Today on The BIGG Success Show, we continued our conversation with THE expert on Extreme Leadership, Steve Farber.

We’re talking about Steve’s latest book, The Radical Leap Re-Energized. Last time, Steve shared the definition of extreme leadership.

Listen to today’s show to discover:

Click a player to hear Steve talk with George & Mary-Lynn on The BIGG Success Show Podcast.


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• why leadership is an extreme sport
  
• what makes leaders step up
  
• why “change the world” has become a cliche
  
• how to embrace the fear and anticipation to create change
  
• how to begin effecting change in an family, organization, or community

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00770_011212.mp3

How do you know you’re ready to start a business?

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For me, I just couldn’t stand working for anyone else. I had to be my own boss. It consumed me. I knew I wasn’t going to be happy until I tried it on my own.

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For me, it was because I thought it was the best way for me to grow professionally. My industry wasn’t offering a lot of opportunities at the time. Starting BIGG Success allowed me to expand my skills.

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Listen to this post! Click a player to hear George & Mary-Lynn on The BIGG Success Show Podcast.


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Maybe you have an idea for a business. Maybe you don’t.

No matter what, something is driving you to want to start your own business.

Be happy about that something. Let it guide you.

Because it will take you to the key to success in your own small business. What is the key? You must get started.

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It sounds so simple, but it is so true. What I call my first real at-risk business was a Ben Franklin franchise. It wasn’t a particularly good business. But it got me started. If I knew then what I know now, I never would have started it. But I’m so glad I did because it has led me to everything else, including BIGG Success.

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When we started BIGG Success, we certainly didn’t have it all worked out. In fact, I’m amazed now at how little we did have worked out. Everyone in our business was still finding the models of success. But we started anyway and I’m so glad we did because it has led to opportunities I might not have seen otherwise.

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So what’s keeping you from getting started? Let’s talk about five common reasons and see if any of them resonate with you.

It doesn’t have to be all or nothing

You don’t have to quit your job and go full-time. You don’t have to ignore all other sources of income. For example, you could work part-time and spend the rest of your time on your new business.

It will never be perfect

The planning process is incredibly important. However, don’t think you need a perfect business plan.

If you need to raise money, you’ll need a more detailed plan. But once you have a sense of the market, a decent strategy and some tactics to execute upon it, get going.

The timing will never be perfect either. There will always be a reason not to start:

We’re in a recession. We’re in a boom. We’re in between. Great businesses have been started in all economic climates.

You will never know everything

So don’t try. It will only lead to analysis paralysis.

There will always be more to learn. You can’t predict the future.

So don’t pretend you can. Get started once you have a reasonable understanding of your customers, your business, and your industry.

Some of what you know may be wrong

On this one, we can only say that you’re right. But that’s why it’s so important to get started.

Most of what you need to know can only be learned after you launch.

Fear

Fear of standing out. Fear of success. Fear of being different. Fear of embarrassment. Fear of the unknown. Fear of failure.

How can you overcome these fears?

Ask a question, “What’s the worse than can happen?”

Entrepreneurs are excellent risk managers. So start practicing your entrepreneurial skills right now.

Focus on reducing the worst case scenario. When it reaches the point where you can live with it, you’re ready to start.

For example, can you start part-time? Or could you do it on a smaller scale initially?

There are a number of ways to get the risk down to an acceptable level.

There’s one more fear that we should talk about before we go. It’s a fear that drives entrepreneurs. It’s the fear of not trying.

When your fear of not trying overcomes your fear of failure, you’re ready to start. You’re ready for BIGG success!

Are you having trouble getting started? Maybe we can help.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00741-100511.mp3

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BIGG success is life on your own terms. You’re the entrepreneur of your life.

You may or may not be an entrepreneur in the traditional sense of the word. But you do own your life.

Hear George & Mary-Lynn discuss today’s post on The BIGG Success Show podast. Click a player below to listen while you read.

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Destination BIGG success

BIGG success is a destination. You create a vision of the life you want. Then you start driving to it.

Hour by hour…

Day by day…

Week by week…

Month by month…

Quarter by quarter…

Year by year…

…you strive for BIGG success. More specifically, you push to get to the next milestone.

The ups and downs of BIGG success

But it can be challenging to get from where you are to where you want to be.

Frustration.

Stress.

Doubt.

Fear.

Joy.

Faith.

Confidence.

Success!

They’re all part of the journey.

The ups are easy. You can do no wrong. You are invincible. The world is your oyster.

The down times? Well, the only easy thing is quitting.

The high cost of quitting

Yet quitting isn’t easy. Because you have to live with it for the rest of your life.

You will always wonder what might have been. You can’t bear the thought.

It’s the reason you are an entrepreneur. Failure was acceptable. Not trying – well, just the thought of not going for it caused that feeling in the pit of your stomach.

Yes, it was scary. Yes, people said you wouldn’t make it.

But you didn’t care. You had to go. You had to try. You could feel in the depths of your soul that you were put on this earth to do something special. And by gosh, you were going to do it.

So you did.

But today sucked. Again.

You feel like you’ve been hit by a truck. You’re exhausted. You’re discouraged.

And it would be so easy to give up.

But you know you won’t. Because you’re a BIGG goal-getter. So you have to see this thing through. Because it’s what you were meant to do.

The victory is in the challlenge

And then you realize something important…you already are a BIGG success.

You can’t control the result. You can only control the activity.

And today – just like yesterday and every day before – you gave it everything you had. So you’re a BIGG success.

Because, as George Moriarty said, “Who can ask more a man than giving all within his span? Giving all, it seems to me, is not so far from victory.”

Then it hits you – the victory is in the challenge!

BIGG success is a journey

Sure, BIGG success is a destination. But it’s also a journey.

And every single day, you’re learning new things and developing new skills. It’s growth – one of the five elements of BIGG success along with money, time, work and play.

Money and time are your two resources; work and play your two opportunities. Growth bridges the chasm.

Growth starts as an opportunity. You’re capitalizing on it. You’re growing.

By growing – by gaining new knowledge and insight, by adding skills and experience – you’re developing the skills to get past ANY problem you face.

Growth is becoming a resource. By discovering how to overcome any problem, you’re also learning how to triumph over EVERY problem you will ever face.

Yes, you WERE a BIGG success today. And Destination BIGG success is just around the corner!

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00710-062111.mp3

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Every once in a while, a commencement address really stands out to us. We pointed out J.K. Rowling’s wonderful speech to Harvard graduates in 2008.

This year, Tom Hanks address to Yale grads caught our ear. He talked about fear and faith. The context led up to a call to action – to help our returning troops as they transition from soldier back to citizen.

But the message is ripe with timely advice for all of us. We can’t say it any better. Here is Tom Hanks in his own words:

Fear

“…fear is a powerful physiological force in 2011. We here, up in the stands and surrounding you graduating class, look to you as we do every year, hoping you will now somehow, through your labors, free us from what we have come to fear. And we have come to fear many things.”

“Fear has become the commodity that sells as certainly as sex. Fear is cheap. Fear is easy. Fear gets attention. Fear is spread as fast as gossip and is just as glamorous, juicy and profitable. Fear twists facts into fictions that become indistinguishable from ignorance. Fear is a profit-churning go-to with a whole market being your whole family.”

Fear vs. Faith

He quoted John Paul Jones, ‘If fear is cultivated, it will become stronger. If faith is cultivated, it will achieve mastery.’

He added, “…I take that fear to be fear in the large scale. Fear itself – intimidating and constant. And I take faith to be what we hold in ourselves, our American ideal of self-determination.”

Fear is whispered in our ears and shouted in our faces. Faith must be fostered by the man or woman you see every day in the mirror. The former forever snaps at our heels and our synapses and delays our course. The latter can spur our boot heels to be wandering, stimulate our creativity and drive us forward.”

“Fear or faith. Which will be our master?” he asked.

Your choice

He continued, “Your rising from bed every morning will give fear its chance to grow stronger just as it will afford faith its chance to blossom. You will make the choice to react to one or create the other.”

He concluded, “Your work begins – work that will not be always joyful to you, labor that may not always fulfill you and days that will seem like one damn thing after another.

It’s true – you will now work every day for the rest of your lives, that full time job. Your career…is to stand on the fulcrum between fear and faith. Fear at your back, faith in front of you.

Which way will you lean? Which way will you move?

Move forward. Move ever forward.”

Image in this post from dlnny

What would you do if you positively knew you would not fail?

Our last post was directed to people who would choose a career change. In this post, we’ll focus on people who would not change careers.

As a BIGG goal-getter, you may be satisfied with your work but you want to take it to the next level.

Let’s “reverse entrepreneur” this process. Ask yourself: Why aren’t you at the next level already?

It may be that you don’t want it badly enough. It may be that you’re not willing to pay the price to reach it. But for BIGG goal-getters, it generally comes down to one of three things:

What you know

You may feel like you need some education. It may be formal education or, more likely, it is some sort of certification or continuing education within your industry. What’s holding you back? Go and get it. Remember the hardest part is getting started.

Who you know

You may not know a “critical somebody” who can help you get to the next level. Here’s the good news: chances are someone you already know can connect you with them. Just let the people in your network know who you want to meet. Don’t be afraid to ask them to help.

Fear

In many cases, there’s a mental block. You’re scared – scared to take a risk, scared of failing, scared of being embarrassed. Deep down, you may even be afraid of “outsucceeding” your friends. This is often the real source of the mental block.

Now here’s how you get to the next level:

Step 1 – Determine the source from the list above

Do an honest assessment. Talk to people close to you. Reach out to trusted advisors. Do some real soul-searching.

It may be a combination of the two or even all three of the above items. The key is to identify all the things that are holding you back. Then you’re ready for the next step.

Step 2 – Write down your goal

Get it out of your head. Write it down and post it in a place where you will see it every day. Read it out loud in the morning. Repeat this again right before you go to bed.

Find pictures that represent what reaching this goal will mean to you. Post these pictures where you will see them frequently. This step helps you make the intangible goal more tangible by making it visual. The repetition helps seal it in your brain.

Step 3 – Set milestones

Now that you have your BIGG goal, create the stepping stones. Write down the steps you will take to reach your goal. Be sure to include a due date for each step.

Pick out a reward for reaching each milestone. You may even make each reward progressively bigger as you get closer to your ultimate goal. Put up pictures of your reward with the due date so you keep it ever present in your mind.

You may also use a calendar. Put a number on each day to represent how long you have until the due date for your next milestone. Make an “x” as each day passes to help you keep your sense of urgency.

Step 4 – GO!

Nothing happens until you take action. So GO…BIGG success is waiting for you!

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