Episode 241: Networking, Avoiding Hard Stuff & Lessons Learned Making 100 Projects in 1 Year (FS241)

Summary: <p>If you are stuck in the romantic notion of what it looks like to create a business and you need some motivation to stop running away from the hard work, you’re going to love this episode.</p> <p>On today’s show we are joined by none other than Justin Jackson, who went from having a day job to being a successful author and creating 100 projects in one year, all to show that it is possible for you to become an indie entrepreneur (even in Canada!).</p> <p>Justin is the founder of MegaMaker, where he advises software, SaaS, and digital product companies. His books, <a href="https://devmarketing.xyz/"><em>Marketing for Developers</em></a> and <a href="https://justinjackson.ca/jolt"><em>Jolt</em></a> have sold thousands of copies, and truly saved him from bankruptcy. On his blog and in his podcast he focuses mainly on topics like product marketing, helping entrepreneurs and software companies around the world. </p> <p>Inside this episode Justin shares his experience of pursing his indie entrepreneur dream and how he got caught up in the romantic fantasy of what it’s really like to start a business. Justin gets vulnerable, revealing that his initial motivation for creating 100 projects in a year was to impress others and get approval from celebrity entrepreneurs, instead of doubling down on what was already working for him. Plus, he gets super real with us about how you absolutely <em>cannot</em> avoid the hard work that entrepreneurship requires.</p> <p>Show Notes &amp; Conversation: <a href="http://fizzleshow.co/241" rel="nofollow">FizzleShow.co/241</a></p> <h2>Key Points From This Episode:</h2> <ul> <li>Why Justin could not have been an indie entrepreneur without a strong network. [0:03:32.1]</li> <li>The turning point that opened up the possibility for Justin to quit his day job. [0:06:30.1]</li> <li>An overview of Justin’s books, and whether or not they are right for you. [0:09:36.1]</li> <li>A single blog post that put Justin on the map; <em>This is a webpage</em>. [0:10:124.1]</li> <li>Justin’s journey of creating 100 projects in a year. [0:14:50.1]</li> <li>Learning not to get caught up in the romantic fantasy of being a business owner. [0:25:44.1]</li> <li>Identifying your motivations behind starting a business; do they align with your values? [0:29:29.1]</li> <li>Biggest lessons Justin learned from his challenge of creating 100 projects in a year. [0:36:39.1]</li> <li>Why we get caught up in the idea that “the grass is greener on the other side”. [0:46:39.1]</li> <li>Recognizing that you have to lean in to your discomfort, fully owning your story. [0:49:02.1</li> <li>Understanding that the beginning stage of every business is difficult. [0:55:19.1]</li> </ul> <h2>Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:</h2> <ul> <li>A Toolkit for Indie Entrepreneurs — <a href="https://fizzle.co/toolkit">https://fizzle.co/toolkit</a> </li> <li>FreshBooks — <a href="https://freshbooks.com/fizzle">https://freshbooks.com/fizzle</a> </li> <li>Justin Jackson — <a href="https://justinjackson.ca/">https://justinjackson.ca/</a> </li> <li>Justin on Twitter — <a href="https://twitter.com/mijustin">https://twitter.com/mijustin</a> </li> <li>Mega Profitable — <a href="https://megamaker.co/profit/">https://megamaker.co/profit/</a> </li> <li>MegaMaker — <a href="https://megamaker.co/">https://megamaker.co/</a> </li> <li> <em>Marketing for Developers </em>— <a href="https://devmarketing.xyz/">https://devmarketing.xyz/</a> </li> <li> <em>Jolt</em> — <a href="https://justinjackson.ca/jolt/">https://justinjackson.ca/jolt/</a> </li> <li>Product People Podcast — <a href="http://www.productpeople.tv/">http://www.productpeople.tv/</a> </li> <li>Build and Launch Podcast — <a href="https://buildandlaunch.net/podcast/">https://buildandlaunch.net/podcast/</a> </li> <li>MegaMaker Podcast — <a href="http://podcast.megamaker.co/">http://podcast.megamaker.co/</a> </li> <li> <em>This is a Webpage</em> article — <a href="https://justinjackson.ca/words.html">https://justinjackson.ca/words.html</a> </li> <li>Jason Zook — <a href="https://jasondoesstuff.com/">https://jasondoesstuff.com/</a> </li> <li>Heroku — <a href="https://www.heroku.com/">https://www.heroku.com/</a> </li> <li>Peter Levels — <a href="https://levels.io/">https://levels.io/</a> </li> <li>Jeff Sheldon — <a href="https://shop.ugmonk.com/">https://shop.ugmonk.com/</a> </li> <li>Tobias van Schneider — <a href="http://www.vanschneider.com/">http://www.vanschneider.com/</a> </li> </ul>