Business Genius

Tara McMullin wrote: Becoming an influencer seems fun. Depending on your interests, being a vlogger or influencer might look like luxury travel, great food, or stylish clothes. Maybe it looks like being an athlete, a musician, or a memoirist. But there’s a difference between performing these roles and actually doing the work of those roles.

Are you one of the many employers, workers or business owners who confuses delay with procrastination? Learn how to tell the difference between delay and procrastination. You might believe you're guilty of something you're not even doing! And, if it turns out you are procrastinating, find out what you can do to overcome it.

As a business advisor, I often see smart, creative and well-educated people ignore the essential requirements for building a successful business. Generally, it’s because they’ve allowed themselves to be convinced an online (or digital) business is different. It isn’t. A website is not a business. It’s a marketing tool. If you want to make money with it, you need a solid sustainable business behind it. Build your business first, then build a website that works to market it well.

The anorexic entrepreneur, obsessed with achieving success, pursues it with the passion of a spiritual quest, believing it is a lifestyle choice. Unable to recognize when success has arrived, it remains forever elusive often resulting in financial, emotional and spiritual bankruptcy. Today’s episode includes an exercise to keep this from happening to you.

Every business owner and aspiring thought leader faces three challenges: getting good, getting going and getting known! Lisa O’Neill of Thought Leaders breaks this down beautifully for us so we can become commercially smart.

An email from the Daily Stoic reminded me that given how terrible most of the Roman emperors were, you might think that Marcus Aurelius was universally loved. Of course, this is not true. Plenty of people hated him, plenty of people thought they should be in charge and not him. (In fact, one of his best friends betrayed him in a terrible coup). It’s a given that all successful people attract haters. It’s not a matter of if, but when. That’s why you must prepare now rather than waiting until your first hater comes along …

On Dictionary.com, lexicographer Jane Solomon explains that the word influencer has been used in English since the mid-1600s, though back then it wasn’t a job title. In recent years, the term has become a catch-all for a certain kind of career track that is at the center of a burgeoning but profitable industry.

As influencer continues to expand in English and pull new terms and meanings into its orbit, it is worthy of charting from a lexical perspective.

Most people prematurely cut off idea generation by immediately judging whether an idea belongs in the cabinet in the first place—by evaluating what’s reasonable, what’s probable, what’s doable. As a business coach, this is one behaviour I must quickly help them unlearn for their own benefit.

In this episode, I share insights from business genius Ozan Varol, author of Think Like a Rocket Scientist which, by the way, is a really great read. Ozan is a master of weaving interesting stories from real life to support better ways of thinking and working. In the example of his writing I’m about to share, he explains why it’s important to shut down your mind to be better at creating.

Achieving a superhuman level of efficiency, so that you never need to disappoint anyone, or make tough choices about how to use your time? Impossible. Satisfying the contradictory demands of maddening bosses (or family members) who can’t decide what they want? Impossible. Bringing a creative project into the world precisely as you envisaged it in advance? Impossible.

Can you relate? If so, let me share with you how Oliver Burkeman breaks it down for us …

Looking for a new way to boost your productivity? Want to bring more enthusiasm to your work day? Theme days might be just what you need!

It’s only two little letters, but for many, no is such a scary word we hold ourselves back from saying it when we really should. Especially when we are afraid saying no means missing out on a big opportunity. An opportunity that would have catapulted us to success, or that will never come again. Most of the time that simply isn’t true. More importantly, it’s the saying yes to everything that holds us back from success which is why we must commit to mastering the beautiful no.

Clients don’t want to work with people who are perfect; they want to work with people who are REAL and not pretending to be something or someone they aren’t.

Are you a marketer or a thought leader? Do you know there is a difference between marketing and thought leadership? How about the three things all thought leaders have in common? Not sure if you’re on the right path for you if you want to be a thought leader? Let\s start a conversation about that with today’s episode!

The life you want is just beyond the challenges of self-doubt, fear and procrastination.

To successfully navigate the disappointment many entrepreneurs encounter, you must create consistency in your life so you can focus on the things that matter most to you. And do the work needed to close the 3 gaps faced by every entrepreneur.

Marketing is simply a conversation you're having with strangers. The goal is to turn strangers into friends, friends into prospects, prospects into clients with as little efforts as possible. Then, you serve your clients and customers so well, they’ll be happy to introduce you to more strangers.

To succeed with your marketing you must move the conversation along through 5 distinct stages and in this episode I explain what they are...

All marketing begins as an experiment in communication. Subtle changes  to your messaging don’t always create immediately noticeable results.  And it can be difficult to measure the impact of a different messaging  strategy because of the lag between when you make relevance-related  improvements and reap the benefits. Still, fine-tuning your relevance is  key to long-term marketing and sales success and this episode talks  about how to do just that.

Stuck in a rut? Living and working from pattern and habit alone? Rather  than consciously choosing how to spend the hours of your days and life  ... Get off the expressway to burnout and forget about work-life  balance! We explain what to do instead and offer our 3 best tips for  making the change in this week’s episode.

Everything matters to your marketing message: font, colours, even direction (as in images and your own body movements in video, livestreams and on stage). With direction being extremely important to effectively communicating your marketing message. Yet getting direction wrong is one of the most common conversion-killing mistakes people make in their marketing. Today I’ll explain why and what to do to fix it!

Is math anxiety crippling your business? Math trauma leftover from grade school can prevent even the smartest business owners from engaging with their business finances. Don’t let it destroy your business and personal life ...

Math is part of doing business. You don’t have to struggle with anxiety over it. And you might be just one decision away from bringing home more bacon. This episode talks about how to keep math anxiety from stealing your joy and derailing your success as the money comes into your business.

Many  business success stories were created by the willingness to endure  multiple failures and on many levels. Public failures. Small failures.  Epic failures. The learnings from them can lead us to greatness. And  that’s why we should celebrate our progress through the five levels of  failure.

Are you less than thrilled with the results of your marketing? Frustrated because it feels like you’ve tried everything and nothing is working out the way you’d hoped? If so, it could be you’re missing critical pieces of the process.

The good news is all marketing tactics work! Provided they are well matched to your business objectives, used at the right time, and executed correctly. But before selecting any tactics or tools, you need to think about the four critical marketing systems every business has to have. That, and more in this episode!

Independence through entrepreneurship is the goal of most business  owners. And freedom often drives choosing it over taking a job. Clarity, confidence and clients are needed on the road to success. But their role pales next to the must-haves: courage, patience and resilience.

1. Many enjoy the freedom of choice.
2. Others want the freedom of creative control.
3. Some desire freedom from work.
4. We all seek freedom from financial scarcity and constraint.
5. There’s also the freedom from influence and expectation.
6. And the freedom from hope and dependence.
7. As well as the freedom from ordinary and routine.

Clients don't want to work with people who are perfect, the want to work with people who are real and not pretending to be something or someone they aren't! In this episode, discover how something you learned in your childhood is interfering with your business success and what you can do about right now to make competition irrelevant in a crowded marketplace. And at the end I share the one thing you might be tempted to do that seems like a great idea, but isn't.

An email from the Daily Stoic reminded me that given how terrible most of the Roman emperors were, you might think that Marcus Aurelius was universally loved. Of course, this is not true. Plenty of people hated him, plenty of people thought they should be in charge and not him. (In fact, one of his best friends betrayed him in a terrible coup). It’s a given that all successful people attract haters. It’s not a matter of if, but when. That’s why you must prepare now rather than waiting until your first hater comes along. This episode deals with how to handle it.

Most people prematurely cut off idea generation by immediately judging whether an idea belongs in the cabinet in the first place—by evaluating what’s reasonable, what’s probable, what’s doable. As a business coach, this is one behaviour I must quickly help them unlearn for their own benefit. In this episode, I share insights from business genius Ozan Varol, author of Think Like a Rocket Scientist which, by the way, is a really great read. Ozan is a master of weaving interesting stories from real life to support better ways of thinking and working. Here's how he explains why it’s important to shut down your mind to be better at creating.

Tara McMullin, Founder of What Works wrote todays’ thought provoking inbox inspiration. Somehow I missed the weekend Twitter post showing new toys like Fisher Prices’ My Home Office and the Vlogger Kit offered by Plan Toys. Tara sent me an email this morning discussing them in depth so, naturally, I have to share some of her Business Genius wisdom with you and I bet it’ll get you thinking about this too!

Oliver Burkeman reminds us: Achieving a superhuman level of efficiency, so that you never need to disappoint anyone, or make tough choices about how to use your time? Impossible. Satisfying the contradictory demands of maddening bosses (or family members) who can’t decide what they want? Impossible. Bringing a creative project into the world precisely as you envisaged it in advance? Impossible. Find out why embracing the impossibility puts a whole new spin on productivity giving you permission to lower the stakes.

Tamsen Webster knows that if you want people to actually act on or in favor of your ideas—you can turn the secret to creating change into a simple test the can help make all of your marketing messages stronger. Listen to this episode to find out how and why this simple test works and what to ask yourself to inspire people to take the action you want from them.

Where marketing is a conversation you’re having with strangers, thought leadership can distinguish you as either the subject of the conversation or as an influential contributor to it. If thought leadership is your objective, discover the three requirements you'll need to meet (and more) in this episode.

The life you want is just beyond the challenges of self-doubt, fear and procrastination. To successfully avoid the disappointment many entrepreneurs encounter, you must create consistency in your life so you can focus on the things that matter most to you and close three gaps standing between you and the business success you desire.

Marketing is simply a conversation you're having with strangers. The goal is to turn strangers into friends, friends into prospects, prospects into clients with as little efforts as possible. Then, you serve your clients and customers so well, they’ll be happy to introduce you to more strangers.

To succeed with your marketing you must move the conversation along through 5 distinct stages and in this episode I explain what they are so you can start acing your marketing conversations!

All marketing begins as an experiment in communication. Subtle changes to your messaging don’t always create immediately noticeable results. And it can be difficult to measure the impact of a different messaging strategy because of the lag between when you make relevance-related improvements and reap the benefits. Still, fine-tuning your relevance is key to long-term marketing and sales success and this episode talks about how to do just that.

Stuck in a rut? Living and working from pattern and habit alone? Rather than consciously choosing how to spend the hours of your days and life ... Get off the expressway to burnout and forget about work-life balance! We explain what to do instead and offer our 3 best tips for making the change in this week’s episode.

Every business owner and aspiring thought leader faces three challenges: getting good, getting going and getting know! Lisa O’Neill of Thought Leaders breaks this down beautifully for us so we can become commercially smart.

Are you one of the many employers, workers or business owners who confuses delay with procrastination? Learn how to tell the difference between delay and procrastination. You might believe you're guilty of something you're not even doing! And, if it turns out you are a procrastinating, find out what you can do to overcome it.

Find out how influencer, astrology and big brands are all connected and evolving in this episode. 

Looking for a new way to boost your productivity? Want to bring more enthusiasm to your work day? Themed days might be just what you need! Find out how to use them so you, too, can experience their magic!

It’s only two little letters, but for many, no is such a scary word we hold ourselves back from saying it when we really should not do that. Especially when we are afraid saying no means missing out on a big opportunity. An opportunity that would have catapulted us to success, or that will never come again. Most of the time that simply isn’t true. More importantly, it’s the saying yes to everything that holds us back from success which is why we must commit to mastering the beautiful no. This episode talks about how to know when to say no and how to do it with grace.

Businesses rarely fail because the original idea was bad. Or from a lack of capital or time. Or because the economy tanked. They fail because their owners don’t have solid answers to 3 key questions. Consequently, their marketing is one big disconnect. Keeping your eye on the big picture is one way to be proactive and successful in business. There are some others too and we’re talking about them in this episode.

What is an entrepreneurial balance sheet? And why do you need to make  one? Entrepreneurs who know what it’s like to experience “anorexia of the soul” will tell you it’s a fate worse than any financial failure you might fear in your business!

Pretending to be someone you’re not and selling what you don’t believe in or in a way that isn’t congruent with your true self, is a road to ruin.

And being solely focused on striving to please the market and presenting the brand persona you think will sell, but isn’t who you really are, isn’t sustainable long-term. It only leads to a growing sense of disconnection from the self.

It’s critical to your future success to start disciplining yourself to think about all aspects of your business in terms of assets and liabilities. This guides your future decision making more effectively.

Your entrepreneurial balance sheet is different from your financial one. It has five things on it that require regular evaluation. In this episode, you’ll learn what they are and how to make this kind of balance sheet for yourself.

Remember the training montage scene in the 1976 hit movie Rocky? What you see Stallone do in the 40 seconds starting at minute two is key to knowing how to not make this common conversion-killing marketing mistake!

Almost everyone makes this mistake more than once! But it’s easy to fix when you know what to look for and what to do instead. This is critical to reinforcing (and not contradicting or diluting) your marketing message.

After my clients see the difference this simple fix makes, they rarely make this mistake again.

Listen as I explain:

- the importance of direction in marketing and digital communications, video and stage work,
- how cultural conditioning subliminally influences your audience response to messaging, and
- what to give your audience instead (Hint: see it at work in the Rocky scene) to improve results.

PS Watch the key scene here starting at minute two to see this key principle in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YYmfM2TfUA
 

Is math anxiety crippling your business? Math trauma leftover from grade school can prevent even the smartest business owners from engaging with their business finances.  Don’t let it destroy your business and personal life ...

Math is part of doing business. You don’t have to struggle with anxiety over it. And you might be just one decision away from bringing home more bacon. This episode talks about how to keep math anxiety from stealing your joy and derailing your success as the money comes into your business.

Many business success stories were created by the willingness to endure multiple failures and on many levels. Public failures. Small failures. Epic failures. The learnings from them can lead us to greatness. And that’s why we should celebrate our progress through the five levels of failure.

Are you less than thrilled with the results of your marketing? Frustrated because it feels like you’ve tried everything and nothing is working out the way you’d hoped? If so, it could be you’re missing critical pieces of the process.

The good news is all marketing tactics work! Provided they are well matched to your business objectives, used at the right time, and executed correctly. But before selecting any tactics or tools, you need to think about the four critical marketing systems every business has to have. That, and more in this episode!