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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We will be performing a system maintenance and database upgrade on Saturday, May 28th 12 midnight to 4am PST.

The Seth Godin Advice Column

Seth Godin inadvertently gives all coaches, consultants and other professionals great advice on giving advice. Below is my version of Seth’s ideas:

Timing is everything

  • Don’t point out spelling mistakes in the first draft of a book.
  • Don’t tell someone you don’t think their product is going to sell the day before launch.

Give analysis and ask questions

What I want instead of your opinion is your analysis. It does me no good to hear you say, “I’d never pick that box up.” You can add a great deal of value, though, if you say, “The last three products that succeeded were priced under $30. Is there a reason you want to price this at $31?” Or, “We analyzed this market last year, and we don’t believe there’s enough room for us to compete. Take a look at this spreadsheet.” Or even, “That font seems hard to read. Is there a way to do a quick test to see if a different font works better for our audience?”

Compliment whenever you can

  • Be genuine
  • Point the parts your like best
  • Don’t just say you like something, explain why you like it


Don’t give advice unless asked

(I just realized that this works in personal situations as well. Perhaps I could use this advice once in a while.)

Flying Scooter

Will this Levitating Hover Scooter be a high-flying success?

  • $17k
  • Top Speed of 15 mi/hr
  • 5 Minutes to learn how to use it
  • Glides over level, solid ground only (free of debris)

I find this novelty funny and fascinating at the same time, but at $17,000??? What do you think? Would you launch a company with this product?Levitating Hover Scooter

Monday 9 a.m.

Dominic MillerI’ve discovered a powerfully inspirational film site: Monday 9 a.m. – that explores humanity, creativity and the questions that arise our of living and creating.

This week features a film about Dominic Miller, Sting’s guitarist.

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What does art, a philosopher and a life coach have in common? They all leave you with questions to ponder.

These are the questions from this film:

  • What happens when you get to where you believe you should be?
  • Does everything start with a relationship between two things –you and a somebody or a something?
  • What is your opportunity to recognize this and to create a ‘story’?
  • Is it your responsibility to do so?
  • What ‘story’ is out there waiting to be told by you?
  • Are you courageous enough to live with ‘the not knowing’?
  • How naked are you prepared to be?

Pretty Cool Indeed

Check out this creative display of infinity and depth.

Entrepreneurs Change The World

David Batstone writes about young entrepreneurs in Peru, where kids have the desire to move from day laborers (getting paid for hours worked) to business owners (getting paid on the value you bring to your clients).

Frank Sales, a 15-year old who helps run a micro-enterprise fund for his peers, told me, We have the desire and the work effort; we just lack access to capital! Frank’s group helps nearly 15,000 kids get a start on creating their own venture. Over the past 18 months, it has experienced a 95% repayment on loans. In its program, children are required to pay 1% interest on principal, and put into personal savings 1% of their profits. The micro-credit agency provides workshops on writing business plans and operating a budget and charting cash flow, including putting into place a simple accounting system.

It’s sound like an amazing program that gives kids an opportunity by providing capital, by encouraging savings and by aiding the development of plans, budgets, etc. (sounds like entrepreneur coaching)

Mistaken Identity Tragedy

Only a true story could be so unbelievable. I can’t even imagine being the paren’t of one of these two girls. Their emotional rollercoaster is inconceivable to me.

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Mistaken Identity Follows Tragic Crash 
by Russell Working and Tim Jones
Tribune staff reporters
May 31, 2006, 8:15 PM CDT

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. In a tragic case of mistaken identity, the family of an Indiana college student believed to have survived a multiple-fatality crash in late April said Wednesday their daughter was dead, while the paren’ts of a student thought to have died in that collision learned their daughter was alive in a Michigan hospital.

The sad and extraordinary story came to light on a Web log set up by the family of Laura VanRyn, a 22-year-old student from Caledonia, Mich. Her relatives had kept a five-week vigil at the Grand Rapids hospital bed of a young woman they thought was their daughter.

Uncertainty about the woman’s identity grew this week as she regained consciousness, and dental records confirmed the student the VanRyn family had been watching over was actually 18-year-old Whitney Cerak of Gaylord, Mich.

The Cerak family had unknowingly buried VanRyn on April 30, in the northern Michigan woods about 180 miles north of Grand Rapids.

Our hearts are aching as we have learned that the young woman we have been taking care of over the past five weeks has not been our dear Laura, but instead a fellow Taylor student of hers, the VanRyns said on their blog.

Authorities in Indiana were trying to unravel the heartbreaking mix-up on Wednesday, five weeks after five people including four students from Taylor University, a small evangelical Christian college in Upland, Ind. were killed in a crash on Interstate Highway 69, near Marion.

Confusion apparen’tly began in the hectic moments after the deadly April 26 crash involving a semi-tractor trailer loaded with baking flour and the Taylor University van, returning from nearby Ft. Wayne. Grant County (Ind.) Coroner Ron Mowery, whose office handled the death investigations, apologized during a news conference Wednesday for the mix-up.

He described an accident scene where purses and wallets were strewn about and that acquaintances of the students had identified the survivor taken to a Ft. Wayne hospital as VanRyn. He said no scientific testing was conducted to verify the identifications.

“I can’t stress enough that we did everything we knew to do under those circumstances, and trusted the same processes and the same policies that we always do,” Mowery told reporters in Marion, Ind. “And this tragedy unfolded like we could never have imagined.”

The truth about the identities of the two young women began to take shape in recent days, as the VanRyns watched Cerak slowly recover from serious head and neck wounds at a Grand Rapids rehabilitation center for victims of brain damage. Bruce Rossman, a spokesman for Spectrum Health System in Grand Rapids, said the VanRyn family’s doubts mounted as Cerak gained more awareness of her surroundings.

They said a couple of times they called her Laura and she said, “No, Whitney,” Rossman said.

“Acting on suspicions, the two families conferred on Tuesday,” Rossman said, “and requested dental records be checked. By Tuesday night the families knew the young woman was not Laura VanRyn. Twelve hours later, at mid-morning on Wednesday, dental records proved the recovering woman was Cerak.”

Rossman said he did not know the specific nature of Cerak’s injuries or the extent to which her identity would have been obscured by wounds, bandages or other markings. “There was some general trauma associated with the accident, including bruising and swelling,” he said. The families issued a joint statement Wednesday, saying these two wonderful young women shared a striking similarity in size, hair, facial features and body type.

Our families are supporting each other in prayer, and we thank our families, friends and communities for their prayers, the families said in a prepared statement.

In Laura VanRyn’s hometown of Caledonia, Mich., friends and residents were stunned. Memorial Day flags were still flying along Main Street in Caledonia, Mich., a community of 1,100 people, when the local schools sent home a flyer saying Laura VanRyn was dead.

Monte Munjoy, a middle school physical education teacher who knew VanRyn, said teachers were given the news at a staff meeting and everybody’s jaw just hit the floor.

“We thought she was the sole survivor of the accident,” Munjoy said.

Brenda Tuttle, whose son attended school with VanRyn, called the news devastating.

“You can’t imagine losing a child, then you think your daughter is gone but she’s not, or you think you think your daughter is alive but is not,” Tuttle said. “I can’t imagine how you would handle something like that.”

Five weeks ago the local newspaper in Gaylord, the Herald Times, published an obituary for Whitney Cerak. It read, “She lived a wonderful, full, but short life.” The casket was closed for her funeral.

Now the bedside vigil has changed, with Cerak’s mother and aunt tending to the 18-year-old.