Top 10 Most Practical Blogs for Entrepreneurs
Monday October 24, 2005
With more and more people jumping on the business blogging bandwagon, it's getting to the point that there is far more out there than you could ever hope to read on a regular basis. To help you filter that infoglut down to a more manageable level, here is my list of the ten most practical blogs for entrepreneurs.
NOTE: Blogs come and go, and several of the blogs originally listed here have either been discontinued or become relatively inactive. I've moved those to the honorable mention section because they earned the honor at the original time of this post, but I've added some of my new favorites in their place.
- Small Business Trends - Anita Campbell looks at the latest trends affecting small businesses and entrepreneurs. A must-read for entrepreneurs.
- Just for Small Business - Full of thought-provoking tips for small business owners from Denise O'Berry, I like this blog because the topics are often unexpected - not your usual small business fare.
- WorkHappy.net - Carson McComas lives up to this blog's subtitle of "killer resources for entrepreneurs" by providing links and reviews of "killer" applications and other resources to help entrepreneurs work smarter, not harder.
- Duct Tape Marketing - John Jantsch delivers 2-3 small business marketing tips weekly in easily digestible, actionable bite-size chunks.
- The Entrepreneurial Mind - Jeff Cornwall, Director of the Belmont University Center for Entrepreneurship, looks at trends in small business and entrepreneurship and their impact on individual business owners.
- BizzBangBuzz - Pittsburgh attorney Anthony Cerminaro delivers excellent commentary and some original posts on the challenges facing emerging growth companies, with particular emphasis on legal issues.
- Business Opportunities Weblog - Dane Carlson mixes links and commentary on legitimate business opportunities with his thoughts and personal experiences regarding entrepreneurship.
- Go BIG Blog - 9-time serial entrepreneur Wil Schroter, founder of the Go BIG Network, a networking site that helps growth-oriented entrepreneurs connect with investors, suppliers, co-founders and employees, uses his "no-BS" approach to tell entrepreneurs the way it really is that you won't read in the books.
- Young Entrepreneur Journey - Michael Simmons, bestelling author of The Student Success Manifesto explores what he calls "Extreme Entrepreneurship". It's a new blog, but the content is already outstanding.
- Startup Spark - Ben Yoskovitz provides a steady supply of business tips, plus some in-depth discussion of things like entrepreneurial passion, social entrepreneurship and dealing with business failure. Startup Spark also hosts the new Carnival of Entrepreneurs.
A list like this inevitably sparks some controversy, so before I get hit with a flurry of e-mails or a rant on Fark or Slashdot about what an idiot I am for overlooking a particular blog, let me explaing a little about my methodology. It might be easier to explain what is not in this list and why. Consider this my Honorable Mentions:
- Blogs by famous entrepreneurs - Entertaining and informative though they are, they tend to be mostly about that entrepreneur's business and whatever other topics they find interesting. I stuck to blogs that are more generally relevant and practical for entrepreneurs. I'll probably do a separate list of these, though at some point. Some of my favorites in this category are Mark Cuban, Anita Roddick and Seth Godin.
- VC blogs - Blogging has become very popular among venture capitalists, and many are worth reading, particularly if you are (or are planning to become) a venture-funded entrepreneur. But the VC blogs also tend to look more at the VC side of things and also tend to include a lot of personal musings about other topics. A good read, but perhaps not for the time-constrained entrepreneur not interested in venture capital. I'll also probably do a separate list of these, but for now, some of my favorites are Torsten Jacobi, A VC Blogs, VentureBlog, Southeast VC and VCball.
- Aggregator blogs - The blogs on the list all feature a substantial amount of original content by the author and commentary on links to other sites and stories. If you just want a list of good articles for entrepreneurs, I highly recommend Small Business Brief and Business Know-How.
- Too new to tell - A lot of bloggers seem to lose interest after a few months, so I've stuck with blogs that have been established and consistently posting for six months or more. Some of my favorite new blogs to watch include Young Entrepreneur Journey, Home-Based Business Blog and Venture Voice.
- Blogs about business blogging - There are easily ten great blogs out there about how to earn money with a blog or how to use a blog to support your business. Some of the best are ProBlogger, Blog Business World, Business Blog Consulting and Buzz Marketing with Blogs.
- Niche topics - I stuck mostly to blogs that are generally applicable to most entrepreneurs, not specific types of business. If you're into these topics, check out eBay Seller Central, Candle Making Blog and Home Party Plan Blog.
- Number 11+ - There are more than ten blogs that meet these criteria, but 10 is that digestible magic number (and also the limit on the size of my blogroll in our content management tool), so 10 it is. I do have a larger list that includes some great blogs that just didn't quite squeeze into the top 10, but may in the future.
- MIA - There are some great blogs that have languished into inactivity for whatever reason. I only included blogs that have been very consistent in their posting, but I highly recommend reading the archives of Entrepreneur's Life and re:invention. I'd love to see these people posting again. Also, some of the original honorees on this list have either slipped into inactivity or changed their focus:
- Home Office Voice - Internet entrepreneur Martin Neumann shared his experience and tips for building a web-based business. The site was discontinued and then relaunched, but it has changed focus significantly - it's now a list of site/tool reviews and the archives aren't on the site. Still useful, but not what it once was.
- Sacred Cow Dung - There are a number of really good blogs out there by venture capitalists about the VC market, entrepreneurship, and so on, but Christian Mayaud's blog is for me the one that most consistently provides content that is actionable, not just informative. Sorry to see him stop posting. Great archives.
- Escape Velocity - Flemming Funch chronicles the ups and downs of life as an Internet entrepreneur. Flemming still posts occasionally, and the archives are well worth reading.
- About.com blogs - It just wouldn't look right to include the other About.com guides on this list, though I certainly think many of them deserve to be there. Consider adding Small Business Information, Small Business: Canada, Online Business, Consulting/Freelance and Marketing to your list. Also check out our business channel for blogs on specific industries and general business topics. And if you want to learn more about blogs, including how to read them more easily and how to create them, check out our Weblogs topic.
Comments
Thanks for taking the time to post this. Good stuff.
John Jantsch’ blog is not that great and his newsletter has turned into one about him than about the readers. I don’t know why he keeps getting mentioned. Otherwise, this is a great list! Thanks!
you didn’t list any blogs on selling
Great list. I’ll be adding links to them from mine at http://smartstartup.typepad.com/
Hi Scott - great list of blogs. I found a few new ones so thanks! You might spend some time at allbusiness.com. They have about 40 good business related blogs your readers might enjoy. (Disclaimer: I write one of their blogs.)
Scott: this is a terrific resource for entrepreneurs. I’d like to recommend Kauffman eVenturing’s Entrepreneur’s Viewpoint Blog (http://blog.kauffman.org/index.php/entrepreneur_viewpoint/index), in which I’m one of the writers. We feature entrepreneurs as bloggers along with entrepreneur interviews. Many thanks.
I wish I had found this list earlier! Thanks so much for taking the time to put this together. I found two good blogs in my independent research written by successful entrepreneurs - I’ve listed them below
founderblog.com
This one is by a guy named Frank Addante - he started 5 companies while in his twenties - very impressive!
jesserasch.com
This one is by a guy named Jesse Rasch. Pretty new blog but his background posts on the companies started in his teens are extremely detailed and motivational!
Another serial entrepreneur blog to consider is Keene View.
For example, Top 10 Business Idea Mistakes for entrepreneurs (a summary of an 8 week INSEAD course taught by Chris Keene) is here
Here’s a good one on creative financing.
http://smartstartup.typepad.com/
good stuff.
http://www.evirtualpie.blogspot.com
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Can you direct me to blogs on online affiiate sites and their viability for making 7 to 8 figures. Any suggestions for strategies would be great. I love the website…I just want to make it happen big! I need to retire!
http://www.YoungEntrepreneur.com/blog is a great source for small businesses and entrepreneurs!
This is a great website for start-ups and those who are wanting to network so they can improve thier companies.
www.efactor.com
They provide financial support as well as strategic advice.
Check out a blog for 20-somethings with regards to investing, retirement, and careers: 20smoney.com
You are right that blogs come and go. And it’ll take efforts to really keep track of active and worthy blogs. Thanks for your list. I’ll keep this page as a bookmark to make it handy.
This list helped me a lot..Thanks for this!! more power!!
Hey Scott,
Great site, thanks for the info.
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Great list, a new UK entrpreneur blog was started few weeks ago http://entrepreneurstudent.co.uk
Thousands and look closer buy cytotec dead hand held.
I highly recommend the blog at WealthWithoutaJob.info, based on the best-selling book, Wealth Without a Job, by Andy Fuehl. He also has other audios, videos, books and eBooks that are beneficial to entrepreneurs, including the Nightingale-Conant Audio companion to Wealth Without a Job.
Hi…i wrote about the 100 things I learned in 25 years of startups..maybe a reader will read and it will help.
http://blogs.jobdig.com/wwds/2008/02/12/100-attributes-of-successful-entrepreneurs-now-an-e-book/
Thanks for the information. I’ll be checking all of these out.
Hi Scott! Love your stuff! Just read and checked out pretty much every blog on your list, thanks for putting it together!
One type of blogs I am not seeing is on the topic of lifestyle entrepreneurship, virtual business design, specifically women-oriented.
Hope this meets your criteria:
http://www.milana.com
Thanks!
You compiled a great list of entrepreneur blogs here.
Thanks for the list. Very useful and inspiring. Also, http://www.entrepreneurrevolution.net is worth investigating for entrepreneurial education.
Great list of blogs there.
One also worth checking out that focuses on online business and Branding is:
http://www.namecake.com/category/blog/
There are many new faces on the list…
See them here: http://www.playandsearch.com/internetmillionaires.htm
Thank you for the fantastic list. I will be bookmarking most of these.
Here is another entrepreneur blog worth checking out: http://alanharris.com.au
While it may not be as established as some of the other blogs out there, I am constantly filling it with unique, quality content.
Feel free to come and have a read.
Holy Smokes, Quite the list you have provided here. I read alot of the blogs and loved mosr of them, Just wanted to stop by and thank you personally for the great list, Really opened my eyes to some different ideas!
I’ve been writing my blog ever since I started up my company. The early posts detailed how to get legal help, find office space, hire help, and everything else you think you need to know. More recently I detail what we’re going through, ideas about networking, and just the things I think about. It gives good insight into the life of a poor entrepreneur. http://www.mylifestartingup.com
Fantastic list, thanks for the great sites of wonderful information.
As entrepreneurs we need resources. We tend to get overwhelmed easily because we are all “risk takers”. Thanks for narrowing it down and helping to keep it simple.
scott, when was this list last updated?
october 24, 2005?
if so, you need to take some of your own advice:
“
“I say semi-permanent because I will be keeping this list up-to-date, so those of you who are on that list, keep up the good work if you want to keep that front-page link! No slacking.
Last time I updated it was about a year ago. Even when I update it, though, the original post date stays the same.
I just went through them — looks like all of them are current except Young Entrepreneur Journey. I’ll bump it and pull someone else in.
Hello!
Very Interesting post! Thank you for such interesting resource!
PS: Sorry for my bad english, I’v just started to learn this language
See you!
Your, Raiul Baztepo
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