If you remember the Small Business Entrepreneur blog was listed in John Crickett’s Top 100 Business Blogs and now I’m here to say that there is something wrong with it? Well, the top generated just enough buzz around to be relevant (I’ve got plenty of links from other people putting the list on their blogs), but still it misses something. And that is a good description of what each blog is about.
I know I don’t have time to write about all the 100 blogs in the list, but I will try. Let’s start bottom up.
 The Freestyle Entrepreneur blog
I believe that the most relevant way to talk about this blog is talking about it’s co-owners and their entrepreneurial path and contribution to the business world.
- John R. Ingrisano says about himself: “I’m an SBO (that stands for Small Business Owner, just in case you were curious). Why am I an SBO? My kids say it’s because I’m unemployable. I’ve been outside the box way too long to go back to being a cubicle-dwelling wage slave. Plus, I hate meetings with a passion and would rather change the whole course of my business on a two-mile walk with my dogs than spend six months sitting through dozens of meetings to form a committee to look into revising the lunchroom menu.”
- Jeff Hunsaker, co-owner of The Freestyle Entrepreneur: “Admittedly, I only aspire to be entrepreneurial…but I share in the excitement and believe it embodies the future of working in the United States.
The blog itself it’s a nice collection of stories from the day by day life of any entrepreneur, together with personal experiences that give hints on how entrepreneurs are runing their businesses.
Very true, it would be much better if it included a description of each. I’ll try to make sure I do next time.
Hi John,
Nice to see you stopping here! I will continue making reviews on the blogs in the list if you don’t mind. I think it will bring even more value to your great list
Cristian
Cristian,
I don’t mind at all it’ll make the list much more useful.
Let me know when you’ve got the first ten reviewed and I’ll write a post linking to the reviews.
Thanks for the nice write-up. I think what makes Jeff and I special (no, not as in “special class”) is that we love to work, we admire the work ethic, and we are both fiercely independent minded and like doing things our own way.
I guess that makes us proud American capitalists. Work hard. Make money. Have fun.
As much as I hate personal branding, I love entrepreneurial thinking. There is the adage of what gets measured is what matters, but that IMHO applies when we are seeking convergence (in plain english that means we are homed in to a personal or business goal), but when I visit blogs, I principally do so to understand how others think.
Great entrepreneurs therefore usually those who not only understand the human condition but also recognize how to attach value to it and communicate this value and eventually serve that value. A top 100 blog list does serve a purpose for me, which is one of discovery, but what matters is the discovery not judgment – and that’s why I think its smart starting at the bottom of the blog list like you have done – what is the entrepreneurial mindset than finding the gems and leaving the rhetorical ore to the academics.
The key word beyond discovery is diversity of thinking and being. If Top Blogs is a judgment and personal branding becomes a restraint on thinking, then what should I be looking for?
The answer to that is easy, a trusted advisor and that is what makes this authentic mindstop for me on my virtual travels. In the real world, Power Law Distribution is a reality not to be overlooked but in the virtual it is its long-tail which is best applied in terms of how we discover new blogs, not simply a tracking of product or media aggregration.
Anyway, thanks for letting me think out aloud here and of course I have bookmarked this site as one of the points that have and is assisting my own personal journey of discovery – a journey that hopefully makes the act of making money, a more intelligent one.
M.