The 'off-season' is a perfect time to kickstart your new year and take stock of your business – what's working well, what isn’t working as well, and what you may want to shift for the seasons ahead.
Whether you’re busy soil blocking and seed starting, or you’re a designer gearing up for Mother’s Day and wedding season, these podcasts are for you! Explore some of our favorite podcasts about leadership, business, marketing, and much more.
Marketing (aka telling the world how awesome you are)
1. Duo On Air - "The Do’s and Don’ts of using Canva For Your Business" (23 mins)
Marketers, business mentors, and friends Abbey Oslin and Courtney Petersen talk about Canva – why they love it and how to use it best. Hint: refrain from using everything the platform has to offer!
Any business owner will gain insight and concrete tips from this episode. Whether you’re a farmer who’s never thought about branding, or a designer who lives and breathes aesthetics, Canva is a powerful tool for you to leverage in your business if you use it right!
2. Business Made Simple - "The Secret to Making Better Marketing Decisions with Marlee Joseph" (18 mins)
Donald Miller, well-known author of Building a Story Brand, and host of the Business Made Simple podcast, talks with his director of marketing, Marlee Joseph about the ICE method of evaluating marketing decisions.
As a small business owner, there are infinite things you could do to “move the needle forward” as Marlee says. How do you choose which projects to tackle? How can you take tasks on confidently while intentionally leaving others to the side? Hear Marlee break down how she prioritizes marketing ideas using 3 factors: Impact, Confidence, and Ease.
This short, easy-to-digest, and actionable episode is a must-listen!
Business Development (Sales!) and Management
3. Problem Solvers – "How to be Heard by Improving your Listening Skills with Jonathan B. Smith" (26 mins)
This podcast episode is life-changing and a delight to listen to. We’re often taught that one of the most important skills to have in life is communication, which means that you need to get other people to listen to what you have to say. Whether that is with marketing, interacting with your co-workers, or within your personal relationships, Jonathan Smith, business strategist, and Chris Voss, best-selling author and former FBI hostage negotiator invite us to do the opposite of talking and simply listen – really listen – to those around us. He walks us through 5 levels of listening and how they can improve how we are heard by others.
This episode is not only a fundamentally human conversation that would benefit anyone, but is also applicable to your business. Strategic listening and the sometimes difficult act of just being quiet are skills that will help you better connect with and convince people. For a farmer, this may relate to how you communicate with your farm crew. For a hub manager, it may assist in how you work with your growers and buyers. For a designer or florist, active listening can make your clients feel truly heard, and create a more authentic partnership.
This one is worth an (active) listen!
Being an Entrepreneur (or just a human!)
4. The Goal Digger - "How To Take Back Your Time and Get Back Your Life" (54 mins)
Jenna Kutcher is one of our favorite podcasters because she gets it. While her experiences may differ from yours, she constantly centers the themes of time management, the challenge of balancing work, life, family, and self-care, and speaks directly to the listener. In this episode, Jenna speaks with her mentor Marie Forleo who teaches you her “life-changing mindset on how she grows her business (and herself!) while having time to actually LIVE”.
Many of us small business owners feel like we are chickens running around with our heads cut off, just putting out one fire after the other with barely enough time to look up and breathe. This is common, and it's not your fault. Jenna helps us see that we can choose ways and mindsets that begin changing how we think about time because she claims that “time is your currency.” Listen to this podcast to start your journey from being Time Stressed, to being a Time Genius!
5. How I Built This - "Spanx: Sara Blakely" (30 mins)
"How I Built This" never fails to leave us inspired and wanting to listen to the next episode. This is “a podcast about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists and their stories about the movements they built.” We had a hard time choosing just one episode (there’s so many good ones!) but we landed on the first ever episode of this podcast.
Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, describes the story of how she went from a 27 year old selling fax machines to a self-taught entrepreneur. From identifying the gap in the market, to cold calling manufacturers, to writing her own patent, Sarah takes the listener through her journey in all of its ups and downs. If you want to be inspired, or if you’re an entrepreneur in the middle of the very journey Sara went through, you’ll love this episode!
Do you have a favorite podcast? We’re only as good as our collective knowledge, so drop us a line at reachout@rootedfarmers.com and let us know about it!