Business Books and Podcasts: My Favorite Things- Part I
Over the past six years, I have done a lot of professional development to learn the “business side” of my business. I think it is essential to educate yourself about money management, negotiation, leadership, and sales (to name a few!) in order to build a successful business. While it can be expensive to pay for formal classes in a degree or certificate program, it can be FREE to learn with books and podcasts. So, I will be writing periodic blog posts that highlight my favorite resources.
Books
(1) Business Boutique by Christy Wright. If you are looking for a beginner’s guide to pursuing your business idea and putting together an action plan, Christy is your girl! She includes lots of examples and storytelling with each lesson, and each chapter ends with action steps to complete. Her target audience for the book is women entrepreneurs, but I think her content is valuable for a variety of audiences.
(2) Permission to Screw Up: How I Learned to Lead by Doing (Almost) Everything Wrong by Kristen Hadeed. This is such a fun book! Kristen is a really vivid storyteller, so it reads like a novel. I would strongly recommend this book for anyone interested in growing their business and team. She has many great lessons about how to manage and motivate the people you supervise (and also what not to do!)
Podcasts
Description: A weekly show for independent professionals who want to go from six-figures to seven while increasing their impact on the world. The podcast hosts are Rochelle Moulton and Jonathan Stark. She is a business and brand strategist and he is a former software consultant who now coaches others to charge what they are worth by ditching hourly billing for value pricing.
Fun episode to get you started: Episode 61, Raising Your Rates.
(2) Creative Class, a podcast for freelancers
Description: Kaleigh Moore and Paul Jarvis talk about all things related to the business of freelancing. Kaleigh is a Freelance Writer for SaaS & eCommerce and Paul is a writer, designer, podcaster, online course teacher and software creator. They talk: Clients. Pricing. Landing projects. Getting paid. Managing revisions (endless revisions). Finding clients and connecting with them in a way that feels right for you. If you’re like most freelancers, it’s the business stuff that keeps you awake at night, not the actual writing, programming or designing. That’s where the Creative Class podcast comes in.
Fun episode to get you started: Season 1, Episode 1, How To Find Out If You Are Right For Freelancing
Description: Host Natalie Eckdahl, MBA is a coach to high performing women. She is married with three children ages 4-16. Natalie helps women entrepreneurs own their role as CEO through her business trainings, on air coaching calls and expert interviews. Learn how to master your mindset, grow as a leader, refine your strategies, build your team and gain visibility in your industry.
Fun episode to get you started: Episode 355, 5 Lessons from 5 Years of Business Plus 3 Trends for 2019
Description: Host Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.
Fun episode to get you started: Canva: Melanie Perkins [since so many consultants use Canva for marketing graphics, it’s fun to hear where it came from!]
What are your favorite business books and podcasts? Please comment below!