There’s one question that can get to the heart of whether what you’re working on is a soon-to-be-failed side project or a business with a good shot at financial success.
This is the question that kickstarted my career as a designer. After wallowing and fiddling with side projects for years, I finally grokked the bit I was missing.
In this episode you get to hear a handful of experienced entrepreneurs, people who are actually earning a living doing something they care about (in many cases a handsome living), answer that question along with some insights from the Fizzle team about:
- The audience who, if you aim at it, will kill your business… every time.
- The difference between a side project and an actual business with earning potential.
- Two failsafe questions you’ve got to answer for your business to earn enough to support you.
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“Happiness occurs in the overlap between “what I want to build” and “what they want to buy.””
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The Best Info In A Free Guide
Defining your audience is a critical step on the journey. The insights from the interviews in this episode (and the next, wink wink, nudge nudge) are massive, so I’ve compiled them into a free guide including:
- Bullet point notes on each of the expert interviews with links to specific tools they use.
- Worksheets and exercises to get to the truth about your audience so you can resonate and sell to them.
- The big list of questions to ask about your audience (including the two failsafe questions).
- Quick summaries of the most important concepts in customer development (that’s what the startup world calls it) to keep you on track (without wasting a bunch of time).
Download the guide and start getting to clarity and insights for your audience:
Download the Fizzle Audience Guide
In one of the many surveys Corbett’s done with the ThinkTraffic.net audience, I stumbled into a story about an entrepreneur who fk’d up big.
She spent 14 months building her audience, creating great stuff for them, delighting them, only to realize THEY COULDN’T PAY FOR ANYTHING, no matter what she made. She had created a decent sized audience of people she could never create a sustainable income from (at least not in any way she’d be comfortable with).
Eventually she realized the mistake, pivoted, and recovered in time. But she wasted over a year building something without doing a few bits of critical research that would have saved her the heartache, money and time.
So, get the book. Even though we have an excellent course within Fizzle on this topic, and we earn our living when you pay for this kind of thing… take it. (We’ll try to figure out something else to sell you later.)
Folks we Heard From
Rob Walling — “Lessons learned by a Solo Entrepreneur.” — GetDrip.com
Pat Flynn — “Lead by example. Be honest. Hold nothing back.” — SmartPassiveIncome.com
John Lee Dumas — “EntrepreneurOnFire: Awarded Best in iTunes 2013 IGNITE!” — EntrepreneurOnFire.com
Tara Gentile — “Helping small business capitalize on big ideas.” — TaraGentile.com
Jason Glaspey — “It’s not just that I’m good at not working, it’s that I’m good at making not working work. #mountainbikes #dad #husband #geek” — JasonGlaspey.com
Steve Kamb — “Rebel Leader of @NerdFitness. Frequent traveler. Strength training enthusiast. Complete goofball. Decent piano player. Awful singer. Ostrich whisperer.” — NerdFitness.com
Confident you’ve got the right audience?
Send us your questions and we’ll answer them on the air. (We’ll be doing another Q&A episode on Apr 25th.)
In the mean time, tell me in the comments how confident you are that you’ve targeted the right audience? What bit, from the numerous interviews in this episode, sticks with you and helps you most?
Learn how to set goals that actually stick!
The Top 10 Mistakes in Online Business
Every week we talk with entrepreneurs. We talk about what’s working and what isn’t. We talk about successes and failures. We spend time with complete newbies, seasoned veterans, and everything in between.
One topic that comes up over and over again with both groups is mistakes made in starting businesses. Newbies love to learn about mistakes so they can avoid them. Veterans love to talk about what they wish they had known when starting out.
These conversations have been fascinating, so we compiled a list of the 10 mistakes we hear most often into a nifty lil' guide. Get the 10 Most Common Mistakes in Starting an Online Business here »
So you can just call up Pat Flynn and right after he says “what’s up dude” you can just go “Alright here’s my question for you,” no “how’s your father” or anything? I think you have networking skills I will never possess.
HA! “How’s your father” is one of my fav callbacks right now. +1
I hear Chase’s voice, and then I just do whatever he says.
Loving this episode, and the people you interviewed rock – such important points around making the mistake of not being clear on your ‘right’ audience which might be different than the one you’re currently speaking to… p.s. Hurry hurry on the Audience Guide, I’ll wait right here ;)
How did I know I would find you here. These guys rock and I’m ashamed for being behind on them-LOL!
We have good taste Jeff, what else is there to say? ;) xxo
Great episode! Love the interviews! How do you know if the audience are willing to pay?
Check out Nathan Barry’s interview here: http://fizzle.co/sparkline/audience-roundup
Josh Shipp’s as well.
Both have great tactics for answering that question.
Thanks Chase! Will do check it out!
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Chase,
I loved the format of the show. It was great to hear how many people who I respect are targeting their market. I thought it was really interesting how someone like Pat Flynn incorporates both the keyword data and the personal phone calls in his research.
It is really interesting that most of this research is taking place out of the public eye. We really don’t see all thankless work that goes on behind the scenes.
What I am struggling with, is focusing on just one target for my marketing. I find there are so many types of people that I want to help. It is hard to narrow it down to one person with a specific problem.
-Ben