Most Online Businesses Fizzle Out — Let’s Do Something About That

Today we’re announcing something big, and we’re going to ask for your help.

We believe the Internet has started a revolution in entrepreneurship. It has never been less expensive or more possible to build an online business, to create an honest, innovative, true, fulfilling and valuable business.

It’s an incredible time to be an entrepreneur, especially if you want to build a business that takes advantage of the freedom and lifestyle options that working on the Internet allows.

So many great small independent businesses spring up every day online, and more and more of our friends are joining the ranks of the self employed.

But at the same time, so many businesses continue to fizzle out. The majority, in fact.

The truth is, despite all the great tools and resources and examples out there, most people who try to build a business online continue to fail.

And it pisses me off. I know people who used to comment and be involved on Think Traffic, who had good concepts for their business, growing audiences too. And they’ve since given up or disappeared quietly into the night (for lots of reasons, I’m sure).

But it makes me wonder: if they had good answers to their questions, if they had help bridging the gap between inspiration and revenue, if they had more community to rely on, would they still have given up? Or would they be growing a fulfilling business right now?

We also know that there is a lot working against you when you’re starting out.

There’s a dirty truth about online business education. Too many courses and programs that promise to teach you how to build a successful online business are overhyped, overpriced and ineffective. There’s tons of garbage out there and very little substance.

And – maybe this is even worse – there’s an entire industry devoted to slinging this stuff.

When you’re new to online business, when you’re in the critical stages, it’s hard to know who to trust. It’s hard to know if spending money on education will be worth it. There isn’t a single comprehensive and affordable program that offers everything you want in one simple package.

I’ve been thinking a lot about it, and a few months ago I put together a team to do something huge about the state of online business education.

It’s time to build a central training platform for serious online entrepreneurs to learn what works, what doesn’t, and how to do it – a place for people who believe in delivering value and creating happy customers instead of gaming the system or fooling customers to make a quick buck.

We think the bar can be much higher, that we can create a platform that means the difference between giving up and breaking through. Something that becomes an essential library of training for any online business builder.

But we’re going to need your help (more on that in a second)…

Announcing A New Training Platform for Online Business Builders

So, that’s what we’re announcing today. We’re building the education platform for online business builders.

Our goals are simple. This platform will be:

• Big on insanely useful content, low on hype and over-baked marketing… We want to put a premium on honest, effective “lessons learned,” best practices and insights from experienced industry leaders we can trust.
• Fresh, comprehensive and fit for beginners to advanced, and anywhere in between… We want something that grows with us, that’s updated on current trends, that can meet us at beginner stages and educate us all up through the advanced levels.
• Fun, high quality, entertaining and effective… Let’s make something that teaches effectively, that’s entertaining, that saves time… and lets use studio quality video too, lots and lots of video. 🙂
• Full of vibrant, supportive community engagement… Give us community, the ability to connect with one another, the tools to encourage and support each other. Because these are massive goals you guys are chasing down, and we think you’re brave.
• Not a crazy expensive, ‘take out a second mortgage’ kind of thing… Make it affordable. That’s, ummmm… that’s all on this one. Just make it affordable. I’m sick of seeing people pay massive sums of money for questionable value wrapped in false promises. This will be an inclusive solution, not a “can I afford it?” kinda thing.

That’s what we’re creating. It’s the tool I wish had existed when I was getting started. It’s the platform I wish I could refer people to.

The truth is: too many online business builders fizzle out. They get inspired, then try their best and – too often – end up giving up.

It’s easy to get inspired – to read great books, hear great speakers, buy the tools and t-shirts and start clicking away on your online business.

It’s easy to get inspired; it’s hard to turn that inspiration into success – money in the bank, and a viable, valuable, growing business.

Now, what to name this thing?

So, we spent a lot of time thinking about what to call this thing. We thought of dozens of names, but none of them stuck and most had domain or trademark issues.

Then, *really* late one night after too much (way too much) tea, followed by scotch and brainstorming and being pissed off about how many people fizzle out, I said… “That’s it. We should call this thing Fizzle!”

And in the morning it wasn’t such a bad idea. Because “fizzle” has this whole other meaning: it’s the sound of electricity, of something bursting with potential, something crackling with energy, of fresh, cold, bubbly champagne that’s just been uncorked.

(And yes, we’re well aware of the connotations of the name Fizzle. It’s intentional. The name will make people stop and take notice and really think about it. After you hear the name a few times, you forget about the connotations, but you remember the name forever, like Virgin or Yahoo or Monster.)

That’s what we want to build: a tool that can be the difference between your business fizzling out OR your business crackling and buzzing with life, creativity and energy.

But to make this happen, we really need to rethink online business education. This isn’t going to be just another one-off course. With your help, Fizzle will become an essential library of training and resources and a community that every online entrepreneur should be a part of.

We’ve been working on this for months already. We’re pumped. Really pumped. Chase, Caleb and I are fired up to start showing you things we’ve been making.

That’s it for now. We’ll have much more information as things develop in the coming weeks and months. We’d love to hear your comments and feedback in the survey.

Sincerely,

-Corbett Barr
Founder, Think Traffic

P.S. If you believe in this vision, we’d love you to share this post. If you’d like to join the cause in some other way, stay tuned. We’ll be looking for instructors, ambassadors, teaching assistants and more later this year.