16 Small Business Resources for Startup Businesses

As a first-time entrepreneur or business owner, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the wealth of advice, books, blogs, and ideas on how to start and run a business. There is a lot of good content. The hard part is separating the good from the bad.

Buffer to the rescue! We’ve scoured the internet and compiled a list of free and affordable online resources, including blogs, courses, books, and podcasts, to help you learn how to start and run a business. Bookmark this list and refer to it again and again as your business evolves.

Blogs to keep you updated

Blogs are a great learning resource because you can find updated and relevant information on how to grow your business. Here are some blogs that keep coming up with brilliant entrepreneurship ideas and tips.

Seth’s blog

Seth Godin is the author of several books on innovation and marketing and is considered one of the best marketers of our time. His blog has features on branding, business development and strategy, and lots of marketing tips for small owners and startup founders.

Recommended Article: Understanding Business Development

This blog post is all about the importance of business development and what it does. Seth also includes six practical business development examples and 12 tips on how to do better.

Wix blog

Wix is ​​a website building platform that allows you to create a code-free website. It’s perfect for small business owners who are on a budget or who lack technical skills. Your blog has loads of web design inspiration, online marketing tips, and step-by-step guides to help you create a website that will move your business forward.

Recommended post: 10 tactics to get website visitors faster

Building an audience and driving traffic to their website is a challenge that many small business owners face. This article outlines a number of tactics you can use to quickly build steady traffic to your website.

Buffer library

Our library contains hundreds of articles and comprehensive guides to help small businesses improve their social media and marketing skills. From tips and tricks to help you master any social media platform, to lists of tools to help you grow your business online, you are sure to find something to help you no matter how new your business is .

Recommended post:The no-frills small business marketing guide for entrepreneurs with big dreams

This step-by-step guide is perfect for small business owners who want to grow their business online without wasting time and money.

Shopify blog

Shopify is a well-known e-commerce platform for setting up an online store. Her blog is filled with great resources on ecommerce marketing, running an online business, and of course, updates on Shopify’s ecommerce offerings.

recommended post: How to turn a troubled company around: tips and examples from practice

Not every company that has problems fails. This post includes real-world examples and tips from entrepreneurs who have been able to revive their dying business.

Online courses to expand your skills

Online courses are great for busy small business owners as they offer greater flexibility than in-person courses. The following courses will help you better understand various aspects of your business and they will cover leadership, goal setting, sales, and SEO. They are available for free or at a low price.

Discovering Success: 7 Exercises to Discover Your Purpose, Your Passion and Your Path – Skillshare

Length: 1 hour
price: Available with a monthly Skillshare membership of $ 13.99
Whether you’re quitting the 9-to-5 to become a business owner or start a sideline, this course will help point you in the right direction. It contains short, easy-to-digest online lessons that will show you how to find your purpose, nurture your passion, and grow your big idea.

Ecommerce Master Class – Founder

Length: 3 months (self-study)
price: For free
In this course you will learn from five entrepreneurs who have expanded their online shops to seven figures. They set out the exact systems, frameworks and processes that they have used to scale their business.

SEO Training for Beginners – Shopify

length: 1 hour
Price: For free
Understanding search engine optimization (SEO) is essential if you want to get more website visitors. This course is for ecommerce entrepreneurs who want to learn the basics quickly. And in just an hour, you’ll have a thorough understanding of SEO concepts.

Exercising Leadership: Core Principles – Harvard

Length: 4 weeks (recommended pace 2-3 hours / week)
Price: For free
A strong sense of leadership is an essential quality, regardless of whether you are leading a small team or a medium-sized company. This course teaches these leadership skills. You will have the opportunity to learn everything from complex problem solving to relationship building and proper management techniques.

Books / eBooks to expand your knowledge

Books are a great way to learn from other people’s experiences. They research ideas in depth and have stricter editorial standards than blogs. Below is a selection of good reading material that offers practical insights from top corporate strategists and entrepreneurs.

Will it fly? This is how you can tell if your new business idea has wings … before you take the plunge

Want to know if your business or startup idea is going to be the next big thing? Author Thomas K. McKnight covers the 44 key elements required to run a business based on the author’s analysis of 200+ startups. In the end, you should have a clear idea of ​​your chances of success.

The hard thing about difficult things: building a business when there aren’t any easy answers

In this book, Ben Horowitz will help you deal with the difficult day-to-day aspects of running a business, and it contains a lot of advice on everything from finding good people to managing people to firing people.

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What To Do About It

Burnout is a serious problem among entrepreneurs and small business owners. This book by Michael E. Gerber shows you how to develop a system that will run your business on its own instead of running yourself.

Superbosses: How extraordinary leaders master the flow of talent

A good entrepreneur also needs to know how to be a good leader. Author Sydney Finkelstein analyzes the personalities of the world’s most effective leaders and how they motivate and inspire others. The result is an actionable, advice-filled book that will help you grow, motivate, and lead your team.

Podcasts for inspiration and motivation

Too busy to sit down and read an article or book? Then why not listen to a podcast instead? Podcasts are great because, depending on your schedule, you can listen to something during your morning commute, while exercising, walking for a walk, or even while preparing for the day. Podcasts often have guests too, so you hear a wide variety of perspectives. Here are some great podcasts with stories and lessons from startup founders.

How I built this

Every large company started out small, and Guy Raz’s How I Built This tells the stories behind some of the world’s most popular brands, from Wikipedia to Ben & Jerry’s to Beyond Meat.

Recommended episode: Airbnb: Joe Gebbia
Airbnb founder Joe Gebbia is a great example of how persistent despite rejection. Our favorite quote from the episode is: “We were introduced to 20 investors in Silicon Valley. Ten replied to our email. Five met for coffee.

Small business, big lessons

Our own podcast series shares inspiration from exceptional small business owners and wisdom about how they run their business.

Recommended episode: It gets better to stay small
You don’t have to be a big company to make a big impact. In this episode, Shawn Askinosie from Askinosie Chocolate talks to us about running a profitable small business that supports children in Tanzania and the Philippines.

Master of scale

In Masters of Scale, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman tests and discusses his theories about doing business with leading entrepreneurs. It’s perfect for businesses interested in hypergrowth, but the podcast touches on other topics like leadership, strategy, management, and fundraising as well.

Recommended episode: Customer love is all you need with Y Combinator’s Sam Altman
With Y Combinator boss Sam Altman as guest host, this episode unfolds the concept that “it’s better to have 100 users who love you than 1 million who somehow like you”. They discuss how to scale a business with a product that is hugely popular – even with a small user base.

Marketing about coffee

This podcast is ideal for anyone in a small business who wants to learn more about marketing. The episodes are each around 20 minutes long and cover SEO, email marketing, social media, and copywriting.

Recommended episode: The future of influencer marketing
If you’ve ever thought about partnering with an influencer to market your business then this episode is for you! Vivien Garnes, co-founder and CEO of Upfluence, shares best practices and the future of influencer marketing.

The Best Resource for Small Business? Practice in real life

We’ve shared some great small business resources to help you learn how to start, manage, and grow your startup or business. But at the end of the day, real life experience is the best teacher. So we encourage you to hit the road and start the business or sideline you’ve always dreamed of, or continue to scale it to success. And no matter what stage of your corporate journey you are at, you can always rely on our tools to help you, whether it’s creating a beautiful landing page for your company or planning and optimizing your social media posts.