BIGG success is life on your own terms. It’s about entrepreneuring your life.

Even in times of great uncertainty, you can take control to build the life that fits you perfectly.

Your life is your enterprise. You are the entrepreneur in charge.

Whether or not you ever plan to be an entrepreneur in the traditional sense, you own your life.

People often wonder: What are the steps to building a successful life? Or a successful business?

There aren’t any. Entrepreneuring is circular, not a sequential.

The process involves 4 D’s:

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There’s a lot of discovery required to entrepreneur your life or start a business.

You have to discover who you really are:

• What are your passions?
  
• What are your likes and dislikes?
  
• What are your strengths?
  
• What are your weaknesses?
  
• What are your core values?
  

You have to discover where opportunity lies:

• Who needs what you can provide?
  
• When it comes to business, where are the customers who are being underserved or not served at all?
  
• In life, who are you uniquely suited to help?
  

Designing

This builds upon the passions, preferences, and proficiencies we discussed earlier. You’ll discover your purpose where the three of them intersect with opportunity.

It will help you determine your destination:

• Where do you want to go?
  
• How do you plan to get there?
  
• What milestones will you create to keep you on track?
  
• What activities are required?
  

Don’t get bogged down with the details. The main thing is to determine where you want to end up.

• What will your life look like?
  
• What will you do with your time and money?
  

Deciding

At some point, you have to stop thinking. Just kidding!

You have to stop planning. Stop analyzing. Stop considering options. You have to decide.

You’ll take all the options and pick one. Pick the strategy you believe is most likely to lead to BIGG success.

This sounds so simple, but it’s the place where a lot of people get bogged down. Because it’s hard. You’re eliminating options. You’re committing.

Doing

Now it’s time to go. Test out your strategy. But the part we’ve left out may be the most important…

As we said before, entrepreneuring isn’t sequential. This process is constantly looping.

When you start doing, you will simultaneously start discovering things you didn’t know before. You may loop back to designing or deciding.

That’s why you’ll note we put the “-ing” at the end of each word. They aren’t a one-time thing; it’s a never-ending process.

A never-ending process that leads to BIGG success!

Where are you in the 4D entrepreneurial process?

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

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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. 

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

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

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

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

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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.

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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!

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It cuts both ways

They likened it to a quilt. If the person in the patch next to you is unhappy, it increases the likelihood that you’ll also be happy by seven percent.

If the person next to you is happy, it increases the odds that you’ll be happy by fifteen percent. It’s interesting to note that we seem to have some resilience to unhappy people since happy people tend to rub off twice as often as unhappy people.

But the good news is that is doesn’t stop there. If the person who knows the person next to you (i.e. the person two patches away) is happy, the probability that you’ll also be happy increases ten percent. So happy people one step removed still increases the odds that you’ll be happy more than that unhappy person next to you!

In a quest to find out how happy we could be once we get to Kevin Bacon’s patch (six patches of separation) on the quilt, the researchers found that if the person three blocks away is happy, your chances of being happy increase six percent.
Happiness is contagious!

4 questions to discover if you spread happiness

To determine if someone was happy, the researchers asked four questions. During the past week, how often …

1. Did you enjoy life?

2. Were you happy?
3. Did you feel hopeful about the future?
4. Did you feel that you were just as good as other people?

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I feel blessed because I have positive responses to each and every one of these questions. I guess I’m a happy person.

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I think I’m a happy person as well. In fact, if I remember right, I was voted the “Happiest” person in high school! But when I look closely at these questions, it makes me think. Like the first question … I enjoy my life, but how often do I stop and recognize it?

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This study was released recently, but imagine how you might have responded if you were asked the third question at the height of the financial crisis. Uncertainty creates fear, but as these questions show, it’s important to remain optimistic in any environment. That’s where happy people come in – they’ll help you have a brighter outlook no matter what the situation!

There’s one more benefit to hanging out with happy people. The researchers reference a study done in 1984 that showed that having an extra $5,000 increased a person's chances of being happy by about two percent. Based on those results and the results of this study, the researchers conclude that a happy friend is worth $20,000!

They say a happy friend is worth $20,000. We’ll borrow from MasterCard – we think having a happy friend is … priceless!

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We really appreciate you checking in with us today. Join us next time when we discuss the three categories of spending. Keeping them in mind will keep your budget in line! Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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Okay, maybe that’s not the most important thing we could address, but we still think that many business owners are making a bigg mistake by eliminating this annual tradition.

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A recent survey by executive search firm Battalia Winston found that fewer firms plan to host a holiday party for their employees this year. In fact, it’s the lowest number in the twenty year history of the study. The primary reason cited is the poor economy.

We think this sends the wrong message. Leaders who portray gloom and doom create an environment of uncertainty. It scares people. People today are looking for signs of reassurance, not signals of impending disaster.

Holiday parties aren’t just about having a party. They’re a great opportunity to show your appreciation to your people. They can help build your team by getting together without the pressure of work. Yet people inevitably talk about work, recalling fun times together from the past year. This builds a sense of comradery which helps get things done at work.

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If last year’s party is beyond this year’s budget, get creative. There are ways to keep the party without busting the bank. Here are some thoughts:

Look for deals

With more companies cutting back, you might be surprised to learn that facilities are more aggressive in pricing deals for those people who still plan to hold an event. You’ll never know if you don’t ask!

Keep it on site

If you can’t find a good deal, consider having it on site if your facility will accommodate it. Then look for a good deal on catering. You might find that catering firms offer a good alternative since they’re not paying for the overhead of a facility.

Go potluck

If that’s still too expensive, have a potluck. Ask your employees to bring a dish. Consider making it a day-long event. People can “graze” and chat. Just for one day, accept a more relaxed environment full of impromptu conversations.

Make it fun

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Santa visited us at a radio station I worked at. The employees brought their kids in to tell him what they wanted. It was a lot of fun – all for the price of renting a Santa suit since our General Manager played Santa.

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There are many other ways to make it an event, even if it doesn’t fit the mold of a traditional holiday party. Give out awards. Have an employee who’s into such things produce a fun video or audio.

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At one radio station, our production manager put together a fun audio of all of our commercial outtakes. As the disc jockeys recorded commercials, he kept the bloopers and played them at our annual holiday get-together. It was so funny!

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We gave out gag gifts at one of the companies I owned. They reflected something that an employee had done over the past year that made people laugh. It brought up the joke again and everybody loved it.

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Hold it after the New Year

A number of companies are turning their “holiday” party into an “annual” party. Instead of competing for space during the busy holiday season, they hold it after the New Year. A lot of people really like this because we’re all so busy at the end of the year.

We have friends who turned their annual holiday party into “Christmas in July.” We were fortunate enough to get invited. They had a Christmas tree and played holiday music. It made for a fun evening.

If you do end up doing something different, don’t present it as just the result of budget cutbacks. Tell your people that you want to try something different. Get them involved in finding a good solution.

What do you think? Does canceling the holiday party send the wrong message to your people? What are you doing this year for your people?

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