Business Genius

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.

What if the reason you give in to distractions isn’t what you think? (I recently confronted this eye-opening truth in myself.) The way we talk about distraction, especially digital distraction, has changed a lot in recent years. We see what the big players are doing to us as they mine our attention for profit. We say we want focus on work and be more present with loved ones … then can’t seem to stop the mindless scrolling. We set personal rules, wear noise-cancelling headphones, and install web-blocking apps. And yet, they don’t seem to work very well. So, what’s really going on here? Listen up as I share Oliver Burkeman’s insightful explanation from his recent message in The Imperfectionist in: BUSINESS GENIUS | Episode 405: The Truth About Distraction

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!

Einstein.  Possibly the most misquoted figure in history! Do you put your  reputation and credibility at risk by using misattributed (or  unattributed) quotes in your marketing, presentations and social media? There are so many things you probably think Einstein said (because  these quotes are everywhere on the internet) that he never did! Such as … The quote that is as fake as most celebrity weddings …  The quote which is one of the most over-used clichés of all time …   The quote made famous in thousands of memes featuring Einstein  that  actually was taken from two books published in 1983 (28 years after he  our pal Al died) … Are you guilty of giving Einstein credit for things he never actually said in quotes you share on the internet? Find out here: BUSINESS GENIUS | Episode 403: Things Einstein Never Said (and who actually did) PS Credit for this episode’s content belongs to news junkie and history buff Kathy Copeland Padden who published her research

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. Which of the 7 freedoms do you want most from your business? Many enjoy the freedom of choice. Others want the freedom of creative control. Some desire freedom from work. We all seek freedom from financial scarcity and constraint. There’s also the freedom from influence and expectation. And the freedom from hope and dependence. 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.

Herbert Freudenberger defined burnout in 1975 as emotional exhaustion, decreased sense of accomplishment, and depersonalization. Essentially, when we burn out, we’ve been caring too much for too long, seeing a lack of impact from our actions, and burning the empathy candle at both ends. Sadly, it’s an experience many entrepreneurs know all too well as Tara McMullin knows from having surveyed and talked to hundreds of business owners about this very thing. In today’s episode I’m sharing some of her findings and thoughts about it.

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.