You never know what the origin of a great idea will be. That is why we are constantly on the hunt for business blogs that we can add to our reading list each week.
As we have written in previous columns, we like to use this space to share our discoveries with our readers, given that we see bl
ogs as a priceless resource for entrepreneurs of every stripe.
They are very quickly becoming the preferred media platform by which business thinkers communicate their ideas with their audience. Become a voracious blog reader and a whole new world will be open to you about how you think about your business.
For us, a business blog makes the cut if it meets one simple yet difficult-to-achieve criteria: after you read it, the writer makes you consider or contemplate better ways to operate your business.
Here are five blogs that we have recently found:
CrackerJack Marketer: crackerjackmarketer.com
This new blog is written by John Moore and Paul Williams; both are former Starbucks marketing managers. We’ve been very impressed with what we have seen to date as they offer concrete advice based on their many years of success at Starbucks to better market your business.
One of their more recent entries answers the important question, “What’s the difference between branding and marketing?” If you own a retail-oriented business, this blog is definitely for you.
The Drucker Exchange: thedx.org
This blog promotes itself as an “ongoing conversation about bettering society through effective management and responsible leadership.” Its perspective is based on the writings of the late Peter Drucker, who many consider the Father of Modern Management, and is produced by the Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University.
The blog typically highlights a leadership issue recently in the news and then tackles the issue based on Drucker’s philosophy. For example, a recent blog entry had some very smart answers around the question of “can pay-for-performance arrangements actually undermine people’s performance?”
The Blog Maverick, the Mark Cuban Weblog: blogmaverick.com
Mark Cuban, of course, is the ultimate business maverick and owner of the National Basketball Association’s Dallas Mavericks who made his billions at the height of the early Internet craze in the 1990s. He is also on the new ABC television show “Shark Tank,” where budding entrepreneurs pitch their idea to a group of investors.
Cuban holds nothing back and tells it like he sees it. We appreciate the bluntness of his commentary and the astuteness of his business acumen. This month on his blog Cuban posted his “Success and Motivation Series” from a few years ago that tells his life story and expresses his strategies for business success.
Steve Pressfield Online: www.stevenpressfield.com
Steve Pressfield is a novelist, historian and author of eight books including “The Legend of Bagger Vance,” which was made into a film starring Will Smith, and his most recent book “The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles.”
He writes a great deal on his blog about the resistance to doing creative work and strategies for overcoming this natural resistance. We think you’ll find his writings especially helpful if you typically procrastinate or resist getting started on a major initiatives or ideas for your business.
Marginal Revolution: marginalrevolution.com
Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok write this economics blog. Both are economics professors at Virginia’s George Mason University. We discovered this blog as the result of reading Cowan’s recent provocative e-book, “The Great Stagnation,” where he argues that the slowdown in the speed of innovation is having a dramatic negative impact on the U.S. and world economies.
We appreciate how they use layman’s terms to explain why markets and economies act the way they do. Their explanations will help you understand your business in the context of the larger economy. This blog is now one of our new favorites and one that we check daily.
What business blogs do you read? Share your favorites by emailing them to us at entrepreneurship@ everettcc.edu.
Pat Sisneros is the vice president of college services at Everett Community College. Juergen Kneifel is an associate faculty member in EvCC’s entrepreneurship program.
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