If you are a business owner then this list of the top 10 business podcasts is a must for you.

As a business owner/ entrepreneur, we all know that maintaining and growing a business can be extremely difficult and taxing at times.

In order to keep growing and moving forward with our businesses, we have to constantly learn and develop new skills. That doesn’t sound too difficult in theory but with the daily pressures of operating a business, it’s not always easy to find the time to learn these new skills.

There’s only so many hours in the day so we need to be smart about how, and what we spend our time on.

A great way of achieving this is to maximize our downtime by listening to podcasts. Even busy business owners have downtime (walking the dog, going for a jog, commuting during the day etc) so it’s a perfect opportunity.

So now you’ve decided to check out some business podcasts where do you start? Well finding the right podcast can be tough, anyone with a microphone and a computer can basically record a podcast so let me show you the best business podcasts so you can cut the fluff and get straight to the gold.

TOP 10 BUSINESS PODCASTS

1. TED Talks Business
2. StartUp
3. Entrepreneurs On Fire
4. The Gary Vee Audio Experience
5. Social Media Marketing
6. Marketing School
7. Masters Of Scale
8. The Joe Rogan Experience
9. The Tony Robbins Podcast
10. The Tim Ferris Show

We often talk about in business starting or creating a company, but there’s another side to that coin. It’s not something entrepreneurs often think about, but many times there comes the point where you want to close your business. Perhaps you had a revenue amount that you wanted to achieve before you cashed out and started on another project of interest, or maybe you’ve been doing it for years, and it’s time to get the business off your hands since no one in your family is interested in taking it over.

Whatever the reason for closing your business, there are a few things you have to make sure you keep in mind as you proceed in unwinding the company.

• Co-Owners: If you have any partnership and you’re looking to move out of the day to day, it goes without saying that you have to speak to any co-owners. Use the articles of organization and make sure you create a written agreement that will dissolve the company or sell it to your co-owners or someone else who will assume your part of the business.
• Accounts Receivables: If you’re a sole proprietor, and you’re looking to close your business, make sure your accounts receivable are all paid and up-to-date before you inform anyone that you will be closing the company. Once you have all your payments, you can then notify your clients that you will be closing the business.
• Notifications: Once you’ve gotten all of the revenue sorted, you need to close your accounts with any creditors. You’ll also want to complete dissolution papers and file those with the state where your company is located. If you have a rented office or business location, this is also the period where you will notify your office landlord and anyone else with whom your business is associated.
• Protect Your Tradename: When you’re in the process of making notifications, you still want to protect your brand name and image. Cancel any licenses, permits or registrations that are in the name of your business.
• Team Members: One of the toughest things to do, especially if you have an excellent team of people working with you, is to inform them that they will be losing their jobs. The best thing to do is to give as much notice as possible so people can prepare. If possible, offer severance packages, and make sure that you comply with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act depending on the size of your business.
• Financial & Regulatory Obligations: If you have an inventory of any kind or assets, you’ll want to liquidate everything. You’ll also want to make sure that you are compliant with the state and federal tax authorities. Don’t forget to cancel your Employer Identification Number (EIN) with the IRS.

1st Stage-Initiation:

There can be varied reasons for a business start-up but the main values in running the business are of those who are the founders. We can see that company exhibits the main skills of the founder in its spirits, for example, if the founder is an engineer, he will emphasize in production rather than sales and marketing which should not be neglected. Main efforts are centered on the acceptability of the product in the market. If the owner can provide the demands of business i.e. time, energy, and finances, he/she can move to the second stage. Otherwise, he/she will have to wind up their business as there is limited time for the company to stay at one stage. Here the main focus changes to establish the company and earn profits. With this financial push company will need to formalize the system and start record keeping, an unskilled manager can’t handle this all. After this, there will be demand for change in administration’s style because of increased activity in his business.

2nd Stage-Growth:

The moment a company moves forward to the expansion stage it should be able to earn a decent profit, but that profit will not go to the owner. This is because it will be invested in the business in order to assist in the capital demands of the company. It demands time for coordinating functional managerial activities; it demands complicated organizational structure mainly focusing on functional lines. Now research and development will be established in order to increase product range. At the start, it will be on a smaller scale because of lack of capital. If management continues changing its environment, the company can stay at this stage for some time. In many cases, owners sell their business at this stage for substantial benefits. The increase of new markets and product will demand more finances. This stage faces larger competitors who deal the situation by putting stress on emerging firm; this stress can be in the form of very low prices as well. At this stage over trading is the biggest threat if not handled properly it can lead the business to demise. As the company grows it need to extend geographical trading and distribution, so ‘supervised supervision’ will be required at this stage. If new competitors enter the market and the owner wants to maintain his shares, he will have to put more capital by himself or attract some partners.

3rd Stage-Expansion:

This stage demands proper management reports, budget control, and dispersed authority, along with a formal accounting system. Basic adaptation at this stage will be to systemize administrative roles which are keys to survival through this stage. The expansion stage demands stable long term funds which will be important and if there is not plan for partners then this stage must be considered right now. Although retained earnings are major forms of funds but dividends are the special attraction to the investors; at this stage these are inevitable. Now company’s track record will help in gaining long term loans but the company will have to give security in the form of assets.

4th Stage-Maturity:

At this stage main issues are about expense control, search for growth opportunities and productivity. The direction of authority can be towards functional lines or it is reorganized with production lines. As there is severe price competition, therefore, productions department should be the center of focus and authorities should emphasize on innovative moves towards betterment.

Now basic investments are in sales and marketing struggles and maintenance and plant up gradation. The company grows up to a level that income is sufficient to tackle this but occasionally more long term load prove to be a support. At this level firm may limit its operations or move on, normally acquisition or floatation in order to become a large corporation.

Whatever the situation, managers are pressured by shareholders to safeguard the future of the firm. However, the time of great trial falls to the founder. He built his business with great effort and sacrifices, and now he is asked to give it away.