The Fizzle Show

https://fizzleshow.co – Vickie Velasquez of VegetarianZen.com joins us again in this episode to talk about relationship building via Facebook Groups, learning vs. doing and productivity for both full-time entrepreneurs and side hustlers.

https://fizzleshow.co Rob Walling is a serial entrepreneur. He founded, built and sold the email marketing platform Drip. He is also known for his podcast, Startups for the Rest of Us as well as his conference for independent startups called Microconf. In this episode of The Fizzle Show, we talk with Rob about how he got started, and how he built and sold Drip for a “life-changing amount of money.” Rob also shares his “Stairstep approach” to entrepreneurship and explains why starting big is a huge mistake for most business builders. Finally, we talk about Rob’s new project TinySeed, which is the first startup accelerator designed for bootstrappers.

FizzleShow.co (https://fizzleshow.co) Tom Ross of DesignCuts and Sarah Peck of Startup Pregnant join us today for a round-table discussion. We cover personal branding, parenthood and entrepreneurship, plus tips for quarterly/annual planning.

Shownotes: http://fizzleshow.com/341 Welcome to Part 2 of our Fizzle Friday show with Brendan Hufford. In this episode, we have several questions for Brendan to follow up from last Friday when we discussed SEO, so if you haven't listened to that episode yet, make sure you do! Brendan fields a bunch of our questions, from the team and the Fizzle audience, about link-building, Google algorithm changes, and keyword funnels. Trust us you are not going to want to miss this essential exploration of SEO from a true expert! Today on the show we are also joined by Fizzle regulars, Jen Rao and Joe Kerns to take part in the Q&A, so it promises to be a jam-packed show, full of learning. The conversation also covers building real and beneficial business relationships, growing a podcast audience and much more! Tune in to get it all! Key Points From This Episode: Explaining link-building and why it is still important today. [0:02:30.5] How Brendan thinks about linking between websites. [0:06:03.7] Using real relationship

Show Notes: http://fizzleshow.com/340 How can we, as entrepreneurs, continue to stay abreast of all the new information and skills in circulation? Is there a way to fast track learning and at the same time make it meaningful and effective? What really happens in our brains when we try and adopt something new? Today on the show we are joined by Scott H Young, author of the Wall Street Journal Bestseller, Ultralearning. The book aims to arm readers with actionable strategies and techniques for faster, more accurate learning and skill acquisition. Scott is a writer, programmer, traveler and avid reader, who has spent the last 15 years as a successful blogger and entrepreneur. This episode will give you a taste of the book and its contents, which promises to help you master hard skills, outsmart the competition and accelerate your career. We discuss the process of learning new skills, staying relevant and reinventing yourself, all things that Scott believes are vital to success as an entrepreneur in today's world

Shownotes: http://fizzleshow.com/339 On this edition of Fizzle Friday, we welcome Brendan Hufford, longtime Fizzle member and SEO wizard! He details his evolving entrepreneurial journey, doing SEO his way, and illustrates what his success has looked like over the years. We discuss Brendan's numerous business ventures and how he has pivoted several times and describes life at the agency where he spends most of his time. He has found a sweet spot between his talents and passions representing **another example of someone who has created a sustainable lifestyle doing something he cares about. Today on the show we are also joined by Fizzle regulars, Jen Rao and Joe Kerns to take part in the discussion! This Friday episode is the first part of two and in next week's episode, we will be doing a Q & A with Brendan and our panel, so make sure to catch that one as well! Join us for this Fizzle Friday and hear it all! Key Points From This Episode: A little introduction to Brendan and his business! [0:02:50.6] Brendan's

Shownotes: http://fizzleshow.com/338 Which strategies help us stay productive with the bulk of our time? What do we do when one of these strategies loses its effect? What is the right balance between being focused on productivity and actually being productive? In the online business world, there is more than enough literature and content offering you ways to be more productive! These ideas can often be really helpful, sometimes seem like noise and can distract you from what is important. We want to assess where the general productivity conversation is currently situated and help you to gauge where you are with it! In this episode, we break down the ever-evolving inner and outer world of productivity. A common experience for many people seems to be that tactics and systems can help a lot but that their effect can wear off over time. So one of the main issues here seems to be how to pivot at the right point to a new way of doing things. Today on the show we are joined by our old bestie Chase Reeves and past g

Shownotes: http://fizzleshow.com/337 How do you grow a following for your podcast if you don’t have an existing audience elsewhere? It might be easy to introduce a podcast if you already have thousands of social media followers and a long email list, but it’s trickier if you are starting from scratch. In this member-focused episode, the Fizzle Team discusses this puzzle and address some other attendee questions. Each host gives their perspective as it pertains to their own experience and business. We also talk about the strategies new podcasters could use to get the attention of another audience who is already listening to similar shows. Later we tackle the all-too-familiar problem of people who want to “pick your brain” without paying for it and help you to better set the boundaries between a discovery session and an actual consultation. And finally we talk about how to approach your first social media PPC ad campaigns, free content creation and wrap up with an encouraging testimonial from a Fizzle member

Show Notes: http://fizzleshow.com/336 Ever wonder about starting a video show? Did you decide not to due to the many obstacles, including a lack of time and resources? Have you wanted to get on podcasting bandwagon but feel unsure of how to juggle your tasks? Were you concerned that neither of these would be *the most productive use of your time? * In this episode, we discover the wonder of video shows and podcasting and talk about being involved in several ventures while still focusing on what you are good at. We also get into how affiliate marketing can significantly boost your following and the traffic to your website. Today on the show we are joined by Matt Giovanisci, successful entrepreneur, website wizard, podcast producer, and video veteran. His specialties include web design, internet marketing, web development, SEO, small and corporate business marketing and more, and he is here to talk about how he makes money through information-based sites, affiliate offers and how their link manager tool LASSO

Show Notes: http://fizzleshow.com/335 How much of your mission and "why" should you share your audience and customers? Do you need to be crystal clear on your motivation before you are able to do this? How do we collect amazing testimonials from satisfied clients? Welcome to the first member-focused, Friday episode of the Fizzle Show! These shows will be recorded live with Fizzle members and their questions and will be aired every Friday going forward! If you are not yet a registered member, check out the website so you can be a part of this great community! In this episode, we focus on two main topics. The first is getting to grips with your why and whether it is important to include your audience in this journey. The second question we answer is around testimonial collection and the best ways to go about this. We also talk about gauging alignment with customers, non-sleazy marketing and why testimonials are so effective! We share four great ideas from Sarah Peck on how to elicit meaningful, honest and imp

Shownotes: http://fizzleshow.com/334 Today's show is a quick and extra special one! We have just celebrated our 333rd episode and we are taking this opportunity to share a few very important and exciting updates with all of you. That's right, 333 weekly shows from the Fizzle team, how long have you been a listener for? We are about to shake things up and we have three big changes that we are implementing right now! First of these is Corbett Barr taking over as primary host of the podcast. Do not worry, our dear friend and resident loudmouth, Chase will still appear from time to time but as he focusses more of his energy on his YouTube business, he is handing the big responsibility baton over to Corbett. The second thing on the list is the introduction of regular, member-focused episodes, so we will be having an additional episode every Friday where we will air a mix of questions and live coaching sessions with some of you! We will be sticking to our usual Tuesday show with roundtable discussions and intervie

Shownotes: http://fizzleshow.com/333 Who are your online business heroes? Which businesses are doing this entrepreneurial thing brilliantly? Someone we look up to a lot is Laura Roeder, founder and CEO of MeetEdgar. Today we will be doing an inspirational deep dive on her path and philosophy behind bootstrapping her business and growing online! There are so many ways to build the company that you have always wanted! Hearing from someone who has worked in this space and managed to achieve many of their own goals in their own unique and tailored way, can be such an affirming message for everyone out there pushing. In this episode we talk about the benefits of bootstrapping your startup. We discuss finding your own way through money and hiring instead of relying solely on venture capital. Laura shares insight about how to keep in mind the idea of building a sellable business while creating something you believe in. Laura also gives us her thoughts on the role of social media for today's entrepreneur! Laura Roe

Shownotes: http://fizzleshow.com/332 Aren’t we all wishing to get to that place where we can just relax into our business and start living life rather than just sweating through every day? Well, the good news is that Internet business allows you to do that to some extent. Welcome to the future! It is possible to create your own business and to design your own lifestyle. How do you want to raise your kids and schedule your working hours? Again, an online business gives you the opportunity to customize all those aspects to fit your needs and wants. But, in order for us to do that, we need to figure out a way to earn enough revenue to be able to afford these choices and to sustain the lifestyle we want. To accomplish this, you need the energy to want to do it, so you have to actually care about it. In this episode we talk about growing your business so that it provides you with the means to live the life you want. You might have your venture up and running but now you’re wondering what to do to build that out

Shownotes: http://fizzleshow.com/331 Life is too short to do something you hate, why not start your own business? This way you can have much more personal freedom and stability, not to mention an opportunity for creative expression. The Internet has allowed us to communicate with anyone in the world and has completely opened up the landscape of business. But that doesn’t mean you have to have an eBook and a massive email funnel – you don’t have to do business in any particular way just because you’re using the Internet. If you’ve missed out on the last several episodes, we’re working though the roadmap that gives you the steps and stages to follow to start your own business, minus all the whingeing that goes along with constantly having to start all over again. We often waste time fiddling with things that aren’t that important, and then we wonder why we’re not making more rapid progress. This is where just-in-time learning comes in to save the day – learning only what you need for what’s in front of you ri

Shownotes: http://fizzleshow.com/330 SPOILER ALERT: you have to be yourself in life, because everybody else is taken! Not everybody gets to do a job they care about, however. Some of us have to endure the mediocrity of the everyday humdrum. Even if it's not torture, it is still not giving you the zeal you’d like to wake up with in the morning. Some of us get to work at Google or Oracle while the rest of us misfits are scurrying around to start our own businesses. We really want it to work so we can make our own schedules and be responsible for our own livelihoods. This independent living online thing, we’ve been at it for years, been talking about if for a long time and there’s a lot of you involved in this – *your unique situation and point of view. * If you’ve been following the show for the last several weeks, we’ve been going through the Fizzle Roadmap, *a how-to for creating your first business and making it actually successful. * In this episode we are talking about the stage of launching your product

How do we figure out what we should make in our business? How can we tell if that product is going to be viable and profitable? What are the main things to consider in this stage of your business journey, where you need to make some big leaps? Going from the planning stages into production and actual business is obviously scary, it can also be massively exciting and really is the first time you get to share your work with the world. That being said, care and caution must be taken when putting yourself out there, more so in aid of building towards the future than protecting your ego. In this episode we situate this topic in the larger series that we have been running about your business roadmap. We talk about how this section of work is the meaty and juicy centre of your business; after planning and before everything else. We discuss essentials such as minimal viable products, feedback and criticism and the factors that go into big decisions. We also talk about how to really approach solving a problem for peo