Tag Archive: humor

From Twitter to Star Trek – Out of this World Communication

Astro_Mike tweet.jpgYou can read our post here, but you might find it more fun to listen to today’s show. Just click on the arrow below to listen.

Mike Massimino, aka Astro_Mike, one of the astronauts on a mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, sent the social media world abuzz and made history with the first tweet from outer space.

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Hundreds of thousands of people were part of the conversation through the power of technology. Isn’t it cool that distance is no longer a barrier to communication?

This tweet came just days after the new Star Trek movie hit the theaters. So we decided to look there for examples of out of this world communication.

Miss(ed) communication

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georgeBefore we get into quotes from Star Trek, I’ve heard from several female friends that a guy on a first date should never say, “My hero is Captain James Kirk.”

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marylynn
And don’t to a Trekkie convention for your first date either! That’s not very romantic.

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georgeI think it highlights that, whether in romance or not, when you’re communicating with someone for the first time, it’s good to listen. It’s not all about you.

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marylynnTry to discover your mutual interests instead of just talking about yourself. Of course, if you do happen to be talking with a bigg fan of Star Trek, then “engage” as Captain Jean-Luc Picard would say.

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georgeThe Next Generation was my favorite of the series. I loved Picard’s leadership style and the dynamic he had with the crew, particularly #1, Commander Will T. Riker.

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“Make it so” to move to action

Another famous Picard saying. The crew would discuss the issue at hand. Picard was great at listening to the input of his team. Finally, he would say “make it so” and the discussion would end.

As the leader, you reach a point where you have to make a decision and communicate it so you and your team can get on with implementing it.

“I concur” to shorten meetings

From the Where Silence has Lease episode, Picard gives a command to abort autodestruct. The computer asks Riker if he concurs. Riker responds, “Yes, absolutely, I do indeed concur wholeheartedly!” Picard responds that a “simple ‘yes’ would have sufficed.”

This made us think of meetings. One person says something. The next person agrees with what was just said. However, they repeat everything – perhaps in different words. Nothing is added to the conversation.

It’s an important communication because it shows that there is a consensus. But instead of going on and on about the same thing, ask your team to simply say “I concur”.

Even a simple “yes” will suffice! You’ll find your meetings will be much more productive.

“Never lose you. Never.”

This quote is from The Naked Time, an episode in the original series, Captain Kirk utters these words in a room by himself.

While we may be stretching his meaning here a bit, it made us think about the most important communication of all: self-communication. You have to find a way within yourself to stay true to yourself and encourage yourself so you can keep pushing on.

All motivation is self-motivation.

Oh, but don’t forget one important rule about this one – don’t do it out loud if there are people around!

The new movie

We liked Christopher Pike’s line to Kirk:

“You've always had a hard time finding your place in this world, haven't you? Never knowing your true worth. You can settle for less in ordinary life, or do you feel like you were meant for something better? Something special."

We have a friend who says, “Do you want me to tell you what you want to hear or what you need to hear? Because I’m happy to do this either way.”

It’s not always easy to listen to what we need to hear. However, sometimes the best communication isn’t what we want to hear.

This quote from Star Trek also emphasizes that – when criticism is required – we should be constructive and move as quickly as we can to encouragement. Veer to the positive so you build up the person with whom you’re talking.

We couldn’t leave out the tribbles!

One of the most famous Star Trek episodes is The Trouble with Tribbles from the original series. Scotty explains how he finally got rid of the little creatures:

“Just before they went into warp, I beamed the whole kit and kaboodle into their engine room, where they'll be no tribble at all."

Nobody knows the tribble we’ve seen!

It’s good to inject humor into almost any conversation. Word plays are often a great source of humor. See how many ways you can use the same word or phrase to keep the laughs going!

Communication brings us, and keeps us, together. Improving communication skills is a key to being a bigg success in any world. Live long and prosper!

Do you have a favorite out of this world communication?

Please share it with us by leaving a comment below, calling us at 888.455.BIGG (2444) or sending us an e-mail at bigginfo@biggsuccess.com.

Thanks for letting us into your world today!

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Please join us next time when we take ourselves out to the ball game. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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(Image in today's post from Astro_Mike)

The Dirty Truth About Being an Entrepreneur

tpentrepreneur We were joined today by Mike Michalowicz. Mike is a serial entrepreneur and author of the just released book, The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. He has been featured in Inc. magazine, The New York Times, and is a frequent guest on one of our favorite television shows, The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch.

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icon for podpress  Hear George & Mary-Lynn talk with Mike on The Bigg Success Show! Just click the purple play button: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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marylynn
The first thing we have to ask is … what the heck is a “toilet paper entrepreneur”?

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mikeA toilet paper entrepreneur sheds insight on what entrepreneurialism is all about. What a lot of us read in Inc., Fortune Small Business, and Fast Company is what Google, Facebook, and YouTube did. They’re overnight successes. The dirty truth is that “overnight success” is ten to fifteen years of hard work for most entrepreneurs. Just like with entrepreneurship, there’s the stuff that happens in the bathroom that no one talks about. So the title came from an experience we’ve all had. We’re in the restroom and we’ve done what we came to do. We look over and, sure enough, there’s only three sheets dangling there. It’s in that moment where true entrepreneurialism kicks in. We do the incredible – we grab the toilet seat like a pommel horse, stretch the foot out, hook the garbage can, root through it and find three sheets and the torn up cardboard roll. With that, we’re able to complete the job!

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georgeMaybe Sheryl Crow is the quintessential Toilet Paper Entrepreneur because she can get by with one sheet! Seriously, that’s a great analogy – entrepreneurs find a way to get the job done, no matter what.

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mike
No matter what. A true entrepreneur will dig deep and use things no one would ever consider.

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marylynnDon’t you think that the Facebook guys and the Google guys did that at some point? We often hear that some of these overnight successes are created in a garage. They do the same thing too, don’t they?

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mikeThey do in the sense that that’s how they all started. The only difference is Google received funding within a year. That’s what I call the “full roll” of cash. Most entrepreneurs don’t ever receive funding. There’s a path when you don’t get that money; there’s other ways of doing it, sometimes just as quickly.

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marylynn
In your book, you say that sometimes money is actually a detriment to entrepreneurs.

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mikeI totally believe that money is a detriment. Money amplifies the habits we have. In my own life experience, I was 25 the first time I received a good chunk of change – a $250,000 investment. I bought nice furniture. I hired employees. I got a good car to impress people on sales calls. I wasted the money. When I didn’t have the money, I learned how to leverage it appropriately. Then as the business grew, and more money came in, I was able to use it as a vehicle for growth.

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george
Another thing that I found interesting is that you’re not a bigg believer in business plans.

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mikeI’m the antithesis of it. I just received some hate mail from a university professor saying that he couldn’t believe I said that.

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georgeHey, today was my business plan lecture by the way! I’m kidding – we actually don’t talk about business plans in my class.

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mikeIn my experience, business plans are wonderful dust collectors. If someone can project their own financials four or five years out, they should invest in stocks because, if you could do that only ninety days out, you could become a millionaire overnight.

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georgeI’m not an advocate of “ready, fire”; you do need to “ready, aim, fire”. But at the same time, it’s amazing how many times someone writes a full-fledged business plan and then, within a few months, they end up in a completely different business. And that business takes them to their success.

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mikeYes. So I think, in the early stages of a business, you have to be very cognizant of everything that’s going on, watch the consumers’ behavior, and then flow with the river and adjust the business, sometimes 180 degrees, to match what they want to buy.

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george
I thought you were going to say “flow with the toilet”!

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marylynnSince we’re back to toilet humor, tell us about one of the crappiest resources you used when you had nothing.

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mikeHere’s one little trick I’ve used – the most expensive cost, besides rent and your employees, is professional services … your attorneys, accountants and so forth. I go to the local colleges. They have CPAs and attorneys working there that are now professors. They are more than willing to give free advice and work up the documents with you. Sometimes the exchange is simply being a case study for their class. It saves me thousands and thousands of dollars. I still use it today.

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You can get a free chapter of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur on Mike’s site. It’s a great book that we highly recommend to you. You’ll find it to be great bathroom reading!

Thanks, Mike, for sharing your time and wisdom with us. We wish you bigg success with this wonderful book.

Next time, we’ll talk about lovin’, touchin, and squeezin’. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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