We recently saw a great post by Bob Burg about Paul Allen’s book, Idea Man: A Memoir by the Cofounder of Microsoft.

As he often is, Bob was profound and elegant. He was impressed by the passion Paul Allen displayed in the book.


Hear George & Mary-Lynn talk about getting a vision for life on The BIGG Success Show podcast! Click the player to hear this post.


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BIGG success is life on your own terms. Bob says for Paul Allen, it was about the fulfillment of ideas.

A lot of people have a lot of ideas.

Guess what they do with them?

Absolutely nothing.

Some people execute upon an idea and it doesn’t work out as expected. Here’s the one thing you can expect when you act upon an idea:

It won’t go as expected.

It’s not the idea

But many people never stop to think about that. So when they run into the inevitable roadblock, they quit.

Paul Allen didn’t quit. He knew it was part of the journey. He had to see the outcome of his ideas.

It’s his definition of life on his own terms. What is life on your own terms for you?

Our term

You’re in control of a very special enterprise – your life. What will you do with it?

Our term is philanthropreneuring together.

We want to be able to continue being partners in life and business. That’s the together part.

And we want BIGG Success to be such a BIGG success that we can help worthy causes be a BIGG success.

That’s a lot of BIGG success!

But do you see what we did with our terms?

We made up a word – philanthropreneuring. Well, we weren’t the first to use the term philanthropreneur. But we didn’t know that when we came up with it.

You often see people limit themselves by the terms they use to describe themselves. Your terms should be empowering. Your terms should be rich – multi-layered words that invoke meaning for you.

A vision, not just an idea

When we think of philanthropreneuring together, we can see ourselves talking with people who we have helped.

We can picture customers who are thrilled with our cause and our work.

We can see us traveling together for both fun and work. We can feel the thrill of experiencing new cultures firsthand.

Notice the word choice in that last sentence. We said “feel” instead of see. Your terms should get all five of your senses going like crazy!

You might have a little trouble with taste and smell sometimes. But try to put yourself in the place right now mentally.

You know what you want. Get a clear picture of it in your mind. Then go for it and keep going until you get it. That’s BIGG success!

What does life on your own terms mean to you?

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
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Image in this post from makram

So if you don’t want to “jump on people like dogs”, here are four tips to keep in mind.

#1 – Don’t get too revved up.
It’s understandable that you’re excited about what you do. But they may not be as excited as you. At least not at this point. Look for cues. If they’re responsive to what you’re saying, then keep going. But if not, back off.

#2 – Don’t just pitch, pitch, pitch.
When you meet someone for the first time, get to know them. Start building a relationship. What are their interests? If you start the conversation by talking about them, you will almost certainly be invited to tell them what you do. When you are, keep it short. What’s your elevator speech?

#3 – Don’t go for an immediate sale.
Know what you want to accomplish, but keep it reasonable. It’s a step-by-step process. If you exchange business cards, and have a brief conversation, that may be a great start. Now you can follow-up and try to get to the next step.

#4 – Assume that now is a great time for them to talk to you in depth.
You don’t know what’s on their mind. What kind of day they’ve had. What kind of mood they’re in. Wouldn’t you rather talk to them about what your offer when they can give it the attention it deserves? Talk to them when they can give you 100% of their attention!

What internet marketers know about building relationships
Internet marketers ask us to “opt-in” … they get our permission to market to us by asking for our e-mail. You can do the same thing in person. Tease what you can do and then ask for permission to follow-up. If they say “No” … don’t sweat it. Someone else will say “Yes!” 

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Our bigg quote today is by Bob Burg:

So don’t jump on people like dogs because that dog won’t hunt!

Next time, we’ll discuss how to get in the loop to gain a competitive advantage. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes.

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(Image by clix)

Today, we were fortunate to have Bob Burg, one of the authors of The Go-Giver on The Bigg Success Show. Here are the highlights of the conversation:

Mary-Lynn: So Bob, your character Joe learns the 5 laws of stratospheric success. What are they?

Bob: #1 – Law of Value. Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.

Now that sounds counterproductive. How do you give more in value than you accept in payment and still prosper? We need to understand the difference between price and value. Price is a dollar figure; value is the relative worth to the end user.

For example – You hired an accountant to do your returns, and they charged you a fee of $500, but through their diligence, hard work, and knowledge, they were able to save you $2,000. They provided you $2,000 in value while charging you a $500 price. They made a profit, but you felt great about the transaction. That’s the kind of transaction that we want to have with our customers.

Mary-Lynn: Alright, #2.

Bob: #2 – Law of Compensation. Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.

Law #2 tell us that the greater the number of people we provide exceptional value to, the more money with which we’ll be rewarded. So Law #1 talks about the value; Law #2 talks about the reach.

Mary-Lynn: The word-of-mouth, right?

Bob: Exactly. And when you provide great value to people, you have all of these people who feel so good about you that you develop an army of, what I call, personal walking ambassadors.

George: What’s #3, Bob?

Bob: #3 – Law of Influence. Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people's interests first.

Now again, this sounds polyanna, at best, but it’s actually quite practical. Because all things being equal, people will do business with (and refer business to) people they know, like, and trust.

And as you guys know, there’s no faster, no more effective, no more powerful way to elicit those feelings toward you in others, than by finding ways to put the other’s person’s interests first. Always thinking – How can I add value to this person? How can I help this person in their life?

George: Boy, it seems like you see people do the opposite. They think – What can I get from this person, rather than what can I give them?

Bob: Well, and that’s why a lot of people are broke!

Mary-Lynn: Alright, Law #4.

Bob: #4 – Law of Authenticity. The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.

All the techniques and all the skills are all for naught, if you’re not authentic and if you don’t come across as authentic. However, when you are your true self, then what happens is it takes those skills, those techniques, and it multiplies them geometrically.

So please understand, skills are necessary, the knowledge is necessary, it’s all necessary, but without the authenticity, the power just isn’t there.

Mary-Lynn: Yeah, people are pretty smart. They can see a fake when one’s out there.

Bob: Exactly.

George: Bob, what’s the fifth law?

Bob: #5 – Law of Receptivity. The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.

Pindar, the mentor, says to Joe, “Joe, I want you to breathe out and don’t breathe in.” So Joe tries. After eight seconds – he’s gasping … ten seconds – gasping … twelve seconds … he cannot do it any longer.

He finally starts coughing, He says, “Pindar, I have to breathe in. I can’t just breathe out.”

Pindar says, “Well, Joe, what if I told you it’s been scientifically proven that it’s healthier to breathe out than it is to breathe in?”

“That’s crazy! You have to do both.”

You must breathe out, which is giving, and you must breathe in, which is receiving.”

George: Bob, it seems like sometimes we give and give, but we run into those people who do nothing but take. What’s the advice for that?

Bob: You know, you’re right. There are some people who have really mastered the art of giving, but haven’t mastered the art of receiving, which is one thing we really show you how to do in the book. We’ve had some nice feedback on that.

Regarding your excellent question, I think we have to be careful, because being a go-giver should never be confused with being a martyr or being self-sacrificial. We need to make sure we’re associating with, and attracting, the type of people into our lives who are go-givers themselves, or can learn to be go-givers.

Mary-Lynn: Thanks, Bob for visiting with us!

Get the book to see all that Joe learns about being a go-giver. Just to show you that Bob believes what he says … you can get a free chapter of The Go-Giver by visiting his site.

Our bigg quote today is by Taisen Deshimaru:

So give unselfishly and receive abundantly.

Next time, we’ll discuss 5 success factors. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

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