BIGG success is life on your own terms. So today on The BIGG Success Show, we had another installment of Terms from a Hat. The term we pulled out of the BIGG hat was “inkling”.

We recently talked about why you should pray to get laid off. So many people are so unhappy at their current job. Yet many of them have an inkling of how they would like to spend their days.

Do you? Do you have an inkling?

Maybe this will help – here are seven clues to finding your passion:

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1) What makes you feel alive?

Get in touch with your feelings. When you are most excited, what are you doing? That’s a clue to discover your passion.

2) What gives you energy? We tend to think that work consumes our energy. And a lot of it does.

But your life’s work will generate energy within you. Energy you didn’t know you had.

What does that for you? It’s a hint about the kind of work you should look for.

3) What brings you joy?

There are things you hate to do. C’mon, you can admit it.

There are things you do about which you are somewhat agnostic; you can take them or leave them. (Although you’d probably rather leave them.)

Finally, some things make you happy. What are they? It will give you a notion about your passion.

4) What do you look forward to doing?

Are there certain types of projects or tasks that you eagerly anticipate? Is there an annual event you eagerly anticipate? Is there a time of year you particularly long for? These may be clues to what you should do with your life at work.

5^th) What is your default?

When you’re not thinking about what to do next, what do you do next?

You probably naturally gravitate to certain kinds of activities. This may be a hint to how you spend your days.

6) What do others comment on when you do it?

What do you do that sparks a response from other people? They often feel the need to tell you how good you did, or how it helped them. It’s a great clue to find your passion.

7) What did you abandon?

What did you leave behind? Maybe a hobby you used to enjoy.

When you were younger, you had dreams. What were they? What did you never take up, never start? Maybe now’s the time.

But in any case, you may get your BIGG idea from thinking about these things.

Thinking about your inkling leads to BIGG success!

Do you have an inkling but don’t know what to do next?
Maybe we can help.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00773-012012.mp3

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Where do great business ideas come from? Yesterday, on The BIGG Success Show, we discussed three places to look for your business idea.

Today, we want to extend that discussion. A lot of people start by looking for the hottest business. It’s the wrong place to start.

Begin with you. BIGG success is life on your own terms.

Once you get in business, you’ll be much happier with one suited for you. Too many people end up stuck in a business they detest.

You think a job is bad?
Try going to work every day in a business you hate, doing a job you abhor, for people you can’t stand.

But wait!
It gets worse.
Because unlike a job, you can’t walk away. You have too much invested.

So begin by exploring your passions, preferences, and proficiencies. Of course, you can’t stop there.

Entrepreneuring is a matching process. You have to match your personality with a market opportunity.

So how do you find a market opportunity?

At first, it will sound so simple. So simple, in fact, that you may write this whole post off.

And you’re right. It is simple. But the execution isn’t easy.

Many people get the first one sometimes. Most people never get to the second part.

Look

You never know when or where it will happen – opportunity presents itself.

So look around. Watch the world in front of you. Observe.

What problem would you like solved?
What would you buy if only it were offered to you?
How could you improve what you already buy?

Listen

Don’t limit yourself to just your eyesight. Listen.

What problems do people around you have?
What don’t they have that they would like to have?
What experiences have they been dissatisfied with recently?

The wrong question

Too many people who want to get into business ask the wrong question.

The wrong question is: How can I make money?

Successful entrepreneurs ask: What problem can I solve?

Look and listen for problems that need to be solved. Then find a way to solve them profitably and you’ll have a business idea that leads to BIGG success!

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BIGG success is life on your own terms. You own your life.

You are the entrepreneur in charge. And sometimes you have to break the rules.

Today we’ll share four rules we are breaking in our pursuit of BIGG success. Conventional wisdom is often best ignored.

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


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The rule is that love and friendship don’t go together.

We broke this one. We were best friends before we started dating. And we’re proud to report that it’s working out well.

It’s kind of like Harry and Sally. And there are a lot of us in spite of the rule!

Don’t go into business with your spouse

If the business sours, so will the relationship. Besides, who can stand spending that much time with their spouse?

Us!

We love being in business together. Partly for the time we get to spend together. But also because we get to see each other grow in a way we couldn’t if we weren’t in business together.

However, this is one of the comments we get most often. A lot of people just don’t think they could ever work so closely with their spouse.

It’s a BIGG bonus to us.

Don’t make your passion your business

Of course, a lot of people say that you should do this. But there’s also a choir that sings about not turning your passion into a business.

The thought is that you may come to hate your passion and your business. You need a hobby and a business, so the thinking goes.

But we’re very happy combining the two.

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I love to write. I love learning new things. I love helping others learn, too. BIGG Success is my outlet for all those things. The thought that maybe something we say may make a BIGG difference in someone’s life drives me.

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And I love audio production. Creating a high quality production. Bringing all the elements together to make it fun to listen to in addition to helping people reach BIGG success on their own terms.

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Don’t mix business with pleasure

The rule is to keep your personal and professional worlds separate. We break this rule all the time.

We do business with friends. In fact, I prefer it that way. I think the social web is changing this rule for a lot of people.

When we travel – even if it’s just a day trip – we often carve out a little time for ourselves. For example, when we’re in Chicago, we’ll go for a walk along the shores of Lake Michigan.

There are more, but we’ll stop for now. The key thing is to remember this – no matter what anyone says, no matter what the rule is – if it works for you, it works.

That’s life on your own terms. That’s BIGG success!

What rules have you broken?

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00733-090711.mp3

We hear it all the time. Follow your passion.

Of course, before you can follow it, you have to find your passion.

Michael Martine (a.k.a. Remarkablogger) published a great guest post by Liz McGowen a while back.

She says you’ll be miserable if you follow your passion. If you turn your hobby into a business or even a career, you’ll come to hate all of them. You can’t combine work and play.

Liz also says you shouldn’t marry your best friend. Now we can debate the wisdom of following your passion, but we fiercely object to this nonsense about not marrying your best friend! It’s worked out very well for us.

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


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So should you do what you love?

An unequivocal yes.

BIGG success is life on your own terms. Pursuing your passion is an essential part of BIGG success.

But that’s not really the question. The question really is:

Should your passion be your career or business?

The answer is one of the best answers anyone can ever give:

It depends.

It depends on what type of person you are.

Full Tilt People

Full Tilt People have a passion that borders on obsession. A magnificent obsession.

And it’s not a bad thing. In fact, quite the opposite. It’s a BIGG plus.

Full Tilt People love what they do so much that it consumes them. They live, breathe, eat, and sleep it.

If you’re a Full Tilt Person, you should try to build a career or business around your passion.

Of course, there has to be a market for it. At an absolute minimum, you have to make a good living at it today while setting aside money for your future.

Seesaw People

Most people still relish some balance between their personal and professional lives. At any point in time, one side may be up while the other is down. But on average, they are pretty balanced.

If you’re a Seesaw Person, you shouldn’t mix career and hobby.

You can and should love what you do. But you should choose a career that gives you time to do what you love in your spare time.

We’re definitely full tilt people. It doesn’t mean we don’t play. It means we love our work so much that we’re almost always on.

BIGG success is life on your own terms. It’s about discovering yourself so you can design and build a life that fits you perfectly. If it works for you, it works. And it leads to BIGG success.

Are you a Full Tilt Person or a Seesaw Person?

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00730-082511.mp3

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It’s kind of funny in an ironic sense. Yet it is so very sad.

The biggest failure of all is silent.

You can experience this failure and never even realize it.

Day after day, same old same old.

The drudgery. A life of ho-hum.

Breathing, but not living.

Sure, you’re satisfied. But you’re not happy.

Because you choose to do nothing.

Doing nothing – the biggest failure of all.

You may argue with that last statement.

You didn’t choose to do nothing.

To some extent, you’re right.

You didn’t actively choose to do nothing.

It just happened.

But deep down inside, you know that you let it happen.

By not rocking the boat. By settling for the status quo.

By not sticking your neck out. By not trying.

By being so afraid of failure that failure is the only possible outcome.

By doing all these things passively, you actively choose to fail.

You will never know the potential within you.

You will never see the impact that you could have made.

You will never experience the elation of living your passion.

And we all suffer.

We’ll never know how great you could have been either.

BIGG success if life on your own terms.

Today, you can choose to exist or you can choose to live.

You can change careers.

You can start your own small business.

You can do anything you want to do.

You just have to choose to do something.

Sure, it’s scary.

Sure, it’s not easy.

Maybe we can help.

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