WELCOME TO THE BIG SHIFT PODCAST!

The Big Shift is a podcast, a community, and a movement. It is our aim to help those who want to make a difference, have success in carrying out their mission. The goal of our podcast is to inspire heart-centered entrepreneurs to create their dream business, do what they love, and make the world a better place in the process.

We will help you get there by sharing with you the best marketing, sales/enrollment and mindset practices known to humankind today… All of these practices are tested and come from the people who are the very best at utilizing and teaching them. These will be some of the most extraordinary people on this planet. Get ready for your Big Shift!


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Archives for May 2006

Habits make or break your business

When I ran a music distribution company, it became clear to me that creating a habit for all my clients of buying from us on a weekly basis was vital to my company’s success. Making or receiving calls to and from my best sales people became routine and blended into the conscious and unconscious schedule of our customers.

Today’s post from Seth Godin reminded me of that.

If you want to grow, you’re either going to have to get more people to adopt your habit, (which might require breaking a different habit) or somehow increase habitual behavior among your happy customers.

* Increase the frequency of your newsletter from a monthly to a weekly habit
* Post to your blog daily and your readers will rely on you
* Find products (especially ones that are not one time purchases) in your store that loyal early adaptors will seek out thus creating a habit of coming into your establishment
* Create a schedule for your clients and your services (ex. They come see you 1st and 3rd Friday of every month) and make it easy for them to put it into their calendars)
* What else?

Advice from American Idol

Randy, Paula and Simon never grew tired of repeating the advice to “make the song your own” to all the contestants of American Idol. This year’s winner, Taylor Hicks, did just that. He combined a genuinely unique look with the ability to tailor each song to suit him. He was memorable. He was remarkable. He wasn’t the best singer in the competition, but he won over millions of fans worldwide. And he surprised everyone by winning American Idol.

The principles that allowed Taylor to win, apply to making your business a success as well. Make your business your own. Make it unique. Make it remarkable. Allow it to be genuine.

Perhaps we can all win our version of American Idol that way.

Trust in the leader, team-mates and system

Marc Cuban describes the vibe in the locker room before the Mavs beat the Spurs (amazing game!):

“No one felt that the game was their responsibility. Every player in there trusted the guys on both sides of them. They trusted their coaches. They trusted the system in place.”

This reminded of my post from a few days ago about a business family. The Mavs sound like that family. It works for them and it will work for your team. Utopia does exist!

Trajectory of Success

“Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get.”
— Ingrid Bergman

Here is an example of one “trajectory of success” for a web designer. The details may be different for another industry, but the principles are the same.

* Get the first paying client
* Generate enough business to survive on
* Create a steady and continually increasing demand for your services
* Raise prices
* Begin to work only with ideal clients
* Have more clients then you can handle on your own
* Start a design firm

It is vital for any business to have a long-term vision, a 12-month plan AND short-term goals. Yes, to really know what it is you want from the big picture perspective (vision) and then also to know what you want in the next 90 days is inspiring. When both the vision and goals are aligned — magic happens.

** The extra bonus gift is the extra energy boost you get when your goals are achieved, which in turns fuels your next steps

Is this cycle sustainable?

Business Community: Is Utopia possible?

Chris Barrow, had an interesting take on great teams in his latest newsletter:

*** A work force => You have to force a work force to work and force always generates resistance.

*** A team => You lead the team; and a well lead team will want to do the work themselves.

*** A business family => You give birth to a business family, you nurture them, you teach them, you inspire them, you allow them to develop their own style, you work, rest and play with them and your hopes for them are greater than your hopes for yourself. You are a model who they wish to emulate and they feel their unique style and contribution is equally valuable. Ultimately you can accept it and are happy when they leave the nest and move on to greater things.

Aaaaah! a business family does sound good! Its distinguishing feature is its sense of community. In a community everyone is working towards a collective mission of the organization while supporting the individual missions and desires of each member of the family. It’s almost utopian yet!

Blog Blog Blog is not just Blah Blah Blah

Why I decided to blog is so perfectly captured by Marc Cuban that I thought it was perfect for my first post. Here is a part of what Marc wrote:

“I can write about anything. I can write opinion. I can report facts. I can ask questions. I can jump from topic to topic to topic… One minute I’m a reporter, communicating what happened and where, the next I’m an opinion columnist. The next I’m op-ed, punching or counter punching someone in traditional media… It’s all up to me and it’s fun. My blog is just that. Mine.”

Well, my blog is mine and hopefully will be yours, too.