The Fizzle Show — Heart & Hustle, Self Employment & Creative Business

Doesn’t matter what surf board you’re riding, if the wave is too small it can’t generate enough lift to catch your board and make it flow. The same is true with your marketing. If you can’t generate a large enough swell with your website, your emails, your headlines, your social media, your customers WON’T catch your waves. I call this resonance. The deeper you can resonate with your customers, the more effective everything is. **And today on the show we have, what I call, a resonance expert.** (BTW, Steph is on vacation with her family and will return next week for a proper Fizzle Show episode on how to be CEO of your business… drawing on insights from this conversation as well as the previous one with John and Dana.) So, back to our resonance expert — Vanessa Van Edwards is like a Malcom Gladwell or Brené Brown, a researcher who can deftly and expertly translate that research into tangible, accessible communication. Vanessa’s topic of research and training is: cracking the code of interesting human behavior, understanding the hidden dynamics of people. Basically, she loves to figure people out. Through her research, her teaching and her writing she helps people, basically, learn how to be the most interesting person in the room. And today, among other things, we’re going to talk with her about using the science of personality to resonate deeper with our audience online. Enjoy! Fizzleshow.co/211

I’d venture to say that most of us, when we think about a “successful business” we’d want to create, it will look like what is known as a *lifestyle business.* These are the kinds of businesses where your business serves your life, not the other way around. And with the tools of the internet and extremely affordable training like [Fizzle’s Courses], this kind of business has become a real, viable approach to revenue earning and wealth creation. BUT — and this is a big but here — it’s still a difficult path. Becoming a doctor is a viable path for you as well, but we all know it ain’t easy. You don’t just “fall into” becoming a doctor. Now, though it’s true that many people really have just “fallen into” success of many shapes and sizes online, it’s not a smart strategy to count on it. Just like becoming a doctor or a skydiving instructor (speaking of “falling in!”), it makes sense with an online business to understand what are the elements necessary for success, what expectations are *intelligent* to have and how success happens. It’s that last one we want to dive into today. How does success in lifestyle business *actually* happen? What are the steps and stages? What are the red flags to watch for? What are the common mistakes and the truly important things? So, on the show today we have two very special guests — John and Dana Shultz from [Minimalist Baker]. They’re a married couple who have found enormous success running a blog about how to cook *“simple, delicious recipes that require 10 ingredients or less, one bowl, or 30 minutes or less to prepare.”* John and Dana are close friends of Fizzle. In fact, they teach a course within Fizzle called [Exactly How to Build a Great Food Blog]. Because they’re close friends I’m hoping we get a really juicy interview with them, full of the stuff that most people are too afraid to share. So, please enjoy this interview with founders of a truly successful lifestyle business. It’s our hope that you’ll find amazing insight here to help you as you develop your own path to success. Show Notes: Fizzleshow.co/210

Listen, there is a TON of competition in business today. The internet, which enables all of our personal businesses like never before, also makes it so now you compete with the entire world. But, we have a powerful tool at our disposal: specialization, focus, narrowing our target market, [aiming at a smaller business niche]. Now, if you’re already selling a bunch of product successfully — if your storehouse and bank account is full! — well then, you probably don’t need to specialize any more… it’s working, you’ve got it, well done. But, for many of us — especially those of us who are still getting our businesses off the ground — specialization, aiming at a smaller niche, focusing on a more precise target market, can make all the difference in getting your business flying, getting found, producing revenue. A great niche can help you: - get that difficult and necessary initial traction because your business is more remarkable to specific group of people. - resonate powerfully with visitors when they land on your website, blog, podcast, workshop, etc., because you’re “speaking their language.” - resonate, again! It can’t be overstated how important it is to be able to connect deeply with your target customers through your marketing materials; focusing on a more specific niche can make all the difference here. - come up with easy and effective marketing ideas because you know *exactly* who you’re making things for. This is another big one! Especially if you, like most modern businesses, will rely on internet content for finding new customers. Basically, defining a target market and niche that’s both “specific enough” AND currently underserve in the world will help you with everything… literally. Show Notes: Fizzleshow.co/209

We’re willing to bet you’ve heard and read lots of talk about the importance of pinpointing your ideal client, identifying a target market and picking a niche. Maybe you’re even sick of these concepts? (It’s okay, you can roll your eyes a little!) You’re probably tired of hearing these buzzwords because they get thrown around way too often without much meaning attached to them. Rather than simply passing out the same old advice, we’re going to spend this episode breaking down what each one means, and what to actually DO with that info. So before you skip this one thinking you’ve heard all there is to hear about these topics, hear us out. Let us guess what you’re thinking right now. It might be something like: I don’t want to say NO to potential customers. Can’t I just work with whoever I can work with? I just want to [make my product/work with people/write what I want to write]. Why do I have to spend time on this when My Favorite Blogger/Podcaster “does it all”? What happens if I pick the wrong thing? We get it. Today we’re tackling all of these concerns, and we’re laying out what these ideas actually mean — and how you can use them to power your business. Show Notes: Fizzleshow.co/208

Inside Fizzle there’s a course called “Choosing a Topic.” This is one of our most popular courses, and it’s at the beginning of the roadmap. This course helps people in three different situations starting out on the entrepreneurial path: “I have too many potential business ideas and don’t know how to choose just one.” “I don’t have any ideas, how do I come up with a good one.” “I have my heart set on this one idea, is it any good?” The course guides people through a series of lessons aimed at helping them choose the best business idea for them, based on several essential criteria. One of those essential criterion is something we call “business boosters.” A business booster is something that gives you an advantage over the competition. On today’s episode of The Fizzle Show podcast we discuss five categories of business boosters guaranteed to give you a meaningful competitive advantage. Any business idea you choose should have at least one of these, preferably more than one. ShowNotes: Fizzleshow.co/207

We’ve got some articles, some books, some podcasts and some videos that can help you with your vision, motivation, productivity and all the other good stuff you need to succeed in modern indie business. Give the podcast episode a listen if you’re not already subscribed… the context on each of these is fun, inspiring and meaningful. Enjoy! Show Notes: fizzleshow.co/206

If you’re trying to build an online business, then chances are good you’ve come across a few stories about how incredible Facebook ads can be as a marketing tool. “A zillion webinar sign ups that resulted in a million sales!” “Automated list building around the clock!” “A constant stream of high-quality traffic that converts!” That’s great. *But how’s it really done? * Show Notes: Fizzleshow.co/205

On the podcast today we interview someone who actually found out how to make his living doing something he loved. And, I swear to god, if he can do it with this niche, there’s at least a chance for you to do it in whatever topic that’s got you excited. Because this guy, Ross Symons, literally makes little paper animals. THAT’S. IT. Origami, that’s the interest Ross pursued. No, I’m serious, ORIGAMI! Little. Paper. Animals. Is there something you’re dreaming of pursuing? Or something that’s growing in interest for you? Chances are, if you’re like a lot of us, you can’t even tell — your life is so crammed with responsibility, obligation, and, as Ross puts it, “What you THINK you want” that you can’t hear that little spark of true interest in you. If that’s you, LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE. It’s a heavy duty, full-on glorious, interesting, quirky and human example of someone finding their own way. My dream for you listening to this would be: - You trust more that small voice inside yourself. - You decide to actively pursue what interests you personally. - You research your situation a little to see if you’re choosing success over your self, your happiness. - You see with fresh eyes how wonderfully diverse are the ways the internet can enable you to grow an audience, serve customers and earn revenue! That’s what I want for you. So, let’s dive in! Fizzleshow.co/204

Listen, some things you just need to quit. You realize you need to stop doing it, stop it. Acknowledge and move on. But other things… other things are big, hairy, important, terrifying things. To quit these kinds of things is heavy, emotional, traumatic. So, in this article (and accompanying podcast) I’m going to share: - How we get “bamboozled” into working on stuff that burns us out; - What role our intuition plays in deciding what to quit and what to pursue; - How to play a simple game to make your quitting decision crystal clear. Let’s get into it. Show Notes: fizzleshow.co/203

In every significant marketplace there is competition. In many ways, competition is a great thing — it drives innovation, it pushes businesses to be better and it gives customers choices. When we’re vying for the same customers, it’s tempting to hide away with our ideas and keep our precious audiences to ourselves. But is this really the best way? Should we be afraid of the competition? Should we distance ourselves from them in hopes that customers will choose us over them? Or do we have more to gain by reaching out, starting relationships, maybe even partnering with our competition? This week I talked to Natalie Franke on the Courage & Clarity podcast. She’s the founder of The Rising Tide Society, an international network of creatives who believe in the concept of “Community over Competition”. We decided to expand on our own experience with these juicy questions — let’s get into it :) Show Notes: fizzleshow.co/202

We’ve all heard it before. You should “follow your passion” if you want to be happy and successful in life. But what if you don’t know what your passion is? Or what if there’s no money in your passion? Or what if you have multiple passions!? Within the Fizzle team, we believe “follow your passion” is actually both essential AND terrible advice. It’s a great episode, and, let’s be honest, your life is in an awesome place to hear this right now. Enjoy! Show Notes: Fizzlshow.co/201

“Though usually regarded as the result of trying to give too much, burnout in my experience results from trying to give what I do not possess.” That is a quote from Parker Palmer. Parker Palmer is awesome. I’ll prove it. And you are awesome too. But you’re in danger of burnout. **If you want to create something interesting…** you’re up against burnout. **If you want to create something important…** you’re up against burnout. **If you want to create something you care about…** burnout. On the show today we hear from a Fizzle member who is literally burnt out. We talk about why burnout happens and how you can overcome it before it makes you give up. Thank you for listening and please, enjoy the show! Read more: fizzleshow.co/200

This is episode 199 (one hundred and ninety-nine!) of the Fizzle show! That’s one podcast a week for three and a half years. For many of you listening running a blog or podcast for a living is a dream. For others, it’s a nightmare, or a necessary step to creating an audience you can serve for over time. On this incredibly honest episode you’ll hear about what it’s like behind the scenes of a large blog and podcast. We get into: - Why we started the Fizzle Show in the first place. What our strategies and goals were. - How to reframe the way you think about your relationship with your audience so you can have fresh insights about what to make. - How we pivot and get the content strategy back on track when it starts to feel too cumbersome. - What we’ve learned about the “long slog” of content creation over several years. Thank you for listening to the show. We’ve got a whole slew of good stuff planned for the next 200 episodes :) … but we wouldn’t have any fun doing this if you didn’t let us know it mattered to you. For all of you who listen, however much you do so, thank you for your hearts, your time and your attention. Now, please be our guest and enjoy episode 199 of the Fizzle Show: Show Notes: Fizzleshow.co/199

Might sound crazy, but in this podcast we literally teach you how to be successful. Simple as that. You want to become successful. You want to make headway towards your goal. You want to feel inspired and insightful about the work you do. You want to live life on your terms, employ your own damn self, define your own lifestyle. In this podcast we teach you — as I said — *literally* how to do that… how to get successful. It’s a deep dive into what we mean when we say “successful,” how that word bamboozles us, hoodwinks us and we lose touch with the very thing that’s going to contribute most to genuine success in our lives. BTW, this is not, like, some “The Secret” stuff or some pie-in-the-sky power of positivity… it’s cold hard empiricism and experience, but with real heart. You’re gonna like it. Make a cup of tea or coffee, invest an hour now in real, lasting success, and let’s dig in. Show Notes: Fizzleshow.co/198

What does it take to launch a popular podcast? Well, Steph just did it and on the show today she shares the 3 big tactics she learned so you have a better shot of doing it yourself. Oh, yea, btw, we’ve got a new podcast to tell you about :) Show Notes: fizzleshow.co/197