Bigg Success

Shhhh! You have to read this quietly. We re at the library! We ve been thinking about fun, yet inexpensive, things to do. So today we took a little make that bigg trip to our local library. . . We re in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. Champaign s brand new library is a state-of-the art facility. As we walked in the door, the first thing we noticed, that is different from the libraries of yore, is there s a coffee shop! Remember the old No food or beverages signs. Not in this library! One thing that s still the same it s a cool place to stay cool on a hot summer s day. But don t look for the card catalog! You won t find one everything s on computer now. They also have flat screen TVs, Wi-Fi, and other modern technology. What did we check out? While we were there, we checked out a few things two audio books Brian Tracy s Goals and The Long Tail by Chris Anderson with Wired magazine and Janet Switzer s book Instant Income. The price? FREE. It s paid for by our property taxes. They have tons of DVDs for FREE. Even the ones that are rentals are only $1 for a week. Right now, with so many of us looking for ways to save money, the library is a great place to go for cheap entertainment! We ve decided that we re going to make it our office away from the office ! It s a great place to go for a change of scenery! Don t do this! We also found some real characters at the library. By observing them, we compiled a list of six things you should NOT do at the library: #6 While pointing to a very simple word like the , ask the person next to you if he or she can pronounce it for you. #5 Put down your book, then lean over and start reading the book of the person sitting next to you. When he or she looks at you, quickly pick up your book and act like you re reading it. #4 Read your book upside down. #3 Flip the page loudly every two seconds or so. #2 Announce the page number loudly each time you turn a page. And the #1 thing you should not do at the library Break the silence with the noise from a bodily function you know the one. Then say, Wow! That was a good one! (Image by Dan O Brien) ShareThis

A recent study by Intuit, the software giant behind QuickBooks, Quicken, and TurboTax, found that three-fourths of small business owners expect to grow this year, in spite of all the talk about a recession, corporate layoffs, and consumers cutting back. Now, it s probably safe to say that small business owners are a relatively optimistic group. Part of their optimism, though, comes from that fact that two-thirds of the people surveyed said they had survived a recession before. They ve done it by putting their customers first and focusing on their finances. . When I first started studying entrepreneurship, my perception was that large companies created the jobs. Our colleges train us to work in bigg business. It s true that large companies tend to hire a lot of people during boom times, as do small companies. But during tough economic times, large companies cut back. Interestingly, small companies tend to pretty much hold their own. . If you re keeping an eye on the news, you see that a lot of large companies are cutting marketing and even customer service. They re cutting jobs and even entire departments. They re streamlining. . As numerous studies have shown, the net effect of this is that, over the course of the business cycle, almost all new jobs come from small businesses. Opportunities created by large businesses for small businesses in bad times As large companies make cuts, astute small businesses can gain an advantage by using any or all of the following three strategies: #1 Turn bigg companies into your customers. They re reviewing their operations. If what they cut is what you do it s your service market to them! They may still need that service in some capacity take advantage of it! #2 Recruit their talent A lot of the people they re laying off are very talented. These are people that you may have never been able to get before. Recruit that talent. Provide them with a nice place to fall. They may look for something more stable or some place where they feel more of a sense of ownership. Your business could be the answer they re looking for! #3 Go after the large company s small customers. With the cuts they re making, they have few resources to take care of their customers. It s the old 80/20 rule they re likely to super-serve the 20% of their customers that constitute 80% of their sales. Then they may cut back on service for all the rest. Go after these customers that are facing reduced service. They may be a small account to a large company, but they may be one of your biggest customers! Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Related posts How Opportunity Often Presents Itself Increase Your Sales by Knowing the Answer to this Question (Image by jpsdq) ShareThis

Sharon Ayn joined us on the show today. She is the author of five books, including the newly released Create Your Own Reality: The Ancient Wisdom. Sharon has made many appearances on radio and television, including the nationally syndicated radio show, Minding Your Business, and an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. . . What inspired you to write your latest book? . . I work with entrepreneurs and people who have been downsized, and I ve found one thing that s consistent. People know they could do better, work less, and make more money, but without someone stimulating their imagination, it s very difficult to go through a change. So the book is designed to help people realize that, no matter what s going on in their life, if they take one step or enroll one person at a time, they can change anything that isn t the way they wanted it. . When we talked before our interview, you said that this book goes beyond where The Secret took us. . . Exactly. I love the fact that The Secret brought consciousness to so many people about staying positive, but the one thing people missed is being in action. You have to be in action. It s not enough just to think about it. You have to take a proactive role in your life. . What do you think keeps people from taking action what is it that holds people back? . . Some people truly believe that they re not entitled. Some people think it s too much work to get what they want. Other people are too overwhelmed by what s first, so they just stay at what they re doing even if it s not what they want. . For someone who feels that, what would be the one thing you would tell them to work on right now? . . Make a list of all the things you want to change, but put it in the positive. I work with clients who want a better job. I get them to describe what it s like to work at the company, what their tasks are, what the people are like that they work with. And then backtrack how do we get to that point? So for anything that you want to change, what is the first step you can take to be in control? Because I think a lot of this is people feeling that they are out of control of their own lives. . That is awesome there s a lot of practical advice that people can use right away in this book. . . It s simple knowledge that most people don t apply to their own life, even though they might be aware of it. . . Oprah calls it the aha moment. What do you call it? . . It s the dawning of the day when, like in City Slickers, you get your do over . So don t think, my life is just surrounded by quagmire, all my friends are always complaining and leaning on me, my relationship isn t working we re fighting all the time, I hate my job, and all these things. Instead, think about every day being brand new. Every day, we get to reinvest ourselves. . Sharon s book comes with bonuses You get an incredible $4,661 in bonuses when you buy Sharon s wonderful book, including great material from: Annie Jennings, who helps people who want to be authors or speakers, and get interviewed on the radio. Dave Sheffield, who works with corporations, helping people take the first step to change what s happening in their career. Jim Bouchard, a good friend of ours, who helps people tap into their personal power. Jim s material alone makes it a great deal to us! Find Sharyn s book at createyours2.com Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Related posts How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be Back To The Future: Visualizing The Life You Want (Part 1) Back To The Future: Visualizing The Life You Want (Part 2) ShareThis

We saw a great post by John Grohol at PsychCentral called Distracted While Driving. He really caught our attention with one thought. We allow ourselves to be distracted while we drive because we think we re playing a race against time. In reality, we re playing against the odds. A study by Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that about 80 percent of all crashes and 65 percent of all near-crashes involved someone who was distracted within three seconds of the event. . . I plead guilty as charged. I have to admit to using my car as a roaming second office. I store up phone messages and return calls while I m on the road. . . . I m in the car on a busy, busy day with all these things rolling through my mind. That s one of the distractions that we often don t take into account. I zone out I don t really pay attention like I should. I m in my own world. . . Psychologists have identified four types of distractions, according to Grohol s article. Visual checking out an accident or looking at a billboard Audible cell phone calls, the radio, or another person talking Physical eating, flipping the dial, shuffling your iPod, or putting on make-up Cognitive daydreaming, thinking about other things in your life Of course, a lot of distractions are multi-faceted. For example, talking on your cell phone includes three of these audible, physical, and cognitive. . I really do think it saves time. We have a friend who consults with us. He talks to us when he s on his hour-and-a-half commute home. I can understand why you would use your phone when you have that long drive. . I won t dispute that at all, but I now realize more than ever that I have to recognize the odds of something happening and take measures to try to minimize the distractions. . . Changes we plan to make Leave earlier. When we have a lengthy trip, we usually don t give ourselves the time to stop and eat. We gas, grab, and go eating on the road. Leaving earlier will allow us time to stop and eat. We ll probably eat healthier, too! Ignore the phone. Granted, that s a hard thing to do. So we re going to turn our ringers off when we re only going to be in the car for a short time. Change our greetings. If we re expecting an important call, we ll change the greeting to let them know when we will be checking our messages. Pull over (if we can). For those rare situations where we have to take the call, we ll stop driving momentarily. What s your biggest distraction while driving? Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. (Image by krilm) ShareThis

The financial news seems to be all gloom and doom these days. The reports are that we re not in a recession, but times are tough for a lot of people. No matter how tight things get, we still have bills to pay. People are responding to this very intelligently. They re turning to public transportation, eating out less, seeking cheaper forms of entertainment, and cutting back on unneeded items. But what do you do if that isn t enough? . . Tapping your retirement plan It s tempting to pull money out of your retirement plan, like a 401(k), especially if you change jobs. In fact, about 40 percent of job changers in their twenties and thirties have done just that, according to a recent report by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). could cost you $130,000 If you re under 59 , it s usually not a good idea to cash out your retirement plan. Let s look at the example that FINRA used: You re 30-years old with $20,000 in your 401(k). If you earn just 6% on that money until you retire at 62, you ll have nearly $130,000 in your account, without making any additional contributions. and then some! Of course, you can start over. But you lose the power of money compounding on top of money on top of more money, all accumulating tax free until you take it out. So it s like taking at least two steps backward. But that s not all. Here are 4 other steps back: You ll have to pay income taxes out of this money, since it was invested pre-tax. There s also a 10 percent penalty for early withdrawal (unless you re over 59 ) Your employer is required to withhold 20 percent toward income taxes. If you owe money, your creditors can t touch your 401(k) unless you cash it out. By the time you get a check, that $20,000 will probably be more like $14,000 net of everything. So cashing out of your retirement plan is a short-term solution with long-term consequences. Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Related posts 63 Moves to Stop Living from Paycheck to Paycheck Don't Make This Costly Mistake (Image by nighthawk7) ShareThis

There’s a rising call for developed countries to track happiness, rather than just income and wealth. Economists say that the goal of a “rational actor” is to maximize his or her “utility” – their fancy term for happiness – over the course of his or her life. Perhaps governments are trying to catch up with the economists! . . Leicester University in England has tracked happiness for the past 30 years. Consistently, Denmark – not Disneyland – has topped their list as the happiest place on earth. We wondered why why are the people in Denmark so darn happy? Is it the weather? Average temperatures in Copenhagen are about 68 degrees in the summer and around zero in the winter. We don’t know about you, but that’s not our idea of great weather! Is it the taxes? Like her sister Scandinavian countries, Denmark has some of the highest taxes in the world. Now, granted those taxes are matched with some of the highest benefits for any citizenry. Is it their lifestyle or their habits? Danes are some the heaviest drinkers and smokers in the world? Is it their diet? One of the staples of the Danish diet is herring – this is a country that eats a lot of herring! . So it can’t be the diet, because maybe it’s just my personal taste, but ick! . . . Now there a lot of theories about what makes the Danes so happy. One of my theories is that they drink so much, they don’t remember whether they’re happy or not! . . Seriously, theories are fine, but we thought we should look at what the research shows is driving this happiness. Professor Kaare Christensen at the University of Southern Denmark found that Danes have low expectations. Because of this culture of expecting less, the people are happy when good things happen. This made us think of something Tony Robbins said – if you’re not happy, you have a choice. You can either change your conditions or your expectations. But what if you don’t want to change your expectations? Tal Ben-Shahar, who teaches the most popular class at Harvard University, found that the single most significant predictor of happiness is close relationships with friends and family. We found it interesting that 92 percent of Danes belong to some sort of social club. Maybe that’s why social media has become so bigg! What do you think? Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Sources University of Leicester Produces the first ever World Map of Happiness Why Danes are smug: comparative study of life satisfaction in the European Union Denmark: The Happiest Place on Earth Denmark happiest place on earth The REAL Happiest Place on Earth And The Happiest Place On Earth Is (Image by nookiez) ShareThis

The Council on Contemporary Families published a summary of previous studies, looking at data over 30 to 40 years. Here are some highlights: . . 1. Men’s share of household duties doubled as a percent of the total over last 40 years, from 15 percent to 30 percent of the total. The number of hours women spend on these same duties has declined over that period. 2. The younger the couple, the higher the share of household duties performed by the man. 3. Time spent caring for children tripled for men and doubled for women over the same period. Couples are placing much more emphasis on spending time with their kids than they did 30 years ago. 4. The longer a woman works outside the home, the greater the percentage of household responsibilities assumed by the man of the house. 5. Men are working less and spending more time on family duties. Women are trending in the opposite direction. 6. When the woman of the house works more hours, earns more money, or has more education than the man, the man’s share of family duties increases. 7. About one of out three couples now has a woman who earns more than the man. They pointed out that there had been an expectation of immediate change when women started working. That didn’t happen to the disappointment of many! However, over the span of a few decades, things have changed quite a bit and they predict this trend is here to stay! The bigg payoff Couples are redefining what it means to be the man or the woman, the father or the mother, in a relationship. This summary shows that the divorce rate is lower when couples divide up the duties more equally. In fact, it’s even lower than with the traditional relationship where one person is the breadwinner and the other person runs the house. . Mary-Lynn and I both grew up in a traditional family that stayed together. But we’re pretty non-traditional. . . Yeah, I remember that my mom was always in the kitchen. I determined long ago that wasn t for me! She kept telling me you re going to have to learn how to cook, what are you going to do when you are out on your own? I told her I would just meet a guy who knew how to cook and marry him. And that guy is George! And let me just add he s an AWESOME cook!!! . Roles are getting redefined so don’t listen to what other people say. If it works for you, your spouse, and your family it works! . This week, our newsletter subscribers received a great article about how to get more flexibility at work so you can have more time at home. You can get it, too, click this link to subscribe to the Bigg Success Weekly. Until next time, here’s to your bigg success! Related posts Success is Teamwork! How to Reach an Agreement with Your Spouse on the Family Finances 5 Questions to Ask Before You Work with Your Spouse (Image by clix) ShareThis

Geoffrey Moore, in his book Living on the Fault Line, discussed the “Core versus Context Model” for businesses. Core activities are things which set you apart from your competition and context is everything else. For many businesses, this may include administrative activities, marketing activities, and the like. As we discussed his model, we realized that this works in our personal lives as well. You want to do more of the things you’re really good at and less of everything else. Usually, we really like to do what we’re good at so by focusing on just those tasks, we can advance in our careers. Like for us, our strength is working on content for Bigg Success. At least we’d like to think so or more importantly, we hope you think so! For us, the contextual activities would be everything else. So for a couple of examples, we outsource our house cleaning and the yard work. Instead of spending time on these things, we can work on our business. You’re getting a glimpse into how integrated our personal and professional lives are. Since we often work from home, all of these decisions are floating around together. We don’t think we’re alone on this – a lot of people are finding it pays to integrate their work life and their professional life. By outsourcing your contextual activities, you save time and you open up the opportunity to make more money. It comes back to the time vs. money conundrum If you don’t have money, you have to invest more time. . For example, if you start a business that is well-capitalized, you will be able to spend your time differently than if you start on a shoestring. With limited capital, you may have to take care of the janitorial work – a lot of business owners have done that. I’ve done that! . At first, you may have to do it yourself because there’s no money. But you want to contract it out as soon as you can because it’s definitely a contextual activity, unless you happen to be the owner of a janitorial service. Thinking about core vs. context helps you focus on where you want to spend your time and where you want to spend your money. You think twice about spending money because there’s something else that will let you spend more time on your core. You may find that you spend your money on things that save you time, rather than cost you time. . I want a bigg screen TV, but we would rather spend that money on a web person. Right now, I handle our web site. So when there are changes that need to be made, I get to work. But there are better uses of my time. . Because we know that’s not in our core. Bigg Success is still in its early stages, so as soon as we can we’ll outsource this activity. Another example is publicity – right now, we do it ourselves. We want to contract with someone who is better at it than we are and can accomplish more than we can on our own. So although we don’t have HDTV, we do have goals for that money! It boils down to thinking about how much your time is worth. You may find that by contracting out certain activities, it costs you less than what you can make by spending your time working in your core. Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success Related posts Your Personal SWOT Analysis (Part I) Your Personal SWOT Analysis (Part II) (Image by penywise) ShareThis

Today we welcomed Bill Clennan, the Memory Man. Bill is a professional speaker who has given presentations at over 10,000 events and been inducted into the Speakers’ Hall of Fame. In his career, he has helped over one million people improve their memory. One of my weaknesses is remembering names. How can I get better at it? . People don’t remember names because they don’t think they can. It’s almost impossible to do something if you don’t think you can. . So we have to spin it around and start thinking that we can remember names. . Exactly. In fact, what I tell people is decide that you’ll remember 100 percent of the people 100 percent of the time. . How do you suggest we do that is repeating it back the best way? . . I never suggest to people to repeat it back. If we meet someone who uses our name over and over, we start wishing they would back off. But here’s the good news – just by thinking of the sound of somebody’s name, that part of your brain shows increased activity. To your brain, thinking about that sound is the same as saying it. I’m emphasizing the sound because when we meet people, we hear their name we don’t see it. That’s one of the things that makes remembering names rather difficult. . The fusion technique – fuse the face with the name . At the moment I hear a person’s name, I look at their face. So I take that information along with the sound of their name and, just for a moment, I bring them together. I connect the two things. So when I see their face again, there’s a place in the brain where those two things originally came together. The next easiest thing I might say to myself, “Tryin’ Brian”, “Shirley Girly”, “Silly Billy”, “Fancy Nancy”, “Slim Jim”, or “Georgie Porgie”. . There you go – except I’ve figured it out. Mary-Lynn’s been using this fusion technique for years because she always calls me “Georgeous”! I think I like that better than “Georgie Porgie”! . For a huge portion of the history of our species, we did not have the written word. Information was passed along in rhythm, rhyming, chant, and dance. So why not use that technique? . “Syllable-ize” – break the name into sounds . When you meet someone who has a multi-syllabic name, break it into sounds. I met someone named “Ken Oracheski”. So I just pictured him with an oar stuck through his chest and he was on skis. . The rhythm method . I met a guy in Honolulu whose name is “Takabayashi”. The very moment I heard his name, I went “talk-a-bye ashi in the tree top, when the wind blows ” When you tie things together in sound, get the first part the rest of it comes along for free. So listen for the rhythm. This is one of the clues if you have to meet four or five people in a hurry. Tie them together in sound and you’ll remember the whole string of names. I call it the rhythm method. It’s especially for Catholic folks! . I was going to say that I’d heard of the rhythm method, but it didn’t have anything to do with remembering names? . Yeah, but this one works better! . . Bill’s links Get more tips on remembering names and faces Get a FREE memory evaluation Related posts Like, If You Want to be Liked, You, Like, Have to Read These 5 Traits! 3 Keys to Effective Networking ShareThis

Morningstar, one of the most respected names in financial information, recently held their annual investment conference. There was a great deal of discussion about the volatility of the market and how jittery it s making many investors. Jittery investors like to do something, but the problem is they don t make the best decisions in troubling times. We have met the enemy! One of the speakers was Jason Zweig, who is also the author of Your Money and Your Brain. Our brains can be our own worst enemies when it comes to investing. He said there are two parts of our brain the reflexive (emotional) part and the reflective (logical) part. The emotional side is ever-present; we have to consciously call upon the logical part. Obviously, we want to buy low and sell high. The problem is, with the emotional part of our brains running rampant, we may tend to buy high and sell low! So don t get in a hurry to sell in times like these. Stay the course if your investment horizon is five or more years, because research shows that a broad portfolio of stocks tends to go up as long as you hold them for five years or more. If you need the money (e.g. you plan to retire or send a kid to college) within the next few years, talk to your investment advisor to determine your best move. You can make money with a stock that goes nowhere! Let s say that you have $100 to invest each month. You decide to invest it in a broad index fund (e.g. the S ve invested $200 total and your 15 shares are worth $150. You re in the red. But you don t care you re in it for the long-term! Month 2: Assume shares of this fund are now selling for $20 again. With your $100 monthly investment, you buy 5 more shares bringing your total to 20 shares, worth $400. But you ve only invested $300. You re $100 ahead, even though the share price is the same as it was when you started! Reacting logically may mean not reacting at all! It s very difficult (if not impossible) to predict what the stock market will do. However, research has shown time and again that staying the course is usually the most profitable path for most people. It s understandable that you might be worried right now with the market being so turbulent. But don t panic react logically which may mean not reacting at all! Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success Related posts Getting Aggressively Passive: Creating A Passive Income That Sets You Free How To Get Rich 6 Easy Steps To Financial Freedom (Image by woodsy) ShareThis

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You may especially enjoy listening to today s show. We had some fun with sound effects throughout, most which can t be translated to print! We recently saw a study that showed that nature-based recreation in the US has declined about 25% in the last 20 years, after increasing in the 50 years before that. So we did our show today in the middle of nature we camped out! We recorded the show in front of a nice fire while we roasted marshmallows. Nature comes with benefits Studies have shown that being outdoors has some incredible health benefits. In fact, even just SEEING the outdoors is beneficial. A little while ago, we saw a study that showed that hospital patients with a window recover much faster from surgery than those without. Isn t that amazing? This same study cited numerous sources that showed that spending time outdoors can lower stress and decrease mental fatigue. Born to be wild We ve been talking about the benefits of being outdoors. Now let s look at what the outdoors can do for one specific group of people kids. This same study we mentioned earlier showed that kids who spend more time outside pay attention better and are less demanding. It s even been shown to reduce symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). But going back to where we started, Americans are spending less time outdoors. Miracle-Gro, the garden fertilizer company, just conducted a survey. Nearly 70 percent of the parents who responded said their kids spend less time outdoors than they did when they were kids. My parents wouldn t let my sister and me inside until it was dark. They wanted us to run off all that energy! Now I know why Mary-Lynn brought me out here! Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success Related posts 4 Fun Things You Can Do This Weekend for Free (or Nearly Free) without Fueling Up How to Reclaim Your Weekend (Image by mummau55) ShareThis

One thing people often don t think about when going into business with a friend is the relationship itself. You re going into business as friends. You want to remain friends. Business is full of surprises. Discuss the possible surprises upfront, before you mix friendship and business, so you can keep your relationship strong while you re in business. You may think your friendship is really strong and you re probably right. But when you go into business together, your friendship will be tested more than it ever has been before. It s wise to prepare for it beforehand, so you already have a lot of the answers when you re in the middle of a tough situation. Look at it this way a business partnership is like a marriage. You need a pre-nuptial agreement! So find a good attorney to draw up an agreement for you. 8 What if scenarios to discuss with your attorney #1 What if the business fails? According to statistics, if the business fails, it s most likely that no one will be owed any money. But what if that s not the case what if the business does owe money? How will you resolve that? #2 What if it succeeds wildly? That may not sound like a problem, but you d be surprised. Sometimes when a business succeeds at this level, greed enters in. Then comes the power struggles. Discuss the dream scenario upfront to avoid a nightmare. #3 What if one of you is incapacitated? What if one partner is no longer able to do his or her part? How will the others handle this? Will this person get bought out? Is there formula for the price? There s a lot to think about if this unfortunate situation happens. #4 What if one of you dies? Obviously this is even more extreme than the last scenario. There s the human side your friend has passed and you re grieving. But you also have business to attend to; work still needs to get done. Many of the same questions from Scenario #3 apply here. But there s more. For example, does the deceased partner s family now have an ownership stake? Or do you buy them out? #5 What happens when one of you gets married? Or you may already be married. What say does the spouse have in the business? Can the partner s interest be jointly owned with a spouse or do you want to restrict ownership to your original group? #6 What if one of you gets divorced? The business interest may be a significant asset. You probably don t want a former spouse having a say in your business even as a minority stakeholder. It can really muddy the waters, as the saying goes. What restrictions will you place on ownership? #7 What if one of you wants out? How will you determine a price? What kind of notice will you require? What is the process? #8 What if one of isn t pulling his or her weight? How will you determine that this is case? What can, and will, you do about it? These aren t pleasant things to think about, let alone talk about. However, you re more likely to find good solutions now when you re thinking logically than to try to work them out in the heat of the moment. We can t stress this enough get a good business attorney. Then sit down with your partners and your attorney and work through these issues. Your attorney will probably have even more situations to discuss. Work through these issues before you start for the sake of your friendship and your business. Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success Related posts 5 Questions to Ask Before You Work with Your Spouse Success is Teamwork! (Image by ushakov) ShareThis

We ve been thinking about customer service lately, inspired by a trip and a book. I was in Chicago recently and I had to use the restroom. I saw this little hot dog place. I thought that I could grab a dog for lunch and use their bathroom. As I approached the door, I saw a sign. The sign said, No Public Restrooms. So I stopped, looked around, and noticed a McDonald s down the street. So I went to McDonald s. I could see a business to limiting the use of their facilities to patrons, because some people will just use the bathroom and leave. But to not even let your customers use it that seems a little extreme to me. I learned this lesson the hard way. One of my earliest businesses was a Ben Franklin store the old five and dime. We didn t let the public use our bathrooms. There was one particular day every year when the town held a huge community sale. We got tons of traffic on that day, many needing to use the bathroom. People would come in and walk out because we said, No . Why wouldn t they? We hadn t served their immediate need. So we changed our policy and most people who used the restroom did buy something. This makes me think of the book, Our Toilets are Not for Customers by Floyd Coates. He tells the story about shopping for light fixtures. His house had been severely damaged by a tornado. He had to buy lights for his new house, so he went to a lighting store. He was about half done with his list having already selected about $2,000 worth of merchandise when he got the call of nature. He asked a clerk where their bathroom was. She said, Our toilets are not for customers. She went on, There s a place a couple of blocks down the street. So he left and he didn t return they didn t get a dime out of him. One of my professors, who became one of my mentors, said that most policies are created for 3% of the people the exceptions rather than the 97% who are responsible for the success of the business. The #1 and #2 ways businesses flush money down the toilet #1 Create policies for 3% of their customers The hot dog place in Chicago is the perfect example of this. Would more than 3% of the people who walk through the restaurant s doors do their business without doing business with the restaurant? Yet all of their customers are affected by this policy. #2 Create policies for 3% of their employees The renegades, you might call this 3% of employees. But the other 97% suffer for it. This results in lower morale among all the employees especially the ones who did nothing wrong. Lower morale leads to lower productivity. What s that sound? Oh, that s the sound of money getting flushed down the toilet! This 3% rule is a good thing to think about before making any policy decision that affects customers or employees. We ve given one example, but there are so many more. What have you seen as a customer or an employee? How do businesses flush money down the toilet? Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Related posts How Opportunity Often Presents Itself If You Want to Increase Your Profit, Don’t Put Your Customers First (Image by Leo Reynolds, CC 2.0) ShareThis

A bigg salute to Josh Whitford, who writes the Unconventional Marketing blog, for inspiring today s post. Josh read the The 4-Hour Workweek, written by Tim Ferriss, and decided to accept the challenge to contact a famous person. Josh chose Warren Buffett. He wrote a letter to Buffett asking him for his single piece of wisdom and sent it along with a self-addressed, stamped postcard. To Josh s surprise, the Oracle of Omaha responded a couple of weeks later. Buffett simply said, Read, read, read. A typical Buffett answer short and to the point! It s interesting advice because a poll by the Associated Press Ipsos showed that one in four Americans hasn t read a single book in the last year. At least, that s how the news reported it we look at that and see that three out of four Americans did read a book last year! In fact, the last Gallup poll that we saw on this subject showed that over half of all Americans have read more than 5 books in the last year! Read, read, read for the sake of your career (and finances) We hear about the haves and the have nots . A study by the National Endowment for the Arts [pdf] showed the impact of reading on a person s well-being reading less leads to lower reading proficiency which leads to fewer (and lower quality) career opportunities. For example, according to the study, Proficient Readers are 2.5 times more likely than Basic Readers to earn at least $850 each week. This study also showed that 44% of Basic Readers lack a full- or part-time job, two times the percentage of Proficient Readers. So, Warren Buffett said it well read, read, read. Read, read, read to expand your imagination When I was young okay I d like to think I m still young so when I was younger, I used to just read non-fiction, and specifically books on business and investing. Then I took a literature class with a phenomenal professor a short-story class. It made me use my imagination in a way I didn t do when I just read books that I thought were more practical. And as Albert Einstein said, Imagination is more important than intelligence. What s nice about reading, rather than watching, is that you are the director. You create a vision of the story the characters, the setting. Just think about how many times you ve read a book that gets turned into a movie. So you get all excited and go see the movie and it s not as good as the book! For me, a great example is Stephen King s book, It. I scared myself more reading that book than watching the movie! It s much more interactive mentally and the skills carry over to your professional life. A simple commitment to reading that s worked better than a college degree We have a friend who worked his way up in a small business. In fact, he ended up buying the business from the owner. After he bought it, he wished he would have gotten a college degree. But he didn t have the time he had a business to run! So he made a commitment to himself to read one business book every week. He reads the best sellers and he talks to friends for recommendations. He has that done for years now. He knows more about business than just about anybody we know. Do-it-yourself knowledge that s what Warren Buffett is talking about. What are you reading? Related posts The Fastest Way to Learn (Re-learn) Read a Business Book Every Week (Image by lusi) ShareThis

Today on The Bigg Success Show, we welcomed Phil Rosenberg. Phil is the founder of reCareered, a career coaching service that helps job searchers get past the biggest challenge in today s competitive jobs market to get noticed. Phil, what does reCareered mean? It means someone who is seeking a job change, or trying to revitalize their career, or someone who is between jobs and wants help with how the job markets have changed in the last eight years or so. How has the job market changed? Eight years ago, the majority of resumes were delivered on paper. Around 2000, it changed to where most resumes were delivered digitally. And how does that change the resume itself? It changes it completely. The paper-based resume had to be static. The only way to customize it was by a cover letter. A digital resume can be searched. It also increased the number of resumes that went into most companies, by as many as ten-fold. We always hear about search engine optimization and how you want to rank at the tops of the pages for Google. But apparently you can do the same for your resume it can be optimized? You bet, and it s especially critical in today s world. Most major employers get thousands of resumes for each job, but they only staff to look at twenty to thirty. That s two to three percent. So your goal, in submitting your resume today, is getting to the top two or three percent. Through resume search optimization, you can manage that process rather than have it be random. My strategy with my clients is to make a resume a single-use document to have it infinitely customizable so that you re gaming the search engine and forcing it higher up the search page. How do we make a good impression right upfront? There s been research from the University of Toledo and Stanford University that states that interview decisions are made within the first two to thirty seconds. That blew me away. The rest of the interview is just somebody justifying their initial decision. So it s a gut feel decision that may occur even before you shake hands. It s all about preparation. Learn about your client how they communicate (verbally and non-verbally), how they dress, how they look. If you want a job, go to a place that s close to their office and sit there during lunch. Talk to people from that company who are getting lunch there. On a Friday night, go to Happy Hour at a bar close to their office and talk to people from that company. When you talk to them, watch their body movements. What s the tone they use? What s the speed they use to talk? You can also do that with their written communication their web site, annual reports, press releases. The key to all this is communicating to your audience that it seems like you already work there. It reminds me of the book, Guerilla Selling. It s all about learning about your customer, in that case, but in the case the employer you re going after getting as much information as you can, wherever you can. It s amazing how much information you can gather. Sure. That s also an effective way to use LinkedIn, Facebook or your own personal network. Chances are you have contacts within that company. A lot of people only use those contacts to see what jobs are available and to ask them to pass their resume along. They leave out some of the greatest uses of a network talking to people within an organization to find out what an organization is like and what the communication style is like. Listening for how they re answering questions rather than just what they re saying. This is fantastic advice because you do want to fit in. It s all about mimicking. When you re at an interview, should you sit up straight and lean forward or should you try to have your body language be similar to the body language of the interviewer? From what I ve read, you should try to mimic that person. That s exactly what you re doing it s called mirroring. You re trying to show that you fit in. You speak the same language. You re really trying to act like you already work at the company. It takes a ton of preparation. A lot of people aren t willing to put that preparation in, but the people who do get a huge, almost an unfair, advantage. Phil s links You can get free daily job tips from Phil at his blog or visit his main site, reCareered, the place for resume search optimization and job search 2.0. Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. ShareThis

We re celebrating the 4th of July here in the United States. Fun, friends, and Fireworks! I love the fireworks. Watching them always makes me feel like a kid. One of my favorite stories is about a fireworks show gone wrong. I used to be in a service club called the Jaycees. Many local Jaycee chapters put on the fireworks show, particularly those in small towns. I heard about one chapter s show, in particular. One year, at the beginning of the show not more than a few fireworks in they lit one that misfired. It hit the pile of all the remaining fireworks! BOOM! An amazing display but their whole show was over in less than a minute! Nothing like having your grand finale at the beginning! There is an art (and some luck) to putting on a good fireworks show. As we were talking about this, we thought it was interesting how it relates to storytelling. The start It kicks off with a little burst that grabs your attention right away. Then you get into the flow. There s a certain rhythm to the fireworks, often synchronized with music. The rhythm changes throughout the show. At times, they re firing off quickly; at other times a little more slowly. When you tell a story, start with an attention grabber and then get going. Vary your pace with the action of your story. Talk faster to imply that things are developing faster or slow down when it s called for. Make your timing fit your story. The pseudo-finale Usually you ll see a pseudo-finale about half way through the show. They give you a taste of what the grand finale will be like. Sometimes it s so good that you think it is the finale! You get bummed that it s almost over. As you tell your story, depending on its length, think about how you can get them to anticipate the climax as you near the middle. This will keep them engaged and wanting more! The grand finale This is what everyone s been waiting for. It s almost sensory overload with so much going on at once the sound, the sights, the colors exploding in the sky one right after the other, sometimes on top of each other. You feel your heart start pounding faster that rush of adrenaline. You re in awe and you don t want it to end. You don t want your story to be like the Jaycees fireworks show I mentioned earlier. You want it to build, and build, and build to your final line - the point of your story. You want your audience on the proverbial edge of their seats. Leave them wanting more realizing why they should listen to you. 5 additional ways to get the most bang out of your next presentation It s unlikely that you would use all of these in a single presentation. However, variety virtually guarantees a better response from your audience. Start or end with a good joke. People love to laugh. It gets them fired up! Think more graphics, less text. It gives your message more pop! Blend video in. It gives you a break and can get your audience to react. Have a running theme a key word or phrase that you keep coming back to. This provides a little spark throughout your presentation. Finally, use sound effects. In case you haven t heard our show today, listen in to see how we used sound effects to make it more fun. At least we think it is! Keep in mind you ll get the biggest bang if you mix it up! Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Related posts The Story On Storytelling The Single Biggest Barrier To Your Success 9 Presentation Tips to Make You a Star (Image by lokigrl616) ShareThis

With tough times, people are looking for ways to either save a little or make a little more money. We ve been getting more questions about part-time and/or home-based business opportunities. Specifically, we re being asked how to tell if they re legitimate. One of the first things to look at is what they re promising you. Specifically Do they make earnings claims? Many offers will tout how much you can make. Legitimate operators will do one of two things: they won t make any claim at all, or they will tell you both the number and percentage of people who actually earn what they re claiming. In my experience, they re more likely to not make any claim at all. Some real world examples I did a search for home based business opportunities. I saw six on my screen without scrolling down. Of those six, five made an earnings claim. I saw claims like $250 thousand or more at home , $500 to $8,000 per month , and $30 to $150 thousand in 12 months . Then I looked at the most regulated business opportunities franchises. I typed in franchise opportunities . One out of the four franchise opportunities made an earnings claim and it was also one of the home-based business opportunities! We re not saying that being a franchise automatically makes it a legitimate opportunity. Nor are we saying that just because it s not a franchise means it s a scam. But from these examples, you do see differences in behaviors of companies that are more regulated and those that are not. Do they stand behind their own claims? I went to the site of one of the home-based business opportunities. This was the one that claimed you could make $250 thousand. I scrolled way, way, down to the bottom of the page and clicked on the tiny, little link that said Earnings Disclaimer . Mary-Lynn printed it out. It was in ALL CAPS. Unlike the small font used for the Earnings Disclaimer, this was in 13.5 point type. They re covering their you-know-what. Here are some highlights ANY EARNINGS OR INCOME STATEMENTS, OR EARNINGS OR INCOME EXAMPLES, ARE ONLY ESTIMATES OF WHAT WE THINK YOU COULD EARN. ANY AND ALL CLAIMS OR REPRESENTATIONS, AS TO INCOME EARNINGS ARE NOT TO BE CONSIDERED AS AVERAGE EARNINGS. TESTIMONIALS ARE NOT REPRESENTATIVE. And our favorite part WE DO NOT GUARANTEE OR IMPLY THAT YOU WILL GET RICH, THAT YOU WILL DO AS WELL, OR MAKE ANY MONEY AT ALL. THERE IS NO ASSURANCE YOU LL DO AS WELL. IF YOU RELY UPON OUR FIGURES; YOU MUST ACCEPT THE RISK OF NOT DOING AS WELL. So they make a claim and then they disclaim their claim! When you see this, exclaim your skepticism! We re NOT (sorry, we got used to seeing ALL CAPS) saying this particular example is a scam, but you would definitely want more information before proceeding. The thing about earnings claims, at least here in the U.S., is they are required by law to disclose both the number of people and the percentage of people who are earning any amount they quote you. So don t be afraid to ask for documented proof of any claim. Then check out our article that describes your next steps are when investigating a business opportunity. Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Related posts Success Snake Oil – Know When You’re Getting Scammed Freedom Or Security – Which Do You Choose? (Image from eggheadmarketing.com) ShareThis

One of the most frequent questions we get is how we come up with show topics. So we thought we d give you a peak behind the curtain and show you how we arrived at today s show idea. We were eating! That s why today s show topic is really I can t believe I ate that whole thing! Plop plop fizz fizz! Mary-Lynn recalled We were at a family diner. I started reminiscing about when I was a kid. There was this restaurant that we would go to when we went to visit my grandma. It was called the Hen House. The outside looked like a big red barn. The inside had a country d cor and a fun little gift shop that my sister and I would always visit after eating. They had games and books and candy George added We re showing our roots here. For those of you who aren t familiar with it (which is likely most of you), the Hen House was a Midwestern chain. Sort of a smaller version of Cracker Barrel. I have a book by William Dooner, the guy who started the Hen House chain. And to me, the most memorable thing from his book is when he talks about the purple tree in the forest. Hence the subject of today s show! The Purple Tree Dooner says to picture yourself walking through a lush green forest. In the middle of it, you come upon a tree that is painted purple. You keep walking, but you can t get that purple tree out of your mind. Most likely, your impression is negative because it doesn t fit. Why someone would paint that tree that color? Mary-Lynn When I heard this story, I wondered if this is where Seth Godin got his idea for The Purple Cow. Because I d never heard this purple tree story before, but I d definitely heard of the purple cow. We can t speak to Seth Godin s inspiration, but they are different concepts. William Dooner said to look for something that stands out because it doesn t fit. It probably leaves a negative impression. Seth Godin encouraged us to purposefully not fit in so that we stand out. By doing that, we make a positive impression. In either case, purple tree or purple cow, you remember it. So, as it applies to real estate, the purple tree in the forest means properties that may be run-down, out-of-the-way, unused, underused that sort of thing. What Dooner did with the Hen House chain is a perfect example (see, we re about to make it all fit you were starting to doubt us, weren t you?). The $10 million purple tree He saw this vacant land next to gas stations along the interstate. It was ugly, smelly, littered with junk, no landscaping. A purple tree. This land had never been used commercially. At that point in time, there often wasn t any place to eat when you stopped to fill up with gas. So Dooner had a bigg idea he invested $15 thousand to start a restaurant chain on that unwanted and unused land. He later sold that chain for $10 million! Beyond real estate We highly recommend Dooner s book. It s called How to Go from Rags to Riches in Real Estate. It s a must read if you re interested in real estate investing, but this purple tree concept goes beyond that. Think about customers nobody wants to serve, employees nobody wants to hire, jobs nobody wants to do. Maybe one of those is your purple tree! So look around today where do you see purple trees? Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Related posts How Opportunity Often Presents Itself 6 Factors to Help You Succeed When Opportunity Knocks (Image by Mailjozo) ShareThis

When you own your own business, you have your highs and you have your lows. And it seems like you rarely have any in-betweens. George said I never talked about this for years. I thought it was just me. Then I got up the nerve and mentioned it to my sister, who also owns businesses. She said she knew exactly what I was talking about! So that encouraged me to ask other business owners about it. So far, every single person I ve ever talked to about this knows exactly what it means. You can see it on their face as soon as you bring it up. But it s something I think a lot of entrepreneurs don t talk about. Mary-Lynn added With Bigg Success, I m experiencing business ownership for the first time. And I feel like I m on a roller coaster. There are days where I feel exhilaration from the ride and there are days when I feel sheer terror and want to get off the ride. Entrepreneurial terror If you ve never experienced it, count yourself lucky, but most people in business have. You can feel terrified at times even with a job. You may fear you re going to lose yours when you see other people s jobs getting cut. But it s still different for business owners. George I remember one of the guest speakers for my class who talked about the number of mouths he had to feed now. A lot of the most successful business owners I know take personal responsibility for their people. They don t look at just putting bread on their table; they worry about their employees as well. That can keep you up at night! Inc. published an article (way back in February 1987) called Entrepreneurial Terror. A portion of it has been republished on Wachovia s Small Business site. It was written by Wilson Harrell, a serial entrepreneur and author of For Entrepreneurs Only. He said: the ability to handle terror, and to live with it, is the single most important and, yes, necessary ingredient of entrepreneurial success. This company doesn t love misery He says that you shouldn t share your lows with your friends and loved ones, because you ll just pass the worry on to them. Unless they re your partner in business. He adds that you should always share your highs, though. How highs turn to lows The way you spend your time and money when you re on a high often has a lot to do with how low you go. Let s look at two examples: Too busy for marketing When you re so busy, you may even be running at capacity, and you know your business couldn t crank out any more volume no matter how much you wanted to. So you slow down or even stop your marketing efforts. George I ve done this! It s easy to do there s no time! But that insures the next down cycle because you re not doing those things that you did to get to the up cycle. Being careless with money A lot of times cash flow is at its peak during an up cycle. That s part of the reason you re on an emotional high. So you make that major expenditure. Or you add to your overhead. The next thing you know you re on a low because business and cash flow have slowed down and you have little or no cash reserves. You may not be able to avoid the highs and lows. What you can do is conduct business so that your lows are higher and your highs are higher! It may not feel any different, but you know it is. You re reaching ever higher levels of success! Now that s bigg success! Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Related posts Don't Make This Costly Mistake Are You Fishing for Customers in the Wrong Hole? If You Want to Increase Your Profit, Don’t Put Your Customers First There’s Gold In Them There ... Customers! 5 Places to Find Cash for Your Business Today (Image by LilGoldWmn) ShareThis

Today on The Bigg Success Show, we welcomed Melissa Giovagnoli. Melissa is an author, speaker, coach and entrepreneur. Of her 11 books, four have been on the best seller s list and one was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show. She is one of the world s leading experts on networking and has appeared on The Today Show, CNN, CNBC, and Fox. She was recently named the best networker in Chicago by Crain s. Networking vs. Networlding We asked Melissa for her best networking tip. She says not to think of it as networking, but think of it as networlding, which is the title of one of her books. Networlding expands opportunities rather than limiting them. As a networker, you might set a goal of meeting two people. If you re a networlder, you would set a goal of meeting two people who you can form a long-term relationship with and build opportunities for you, for them, and for the greater good. The overstuffed Rolodex syndrome Many people confuse activity with accomplishment. You leverage your network by thinking about who would be good connections for you. Start with people who have complementary values. With the online world, you can have quality and quantity by being specific about what you ask for to create a vibrant exchange. 7 levels of support Networking isn t about taking. It s also not about just giving. You can support people: Emotionally By providing information By providing knowledge (information plus experiences) By promoting them Through wisdom sharing (the 20 percent that will yield 80 percent) By creating transformational opportunities Community (creating the greatest good for the greatest number) Links to Melissa s sites networlding2.org This is Melissa s most interactive community. The goal is for members to support each other in achieving their respective goals. You can create your own profile and build your own private circle around your special interest. Networlding E-Learning Here you ll get six FREE lessons on networking for business and sales or networking for jobs. Melissa will also help you with writing a book. If you re really serious about it, contact her. Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Related posts Relationship Building Blocks 5 Laws of Stratospheric Success 3 Keys to Effective Networking The Two Most Powerful Words You Can Use The Other Pause that Refreshes ShareThis

Rolling Stone interviewed Barack Obama recently. He revealed his iPod play list, which included songs by: Earth, Wind s in touch with the classics and brilliant musicians. He shows his age, yet he s still in touch with artists of today. Mary-Lynn says When I think of Bob Dylan, I think of music with a message that sense of activism. When I think of Yo-Yo Ma or Stevie Wonder, I think of great musicianship. And I think of the song, I Wish. How when I was working in radio, I was always excited when that song was coming up. I d crank it when it was on and do my own boogie! George replies When I think of Stevie Wonder, I think about the Saturday Night Live skit where he was playing tennis! He got hit by a lot of balls! Seriously, I think of Ebony and Ivory. I m a lyrics guy. I can picture the keyboard with its ebony and ivory keys. And Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder singing it. It s powerful! Sharing opens up the conversation So you see what s happening here. Barack Obama revealed things about himself. Now we re revealing things about ourselves. When you share, you open up the conversation because the other person finds things to be interested in. So they find you more interesting and get to know you better. And you connect with them. So let s take a page from the politician s playbook they look for every single way they can to connect with people. George s example: I m a husband, a business owner, a professor, a blogger, a podcaster, an alum of the best university in the world the University of Illinois. And the list goes on. Kind of like Sonny s beat! It s how people can relate to you, by finding things in common with you. The more you share, the more you connect That s why one of our friends says that you should fill out your profile completely on social networking sites, when you join an organization, and at every opportunity. Share as much about yourself and your interests as you feel comfortable sharing. We can learn a lesson from politicians on this the more you share, the more you connect! Mary-Lynn says As we prepared for this show, one of the things we talked about is how neither one of us has been listening to much music lately. This really surprises me about myself because I was a musician and a music disc jockey for many years. So music has been an integral part of my life. George replied That begs the question, Mary-Lynn. Why aren t you listening to more music now? And I think I know the answer you get to hear me sing in the shower! What more could you possibly need? Mary-Lynn s retort That s not music to my ears, George! I work at my computer a lot and whenever I am in the car they re always playing the same songs on the radio. So I just flip to talk. Connect with yourself Music is an opportunity to connect with others, but more importantly, it lets you connect with yourself. So make time for things that touch you deeply in your mind, your heart, and your soul. Whether that be music or something else. What do you do to connect to others and yourself? Is there something you used to do that you need to reconnect with? Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Related posts 7 Ways to Tap into Your Creative Side Does Your Hobby Work For You? Stretch Yourself Anew The Home Stretch Make Your Daily Commute Productive (Image by rollingstone.com) ShareThis

Bigg Challenge Max is a business owner. He hired a salesman about a year ago. Max put him on the same compensation plan that his other sales people were on (a small base salary with an incentive). The guy has done a phenomenal job. Max s company is showing record sales and profits, largely due to this sales person. But here s the problem: this salesman is now making more money than Max. Max wants to know if he should adjust his salesperson s compensation. Bigg Advice What should you do about this, Max? Here s what we think Nothing! Here s why Is it costing too much? It is possible to over-compensate your people. You can t design a system where a small number of top performers win bigg while the company loses money. But that s not the case here. You re also making more money, Max. So if it ain t broke, don t fix it! Handle with care We ve heard of great sales people who were let go when a situation like this occurred. It does happen. But remember the nursery rhyme about the goose that laid the golden egg? This sales person is the goose. Handle him with care. Like the old Proverb says, Kill not the goose that lays the golden eggs. Your bigg payoff Don t miss the bigg picture. The bigg payoff for owning a business often isn t what you make each year. It s what you make when you sell it. You re building an asset whose value is based on the income of the business, sometimes called owner s cash flow. As your bottom line increases, so does the value of your asset. That s your bigg payoff. How you can get paid more You re making record sales and profits so you can probably afford to add another salesperson. Before you do, look at your infrastructure and capacity to make sure you can support an additional salesperson. If you can, then go for it! There s a good chance, if you do that, you ll be the highest paid employee of the company again! Model this employee We would suggest cloning, but okay we won t go there! So try to find someone with traits and characteristics similar to this salesperson. To do that, think about what you know about him. What industry did he come from, if he came from outside your industry? What experience did he have? What education? Are there any other clues you can get from his background? If you did a personality assessment as part of your hiring process, what did his look like? And ask your sales person if he knows anybody who might work out well. Bigg goal-getters know bigg goal-getters. Thanks Max for sending us your bigg challenge. We wish you bigg success! Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Related posts If You Want to Increase Your Profit, Don’t Put Your Customers First Are You Choking Your Chicken? Sam Walton’s Rules for Building a Business (Image by forwardcom) ShareThis

Change. A word that sparks fear in many people. We work to get to that comfortable spot, and we want to stay there. Nothing is certain except death and taxes. Ben Franklin We think he got it wrong, not in the message, but in the semantics. We think he should have explicitly included change as something that is certain, rather than making it implicit in his quote. Will you lead or follow? Even when it s change that we re creating ourselves, it can be scary. But it s especially frightening when it s a surprise. For example, picture Jane telling her boss that she s accepted a new position. She s going to experience change. But isn t that more comfortable than Jane s boss telling her that her job is being eliminated? It s better to be a leader of change than a follower. Who s in control? However, you can t always control change. What you can control all the time is how you choose to respond to it. You can also try to anticipate it. For example, as technology continues to develop, change is occurring more and more rapidly. Isn t it safe to assume that this will continue? So you have a choice to make. You either develop the skills to anticipate change so you get ahead of it or you just respond to it, after the pain becomes too great to do anything else. Bigg action item Separate the change into fads and trends There are fads and there are trends. Fads come and go, so don t worry about them. Trends are long-term. Get on board with them. Divide a sheet into two columns one called Fads and the other called Trends . In your chosen career, think about the things affecting your industry. Now start putting those changes into the appropriate column. What will affect your future income? Something will for good or for bad! Is it a short-term phenomenon? Or is it likely to continue? You can position yourself properly by seeing the change coming. What opportunities will be created? What skills will be important? Do you have them? Can you get them? Develop a plan for what you need to do to position yourself to take advantage of the trends. Where do I get this information? We ll look at two examples. Search for the name of your industry followed by the word association . For example, beauty salon association yielded a half-dozen or so associations in Google. You can also subscribe to magazines for your industry, or just about any industry you re interested in following. They re often free, supported by the advertisers. Amazon has an excellent resource that lists magazines by industry. It s an extensive list! So there are a number of ways to get the information you need so you can embrace change rather than begrudge it. Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Related posts 6 Factors to Help You Succeed When Opportunity Knocks The Single Most Destructive Thought You Can Have (Image by bob923) ShareThis

On the show, George recalled a teacher who made him write a report on what he wanted to be when he grew up. This was junior high; George didn t know what he wanted to be. Maybe a major league baseball player? So he did his report on being a bricklayer. His dad was a bricklayer, with his own business. When his teacher saw the title of his report, she said, You mean with your brain, you re going to be a bricklayer? George could have taken that comment as an insult about his dad. But his dad was good with his hands and his head. He said he did initially think that he wouldn t get a good grade. But over time, her comment resonated with him. It helped him, as a young person, be more confident in his mental ability. 4 ways to get a message across The statement and the delivery are both important parts of communicating a message. You can t necessarily control what your message is, but you can control how you deliver it. #1 Negative statement, negative delivery Without question, this is the worst way to communicate a message. If someone says something negative to you, in a negative way, they lose a lot. You re not going to feel better. The relationship won t be enhanced. You may get defensive or even angry. Speak when you are angry - and you ll make the best speech you ll ever regret. Dr. Laurence Peter #2 Negative statement, positive delivery Sometimes the message isn t positive, but we still need to get the message across. How you say it becomes incredibly important. A good example might be Donald Trump on The Apprentice. He s said things like, I love you; I think you re a great guy, but you re fired. Negative messages have to be delivered. However, you can choose to frame them in a positive way. #3 Positive statement, negative delivery You risk diminishing the real message you re trying to get across when you have negative overtures. George took away a positive from his teacher s comment, but he could have just been insulted. #4 Positive statement, positive delivery Obviously, this is how you want to frame as much of your communication as you possibly can. This draws people to you. How you respond to messages You also can control how you respond to other people s messages, no matter how they deliver it. Let s take the worst one. Someone may hit you with a negative statement and deliver it in a negative way. Pause before you respond. The conversation can go into a tailspin and be completely unproductive or you may be able to turn it around with the right response. And we can be inspired, no matter what the message is or how it s delivered. We have a friend who remembers being told that he was too small to make the high school football team. That negative, negative inspired him to go for it. Not only did he make the team, but he was a starter! Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Related posts How to Offer Criticism Without Being Critical Are You Smart Enough to Say It Simply? (Image by danzo08) ShareThis

Today on The Bigg Success Show, we welcomed Denise Griffitts. Denise is the founder and CEO of Your Virtual Assistant, a company that provides highly trained administrative professionals for support, technical and creative services for small businesses, start-up businesses, individuals, and online entrepreneurs. Virtual assistants are in bigg demand Denise talked about the growing demand for virtual assistants, who work for you from their home. They work within your processes and system. If you don t have processes set up, they ll even help you do that. A virtual assistant can help you with just about anything that doesn t require them to be on site. Denise s niche is serving online entrepreneurs. She lets you take care of the front end of the business by partnering with you and handling the back end. A virtual assistant takes away all the minutiae from your day. Denise Griffitts Don t be afraid to ask questions. Think about what you really need help doing. What s causing your time seepage? By thinking about the minutiae that s sapping your creativity and letting a virtual assistant take care of it, you ll feel a sense of freedom and be able to move forward more quickly. How affordable is a virtual assistant? A virtual assistant is a contract employee. You don t have to pay their taxes and Social Security. You also don t have to pay for their office space or equipment. Denise has a Rate Calculator on her blog. It allows you to calculate the difference between hiring someone in your office and hiring a virtual assistant. Denise says the savings are considerable. Could you benefit from a virtual assistant? Denise talked about her biggest client, who had a project she needed done within three weeks. This client had a concept and an announced date for completion. That was it! In three weeks, Denise and her team helped her client produce a product. They created a CD, did the art for the CD, created audio, print work and art work. It was in her customer s hands by the deadline! As Denise says, Most everybody these days could use a virtual assistant. Would you like to be a virtual assistant? Denise is looking for people all of the time. If you have online experience and would like to earn some extra money, send Denise your resume to resumes@virtualassistantindustry.com. Denise will review your resume. If that looks good, she ll interview you. After that, she ll assign you a project. If you perform well on that project, then she brings you on as a full virtual assistant. So if you want to hire a virtual assistant or be a virtual assistant, check out Your Virtual Assistant! Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Related Posts Outsource Your Household Chores to Balance Your Life 5 Ways to Determine if a Work-at-Home Opportunity is Legitimate Leaping From Place To Place: See The World While You Work Find Your Fortune Through Promiscuity (Image from VirtualAssistantIndustry.com) ShareThis

Are you a morning person or a night owl? You probably have a good grasp of your daily pattern. The bigger challenge is understanding your patterns for refreshing yourself, for getting away and recharging. With vacation season upon us, we thought it would talk about these patterns. Obviously, your ability to fully control how you take time off depends upon your flexibility at work. George said that his dad was always looking for a job with two paid vacations a year six months each! 3 questions to make time off more rewarding #1 Do you need a long break or a series of shorter ones? Some people are so stressed by the time they take a break that a short one just won t do. They never get past the stress so they can relax and enjoy their time off. If that describes you, then take a long vacation! Others get more stressed if they re away from their normal routine too long. They start worrying about getting further and further behind so they don t relax. If you re one of these people, take a series of long weekends. #2 Do you need a day or two to get back in the swing of things after a break? Do you need a vacation to recover from your vacation? If so, plan your vacation so you get an extra day or two to unwind from unwinding . If that s not possible, try to schedule your daily routine a little lighter for your first day or two back in the real world . Others get back from vacation, whether long or short, and are immediately ready to jump into daily life again. If that describes you, you can max out your days at your destination. #3 Are there certain times of the year when you really need some time off? Some of us have extremely busy seasons. A break immediately after the season is often the best medicine! You ll be able to keep pushing, knowing that some needed time off is on the horizon. Another example is people who live in areas where the winter months are cold, long and dreary. Time away in the sun is just the prescription to cure their winter blues. Vacation is what you take when you can t take what you ve been taking any longer Author unknown Our top 5 signs that you need to take a vacation #5 The last time your phone rang at your desk, you picked up your stapler and started talking. #4 You re secretly hoping to get sick so you can take a day off. #3 You ve been at the airport so much, security is greeting you by your first name. #2 You had to call your spouse and ask for directions home. #1 When you look in the mirror, you realize that you actually look like your passport photo. Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Related posts How to Reclaim Your Weekend Why It Pays to be Late for Work Leaping From Place To Place: See The World While You Work (Image by duchessa) ShareThis

Bigg Challenge Jeff s job took him several states away from a rental property that he bought about two years ago. He bought the property and fixed it up. Now his tenant is moving out and the place is a mess. So he s going to have to invest a bunch again. But he feels he has no choice since he has so much in it already. Besides, it s a bad time to sell real estate. He wants our thoughts on his situation. Bigg Advice It s been said, Find a landlord who lives more than twenty minutes from his rental and you ll find a landlord who s probably ready to sell. Properties can be managed across cities and states, but for the most part, real estate is a very local business. And, a lot of people don t understand that you re in business even if you only have one rental property. Consult with a good attorney You ve treated this like a business, Jeff. You had your tenant sign a lease. But a lot of landlords feel like there s little recourse if a tenant tears up the place. However, you can take legal measures against a tenant who causes damage beyond normal wear and tear. So consult with an attorney to explore your options. There s a good chance your attorney may handle your case on a contingency. Of course, you ll still have to cover the courts costs. Sell! Check with a realtor, and even other property owners, to get an idea of what to expect if you list your property. Of course, you won t know until you actually put it on the market, but you can probably make a reasonable guess with some more information. Sure, we hear news reports that the real estate market is down. However, you may find it s not as bad as you think. And here s the thing isn t it better to fix it up and let it sit empty than to fix it up just to fix it up again if your next tenant does the same thing? Distance makes the difference Every landlord risks bad tenants, but since you live so far away, Jeff, it seems like the best move for you. The only other thing you might consider is contracting with an experienced local property manager to handle the leasing and maintenance. You sunk my battle ship! Picture a ship that s sunk. You can invest money to try to make it float again, or you could just leave it on the bottom of the ocean and get a different ship. Hopefully, you quickly see which one of those two is better. George said that, unfortunately, he s learned this the hard way. It s not easy when you re the one in the middle of the situation. But the money you ve already invested is a sunk cost, like the sunken ship. Don t base your decision today on money that s already been spent. Base it on what kind of return you can get on the money you will invest. If it s better elsewhere, cut your losses and move on. We hope this helps you with your bigg decision, Jeff. Thanks for sharing your Bigg Challenge with us! Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Related posts Questions to Ask before You Invest in Real Estate Get Real Estate (Image by svilen001) ShareThis

J.K. Rowling, best known as the author of the Harry Potter series, recently delivered an exceptional speech for the Commencement Ceremony at Harvard University. It s an amazing discussion of the power of failure and imagination. It s definitely worth your time to read the full text, or watch the video. She said, We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better. Each of us has the power within us to change the world. Do you doubt it? Steve Jobs didn t doubt it. He imagined a world where every person could have the same computing power that only large organizations had at that point. He dreamed of a world where computers were so user-friendly everybody could use them. John F. Kennedy didn t doubt it. He had the vision that man could walk on the moon. He set forth his vision with the power of words to direct an entire country s resources toward that mission. A short time later, Neil Armstrong uttered his famous words, One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. Martin Luther King didn t doubt it. He had a dream that people would be judged solely by the contributions they made to society, not by the color of their skin. His dream led to a movement to bring equal opportunity to all. You may say that you don t have the imagination of JK Rowling. To create a world that can inspire millions of young people to read again at a time when everyone thought that only video games could attract them. the creativity of Steve Jobs. To see the possibilities for individuals to have access to technology at their fingertips. the vision of John F. Kennedy. To see the impossible as possible and to inspire an entire nation to get behind the effort. the oratory skills of Martin Luther King. To put the need for change front and center on the agenda of his country and to move people to effect that change. The unique power within you. You do have the power to imagine a better world and make a difference in your own life and the life of others. Your imagination flows from your unique genetic make-up and your personal experiences. No one else who has ever walked on this earth, is here now, or ever will be can duplicate what you have and who you are. You are one of a kind! It s up to you to live up to the potential that is within you just imagine! How will you leave the world a better place? What are you doing now to make a difference in the lives of others? Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. Related posts Your Potential Power Back To The Future: Visualizing The Life You Want (Part 1) Back To The Future: Visualizing The Life You Want (Part 2) Reject This Fear And Succeed (Image by svilen001) ShareThis

Thank you so very, very much for taking time out of your day to look in, or listen in, on us. We can t fully find the words to express how grateful we are that you give us a little bit of your most precious resource your time. We promise that we will always try to give you something worthwhile in the five minutes or so you spend with us each day. Why we started Bigg Success We started Bigg Success to build a community of like-minded people. People who want to succeed bigg. Bigg goal-getters we call you. Fun-loving, positive thinking people who are usually happy, but never content. Looking to live your life your way and get to the next level of success. We re building a community that helps each other. We re happy to volunteer our time to moderate to be thought-starters but we need your help. You see We don t know you as well as we want to. And we don t hear from you as much as we d like to. Now people in our business tell us that this is normal. But the Bigg Success community isn t a group of normal people. It s full of extraordinary people. Over-achievers. People who know they were born to do something bigg and are determined to do it. People like you. The most important thing we know. We know a little about a lot of things and a lot about a few things. But here s the most important thing we know All of us know more than any of us. We also know that you re a quiet group. We know you re busy. That s why we keep our content as short as possible while still delivering something to take away every day. But here s the thing We can t make bigg success better without you. Without your participation. We re happy to bring you our content for free we re not asking for money. We re asking you to give something more valuable just a little bit more of your time. Because bigg success can t be a bigger success without you. Without your input. Without your wisdom. Because as the Chinese proverb says A single conversation with a wise person is worth a month s study of books . And you re that wise person we want to have a conversation with! So here s how you can help Tell us how we can help you. Tell us what you want and need from us. Tell us the answers to these questions: What do you like about Bigg Success? What do you think we could improve upon? What would you like to learn more about? What would you like to see us do differently? How can we help you get to the next level of success? Here s how to do it now Share your thoughts by leaving a comment. We know a lot of you have never left a comment anywhere before, but it s as easy as typing up an e-mail once you ve done it. The easiest way to find our comment box is to click on the title of the article at the top of the page and then scroll down to the bottom where you ll see Leave a Reply . You ll notice that a name and e-mail are required. You can just use your first name or even a fake name. You can use your real e-mail address or even a fake one. Either way, your e-mail address is NOT made public. Nor do we use it in any way or share it with anybody. This requirement just protects us from those dreaded spammers. and in the future. And then, keep sharing your comments on future posts Tell us you agree or disagree we like to hear both. Just tell us why. Tell us what we missed you ve had experiences we haven t had. We want to learn from you too and so does the rest of the Bigg Success community. If you don t know something, or we didn t make it clear ask a question. If you have an answer to someone else s question share it with all of us. Everyone wins. Let s all learn from each other so we all reach our potential. There s no scarcity of bigg success at Bigg Success. Everyone can benefit. Everyone can win. And yes RSS subscribers, iTunes subscribers, and Zune subscribers we work hard to deliver our content where you want it, but we re talking to yo