21 Things To Read, Watch or Listen To: Feb 2016 (FS151)

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!

Steph’s Links:

A new course on how to Conduct Customer Conversations —  We just finished filming a brand new course here in Chicago for Fizzle members. It's all about a process for conducting interviews with your potential customers in order to learn about the problems they face (and how you can solve them.)

PowerSheets by Lara Casey — An excellent goal setting workbook that helps you cultivate a vision for the next 6 months to a year, and then break that down into monthly, weekly and daily goals.

Expecting Better by Emily Oster —  For the soon to be parents out there, this book uses real studies in order to present research around the most controversial parts of pregnancy, empowering you to have all the information you need to make your own decisions.

I’m a Woman in Tech, But Even I Didn’t “Get It” Until This Week — by Laura Roeder. A great, quick article about the importance of diversity on teams, and how a "culture of sameness" impacts the direction of your business.

Barrett’s links:

The Presidential Primaries — because, they’re important and more than ever before, absolutely fascinating to watch. My wish is for people to spend half as much time reading up on policy proposals from the candidates rather than reading Tweets from candidates. It’s a much more enriching experience.

Just In Time Learning for Business Builders — Just in case vs Just in time learning. Really important piece of motivation about what you should spend time learning (and what you shouldn’t).

Paul Graham’s Economic Inequality & Tim O’reilly’s Response — These two guys are smart about alot of things, and reading this intellectual exchange between them made me smarter. I don’t agree with 100% of what either one said, but that’s not the point. The conversation showed that we can have intelligent discourse with one another about hot button topics without belittling or demeaning each other. That’s encouraging.

Tesla Model 3 —  I’m still incredibly optimistic about how Tesla will change the way we get around, as well as the environmental impact of transportation. The Model 3 will be the most affordable car to date from the company, and I’m hoping it’ll give me a chance to become a Tesla customer myself.

Originals: how nonconformists move the world — by Adam Grant. My one allowed book suggestion before I’ve read it. Adam Grant’s first book, Give and Take, was an excellent look into why some people do nothing but take from their relationships while others are remarkably generous. If the new book about how nonconformists move the world is half as good, it’ll be well worth the investment.

An Open Letter To My CEO — by Talia Jane. Wow. I’m not surprised she was fired after penning her open letter on Medium, but I think she has sparked some important points of conversation across the web. Make whatever argument you want, but the issues of cost of living, living wage, a company’s responsibility to it’s employees, student debt, and the challenges of getting started in a career right out of college are all important topics we should be talking about publicly.

Corbett’s Links:

The Six Stages of Facebook Reaction Grief —  now we can be angry or sad or wowed by posts, yay!

13 Vagrant Resources for WordPress Development — and Ansible-based WordPress development: quicker and more consistent development environment configurations

Stripe Atlas —  helping entrepreneurs quickly and inexpensively set up a US-based company and bank account

Chris Guillebeau’s New New Economy —  We save this one for next time but I figured we should put a link here as well just in case.

Chase’s Links

Winnebago man — because if you’ve ever tried to record a video yourself and keep flubbing the lines, you know what this guy is going through!

Instagram (team fizzle) + multiple account ability — We show some behind the scenes stuff here, so be sure to follow along if you’re into Instagram.

The Jess Lively Podcast — We got to spend some time with Jess Lively in person (keep your eyes peeled for a new massive interview with her inside Fizzle!). Check out her podcast if you haven’t yet.

Fizzle Founder Stories — In depth, very honest and usually cocktail infused interviews with movers and shakers in independent entrepreneurship. (Hint: you can watch several in a free trial of Fizzle. Signup here.)

iPad Pro and Apple Pencil — I’m loving these things! Totally replaced my physical notebook. Totally make me feel like a real artist! (a little.)

Beauty is Embarrassing — Excellent documentary about an artist who’s been through TONS of ups and downs in his career. How do we stay grounded as creatives in a world built for popularity and success? Awesome movie. It’s $5, buy, watch, love, make.

Jodorowsky's Dune — The best movie ever about a movie never made. Creative process, creative life, creative vision and passion for creation.