10. Freakanomics
Funny, fascinating, and eccentric by comparison, this blog actually inspired its own film back in 2010. “When to Rob a Bank” and “How to Make a Bad Decision” are some of the things you’ll learn here. Despite sounding flippant on the surface, Freakonomics is a deep blog which supplies information highly applicable to entrepreneurship. For instance, the latter article mentioned is a deep analysis on proper decision making using easy to understand examples like baseball and loan applications. If you like to be entertained while learning useful information, give this blog a look.
9. Copy Blogger
Read here to become a marketing master. Copy blogger is considered the Bible of content marketing in some circles. Since being founded 10 years ago, the business has blossomed into an annual revenue of 8 figures. Pretty good indication these guys know their stuff!
8. Planet Money
If you like podcasts, consider this planet… er, blog, as it’s great for explaining economic matters in layman’s terms. You won’t find direct tips on how to run your business here, but this blog can help you educate yourself on economic factors that affect your business. If nothing else, Planet Money serves as a decent news outlet, covering complex issues without too much of a liberal or a conservative lean.
7. Young Entrepreneur Blog
Getting started is the hard part, and that’s what this blog is dedicated to helping people with. Here you’ll find information on those things all entrepreneurs learn through trial and error: sales techniques, smart financing, identifying opportunities, and setting goals, to name a few.
6. Young Upstarts
If you were disappointed that Young Entrepreneurs wasn’t directed towards the younger generation, this is the blog you were wanting instead. Being an entrepreneur below thirty is no small challenge, therefore the information here focuses on leadership, development and startup tactics.
5. Wordstream
If you use Google AdWords, this is a necessary stop. With articles like “5 Questions AdWords Advertisers Should Ask Themselves Every Quarter”, this is an excellent hub of information about PPC and SEO digital marketing strategies and content promotion wisdom.
4. Linked Into Business
LinkedIn is one of the most prolific social media outlets available, and no one knows how to use it better than Viveka von Rosen. This is her blog through which she guides entrepreneurs on how to use LinkedIn to their advantage and includes guests post on social media matters and social analytics. If nothing else check out the link marked “tips” which provides a grocery list of how to make LinkedIn work for you.
3. Seth’s Blog
A hugely successful blog, and for good reason. Seth Godin has authored no less than 18 books on business and marketing. If you want further proof of his credentials, just do a Google search for “Seth” and see how many of the top hits lead to him.
2. Women on Business
Like Wall Street, the world of business can get a bit testosterone heavy. This blog is written for women, by women. You can find a little bit of everything business related here – Women on Business eschews focusing on any specific area in favor of covering a wide breadth of topics from the female perspective.
1. Duct Tape Marketing
Written by John Jantsh, an accomplished marketing consultant and award winning social media expert. His company trains and licenses marketing consultants for small business throughout the world, so gleaning a few tips from his blog is basically getting one of the world’s best consultant’s service for free.
Have you been using Google as your business consultant?
Are you ready to start working with an expert in business instead?
Schedule a consult with me today.
Meet the Author: Haley Lynn Gray
Haley helps female entrepreneurs create a strategy plan for their businesses – so they can make enough money to spend quality time with their family, pay for their children’s dance lessons, pay bills – and not worry about where the next client is coming from.
Haley is a serial entrepreneur and founder of Leadership Girl. She helps other entrepreneurs build their businesses by sharing the benefits of her business education and experience through Business Coaching.
Whether you want to get a new business off the ground or expand an existing business, Haley can assist you.
Connect with Haley:
- Work with Haley: https://leadershipgirl.com/work-with-haley/
- Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Leadershipgirl
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haleygray
