3 Old Media Outlets for Entrepreneurs

Everyone likes to write about web sites and blogs catering to small businesses. That’s fine. Many people like Escape from Cubicle Nation, Wall Street Journal’s Startup Journal, OnStartups, Creating Passionate Users, among others. They’re good sites and are worth a read. Even if you read them just for inspiration or entertainment, you can usually pick up a few nuggets along the way.

But life shouldn’t be spent in front of a PC. (It shouldn’t be spent in front of the TV or in a car either, but then we’d have a different blog post.) So here are three “old media” resources for entrepreneurs worth checking out.

1. Your Business on MSNBC. Most “business” news programs cover Wall Street, big business news, or personal finance. You don’t get many that actually talk about running a business. That’s where Your Business differs from the pack. The 1/2-hour show is the Web 2.0 of business shows. It features real advice on starting and running a company. Recent topics included picking a domain name, getting funding, advice on setting up a partnership, viral marketing, and their regular elevator pitch segment (which I’m pretty sure they stole from StartupNation, below).
2. Small Business School on PBS. This hour long Sunday morning show has been running for several years, and I catch it whenever I can. Each episode does an in depth feature on a small company, and focuses on what made them different and what challenges they faced. It can be a little preachy, but the central message for each show is worth paying attention to. One of their recent show titles captured it all, “There are 19 million sole proprietorships in the U.S. alone, and each one is different.”
3. StartupNation Radio. This is a fun radio show that runs on Saturday afternoons. They’ve recently covered marketing strategies, e-commerce tips, eBay businesses, and building on-line communities. One of their best regular features is the Elevator Pitch Contest, which is not only entertaining, but it also reinforces how much you need to focus not only your message but your business plan too. The only downside is that many people listen to talk radio only when they’re in their cars, so it can be hard to remember to tune into this show.