We’re doing ten posts on lifelong learning. It’s hard to believe but we’re already at the ninth podcast in the series. In this episode, we want to discuss leadership, and while we always talk about the importance of personal leadership here, today we’re going to focus on leading others.
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?
Part 2: Listen
Don’t limit yourself to just your eyesight. Listen for business ideas.
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?
Let’s pull out the Professor’s whiteboard for: A simple technique to find your business idea.
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?
The simple technique is to 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!
George “The Professor” & Mary-Lynn
Co-Founders, BIGG Success
https://biggsuccess.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/A-Simple-Technique-to-Find-Your-Business-Idea-blog-post-image.png430448George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Fosterhttps://biggsuccess.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/BIGG-Success-Nurturing-Your-Inner-Entreprener.jpgGeorge Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster2022-05-03 13:45:042022-05-03 13:45:22A Simple Technique to Find Your Business Idea
Bigg Success is life on your own terms. Today we want to focus on growth, one of the five elements of bigg success.
Little things can make a bigg difference on our path to bigg success. Oftentimes, they’re mostly attitudinal adjustments. We’ll discus six of these little things today.
Instead of taking an extra fifteen minutes, give an extra fifteen minutes.
Over the course of a year, if you were to show up fifteen minutes earlier and stay fifteen minutes longer, you’d have 120 more hours of productive time. That even allows for four weeks of vacation!
This doesn’t have to be work. It really depends on your objectives. You may get home fifteen minutes earlier, put an extra fifteen minutes into studying for that certification you want, or work on building relationships for an extra fifteen minutes a day.
Instead of telling someone about you, ask about them.
Ask your spouse or significant other about their day. Ask that person you just met about the work they do.
This makes a bigg difference in so many ways. It’s amazing how much we can learn from others. By letting the other person tell you about themselves, you learn about yourself and your world.
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I find this ironic. You seem more interesting when you let the other person talk about themselves. They find you more interesting because you’re letting them talk.
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You always tell me, Mary-Lynn, that the less I talk, the more interesting I am!
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Instead of sitting back, lean forward in your chair.
This is somewhat related to the last one. One benefit is that you’ll stay awake! But the other benefit is that you will be more engaged with the person with whom you’re talking. You appear more interested. So they feel better about themselves.
Instead of walking around with a frown, flash your bigg beautiful smile!
When you smile, it makes people wonder what you’re up to!
Tony Robbins says: “Motion creates emotion.” Even when you don’t feel like smiling, by telling yourself to smile you’ll soon see the world in a different way. Even in the worst of times, we can find something to smile about.
Instead of seeing the bad, see the good.
This applies in so many ways. We’ll just discuss a couple.
How about the people around you – like your co-workers? Look for their good traits. See what they do well. Compliment them on it.
How about your company? Don’t focus on all the things you don’t like about it. Focus on the things your company is doing well.
Along that line …
Instead of focusing on the problem, think about solutions.
There are a lot of problem-finders in the world; we don’t have enough problem-solvers.
It’s easy to find a problem; it’s a lot harder to SOLVE IT. But bigg goal-getters know that’s how you find bigg success!
What little things have made a bigg difference in your life?
We’d love it if you’d share that with us. You can do that by:
“For a long time, I lived as the lone wolf but, in the last few years, I’ve realized that being the lead wolf is a lot more fun, a lot more rewarding, and a way to get a whole lot more done and experience some bigg success. So thanks for inspiring me with this article and podcast and for all you do to help us be a bigg success. Make it a great day!”
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Thanks Phil! You make it great every time we hear from you!
And thank you for reading our post today. It’s no little thing to us. We hope it makes a bigg difference for you!
Please join us next time when we talk about why, when it comes to your career, the second time’s a charm. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!
Renee called us with her bigg question. She’s been a manager for a few months. She’s having trouble getting all of her work done because her employees keep coming to her with problems that they could easily solve themselves. She feels herself getting more and more stressed about this situation. She wants our suggestions.
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Results, not tasks
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Renee, you’re not alone. This is a common problem with first-time managers. I’ve fought this myself. We’re told, “If you want the job done right, do it yourself.” So we don’t empower people like we need to so they feel comfortable making decisions. We need to help our people build their personal leadership skills.
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You do that by focusing on the results, not the tasks. It’s a conversation about the “what”, not the “how”. What are you trying to achieve as a group? Then break your overall plan into who is to do what by when.
Now every individual in your charge knows for what they’re responsible. Be sure they (and their peers) know they have the authority to do what needs to be done to reach the desired result.
Let them know you believe in them. Tell them you’re there to help them when they run into something they can’t solve on their own. However, there are two guiding principles when they think they need your help.
1st – If we’ve discussed it before, follow the precedent.
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There’s no need to rehash old turf. I want my people to show me that they can learn. I’ll tell them exactly that!
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You don’t want to hit your head into the same wall again and again. There will be challenges. Let’s make them new ones! I’m here to help you as long as we aren’t just dealing with the same old problem stated in a different way.
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2nd – When you present a problem, offer a solution.
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I remember discovering this principle, for exactly the reason Renee is saying in her question. I had to find an answer for people constantly bringing up problems without taking any responsibility for the solution. This guiding principle took care of that.
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Helping your people develop their personal leadership skills leads to bigg success … for them and for you!
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What have you done to get your people to take a leadership role?
Please share that with us by leaving a comment below, calling us at 877.988.BIGG(2444) or sending us an e-mail at bigginfo@biggsuccess.com.
Thanks so much for the gift of your time today. Please join us next time when we talk with a person who used vision boards to reach bigg success. Until then, here’s to your 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 Foster2009-05-27 10:34:572009-05-27 10:34:57Lead Your People to Lead
Bigg success is life on your own terms. The five elements of bigg success are money, time, growth, work and play. Today we want to focus on money.
Some people struggle to save money in the first place because they love to spend it. Other people have no trouble saving it, but they get uncomfortable spending it.
I grew up with one of each. I’ve never seen research on this, but I bet that happens fairly often. Mom was a saver and Dad was a spender. I learned from both of them.
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So I know the answer to this, George, but share with everyone which one you are.
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I think I’m both so I face this internal battle – there are times when I swing to the savings side; there are times when I lean toward spending. The challenge for me is not letting it get out of balance when I shift one way or the other.
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Both of us tend to spend on small ticket items. We’re not bigg ticket buyers so we can completely relate to one of our readers, Paul.
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Bigg question
Paul sent us an e-mail about his dilemma. He’s a regular saver, but he has trouble spending it – especially on bigg ticket items. For example, he could comfortably take a vacation but he’s not sure if he should pull the money out of savings. He wants our advice.
Bigg solution
Reading between the lines, it sounds like Paul wants to spend the money but he’s afraid he’ll need it for something else. Here’s the bigg solution:
Set up a separate account dedicated to the next bigg purchase you want to make. Set aside a portion of what you save in this account.
Right now, you’re implicitly saving for these things, Paul. By planning for your purchase and explicitly saving for it (i.e. by stashing money for it in a dedicated account), you’ll feel comfortable buying it once you’ve accumulated enough money.
Since you’ve been saving all along, Paul, consider taking a portion of the money you have in your general savings account and seeding this account with that money. You may feel you have enough to take that vacation now. If that’s the case, go for it! Then use this separate account for your next bigg ticket item.
Live (a little) in the moment
It’s important for all of us to save for our future. It’s also important to live a little in the moment and enjoy life along the way. Otherwise, we risk forgetting why we’re doing what we’re doing.
So Paul’s going to save for a vacation. If you can’t afford that right now, plan for a weekend away. If that’s going to stretch your budget too much, plan for a nice dinner out this month. Maybe even that’s too much … plan for a nice meal at home. Make it an event. Every day … every hour … every moment is precious. Don’t fall into the trap of living too much for the future. Strike a healthy balance between now and then. That’s living bigg!
How do you save for bigg ticket items?
Share that with us by commenting below, calling us at 877.988.BIGG(2444) or e-mailing us at bigginfo@biggsuccess.com.
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The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
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The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
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The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Bigg Success is life on your own terms. Today we want to focus on growth, one of the five elements of bigg success. 
I find this ironic. You seem more interesting when you let the other person talk about themselves. They find you more interesting because you’re letting them talk. 
You always tell me, Mary-Lynn, that the less I talk, the more interesting I am! 
“For a long time, I lived as the lone wolf but, in the last few years, I’ve realized that being the lead wolf is a lot more fun, a lot more rewarding, and a way to get a whole lot more done and experience some bigg success. So thanks for inspiring me with this article and podcast and for all you do to help us be a bigg success. Make it a great day!” 
Bigg success is life on your own terms. The five elements of bigg success are money, time, growth, work and play. Today we’ll focus on time. 
Bigg success is life on your own terms. The five elements of bigg success are money, time, growth, work and play. Today we want to focus on money.