Starting a business is hard, but what’s harder is finding reliable inspiration along the way. The web is full of blogs for entrepreneurs, but not every piece of advice is worth taking.
We’ve compiled a list of seven blog posts by startup founders that will inspire your own blog posts and keep you well informed and motivated.
1. Seth Godin’s Do you need a permit?
Who?
Well, the name says it all. Seth Godin is a star entrepreneur and marketer. But many people don’t know that Seth started his career with an online startup direct marketer called Yoyodyne, which was later acquired by Yahoo!.
Why?
Aside from being a world-class author with 17 best-selling marketing books in his kit, Godin is a prolific blogger who enlightens his readers with his expert marketing tips. Each of his blogs is filled with enough inspiration to make you never want to give up.
An excerpt from the blog post:
“Where, precisely, do you go in order to get permission to make a dent in the universe?
The accepted state is to be a cog. The preferred career is to follow the well-worn path, to read the instructions, to do what we’re told. It’s safer that way. Less responsibility. More people to blame.”
2. Neil Patel’s 8 Psychological Principles That’ll Double Your Sales
Who?
Neil Patel is one of the youngest digital marketers in the industry and the co-founder of the analytic companies KISSmetrics, Crazy Egg, Hello Bar, and Quick Sprout.
He was named one of the top influencers on the web by The Wall Street Journal, one of the top 10 online marketers by Forbes, and the creator of one of the 100 most brilliant companies in the world by Entrepreneur magazine.
Why?
Patel is a specialist in building web traffic for startups and has helped companies like Amazon, NBC, GM, HP, and Viacom grow their revenue. You should religiously follow his Quick Sprout blogs to make your startup a success.
An excerpt from the blog post:
“Behind all great marketing, there is one thing…
Understanding.
When you understand your customer, you can understand how to create a great product for them and the best way to present it to them.
If your sales aren’t as high as you’d like them to be, it means you need to spend some time learning about how your customer thinks.”
3. Kate Kendall’s Five community management tips
Who?
Kate Kendall is the Founder and CEO of both The Fetch, a marketplace for professionals to keep up with local events, and CloudPeeps, a year-old company that helps businesses connect with remote community managers.
Why?
Kendall writes candidly about the own ups and downs of starting a business in her blogs. Follow her to get thoughtful advice on leadership, creativity, startup culture, and business etiquette.
An excerpt from the blog post:
“Number one: stop leading your community on about bug fixes or sought-after product requests!”
4. Joel Gascoigne’s The Habit of Successful People: They Start Small
Who?
Joel Gascoigne is the co-founder and CEO of Buffer, a software application that manages users’ social networks by scheduling posts to Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin.
Why?
Gascoigne blogs about lessons he has learned while founding and running his company. His blogs inspire and advise on pivoting your business and building a strong startup culture.
An excerpt from the blog post:
“The challenge for a lot of us is that when we go about our lives, we interact with so many “big” things and we forget or don’t even know how they originally started. It’s difficult to understand how the evolutionary process of products and brands contributes and is vital to what they are today. We also all have big aspirations and want to get there fast.”
5. Danielle Morrill’s Startup Marketing: 2nd Class Citizen, 2nd Rate Results
Who?
Danielle Morrill is the CEO and founder of the Y Combinator-backed startup, Referly. The startup is an online social shopping and referral platform.
Why?
Morrill has played a variety of roles from marketing guru for big guns to startup mentor and board member.
Her variety of skills and experience puts a new perspective on entrepreneurship and she gives practical advice to the aspiring business owners.
An excerpt from the blog post:
“The greatest insult to a great product and the people who created it is to market it poorly.”
6. Ben Milne’s Solve problems that piss you off
Who?
Ben Milne is the founder and CEO of Dwolla. The company, launched in 2007, provides an online payment system and a mobile payments network.
Why?
Milne’s blog blends his personal touch with meaningful quotes, impeccable graphics, and a stunning aesthetic experience.
His quirky, personal reflections will inspire you to buck up and perform better.
An excerpt from the blog post:
“If you’re a habitual starter, but have problems following through, start asking yourself questions before you start.
It is odd how concentrating on the things that make you angry are sometimes indicative of how you’ll choose to manage the priority of a project in your life.”
7. Marco Arment’s Right versus pragmatic
Who?
Marco Arment is a techno-writer who previously worked as the lead developer at Tumblr. In 2008, he founded Instapaper, a web tool for Android, iOS, e-readers, and computers that enabled users to save web pages to read later.
Why?
Arment created Instapaper without any outside investment and the startup is still making a profit. A self-efficient leader, Arment makes time between operating Instapaper and The Magazine to blog almost daily on software and the “politics of technology.”
An excerpt from the blog post:
“This pattern is common. We often try to fight problems by yelling at them instead of accepting the reality of what people do.”
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