The BIGG Success Show

As we begin a New Year, we want to share a thought with you about some people you know (and some you may not). We have a question about all of them: Did someone forget to tell them? Listen to this post! Click a player to hear George & Mary-Lynn on The BIGG Success Show Podcast. (Duration 3:06) iPhone/iPad/Android/Mobile Podcast Player Did someone forget to tell Jimmy Durante that he couldn’t sing? It didn’t matter to him. He became a star, thanks in part to his gravelly voice which made him noticeable. Did someone forget to tell Albert Einstein he wasn’t smart enough? After all, he struggled with language his whole life. He didn’t start talking until he was three. And he failed a language exam when he was sixteen. Yet he is one of the people often associated with the term “genius”. Did someone forget to tell Helen Keller that blind people can’t become authors? She certainly didn’t let that little challenge stop her. And lest you think these people are just “one-off” examples, consider John Bramblitt. Did someone forget to tell him that blind people can’t paint? In fact, it was just that – going blind – which lit the path to his passion. Did someone forget to tell Josh Hinds that a person with a stuttering problem caused by Tourette’s Syndrome couldn’t become a public speaker? It didn’t stop him. He became a pioneer of personal development online. Did someone forget to tell Bethany Hamilton that surfers need two arms? While surfing at the age of 13, a 14-foot tiger shark bit off her left arm. Yet she still became (and still is) an award-winning professional surfer. Did someone forget to tell J.K. Rowling that a divorced mother with no money couldn’t become a BIGG success? You know the rest of her story. She’s the first author to become a billionaire. We’ll bet you that… someone DID tell each and every one of these people not to proceed someone reminded them of the reason why they shouldn’t do it someone told them they would fail if they tried But they didn’t listen! If they had, we wouldn’t be talking about them. So don’t let people stop you from pursuing your passion – the passion which will take you to BIGG success. What do you really want to do? Image in this post from stock.xchng

Remember school lunch? Listen to this post! Click a player to hear George & Mary-Lynn on The BIGG Success Show Podcast (Duration 4:17). iPhone/iPad/Android/Mobile Podcast Player [George] “I remember one clearly. I was in grade school – I think fourth grade. The main item on the menu that day was a ham salad sandwich. Most of us weren’t fans of ham salad, so we weren’t eating them. But one of my friends said he loved ham salad. He quickly devoured the one on his plate. So another one of my friends handed his sandwich over. It was gone in no time. But it didn’t stop there. Everybody started dumping their ham salad sandwiches on my friend’s plate. And it became a contest. How many sandwiches could he eat? He ended up eating 17 half-sandwiches – in other words, 8½ sandwiches total! And the final part of the story: Lunch ended. We went back to class. It wasn’t long before my friend made a mad dash for the bathroom. Yes, he tossed his ham salad!” So what does ham salad have to do with making New Year resolutions? We’ll share two things: Don’t bite off more than you can chew Or should we say digest? We humans tend to make sweeping changes. We want immediate results. But BIGG success is about entrepreneuring your life. Entrepreneurs – especially in the early stage – don’t see immediate results. They only see what they’re doing to achieve the results they want. So… Think like an entrepreneur! Shift your focus away from results to activities. If you get the activities right, the results will take care of themselves. For an easy example, let’s say you want to lose weight. Instead of putting yourself on a starvation diet, change one thing. For instance, if you eat a candy bar in the middle of the day, substitute a piece of fruit. If you’re not exercising at all, don’t try to exercise for an hour every day. Start with fifteen minutes or so a couple of times a week. Research shows that it takes between two weeks to a month or more for a habit to form. As you form one habit, you can start working on another one. Small bites lead to BIGG success day after day, habit after habit. Don’t let other people stuff you full They have their own agenda. But you have your own. After all, BIGG success is life on your own terms! So before you make a New Year resolution, ask a very important question: Why? And then expand on it: Why is it important to you? Why is it more important than other resolutions you might make? These questions help establish your motivation. There will be times when it will be hard to keep your resolution. You will feel like giving up on it at times. You must understand the reason underlying your resolution. Don’t just think about a New Year resolution. Feel the difference it will make. So to make New Year resolutions you will keep, set your own agenda and take baby steps. It leads to BIGG success! What’s your tip for making New Year resolutions? Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00842-122712.mp3 Image in this post from stock.xchng

Once upon a time – long, long ago – an alien elder sent her protégé to Planet Earth with her protégé. His mission – to observe the most advanced creatures on this strange planet. Listen to this post! Click a player to hear George & Mary-Lynn (and the aliens) on The BIGG Success Show Podcast. (Duration 2:58) iPhone/iPad/Android/Mobile Podcast Player He arrived toward the end of the winter. It was cold. The land seemed barren. And he was struck by this white substance that fell from the sky to create a blanket on the land. Winter soon gave way to spring and the protégé basked in the warmth of the sun. He was struck by how the ground turned from brown to green. And suddenly, all the plants seemed to be encompassed by this strange green foliage. As was his mission, he continued watching the humans, as he had come to learn they were called. He dictated detailed notes each day back to his home planet. Spring gave way to summer and the heat. Oh, he almost couldn’t bare it. And then fall came. He was awestruck at the changing colors and the leaves falling from the trees. Then came winter. The white stuff fell. It was cold. But soon, he felt the warmth of the humans’ hearts. It was the most wonderful time of the year, he heard them say. And they were right – there was something special about this season. His stay ended about a month later. He was beamed back to his home planet. The alien elder asked, “What did you learn, my protégé?” “I learned that these humans are strange creatures indeed. They really behave differently one time a year. They are friendlier. They are more compassionate. It’s how we always treat each other.” “Why do you think that we are able to carry this spirit through the whole year and they are not?” “Are we smarter?” the protégé asked. “No, they are just as smart as we are.” “Do we have bigger hearts?” “No, we both have the same capacity to care.” “Then I do not know, wise elder.” “Our planet only has two rules. You know them. What is the first?” “Love the Supreme Being with all your heart.” “You are correct, young lad. This is important because it helps us realize there is something or someone greater than ourselves. We are reminded of our place in the universe. And the second rule?” “Love everyone, including yourself.” “Right again. Before you can truly love anyone, you must love yourself. The greater your capacity to love yourself, the greater your capacity to love others. “It seems so simple. Shouldn’t there be more rules?” “Ah, it is simple but it is not easy. You see, the earthlings are governed by the same two rules. But they like to make it complicated.” Two rules. That’s all it takes to be a BIGG success! Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00841-122012.mp3 Image in this post from stock.xchng

Some time ago, the World Bank released a high level report called Lifelong Learning in the Global Knowledge Economy (PDF). It highlights the importance of brains, not brawn, in today’s world. It’s the revenge of the nerds! Listen to this post! Click a player to hear George & Mary-Lynn on The BIGG Success Show Podcast (Duration 3:12) iPhone/iPad/Android/Mobile Podcast Player While it’s written about developing countries, there’s an important reminder in the report for all of us – we need to update skills continuously. Lifelong learning is the new learning. And keep in mind – it’s not just hard skills that are important. Soft skills are too. A solid combination of hard skills and soft skills will make you stand out. That’s consistent with the old saying – he was hired for his hard skills but let go for lack of soft skills. As a society, we’ve tended to see more value in the hard skills. Traditionally, we mostly learn the hard skills for a given field in college. But employers are struggling to find enough people with good soft skills. We all need to seek out opportunities to improve all of our skills, but especially our soft skills. Here are 13 soft skills to develop: taking responsibility making effective decisions setting goals managing time prioritizing tasks persevering giving strong efforts working well in teams communicating effectively having empathy knowing how to learn exhibiting self-control believing in one’s own self worth You can learn these skills formally – by going back to school or taking a course online or through your employer or industry. Or you may prefer to self-study. If you choose this last technique, here’s a suggestion: Take a cue from ol’ Ben Franklin. He created a system to develop thirteen virtues. Pick one of the thirteen soft skills you want to develop. Each week, work on just one of them. Record how well you did each day. Every quarter – that’s thirteen weeks – you’ll get through the whole list. So you’ll spend four weeks – or 28 days – focusing on every single one of these soft skills. Once you’ve mastered a skill, replace it with another one. One by one, day by day, week by week, you’ll reach BIGG success! Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00840-121312.mp33 Image in this post from stock.xchng

Today we want to tackle a very controversial subject. More specifically, we want to take a position which may be controversial. Listen to this post! Click a player to hear George & Mary-Lynn on The BIGG Success Show Podcast (Duration 4:02) iPhone/iPad/Android/Mobile Podcast Player We don’t mean to offend. We just want to make an important distinction. BIGG success is life on your own terms. So we pay a great deal of attention to terms. The term we want to talk about today is “social entrepreneurship”. It’s a popular term, a buzz word even. People say with pride, “I’m a social entrepreneur” or “I want to be a social entrepreneur.” Wikipedia defines a “social entrepreneur” as “someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change.” Let’s deconstruct just one part of that definition – the term “social” as an adjective. Among other definitions, Merriam-Webster defines “social” as “tending to form cooperative and interdependent relationships with others.” The problem with social entrepreneurship So here’s the problem – here’s why we say social entrepreneurship is a waste of time: It’s redundant. ALL entrepreneurs are social entrepreneurs. ALL entrepreneurs exist to serve society. ALL entrepreneurs must recognize a social problem – a problem affecting the welfare of a group of human beings. ALL entrepreneurs must use entrepreneurial principles to solve that problem. ALL Entrepreneurs add value in the lives of others to create value for themselves. All entrepreneurs need money Now, some entrepreneurs have a profit motive while others don’t. But they all have to find funding somehow. Some entrepreneurs raise capital to get a venture going and then repay it from profits. Other entrepreneurs rely on donations of time and/or money to get a venture going. But they must find a steady flow of cash from somewhere. But to describe one activity as social and the other as not is a mislabeling. ALL entrepreneurs are social because ALL entrepreneurs try to help a group of people. Profit is not a dirty word Entrepreneurs who forget this basic tenet of entrepreneurship are the ones who fail. Novices often go into ventures only thinking about how they will make money. You have to think about the people and their problem. Of course, you have to think about the money too – whether you’re starting up a for-profit venture or not. And don’t ever forget: Profit is not a dirty word. Every entrepreneur – for profit or non-profit – has to find a money trail to sustain their operation. But focus on the problem first. Then figure out your funding and your cash flows. Once you know how to create value for yourself by adding value for others, you’re ready for BIGG success! Do you think “social entrepreneurship” is redundant? Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00839-120612.mp3 Image in this post from stock.xchng

Today on The BIGG Success Show, we brought back one of our favorite bits – Terms from a Hat. This time we pulled out…The Rule of 72. Hear George & Mary-Lynn on The BIGG Success Show! Click a player to listen (Duration 6:40) iPhone/iPad/Android/Mobile Podcast Player The Rule of 72 is a quick way to determine how many years it takes to double your money. You simply divide the interest rate into 72 to get the number of years it will take to double your money. For example: Let’s say you have an investment that earns 6%. 72 divided by 6% = 12 years. You’ll double your money in 12 years. See how easy that is! Calculating the long-term potential of a bonus So let’s say you get a bonus this year of $5,000 (after taxes). You decide to invest it for your retirement in 24 years. This one-time investment of $5,000 could be expected to turn into $10,000 in 12 years which will turn into $20,000 by the time you retire in 24 years. A caveat and the implicit assumptions One caveat though – it’s not absolute. It’s a rule of thumb. In a pure mathematical sense, it’s technically 69.3, not 72. If you want a deeper dive, check out the technicalities of The Rule of 72. Besides the caveat, this rule also makes some simplifying assumptions. It assumes that all investment income is tax deferred or tax free. Further, it assumes that your return occurs certainly and evenly over the life of the investment. Since most investments don’t work this way, Charles Givens suggested in Wealth Without Risk that that you should use 76 instead of 72. However, we suggest that you not get hung up on the number. Just remember it’s an approximation. More importantly, it’s a tool. So let’s talk about how to use this tool to quickly see the impact of financial decisions. Using the Rule of 72 to choose a car Let’s say you need a different car. You find two cars you like and you have the cash to buy either one. However, one car costs $5,000 more than the other one. We’ll bring back our previous example – where you thought you could earn 6% on your money and assuming you want to retire in 24 years. By buying the cheaper vehicle, you will have $20,000 more at retirement. So is it worth spending an extra $5,000 on a car now to give up $20,000 later? Seeing the difference between investment options Let’s go back to the bonus of $5,000 after-taxes. You won’t need the money for 24 years, when you plan to retire. You have a choice of two investments – one that has yielded 3% historically and another one that has returned 6%. With the first investment, you’ll double your money one time in 24 years – ending up with $10,000. With the second, you’ll double it two times – so you could expect it to turn into $20,000. Why your own business may be the answer Finally, let’s talk about owning your own business. A lot of people have seen their investment portfolios hit pretty hard. If you’re one of them, what can you do? Invest in your own business. It’s not unrealistic to think you can earn 12% on your money. Then you would double your money every six years. So that $5,000 becomes $10,000 in six years, $20,000 in twelve, $40,000 in eighteen and $80,000 in 24 years. This is how real wealth is created. Look at any list of rich people – they probably own their own business. Of course, remember that this is general advice. You’ll want to seek the advice of your professional advisors about your situation. The Rule of 72 helps you make investment decisions by helping you quickly understand how money compounds. It’s a financial tool that will help you reach BIGG success! Would you like to start a business but don’t know where to start? Maybe we can help. Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00838-112912.mp3 Image in this post from stock.xchng[...]

He started a store. It failed. He started another one. It failed too. He tried for the third time. No success. The fourth time put him over the edge. He filed for bankruptcy protection. Listen to this post! Click  a player to hear George & Mary-Lynn on The BIGG Success Show Podcast (Duration 3:09). iPhone/iPad/Android/Mobile Podcast Player If his story ended there, we wouldn’t be talking about him today. He learned from all his failures. Then he tried for a fifth time. His fifth attempt was a BIGG success! R.H. Macy opened the now famous department store. Which brings us to our first point – you know about Macy’s. But did you know about the founders’ four failures? We didn’t. Nobody cares about your failures once you are a BIGG success. We also thought it was interesting that he opened his store way north of what was considered the retail district. If you want to be a BIGG success, find an un-served or under-served market. Sometimes this means moving further from your competition – physically or in some other sense. In other cases, it means getting closer. For example, have you ever noticed that restaurants tend to cluster? They all attract customers to a specific area. Outside the world of restaurants and retail, tech companies often cluster as well. Think Silicon Valley. The infrastructure is there. The people are there. Now let’s talk about what inspired this post – the world renowned Macy’s Day Parade. The idea for this parade came from the employees. Stay close to the front line to be a BIGG success as an entrepreneurial leader. Many of Macy’s employees were recent immigrants. They were proud Americans but they missed some of the traditions and festivals of their homeland. So they decided to do a Thanksgiving parade to kickoff the Christmas season. Over 250 thousand people showed up to watch it that first year. Of course, today more than 44 million people watch it on television every year. It’s one of the best promotions anyone could ever imagine. And it reminds us all – do something BIGG if you want to get attention. And don’t forget – this success story started with a parade of failures that led to one of the greatest parades of all. That’s BIGG success! Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00837-112012.mp3 Image from Flickr

We launched this site and The BIGG Success Show on November 12, 2007. So BIGG Success is now five years old! And what a five years it has been. Listen to this post! Hear George & Mary-Lynn on The BIGG Success Show Podcast (Duration 5:27) iPhone/iPad/Android/Mobile Podcast Player Like all entrepreneurs – especially in this economy – we’ve had our ups and downs. When we say – entrepreneuring is the greatest roller coaster ride you can imagine – you can know we speak from personal experience. After all, we’ve survived the Great Recession. Our business was less than a month old when it started. [George] I’ve been an entrepreneur for three decades and, for nearly twenty years now, I’ve taught entrepreneurship at the best school in the world – The University of Illinois. But I feel like I’ve gotten an advanced degree in entrepreneurship these last five years. That’s because so much is changing. The way we start businesses has changed. So has the way we run them. From how we finance them to how we market them to our facilities and the workforce – everything, including how we plan, is changing dramatically. It’s an exciting time to be an entrepreneur! And we want to say a special thanks to you for riding this crazy ride with us. But enough about our business, we really want to share one thought with you today. We recently saw a great quote that we saved for this anniversary post. Perry Marshall quoted Glenn Livingston who said: “Most people greatly OVER-estimate what they can do in one year. And they greatly UNDER-estimate what they can do in five years.” Do you relate to that? We sure do. Year after year, we set BIGG goals. And we’re often disappointed at what we don’t accomplish. But here we are – five years in – and I can’t believe how much we have accomplished! [Mary-Lynn] For example, many of you know that a one-minute version of our podcast got picked up by a national radio syndicator. I was in radio for nearly two decades and never got an opportunity like this! But we were able to do it by building our own brand online. And that’s the point we want to make to you – we live in an incredible time. Yes, it’s tough at times. You have to learn to live with more uncertainty. But there are opportunities now like we have never seen in our lifetimes and probably won’t see again. Now is a great time to be an entrepreneur. But you have to think in terms of five years. Sure, you’ll want to break that down into annual goals. Just don’t be too disappointed if you haven’t hit all your targets. You’re a BIGG goal-getter. You expect a lot of yourself. And that will pay off in the long run. Give it your all for five years. See what you can do. You just might find BIGG success! When you look back five years, are you amazed at what you’ve accomplished? Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00836-111312.mp3 Image in this post from stock.xchng

We were thrilled to chat with Julien Smith on The BIGG Success Show today. Julien is a speaker and New York Times best-selling author. He’s one of the biggest thinkers we know. We talked with him about his latest book – The Impact Equation – which he co-wrote with Chris Brogan. Click a player to hear Julien talk with George & Mary-Lynn on The BIGG Success Show podcast (Duration 6:36). iPhone/iPad/Android/Mobile Podcast Player Listen to the show to learn: why now is such a great time to strike out on your own why “the very nature of attention is changing” what you need to do to achieve a high level of trust the best way to communicate today online and offline the relationship between sacrifice and impact how a postcard helped Julien and Chris make an impactt How are you making impact? Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00835-110812.mp3

We’re sure you’ve seen them. They’re all around us. Zombies. Only not the Hollywood variety. Click a player to listen to the scary sounds of this BIGG Success Show with George & Mary-Lynn (if you dare). Duration – 2:57 iPhone/iPad/Android/Mobile Podcast Player Oh no, these are the scariest zombies of them all. That’s because they seem normal enough. They wear the same styles of clothes, drive the same kinds of cars and occupy the same types of houses as the rest of us. But beware. They may not look like death warmed over. They may not have the stench of a corpse. They are not the living dead. They are the dead living. And you won’t like what they feed on. They gobble up your entrepreneurial heart, brain and spirit. They feast on your heart You’re a good person. You care for other people. But these zombies will use that to tear you down. They feast on your heart. They’ll make you think they want success just as bad as you do. But in reality, they’re perfectly happy right where they are. And what they really want is to keep you there with them. They don’t want you to succeed. Your disappointments fill them up. They want you in the dumps with them. They are misery and they love your company if you’ll give it to them. If you taste success, they’re afraid you won’t need them anymore. So they do everything they can to sabotage your success. They feed on your brain You’re a sharp cookie with lots of great ideas. These zombies don’t have any ideas of their own. So they feed on yours. You never know when they will steal your idea and take all the credit for it. If they can’t steal it, they will try to bury it. They don’t want your ideas to see the light of day. They devour your spirit These zombies are incredibly negative. They are always quick to point out the downside. They talk about how bad the company is. They talk bad about customers. They talk bad about co-workers. They talk bad about everything. Their life sucks. Everything sucks. And they never take responsibility for anything. It’s their parents’ fault – or their spouse’s fault – or the fault of their boss. The negativity of these zombies quickly devours your spirit. It’s hard to stay positive in the face of all their utterly depressing conversation. These zombies are stuck in the world of the dead living. Few ever escape. But they’re always trying to drag you into their world. So beware for your BIGG success! Have you encountered this kind of zombie? Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00834-103012.mp3 Image in this post from stock.xchng

We were thrilled to chat with Chris Brogan on The BIGG Success Show today. Chris is a New York Times best-selling author and the President of Human Business Works, a media and education company. We talked about his latest book, The Impact Equation. As with his first book Trust Agents, Julien Smith is Chris’ co-author. Click a player to hear Chris talk with George & Mary-Lynn on The BIGG Success Show podcast (duration 7:08). iPhone/iPad/Android/Mobile Podcast Player Listen to the interview to discover: what Chris is dreading most about his new podcast how this book takes Trust Agents to the next level the recipe for the perfect mix to have impact and be heard the business you don’t know you’re in but is necessary for your core business why “me-too-ism” prevents growth how Contrast helps you make an impact how a lawyer and Apple use Contrast SPECIAL OFFER: Chris and Julien have some extra goodies if you order their book before it releases on October 25, 2012. So between now and then, check them out here and here. Chris also had some nice things to say about you, the members of our community. So check out the show, get the book and start making a BIGG impact! Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00833-102312.mp3

We’re thrilled to participate in another Blog Action Day. Bloggers and podcasters like us from around the world and across the internet all post about a single subject. And fittingly, this year’s theme is “The Power of We.” Now that’s a theme we can get behind. In fact, our biggest challenge has been to filter through all of our BIGG ideas about this subject! Listen to this post! Click a player to hear George & Mary-Lynn on The BIGG Success Show Podcast. (Duration 5:00) iPhone/iPad/Adroid/Mobile Podcast Player The first Blog Action Day was in 2007. BIGG Success wasn’t around when they did it so we first participated in 2008. The theme that year was poverty. Collaboration across continents We bring this up because we talked about collaboration across continents that year. It was about a group of farmers in Ohio working with a group of farmers in Kenya to end poverty in a village of 5,000 people. The power of we! This amazing feat was started by the vision of one man – the minister in the village in Kenya. He didn’t want his people to be dependent on outsiders supplying food and other essentials. Now we want to share two stories: The Women Roofers The Women Roofers are professional women – in the Rutherford County, North Carolina area – who voluntarily ban together to help people who can’t help themselves. The power of we! When a recent widow with no money found herself with a leaky roof, she made one phone call. The Women Roofers showed up in days, according to a story on CBS News. Nell Bovender is the driving force behind the group. She arranges for donations of supplies and organizes the volunteers, who – in most cases – have never hammered a nail in a single shingle. That doesn’t slow this group of BIGG goal-getters down one bit! They saw a problem and they’re fixing it one rooftop at a time. Code for America Code for America is also known as “The PeaceCorps for Geeks”. Tech stars take a year off to work here in the States, helping government use technology to solve persistent problems. Founded by Jennifer Pahlka, this group built an app for the city of Boston that made a game out of keeping fire hydrants clear of snow. Citizens adopted a fire hydrant. They could name it. They could paint it. But they had to shovel the snow away from it or risk losing their beloved hydrant. It went viral – Honolulu now uses it to make sure their tsunami sirens have good batteries in them. Seattle uses it for storm sewers. In total, nine cities are using this app today. They can do it faster and cheaper than government. In Jennifer’s TED talk, she offered another example – software to help parents decide which public school was best for their kid. Through normal channels, this would have taken two years and $2 million dollars. Three people from Code for America only required two-and-a-half months. The power of we! The power of we begins with me! But we haven’t told you the rest of the story. Jennifer closes her TED talk by saying we need to lend more than a voice. We need to lend a hand. The power of we begins with me! To fully capitalize on the tremendous power of collective action, we must all take individual responsibility. We can’t look at a situation and just complain. We have to be willing to take action as well. We can’t wait for someone else. We have to be the one. In all the stories we shared here, there was one individual who inspired other individuals. The power of we begins with me! You can’t take on the problems of the world. But you can take on a problem in your corner of it. That’s BIGG success! What are your experiences with the power of we? Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00832-101512.mp3

Where do great ideas come from? The answer may surprise you. Listen to this post! Click a player to hear George & Mary-Lynn on The BIGG Success Show Podcast (Duration 3:00). iPhone/iPad/Android/Mobile Podcast Player Hunting for a BIGG idea When George De Meshdrahl returned home from a two-week hunting trip, he noticed a cocklebur attached to his dog. An engineer by trade, he was curious about why this object could attach itself so easily. So he examined it under a microscope and discovered tiny hooks which would catch anything with a loop like clothing and fur. He replicated nature to create the product we know as Velcro. A BIGG idea at play Ruth Handler’s daughter was playing with her friends. Ruth noticed that they liked playing with adult dolls more than baby dolls. Ruth realized the adult dolls let the girls play out what their lives might be like in the future. So she created a 3D model to make the doll as lifelike as possible. Ruth’s daughter, Barbara, loved the doll which Ruth named after her. Over a billion Barbie dolls have been sold since. What can we learn from these two BIGG innovators? 3 tips for finding your BIGG idea Be curious As a kid, you were curious about everything. As adults, we tend to squelch our curiosity. Redevelop your sense of wonder. Ask and ask. Why? Why? Keep your eyes wide open BIGG ideas don’t come stamped with “Hey, look at me” on them. They are subtle. They lurk behind everyday events. So act like a great detective and fully observe the scene around you. Don’t shut down Like a lot of BIGG ideas, neither Velcro nor Barbie were discovered at work. Your greatest inspiration will likely come during downtime. So be alert for possible opportunities ALL the time. Let work and play walk hand-in-hand for your BIGG success! How did you discover your BIGG idea? Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00831-101112.mp3 Image in this post from stock.xchng

You often hear people say that the race for BIGG success as an entrepreneur is a marathon. We think they’re wrong. In fact, we don’t think it’s a race at all. You don’t run one race – you run races. Plural. Listen to this post! Click a player to hear George & Mary-Lynn on the BIGG Success Show podcast. (Duration 5:00) iPhone/iPad/Mobile Podcast Player A series of sprints And they’re not marathons, they’re sprints. You reach BIGG success as an entrepreneur by running a series of sprints. You sprint every day. You strive to get to the finish line in the fastest time possible. Only then – unlike a sprinter who has just completed a race in the athletic world – you line up for another one! Sure, you may take a short break between races, but you’re driven. You have more work you love to do. So you keep pushing day after day, from one sprint to another. A money management principle applied to time management Now there’s a reason why we think making this distinction – between a marathon and a series of sprints – is important. It has to do with conditioning. Don’t train for a slow, steady, long race. Prepare yourself for fast, hard-charging bursts! So rather than run – run – run – rest, think run – rest – run – rest. This is a concept we can apply from money management to time management. It’s called duration matching. When dealing with money, you want to match the duration of your debt to the expected life of the asset that debt is financing. Do something similar with your time. If you’re not running a marathon, if you’re in a series of sprints, take frequent, short breaks rather than longer ones. Get away from your work every hour or two. An important part of rest But just as important as when you rest is how you rest. The BIGG idea behind BIGG success is synergy. The right rest at the right time ramps up your running ability. So while you get the rest you need, you don’t give up anything for it. In fact, quite the opposite – you get even more done. If you’re a long-time reader, you know we believe in life blend. And this run – rest concept is part of that. You need variety. It’s up to you what it is, but it’s a custom blend. If it works for you, it works! For example: We often take quick breaks where stand up, stretch our legs and clue each other in to what we’re working on. One of us may have an idea the other hadn’t thought about. We often find that when we step away from my desk for just a minute or two – to grab a cup of coffee, walk around or get outside – it often helps us get unstuck. Another thing we’re fitting into the blend is to make sure we exercise. It doesn’t mean the brain shuts off. It just means we work the body too. But sometimes shutting the brain off is just the thing. Research published in Psychological Science suggests that mindless tasks which allow your thoughts to roam can be springboards for creative thinking. Participants in the study were presented with a creative challenge. Immediately after, the first group performed an intellectually demanding task while a second group did an undemanding one. The researchers concluded that doing a mindless task allows your brain to wander more. So next time you get stuck – mop the floor, file away some papers or clean off your desk. Take frequent, short rest breaks so you can keep sprinting to BIGG success! What do you think? Is the race for success a marathon or a series of sprints? How often do you rest? Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00830-100512.mp3 Image in this post from stock.xchng

Where do the best business opportunities come from? Think about how Don Fisher found his. Listen to this post! Click a player to hear George & Mary-Lynn on The BIGG Success Show Podcast. (Duration 3:38) iPhone/iPad/Mobile Podcast Player He was a typical 41-year old guy. He’d had some career successes and some failures. But shopping changed his life. He bought some jeans. But they didn’t fit. So his wife, Doris, went on a mission – find a pair of jeans for Don. She went to several stores. All she found was limited assortments and nothing in Don’s size. Plus, the mess! They weren’t displayed nicely or set up to be easy to find what you were looking for. As Don and Doris discussed it, they realized they had stumbled upon a great small business idea: They would open a store which stocked all sizes, styles and colors of Levi’s. It was the beginning of The Gap. Their net worth climbed to $3 billion as they built their empire into over 3,000 stores serving over 134,000 customers in over 90 countries. What can we all learn from the Fishers? Opportunity is subtle It often comes inadvertently, when you aren’t really looking. So stay alert all the time, even when you’re shopping. And realize that your great small business idea may not come from a single experience. It’s more likely to present itself in a series. As ideas float, concepts emerge. You have to connect the dots. Innovation can be low tech Yes, you need to bring something unique to the market. But don’t think that means you have to invent something or that innovation is only in the realm of the techie entrepreneurs. As the Fishers demonstrate, it may be as simple as offering a broader assortment. This is the real opportunity for small businesses. Large companies are often shallow and narrow in their offerings. For example, a big-box store may only stock the fastest selling items. You may find your opportunity by offering a complete assortment in a given niche. Then you can expand out from there once you get traction. Look for gaps We couldn’t resist! But seriously, this is a great way to find your best business opportunity. Look for gaps between what you want and what’s available. When you find one, chances are you’re not the only one looking for it. You may be staring your BIGG opportunity in the face. You’ve discovered an unserved or under-served market. And that’s where you’ll find BIGG success! How did you find your BIGG idea? Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00829-092712.mp3 Image in this post from stock.xchng