If you were to do a Google search for “small business advice”, you would receive about 131,000,000 results. Wow, a little overwhelming especially if you are in the start-up phase or seriously thinking about starting a business. When I decided to pursue my dream of entrepreneurship, I did tons of online research to learn as much as I could about every phase of owning my own business. It took time to find the sites that contained expert advice that was easy to digest and implement.
To help you cut through the maze, following are 10 resources that I still reference today:
Duct Tape Marketing - Resources, programs, workshops, consulting and more by John Jantsch.
Entrepreneur - The online version of the magazine. Tons of information including how-to guides, start-up basics, business planning, marketing, and technology information.
Gaebler-The Resources for Entrepreneurs - They gather news and information (100,000 unique resources according to Gaebler) from all over the web pertaining to starting, growing and running a successful business.
Inc. - Online version of Inc. magazine. Information, resources, insights and advice for starting, running and growing your business.
Small Biz Lady - Melinda Emerson is the author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months, conducts small biz chats (#smallbizchat) on Twitter every week, offers personal coaching and has a mastermind group.
Small Business Bonfire - Join (free) fellow entrepreneurs in a social, educational and collaborative community to exchange ideas, insights and support one another.
Small Business Marketing Tools - Free or low-cost marketing tools in the areas of advertising, branding, direct marketing, PR, social media, and websites.
Small Business Notes - They provide research, news and resources about starting, financing, planning and operating small businesses.
Small Business Trends - Learn about trends, news and issues through information resources like BizSugar, Small Business CEO, and Small Biz Experts.
StartUpNation - A free service founded by entrepreneurs that has a wealth of information such as forums, groups, podcasts, articles, advice and even contests.
Share your favorite small business site in the Comments section below!
This is a fantastic list! Going to share on Google+ :)
ReplyDelete@emilysuess Thanks, Emily!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the mention Karen -- nice to see Small Business Marketing Tools made your list!
ReplyDeleteDiane
http://www.sbmarketingtools.com
You're welcome, Diane!
ReplyDeleteGreat list. Thanks for including the Small Business Bonfire, Karen!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Alyssa. SBB is an excellent resource for collaboration with all types of small business owners.
ReplyDeleteThank you for these online resources. It will save me a lot of time and research. I've recently started consulting and this post will help me filter the 131,000,000 results and focus on the best ones.
ReplyDeleteGreat list of blogs Karen, my favorite one is Entrepreneur.com and I really their short videos.
ReplyDeleteThanks Karen, I liked a few of these on FB so I could continue to follow them.
ReplyDelete@gazallagaya, @ranashahbaz, @abigail gorton: Thank you for your feedback! I "liked" them on FB as well, and I'm following them on Twitter. All of them provide consistent valuable content, which is invaluable to small business owners like us.
ReplyDelete