12 Top Podcasts for Side Hustlers & Entrepreneurs

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If you talk to a lot of people building side hustles, chances are many of them are podcast junkies. I’m definitely one of those people, although I have times where I delete everything off my phone and go on a “podcast diet.”

Other than those times, you can generally find tons of podcasts on my phone. I find taking the dog for a long walk and listening to a good show really relaxing and inspiring.

That said, I decided to put together a list of some great podcasts I’d recommend you listen to if you’re getting into online business, looking for ideas, or just some great nerdy entertainment.

Enjoy!

Side Hustle Podcasts for Ideas & Getting Started

1. The Side Hustle Show

side hustle show

This is one of my favorite podcasts centered around making money with a side hustle. It’s a weekly show hosted by my friend Nick Loper, and he typically interviews with people who have successfully built a side hustle, and often times they were able to make a full-time living because of it.

The interviews are pretty entertaining – but make sure you have a paper and something to write with handy, you’ll be taking a LOT of notes. It’s one of those podcasts where you get a ton of great information and have clear steps to start taking action that day.

2. Side Hustle School

side hustle school

This is a newer podcast hosted by Chris Guillebeau, the guy who’s traveled to every country in the world and made money a lot of different ways. He’s definitely experienced in the top of side hustling.

The podcast is a daily show, which can be too much for people, but you don’t have to listen to every single episode. Chris finds really entertaining and intriguing stories of people who have successfully built side hustles. He essentially tells you their story of how they found the idea, what they’re doing, and how much they’re making – no interviews on this podcast.

His message is more around having a side hustle to make extra money and grow as a person, and not necessarily using it to be able to quit your job.

3. Smart Passive Income

spi

I’ve talked about Pat Flynn and Smart Passive Income before. This was my pathway into the whole digital marketing world. I owe him my entire career if we’re being honest.

As I mentioned, the Smart Passive Income Podcast is hosted by Pat Flynn, who has tried a TON of different ideas centered around making money online. And not everything works, but he talks about the failures too. If you’re even slightly interested in creating a website, running a blog, or making money on the internet, listen to this show.

He’s an extremely relatable person and conducts pretty stellar interviews of people who have built really great businesses. He also has a blog, YouTube channel, and speaks at events all over the place.

Ready to take your business to the next level? Check out this list of podcasts for entrepreneurs and start putting their advice to work! | #podcasts | #smallbiz | #businesstips

Preparing to Quit

4. The Fizzle Show

After about a year of listening to Smart Passive Income and learning everything I could, it started to become too basic for me (sorry Pat!). It didn’t dig deep enough into the business aspects of running a blog or owning a business.

That’s where the Fizzle Show came in.

I’ll be honest, at first I couldn’t stand Chase Reeves voice and his jokes – but after 3 episodes or so, I was hooked – and he turned out to be my favorite of the folks behind Fizzle!

The Fizzle Show goes into how to grow your audience, build something that matters and YOU care about, and how to actually build a sustainable business from that. They also run a kickass community called Fizzle, as you’d expect 🙂 They have lots of courses ranging from how to start podcasting, how to creating a business plan, being more productive, and how to grow your blog. They also have a really helpful community forum and you get a free 2-week trial – not too shabby if you ask me!

Growing your business

5. Mixergy

mixergy

Oh, Mixergy. I LOVE this show. Andrew Warner is probably the best interviewer/host I’ve heard. He gets his guests to tell him almost everything. He has a no BS approach, in that he doesn’t care if he offends you, he will ask the tough questions. It’s not that he doesn’t respect his guests, but he values his audience so much that he just knows what he needs to ask to answer the questions the listener is thinking.

Most of the businesses are subscription and SaaS based businesses (software as a service). I’ll be honest, some of the episodes are about topics that have nothing to do with my work, and yet I usually find myself relating to some of the concepts in those episodes.

6. Zero to Scale

zero to scale

This podcast sadly went off the air in January of this year, which is exactly when I found it. Hosted by Greg Hickman and Justin McGill, the show focused on their path from taking their service businesses from nothing to $20k in monthly recurring revenue.

I think they were publishing two episodes a week – they talk about tools they use, how they went about hiring, firing, bringing on new clients, pivoting their strategies, etc. The reason I love this is probably because I am in the middle of growing a service business, so if that’s you, have a listen! If that’s not you, I still think you can relate to some of the episodes.

I’ve found myself going back to certain episodes to learn what they did at the situations I’m in now. Definitely a great resource for you if you’re trying to grow a business.

7. Startup Podcast

startup red small

Put on by the folks at Gimlet Media, this show goes in DEPTH about growing a startup, getting funding, being a founder, and the challenges along the way.

The host records almost everything that goes on in the storyline, including challenging phone calls, tough conversations with spouses about the business, and more.

It’s got an NPR style feel to it, in the sense that it follows a storyline across multiple and the host hops in to explain the details to you.

Inspiration

8. Gary Vee Audio Experience

gary vee show

Remember how I said Smart Passive Income wasn’t enough for me at a certain point? Well, the same thing happened with the Fizzle show once I discovered Gary V.

I had heard of Gary V and heard interviews with him, but his voice drove me NUTS in the beginning. But then I came to love him and he started wearing on me. This is still the show I listen to the most, not only because he has great high-level advice, but also gets into the weeds with tactics. I really like the balance Gary V provides – which is funny if you’ve heard him before, “balance” is probably not the first word that would come to mind 😉

This show is great for anyone looking for entertainment and valuable knowledge about people skills, growing a business, and needs motivation to get sh*t done.

9. The School of Greatness

school of greatness

Lewis Howes hosts this podcast and gets really deep in his interviews with top athletes, business builders, and other extraordinary people. His interviews take on more meaningful and life-enhancing aspects, as opposed to solely focusing on business.

Lewis is a great salesman and knows how to keep people engaged in his show. This only makes the interviews more addicting. 🙂

10. The Secret to Success with Eric Thomas

secret to success

Wow, Eric Thomas (ET) is one of my favorites – up there with Gary V. This show will motivate the pants off of you to not only get work done, but to be a better person while you’re at it.

This show is not just Eric Thomas, CJ and Carl (members of his team) co-host the show with him. I’m a big fan of not only the motivation, but the guys are decent men and show a ton of respect for women which I appreciate 🙂

Watch the first 2.5 minutes of this video and if you’re not fired up, this podcast is not for you.

ET also wakes up at 3:30am, which if you know anything about me, you know I love getting up super early and getting to work. This just adds to my level of respect for him. 🙂

Other Favorites

11. Masters of Scale

masters of scale podcast

Hosted by Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, this show is realllly good. It’s quite new, as they’ve only published around 20-25 episodes, but I’m definitely going to keep listening. This is another NPR-style show with epic audio effects/sound quality and the ability to tell a great story. As long as you’re slightly interested in business, I bet you’ll enjoy this one.

Reid interviews great folks, then the Masters of Scale team combines that with his own storyline of how businesses evolve, all mixed with great storytelling. It’s quite unique, and I’m definitely a fan of this one.

12. How I Built This

how i built this podcast

I love me some Guy Raz (the host of this podcast). His voice is great, the overall audio of this podcast is excellent, and they interview some top-level people in business. This includes the founders of: Instagram, Spanx, Sam Adams, Chipotle, Starbucks, and the list goes on and on.

This show gives an inside look into the founders’ backgrounds, the creation of those massive brands, and what they’re doing now. It’s a great show, and even when I’m talking to people who aren’t entrepreneurs, someone always brings it up as one of their favorites, so definitely check it out!

Those are my 12 recommendations on podcasts to get started with. Of course, there are tons of others, and I’m sure I’ll do a part 2 of this in the future. For now, check out some of these and let me know what you think.

What are some of your favorite business/entrepreneurship podcasts?

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