I meet amazing people every day.

Here are 10 small business leaders that I met this year that you can learn from in 2011  (in no particular order).

1. Carol Roth: This is one smart lady who always comes out swinging.  With her honest business advice for entrepreneurs, Carol tells it like it is.  Also look for her new reality TV show coming to you late next year! @caroljsroth

2. Rieva Lesonsky: It took me a long time to meet Rieva IRL (in real life).  After a long stint at Entrepreneur Magazine, she is now one of the leading voices in small business.  We share a small business blog on Allbusiness.com.  @rieva

3. Sarah Robinson: I met her at Blogworld this year IRL through Liz Marshall.  I hear her voice in my head most mornings as she teaches me how to “escape mediocrity” when I just don’t want to put my best effort forward.  @sarahrobinson

4. Rebel Brown: If you need a spark to get started, follow @rebelbrown.  She will show you how to “defy gravity” in your life and break the status quo.  Change is hard but Rebel shows you how.

5. CC Chapman: I just recently interviewed CC on my 100th episode of Business Insanity Talk Radio and was I so impressed.  As an entrepreneur and “Digital Dad”, he knows how to teach companies to build relationships with their customers.  @cc_chapman

6. Angel Oakley: Ok, so besides Angel being a blast, she is a top notch marketing professional that knows how to connect with people coming into Chicago.  @angeloakley

7. Mark Malkoff; This is one crazy guy.  He has been carried the length of Manhattan, spent a month at IKEA, a month on AirTran and visited all of the 177 Starbucks in Manhattan on a single day.  When I need to be entertained and learn something, I go to Mark.  @mmalkoff

8. Mike Michalowicz: (The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur) Mike has helped move my own company’s brand and strategy forward in 2010.  Need to spread your message, call @tpentrepreneur

9. Jason Fried; I met Jason at SXSW in 2010.  His book, ReWork is brilliant.  I feel like he is talking right at me!  Read it!  @jasonfried

10. Barbara Corcoran: One of the investors on Shark Tank, I met Barbara a few years ago while on The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch. She amazed me then and she will amaze you now.  If you want to listen to one smart small business advisor this year, listen to her interview on the 100th episode of Business Insanity Talk Radio.  You might also pick up her book, If You Don’t Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails: And Other Lessons I Learned from My Mom.

Who are you following into 2011?

Dan Pink

Barbara Corcoran of Shark Tank

Today, I had the honor of hosting my 100th Episode of Business Insanity Talk Radio with some of the greatest business guests!  Over the past 2 1/2 years we have had over 300 guests including Craig Newmark, Chris Brogan, John Jantsch, Anita Campbell, Michael Port, Peter Shankman, Joel Comm, Dan Schwabel, Keith Ferrazzi, Tim Sanders, Cali Lewis, Mike Michalowicz, Alexis Martin Neely, Mari Smith, Brian Solis, Pam Slim, Jason Fried, Randy Komisar, Liz Strauss and Cameron Johnson….

We have covered topics from the benign to the bizarre for small business owners.  We have discussed increasing sales, paying for health care, and motivating employees.  We have also talked on the show about how to combat swine flu, what scares you in business and insane companies.  We have had on the show: celebrities, morticians, personal investigators and bounty hunters.

On the 100th show today, listen to the these business experts:

Barbara Corcoran from Shark Tank

Dan Pink, author of Drive and journalist at Wired Magazine

Scott Jordan, Founder of Scottevest (and the first guest on the first show)

Shama Kabani, master millennial of the universe

Mark Malkoff, reality and comic film maker

Brandon Mendelson, social critic

Dave Peck, social media superstar

Susan Bratton, master interviewer

CC Chapman, super content creator

Scott Gerber, GenY-er entrepreneur

Listen to all of them now!

The dream is not working any longer.  Sales are down.  Customers are leaving.  You can’t find good people.  You are no longer getting along with your partners.  You have lost that fire.  Sound familiar?

Countless small business owners started their business with the expectation of fame and fortune.  The dreams so clearly depicted on the covers of magazines, with the likes of Donald Trump and Bill Gates, don’t come true for most entrepreneurs.  Waking up from the illusion of overnight success can be debilitating for many entrepreneurs, and many stall before ever achieving the first major success.

So how do you get unstuck?  We consult Carol Roth, Business Strategist and Mike Michalowicz, the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Do the 5 steps exist?  We ask our experts, Carol Roth, Business Strategist and Mike Michalowicz, the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Countless entrepreneurs started their business with the expectation of fame and fortune. The dreams so clearly depicted on the covers of magazines or in “5 Easy Steps to Success” books with the likes of Donald Trump and Bill Gates on the covers, unfortunately don’t come true for most entrepreneurs. Waking up from the illusion of overnight success or that perfectly planned business strategy that did not work can be debilitating. It can even stall them before ever achieving their first major success. I talk about how to wake up to the dream…again, and replace the panic of today with the next steps of tomorrow.

Interview with Barry Moltz from Obsidian on Vimeo.

Elizabeth Marshall

Elizabeth Marshall @lizmarshall If you are author, want to be an author or like learn from authors, you need to tune Liz in. I just starting working with Liz and I saw immediate financial results.

Mike Michalowicz (pronounced mi-CAL-o-witz) @tpentrepreneur  This guy has it together. Who would have thought that a guy that wrote a book called Toilet Paper Entrepreneur could be so successful? Want small biz help online? Call Mike. Want to know how make killer videos online? Call Mike. I will be calling Mike alot this year.

Tim Sanders @sanderssays I can’t but be be disappointed when I meet most biz celebrities. Tim Sanders is the exception. I have read all his books and when I interviewed him on the radio, everything coming out of his mouth was insighful and actionable. Listen up!

Chris Brogan @chrisbrogan You may be the one person in the world not following him at this point. Chris’ blog is the only blog I read everyday religiously. If you want to use social media in business, you need to read Chris.

Scott Stratten @unmarketing I met Scott at BlogWorld when he was wearing a shirt that said “What happens in Vegas, Stays on Twitter”. If you want to learn how to engage on the web, talk to Scott. He knows “web”.

Becky McCray @BeckyMcCray Take it from an urban business guy; you can learn a heck of alot from small town entrepreneurs like Becky. They have been creating communities for many years before all of us tried to do it.

Anita Campbell @smallbiztrends The best small business content anywhere on the planet. Period. Get educated by Anita.

Cassie Phillips @webwallflower This is one sharp and connected Gen-Yer. She is a Social Web event planner, attender, and promoter.

Shashi Bellamkonda @shashib He is the social media swami at Network Solutions and speaker on how business uses all types o social media to connect with customers. Want to see the future? Talk to Shashi.

Penelope Trunk @penelopetrunk She is the kind of writer that incites a riot in your soul. Penelope is never boring and like a good writer, she forces you to choose sides.

Rieva Lesonsky, @rieva Now that she has “escaped” from Entrepreneur Magazine, you can read Rieva UnPlugged. Now one understands the trends in small business better than Rieva.

Who are you following into 2010?

Mike Michalowicz is a hoot. He has just written a book that can only be characterized as outrageous and blunt and I really love it. He sums up his wisdom in The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur as “I get it done”. He believes that most entrepreneurs are not destined to be famous or billionaire wunderkinds. Most entrepreneurs are destined to be like you and me- “Steadfast innovators who make miracles on three sheets or less.” He believes that the success of the entrepreneur relies on the following things which I agree with:

1. A foundation of beliefs that you can do it. If you don’t believe, you have nothing.

2. Passion, Passion, Passion- start with passion, finish with the money

3. “Premature” Action- as I say, when it doubt, choose action instead of waiting and thinking about it some more.

4. Focuses on what he is good at- and outsources the rest.

5. Ingenuity over money- as I say, sometimes we just throw money at a problem- which is a losing strategy

6. Dominates a niche. I agree- we need to focus on being great at one thing.