Since July 11, 2008, I have recorded 750 episodes of The Small Business Radio Show where I have interviewed thousands of small business owners and entrepreneurial leaders.

Many have been famous like Steve Case, John Sculley, Robert Herjavec, Barbara Corcoran, Daymond John, Ken Blanchard, Craig Newmark, Susan Caine, Ken Burns, Guy Kawasaki, William “She-bang” Hung, JJ Ramberg, Tony Hsieh, Marcus Lemonis, Dan Pink, Brian Tracy, Hall of Famer, Fran Tarkenton, Tim Ferris, Michael E. Gerber, and Seth Godin. I also talked to many people that no one has ever heard of.

Here is what I learned:

There are so many common themes over the years. We share more experiences than we are different.

Here are some:

  • Starting a small business is lonely and hard. It puts a strain on your family.
  • Nothing is more exhilarating than having an idea and having customers buy your solution.
  • Small business owners focus too much on the product or service features and not enough on the experience for the customer.
  • Most small business owners fear selling and rejection (especially in the beginning).
  • People have no idea how to market their business in the long run to customers that want it.
  • Most owners target too broad a target of prospects instead of a niche.
  • Most small business owners spend too much on attracting customers and not enough trying to keep them.
  • Money is hard to find and to manage. Cash flow is king.
  • You can’t do it all yourself.
  • It’s not about the idea, about who you execute the idea with.
  • The hardest part about running any business is leading the team and managing people.
  • The key to productivity is focus and prioritization, not time. If you don’t block out the interruptions, you are doomed.

Guests taught me that there is so much I still don’t know about small business and there is so much to learn.

I was amazed that on each episode, after talking to so many people I could still learn things. I used them for future blog posts and a way to further develop my own ideas around small business and help my clients and other people I would meet.

Experience and helpful advice can come from anywhere.

It’s not just the highly famous or extremely successful people that you can learn from; everyone has a story to tell that you can benefit from.

So many interviews surprised me, especially the ones that were great or bad.

Some famous and highly credentialed people are lousy interviews. Either they talk too little or too much. Professors talk too much. Highly technical people talk too little.

Scott Jordan, the CEO of Scottevest who was there for the first episode comes, comes back to join us for #750! He is always interesting and entertaining!