You face unique challenges and opportunities as a small business owner, so why not tune into a podcast to help you navigate the waters and learn from other people’s successes and challenges? Tuning in to the right ones can make all the difference in the world in how you address challenges, grow your business or keep up with industry trends. Here are nine podcasts we think can help.

1. Accidental Creative: Creativity, Innovation, and Doing Brilliant Work

The Accidental Creative podcast is hosted by Todd Henry, author of Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day and the Accidental Creative. He’s also a speaker and consultant. Episodes include interviews with artists and industry leaders, and delve into the stickier aspects of living in a create-on-demand world. The show is thoughtful yet practical, providing useful information on ways to stay creatively engaged and thrive despite real-world issues. Episodes are on the shorter side, often only around 20 minutes or so.

2. Back to Work

Back to Work is an award-winning talk show hosted by Dan Benjamin, a developer, UX designer and writer; and Merlin Mann, a writer, speaker and broadcaster. In each episode they discuss productivity, barriers and constraints at work, communication, tools, and more. Episodes typically last over an hour and include a lot of humor.

3. Duct Tape Marketing

Each week, the Duct Tape Marketing podcast features interviews with thought leaders, authors and creative entrepreneurs. It’s hosted by author John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing, Duct Tape Selling, the Referral Engine and the Commitment Engine. Podcasts are usually about a half hour long and include a guest.

4. HBR IdeaCast

Harvard Business News hosts a weekly podcast with analysis and advice from the leading minds in management. Episodes, including interviews, typically last around 20 minutes or less. Guests have included the likes of Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Recent topics have included decision-making, risk management, motivation, management and even gender. While the podcast is always professionally produced, HBR IdeaCast explores sticky and sometimes controversial topics.

5. The Lede

The Lede is a short-form broadcast hosted by Jerod Morris, the director of Content for Copyblogger Media. (Disclosure: I also write for Copyblogger.) In true Copyblogger fashion, topics include copywriting, content marketing, email marketing, and more. The show features special guests as well as a rotating lineup of Copyblogger staff. Recent topics include finding ideas, link building, content curation, and so forth.

6. Mixergy

Not only does Mixergy provide a virtual who’s who among successful tech entrepreneurs, Andrew Warner is the best interviewer in the industry. His probing, insightful questions and genuine curiosity turns what could be a podcast where guests simply promote themselves to one that provides value to the listener. Interviews are posted multiple times a week. Some are available free of charge, but a premium (paid) membership includes access to all 1,028 interviews as well as 138 courses designed to help you in various aspects of marketing, sales, copywriting and more. Yearly memberships also allow readers to download interviews instead of simply listening or viewing online.

7. Six Pixels of Separation

Six Pixels of Separation is put on by Mitch Joel, author of Ctrl Alt Delete and president of Twist Image. He’s a master of digital marketing. In his long-running (more than 400) podcast, Joel presents key insights about the state of marketing through interviews with industry leaders. His podcasts run about 45 minutes.

8. Social Media Marketing

This podcast, hosted by Social Media Examiner, is created for busy marketers and business owners who want to know what works best with social media marketing. They are hosted by Michael Stelzner, the author of Launch & Writing White Papers (as well as Social Media Examiner). Each episode has one specific theme, such as social media mistakes or Instagram marketing, discussed with a guest.

9. Social Triggers Insider

Derek Halpern’s podcast, Social Triggers Insider, is intermittent, but definitely worth the wait. He is a voracious reader, has an excellent grasp of psychology and human behavior, and uses that knowledge to help entrepreneurs learn how to attract leads and make sales through cutting edge research and insights about life and business. Halpern’s also highly energetic and shoots from the hip, so his podcast provides instant insight without skirting around the issues. His guests include New York Times best-selling authors, researchers, professors and more. Halpern plans to podcast more frequently, but for now, you can catch up with the 21 episodes he has already broadcast.

Have a favorite podcast of your own? Tell us about it in the comments.

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