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

On the show today we do something a little different: we each brought some links that have meant something to us in the past few weeks and on this show we share them with you. You’ll find links to all the articles, videos, books and more below. And the stories in podcast will walk you through why we think these links are important enough to share. Enjoy! http://fizzleshow.co/151

If you’re like the rest of us, you’ve probably found yourself daydreaming about the life of an entrepreneur: set your own hours, live where you want, make money from passive income while you sleep and wake up to the “cha-ching!” of a cash register as you check your bank account. As much as you might feel giddy about leaving your day job behind, the truth is that employment provides at least one very attractive feature: a steady income. You have a lot to figure out before you can tell your boss to take a hike, and most importantly you need to know exactly how you’re going to put food on the table. Okay, so you probably already knew that part. But where is the money going to come from, and how are you going to make it happen? These are the tougher questions, and ones we consistently hear inside the Fizzle forums. Today on the show, we get into one Fizzler’s story and break down an extremely important concept: Minimum viable income. Fizzleshow.co/150

Show Notes: FizzleShow.co/149 With all the existing platforms out there to sell your product through — Amazon, Etsy, Creative Market, Minted, iTunes, etc — is it really a good idea to spend time making free content? Angelene is a Fizzler who makes beautifully designed illustrations, cards and photo packages and this question is top of mind for her right now. Tons of experts advise building up an audience at your own website so you can create an ongoing relationship. But is this too “old school” to work these days? Subscribe to the show and listen along to hear more about Angelene’s question and our conversation about selling products in the modern internet economy.

Show notes: fizzleshow.co/148 Claudia knows the problem exists. She knows real people are struggling in real life with her topic. But she just can’t find them. On the show today we share her story (she’s got over a decade of experience in big business data!) and 5 specific “next actions” for Claudia *and you*. If you’ve ever had an intuition that a problem exists in the world but you’re having a hard time finding potential customers, then buckle up and click play. Enjoy!

“Has my topic been done already and done so well that my take on it isn’t really necessary?” Marissa has a specific idea for her business. It’s a good idea. *But* other people have *already* started businesses doing something similar. - Should she move on to another area of interest? - Are there ways she can make her idea more unique? - Should she move forward regardless? - How can she tell if it’s something worth pursuing or not? Chances are you feel the same way about your business idea. You’re not alone, and we’ve got experience and insight for you in the podcast today. Enjoy! fizzleshow.co/147

Fizzler Emma Davies has a successful and growing following on instagram, and she’s found a way to convert followers there into email subscribers. Her recent success—plus a slew of sentiment from experts claiming that blogging is dead once again—made her wonder if there really is a non-blog strategy for her content. On the show today we dig way into it, adding some much needed wisdom and experience to what is often a far too black/white question. Great conversation. Enjoy: fizzleshow.co/146

Christopher Lin is a Fizzler who opened a recent forum post with this story: “I went to the University of Utah, and majored in Entrepreneurship. At the orientation, there were 2 speakers, and the first one opened in front of the entire business school: **‘When I started my first business. I lost my wife, and it was worth it.’** Imagine a group of young starry eyed college kids listening to this opening message.  He continued, ** ‘I wish 10 years of horrible failures upon all of you, so you can truly become great entrepreneurs.’** *Another slap in the face. Are we in the right room?* I'm now hitting just about 10 years after my first business, and barely hitting minimum viable income. It's been a rocky road of squirrel chasing and lack of focus, but I am optimistic that I've laid the foundation to build something great now.” Wow. In those two bolded statements above is some inflammatory, scandalous, polarizing stuff! But there’s more in there than just sludge for debate. There is a question about what it means to fail, what’s at stake if your idea doesn’t work, what the “real world” requires from you and what you require from yourself. More than anything, the conversation you’re about to listen to is about whether you give yourself permission to fail. “Permission to fail” can feel buzz-wordy and insubstantial, but what you’ll find in this episode at large — and in Barrett’s story at the very least — is this could be the very reason why you can’t find the clarity or the courage for the next step. http://fizzleshow.co/145

Val did the work many of us dream of doing. She was working for herself, building a career doing something she was good at, and she was making money. But something happened that called her whole entrepreneurial dream into question and she had to re-evaluate what she wanted from her work. In the episode today we’ll walk you through Val’s story and you’ll come out the other side with new insight about what you really want from your work. Show note and conversation: fizzleshow.co/144 - Val’s Website: [Val Geisler | streamline. organize. simplify.](http://www.valgeisler.com/) - **Fizzle Members:** [From Full-Time Business Owner to Employee Again - General Chat - Fizzle Forums](https://fizzle.co/forums/index.php?/topic/15251-from-full-time-business-owner-to-employee-again/) - [23 Tips to Uncover What to do With Your Life (When You Have no Clue, FS096)](https://fizzle.co/sparkline/23-tips-to-uncover-what-to-do-with-your-life-when-you-have-no-clue-fs096) - [How to Manage a Side Project With a Full Time Job (FS115)](https://fizzle.co/sparkline/how-to-manage-a-side-project-with-a-full-time-job-fs115) - [I Let Insecurity & Fear Keep Me From Promoting My Business (FS143)](https://fizzle.co/sparkline/fear-insecurity-business-fs143) - [Cards Against Humanity Black Friday 2015](https://cardsagainsthumanity.com/blackfriday/) - [3 Reasons to Never Take Another Job](https://fizzle.co/sparkline/3-reasons-to-never-take-another-job) - [Alan Watts on Buddhism on passions](http://icetothebrim.com/2011/alan-watts-on-buddhism-on-passions/)

read more: http://fizzleshow.co/142 Hey this is Chase from the Fizzle show with a special episode for you here at the end of 2015. This is a re-broadcast about creating a plan for next year by doing a review of this year BUT WAIT, before you turn it off... What gets measured gets improved. If you’re like me you do a lot of things from day to day, and it’s easy to lose track of the overall direction, of your projects, your business, and your life at large. That’s why the topic today is so important to me. When I first started working at Fizzle, I didn’t have a yearly review process at all. I was a fly by the seat of my pants kind of guy. Since then, working with corbett, caleb, barrett and steph, I’ve been kind of whipped up into fighting shape./ I’ve learned how to focus, how to find commitment in an internet full of distractions, and how critical it is to make progress every single week. my business lives and dies by the things i get done. Yours probably does too. So today we’re rebroadcasting this popular episode to help you get a system together to track your progress from year to year so that each year you can look back on what you did and where you are with a kind of humble, honest pride. It’s a classic episode of the show featuring corbett, myself and Caleb wojcik who helped cofound fizzle with us 3 years ago. Alright here it is, complete with the original fizzle show music. I’ll be back after this conversations to fill in any gaps.

“I think it was pretty stupid to put all that time and energy into something and let my own fears keep me from doing anything with, so I want to sorta ‘relaunch’ it and give it a real go this time.” That quote comes to us from a Fizzler who had successfully made a product, earned some money from it, but then something kept him back from promoting and growing it further. In this episode we share his story and our advice about identifying and deconstructing the feelings, fears and insecurities that keep lots of us from taking action on our businesses. It’s a killer episode to start the new year off with. Enjoy! ==> http://fizzleshow.co/143 ## Show Notes **[Get the Free Guide to Defining Your Audience — Fizzle]** **[How to Create Your own Definition of Success (FS140)]** **[How We Deal With The Cesspool of Self Doubt (FS133)]**

“If you told me 6 months ago that this would be possible, I'd say no way.” Adam took his expertise, developed a few ideas for tiny products, used gumroad to pre-sell those tiny products, and made the stuff that worked out... ... and now he finds himself here... ... making $25,000 in just over 3 weeks and *totally* overwhelmed. In this episode we share the details of Adam’s story, why we think he’s been so successful, and our advice on what to do when you’re completely overwhelmed by your business! enjoy: http://fizzleshow.co/141

This is a big episode tackling what may be the most important work you ever do. We do a good job of setting it up in the conversation, so lets leave this intro at that. - follow along at home at FIZZLESHOW DOT CO / 140… I’ll be back after this conversation to fill in any gaps. ## Show Notes **[Why Change The Definition of Success? | Strayer University](http://readdress-success.strayer.edu/why/)** **[I'm Fine, Thanks](http://www.imfinethanksmovie.com/)** **[Money Isn't the Point](https://fizzle.co/sparkline/money-isnt-the-point)** **[Stanford Graduate School of Business View from the Top Series. - Inspiration from Jack Dorsey - Glose](https://glose.com/book/inspiration-from-jack-dorsey/stanford-graduate-school-of-business-view-from-the-top-series/03900)** **[Finding Your Voice — The Fizzle Show 001](https://fizzle.co/sparkline/finding-your-voice-the-fizzle-show-001)** **[Self-determination theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-determination_theory)** **[Big Five personality traits - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits)** **[Birkman International](https://www.birkman.com/)** **[The Highlands Ability Battery - The Highlands Company](http://www.highlandsco.com/)** **[Strengths Finder Homepage](http://strengths.gallup.com/default.aspx)** **[Forget About Setting Goals. Focus on This Instead. | James Clear](http://jamesclear.com/goals-systems)** **[Stanford Graduate School of Business View from the Top Series. - Inspiration from Jack Dorsey - Glose](https://glose.com/book/inspiration-from-jack-dorsey/stanford-graduate-school-of-business-view-from-the-top-series/03900)** **[Romance & Revenue: Big Relationship Tips for Entrepreneurs (FS055)](https://fizzle.co/sparkline/romance-revenue-big-relationship-tips-entrepreneurs-fs055)**

I Lost my job. I have 60 days to launch and get ramen-profitable. What would you do? If you had to make ends meet in a short amount of time, what would you sell? How would you find clients? What would your pitch be? This is where a Fizzler named Josh really is. He brought his question to the Fizzle Forums and in this episode we share his story, breaking down some of the common mistakes and best places to start when you need to get to a minimum viable income fast. Read more: fizzleshow.co/139

A special short episode with some good news and some great vibes.

“No point in beating around the bush – I’m hoping for advice (and reassurance) here. I’ve recently experienced a pretty huge disaster in my freelancing career, and I’m absolutely kicking myself.” That’s how a Fizzler started a recent conversation in the Fizzle Forums, and on this episode we help her blueprint a freelance business from scratch. Here’s some of her story: - She started a successful-ish service-based business - She “fell out of love” with that business and accepted a job opportunity - 2 weeks later the company she took a job with fired everyone in her department - So now she’s back at “mother-effing square one” and wondering what to do. This episode is so raw and honest it might make you bristle a little. We talk about money, emotions and some back of the napkin math you need to do. Enjoy! SHOWNOTES: http://fizzleshow.co/137