Life moves quickly nowadays, meaning you’re probably going to get left behind if you don’t figure out how to perform agile business pivots and life pivots.

Holding on to the old way of doing things is not going to allow you growth in this fast-paced economy. Nor will your family thrive in this fast-paced life.

You need to be able to change gears and pivot quickly in order to survive and thrive. Via @RustyLionAcad

That means that often you may have to hold tight to your vision while completely ditching your strategy. That’s something that we’ve learned to do with both our businesses and families. The mentality has caused us to move our families completely, abandon entire business plans on a single piece of feedback, invest thousands of dollars in growing our team, and more.

You shouldn’t think of a business pivot or life pivot as a failure, though. It should be something you learn from as you correct course. The important thing is to shift course as quickly as possible when you realize that it’s necessary.

In this episode, we’ll guide you on when to and how to perform a business pivot or a life and family pivot. We tell stories from our history when changes were needed for us to thrive, and we made them. We’ll also tell of a few famous business pivots and teach you the lessons to learn from them.

Get ready for a fantastic episode. Go ahead, click play in the player below!

Tune into this episode to hear us talk about business pivots, life pivots and more:

• Why to throw out your business plan and what to replace it with
• Why a strategy should be abandoned more readily than a vision
• The one piece of feedback that changed our business model
• Knowing when to chase after the “new shiny thing”
• The family pivot that moved Bill off a beautiful 50 acres
• The two words you need most often to pivot within a family
• The one thing pivoting and bad golfers have in common
• Three must-dos during a major business pivot or family pivot

Do this next to perform a business pivot or family pivot the right way:

You will feel it when you need to do a business pivot or a family pivot. But can you do it?

Pivoting is all about agility and the ability to hold on to a vision. Our experience and coaching has helped many people do just that. Our free weekly Web training will teach you to keep your business life and personal life moving in the right direction, so pivots, rather than divots, become par for your personal course.

Register now to reserve your spot!

Turning negatives into positives isn’t easy to do when the negatives really, well, suck. In May 2014, Rob Barisoff hit and instantly killed a pedestrian illegally crossing a freeway late at night.

Not knowing what to do, he fled the scene, but ended up spending 100 days incarcerated for his hasty flight.

He says a period of soul-crushing adversity followed. He lost his job and otherwise suffered financially, socially, and mentally. A “palpable cloud” hung over him, but his support network of family and friends helped him gradually dissipate it.

Only 13 months after the incident, he launched his company, Bidsy. The reason?

“I feel like I owed the world because I did take something away,” Rob says. “I need to serve as many people as I possibly can.” The company connects businesses with qualified clients by offering a place online for customers to find contractors who do what they need done.

Spurring him on to create that reality when many people would have given up hope was his father – but in the turning negatives into positives role.

“He showed me exactly what not to do,” Rob says. And that negative was positive inspiration to Rob, just like the adversity he lived through after the pedestrian incident.

So for Rob, one question kept marching through his head as he was losing it all: “How am I going to build this back up?

I couldn’t give up. I have too much to give. @robbarisoff via @RustyLionAcad

Listen to this episode to hear the details of how he accomplished that, some fantastic sales advice, and more.

Tune into this episode to hear Rob Barisoff talk with me about turning negatives into positives and more:

• Using positive psychology and “cybernetic loops” for sales momentum
• The irresistible sales tactics Rob used to close more than 11,000 one-on-one transactions
• Forming a company to connect entrepreneurs with qualified customers
• Using others’ drudgery as inspiration for a life well-lived
• A moment of clarity that changed Rob’s life
• That one time I (Robert) went to jail overnight
• The one thing in Rob’s life that gives him the “overcome mentality”

How to contact Rob Barisoff:

You can reach out to Rob on Twitter, Facebook or by email. You can also follow his company Bidsy on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

Do this next:

A key trait in Lions is the ability to stay positive, and one of the keys to staying positive is feeling in control of your life. We’ve been through it all and host a free live Web training that can help you begin to wrestle down the balance you crave in all the most important areas of your life and business.

Sign up now for 60 minutes that will help you down the road to regaining your positivity!

 

Working from home tends to tempt people to blur the lines between home and office.  Don’t do it!

“When I’m a Dad, I Dad; when I work I work.”

Setting up the right boundaries when you work from home is absolutely imperative if you want to make it work well.

Our team of contributors mostly work from home, and it works well for those who do. However, there are pitfalls to avoid if you want to keep work together and keep your sanity.

Through collective decades of experience working from home, in this episode we share the things you should and shouldn’t do to be productive and happy while working from home.

All this can be done without the distractions a modern office has.

Work is an incredibly distracting place and we’re more productive at home. Via @RustyLionAcad

Push play on the player below and you’ll get the insight you crave to get the cost savings, high productivity, time savings, and flexibility that working from home can provide.

Plus we’ll help you avoid those dirty looks from your loved ones that we got along the way while we figured out the formula.

Tune into this episode to hear us talk about working from home the right way and more:

• The crazy statistic about how many people would prefer to work from home
• The amazing amount of money you can save yourself and your telecommuting employees
• One person who wilted until they blossomed while working from home
• The simple thing I (Robert) took from a Ritz Carlton (with permission) that helps me work more effectively from home
• The one thing my partner had to stop doing to keep his wife from getting mad while working from home
• How to set boundaries between your home and home office

Do this next to work from home the right way:

You struggle working the right amount, whether you work from home or elsewhere. Your boundaries criss-cross and overlap. You don’t know quite how to get work to end and home life to begin.

We’ve got a solution for you. Our free weekly Web training will teach you to keep your business life and personal life separate, giving you the freedom you want to improve your health and relationships.

Register now to reserve your spot!

Curiosity may not be great for felines, but to stay curious is the lifeblood of a good businessman or entrepreneur.

“Curiosity is the key to success.” @JasonHartmanROI via @RustyLionAcad (Tweet this!)

Curiosity drove Jason Hartman to take nine friends to a seminar on real estate investments at age 16. The multiday seminar drew on, and his friends dropped out.

But Jason kept on listening to the end.

He caught the investment bug – and has continued to stay curious ever since.

And that curiosity has served Jason Hartman well. He’s been part of thousands of real estate transactions, spurred more than 5 million downloads of his podcasts, such as The Creating Wealth Show, and has managed to create a life of financial freedom for himself and others.

But too much of anything can be dangerous, and his drive to stay curious sometimes pushes him too much toward the next “shiny object” before he’s done executing on his previous ideas.

When that happens, Jason thinks back on three words of advice he got from his mother: “Finish the job.”

With curiosity and the ability to finish, he says anyone can succeed.

Click play in the player below to find out how, and to get some great wisdom on income-producing real estate investments – Jason’s area of expertise.

Tune into this episode to hear me talk with Jason Hartman about how to stay curious, how to succeed and more:

• Turning trash into treasure as a young entrepreneur
• Why you need to build a better business model
• A fantastic rule of thumb for taking advantage of the most proven asset class in the world
• The one thing that nearly killed his business – and that could kill yours too
• Why it’s a mistake to ignore the fundamentals in your career
• Why life and business should be treated like a priceless violin
• The one treatment, cure, and prevention for nearly everything – even bad attitude

Read these books to stay curious and succeed:

• “Mission: Success!” by Og Mandino
• “Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives” by Dan Millman
• “The Four Purposes of Life: Finding Meaning and Direction in a Changing World” by Dan Millman

Do this next to drive your curiosity further:

If you can’t stay curious about your life and business, chances are you’ll get bored. That leads to an unfulfilled, unbalanced life that you no longer control.

We’ve got the antidote.

Sign up here for our free 60-minute live Web training that will help you keep your curiosity in place for yourself, your business, and even your family life. You can have it all.

Curious?

There’s a fine line between assertive vs. aggressive leadership. While both kinds of leaders usually get what they want, one sows seeds of respect and friendship. The other litters hate and discontent along the way.

I think you can guess which is which.

“Assertiveness isn’t bravado; it’s a quiet confidence in yourself and others.” Via @RustyLionAcad (Tweet this!)

In this episode, my partner Bill and I (Robert) have a discussion about what makes an assertive vs. aggressive leader—and about how only 5 percent of leaders understand the difference well enough to lead assertively instead of aggressively.

Five percent.

That’s 1 in 20 leaders doing it right, and another 19 doing it wrong.

Pretty lame average, leaders.

What are the other 19 doing? Two or three of them—about 15%—lead in a flat-out aggressive way. The rest are either too passive or passive-aggressive.

What style do you use? If you’re among the 15 percent of aggressive leaders out there, you need to hear this episode.

And if you’re one of the 80 percent who are passive or passive-aggressive, you really need to hear this.

To hear more about the difference between an assertive vs. aggressive leader, click play on the player below.

It could make all the difference to your leadership.

Tune into this episode to hear us talk about assertive vs. aggressive leadership and more:

• The one leadership trait that can drag down your business—and your family
• A “minefield” Bill dragged his family through
• The best way to accomplish things as a leader
• The one thing I do that helps me be more assertive each time I talk
• Why you should pose like Rocky before important meetings
• The surprising link between your physiology and your assertive mentality
• The amazing results some have had after listening to our advice

Do this next to resist the temptation to be an aggressive leader—and be assertive instead:

Bill and I learned to be assertive the hard way over time, but we can help shave years off your learning curve. We now know that knowing yourself is the first step to changing your behavior—and our free weekly Web training will teach you exactly that, along with many other things to get your life and business pointed in the right direction.

Register now to reserve your spot! We can only offer limited seats, so act quickly.

At a young age, serial entrepreneur and angel investor Dan Kuschell had to buy his food with food stamps as others obviously looked down on him for it.

His father was laid off from General Motors in Detroit nine separate times. It was demoralizing for the man, and for his son who had to live with him through it. Thing is, Dan’s father never let the hardship deter him from being a great dad.

At a camp for coaches his father hauled Dan to during one of the layoffs, Dan got his first taste of self-improvement between pages detailing plays. He can still picture the binder it came in, and the page that spoke about PMA, or positive mental attitude.

“Winning is 90 percent mental – the rest is physical,” Dan repeats from that page during that episode all these years later.

That was an attitude his persistent father understood. And that page in a sports play binder was a catalyst for the extraordinary life Dan now lives.

His father soon found independence from the volatile GM, and started his own printing business that he asked for Dan to help with. Typesetting with his father ended up being a cherished memory for Dan.

But the bigger lesson was that he needed to control his own destiny, and sooner than his father took control of his.

“You create your future, don’t leave it in someone else’s hands.” @dan_kuschell via @RustyLionAcad

So at age 22, Dan got addicted to entrepreneurship. So addicted that it was costing him heavily at home and in his health. A near-death experience after major health challenges crept up on him helped him change his ways. He says it was like God hit him with a telephone pole upside the head after more subtle warnings.

He drafted his will, fearing he’d leave behind two children and a wife, but instead rebounded to make his happy home part of his happy business.

“It starts at home, then transcends into the business world.” @dan_kuschell via @RustyLionAcad

Dan’s got some great advice on how to make a happy business mirror your happy home. Click play on the player below to get it all from a man who has seen both sides of the issue.

Tune into this episode to hear me talk with Dan Kuschell about making a happy business with a happy family and more:

• The three questions you need to ask yourself often for clarity
• The five questions you should ask yourself and family members nightly for a happy family and happy business life
• Two quotes that helped Dan make a breakthrough toward a happy business and home life
• Having an ELF business instead of a HALF business (HINT: “E” stands for “Easy” and “H” stands for “Hard”)
• Easy rituals to protect your home life and business life
• Dan’s “respectable addiction” and how he managed to quit it

Read these books to help create a happy business and a happy home:

“The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It” by Michael Gerber

“Perfect Day Formula: How to Own the Day and Control Your Life” by Craig Ballantyne

“Content Inc.: How Entrepreneurs Use Content to Build Massive Audiences and Create Radically Successful Businesses” by Joe Pulizzi

“How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk” by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish

Do this next to create a happy business and a happy life:

We’ve been where Dan’s been too. You know what? It’s not worth the time it takes to figure it out. Take our shortcut to a successful family and business life starting with our free 60-minute Web training.

Want to shave years off your learning curve? Click here to register.

Invest in yourself, Lions!

That pretty much sums up what this episode is all about.

Some really smart people in history have known how to invest in themselves well. Like that guy on the $100 bill.

“If a man empties his purse into his head no one can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”- Benjamin Franklin

Most people know that the more educated you are, the more money you make in your lifetime. Easy concept, right?

We’re here to reinforce it in this episode. You need to continue to invest time and effort into yourself long after your formal education has ended. The resulting “you” will be better all-around.

There’s a lot of specific advice to help you in this episode. We cover how it’s often the little ways you invest in yourself that give you the slight edge in life and business, and tell you how to make the most out of your time to be able to invest in yourself in the first place.

“Money markets can tank, but an investment in yourself never has a valley.” Via @RustyLionAcad (Tweet this!)

And since no great project is ever accomplished without a lot of little steps to get there, we’ll teach you how to take those first steps to a better you.

Remember, until you take action, nothing will change for the better in your life. But you can start investing in yourself right now by listening to the episode in the player below.

Your health, wealth, and happiness depend on it.

Tune into this episode to hear Bill talk with me (Robert) about how to invest in yourself and more:

• The magic number of minutes you should spend on yourself each day
• How easy investing in yourself can be—and why people don’t do it
• A daily time investment that will reap huge benefits for business and well-being
• Four reasons to go to conferences
• Three things, beyond reading, that are a time investment in yourself
• Why you need to invest in both your physical and mental health
• The one most transformational habit we encourage in our clients (You can do it, too!)

 

Read this to invest in yourself:

“The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness” by Jeff Olson and John David Mann

Storytelling is so vital that a proverb often attributed to Plato says “Those who tell the stories rule the world.”  

John Livesay is definitely in line with that school of thought. Livesay made a name for himself telling stories through advertising at major publications under the Conde Nast banner.

Years later, John found his calling helping other people tell their own stories more directly as a funding strategist who helps CEOs craft a compelling pitch.

Why stories make you memorable

As an example, he says one man struggled to find a memorable opening before John learned about his rite of passage. The South America-born man was dropped off naked in the Amazon jungle at age 18 to earn his manhood through two weeks of survival.

The man had his opener. Investors remembered him. He got funded.

“People remember your stories, not your numbers.” @John_Livesay via @RustyLionAcad (Tweet this!)

And why is that?

Stories pull people in that you’d otherwise have to push, John says.

Yet no matter how good the storytelling or storyteller, nerves will still ramp up.

“Get the butterflies in your stomach to fly in formation.” @John_Livesay via @RustyLionAcad (Tweet this!)

Listen to this episode to hear about storytelling, some serious secrets to selling, and some other great topics that could help you rule the world.

Tune into this episode to hear John Livesay talk with me about storytelling, selling and more:

• The one key to success and the key to that key
• One vital to-do before pitching your startup
• A list you should make and look at every day
• The three faces of fear and how to overcome them
• The must for facing rejection
• The thing to focus on if you want to win (HINT: it’s not the competition)
• Why storytelling makes you irresistible

Read these to enhance your life and your business:

“Dealstorming: The Secret Weapon That Can Solve Your Toughest Sales Challenges” by Tim Sanders

“The Likeability Factor: How to Boost Your L-Factor and Achieve Your Life's Dreams” by Tim Sanders

How to contact John Livesay:

You can text the word “funding” to 66866 to get a free PDF with three mistakes to avoid when pitching, go to johnlivesay.com, or go to sellingsecretsforfunding.com.

Do this next:

A key part of storytelling is the story you tell yourself. Join our free live Web training on Thursdays that can help you tell a better story to have success in all areas of your life. We’ll see you there!

Imagine an employee tells you to take a hike. Do you think of that as a good thing?

If not, you probably should.

We did a lot of research for this episode and found that the science out there backs up what we already knew: that you’re a better leader if you make time for yourself to get outside.

“Having an employee tell you to take a hike could be the best advice you get as a leader.” Via @RustyLionAcad (Tweet it out!)

But not all outdoor time is created equal, as we found out in our research. In this episode, find out the kinds of outdoor time that will best feed eureka moments into your life.

Trust us, you’ll want these if you’re a business owner or key executive. And then if you follow through, you’ll be happier and more energetic in everything you pursue.

“It takes time to get outdoors but you will reap that exponentially when you get back inside.” Via @RustyLionAcad (Tweet it out!)

Leaders are constantly overwhelmed stressed, and worried. In this episode we’ll give you the prescription to treat all those symptoms.

Get ready for a real recharge on this one.

Tune into this episode to us talk the best, most scientific reasons for a leader to get outside often:

• The top trait leaders see in other leaders
• Why you need to get outside to get more of that trait
• The creativity boost you can expect if you get outside the right way (It’s big!)
• How getting outside acts as medicine for leaders and what symptoms it treats
• Why you should see yourself as a human doing, not a human being
• How often you should hit the wilderness
• The one tip you can use to get outside while you’re working!

Do this next:

A big part of our training for clients at Rusty Lion Academy points men toward a life with more time for getting outdoors and spending time with loved ones. On Thursdays, we host a free Web training that will teach participants how to live the life they want in under 60 minutes. Register now to reserve your spot!

Jordan Goodman understands business leverage better than just about anyone. As a journalist and entrepreneur for over 35 years who knows a lot about the financial and business landscapes, Jordan connects people to direct answers to questions they didn’t know they had.  

Jordan has been a Wall Street correspondent for Money Magazine for 18 years, an analyst for NBC news for nine years and has written 14 books, including one that has sold 3.5 million copies.

He’s spent most of his career building leverage in the business world, and now uses that leverage to accomplish as much good as possible. He calls himself “the arbiter of the financial language,” which is also business leverage that has served him well through the years.

However, most of his business leverage comes via relationships established over time and with a lot of follow up that most people never, well, follow through on.

Business leverage builds on benefitting other businesses while benefitting from other businesses as well. On using everyone’s strengths, including your own, to go faster, higher.

Symbiosis.

“As wonderful as you may be you are limited. With leverage, there is no limits whatsoever to what you can do.” @GoodmanJord via @RustyLionAcad (Tweet it out!)

Listen to the episode in the player below to get more fuel to build your business leverage fire. From there, you just may be able to change the world.

Tune into this episode to hear Jordan Goodman talk with me about building business leverage and more:

• Why “leverage” is the one keyword every business should focus on
• The major financial event of the 1980s that Jordan called
• The key lesson he learned from having a crooked partner
• The one thing that makes life worth living
• What the “payday lending of business” is and why you should avoid it
• A trick to pay off your 30-year mortgage in 7 years
• The one service every debt-laden business owner should know about

Read this to enhance your life and your business:

“MONEY: Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom” by Anthony Robbins

How to contact Jordan Goodman:

You can ask him a financial question or visit his website.

Do this next:

Join our free live Web training on Thursdays that can help you build business leverage as well as keep your family and personal life in check.