19 Business Experts You Should Be Following Right Now

One of my favorite book of all times is Think and grow rich by Napoleon Hill. In there he describes the ideal process to achieve financial success and freedom.

One of the things that stuck with me the most is the principle and technique of using “Invisible Counselors”. It’s a bit of a weird technique that only the most driven people will utilize.

Napoleon and a lot of other people used to imagine talking with the people they look up to. So you imagine those people and talk with them in your mind about how to solve a problem. That creates an effect of having a real-world mentor without him/her actually being their with you.

This has the best effect when done before sleep.

Today I want to help you with the first part of the equation. Finding the people worthy of giving you advice.

But for this to work you need to cherry pick your future counselors and do thorough research on them. You need to be able to envision them clearly in your mind.

Often we can be fooled into following the advice of anyone who’s currently trending, but it’s only later we find out not all their stuff applies to us. The key is to find mentors and people to learn from that are a close fit with your personality, your style, your business and your industry.

So without further ado here are 20 small business experts. Mentors. Advisors. Counselors. Call them what you want, just make sure to give some love to this amazing group of human beings.

1. Gary Vaynerchuk

Hands on entrepreneurship expert who gives you only the best business strategies and tactics daily. He’s not a small business expert per se, but every small business owner can use his tactics and improve their business.

Gary is a best-selling author and a serial entrepreneur. He created two businesses and invested in startups like Uber, Twitter, Snapchat etc.

He makes daily vlogs on his youtube channel. He’s got a crew of professional videographers following him everywhere and documenting his entrepreneurial journey.

You can follow this show called DailyVee on his youtube channel. He’s active on every social media and here is where you can follow him.

“What’s the ROI on your mother” (The thing he says when people ask him what’s the ROI on Social Media) Click To Tweet

How To Find Gary Vaynerchuk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garyvaynerchuk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/garyvee
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gary/
Snapchat: GaryVee
Medium: https://medium.com/@garyvee
Company website: https://vaynermedia.com/

2. James Tuckerman

James is a long-term friend of mine and a small business expert who’s “always” on top of newest trends. He provides a wide range of lead generation methods and social media tips and tricks.

James is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, coach, and a public speaker. He’s best known for launching Anthill Magazine back in 2003.

“People always say that entrepreneurs are risk takers, I just think we’re better at analyzing risk. Some risks are not real risks.” Click To Tweet

How To Find James Tuckerman

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/7960089/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamestuckerman
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jamestuckerman
Blog or company website: http://anthillonline.com/welcome

3. Vin Clancy

Vin Clancy is a world-class growth hacker. Even though it should be, growth hacking is, unfortunately, not something that’s priority number one for small business owner. But you can learn so much from Vin Clancy, most of all I like how he can easily draw your attention and make you read whatever he writes.

He’s got a great facebook group and if you want to get more quality traffic and copy, you should check it out.

It’s virtually impossible to hire good growth hackers.You need to learn how to growth hack yourself. Click To TweetHow To Find Vin Clancy

Blog or company website: http://vinclancy.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vincentdignan/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/vincentdignan
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/trafficandcopy/
Medium: https://medium.com/@vincentdignan
Company website: http://www.vincentdignan.com

4. Neil Patel

Neil Patel is one of the pioneers of online marketing. He’s a serial entrepreneur with hits such as CrazyEgg and KISSmetrics. He’s an expert in content and social media marketing. He gives his best strategies, tactics, and tips on his site Neil Patel. He’s an expert in building a personal brand and connecting it to your business.

I keep building up my personal brand because it’s like my backup. Click To Tweet

How To Find Neil Patel

Blog or company website: https://neilpatel.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilkpatel/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/neilpatel
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/neilkpatel/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/neilvkpatel

5. Dan Henry

Dan Henry is a Facebook Marketing expert that’ll help you get traffic, leads, and users using paid Facebook ads. He’s a true rags to riches story that’ll move you. We all know that feeling when you feel like you’re alone and there is no exit. Dan will help you get out of that situation and even drive your business to unimaginable heights.

Take traffic on-demand and turn it into sales on-demand. Click To Tweet

How To Find Dan Henry

Blog or company website: https://danhenry.org/home
Twitter: https://twitter.com/danhenry86
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DanHenryMarketing/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BacklinkInventory

6. Noah Kagan

Noah is a serial entrepreneur who started out as the employee #30 at Facebook and #4 at mint.com. He proceeded to make 7 figure businesses and he’s willing to share his best advice with you for free.

He’s big on video content marketing at the moment and he gave one of the best pieces of advice I’ve heard lately about lead generation. That advice is to not create written lead-magnets, but rather make software lead magnets. A helpful free software will help you win over so many new customers and that can be a great way to start off their journey with you.

My favorite business book of all time is experience. Click To Tweet

How To Find Noah Kagan

Blog or company website: http://okdork.com/, https://sumo.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noahkagan/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/noahkagan
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/noah.kagan
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/crxnamja/featured

7. Carlos Gil

Carlos Gil is a marketing expert that was named in the top 50 most influential people online in 2010. If you remember, those years were tough for a lot of people and Carlos had the wits to thrive in that environment. He’s been helping businesses around the world for 8+ years now.

He’s an expert in Snapchat storytelling and his youtube account is one of those you need to subscribe to NOW. No, like right now, click here to subscribe. His youtube channel is not mainstream yet, and you’ll learn so much there.

The average consumer does not have the time in the day to hop back and forth and consume content from brands that they follow between Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Pinterest … Click To Tweet

How To Find Carlos Gil

Blog or company website: http://carlosgil.biz
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlosgilonline
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CarlosGil83
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheCarlosGil/
Snapchat: @thecarlosgil
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/CarlosGilTV

8. Alex Ikonn

Are you looking to find a great work/life balance? Alex will definitely help you with that. He’s got a wonderful family and a few well-established businesses. I like Alex because he leads by example. He speaks the truth and he speaks from the heart.

The Entrepreneurial journey can get lonely, but watching Alex will help you get inspired to live a fulfilled life, and stop thinking everything has to be such a grind to succeed.

Take all the bad that happened to you and use it as a fuel. Click To Tweet

How To Find Alex Ikonn

Blog or company website: http://www.alexikonn.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexikonn/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/alexikonn
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlexIkonn11/
Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIyxAEunWASBM_CWVUXZ3lA
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexikonn/

9. Tim Ferriss

Tim Ferris is on a lifelong journey of self-improvement. He’s a serial entrepreneur best known for his book “The 4-hour workweek”. Tim’s got one of the most popular podcasts in the business category in which he interviews experts from different industries and niches. He’s an expert in bringing the best out of people. Last year he published a book called “Tools of Titans” that will give you the most important tools his guests use to get world-class results.

People don’t want to be millionaires - they want to experience what they believe only millions can buy. Click To Tweet

Tim Ferriss, The 4-hour workweek

How To Find Tim Ferriss

Blog or company website: https://fourhourworkweek.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timferriss/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tferriss
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TimFerriss/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timferriss/

10. Patricia Norins

Patricia Norins is an international retail expert that’ll help your business get unstuck. She’s a marketing evangelist and a well-known author. She’s in the business for 25+ years and will teach you how to innovate in an industry that’s been stale for years now.

Retail innovation is all about the effective and profitable implementation of new ideas in your store. Click To Tweet

How To Find Patricia Norins

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricianorins/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/retailexpert
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patricia.norins

11. John Lee-Dumas

John Lee-Dumas is a small business expert best-known for his podcast “Entrepreneurs on Fire” (EOfire) and his product “The Master Journal”. His podcast, EOfire, is one of the most successful ones and he hosts one entrepreneur daily.

John is an ex-Army Officer who had trouble finding his mission in life after Iraq. Fortunately for all of us, he dedicated his life to helping entrepreneurs through his podcast.

He’s the leader of the “Fire nation” community of entrepreneurs. He’ll ask you: “What’s shakin’ Fire Nation” every day. You will get daily inspiration and business tactics from him and his guests.

In order to become really self-aware, you have to put in the work. Click To Tweet

How To Find John Lee-Dumas

Blog or company website: https://www.themasteryjournal.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/entrepreneuronfire/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnleedumas
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnleedumas1
Snapchat: @johnleedumas
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/EntrepreneurOnFire

12. Vanessa Shaw

Too often we sell ourselves short. We’re targeting clients that only want to pay a small amount of money to get our services. Well, Vanessa Shaw is a small business expert that’ll teach you how to attract and keep high-end clients, and actually get paid what you’re worth.

This way of doing business is especially good for consultants.

Be bold. Play bigger. Click To Tweet

 How To Find Vanessa Shaw

Blog or company website: http://vanessashaw.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vcshaw/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/vcshaw
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vcshaw
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs9MFh3HCLHazBuEqlZuZgA

13. Barry Moltz

Barry Moltz is a small business expert and author who will help your business get unstuck. He’s got a popular business radio show with over 450 episodes.

All of us sometimes get stuck in “the dip”, but Barry will give you ideas how you can get out of there.

You need to be crazy to start a business. Click To Tweet

How To Find Barry Moltz

Blog or company website: http://barrymoltz.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barrymoltz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/barrymoltz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barrymoltz

14. Meg Schmitz

Franchises have been one of the most common ways you can take your destiny into your own hand for over 60 years now. Meg Schmitz is a franchise business expert who’ll help you with a unique perspective on this type of business and straight up American ingenuity and adaptiveness.

If you can offer every benefit and opportunity to grab that higher quality employee, but your culture stinks, you’re still going to get that turnover. Click To Tweet

How To Find Meg Schmitz

Blog or company website: http://www.megschmitz.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megschmitz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/guru_franchise
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Franchise-Guru-Meg-Schmitz-130708150313291 /

15. Susan Solovic

If you want to get to know a small business expert who’ll help you make millions of dollars, then Susan Solovic is your gal’. She’ll give you real-world examples and actionable tips on how to improve all the aspects of your business.

She’s a great public speaker and she’s been featured on Huffington Post, Inc., Bloomberg etc.

You need to make just a noticeable difference. Click To Tweet

How To Find Susan Solovic

Blog or company website: http://www.susansolovic.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susansolovic/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SusanSolovic
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/susansolovic/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susansolovic/
Medium: https://medium.com/@SusanSolovic

16. Emma Jones

Who is more competent to give you advice on your small business than a person who is also a founder of a business? Her startup, Enterprise nation, is a small business network that’s been going for more than a decade which ensures that your great business grows as it should.

Be sure to check out her Twitter account and also Enterprise nation Twitter where you can find a myriad of information related to small business growth.

The best mentors are people who are really just a great listening and sounding board because as the business owner you have all the solutions to the questions in your head, but sometimes you just need to talk out those issues. Click To Tweet

How To Find Emma Jones

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-jones-8063536
Twitter: https://twitter.com/emmaljones
Company website: https://www.enterprisenation.com

17. Nellie Akalp

Nellie Akalp is a small business expert and advocate, and she’ll help you launch your business to the sky. She’s an awarded small business expert. She’s been proclaimed as a Top 100 Small Business Influencer by Small Business Trends for the past four years, and a Women Business Owner of the year by NAWBO VC in 2016.

You can find great stories on everyday issues on the company’s blog.

Every day I feel like I’m making a meaningful difference to help new companies come into the world. It’s just like Oprah says, if you want to be successful, work first to become significant. Click To Tweet

How To Find Nellie Akalp

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nellieakalp/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CorpNetNellie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheNellieAkalp/
Company website: https://www.corpnet.com/corpnetnellie/

18. Dimitry Toukhcher

Dimitry Toukhcher is a president & CEO at LGFG Fashion House. As a successful entrepreneur, Dimitry paved his way to success while trying to escape the “corporate world”. He gives great feedback on talent retainment and fostering creative thinking inside the company.

If your business is heavily dependent on creativeness, you should pay attention to Dimitry and the lessons he learned along the way.

Learning to say ‘no’ and following up on it with action is the hardest thing I’ve had to learn and it’s the biggest mistake I want our people to avoid. Click To Tweet

How To Find Dimitry Toukhcher

Blog or company website: http://www.lgfgfashionhouse.com/en/blog/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dimitrytoukhcher/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lgfg_dimitry
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LGFGFashionHouse
Company website: http://www.lgfgfashionhouse.com

19. Paul Oberschneider

Paul Oberschneider is a businessman, an entrepreneur, and a speaker. Honestly, as a small business owner, make a habit of only listening to people who are, like Paul, entrepreneurs themselves.

He’s a great author, and his book “Why sell tacos in Africa?” will get your entrepreneurial juices going. Sharing lessons from his success can only mean more success for you and your business.

Success is not a straight-line deal. There is no A-to-Z and there are no Magic Beans! Click To Tweet

How To Find Paul Oberschneider

Blog or company website: http://start-upceo.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-oberschneider-61694a59
Twitter: https://twitter.com/p_oberschneider
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialpauloberschneider/
Company website: http://www.pauloberschneider.com

You Know The Business Experts, Now What?

Now that you’ve got the best of the best (in my opinion), you should already feel which 5 are closest to you. Go out of your way to learn as much about them as possible.

Then do a little research about the “Invisible counselors” technique in Napoleon’s book.

Share this article with your network and tag the best 5 experts that are the best for you. You never know, maybe; just maybe, they become your real world mentor.