Bloggers and business builders commonly make this mistake, ending up with stunted growth (and stifled creativity).

There’s a stage we all go through in our writing/creating. I certainly went through it.

And though it may be OK when we’re just starting out, it eventually makes the work tedious, squelches the engagement of our audience, and causes our writing (and our businesses) to fade off into the noise… ignored and boring.

In this video you’ll learn how to fix it and start getting better results from more joyful, honest work. Give it a watch:

(if you don’t see the video above, view it on YouTube)

It doesn’t matter if you’re a writer, video maker, creative entrepreneur, blogger, cosplayer or just about anything else… this one tip has helped me do better work with a bigger smile on my face (and much better results).

It will do the same for you as well.

Have you made this mistake? Have you learned anything about finding your voice? Let us know in the comments.

And if you want to learn a bit more about this topic check out the first two episodes of The Fizzle Show where we discuss finding your voice in detail. (Here’s Part 1, and here’s Part 2. Though you really should subscribe).

There’s a huge debate in the business world about “lifestyle” businesses. Is there something deep and true here?

Could it completely change the direction you choose and your definitions of “wealth,” “purpose” and “happiness?”

Or is it just a fad, a buzzword of the time used to sell books (and hammocks and beach-side wifi)?

In this episode WE. GET. INTO IT. Corbett’s experience (he’s been doing this for a while) and insatiable hunger for Mexican guitar music drives us onward through the big questions about what you may be taking for granted and which ball is made of rubber.

SUBSCRIBE IN iTUNES: Visit The Fizzle Show’s iTunes page and click “Subscribe.”
(If that link takes you to another webpage, click the blue “View in iTunes” button.).

SUBSCRIBE ELSEWHERE:  Simply search for “The Fizzle Show” in your podcast app. Or click here for:  Stitcher   |   Instacast   |   Podcast Feed URL

Show Notes

• The lifestyle business bullshit by David of 37signals
• The Medium Chill | Grist
• Stephen King: Two kinds of novelists
• On Writing: 10th Anniversary Edition: A Memoir of the Craft
• Quote by Brian Dyson: Imagine life as a game in which you are jugglin…
• Free Music Archive: Lucas Gonze – Amy Waltz, Nov 12 2012
• Startup vs. Lifestyle Business (a Short Comparison from a Guy Who’s Done Both)

Our podcast launch week was a big success! Here’s some of the best resources we’ve found on podcasting (and some of our favorite podcasts).

Last week we launched The Fizzle Show, a talk show for creative entrepreneurs like yourself who want to build a business you care about.

We heard so much great feedback from you all in the iTunes reviews, tweets, and comments on the posts here at ThinkTraffic. In fact, you made us the #1 business podcast in iTunes!

I’ve said it a bunch in the show and on the previous posts, but I’ll say it again: THANK YOU! We’re thrilled you’re enjoying the podcast. We hope it’s an awesome conversational supplement to the blog posts here.

Below we’ve listed out some of our favorite podcasting resources. These are the ideas, instructions and how-to’s we used to create our show.

Note: if you’re interested in podcasting and building a business you should definitely check out Caleb’s podcasting course (and all the other excellent courses) in our premium online business training.

It’s an exciting time for podcasting. If you have a conversational tendency and a mission to serve an audience, you should definitely consider what a podcast can do for your business.

We hope you enjoy these resources below. We’ve even included a list of some of our favorite podcasts.

Excellent Podcast Resources

Getting Started: from choosing equipment to why you’d want a podcast in the first place, look no further than Pat Flynn and Cliff Ravenscraft. Here’s some of Caleb’s favorite links for starters.

• Smart Passive Income Podcast 064 : Podcasting for More Exposure, Leads and Money (My SMMW13 Presentation!) — an excellent overview of why and how to podcast.
• Cliff Ravencraft’s How To Podcast — Cliff covers the gamut here including how to create a podcast in under 20min.
• How to Start a Podcast – Pat’s Complete Step-By-Step Podcasting Tutorial — this is a huge post from Pat with basically everything you’d need to know broken up in a bunch of helpful videos.

Where’s Podcasting Going: podcasting is both old and new. It’s as old as oration or education. It’s as new as the combo of iPods and RSS technology.

In learning more about the media (and becoming an avid fan of certain podcasts) I’ve become more than just intrigued about the opportunities in podcasting.

Here’s some of my favorite links for learning more about where podcasting as a medium is going.

• NextMarket – A Podumentary: A podcast about the podcast (aka The Podcast Project) — this is the first of several podcasts I recommend from Michael Wolf. He’s done a great job finding and interviewing the biggest names in podcasting (and podcast networks). I highly recommend this podcast for anyone in “new” media.
• The Business of Podcasting Interviews — check out the interviews with Jeff Ulrich, Leo Laporte and Rob Walch to get more insights on the business side of things.
• Some Overviews from big Networks — check out the interviews with Adam Carolla and Dan Benjamin for some great perspective on the realities of running a network of podcasts.
• Some of the Best Minds in Making Great Content — Ira Glass, Stephen Dubner and Jesse Thorn have all been making excellent content (for a long time). Getting these glimpses into the learnings and perspective of these folks was invaluable for me. Jesse’s interview in particular inspired me to re-jigger how I was looking at things.

Killer Podcast Tools

• Huffduffer — go there, sign up, and drag the bookmarklet to your bookmarks bar. The next time you visit a page with an interesting audio recording, press the bookmarklet to “huffduff” it… the audio will show up in a podcast feed you can subscribe to! This has been amazing for me to listen to audio I find all around the web. Here’s my feed for an example of the weird stuff I really like.
• Instacast — this is my preferred podcast app. Designed well, easy to find and subscribe, make a playlist of all your un-listened to episodes, skip forward two minutes, skip back 30sec, etc. Highly recommended. (though Apple’s free Podcasts app ain’t all bad).
• Our Gear Setup — (this is where I get a bit nerdy, feel free to fast forward) we’re using the Focusrite Scarlett USB Audio i/o which I switched to because my big ol’ Motu 828 was too big to lug to Corbett’s house and back. The preamps sounds great. Corbett and I are on Sure SM57’s and Caleb’s on a PR40 cuz he’s a big boy. I’m using Apple’s Logic Pro with Alloy2 on tracks for EQ and compression (the transient filter thingy helps with the plosives as well) and Ozone5 for mastering.

Our Favorite Podcasts

Chase’s Favorite:

• WTF with Marc Maron Podcast — I love comedy and I really love hearing how comedians got started. That’s why I got started with this one. But now I mostly listen because I enjoy how Maron looks at the world.
• 5by5 | Back to Work — Merlin Mann is a hero of mine. I know people used to look up to astronauts and presidents and stuff, but the way Merlin has helped me think better about doing my goodest work has landed him firmly in a “hero” slot for me. If you’ve never geeked out about GTD (or haven’t re-visited it in a while) I highly recommend episodes 95 through 99 where the lads re-hash productivity legends and myths in fresh ways.
• Above & Beyond : Group Therapy Radio — this is mostly all I listen to when I work. 2 hours of my favorite kind of melodic EDM (electronic dance music). I judge myself for this. You can judge me too. But give it a try… you’ll likely become a reluctant superfan, just like I am.

Corbett’s Favorites:

• This American Life — There’s a theme to each episode, and a variety of stories on that theme. It’s mostly true stories of everyday people, though not always.
• Radiolab — a show about curiosity. Where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and human experience. It’s incredible.
• Here’s The Thing: – WNYC — Alec Baldwin gives the listener unique entrée into the lives of artists, policy makers and performers.

Caleb’s Favorites:

• Accidental Creative: Productivity for creative pros, better ideas for creative teams — addresses how to thrive in the create-on-demand world by instilling practical, everyday practices that help you stay prolific, brilliant and healthy in your life and work.
• Smart Passive Income Podcast — Pat Flynn from The Smart Passive Income Blog reveals all of his online business and blogging strategies, income sources and killer marketing tips and tricks so you can be ahead of the curve with your online business or blog.
• Revision3 > Film Riot — a hybrid of sketch comedy, tutorial, reality TV and a whole lot of nonsense, with the ultimate goal of teaching the art of independent filmmaking.

Do You Have A Favorite Podcast?

Have any favorites you want to tell us about? Come across any good podcasting resources? Let us know just below in the comments.

And thanks again for making The Fizzle Show the #1 business podcast during the launch week last week. You are awesome.

Caleb Wojcik (one of the Fizzle Show hosts) has an intensely relatable story full of tips, tricks, track suits and lessons learned.

In this podcast we explore his journey from corporate cubicle drudgery to entrepreneurial hunger to terrifying decisions and becoming a connected and successful blogger.

It’s a thrilling ride (even has some 2am road pushups… and did I already say track suits?).

We also get into some big picture stuff and discuss what you can expect from the Fizzle show in coming months (and explain what the name means).

What An Awesome Launch Week

This is the last episode of our launch week. (In case you missed it, we released a podcast every day this week.)

We’ve got to say it again: THANK YOU! We’re so glad you’re liking the show and your reviews on iTunes have been hilarious and awesome. You guys are the best.

From here on out you can expect a new podcast every Thursday. That’s the plan we’ve settled on… let us know what you think.

Be sure to subscribe to get the next episode in your sleep. Here’s how:

SUBSCRIBE IN iTUNES: Visit The Fizzle Show’s iTunes page and click “Subscribe.”
(If that link takes you to another webpage, click the blue “View in iTunes” button.).

SUBSCRIBE ELSEWHERE:  Simply search for “The Fizzle Show” in your podcast app. Or click here for:  Stitcher   |   Instacast   |   Podcast Feed URL

Show Notes

• Pocket Changed | From Cubicle Renegade To Thriving Entrepreneur
• The Art of Non-Conformity
• Get Rich Slowly – Personal Finance That Makes Cents

As a business builder you absolutely have to learn to balance the creative stuff with the business stuff.

This is something Chase Reeves is well versed in. He’s one of the hosts of the show and we get to know him in part 2 of the Meet Your Hosts series.

In this entertaining episode he shares some lessons learned as he navigated his career through media and project management stuff to reading LifeHacker.com for 10 hours a day to newborns and lay-offs and start-ups, oh my!

There’s much to glean from his colorful way of looking at these things. (five finger shoes, anyone?)

We also answer a listener question about how to keep the growth of a membership site from stalling (one particular metric is incredibly important).

How To Listen

Tomorrow we’ll release the last episode of launch week. Be sure to subscribe via one of the following methods:

SUBSCRIBE IN iTUNES: Visit The Fizzle Show’s iTunes page and click “Subscribe.”
(If that link takes you to another webpage, click the blue “View in iTunes” button.).

SUBSCRIBE ELSEWHERE:  Simply search for “The Fizzle Show” in your podcast app. Or click here for:  Stitcher   |   Instacast   |   Podcast Feed URL

Again with the thank you’s… THANK YOU! We keep getting emails and tweets and reviews telling us how much you’re digging the show. We’re so glad you’re enjoying this glimpse into how we think about this stuff.

(To leave us a review of your own, simply head over to the show’s iTunes page and click “Ratings & Reviews.” There’s some funny ones in there. #jawsome).

Thanks! Hope you enjoy this episode. Let us know what you think.

Show Notes

• Chase & Mellisa Reeves Music | We once made music. Now we make babies.
• Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin
• Saddleback Leather Co.
• Paleo Plan | Making the Paleo Diet Easier
• Rick Turoczy (turoczy) on Twitter
• Enterprise Web Archiving Service – Iterasi
• Pete Grillo on Twitter
• DIYthemes — Run a Killer Website with the Thesis WordPress Theme
• Chris Pearson on Twitter
• Derek Halpern on Twitter
• Intercom | Product | Intercom is the best way to get users actually using your product | Live user lists, rich user profiles, automated messaging, realtime communications.
• A Podcast & Why I’m So Excited About It (this is the post where Chase talks about being a lone gunman).