Day 27 - 3 Great Podcasts for Solopreneurs

You can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf.

One of the benefits of running an on-line handmade jewelry shop is that I spend a good portion of my day sitting in my studio making jewelry. Since my husband is at work during the day, it's just me and the dog at home. It's quiet and I love it. I used to listen to music or surf YouTube for random videos, but I've recently discovered podcasts, and I'm hooked! Talk about multi-tasking. I'm able to make my jewelry while learning all about running a business. I can honestly say it's been a big game changer for me.

While there are no shortage of business related podcasts out there, I'm listing my top 3 that I've found so far. I'm looking forward to discovering even more out there, so if you have any suggestions, please post them.

Michael O'Neal - The Solopreneur Hour
This is currently my favorite podcast and I've been listening to Michael O'Neal daily as I catch up on all 80+ of his episodes. He just started last year in August and broadcasts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Plus, he's located in my hometown - San Diego!

His audio podcast, Solopreneur Hour, features conversations with top-notch solopreneurs from all industries and backgrounds, including network marketing, internet marketing, art, music, fitness, actors, etc. These guests (or as Michael more aptly refers to them 'co-hosts') are true entrepeneurs who have acheived great success - not through magic, but hard work, endurance, and innovation.

As Michael states on his website - "Our mission is to take you through their journey, give you actionable steps and actions to help you with your ventures, and inspire you to take massive action.   Hopefully we’ll have a few laughs along the way. We share practical steps and tools, including books, smartphone apps, websites, training courses, strategies and stories that will support you every step of the way."

I wish I could list the best podcasts, but they are all so seriously fantastic that every single podcast is my favorite after I've listened to it. Ones that I found especially relevant to where I'm at right now in my business growth have been:

• Natasha Wescoat: Building An Art Empire With Social Media
• Everything You Wanted to Know About Branding, But Were Afraid to Ask, with David Roth
• How to get 100,000 Facebook Likes with Bret Gregory
• Cliff Ravenscraft: Turning a Hobby into a SIX FIGURE INCOME 
   

Convince And Convert - Social Pros Podcast
Social Pros specialize in social media marketing. Their tag line is Real People Doing Real Work in Social Media. Since I've decided to concentrate a lot of my efforts this year on social media, these podcasts have been right up my alley - chocked full of great information on this ever-expanding area on the internet.

Each 30-60 minute episode includes:

1. Interview with a leading social media strategist, manager, director of community, or similar working for a corporation or organization.
2. Social Media Stat of the Week, discussed and ratified or debunked by Jay and Jeff Rohrs of ExactTarget.
3. Holy Social, an amazing social media case study
4. Two Big Questions, where our weekly guest shares the answers to four questions asked by the hosts based on their experiences.

A few of their podcasts have included:

• The Avalanche of Information and Scalability of Social Media
• 75 People You Need to Know in Social Media
• How to Leverage a Community of Passionate Fans 
• 4 Experts on What It Takes to Be an Amazing Social Pro  

A lot of their content is geared towards bigger companies but can be scaled down to make it relevant to solopreneurs, such as myself.

Rick Mulready - Inside Social Media Podcast

Rick interviews people that are heads of social media from successful companies. 

From his 'About' page, he states:

"Because so many small businesses find social media overwhelming and confusing.  They dabble and thus find it ineffective in growing their business. Big brands, though, tend to know what works and what doesn’t. They have the budget, resources and brand name behind them and are at the forefront of social media strategy. We can look at the fundamental social media principles these brands are successfully using and model and adapt them for our own businesses. The idea is to break down the principles that are working and simply and easily apply them to our own businesses, with little to no budget."

I love this! This guy is totally speaking to me and I've learned so much already from the few of his podcasts I've been able to listen to.

• MTV’s Tom Fishman on Choosing the Best Social Channels for Your Business
• Neil Patel on How to Drive Massive Traffic to Your Website
• Building a Massively Successful Online Business Through Social & Online Media with World Famous Drummer Mike Johnston 

I hope this list gets you pumped up to start listening to podcasts too. I personally have found them to be so inspiring.