The How of Business

Henry Lopez built this podcast around a straightforward promise: teaching people the practical mechanics of starting, running, and growing a small business. Since 2016, he's published over 600 weekly episodes and earned a 4.7-star rating from 500 reviews, which speaks to how consistently the show delivers on that promise. Lopez himself is a serial entrepreneur and small business owner, not a journalist or consultant observing from the outside, and that operational experience shapes every conversation. The format alternates between two types of episodes. Solo shows tackle specific business topics -- writing a business plan, choosing a legal structure, understanding cash flow, hiring your first employee, picking the right insurance -- the kind of nuts-and-bolts questions that every first-time business owner has but that most podcasts skip over in favor of flashier content. Interview episodes feature small business owners sharing their real experiences, from franchise operators to service providers to product companies. The guests aren't typically Silicon Valley unicorn founders. They're people running restaurants, consulting firms, cleaning companies, landscaping businesses, and e-commerce stores. That makes the advice directly transferable for the vast majority of people who want to start something that doesn't involve venture capital or tech. A recent episode featured Shannon Bailey discussing marketing in the AI era for small businesses, which is exactly the kind of timely, practical guidance the show does well. Lopez asks clear, focused questions and keeps episodes in the 30 to 40 minute range. The massive back catalog functions like a self-paced small business curriculum that you can dip into based on whatever challenge you're facing this week.