Freebies to Use For Your Business: Latest Online Business Knowledge

This month we’ve been looking at free resources to build your business with. The past two weeks, we’ve looked at ways that you can spruce up your content for free.

First we discussed stock photos and where you can get free ones. Of course, stock photos can be used to add flair to your blog posts and other media.

Next, we looked at non copyright music and how you can use that in your media as well.

This week, we’re changing things up a bit. We’re going mental. I’m giving you some of my favorite places to get “basically free” business wisdom.

I say it’s “basically free” because even if they have premium courses or memberships, they’re relatively inexpensive compared to what’s out there. I’m not including anyone that thas content that is specifically meant for as entries to their course or events. Those all tend to get a bit more expensive that a lot of people can afford. (So, no, I won’t be including Tony Robbins, Brendon Burchard, or John Maxwell in this specific list!)

Top 5 Favorite Online Business Figures:

This is a list of individuals who I listen to on a regular basis to keep up with trends, knowledge, and general awareness of the online entrepreneurial space. Sure, there might be plenty of names out there that do this as well, but these were the folks that had significant influence in my own entrepreneurial education.

Without them, I wouldn’t know or know about half the stuff that I do today.

Pat Flynn

I had to put Pat up first because he was the first one who introduced me to making real money online. Up until I found him, I knew of Google Ads, banners, and MLM’s. But as he started exploring this world, I followed along on his journey. I just wish that I had started on my own sooner!
Gary Vaynerchuk

Pat contributed his early work to a couple of people. Robert Kiyosaki, Tim Ferriss, and Gary.

Gary’s first book, Crush It!, really helped Pat get started. While it was published in 2009, it still has a lot of very practical info. I actually read it the first week that Pat published his first podcast. Which, at the time, sounded so awesome and cool to me.

Today Gary is kicking even more butt and has an even wider fan base. Having started Vaynermedia since then, he’s brought on a staff, and has started a few series on his YouTube channel: #AskGaryVee and #DailyVee
Lewis Howes

Probably one of my favorite early guests of Pat and another guy I’ve liked watching as he’s been building his business. When he started his podcast called the School of Greatness, I loved how it had examples of folks who had done their own thing. But he wasn’t focused on the how-to, he was all about the lifestyle aspect.

Today he interviews folks such as Larry King, Wyclef Jean, and Cesar Millan!

Amazing that he started his journey from his sister’s couch!
Michael O’Neal

Michael is someone I learned quite a bit from when he was on Pat’s show, so I figured I had to start paying attention to him as well. While i haven’t been following him as long as everyone else, I would say that his podcast is amazing. He reaches those niches that Pat hasn’t been able to go into via his podcast. He’s had some MLM folks on as well as investors.

Also, Michael approaches interview as an artform that I really appreciate. His ability to be so natural on the mic is simply incredible.
Tim Ferriss

I didn’t really listen to Tim until recently. Yeah, that’s right… I know, I know!

But hear me out. The reason I didn’t was because his conversations were so long. However, my guests kept saying that they loved his show, so I started paying attention myself. Now the long conversations that once turned me away are the reasons that I listen.

From a podcaster’s perspective, like Michael, Tim is gifted on the mic as well. His long conversations get a lot more out of his guests then the more typical 30-45 minute conversations. That’s the one reason why I don’t try and keep my guests short – if they want to go on, they certainly can. If they want to keep to an our chat, there’s that option as well.

Top 5 Business Resources on the Web:

Sometimes, there’s more than just one person who runs an online business or organization. Whether I need new inspiration, or have a question that I actually need answered, here’s a list of five of my favorite resources from around the web.

Fizzle

For those of you have heard a few episodes of Angles of Lattitude podcast, you know that I’m a huge fan of Fizzle. There’s two main reasons. The first reason is because of their wide variety of video courses to help you go from point A to B in so many different topics. From as broad a topic as picking your own topic to learning how to book yourself solid with prospects and clients, to niching down even further to something like comparing video hosting services.

It’s a ton of info that you might have to spend lots of time finding yourself or paying out the nose for elsewhere.

The other reason is because the forum there, I believe, is full of folks who are actually doing something to move their business forward. Because they have to pay to play, they take things a bit more seriously. This means they actually have real experience you can tap into. I don’t think the same thing can be said about many of the groups you can find on Facebook. Some of them are simply too easy to get into and you have little to no idea if the person who’s giving the advice actually knows what they’re talking about!

Anyhow, check them out, see what courses might be useful for you and get some of your questions answered in the forum. It’ll definitely be worth your while.

Oh, and they have a podcast too!
Art of Charm

While Fizzle is good at teaching business skills, we should all realize that isn’t all there is to business. You have to have social skills as well. That’s where AoC picks up. Most people know of this group for their great podcast. And while the podcast is hosted by Jordan Harbinger, there is more to the AoC crew than him.

Personally, I’ve learned enough through the show and Jordan to give myself some life hacks here and there. But you might consider actually attending their workshop sometime in LA if you really want or need to go deep.
Social Media Examiner

We’re all in the business of getting our story out onto the web to our potential clients, audience, and customers. Problem is, the tools to do that are always changing. What worked last year might not work next year. What started off as a one man show has changed over time to what it is today – the forefront explorer of all things social.
TED

If you’re not familiar with TED, then you should definitely take a look. Just about all major thought leaders, entrepreneurs, and educators have been in a TED or TEDx presentation. My favorite three talks of all time on there are done by Mike Rowe, Tony Robbins, and of course, Simon Sinek.
Khan Academy

Most people would initially think that Khan Academy is for students between middle school and college. For the most, they’d be right. However, they actually have lessons for entrepreneurs as well! One of stories on there is from Elon Musk – do definitely something to check out if you like founder stories.

Action Steps:

So these are the basically free resources that I get a lot of my “business awareness” from these days.

If you ever need inspiration, more surface level knowledge on a certain business subject, or simply want some good words of wisdom, then these folks are all good ones to know.

Let me know below some of your favorite general business knowledge people!