We are honored to announce that Mary-Lynn is a Rule Breaker Awards 2016 Winner! From over 2,000 businesses nominated, Mary-Lynn and BIGG Success are among the 7 winners selected.
The Rule Breaker Awards honor business owners who have forged their own path. They celebrate entrepreneurs for ignoring conventional wisdom, taking the path less traveled, and doing it the hard way.
Mary-Lynn was selected as the Rule Maker of the Year “for her innovative approach to promoting the Rule Breaker Awards contest on social media.”
[haiku url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00733-090711.mp3″ title=”The BIGG Success Show #733″] Don’t marry your best friend
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!
https://biggsuccess.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/bigg-success_stacked-1080.png10801080George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Fosterhttps://biggsuccess.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/BIGG-Success-Nurturing-Your-Inner-Entreprener.jpgGeorge Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster2011-09-07 07:00:162011-09-06 18:31:43Break the Rules to Be a Success
Seth Godin joined us on The BIGG Success Show today for the first of a three-part series to discuss his fantastic new book, Tribes. Seth is well-known to most of us, but here are some of the details: He is known as the most popular business blogger on the web. He also has written 10 best-selling books, including three of our favorites: Permission Marketing, Purple Cow, and The Dip. Here’s a recap of the first part of our conversation:
You may get conflicting messages about being in business. You hear that you need to be passionate about what you do. You’re also told to approach every business decision rationally.
So which is it – love or logic?
Love As an entrepreneur, you need to love what you do. If you don’t love it, you won’t be able to make it through the inevitable tough times. So get into a business about which you have a passion.
Then take pride in your accomplishments. Celebrate them like you’ve just won the Super Bowl. Be human in defeat. Learn from it and then move on. Practice the 24-hour rule – give yourself 24-hours to enjoy victory or recover from a loss. Then move on.
Be stubborn about what matters. There are things that are important to your success. They are your core values and purpose. Don’t ever agree to compromise on the things that are important, but be quick to concede if a better idea comes along that’s not in conflict with these core values and your purpose.
Finally, don’t fear the fear. As a business owner, you will face fearful times. That’s okay. Successful entrepreneurs have faced the same fears; they just overcame them. You’ll need to do the same. Press on.
Logic Emotion clouds your judgment. You have to get beyond your emotions in order to succeed in business. You have to be calculating, weighing the pros and cons of a given strategy against your goals and the pressures of the market.
Separate your ego from your business. Entrepreneurs often get in trouble when they start creating monuments to themselves with the resources of their businesses. Don’t make that mistake! Every business decision should move you one step closer to your dream life.
Admit your mistakes. If you don’t admit them, you’ll never learn from them. Unsuccessful business owners often devote even more resources trying to turn a bad decision into a good one. It rarely works. Admit your mistake and move on.
Aim before you fire. This is one of the best ways to make sure you’re not acting emotionally. Get ready … aim … fire. Business owners who fail often get caught up in the moment and forget this crucial step.
Focus on results. Measure everything you accomplish against your goals. Have you exceeded them or fallen short? Why? Answering those questions along the way will take you a long way toward the success of which you dream.
Example An example of love and logic at play is to remember why you got into business in the first place. You had a goal in mind. You had a plan on how to achieve it. Along the way, you gained new insight and information. You changed your plan, but the goal is still the same. You’re practicing love and logic at the same time!
The bottom line is that it pays to be emotional and unemotional at the same time about your business … be irrationally rational!
Sam Walton built the world’s largest retailer from a single store. He says that he wasn’t much of a rule-follower, but in the end, there were things that he did that he felt made him successful.
In his autobiography, Made in America, he described ten things that worked for him.
#1 – Commit to your business.
#2 – Share your profits with all your associates, and treat them as partners.
#3 – Motivate your partners.
#4 – Communicate everything you possibly can to your partners.
#5 – Appreciate everything your associates do for the business.
#6 – Celebrate your successes.
#7 – Listen to everyone in your company.
#8 – Exceed your customers’ expectations.
#9 – Control your expenses better than your competition.
#10 – Swim upstream.
And his unstated bonus rule … #11 – Break all the rules!
https://biggsuccess.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/bigg-success_stacked-1080.png10801080George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Fosterhttps://biggsuccess.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/BIGG-Success-Nurturing-Your-Inner-Entreprener.jpgGeorge Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster2008-04-15 16:44:552021-01-24 00:31:42Sam Walton’s Rules for Building a Business
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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.
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.
