5 podcasts to help grow your side hustle

If you’re a side-hustler, launching yourself into the adventure of running your own business; you’ll know that you don’t have a lot of free time.

But, it’s worth putting aside some of the precious time you do have, to take in some podcasts for side-hustlers. These can be full of inspiring ideas and pro-tips that can help elevate your business.

There are several podcasting apps you can use to listen to your favourite shows. Some of them were custom designed for podcasts, others are music streaming platforms that also offer podcasts.

A few of the key players are…

● Spotify - over 500 million users.

● Soundcloud - over 100 million users.

● Amazon Music - over 100 million users.

● Podcast Addict - over 10 million users.

● Castbox - over 10 million users.

● Google Podcasts - over 10 million users.

● Stitcher - over 5 million users.

● Podbean - 5 million users.

● BBC Sounds - over 1 million users.

● Apple Podcasts - unknown number of users, it comes pre-installed.

Earlier in the year, we discussed why you should think about creating a podcast for your business, but what inspiring podcasts for entrepreneurs and side-hustlers should you listen to? There is a vast reservoir of experience, opinion and wisdom out there to be listened to and learned from.

Here are just a few of the podcasts we think you should queue-up and listen to...

Side-hustler podcast #1: The Side Hustle Show

This podcast is run by the business community, Side Hustle Nation and, as such, making regular visits should be a no-brainer for anyone embarking on a new part-time business venture.

The podcast is a weekly show hosted by entrepreneur, Nick Loper, who typically interviews successful people who have taken their business from an acorn to an oak-tree and are happy to offer lots of helpful advice on how they did it.

The episodes are also supported by accompanying blog entries, So, for example, you can get methodical, no-nonsense advice on how you can still make the most of email marketing and how you can use LinkedIn for lead generation, among many, many more.

There are more than 400 episodes now and you can check them all out here.

Side-hustler podcast #2: The Tim Ferriss Show

Tim Ferriss walked the walk before making his name by talking the talk. In 2001 he set up a nutritional supplements business, which he sold in 2010. By which time he’d already written his multi-million-selling self-help book ‘The Four Hour Work Week’, which is full of useful advice about how overworked business-people can streamline and outsource a lot of their work, so they can concentrate on the important stuff.

He has since worked as a consultant or angel-investor for businesses as diverse as Facebook, Evernote, Shopify and Uber and his personal wealth is estimated to be about $100 million. So, if he’s interested in talking to a business-leader, you really should listen to what they have to say.

There are now more than 450 shows to choose from, with transcripts available. Scroll through the episodes here.

Side-hustler podcast #3: How to Start a Startup

Unusually, these podcasts come in the form of a series of videos - although you won’t lose a huge amount if you just listen to the audio, because they are mostly in the form of talks.

This project began life as a talk given at Harvard University, in 2005, by computer scientist and entrepreneur, Paul Graham, called How to start a start up. This developed into a full series of lectures over at Stanford University.

The first episode features Sam Altman, the entrepreneur and president of the seed-funding company, Y Combinator, who talks about the key subjects any side-hustler needs to consider: ideas, products, teams and execution. He is then followed by Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder of a little thing called Facebook, who discusses the all-important ‘Why’ you should start a startup.

The series of 20 talks features an array of heavy-hitter guest stars, with vast amounts of experience between them, and gold-plated advice to offer. You can find the whole series here.

Side-hustler podcast #4: Smart Passive Income

This podcast is hosted by Pat Flynn and largely based upon his own extensive experience. He also runs the Smart Passive Income website and a YouTube channel.

Flynn became a side-hustler almost by accident. As Forbes reports, he took a course and created a blog for revision purposes, then found that thousands of people were visiting his blog; so, he monetised it. He made the princely sum of $5 on his first day but, some months later, when he created a study-guide ebook, he found his income rose to over $7,000 a month - far more than he’d been earning at work.

In his podcasts, the self-proclaimed “crash test dummy of online business” talks about everything from building authority online, email marketing and building a team, to outsourcing, content marketing and productivity tips.

There are over 440 episodes of this podcast, which you can find here.

Side-hustler podcast #5: Clients from Hell

This blog is primarily targeted at designers, coders and other such creatives - but there is a lot to enjoy and learn from, no matter what field your side hustle takes you into. Everyone has to work with clients and, therefore, everyone has to cling to a sense of humour as a survival strategy.

Originally launched over ten years ago by business consultant Bryce Baldon, Clients from Hell is a brand which includes books and a very therapeutic Clients from Hell twitter account account, full of the exasperating “I’ll know it when I see it” type of things clients say. That should be a regular place to spend your coffee break.

The host of the podcast is Kyle Carpenter, who posts new episodes roughly every two weeks, in which he interviews side-hustlers and entrepreneurs about what they have learned and what lessons they can pass on. You’ll find episodes on how to crush at crowdfunding, an interview with Alison Grade, author of ‘The Freelance Bible’, a book which simply shows you how to make a living freelancing.

Scroll through the full list of episodes here.

Over to you…

These are just a few of the many podcasts that are out there, chock-full of ideas and advice for side-hustlers. If there’s a podcast you revisit regularly and have found particularly helpful, you could pay a visit to us on twitter or Facebook and let us know.