The Tools, Books, Systems and Resources That Helped Us Most (FS020)

We’ve seen a trend recently in people buying every damn book, mastermind, hangout, conference, system, toolset, info product, membership, coaching, etc.

It’s understandable. Sometimes we just don’t know what we don’t know and we’re smart enough to go look for those insights.

But it can lead to what I call Infoprepassionprodlearning Syndrome, or IS for short. You may have IS if you’ve bought loads of things about creating a business but haven’t yet made a dollar off your thing.

Now, you may be saying to yourself, “Shit. I think I have IS.” That’s OK. Most of us have suffered from IS at some point in our careers. The real question is not “do I have IS?” It’s “how will I recover from IS?”

That’s exactly why we created this podcast episode: to help those suffering with the debilitating effects of IS.

It’s easy to use. Simply insert the podcast into your earholes, face east, open your heart and press play.

NB: Due to the serious nature of IS this conversation will be coming to you in 2 parts. We’ll be delivering the second part next friday automatically to podcast subscribers and on this blog.

NB: Due to the serious nature of one of the resources, we end up going quite deep on the topic of running a services business (as opposed to a product-based business). If you sell services you will want to have fresh underwear and/or access to a bath when you listen to this.

Fine Print: you may feel a tingling in your finger tips and/or bathing suit area. Do not be alarmed. It simply means your spirit is awakening and counteracting the effects of the IS. If the tingling lasts for over 4 hours you can do what chase does and take off your pants or you can do what sane people do and contact your doctor or watch 10 consecutive hours of Dr. Phil. Both will work.

Resources Mentioned In Part 1

The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss

There are many colorful things said about this book and the author at around 20m into the podcast. There are some helpful caveats to pick up on there. Here’s a few quick notes:

• It really helps with the mindset and outlook of the entrepreneur.
• It’s a little more philosophical (and existential) than other resources on the list.
• Chase does not love the idea of approaching a business from the “what’s the smallest amount of care I can have for my work?” perspective.
• Caleb found the “hacking” elements of the book very helpful… dealing with email, information diet, less reactive more proactive, etc.

The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau

Chris really knows his shit and fills this book with tons of great examples of different people doing different things (like our very own Corbett Barr). What we love about this one is that it gives you a sweeping perspective on what’s possible. Chris is a friend of Think Traffic and we can’t speak highly enough of the guy.

Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port

This is Corbett’s big time #1 pick. We talk about it around minute 50. The gist is: if you’re doing any kind of service work you need to spend this $10 right now, drop everything else, and get through this work and all the worksheets in it.

The DIYthemes Forums

Not necessarily a specific recommendation. It is where I (and Caleb) spent loads of time early on as I was learning how to code and design. We gotta get good at our stuff. Having a crew to do it alongside of can be a huge boost.

Fizzle by The Three C’s

When you listen to the show you’ll hear us plug Fizzle once in the beginning. We believe we’re making the best possible resource for an indie entrepreneur, combining community, honest and entertaining training in a video based, learn at your own pace format. Corbett, Caleb and I are throwing ourselves all in on this; we are not going away. If you sign up (right now it costs $1) you are not guaranteed success. You are, however, guaranteed a secret gif of all three of us and a warm welcome into the most earnest entrepreneurial community online.

We don’t want this to feel like an advertisement, but we are very proud of Fizzle and the results Fizzlers are achieving. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

More Resources To Come

This is just part 1 of the conversation. We go a little buckwild in here on the services and so we weren’t able to get to the rest of the resources. BUT you can find Part 2 here.

So in the mean time: think you could guess what the resources will be next week? Or, say there’s someone you care about starting up their own online business. What two resources would you give them? Books, systems, seminars, conferences… could be anything. If you could only choose two what would they be?

Show Notes

Lift App — “Lift is the Ultimate Self Improvement App.”

Paul Graham on Building Companies for Fast Growth | Inc.com

Does Teamwork Make the Dream Work? (FS015) — “Your business may just be another way to play with yourself. Harnessing some team-work tactics could be a huge multiplier for you.”

Studio Neat — these guys make amazing things like the Glif iPhone tripod adapter, the Cosmonaut pen and the brand new Neat Ice Kit.

Muse — what the word actually means. “…the goddesses of the inspiration of literature, science and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths.”

Brett Kelly — I’m a total fan boy. If you use evernote, this guy wrote the book on it.

Tom Ross’ PSDFan Site — “Do you know the basic tools in Photoshop but feel that your work is still looking average?”

My Lawyer Gabe — Clear, solid advice from Mike Monteiro and his lawyer, Gabe Levine.

Paul Jarvis | Web designer and author — “I’m interested in creating simple, meaningful things on the web.”

Nathan Barry Holds a Baby — “I’ve always cared about good visual design, but a few years ago I learned that I loved to teach as well.”

Justin Jackson | Building businesses and products that people love — This guy has amazing hair and wrote this amazing thing.

SachaGreif.com — “I’m Sacha Greif, a designer, coder, and entrepreneur living in Osaka.”

The Self Publishing Hangout — “Four eBook Authors Share Their Self-Publishing Tips & Strategies Live”

MetaLab | Interface Design Agency — “We design and build interfaces that millions of people click, tap, pinch, and zoom every day.”

Digital Telepathy — there’s a great interview with founder Chuck Longanecker inside Fizzle.co. “We talk about what it was like to build the web apps Hello Bar and Slide Deck as well as work on big name book launches like the 4-Hour Body and 4-Hour Chef with Tim Ferriss and The Lean Startup with Eric Ries.”

Gumroad — “Sell directly to your audience. We enable thousands of creators to make millions of dollars. Sell directly to your. audience. Start selling with Gumroad.”

That Creepy Tool Song — it really is creepy.

Sarah J. Bray — “My name is Sarah, and I build nations on the internet.”