Experiment: How to see more ‘magic’ with your kids

January 17, 2015 by Yanik Silver

This past summer, we took a road trip with the kids to check out a camp our 9-year old, Zack, was deciding on. I really like windshield time because I make it a point to turn off the radio for some of the journey. I also like this for short rides to school or hockey practice or art lessons. It creates some dialogue because your kids can only stare out the window for so long before they must talk to you.

Now we had 5-hours of drivetime so lots of conversations about all sorts of subject. I brought up the idea of the magic of your imagination and consciously creating your intent. I started by asking the kids what kind of animals they thought we might see on the way up. I got the usual answers like deer or horses. And then Zoe, our 7-year old said, “a dog being walked”. That’s specific. I like it.

We saw deer and horses and then at the next 2 places we stopped, we got the doggies.

Yes, of course, it’s not that crazy to see dogs being walked on rest stops, but it was a start. It got them intrigued and then Missy said she’ll believe it if she sees a penguin!

Now I wasn’t sure we’d see a penguin waddling around in July but I have a cheerful expectancy that something intriguing would happen.

Arriving at camp, the kids are whisked away with other potential campers and sent on a full trial run of all the best parts of camp. And then the parents are sequestered and taken on their own tour to sell them too. We see all the recreational facilities, water sports, full-sized hockey rink and even some wild stuff like zip lines and trapeze set-ups. Wow! I want to go to camp. (As an immigrant child, camp was just never a typical thing so I never got to experience a full-blown sleepaway camp. So I need to do something about that. Look for a big announcement soon on what’s replacing Underground.)

As we entered the art room, I had a feeling I might spot a piece of penguin artwork. I was intent on finding one and I was checking all around the art room, but still no luck. However, my intuition was kinda right. As we kept moving along to check out a cabin, there hung up on a camper’s bunk bed was a picture of a penguin she drew. I snapped this shot while walking through:

Missy looked at the penguin and her jaw dropped.

Of course, you might dismiss this as selective perception, like the way you notice the same make of car after you just bought it. But I’m not that sure here. We only walked into 2 cabins out of dozens on the camp and I doubt artwork lasts a long time since they are continually creating new stuff. Regardless, I’m willing to accept it might have been a coincidence.

On way home the next day we talked again about the magic of our imagination and intention. I brought up the penguin and we started playing the game again.

I said I wanted to see an ‘ice cube’ and then Zoe said a ‘polar bear’. Once again I had no idea how or where it’d show up but I knew it would. About 5 minutes in, I spotted a sign like this:

It said the word ‘ice’ so I thought that was my ice cube and I was (mostly) satisfied.

But we had a lot more road time still to go. The weather was pretty wild and we got everything from perfectly sunny weather to blinding rain and lightning multiple times. Then add in nasty traffic, multiple accidents, re-routed detours and the kids arguing with each other.

What was a 5-hour drive the day before ended up turning into a 7-hour trek home. But beacause of the detour I took, this next moment really blew us away…

I took us off the highway to hit some back roads to get around a big accident and major traffic. Now before we got back on the interstate we came to a corner convenience store. Everyone in the car was ready for a stretch, bathroom break, and maybe a snack so we piled out. And right as I walked towards the entrance I pass an ice machine and do a double-take. I see this on the side of it:

That is a polar bear INSIDE an ice cube!

For me this was a significant synchronicity because it’s a combination of both our thoughts – that’s pretty wild! The interesting thing about synchronicity is there’s just enough potential for it to be explained away. But if it’s a meaningful incident to you – it matters. (The subject of synchronicity that Carl Jung introduced is endlessly fascinating and I was even re-introduced to Jung’s work via a synchronicity.)

The best part is Zoe was definitely impressed and it made a big impression on everyone in the family. So much so that when we created our family values, which we call our ‘13 Silver Keys’, one of them is “Make Magic”. Ths 13 Silver Keys are inspired by Ben Franklin’s 13 weekly virtues and also my friend value-based parenting expert, Richard Eyre. (I’ll probably do another blog post about this topic soon and how we created them together as a family.)

And now every time we get to the ‘Make Magic’ week, I can just say ‘polar bear’ and the kids remember the story and it becomes short-hand for them.
Try this little game with your kids in the car or anyone really, and see how it ‘magically’ shows up in your life.

At the top of this post is a drawing in my journal from one of my favorite Einstein quotes that really sums this up for me:

“There are only two ways to live your life.One is as though nothing is a miracle and the others is as though everything is a miracle.”

And why not?

Wouldn’t you want more awe, wonder and magic in your word? I know I do!

Legendary Legacy with Jordan Guernsey – The Light Inside: Truth in Business, Life and Love

December 9, 2014 by Yanik Silver

My friend Jordan Guernsey passed away on December 8^th. He was 30 years old. Yes, way too young. As Jordan was in very late stages of melanoma, he agreed to this private interview in his home as a way to further his legacy and share some of his insights with the world.

As a Maverick1000 member, together we’ve travelled all over the globe from the Ice hotel in Sweden to helping orphans in Haiti.

The conversations we’ve shared over the years were intensively powerful and enlightening including why he looked at cancer as a gift!!!

After getting the news from his wife, I cried twice yesterday. The first time out of joy, believe it or not, for him opening his eyes in a new way this morning. And I cried again as I re-listened to the interview hearing his answer again to the question of the message he most wanted his kids to know. My heart goes out to his wonderful kids and his loving wife, Paola.

I’ve never actually re-listened in full to any of the interviews I’ve done including some of the biggest icons and business celebrities. It was an emotional outpouring tuning back in to Jordan’s wisdom again. I know after listening or reading the transcript, you can’t help but walk away inspired and changed. On our private page for Maverick members there continues to be an outpouring of stories on how he’s touched so many lives from the deep conversations to incredible fun together.

As the interview finished, the next song in iTunes that ‘randomly’ came on after the was from an album called ‘Light Inside You’. I thought it was appropriate for the name of the interview since Jordan really did have a light inside.

I truly respect him as an entrepreneur but also one of the most beloved men I’ve had the honor of knowing. It was, and still is, my absolute privilege and joy to be able to bring this forth. After my time with Jordan I drew this in my journal from our final conversation.

Please share this with others. I am not copyrighting this work and you are welcome to put it out (but please keep it complete).

https://s3.amazonaws.com/maverickyanik/YanikJordaninterview-AudioOptimized.mp3

Or Download It Directly Here

You can get the transcription here: JordanGuernseyLightInside

Update:

I added a new page from my CosmicJournal.com (feel free to share this page if you like).

15 Year Anniversary “Behind the Scenes” Stories and Special (Part I)

July 21, 2014 by Yanik Silver

This month of July 2014 marks the 15^th year anniversary of being in business on my own.

My father reminded me that this month is also his “Independence day” since that’s the date our family came over to the United States from Russia. (The exact date was July 3, 1976 – pretty cool since it was right before the bi-centennial celebration.)

I thought this would make a really opportune time to share the back story and a couple interesting anecdotes from this journey.

And as a reward, you’ll really get something cool for sticking around. You’ll have a chance to literally pick your own price for some of the best resources & tools that I’ve developed over the last 15 years that have helped so many people. (If you want to skip the walk down memory lane and lessons learned you can fast forward straight to the ‘Pick-your-price’ auction here. But you’ll miss a few funny pics!)

Where it Started…

I still remember the day I left my father’s business 15 years ago to work on my

own. It was by far one of the hardest decisions of my life. You see, I had worked for my dad since I was 12 and he thought I was going to take over the company. I had that same thought as well until I got the “bug”.

In fact, my wife, Missy, reminded me that when she met me, I had only one thought: “how to grow my father’s business”. I would stay late working on new ads and marketing pieces. I was in early, calling my accounts trying to make sales, etc. etc.

Here’s a pic I found of me and the very first team of Med-Electronics:

Looking back, I can see I showed some advertising and marketing promise early-on by creating a private label line of X-ray film called ‘Ultimate’ that we trademarked. It was one of our top sellers for years and years.

However, one of my ‘synchro-destiny’ moments, came when I furnished a surgi-center for one of my doctor clients, Nathan Wei, MD. He’s one of the top osteoporosis doctors in the country and by outfitting his whole office we got to develop a friendship. He shared with me a Jay Abraham cassette (yes, cassette) program. It was all about optimization and using direct response.

It just turned on the lights for me.

I had always been interested in advertising and marketing but this was a whole new level. I would study, read and learn direct response marketing, psychology and copywriting for 2-4 hours per day. It was fascinating to me to see how we could write words and have somebody respond.

I was probably 18 at the time and pretty lucky that I learned early on how powerful this expertise could be. I hated cold-calling and knocking on doors and I figured learning everything I possibly could about copywriting was my ticket out.

As you might imagine – something new is not always greeted with open arms.

I remember handing a new ad I’d written over to my dad for his review. I’d usually get an answer like this in his thick Russian accent, “Who’s going to read all that?”

They did.

And more importantly they bought.

Developing my copywriting skills completely transformed the way we did business from a small, regional supplier to being able to compete nationwide against companies 10x our size. We had figured out exactly how to sell complicated pieces of medical equipment without being face-to-face with the doctors. (BTW – many of the ads I wrote in 1998 and 1999 worked for years and years after I left, responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales.)

Here’s an example of one of those ads from back in the day:

But with every ad I wrote I was getting more and more aggravated.

Not because the ads weren’t producing sales – they were – but because of the grief and politics I had to deal with. Everybody seemed to be an advertising expert even though they’ve never studied or read anything on the subject.

Friction creates a positive change

Looking back that kind of friction was actually positive since it forced me to move towards creating my own ads for something I owned.

My first product was to help Dermatologists who wanted new cosmetic patients. I picked Derms since I had been directly working with one of my clients, Dr. Finzi, to help them with their marketing and advertising. They were seeing some really good results and I realized I had no leverage just doing more consulting. I thought I could package up everything into a big kit (manual, tapes, reports, diskette, etc) to sell.

I had started learning about the world of information marketing from mentors like Dan Kennedy and Ted Nicholas at the time. I had no idea how far and wide ‘publishing’ could take me.

Side note: The really interesting thing is the Universe always provides you clues to your bigger role. When I was 8 or 9, I created a comic book called ‘Big Nose Fred’ with my best-friend Jamie. It was a very crude, early cursor for what lay ahead. And I was able to find this picture of another comic book I created when I was 12.

The Real Start of My Publishing Business

I ran my first ad in April 1998 in Dermatologic Surgery magazine. I don’t think this is the exact one – but pretty close:

I got 10 responses so I sent them the 20-page sales letter I’d written selling this $900 kit. Not one order.

I waited…

Sent out a 2nd notice to those 10 respondents.

Nothing…

Then I sent a 3rd notice telling them the expiration date to get all the bonuses was only 10 days away. Finally on the very last day of the expiration date I got one order

over the fax machine.

Yipeee!!

I still remember that doctor’s name in Flushing, NY. What an incredible feeling. That was the start of my independence. I realized I now had the power to chart my course as I wanted. That first sale. That’s one of the greatest feelings in the world – when something you’ve created is sold. It took me a little over a year after that first order to realize I needed my own thing.

I wanted my freedom and I finally quit on July 1, 1999.

Maybe it’s the new confidence you get when you realize you’ve created something that people want and are willing to exchange money for. That first sale is usually the hardest (but also the most rewarding).

From there my journey has taken me to all sorts of places.

That initial taste of selling information helped me come up with an idea at 3 o’clock in the morning that turned into our top-selling InstantSales Letters® product. Missy told me to go back to bed since entrepreneurs have ideas almost every waking moment. I literally jumped out of bed to work on the site to register the domain.

I really had no tech skills or anything like that and I definitely overpaid to get my sites up and out. (Right now there are so many incredible tools that make doing business online way cheaper.)

Here are daily deposit screenshots back from 2000…

I started all of this in little 1-bedroom apartment. Yes, I know it sounds like infomercial territory already. Sheesh! It’s pretty funny how these small beginnings lead you to a whole different path.

Actually it was a little while after I launched this first site that Missy got laid off. So it made sense to bring her in and we both worked out of that 1-bedroom apartment. (She worked in the bedroom and I was in the living room.)

The cool thing is after all these years – Instant Sales Letters is still selling (not as well as it used to but still get orders). It was my first product that grossed $1M+ in total, cumulative sales. The average selling price was about $40 and I think it took me 3 years or 3 ½ years to hit that number.

Starting with that first million-dollar idea in the middle of the night, I’ve bootstrapped 7 other products and services to hit that 7-figure mark from scratch without funding, taking on debt or even having a real business plan.

An Overnight Success Years & Years in the Making

From that initial success and ongoing ones, other people wanted my help. They wanted to know how I did it.

Well, that turned into a whole different ‘career’ working with so many incredible people and helping them take their passions, knowledge, interests, expertise and message out into the world by selling content & information.

A cartoonist made this for me, that summed up what was going on:

I seemed like an overnight success but not too many people saw the years of studying and learning to get there.

And it was this skill that exponentially helped me figure it out. There aren’t too many shortcuts but with the right instruction copywriting can be…

One of the Biggest Foundations for Everything

Looking back, the key component to making these work was always copywriting. That’s the foundation for everything I put out there. Because if you can write words on paper or a computer screen – you could pretty much assure your success.

I had a little agreement with my buddy John Reese. He said if he’d put on a small workshop with what he knew about traffic and web marketing, I’d put together everything I knew about copywriting.

Well John fulfilled on his end and I was on the hook to do mine.

The price to get in to my specialized workshop was just a tad a under $4000.00 per person. I kept the room super small so I could work with each student and make sure there really was a formula I could teach. Frankly, I’d never worked so hard in my life preparing and putting together material for this event. (Just the manuals from the event weighed in at 39 lbs and were 1527 pages thick!)

Not that many people could actually teach exactly what they do – but I can. (Or more accurately could. I don’t think I could even put on that same workshop today because my literally doing a complete brain dump, I didn’t have to hold onto it anymore. I could move on to bigger things.)

I shared every strategy, tactic and tidbit I knew about writing sales copy that works. And at the time I was into ‘Harry Potter’ and I loved the idea of learning copywriting was the same as magic. It was like the alchemy of turning words into revenue.

I was just starting to theme events and I used a ‘magic’ type theme originally. Unfortunately, that ended up getting me in hot water with a trademark dispute. Instead of sending a ‘cease and desist’ or amicably resolving the name, I got a knock at my door with a lawsuit. Not fun!

Long story short, I ended up settling. I actually think I probably would have won but the only person that really wins in disputes like this are the attorneys. I figured I’d rather spend my energy preparing and working on the event than be bogged down with these hassles.

So the new name was the ‘Ultimate Copywriting Workshop’.

Not as catchy or fun as the previous one – but it explained it well.

Frankly, I was a little bummed walking into the live event because a lot of the profit was actually negated by my settlement. But I knew if the content was really awesome – I’d make it back 100x. It was. And I did.

I truly think this is the ultimate resource and from the rave reviews of people that have seen-it-all in the direct response world they would agree. Like this quote from a 15-year veteran, Ted Thomas:

“Although I’ve attended many expensive seminars and workshops in the recent years, yours was the most profitable!…I’ve been involved in copywriting for the last 15 years and I’m a direct mailer, I’ve learned more at this seminar than I have at any other..”

And here’s what one of my biggest mentors, Dan Kennedy, had to say about me when I trained his audience at his last-ever copywriting workshop:

“…He is the most amazing young guy…His websites are highly effective and profitable thanks to sound direct-response strategy and compelling copy ‘tweaked’ for Internet use.”

How Entrepreneurship Can Be The Ultimate Expression of Love

June 27, 2014 by Yanik Silver

Everybody has heard the advice do what you love and the money will follow, right?

Unfortunately it’s not quite true. In fact, I’ve got a $400,000.00 lesson that I’ll share with you later on. However, running your enterprise from the fullest expression of love can and WILL create the meaningful success that matters. Yes, we’re moving into some slightly uncharted waters combining the words ‘love’ and ‘work’ together but stick with me.

What does the ‘fullest expression of love’ look like?

Like anything and everything it always starts with you. Our responsibility is always on our shoulders first. And looking at the Evolved Enterprise diagram the founder (you) is at the center:

That’s because a business is always a reflection of the leader’s evolution.

Sleep walking

The wild thing is even if someone appears to be successful, they still could very well be existing in a slumbering type of halfhearted state. Frankly, I’ve made a lot of money without totally applying myself fully.

And that’s not because I don’t care about my ventures or customers. If you get the mechanics around delivering exceptional value correct – you will be rewarded. But I think you can take it to another level. I’ve seen it over and over again with individuals seeming to have a great business but they are not fulfilled at a deeper level. They think business is just business and don’t consider how it could be their art. And that’s why so many people start looking for creative (or sometimes self destructive) outlets to compensate for not being totally engaged. Then that lack of energy carries over to your team, your work, and your customers. Truly everything.

I know because I’ve seen it first hand…

About 7 years ago, I made a significant transition. I went from ‘just’ being an Internet marketer teaching and helping others sell their knowledge online to my next evolution. I couldn’t see doing what I was doing for another decade or more. This wasn’t a complete 180. There were still so many parts that were fulfilling in what I was doing and that left clues for a bigger, more expanded version of where I thought I’d like to play.

The idea for Maverick was rolling around in my journal for a long time and it really hit on so many things that lit me up; working with innovative entrepreneurs who not only wanted to grow themselves and their business, but also having a genuine impact in the world – while having some fun in the process. Truly changing the way business is played.

Of course, I could have easily decided to continue doing what I’ve always done and let those ‘golden handcuffs’ get tighter and tighter.

To me, it was almost like an awakening in a sense, and everybody goes through it at their own time and in their own way. The best way to think about this was an example my 6-year old daughter, Zoe provided. She really, really wanted a ‘wiggly’ tooth so bad. She kept checking her teeth but nothing was going on. Then finally she lost her first tooth a few months ago and 4 more followed in quick order.

Everything comes at the right time.

We can either resist this ‘cosmic alarm clock’ or lean into and embrace the transition into something bigger and better.

Granted it’s not always a frictionless transformation. But those thoughts you have of ‘there’s something bigger I could be playing at’ or rationalizing work as just work. Those are all indicators that change is coming. Part of my evolution was truly deciding if I was really committed to what I was building with the Maverick Ecoverse or not. And that commitment was a bit trickier after my personal income took a nosedive sinking about $400,000.00 into the venture before figuring it out.

This is where following what you love becomes a huge double-edged sword by simply and blindly following a passion without an established business model. Plus, if you have a pretty much carte blanche checkbook that doesn’t help either because you continue to throw more and more cash into it instead of thinking of creative solutions. (Yes, this was one of those times I didn’t follow my own advice with Maverick Rule #16 Bootstrap. Having too much capital leads to incredible waste and doing things using conventional means.)

So what happens?

Well you’ll continue getting bonked on the head with increased severity if you don’t figure it out. For me, it took finally selling my Aston Martin to cover payroll in order to make the changes we needed to get profitable. But I’m thankful for those experiences because it forced me to truly decide if the vision for what we were building was worth it or not. And that’s where passion really helps you with perseverance. Of course, you’re going to encounter set-backs and any venture is a zig-zagging process. And it was my love for the bigger mission – and that kept me going to figure out how to make it work.

One of my favorite questions during this period has been, ‘What would you do even if you knew it would fail?’

I believe I heard this from Brene Brown inside her awesome book Daring Greatly. It makes you think if whatever you’re doing is worth your life’s energy or not?

It’s an even better question than one you may have heard before, ‘What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?’ The refined version forces you consider putting in your full heart & soul regardless of the outcome. This is something I’ve been practicing more and more after studying it through one of my favorite recent books The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling by Stephen Cope.

Putting in the work (if it’s from a true place of meaning) is enough reward. Sometimes that concept may be difficult, but if we’re awaiting outside praise or recognition we’re always beholden to it.

So if you can truly awaken from the autopilot nature of where you are – you can start to stir a deeper sense of direction. And that inner guide has the key to what you can be doing to re-invent or re-work your company or yourself.

And at the highest expression is LOVE.

Loving yourself and honoring yourself shows up in many ways. It takes time and it’s an ongoing process. I’ll recommend my friend, Kamal Ravikant’s book, ‘Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It.

It’s a very personal story Kamal took as CEO of a venture-backed company in Silicon Valley and he went from depressed and blackness to fully engaged and living at an optimal level. You’ll have to challenge yourself to do the exercises in here for significant results.

Lately I’m seeing a lot of Maverick members and colleagues in a state of transition. Maybe it’s because I’ve personally gone through this and come out the other side that I’m seeing it more and more. But I’m not so sure that’s why it’s showing up more. It truly feels like accomplished entrepreneurs want to know ‘What’s next?’ And the same thing that got them to where they are now won’t necessarily take them to a higher place. But you can get there by continually expressing your deepest and most honest love for yourself and your gifts. (These are some of my favorite conversations with Maverick1000 members.)

When you’re fully utilizing everything you were designed to do there’s a complete sense of divine inspiration and time stands still. The more you can truly ‘know yourself’ the better you can recognize where your sweet spot is. I’ve taken multiple personal assessment tests and would recommend Wealth Dynamics, StrengthsFinder, Kolbe and even the Enneagram. I don’t know why we’re wired this way, maybe it comes from when you were a kid and brought home your report card with all ‘A’s’ except one ‘C’ and your parents focused on the ‘C’. But for some reason we don’t really focus and develop our strengths that come naturally. Those are the sweet spots that bring more joy and energy into everything we do.

Aligning With Your Shadow

Part of my journey has also been going deeper and exploring my ‘shadow’. This is a Jungian concept for a part that we want to repress and hold back typically from the light. And many times it comes up in all sorts of ways. It could be road rage and yelling at other people in traffic in front of your kids, it could be sexually acting out, it could be continually beating yourself up for not being good enough. One way you can often recognize a shadow is a behavior you see in others that elicits a charged reaction in you that really bothers you.

Essentially, everyone around you can be a mirror for yourself and if there’s something that bothers you – usually it’s because you have this behavior and haven’t acknowledged it. Many times just bringing awareness to your shadow is a fast step forward to integrating it more fully into who you are.

Personally, one of my shadows was recognizing I was not ever giving 100%.

I could see an interesting pattern looking back on my life. For instance in college, I’d go out the night before a big exam, come in late into the lecture hall smelling like bourbon, borrow a pencil and be the first one out. Even with that – I’d still get a solid ‘B’. And with my businesses, I’ve always done well and over-delivered but I’ve never given my everything. If I’m being totally honest, it’s probably because that leaves a little room to justify results if they are not what you hoped for.

As I mentioned before, echoing the Great Work of Your Life book – by putting your full essence behind something, you let go of the outcome because your full effort is reward by itself.

Loving yourself is also about taking care of yourself. One of my very astute friends, Richard Rossi, likes to ask ‘How would you treat a million dollar racehorse?’ Would you feed them junk? Would you let them not get enough rest? Would they get training whenever they felt like it? Or instead, would there be consciousness and intentionality in what you do? Of course there would. And you can probably guess where Richard was going with this – you’re the million-dollar racehorse. Actually I’d bet you’re worth significantly more than a mil.

But how are you treating yourself?

The Daily Return Path to Joy, Happiness and Bliss was part of my experiment to see how I can purposely work on making sure I’m the best I can be each day.

Am I perfect? No, not at all but I know I’m consistently evolving and growing.

Loving yourself fully changes the dynamics of how everyone around you reacts to you too. Because if we’re honoring your authentic vision there’s no time to say ‘Yes’ when you really should be saying ‘No’ to things that don’t support this. So many entrepreneurs I know are wired to be giving but they don’t make space for themselves.

One of my most recent practices to create space for myself has been meditating. So far I’m at 20 minutes per day in the morning. I know quite a few entrepreneurs who meditate and it’s becoming bigger and bigger. In fact, it came up in a big way as I was prepping to interview hip-hop mogul, Russell Simmons for a private Q&A with Russell and a Yoga session for Maverick members.

Russell Simmons sharing success practices on the mat

Going through his latest book, Success through Stillness, the entire work is really devoted to meditation, yoga and a deeper stillness applied to business. I decided to make a commitment right there to try it in my life.

His deep conviction for these pieces helped take his game to a whole new level and really impressed me. (The funny thing is Russell will candidly admit he only started going to yoga to check out hot ladies!) Also, I’d been paying attention to more and more research about the scientific benefits of meditation – so I decided to go for it. I can’t say it’s been a light switch type moment where my world has completely changed, but it’s a practice and one that I look forward to now each day. In these moments of stillness, I feel like I get centered on what’s important and what’s not.

I see working on your own evolution as holographic for your business since we know everything really stems from you as the leader. Meaning a change to ‘you’ creates a change in your business too. It really does work that way.

And it’s this full expression of love that shows up in different facets of your company, team and customers.

Company:

By law, a corporation is its own entity, right? So as an entity (AKA a ‘body’), the analogy would continue that there is a ‘Soul’ inside. It might sound really odd but I think that’s true. Your business can stand for something more and just like we evolve, your business’ purpose can evolve too.

A venture could be created with the purpose of simply maximizing bottom line profit, or it could be upped one level by having a distinctive mission or big ‘Why’. (Though I truly believe they are not mutually exclusive. In the Evolved Enterprise framework your bottom line is actually enhanced by a bigger mission.)

An conscious business is a catalyst to enhance every area of the business starting internally with culture…

Culture:

Regardless if you set an intentional culture or not, there’s always a culture internally within your company.

Your employees could be showing up just for their paycheck at the lowest level of engagement, coming together for the culture one level up or because they truly believe they’re playing a part in something bigger.

And what if your goal as the leader was to help everyone on your team become the fullest expression of themselves? Same as your personal evolution, right? Your company becomes the container and catalyst for growth, learning and complete expression of their gifts & talents. Not everyone is wired to do their own thing but when you can give your team a ‘sandbox’ to build their dreams, they win and you win. Zappos is a well-praised poster child (for good reason) lately for taking their culture of happiness seriously. Just one of the perks there is having a ‘dream manager’ who helps their team figure out their dreams (i.e. owning a house, etc.) and making it happen. That’s huge. Starbucks has just raised their commitment to their team members by reimbursing them for online education.

On our team we start with strengths testing and then through some trial and error help members experiment and move into roles best suited for them. We’re not perfect at this but we’re continually growing. And you can see changes in engagement when people feel they could bring their full selves to work. It makes a big difference.

I’m really proud of this note I got from a Maverick Team Green member just the other day:

“I just want to say thank you for listening to my ideas and giving me the space to grow them. I have never experienced this type of freedom in my job and cannot even begin to express how much it means to me. I am very passionate about working towards positive change in our world. There is nothing I aspire to more than to be in a place where I can really help people. So once again, thank you for giving me the opportunity to realize my dreams. I love Maverick – the team and the members.”

Let’s look at a few other facets…

Sales:

If I’m just selling something without a bigger meaning, I’m simply selling to sell no matter what. But raising the intention up a level is a consultative sale. But still on a whole different level is falling in love with your prospect. And if you’re in love with them that means you could do what’s in your customer’s true best interest. Which sometimes means no sale – but other times it means you must do everything in your power to get them to buy because you know the positive results they’ll have.

If you love your prospect, you would be doing them a disservice to not get them to purchase, right? It’s a subtle but dramatic difference. And if there’s true love with the product or service that also creates a higher-level engagement with your customers/members/clients.

Customers:

On the lowest level of our triangle people are simply getting a need met. Your product or service is their solution so it’s transactional. At the next level there is a community being built with a true identity tied in. (I shared an entire segment on Community Code 2.0: Building Beloved Brand Builders at the last Underground® event.) And finally at the highest level of expanded love, your customers see it as their responsibility to actually ‘convert’ others. Yes, almost evangelical.

Don’t get me wrong about everything I’ve just covered. I think business is already a value driver and server or else it would be out of business, but by truly adding a genuine element of love it could be so much more. It can move from transactional, to transformational or even transcending business as usual. It could be an Evolved Enterprise.

What do you think? What have you seen that reflects a fuller expression of something bigger through business?

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15 Year Anniversary “Behind the Scenes” Stories and Special (Part I)

Where it Started…

Friction creates a positive change

The Real Start of My Publishing Business

I wanted my freedom and I finally quit on July 1, 1999.

An Overnight Success Years & Years in the Making

One of the Biggest Foundations for Everything

How Entrepreneurship Can Be The Ultimate Expression of Love

Change The Way
Business Is Played

Tony Hsieh

Where it Started…

Friction creates a positive change

The Real Start of My Publishing Business

I wanted my freedom and I finally quit on July 1, 1999.

An Overnight Success Years & Years in the Making

One of the Biggest Foundations for Everything

Change The Way Business Is Played

Tony Hsieh

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Change The Way
Business Is Played