stephen covey | Bigg Success

Tag Archive: stephen covey

The Trap That Catches Most Entrepreneurs

Written on April 7, 2011 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Entrepreneurship

Many people start a small business to replace a lost job. Many people already in business say they’re just trying to “make a good living.”

If you adopt the same mindset, you’ll end up in the trap!

BIGG success is life on your own terms. It’s about designing and building the life that fits you perfectly. The focus is on making a life, not just a living.

If you don’t think that BIGG, you fall into the trap: Your days are so full of “busy-ness” that you don’t have time to develop the business.

You can’t get out of the trap. You work for the business but the business doesn’t work for you.

Listen to this post, click the player to hear George & Mary-Lynn on The BIGG Success Show podcast.

Standard Podcast [3:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

iPhone/iPad Podcast Player

How do you avoid the trap?

Don’t sell products or services. Promote a brand instead.

However, promoting a brand isn’t enough. Develop your business.

Even developing your business isn’t enough. Focus on building a life.

To make a life, not just a living, from your business:

You must have an exit plan.

Your exit plan is your compass. It sets your direction. It’s the end you must have in mind at the beginning, according to Stephen Covey.

Yet most entrepreneurs we talk with never think about their exit plan. They object – they say they don’t ever plan to exit their business. Fine – but a business is a very illiquid asset. You need a plan for liquidity.

Select strategies that move you closer to your exit.

Strategic planning is mostly about eliminating options. Get everything that doesn’t move you toward your end goal off the table.

Once you do that, you’ll only be looking at strategies that work for you. You want to select the one that you think will get you to your exit in the shortest amount of time possible.

Be prepared to adapt or abandon.

Your strategy may not work. It may need to be tweaked. Or you may find it’s just wrong. You need to abandon it and try another one.

You never know what will happen when your idea hits the market. However, proactively pursuing an exit while reacting to market information quickly and decisively leads to BIGG success!

Do you want to make a life, not just a living? E-mail us at bigginfo@biggsuccess.com or leave a voice message at 888.455.2444. Maybe we can help you.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00687-040711.mp3

Image in this post from mrktwain

Tags: audioblog, bigg success, exit plan, george krueger, job, life, living, mary-lynn foster, stephen covey, strategic planning, the bigg success show

0 Comments

Think Like an Entrepreneur

Written on July 28, 2009 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Entrepreneurship

chess “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” ~ Ancient Proverb.

“Begin with the end in mind. Then put first things first.” Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

___

Hear George & Mary-Lynn discuss today's topic on The Bigg Success Show! Click the purple player to listen while you read: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

___

In business school, we’re taught to define our goals, given our available resources, and then find the critical path to reach them. This is called causal or predictive reasoning, according to Saras Sarasvathy.

She teaches entrepreneurship at the University of Virginia and is the author of Effectuation: Elements of Entrepreneurial Expertise and recently released an updated version of this book in paperback.

She says that successful entrepreneurs don’t think like MBAs [PDF]. In fact, they do the opposite. They use effectual reasoning. Entrepreneurs who reach bigg success use the resources available to them. They let goals manifest themselves over time given their creativity, direction and connections.

Entrepreneurs think differently than MBAs

There’s a great article over at the Harvard Business Publishing site about Dr. Sarasvathy’s research. It asks if MBAs or entrepreneurs are better suited for today’s business realities. Bill Taylor, the author, says it simply:

MBAs focus on the upside; entrepreneurs focus on the downside.

MBAs assume it’s a zero-sum game; entrepreneurs think win – win.

MBAs thrive on certainty; entrepreneurs thrive on uncertainty.

___

george I’m even more confused than usual. I just don’t know what to think since I sort of fit into both categories!

___

marylynn
Do you feel like you’re getting pulled in both directions at once, George?

___

george
I feel like I’m getting stretched like Stretch Armstrong!

___

marylynn Well, there is an answer. You just have to know when to use causal reasoning and when to think effectually.

___

We define bigg success as life on your own terms. You are the entrepreneur of an incredible enterprise – your life – whether or not you’re an entrepreneur in the traditional definition of the word.

That’s why we think this research is so fitting not just for business owners, but for everyone:

When things are uncertain, think like an entrepreneur.

It appears that, in the years ahead, we need to expect more of the unexpected. Entrepreneurs don’t bother trying to predict the future; they create it.

How do they do that?

They act and adapt.

They use the resources they have to try something. If it doesn’t work, they take the knowledge they gained and try something else.

If it does work, they keep pushing it. As their enterprise grows, when there is more at stake, they may switch to more causal reasoning. Or they may jump ship and start the whole thing over!

Because to many entrepreneurs, the journey is the reward. That mindset often leads to bigg success.

___

Would you like more tips and tools to live your life on your own terms? Subscribe to the Bigg Success Weekly – it’s FREE!

___

Thanks so much for reading our post today. Please join us next time as we discuss when the dream becomes a nightmare. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes.

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00447-072809.mp3

Shape Shifting Leads to Bigg Success

Becoming An Entrepreneurial Employee

(Image in today's post by GiniMiniGi)