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‘Entrepreneurial Mind Set’ Category

Aaron Q&A #3 – How to See Opportunity like the Great Entrepreneurs

Monday, January 14th, 2013

QUESTION – In the book Do Great Things, you share a surprising perspective – that it is possible for the average person to see opportunity others do not see much in the same way that great entrepreneurs have seen opportunity.  Can you elaborate more on that idea?

ANSWER – I have always been fascinated with how the great entrepreneurs have been able to see opportunities that no-one else was able to see, and they have taken advantage of those opportunities by creating a product or service to meet needs that were not being met previously.  Henry Ford, for example, recognized that most of the auto manufacturers were only focused on one segment of the population – the very rich.  When Mr. Ford formed Ford Motor Company there were about 250 auto manufactures.  By 1928, 1 out of every 2 cars in the world was a Ford.  Ray Kroc is another example.  He recognized the changing trends of the population back in the 1950s with the baby boom generation and expansion of the interstate system, and he purchased McDonalds from the McDonald brothers for very little in comparison to what it became worth in a very short period of time as fast food restaurants exploded onto the scene.  Howard Shultz did the same with Starbucks in the 1980s.

Now imagine the amazing potential if you could start to see opportunity in your personal life that others were not seeing.  You could begin to recognize amazing talents in your children or opportunities in your marriage or in your job or ministry.  In the book, Do Great Things, I reveal the process the great entrepreneurs use to see opportunity by demonstrating how to ask the right questions.  The thinking process is built on questions, but most people are not asking the right questions.  Once you are asking the right questions, then you must begin noticing the trends and then seeing the big picture.

I then take the entrepreneurial framework of seeing opportunity and wrap it in a powerful biblical approach.  I demonstrate with amazing examples like Moses, Joseph and Paul.  The ability to see opportunity others do not see can be a life changing approach.

Aaron Speaks on Using Your Uniqueness as an Advantage

Sunday, August 5th, 2012

Aaron Speaks About Burning The Ships

Sunday, August 5th, 2012

Aaron Speaks on Creating Vision and Inspiring Others

Sunday, August 5th, 2012

Aaron Speaks on How to See Opportunity Others Miss

Sunday, July 29th, 2012

Do Great Things Intro Video

Thursday, March 22nd, 2012

Aaron speaks about focusing on the most important

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011

Focus on the most important – Aaron Broyles from Aaron Broyles on Vimeo.

Learn Several Powerful Strategies to Goal Setting (Part 1)

Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

Goal setting can be an invaluable exercise that can literally revolutionize your life for the good.  Most of the great entrepreneurs who have accomplished amazing things have been extremely effective at setting goals.  While goal setting is important, it’s effectiveness can increase exponentially if you practice the steps that I will be outlining in the next several blog posts.  You are about to learn several of the great secrets to effective goal setting.

The first step in the goal setting process is getting specific.  It is imperative that you specifically define what your goal is.  Generic goals are ineffective, because they fail to identify what you are really trying to accomplish.  For example, you might have a goal to be healthy.  If that is as specific as you get, then you really haven’t defined it.  What does healthy mean, especially to you?  A better goal would be, “I am going to increase my health by lowering my blood pressure and cholesterol to xyz levels, and I am going to lose 15 pounds.  You might have a goal to become rich.  Again, this is a very generic goal.  Instead, you could have the following goal, “I will become debt free by paying off my house, car, credit card balance and student loan”.

The specifics outline exactly what you are talking about, and this step forces you to really think about what you want to achieve.

Once you’ve specifically outlined the goal, then you need to burn the image of that goal into your brain by using the strategy of “painting the picture”.  Most people are visual, and it’s amazing how powerful a picture can be.  Imagine you are planning a vacation to Hawaii, and you are trying to select which resort you will stay at.  Would you rather have a written description of the resort or pictures?  While the description is very important to identify the amenities, etc., the pictures are what move you emotionally.

You need to visualize exactly what accomplishing your goal would mean to you.  It’s critical to see it in your mind as if it has already been achieved.  Meditate for a moment on the completion of the goal.  What does it feel like?  Can you see it?  Can you taste it?  Imagine the rush of accomplishing this goal.  Now find a picture that represents the goal.  It can be something cut from a magazine or a picture that you have taken.  This picture should instantly take your mind to the place of accomplishment.  If you have a goal to spend better quality time with your children, then you might consider using a picture of you playing with your children.

Finally, you need to place your picture and goal in a place that you will see it every day.  The daily reminder and visual impact of the goal will keep your focus on the task at hand.  Many people will set goals and then quickly forget in the busyness of their lives.  Painting the picture by itself is not enough.  You have to look at that picture on a daily basis, so that you start internalize the value and importance of the goal.  In the process of reviewing and visualizing your goal, you will start to focus.  Focus is the secret ingredient that actualizes the efficacy of the goal setting process.  As you continually focus on the goal at hand, your mind will commence a process of determining how to achieve it.  In the next blog, we will cover the next essential step – answering the why question, and you will be further equipped to go out and do great things.

Learn the secret to asking powerful questions

Saturday, November 13th, 2010

The questions that you ask yourself on a regular basis can have a profound effect on you.  You are always asking yourself questions, whether you know it or not.  In every situation, your brain is using questions to evaluate what’s happening.  Think about this for a moment and see if it is true.  If you are in a dangerous situation, what are you saying to yourself?  Am I going to be alright?  Should I run?  Should I fight?  What’s going to happen next?

As we ask ourselves questions, our brain operates like a super human computer designed to deliver an answer.  God provided us with this mechanism, and it is the means for how we evaluate things.

We use questions to evaluate situations and circumstances.  The problem is when we start asking ourselves bad questions that inflict damage instead of empowering us.

You might be asking yourself questions like the following:

-Why do I always screw everything up?

-Why do people hate me?

-Why am I so stupid?

-Why can’t I be successful?

As you ask yourself these disempowering questions, your brain is programmed to deliver answers.  Of course you will not receive very empowering answers when you are asking questions like the ones above.  If you ask the wrong question, you get the wrong answer.  Many of these limiting questions carry an implied meaning in the very nature of the question itself.

For example, “why do people hate me?” presupposes that people hate you.  You have already assumed that people hate you.   You are now simply asking why that is the case.  That’s a terrible question to ask.  Your brain may provide an answer that’s damaging, because it’s presupposing that people hate you and there must be a reason for it.

I challenge you to start asking empowering questions.  If you ask yourself the right question, your brain will go to work and provide an answer.  A powerful, creative question will yield a powerful, creative answer.

For example, instead of asking why people hate you, you could ask the following questions:

-What things could I be doing to make new friends?

-What can I do to be a better friend?

-How can I become a person that attracts good friends?

Think about those questions for a moment.  Do you see the difference?  These questions have the potential to empower you and put your mind in a position to provide an answer that gives you real options.  Your brain will go to work and it will provide answers that you never thought possible.

Take a moment and list three questions that you are asking yourself right now that are disempowering.  Once you list those questions, I want you to determine how those questions are affecting you?  How are they limiting you?  How are they damaging you?

Now I would like you to create three questions that will empower you.  Once you create these questions, I want you to start asking yourself these questions every day.

Below are some examples of great questions that you could be asking yourself:

-How can I build my relationship with God in a way that is exciting and fresh?

-What can I do to become a better husband/wife/father/mother/friend?

-What can I do to get into shape and also have fun at the same time?

-What things could I be doing to be a more effective employee/manager/boss/entrepreneur?

-What things could I start doing to enjoy the process of learning?

-How could I change my life to become more disciplined and hard-working while still being   spontaneous and exciting?

Now it’s your turn.  Start creating amazing and powerful questions that you can ask yourself.  Remember that the more creative questions will yield the most creative results. I have personally found this process to be surprising.  My mind has generated some amazing responses to some well-designed questions.  I use this process on a regular basis in my businesses.  As an entrepreneur, you have to create options and solutions that are outside the box of conventional thinking.  Why not use this same approach in your personal life?  It will create an environment for you to do great things.

Learn one of the best kept secrets to success – delayed gratification

Saturday, October 30th, 2010

One common thread among great entrepreneurs and successful people is the idea of delayed gratification.  Delayed gratification means that you are willing to make a sacrifice now for something great in the future.  Unfortunately in today’s “fast food” society, we want everything now, not later.  As a result, future opportunities are short circuited and squandered away.

The best example of delayed gratification is revealed in a study known as The Stanford Marshmallow Study”.  Michael Mischel, a Stanford psychology researcher, performed a study that began in the 1960s with four year olds and marshmallows.  Four year old children were given one marshmallow.  Did I mention that these children were also very hungry?  The children were given two options.  They could eat the one marshmallow now or if they waited for 15 or so minutes until the researcher returned, they could have a second marshmallow only if they did not eat the first one.

This study revealed some very interesting results.  About one-third of the children devoured the marshmallow as soon as the researcher left the room.  Other children were able to wait a little longer before succumbing to the pressure.  The remaining one-third of the children waited 15 minutes or longer until the researcher returned without eating their one marshmallow.  The longer term results of this study are very telling.

The children that were able to view the longer term gain of two marshmallows while enduring the immediate pain of not eating the one marshmallow in front of them in the heat of the moment went on to experience a greater amount of success in their lives.

After the children graduated high school, the group that waited for the second marshmallow was more positive, self-motivating, and persistent in the face of trials and so on.  These children had the habits of successful people and those habits translated into better health, higher salaries, and better marriages.

Which group do you fall into right now?  If you are currently devouring your marshmallows the second they hit your plate, there’s good news.  You have the ability to alter your approach in this area of your life, but it involves sacrifice.  Sacrifice is a word that makes most people cringe, but I promise you that with great sacrifice, there is great reward.

Take a few minutes and identify two areas in your life where you lack discipline, and then ask yourself what needs to change.  Are you spending more money than you make right now?  Are you watching television in the evenings instead of spending quality time with your spouse or children?  Are you not giving your employer or business everything you’ve got when you’re at work?  Are you spending time reading the bible and praying?  Is the treadmill getting lonely at your house?  Think about it for a moment.  Once you identify those two areas that need to change, then go and do it.  Don’t worry about making big changes at first.  Start small and build incrementally.

The great entrepreneurs almost always delay present benefits for a future benefit by committing to hard work now.  Learn from them, and apply this principle in your own life.  Take action today.  Delay gratification.  Procrastinate on another day.  Step up and make it happen.  You will position yourself to do great things in the future, and the gratification will eventually come.  Trust me.