(Discover more great wisdom on Achieving Your Dreams during Answering The Call Virtual Summit, starting February 7th)

No one, who has ever followed a dream, has taken a direct, unobstructed path and arrived at his or her destination effortlessly and on time. Following a dream is not a direct highway but a bumpy road full of twists and turns and occasional roadblocks. The journey requires modifications and adjustments in both thought and action, not just once, but over and over.

Anita Roddick, the founder of the Body Shop, used creativity to overcome challenges that would have stopped the vast majority of new business owners. She broke just about every rule in the book when she started The Body Shop and she’s still breaking the rules today. Of course, such irreverence has its consequences. In Anita’s case, the consequences read like this: The Body Shop now has more than 1,500 stores throughout the world, is worth over $500 million, and has influenced the products and marketing of all its chief competitors. And those are just the consequences in the business arena. The Body Shop is also a powerfully effective vehicle for social and environmental awareness and change; as far as Anita is concerned, that is the most important consequence of all.

From the moment in 1976 when Anita first conceived the idea of opening a shop to sell naturally based cosmetics, she was thinking in a most unbusinesslike manner. Most entrepreneurs set out to establish a company with growth potential that will make them wealthy someday. Anita was just looking for a way to feed herself and her two children, while her husband, also a maverick, was away on a two-year adventure, riding a horse from Argentina to New York.

Her first challenge was to find a cosmetics manufacturer to produce her products. No one she approached had ever heard of jojoba oil or aloe vera gel, and they all thought that cocoa butter had something to do with chocolate. Although she didn’t realize it at the time, Anita had discovered a market just about to explode: young female consumers who would prefer their cosmetics to be produced in a cruelty-free and environmentally responsible manner. When manufacturers failed to have the same foresight, Anita found a small herbalist who could do the work she required.

Since Anita was not the typical entrepreneur, she saw no drawbacks in starting her company with almost no capital. To save money, she bottled her cosmetics in the same inexpensive plastic containers hospitals use for urine samples, encouraging her customers to bring the containers back for refills. Because Anita couldn’t afford to have labels printed, she and some friends hand printed every one. Her packaging couldn’t have turned out better if she’d planned it that way. With the improvised packaging, her product now had the same natural, earthy image as the cosmetics themselves.

Anita opened the first branch of The Body Shop in her hometown of Brighton, England. When she first opened, neighboring proprietors made bets on how long the store would last. Less amused were the owners of local funeral parlors who insisted she change the shop’s name. No one, they complained, would hire a funeral director located near a place called “The Body Shop.” She stuck to her guns and the name stayed.

The first store was only minimally successful. Nevertheless, Anita decided to move ahead with a second one. The bank questioned the wisdom of her plan and refused a loan. So she found a friend of a friend who was willing to lend her the equivalent of $6,400 in exchange for 50 percent ownership of The Body Shop. Today that person is worth $140 million. Signing over half of her business was the only real mistake Anita ever made. But it wasn’t the only decision that looked like a mistake. Here are three more:

• She has never advertised even when she opened shops in the United States. People told her it was suicide to enter a new market without massive advertising support.

• She doesn’t sell in any outlet other than The Body Shop stores. (Some of her Asian stores are the only exception and are located within department stores.)

• She resolved early on that her shops would be a catalyst for change, not just in the business world, but in the world at large.

These decisions turned out to be some of the most inspired “mistakes” in the history of retailing. Even though Anita has never paid for advertising, her unconventional ideas have inspired hundreds of articles and interviews generating tremendous publicity.

Her first shop in New York was packed with customers from the day it opened. At one point, a thirty-five-year-old woman on roller skates threw up her arms and shouted, “Hallelujah! You’re here at last.” So much for advertising.

A new branch of The Body Shop opens somewhere in the world every two and a half days. Occasionally, Anita has had trouble opening stores in shopping malls. But having a past that was filled with challenges, Anita is accustomed to coming up with creative solutions. For instance, when one mall refused to lease her space, she organized every mail-order customer within a 110-mile radius to write letters to the management of that mall. Within a few months, a branch of The Body Shop was open.

Anita also had this nonconformist idea of putting ideals ahead of profit. From the start, Anita wanted not just to change the faces of her customers but to change the entire face of business. She envisioned a company that was socially responsible and compassionate. “I see the human spirit playing a big role in business. The work does not have to be drudgery, and the sole focus does not have to be on making money. It can be a human enterprise that people feel genuinely good about.”

Some of the raw materials for her products are harvested by groups of people in underdeveloped regions, thus generating an income for them. The Body Shop has launched campaigns to save the whales, ban animal testing in the cosmetics industry, help the homeless, and protect the rain forests. All of these campaigns have been eagerly supported by loyal customers.

Employees of The Body Shop are actively involved in these efforts. Each month, employees receive a half day off with pay to volunteer in the community. Some employees, for example, went to Romania to help rebuild orphanages. In the stores, customers are encouraged to register to vote, recycle their plastic cosmetics containers, and bring their own shopping bags to save paper and plastic. Because of all these activities, people have suggested Anita’s company should really be called “The Body and Soul Shop.” Customers emerge not only looking good but also feeling good.

“Business as usual” isn’t part of Anita Roddick’s make up. But as far as she’s concerned, doing what is not usual has made all the difference.

Action:

Anita said that what saved The Body Shop over and over was their willingness to recognize what wasn’t working and quickly identify a new way to approach a problem. This is a crucial strategy because everyone who starts a business is going to face challenges. Things never work out exactly as intended and creativity will play a key role in enabling a new business owner to conquer daily battles. If you don’t come up with alternative solutions, your dreams will die.

The first step to expanding your creativity is to clearly identify the problem you’re experiencing. Maybe you’re struggling in sponsoring people who are interested in working the business and not simply purchasing the product. Or maybe you’re having a hard time finding new prospects period. Write the numbers 1 through 10 vertically down the left side of the sheet of paper. Finally, write ten possible solutions to your problem. Make sure they are viable options, but stretch your imagination.

Remember, the solution to every problem lies within you. You may need a few minutes of quiet time to complete the exercise effectively, or you may need to brainstorm possible solutions with a friend. Feel free to do whatever you think is necessary to connect with your inner knowing. When you’ve completed the exercise, you should find that the solutions you have found will renew your sense of possibility and your commitment to your goal.
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Cynthia Kersey, best-selling author of two books, speaker, entrepreneur, and Chief Humanitarian Officer of the Unstoppable Foundation knows first hand that giving is not only good for business, it’s good for the soul.

Let Cynthia and 11 other leading success and life purpose experts pull you out of your rut and give you their blueprints for waking up and answering the ‘CALL’ to your big adventure in life in the Answering The Call Virtual Summit.

Being financially successful wasn’t really liberating – it was actually making me feel massively trapped inside my business.

I knew that following “the system” meant creating “the money machine” to do what worked at the expense of what felt right.

Having a big team meant having a big responsibility – I had to do what would make money over what would bring me more joy and align with my truth.

I could finally admit that striving for a million dollar business was actually making me lose what was unique about me (and putting me massively in debt in the process.)

I also started to understand that using my logical, rational brain to make decisions was shutting off my most important leadership asset – my intuition.

A rebellion began to brew inside my soul – and I had absolutely NO idea what would happen next. I felt “the call” to make a huge shift in how I was running my business.

Looking back at this fork in my journey I now realize that this was the moment I began to define the new rules of success – a set of guidelines that would allow me to thrive in this new era of entrepreneurship.

The rules are simple – and yet many entrepreneurs struggle to live by them. With a world full of smoke and mirrors and our human “wiring” for a magic pill, these rules seem too obvious.  The new rules have actually been around for lifetimes – but we forgot them. They were banished by clever marketers who needed psychological hooks to get us to buy more stuff, pursue unlimited wealth, and an instantiated drive for more accolades.

The new rules of success generate a different kind of result than most of us are currently experiencing – authentic alignment with our true calling. When applied, the new rules dissolve struggle and discontent and generate fulfillment and sustainable wealth.

Here’s my invitation to you – if you have felt called to shift your life, your business and your approach to creating success, join myself and 11 of my colleagues for free as we reveal these new rules of success in Answering The Call Today.

If the idea of collaborating and setting new standards for success is inspiring to you, share with us in the comments below and share this post through Google Plus (at the top of the page) or one of the share links below. Let’s co-create this shift together!

Of course I started running the numbers – how much does he make and what would have to happen to shift it. My jaw hit the floor when I figured he was making about $7.00 an hour. To grow the business he would have to dramatically shift his products, hire some help and change his money habits.

Before I plunged in to redesigning his business I asked the magic question…

“If you could start from scratch, what would your business look like?”

Well that question opened a flood gate of excitement, inspiration and energy that took me by surprise. What I discovered was this…

My client had a business that he felt reluctant to change because it paid the basic bills and he’d invested ten years of his life building.

It was a business of obligation…not a business built on passion, skills or even financial viability. Trying to save it was like trying to pull a ship from the bottom of the ocean that is covered with barnacles and rust. It just makes more sense to build (or buy) a new ship that works better.

I’ve had those moments myself, a moment when I realized that I had a business that was serving my misplaced duty to support others, versus a business that was serving MY heart’s desire. That moment when you realize that everything you’ve always dreamed about is just on the other side of a HUGE decision.

A decision that can feel a bit like a divorce from a bad marriage…where you choose liberation over obligation.

But how do you know when it’s time to pull the plug or peresevere?

Here are five questions to help you decide:

1. Is the business making a profit? If not, you either have to make it profitable, dissolve it or realize that it’s just an expensive hobby.

2. Do you feel happy at the end of your day? Your business should light you up and give you energy. If it doesn’t, then you might be able to shift some things around (like delegate what doesn’t make you happy or close some programs that burn you out.) If you are drained at the end of every day you have to ask yourself if it’s really worth it.

3. If you could start over and do anything, would you create what you have now? If the answer is no, I think you know it’s time to let it go.

4. What is the worst case scenario if you quit and create what you do want? Seriously, what’s the worst that could happen? You know you won’t be living in a box under a bridge so what’s holding you hostage?

5. Assuming you decide to pull the plug, what would be an exit strategy you’d feel inspired by? Create a scenario for ways you could monetize the current business or slowly extract yourself while you create the new one. Could you sell it? License it? Or just close the doors and start over?

I’m hoping if you are feeling drained or uninspired by your current business you’ll find the courage to tackle this head on. Nothing good comes from forcing yourself to do what doesn’t light you up. Burn out and overwhelm are a sure-fire recipe for the Universal Wake Up Call (and you know those are painful, right?)

I’d love to hear how you’ve tackled this in your life or which of these questions have helped you access the courage to pull the plug in the comments below.

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Discover how to pick the most viable ideas, and take it from concept to big money and impact without all those costly mis-steps with the Big Idea Incubator step-by-step system.

Now what?

Martin Howey, President of TopLine Business Solutions, realized as painful as this moment was that he had to rebuild. This failure was actually an opportunity to rebirth a business that would be based on solid ground – and today he is one of the most respected, well-liked and brilliant minds in business.

Key Observation #1: When an business venture “fails” it’s often an opportunity to re-invent ourselves into something more powerful, profitable and satisfying.

What you do when you experience a failure is the key to triumph, according to my Big Idea Incubator Expert Panel. I invited four amazing entrepreneur success stories to help coach and mentor the participants at my Big Idea Incubator Experience and it was one of the highlights of the program. Once I asked the question “What was your biggest failure and how did it help you in business?” to each panel member (including myself) the audience was riveted.

According to mortgage industry success story, Fred Arnold, President of American Family Funding and former president of the California Association of Mortgage Professionals, “Failures don’t exist in my mind.”

Fred shared how in the early 90-‘s as he was just getting started, the real estate market collapsed. At the time, Fred was newly married and felt the weight of getting sales even more. Instead of focusing on what wasn’t working, he turned his attention to how to use this failure to fuel his opportunities.

Key Point #2: By changing our definition of failure our mind can see opportunities where before we only saw a bleak future.

When I woke up in my $1,000 a night suite at the Ritz Carlton looking out over the Pacific Ocean I was in a daze. I should be happy. I’m in paradise. Instead I was filled with dread. My live event had flopped for numerous reasons and my business was in chaos. Everything I had worked so hard to build was falling apart faster than I could blink an eye. The word “failure” kept popping through my head and shame permeated every fiber of my being.

As I unraveled the mess and took a hard look at how the heck I got there, I realized a profound insight about my predicament. This failure had taught me how to have empathy and compassion for others who were in this space. I’d never experienced a failure before. I had no idea how to coach someone who had lost everything and had to start over. I didn’t know what it felt like to be betrayed or to have thousands of dollars disappear due to the collapse of the banking industry.

As I released my story of being a failure and embraced the possibility that I was being cauterized for a greater purpose, I began to have a clearer vision of how to rebuild my business to serve the planet.

Key Point #3: Hard times don’t define you, your choices, reactions and habits do. You can chose to use challenges to grow or to become paralyzed but ultimately, you choose.

If we look at a failure, challenge or frustration as an opportunity to heal, to grow and to become even more aligned with our real purpose, then could we actually embrace failure? I’d like to hear your thoughts in the comments below….

As you look at the map of the Infinity Business Model, you should take notice that your marketing is always in movement. Your marketing is also a combination of free strategies and activities and paid ones that your customers invest in, to expand and take big leaps.

You should also notice with this model, there are no boundaries as far as where new leads can come from… they don’t always have to enter in through the “top of the funnel via a free give-away”. In fact, many of your leads will come into the Infinity Business Model through many of the paid strategies and activities. So remember, your job is to keep the energy moving in your business and to keep problem solving through free and paid forms of marketing and clients will be pulled in because the energy of the Infinity Model is absolutely magnetic!

Now let’s talk about the speed of the energy with this model. You’ll notice there are bigger arrows and smaller arrows… for demonstration purposes the larger arrows represent faster movement. Which brings us to my favorite place to be in the Infinity Business Model and that is the Sweet Spot!

The Sweet Spot of the Infinity Business Model

As your clients or customers move energetically along the model by engaging in the free and paid options you offer, they begin to experience what I call the Sweet Spot of this model. Here in the center of the map is where they take big leaps, they expand, they have breakthroughs, and the eventually become the leaders they were meant to be.

In my opinion, many people may have to cycle through the model many times learning new lessons and expanding before they are ready to lead. The Sweet Spot represents growth nonetheless, and as you and I both know, ALL GROWTH IS GOOD.

Now, here is what you must be cautious about in the Sweet Spot. It moves fast, it can be overwhelming to grow so much so fast. So practice self care when you are in the Sweet Spot. Entrepreneurs are challenged neurologically in a completely different way than non-entrepreneurs. If you are tired from building and growing your business, that is normal. Your energy output is in hyper speed as you move through the Sweet Spot over and over again.

Ways to Play in the Infinity Business Model

With this model, there is a real sense that through all your marketing activities you will have many chances to lead them into a relationship. There is no need to push or pull, you only need to serve and teach through your marketing and focus on being graceful and positive as you help them problem solve.

With the outdated business funnel model, you needed to progress (push in a sense) them through higher and higher amounts for them to uplevel. I am not saying that you still won’t have 20% of your clients experiencing your premium services or products to uplevel. You absolutely will. And they will do this over and over again in the Sweet Spot.

What I’ve come to know is that building and growing a successful business is about so much more than what we’ve been taught up until now with previous business models.

Remember, with all your followers, customers, and clients moving along this model faster and faster, they will create a magnetic attraction and begin to pull more and more people in. The Infinity Business Model accurately represents how successful businesses grow. Because there is literally magnetic energy happening in your business, you begin work less and make more.

80/20 Rule Applied to the Infinity Business Model

With the outdated Business Funnel Model, you spent your time trying to get everyone through the hierarchical 80% to be the 20% high level client. In the Infinity Business Model it is not about getting them to higher priced services and products at all, it is about having them create success for themselves so they cycle back through the Sweet Spot over and over again.

So you can visualize that the center of the map (the Sweet Spot) is the 20% and your clients and customers successes or love for your company in general will begin to magnetize business to you.

So for the first time ever, the 80/20 rule is about the customer being successful and how that makes you and your company successful instead of the other way around. The funnel essentially was really focused on the company.

Last Thoughts About the Infinity Business Model

– Creating a magnetic, energy filled business is more fun and less work.

– Marketing can be simple and still be more effective in overall business success. Yes, this does mean more profits. Remember, money is power. The POWER to create more positive change if you have the intention to do so.

– It is normal if some people move extremely slow around the Infinity Business Model (even stop off for a decade at Starbucks!) and then get going again.

– Remember you have a WHY, a purpose that drives you and you will be here for the long-term. I consistently have women from my very first company (the National Association of Women Writers) that I owned from 2001 – 2010 resurface and engage over and over again.

– Your team will speed up the energy along the Infinity Business Model. Wow. Think about it.

– And lastly, part of the Sweet Spot’s sweetness is creating leaders. You get to be a leader to more leaders. That means we all begin to shift into a businesses with a higher vibration and much bigger WHYS!

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Sheri McConnell is the CEO of the Smart Women’s Institute of Entrepreneurial Learning (formerly the National Assn of Women Writers-2001). You can visit Sheri, access her free article archive, and grab lots of free stuff at http://www.smartwomeninstitute.com. Sheri lives in San Antonio, Texas with her husband, their four children, a weenie dog, and three hermit crabs.

In order to get more results, many of us condition ourselves to rise above our mental and physical limitations. We challenge ourselves to achieve the unimaginable in record time.  Often we look around at everyone else, notice what (we think) they are accomplishing, compare ourselves to their success, feel behind, and say, “I should be doing that too!”

We may even find ourselves spouting wisdom from these high achievers with mantras designed to push past our comfort zone such as:

“Come on don’t give up now,  you can do it, push a little harder, just finish up these 10 projects THEN you can go to bed.”

At least, I know I have been here; and still can catch myself in my default mode of hyper-drive with a million to-do’s in record time.

So here’s an opportunity for you to shift deeper into most successful self…

When does it make sense to stop pushing from the “long list of to do’s and the drive to be more” and shift gears into being enough?

Is there a trigger that causes you to default into hyper-drive, struggling to achieve what ego wants (versus staying committed to your genius?)

And do you catch yourself doing things from the space of “being driven” that you later realize were a complete departure from your truth?

Here’s what I’ve discovered about myself.

I have a great strength in achieving extraordinary results in record time.

When I was born the doctor told my mother, “This one will survive anything. You’ll never have to worry about her.”

What she should have said is, “This one has been born to push and struggle her whole life in order to achieve her ego’s desire.”

Whoa.

Huge a-ha.

There is a fine line between challenging ourselves to overcome our perceived limitations and creating a life experience of struggle to keep up with what we think we SHOULD have.

I realized that somewhere along the way I graduated from “challenging myself” to a condition of struggling unnecessarily.

I’m not exactly sure when or where I created this pattern but what I do know is that in this New Era of Entrepreneurship struggle does not work!

Struggle stops the flow of inspired action and in essence shuts off our most essential element of success – passion. It moves us away from our genius and into copying others without any real connection to our truth.

Now if you are thinking to yourself, “I don’t get this, I don’t struggle”, then take a minute and really check in. Do you really never struggle? Do you not push yourself ridiculously hard to achieve things you have no real need for anymore? Do you not feel tired and unmotivated but find yourself glued to the computer screen because its still light outside?  What if we redefined “working hours” and only applied inspired action when we were really juiced up?

Just so we are on the same page, I’m not saying we shouldn’t work hard at times. I’m saying there is a HUGE difference between pushing and struggling to achieve something and being in inspired action where our actions are in flow with our genius.

Have the wisdom to know the difference and your big ideas will take off like wild-fire.

So what have you been struggling with? Share it in the comments below…

Amidst the cutting-edge social media and SEO (search engine optimization) techniques that I was learning something very fascinating came out of this mastermind.

And it only came to light in between the intense business building conversations and training sessions.

It was a discussion about why any of us would choose to partner with another to promote their program or offering.

It came down to one word: relationship.

People who have taken years to cultivate trust and a big list won’t just email for anyone – but they will almost always say yes to a friend.

Entrepreneurs who are value-focused aren’t interested in the “you mail for me I’ll mail for you” mentality. They are only interested in what will add more value to the community they have built.

So here’s the dilemma that most of us encounter then:

How do I build these relationships?

If you attend lots of events and are a natural socializer then it’s a bit easier. But even with that kind of personality, it’s taken me ten years to cultivate the powerful relationships with movers and shakers. It took me 18 months on faculty with StomperNet before we all knew enough about each other to have this mastermind meeting.

Even though relationship building can take a while, here is my advice on three ways to get the ball rolling:

1. Shore up your game
Believe it or not, most entrepreneurs have to do some “work” on how they are presenting themselves before big players will want to do business with them. From our mindset to our ethical practices, a savvy affiliate partners will scrutinize you before unleashing your work to their community. It’s important for you to be a person they trust – before you build the relationship.

2. Nurture over the long term
I very rarely promote someone. Trust of the person was the #1 factor for promoting a third party product for every big marketer I’ve ever asked. But trust isn’t built over night – so determine a way to get to know your target partner. From enrolling in their mentoring program to attending the events they are most likely to be at, develop your own partner nurture strategy.

3. Get determinedly unattached
Not everyone will promote you. And sometimes you’ll discover that your “dream partner” actually isn’t so dreamy…and it’s best not to work with them on promotions. I follow a mindset of being determinedly unattached – I focus on getting to know wonderful people that I respect and when appropriate, open up the conversation about how we can promote each other’s programs.

Find out how to access premier JV partners with creative collaborative partnerships this Wednesday at 4 pm PST / 7 pm EST as part of my wealth mentor series.

But what about a big idea?

How is that different from all the other ideas swimming around in your head?

The Big Idea is different.

It’s the idea that energizes you to play a bigger game while tapping into the core of your purpose. It’s probably something very similar to what you have always wanted to do (and started your business to pursue in the first place) but you couldn’t ever figure out how to make money with it. So you dismissed it.
A Big Idea is aligned with what’s important to you – so instead of compromising your freedom or diminishing your bank account the big idea feeds it.
When you launch the big idea it takes your credibility and impact to new heights, positioning you as the thought leader in your industry.

The key is to find the “Big Idea” that is the right one – the one that aligns with what your prospects are craving that you have a fire in your belly to bring to the world. One that isn’t a copy-cat of someone else – it brings your unique genius so it stands out as the only logical choice to the people your serve.

The Big Idea is a game changer. It causes you to shift into being the person you’ve always meant to be – someone who has the confidence to pull off an idea at this level.

Here are some examples of how a few of my clients tapped into their Big Idea:

- A well-known six figure coach wanted to bring her trademarked branding system to more people but didn’t want to coach them all. She felt her lifestyle freedom was shrinking and she deeply desired to have more time to create and recharge. We developed a certification system to train other coaches how to use her branding program. When she launched this level of a program, she skyrocketed her credibility into a new dimension will positioning herself for an additional seven figure income stream.

- A former Fortune 500 market researcher uncovered a way to integrate her research with profiling women entrepreneurs, wrote a book on it and propelled herself from being a best kept secret in the corporate world to a thought leader in the entrepreneurial marketplace (and added a seven figure income in the process.)

- A dating coach who spent hours a day coaching one woman after the next, feeling completely burned out and disenchanted with the job he created for himself, uncovered his client’s most unanswered question – and developed a new line of education materials that brought him over half-a million in new revenue, his dream home and a whole new inspiration!

So what’s the key to uncovering your Big Idea?

1. Liberation. You have to commit to let go of the stories, beliefs, habits and resources that are holding you back from accessing this next level of your evolution.

2. Recharge. In many cases, doing things the way you’ve done them up to now has burned you out or exhausted your spirit. You may need to fuel yourself before you’ll be ready to get fired up again.

3. Hone In. When you learn how to make decisions that are totally in sync with your genius factors and lifestyle priorities, unleashing your big idea will feel easy!

Ready to get your big idea making big money (and impact?) Find out which of the above three elements you need to tackle first. What are your thoughts?

Eventually his impersonation becomes a reality when Steel Dragon invites him to audition and take on the lead singer position. As cool as this sounds (I mean who wouldn’t want to spend a day in the life of their idol), Chris quickly loses himself into the decadence of the rocker band lifestyle.

One day, he wakes up and realizes he’s lost touch with who he really is, and instead has become a carbon copy of his idol, losing himself in the process. His dreams for being a successful singer in his own right are all but gone and he is now a mere imitation of what someone else considers successful. As Chris uncovers the truth about what really goes on behind the scenes, he becomes totally disillusioned; sabotages a performance and reconnects to his path again.

As I’m watching this movie I’m realizing how many people in my industry imitate their idols, creating a business and a life based on their idol’s values rather than their own, and ultimately crash and burn.

Imitation is a horrible business building strategy but one that is actively touted as “the way” to short-cut your path to success.

When you set out to follow the success of another person it’s easy to lose your way and create something that, a) you can’t sustain and b) you down-right hate.

I see it every day. Broke, frustrated, and disillusioned entrepreneurs who turn to me when the thousands of dollars they invested in learning someone else’s cookie-cutter system doesn’t pan out for them.

“What’s wrong with me?”

“Why does it work for them and not for me?”

“What am I missing?”

Imitating the success you THINK the other person has is a major problem.

I hate to break it you but most people in the spotlight keep up a facade. They show you the parts they think fit what you need to know to buy from them.
Even if they are being extraordinarily transparent then you have to assess the second level of imitation – do you truly know what their ENTIRE life is like?

When you follow another person’s path to success you will have to emulate every strategy, mindset and behavior they use to create – and sustain – their success.

When you imitate (and that’s what you are doing when you try to follow someone else’s journey to success) you need to know these two things:

1. Do you REALLY know what their life and business is like?
Most people who make more than six figures work a lot. When you take on a mentor and try to emulate their success, you actually take on their thinking, habits, strategies and decisions on an unconscious level.

Often entrepreneurs see the dollars and the accomplishment and think “I want that!”

But without understanding who that super-star is BEING you may not have all the information you need to take on their particular model.

A successful speaker is on the road at least 250 days a year –if not more.

Someone who makes more than $500,000 a year has to let go, invest in a team and excel at leading others.

An information marketer who is selling programs like hot cakes is working triple digit weeks. (Regardless of what they tell you I promise you they are.)

Before you decide to make your business just like theirs find out what it’s really like to be them – in every aspect of their life.

2. Are you willing to do what they did to create it?
Even when you follow someone’s cookie-cutter system, you’ll have to be willing to do what they did. Most uber-successful business owners have learned how to be really good at marketing, sales and leadership. They’ve had to invest heavily in the right growth strategies such as a stellar team, advertising and product development.

Many highly successful people worked their butts off to create their business and sacrificed other areas of their life like hobbies, family, and self-care to get there. And how do you know that they’re even happy?

If you are following someone else’s model and coming up short, you are trying to mimic their success without emulating their approach on all levels.
And who wants to be a carbon copy of someone else?

That’s why I believe you’ve been missing out on a little secret to creating someone else’s success.

Instead of imitating and creating a copy-cat version of someone else you need to understand how to use the Emulation Technique.

It’s a tiny but highly effective shift that allows you to create, and sustain, the success of ANYONE you desire. The Emulation Technique is the ability to create a long-term sustainable platform based on shared values, lifestyle, priorities and strengths.

When you copy someone else’s system it can overwhelm you.

Emulating allows you to harness the teachings of other successful people while aligning them with your own unique genius factors so you stand out as a thought leader in your industry.

Emulation is a multi-step technique that I teach in The Big idea Incubator that includes:

1. Identifying successful people who SHARE your values, lifestyle priorities and needs.

2. Uncovering the proven approach they used to create AND sustain their successful business

3. Extracting the mindset, habits, decision making strategies and environment of your Success Model Team.

4. Mapping this information into your Unique Genius Factors

Copying creates dissonance, emulating activates an inspiration and fuel that transfers their success strategies into your approach.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about imitating vs. emulating in the comments below.

Heck no! But yet so many people spend hours a day perfecting a strategy in life to “just get by.”

The other day I watched a presentation on “Getting a Front Seat in Life.” The woman (her name is Marilyn) talked about how people choose a seat to live their life from. Her statistics revealed that more than 50% of the people on this planet are sitting in general admission – but she was choosing the front seat – in order to fully live her best life!

As I’m listening to her I’m trying to quiet the noise in my head “Melanie, what does that mean about you since you always sit in the back row?”
I still don’t have the answer to that one but what I do know is that people who choose general admission typically have a “just get by” strategy.
A “Just Get By” strategy is when we go through life just doing enough not to fail – but never playing full out.

When we are just getting by we…

- Rarely follow through on the biggest opportunities (only the safe options we know we can handle.)

- Spend as little as possible on support and resources to grow (I can do it myself better anyway.)

- Convince ourselves we can figure things out on our own (instead of investing in a mentor.)

- Are too busy to implement what is proven to work (so we just get by with the bare minimum.)

- Putting up with situations that are draining our energy (but somehow rationalize why we can’t let it go.)

Well here’s a new possibility for you:

What if you flipped this strategy around and did everything as if you were expecting to fly through the finish line in record time?

How would you focus your time and energy if you were running your business with the intention to get 110% return on investment in everything you do?

What would you invest in yourself through the right mentors if you committed to play full out?

Which core success strategies would you implement this week (or at least this month) if you stepped up your game to the six figure – or maybe even seven figure – level?

Are there some situations you would handle immediately to stop the distractions and start getting the right things done?

If you’ve recently complained you a) don’t have enough time, b) are making enough money or c) have not fully lived your dream or d) have a much bigger impact to make on this planet, you owe it to yourself to eliminate “just getting by” and flip that into playing as if you are running through that finish line!

I’d love to hear what ares of your life you’ll do differently in the comments below: