Many of the students taking our Skype English classes are entrepreneurs and small business owners, and as a result, we often talk about our businesses, and various aspects of being a small business owner and entrepreneur.

Knowing English allows entrepreneurs to look for opportunities not just in English speaking countries, but all over the world, as English has become the go-between language for many people. English can help you make your next sale in the United States or China, expand your business to Europe or Asia, and look for programmers in India or designers in Italy.

It also gives you access to a lot of great information about your business, and about entrepreneurship in general. Below I’ve listed some of the resources I read and watch as an entrepreneur. Use them to improve your English listening skills, and improve your business skills at the same time. If you have any questions, or want to take an English class based on one of the videos or blogs below, contact us.

I’ve been a fan of Andrew Warner’s Mixergy site for some time, and actually had the chance to meet him in Buenos Aires a couple years ago. Warner interviews entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and other people of interest to entrepreneurs. I’m also pretty sure he does his interviews over Skype, which is cool.

He’s interviewed the founder of Groupon, the author of The Four Hour Work Week, the founder of Wikipedia, and other people with stories to tell that are valuable for entrepreneurs. Warner asks very specific questions related to exactly how they became successful, what mistakes they made, and what other steps they took as entrepreneurs.

He posts all these videos on his site, and you can watch them free. Almost all the videos have transcripts included on his website, so English learners can read along if it gets difficult to understand.

Another great resource is the New York Times small business section. It features a mix of articles and blogs about small business and entrepreneurship, including Staying Alive, a blog written by cabinet maker Paul Downs. Downs originally started the blog as a chronicle of his business going bankrupt, but his business ultimately became successful, and he carries on writing about the day to day work of owning a small business. Here is one of my favorite posts of his, about the first time his business turned a profit.

The Rise to the Top is another blog for entrepreneurs, produced by David Siteman Garland. Like Warner, David interviews entrepreneurs, he also writes about various aspects of starting and running businesses, as well as articles about lifestyle for entrepreneurs, including health and fitness. Check out his recent interview with Ze Frank here.

That’s all for now. Again, we’ll give custom English classes based on the materials above (or anything else you might be interested in) at no extra cost. Also, if you have any other favorite resources, let us know in comments.