Are you ready to start a small business or a side hustle? As EIN filings enjoy a slight uptick and Google searches for terms like “new business opportunities” increase, many individuals are using this unprecedented time to embrace entrepreneurship.
Where can they go for help to get started? If you’re maxed out on watching YouTube videos and reading blog posts, try listening to a podcast about entrepreneurship. These podcasts are hosted by experienced pros who have been exactly where you are today — and know you can be successful tomorrow. Here are a few podcasts that cover the basics of starting a small business.
Side Hustle Pro
Ready to build your side hustle from passion project to profitable business? Nicaila Matthews Okome is ready to help you turn your dreams into reality with her podcast Side Hustle Pro.
Side Hustle Pro is the first podcast to spotlight Black women entrepreneurs who scaled their side gigs into successful companies. In a rewind episode titled “I QUIT my Job!” Okome reveals she knew a year prior to quitting her full-time job in 2017 that working for herself was no longer a want. It was a need. She began learning about potential revenue streams and launched an online course. From there, she looked into public speaking opportunities, creating a media kit, and reaching out to sponsors about her passion project, Side Hustle Pro. Today, her podcast has over two million downloads. Side Hustle Pro balances interviews with successful Black entrepreneurs like The Lip Bar’s Melissa Butler alongside entrepreneurial topics such as forming an LLC and juggling a side hustle with a full-time job.
Asel Mukambetova, Esq. is the CEO and Founder of SelfLawyer, an online legal services platform focusing on immigration. Mukambetova says Side Hustle Pro inspired her to start her entrepreneurial journey. The best lesson Mukambetova has learned from the podcast is the importance of getting early customer feedback.
“Hearing real-life stories of female entrepreneurs is always inspiring. Learning what results women can achieve in business in just a few years is amazing,” Mukambetova says.
Audrey Washington, Money and Credit Coach at Fiercely Financial Coaching, is an avid Side Hustle Pro listener.
“I like that her show highlights successful Black women entrepreneurs who I can relate to,” Washington says. “I feel a connection to these women. If they are continuing to achieve success in their businesses and grow personally and professionally, I can too.”
Washington is also considering starting a side hustle — inspired by Side Hustle Pro.
“I love what I do, but since the pandemic hit I would like to add a side hustle of my own to see if that can grow into a viable business,” Washington says.
Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield
Do you know how to reach more customers using TikTok without dancing? Can you grow your email list with quizzes? How can you set your affiliates up for success? All these questions, and more that on digital marketing, are answered in Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield.
Fashion and Beauty Content Creator Austen Tosone is a big fan of Porterfield’s podcast.
“The biggest lesson I’ve learned so far is the value of an email list,” Tosone says. “In this world where offers from brands completely stalled in March it’s important for content creators to have their own digital products and services. The best way to market those offerings is through emails rather than social media.”
Tosone also likes that each episode is broken down into manageable and actionable tasks. This allows Tosone, who listens to the podcast on her headphones, to take off her headphones and implement these strategies right in the moment.
The Bootstrapped VC
Most entrepreneurs don’t have an endless amount of money to spend on building a business — and female entrepreneurs still struggle to receive necessary capital.
Arlan Hamilton is an investor and the host of The Bootstrapped VC, a podcast that takes a closer look at answering deep financial questions such as how to build a fund from scratch and what, exactly, investors look for when funding startups.
Liang Zhao, CEO of Vansary, has spent the past couple of years working with venture capital firms. Zhao is inspired by Arlan because she’s not your typical investor. Arlan built a venture capital fund from the ground up while homeless. As the founder of Backstage Capital, which started from scratch in 2015, she is passionate about minimizing funding disparities in tech.
“She didn’t have millions of dollars from friends and family,” Zhao says. “Arlan wanted to invest in people typically overlooked by VCs: founders who identify as women, people of color, and LGBTQ. Whenever I have moments of self-doubt, I listen to Arlan’s podcast and get inspired to shift my mindset and keep moving forward.
Wonder Podcast
Amid COVID-19, Amanda Ma, CEO of Innovate Marketing Group, is turning to Wonder Podcast for inspiration. Hosted by entrepreneur and inventor Kalika Yap, Wonder Podcast is an Entrepreneurs’ Organization production and the ultimate podcast for conversations with thought leaders.
Ma credits Wonder Podcast for teaching her that entrepreneurs have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
“As entrepreneurs, we are constantly embracing change. I have learned about how other small businesses are pivoting during this challenging time and leveraged some of these learnings for my own business,” Ma says.
“Nobody is alone in this process. We are building a business community that we can trust to help each other.”
How I Built This
NPR’s How I Built This is an entrepreneurial podcast that many of the female entrepreneurs I spoke with collectively agree is one of their favorites.
“How I Built This is actually the first podcast I ever listened to!” says Liana Pavane, Digital Wellness Coach and Founder of TTYL. “This podcast showed me that everyone starts somewhere and, a lot of the times, will fail for the first few years.”
Each week, listeners tune in to hear host Guy Raz chat with founders of successful businesses. Think companies like S’well, Ben & Jerry’s, and Birchbox. How I Built This doesn’t conduct interviews based solely on achievements and pats on the back. Instead, Raz digs in deep with each founder to learn about their startup’s story. Where did their ideas come from? What happened when these entrepreneurs made mistakes and failed? And what seemingly small steps, such as choosing a business name, made a huge impact in where the business is today?
As the CEO of SevenSkin Beauty, Olivia Griffian is in the early startup stages. The raw storytelling of How I Built This keeps Griffian faithful and optimistic about her business.
“So far, the best lesson I’ve learned is to keep one foot in front of the other,” Griffian says. “No matter how big an obstacle seems, if you chip away at it little by little, you’ll have made a sculpture in a few months.”
At the end of the episode, Raz always asks this question. Do you think you got to where you are today because of luck or hard work?
“From that answer alone, I’ve learned that more often than not, you just have to be in the right place at the right time,” Pavane says. “These stories have really put things into perspective for me as a female entrepreneur.