The Fizzle Show

<p>We’ve got a few weeks left until the end of the year and you can probably feel it’d be pretty easy to just take your foot off the gas, let things slow down, maybe mindlessly read the news a little? *OR*, you could take a breath, make a plan, and finish the year off STRONG. Today on the show we’re sharing 8 ways to end this year strong so you can start off next year with clear eyes and a clean slate. Enjoy! show notes: fizzleshow.co/192</p>

<p>You want to be more productive and motivated? Let’s talk about your work environment — and more specifically how your work environment shapes your productivity. On the show today Corbett, Chase and Steph walk you through insights about how our work places effect our work practices. This one’s especially helpful for those of us who work from home (and coffee shops and libraries and bars and…) Show Notes: Fizzleshow.co/191</p>

<p>Being “inspired” as an entrepreneur can mean a lot to your business and life. To me, the *feel* of inspiration is towards possibility and opportunity… a far cry from the standard doom and gloom that can come with starting a business. But more importantly, I find my best ideas, my most creative moments, come not when I’m dour and heavy, but when I’m light and hopeful… which is what I mean when I say “inspired.” So, we think it’s important to find a little wind for your wings, chase your interest, make some space in your life for YOU, and we want to teach you how we do it so you can find your own way. On this episode we share 11 things that are inspiring us right now in our business and personal lives so you can come up with some new ways right now to practice a little discipline of inspiration. Thanks for listening and please enjoy the show! show notes: fizzleshow.co/190</p>

<p>If you’re creating a business you are going to need help. At some point in your journey a suggestion from a peer, or an insight from an article could lead to a major breakthrough for you. *But where do you go for that help?* That is the question we dig into in today’s podcast, sharing insights from each of us about where we truly find help in modern business. Getting good help could be the difference between making progress right now or waking up in a year realizing your business idea completely fizzled out, so let’s talk about where you can get help. Enjoy the show (and thanks for listening!). Show Notes: fizzleshow.co/189</p>

<p>Email newsletters can be a great way to grow an audience and keep them engaged. IN fact, it’s like, the most common modern business advice around right now to start growing an email list as soon as possible. So in this episode we’re going to look at 6 of our favorite modern email newsletters. Enjoy! Show Notes: Fizzleshow.co/188</p>

<p>Most of us feel like the right website can go a long way to helping us get discovered. But most of us also don’t have a large chunk of money lying around to pay for a beautiful custom website. Shownotes: FizzleShow.co/187 So, we have to do it ourselves. That usually means choosing between Squarespace and WordPress. Putting together a great website can be a nightmare, and there’s a lot riding on the decisions we make. So, we’re going to help you make the best decision you can in this episode.</p>

<p>When we ask entrepreneurs what they are struggling with, it’s incredibly common to hear, “I want to get more done.” In fact, when we surveyed thousands of our readers, by far the most popular struggle was ‘time management.’ Struggle number two was ‘motivation.’ So today on the fizzle show we’re going to talk about that. We published a huge article about what we believe are the 10 most important time management practices. In this episode, we’re going to dive deep on our favorites from that list. Strap in, this is a good one. Show Notes: Fizzleshow.co/186</p>

<p>Modern western culture is buzzing with ideas about living a happy and fulfilled life. I can’t walk down the street without seeing a #liveyourdream hashtag on something. There seems to be hundreds of books, podcasts, courses, shows and instagram accounts about it. But with all the gurus and research courses and books out there, is there a framework that can really help? I mean, we should know that by now, right? Of course the answer is “no,” there is not a one-size-fits-all framework for a happy life; that easy button does not exist. *BUT*, as your own experience probably tells you, there absolutely are things you can do to keep heading in the direction of happiness and fulfillment. So that’s what we talk about in this episode: the ideas and practices that have meant the most to the three of us working, experienced and successful-ish entrepreneurs. After the past decade or so of full time professional creative work, what have we learned about rich inner fulfillment? Enjoy, and thanks for listening. Show Notes: fizzleshow.co/185</p>

<p>Overwhelmed. Submerged. Swamped. Engulfed. This is what it feels like to become lost *inside* your business. Shownotes: <a href="http://fizzleshow.co/184">http://fizzleshow.co/184</a> - You get lost in the necessary day to day operations. - You get lost wasting months on an elusive project that never gets finished. - You get lost in the fog of un-motivation. (Or is it “de-motivation”?) - You get lost in the anxiety and worry of declining metrics. No matter the skill level, at one point or another all entrepreneurs get lost like this. So much so that it has a name. **It’s called working *IN* your business instead of working *ON* your business.** When you’re working *ON* your business crazy things happen. Things like fresh ideas, camaraderie, confidence and vacations. Mmmmmm… that’s what we got into this thing for, that’s why we became entrepreneurs in the first place, to design our own lives, to pursue what *we* wanted to pursue, to cultivate freedom. **So today we want to show you why your business pushes you until you’re overwhelmed.** We also want to show you some tricks we’ve learned that, when used properly, will keep you confident and motivated to untangle any problems that come your way. That’s what we’re talking about today on the Fizzle Show. Enjoy!</p>

<p>“I did everything right, but my audience *STILL* isn’t growing. How do I get random strangers to discover me?” I loved how honestly the question was asked in the [Fizzle Forums]. Show Notes: FizzleShow.co/183 It came from a woman who had taken one of our courses, the one about *defining and understanding your target audience*. The course had helped her make big improvements to her website, going so far as to design a new strategy for the content she writes. But when the dust cleared, there wasn’t. Much. Change. If you want to find out *why* this happens — maybe why it’s happening to *you* — click play and let’s get into it. Enjoy… and thanks for listening!</p>

<p>One huge risk in modern small business is to spend months or years working on a project only to release it… and find nobody wants it. Show Notes: FizzleShow.co/182 Entrepreneurship has *risk* at the heart of it. We manage risk. Some of us manage that risk well. Others poorly. Most of us don’t plan for risk very well, but we’ve got enough tenacity to make changes on the fly as we learn. So, what if you could reduce the risk of your business? What if you could make your project or business or campaign *more likely to succeed*? What if you could do that right now, without creating a [business plan] or [designing prototypes] or even [naming your business]? Would you do it? And if I told you it had something to do with talking honestly, curiously and candidly with potential customers — doing more listening than talking, in fact — would that make you nervous? Or would it excite you? It probably bums you out a little. **Talking to customers can be hard, but it will literally make your business more likely to succeed over the long-haul.** Now, when we at Fizzle talk about talking to customers we actually mean a very specific methodology. We teach that method in [this course]. It involves anchor questions, follow up questions, insights about finding people to talk to, etc. But for those of you who might be new to this way of talking to customers, we wanted to create a podcast episode where we talk you through what we think are the most important pieces of this process. This conversation will be especially helpful if your business is online and you, like many of us, spend more time talking AT your customers than you do talking WITH your customers… … because feedback from these people can change the course of your business success forever. Enjoy!</p>

<p>This is part 2 of the conversation found here: fizzleshow.co/180 As an entrepreneur of a small business there’s just some kinds of tasks you *HAVE* to do… doesn’t matter WHAT kind of entrepreneur you are. So, in this episode we share our favorite workflow tips in 8 different categories. Head here for shownotes and the previous conversation: fizzleshow.co/180</p>

<p>We’ve all felt that feeling where, at the end of the day, you wish you felt better about the stuff you accomplished. Show Notes: fizzleshow.co/180 You wish you got more done. There’s a heaviness, a tiredness and a good helping of “dammit I didn’t give it my all today.” Let’s talk about that, and let’s talk about 25 of our favorite tips to manage tasks *we all* have to deal with. As an entrepreneur of a small business there’s just some kinds of tasks you *HAVE* to do… doesn’t matter [WHAT kind of entrepreneur you are]. So, in this episode we share our favorite workflow tips in 8 different categories: - Email — we all have to deal with this. Partnerships and opportunities are in our inbox alongside (thousands of!) spammy bullsh*t. *We’ve got some tips for you.* - Planning & Strategy — what’s the most important next step? Are we leaving money on the table? Should we make more products or try to earn more from the assets we already have? We all have to ask this stuff. *We’ve got some tips for you.* - Analytics & Measurement — we all *need* to have a good answer to the “how are we doing right now?” question. *We’ve got some tips for you.* - Writing — whether it’s emails, blog posts, sales pages or messages to customers and employees, we all need to write. Communication is essential to every one of us. *We’ve got some tips for you.* - Customer Support — if we’re doing our jobs, every one of us has some customers. If our products are anything less than perfect, we all have some customer support to manage. *We’ve got some tips for you.* - Inspiration & Learning — every one of us needs to stay fresh and bring good ideas to the table. If we stall out too much we could burn all the way out. *We’ve got some tips for you.* - Work/Life Balance — I’ll wager that none of us want to ruin our family lives or personal lives. This is something we all balance. *We’ve got some tips for you.* You’ll find our tips for each of these in the podcast episodes below. I highly recommend listening to the whole thing — it’s like being in a pub with two really experienced small business owners… you’re going to learn some valuable stuff. Then, below those podcast episodes I’ve compiled resources for each of the tasks we talk about in the conversation (and in the list above). Thanks for reading and listening and I hope you enjoy! **Making small improvements to tasks like these can make a world of difference in your business.**</p>

<p>Choosing a business idea is an incredibly important decision. A great idea can make your life so much easier. People will naturally identify with your mission and help to share your message. The right topic will make you come alive and you’ll fall in love with your business and customers. Read more: <a href="https://fizzle.co/sparkline/50-business-ideas">https://fizzle.co/sparkline/50-business-ideas</a></p>

<p>If you want to write things that inspire action — web sales pages that effectively sell your product, emails that readers will click on and share, etc. — this article is for you. Show Notes: <a href="https://fizzle.co/sparkline/writing-copy-for-web">https://fizzle.co/sparkline/writing-copy-for-web</a> I repeat: if you want to make things on the internet that work, if you want to publish webpages and videos and podcasts and emails into the world that get results, you’re in the right place. Because in this episode we’re going to talk about COPYWRITING… ugh, sounds boring maybe? nope, there is an art form here that I’ll bet, if you listen to this show, you’ll see completely differently afterwards. Along with this show is a free guide and article which you can find at Fizzleshow.co/178</p>