It has been about a year since I came up with the idea for cavnessHR. During this time, I have met and followed a few people on social media. Or I have met them at networking events. These are people who I believe bring myself and others value. They do their best to make things better for everyone. I believe they all inspire others to be better by adding value and helping to solve problems. 

I believe my startup journey has been easier from listening to them and taking their advice. Hopefully, if you listen to them your journey will be easier as well. Below are the people I follow and would recommend you follow as well. They are not listed in any certain order.

Gary Vaynerchuk - The king of hustle as I like to call him. Gary Vee as he is known will inspire you to get off your lazy ass and go and make your dreams come true. He is a constant source of motivation. He wants everyone who wants it to succeed and he provides you the resources on a daily basis to do so. He is at LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/garyvaynerchuk/  and Twitter @garyvee. He is also on Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube.

Carlos Gil - Carlos is a social media strategist and snapchat influencer. He will help you market your startup on social media through his advice. He is constantly on Snapchat and is a Snapchat guru. He is at LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlosgilonline/ and Twitter @carlosgil83. He is also on Snapchat and YouTube.

Steve Browne - Steve is a Human Resources expert and leader who believes there is a better way to do HR. I love his approach to HR and what he is doing for the HR community. He mentors and advises many people across the HR space and he always has time to help you out. He is also an outstanding speaker. He is at LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveb5/ and Twitter @sbrownehr. He has a LinkedIn Group called HRPositive that focuses on all the positive things happening in the HR community. He also publishes a great blog at www.sbrownehr.com. If you want to see how HR should be done, follow Steve.

Nick Hughes - Nick is a startup leader who adds value by providing great insights. He can be counted on to provide great advice and to help you with your startup journey. He is on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jnickhughes/  and Twitter @jnickhuges. He also has a site called Founders Live that connects people in the startup space. Founders Live is a great asset to everyone involved in startups. Founders Live is located at https://www.founderslive.com. Nick also hosts a monthly Feature Friday pitch event. This is a great event that lets you see various startup pitches.

Jason Calcanis - Jason is an entrepreneur, angel invester and talk show host. Jason has been involved in the world of startups for a while now and is a great source of information and advice. I follow his podcast "This Week in Startups" and the insights are invaluable. Jason interviews various people and covers some quite interesting topics. I also recommend that you check out his website at www.launch.co. Jason is also on Twiter @jason. 

Mark Suster - Mark is an entrepreneur and angel investor who provides great insights and advice on how to obtain venture capital for your startups. He conduct "snapstorms" on a regular basis. In these "snapstorms" he provides lessons on how to obtain funding for your startup and the ins and outs of venture capital. He provides important lessons on this important aspect of the startup journey. He has a blog, "Both Sides of the Table" at https://bothsidesofthetable.com. In this blog he talks about his experiences as both a founder and a person who now provides funding for founders. Mark's Twitter is @msuster. I have gained quite a bit of knowledge from Mark. 

Martin Zwilling - Martin is a veteran startup mentor who has been published in various magazines. He is on LinkedIn -  https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinzwilling/  and on Twitter @Startuppro. His blog "Startup Professionals Musings" provides daily advice on various topics that will help you be a successful founder. I look at Martin's blog on a regular basis to learn valuable insights.

John Sechrest - John is one of the leaders of the Seattle area startup community. He is the Seattle Angel Conference Founder and he is helping to spread the Lean Startup methodology. He hosts a monthly mentoring event called Lean Startup Seattle https://www.meetup.com/lean-startup-seattle/. At these events, John covers topics that assist you in becoming a better founder and that make you think. John is also on Twitter @sechrest.  The biggest compliment I can give John is that he does not tell you what you want to hear. John tells you what you need to hear.

Joey Price - Joey is the CEO of JumpstartHR.  JumpstartHR provides HR to small businesses and startups. Joey was named as one of the top 30 under 30 in HR by the Society of Human Resources Management. Joey can be found on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeyvprice/ and at Twitter @joeyvpricehr. Joey also has a podcast called, "Businees, Life & Coffee" where he talks to leaders from different industries. Despite the fact that in someways cavnessHR will be competing against JumpstartHR in some areas. Joey has provided me with great advice on various topics and provided insights to me that he has gained during his time as a CEO of a JumpstartHR. I am thankful that Joey has taken the time to assist me.

Allan Collins - Alan is a HR leader who helps HR professionals through his site and his blog,Success in HR. Alan provides resources that help HR professionals take their career to the next level. I have used his resources to help me advance my own HR career. Alan is on LinkedIn at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/successinhr/ and on Twitter @SuccessInHR. Alan has also written several great HR books that can help you advance your HR career.

The Startup Chat Podcast - The startup chat podcast, www.thestartuppodcast.com by Hiten Shah @hnshah and Steli Efti @Steli is a weekly podcast on how to have a successful startup. They provide no BS advice on what you need to do to be a successful founder and how to grow your business. They talk about different aspects of building a startup. This is the one podcast that I never miss. The value they provide to their listeners in invaluable.

I also have several other blogs under the section of blogs I follow that provide me great value. But the people listed above are the ones I try my best to keep up to date on a regular basis.

Who is helping you out as you try to improve yourself?