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We’re moving ahead quickly, but don’t be alarmed if you’re not quite ready to move on just yet. You’re going through a grieving process so it will take some time. Be aware of it, but also look forward to that time in the near future when you start feeling your zest return. If it doesn’t return relatively quickly, you may consider speaking with a professional.

During this time, it’s important to maintain a proper attitude. One of the best ways to do this is by associating with positive people. It’s also helpful to talk with people who have gone through this before. Ask for their advice. Almost everyone really likes to help other people. They can encourage you with their story.

Next, assess your financial situation. Ask yourself how aggressive you need to be in your job search. Map out a timeline. Think about phases.

For example, in Phase 1, you may be able to be very choosy in your job search. Phase 2 may mean you need to find a job soon so you’ll be less selective. In Phase 3, you may freelance or work part-time to get some money in the door. You may find a job in the first phase, but you’ll be prepared in case you don’t. 

Also plan how you will market yourself. Think about what makes you unique? How can you communicate that? What opportunities play to your core strengths?

Obviously, you’ll also need to update your resume if you haven’t already. We found a great site for help with resumes, cover letters, job search and interviewing tips. Check out Resume Help.

Begin to think about how you will explain your recent departure. Practice interviewing with a friend, preferably someone who is a manager who interviews people. Get feedback.

One of the most important things to get on your to-do list is networking. It’s amazing how many people land a new job through a referral. Resist the urge to go into self-imposed isolation. Reach out to everyone you know who might be able to help you. Tell them what you’re looking for.

Have you registered on Meetup to find out about local events of interest to you? Are you on LinkedIn? What about Facebook? Have you joined any social networking groups for your industry? The contacts you make through these sites will be invaluable now.

The good news is that most people who go through this report that they are happier in their new job than they were in their old job. It may take some time, but you’ll land on your feet!

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Thank you so much for stopping by today. Join us next time when we discuss scheduling time to decompress. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00334-021909.mp3

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The example

Now we want to look at an example. Let’s say that you make $100,000 a year. You invest 2,500 hours a year – 50 hours a week for 50 weeks – to earn that money. We immediately see that you’re making $40 an hour.

We’ll simplify the 4-step process we discussed last time. Let’s say that you found that 20 percent of your activities generate 80 percent of your income. The old 80/20 rule. We’ll call these your highest-value activities.

So while you earn $40 an hour from your entire portfolio of activities, you’re actually making $160 an hour from your highest-value activities.

Also assume that further analysis showed that you aren’t making any money from 20 percent of your tasks. These are your lowest-value activities, which are really weighing down the overall return on your invested time.

A bigg jump in income

Looking at the lowest-value activities, ask yourself if you can eliminate any of them. Let’s say you determine that all those activities are a complete waste of your time. Further assume that you could spend all of that time on your highest value activities. It’s unlikely that this would be the case, but it illustrates our point simply so let’s go with it.

Under our assumptions here, your income would increase 80 percent. You would make $180,000 instead of $100,000. Instead of making $40 an hour, you’re making $72 an hour. Sounds pretty good, huh?

But it’s really just making sure you’re allocating your time – your most precious resource – most effectively.

Make 55 percent more

The problem is it’s not realistic to think that 20 percent of your time is completely wasted. In fact, we bet you waste very little. A more realistic assumption is that you would have to pay someone to do some portion of these lowest-value activities. But you can afford it now!

In fact, we found that you could pay up to $160 an hour for those activities and still break-even. But we want to do better than break-even.

So we assumed you would pay $50 an hour on average for those activities. In that case, you would make 55% more even after paying someone!

Synergy

Now think about it, you’re paying someone $50 an hour and before you were only making $40 an hour. This is consistent with things we’ve seen in our own businesses as we focus on higher-value activities.

But here’s something else we’ve found – your highest value activities may our lowest value activities. This is where synergy comes in. By partnering with people and organizations around core strengths – we work together, with you doing what you do best while we do what we do best – everyone makes more money without investing more time.

The importance of testing

But what if you just don’t have the money to hire someone to do these things for you? It’s important to test. Just try investing a little more time on your highest value activity.

You may have to give up something – even a little downtime – while you’re doing this. See if you make more money. If you do, keep feeding that task. To do that, find ways to delegate those lower-value activities for you, even if it costs a little money.

Just like a venture capitalist, if you keep funding those activities that generate the highest return and you move away from things that don’t, you’ll make that bigg money you know you’re worth!

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Thank you so much for reading our post today. Until next time, here’s to your bigg success!

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Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
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(Image in today's post by bluegum) 

Virtual assistants are in bigg demand
Denise talked about the growing demand for virtual assistants, who work for you from their home. They work within your processes and system. If you don’t have processes set up, they’ll even help you do that.

A virtual assistant can help you with just about anything that doesn’t require them to be on site. Denise’s niche is serving online entrepreneurs. She lets you take care of the front end of the business by partnering with you and handling the back end.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Think about what you really need help doing. What’s causing your time seepage? By thinking about the minutiae that’s sapping your creativity and letting a virtual assistant take care of it, you’ll feel a sense of freedom and be able to move forward more quickly.

How affordable is a virtual assistant?
A virtual assistant is a contract employee. You don’t have to pay their taxes and Social Security. You also don’t have to pay for their office space or equipment.

Denise has a Rate Calculator on her blog. It allows you to calculate the difference between hiring someone in your office and hiring a virtual assistant. Denise says the savings are considerable.

Could you benefit from a virtual assistant?
Denise talked about her biggest client, who had a project she needed done within three weeks. This client had a concept and an announced date for completion. That was it!

In three weeks, Denise and her team helped her client produce a product. They created a CD, did the art for the CD, created audio, print work and art work. It was in her customer’s hands by the deadline!

As Denise says, “Most everybody these days could use a virtual assistant.”

Would you like to be a virtual assistant?
Denise is looking for people all of the time. If you have online experience and would like to earn some extra money, send Denise your resume to resumes@virtualassistantindustry.com.

Denise will review your resume. If that looks good, she’ll interview you. After that, she’ll assign you a project. If you perform well on that project, then she brings you on as a full virtual assistant.

So if you want to hire a virtual assistant or be a virtual assistant, check out Your Virtual Assistant!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

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People often get overwhelmed by all of the problems they face. They just don’t know where to start. To help with that, we recently discussed an ancient Chinese secret for solving all of your problems.  It’s a simple two-step process:

• Put all of your problems away into their own individual compartments.

• Pull one problem out at a time when you’re ready to deal with it.

It makes things more manageable when you’re not looking at all of your problems all at once. But many people don’t know what to do once they pull the problem out. It’s a timeless process, but we’ve put our own spin on it to make it easier to remember.

SOLVE IT: The 7-step problem-solving process

Statement
Origin
List
Verify
Eliminate

Implement
Test

Step 1 – Statement
State exactly what the problem is. Until you’ve defined your problem clearly, you can’t solve it!

Step 2 – Origin
Isolate the root cause of the problem. A lot of times, we stop at the symptoms of the problem. You have to find its point of origin or you won’t solve it!

Step 3 – List
Brainstorm for possible solutions. BRAINSTORM, don’t analyze. Get all of your ideas on paper so you can solve it!

Step 4 – Verify
Determine the pros and cons of each solution. You won’t know what’s best until you analyze it. Then you can solve it!

Step 5 – Eliminate
Get rid of all but the single best solution. You’ve done the research. Now go with what you believe is the best option so you can solve it!

Step 6 – Implement
Work your solution to make your solution work. You have to take action to solve it!

Step 7 – Test
You’ve established benchmarks so you know whether or not your solution is working. Check periodically against these benchmarks. Keep an eye on the problem to make sure that you solve it!

So the next time you have a problem – SOLVE IT! Isn’t that simple?

If you found this helpful, pass it on to your friends so they can SOLVE IT, too!

Our bigg quote today is by Voltaire, who said,

And that sustained thinking is most productive when you use an organized process. That’s how you can take any problem and SOLVE IT!

Next time, we’ll look at the fear that often holds people back from their dreams. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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Solve All Of Your Problems With This Ancient Chinese Secret 

(Image by badjonni, CC 2.0)

Today we’ll discuss how to tap into your hidden potential – that powerful force that lies within you. Find ways to bring it to the forefront and you’ll change your life, the life of those you love, and perhaps even the world!

A lot of us tap into our potential, but the real question is this:

Are you tapping into your FULL potential?

If you’re like most of us, you’ve just scratched the surface of what you can do. You want to be all that you can be.

The secret is to expose yourself to expose your potential.

We’re not talking about doing something that will get you arrested! We mean that you should expose yourself to the following four “P’s”:

#1 – Plan
Start with where you want to be. Some time ago, we discussed how to visualize the life you want. Develop a clear vision of your dream life. A vision so clear in your mind that you FEEL yourself living it, as if it were actually happening right now.

Then look at where you’re at now. Connect the dots – figure out how to get from where you are to where you want to be.

#2 – People
Spend your time with the right people – people who have already done what you want to do or people who are TRYING to do the same thing you are. The common denominator is common experiences.

We recently attended a seminar with a speaker who talked about this very thing. She pays to get coached by mentors who can help her get to the next level. They’ve been where she is; so they can help her get where they are now.

#3 – Programs
We’re talking about media, books, and other resources that are available to you. Of course, we like to think that Bigg Success is your most important source for great information and inspiration. Pat, who is a regular listener, said this:

“I listen to The Bigg Success Show every day on my way to work.
It gets my mojo going.”

Okay, enough shameless self-promotion. The point is there are a lot of great resources out there. One of our favorites is The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch. The only thing we don’t like about Donny’s show is that he spells “bigg” wrong!

#4 – Projects
Tackle a project you’ve never done before. Stretch yourself – get out of your comfort zone.

It may be a project at work. Or a volunteer project. You can always take up a hobby. Or sign up for a class. It may be completely new to you or you may do something where you learn new skills in your specialty.

Think back to your childhood. Was there an activity that used to fascinate you? Why not explore it again. You’ll find that it helps you personally and professionally. It will also help you learn more about your potential.

Our final thought is simply this – TAKE ACTION! Finding your potential is a process. Pick a “P” and go for it!

Subscribe to our show, our blog and/or our weekly newsletter – they’re all free!

What have you done to discover your potential? Leave us a comment!

Our Bigg Quote today is by Wilma Rudolph, the great athlete.

“Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence
of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion.
The potential for greatness lives within each of us.”

There is power in your unfulfilled dreams and desires. Only you can find that latent potential within you and do the great things you were born to do.

Next time, we’ll discuss the one ingredient that guarantees your success. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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Climbing The Stairway To Success