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The Power of Personality Type with Jessica Butts

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Want to know how to transform your life and business?

Learn what is perhaps the most powerful and most under used secret to growing your business – THE REAL YOU!!

Listen to this episode to be empowered today to release the real you into your business.  You will be amazed to see how dynamically this transforms your business.

Learn the Power of Personality Type

So often we become convinced that we are not good enough, or that if people knew the real us they wouldn’t like us. This negative self-image IS NOT the truth. The uniquely brilliant you is just what the world needs.  We are going to show you how! Today host Steve Kidd is talking with Psychotherapist, Coach, Hypnotherapist and Myers-Briggs Speaker/Trainer Jessica Butts. Jessica will share the importance of being who you really are.

  • Listen in to learn your specific personality type.
  • Discover how you can bring the best of who you are into your business.
  • Find the answer for how to make use of your personality and let it shine in your business.
  • Discover what being the authentic you can mean to your business.
  • Find out how maximizing the true you will empower growth in your company.

Be empowered today to take your business to the next level by allowing your personality to shine and transform how you approach your life and business.

Check Out Entrepreneur Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Steve Kidd on BlogTalkRadio

Show Transcript

 

Steve Kidd:    Hi, this is Steve, thanks so much to all of you who have being listening over the past week to our first episode and welcome to all of you who this is the first time you tune into us.  I’m so excited to be doing this show and I’m really excited today to be talking to you about perhaps what is one of the most insightful hidden secrets in growing your business and that’s been yourself.  I think sometimes we don’t understand how uniquely wonderful we are and how much the world needs to you.  You will be amazed today to find out how much your business will transformed and grow when you know and accept your personality type and release the real you into your business.

I’m honored today to be join by Psycho-therapist, Teacher, Speaker, Myers Briggs Trainer; Jessica Butts

Steve Kidd:    Hi, Jessica

Jessica Butts: Hi, Steve I’m super excited to be here with you.  Great intro too

Steve Kidd:    Oh, well thank you

Jessica Butts: Yeah,

Steve Kidd:    we have really looking forward for this, I was even telling Kathy about this couple days ago, when we very first was talking about doing radio shows.  This was the first one that came into my mind.  I was thinking about this.  It’s amazing to me how people personalities come together.  If you could just start us off by telling us a little bit about you and the importance of the person’s personality in the life of their business.

Jessica Butts: Yeah, you bet it such a humongous topic, I literally spend my life talking about and I’m crazy passionate about it.  A few years ago I discovered a problem.  I’m a massive reader and a self development expert, Psychotherapist and really have transformed my life and now my work is to help people transform their life.  In all of my reading and my research.  They said the 10,000hrs you have put in I realized there’s a problem out there.  That everyone the great authors of the world, even Oprah’s and the Brown’s and all of those people that I’m absolutely involved with.  There’s been this problem I discovered, they tell you to go figure out your unique brilliance, go figure out the things that you are amazing at and then go do them.  When I was reading and before I understood type I didn’t know what that was and I also see in other type of persons that we all want that, but we don’t really understand what that mean.  What is our unique brilliance?  What are things that we shouldn’t be spending so much time?  Where should we be putting all our energy and where should we not put our energy?  So in all of that through my schooling, through working with countless clients through the years and also been a ‘Type Expert’. I really created my own version of understanding your Unique Brilliance, I have called it. ‘Live your life from the front seat.’  Anybody wants more information on this they could go to ‘liveyoulifefromthefrontseat.com’ and it just a system, kind of a method to help people understand the Myers Briggs tool a little bit better, because another problem I discovered that people forget.  They don’t understand it.  There are all these letters that people forget I’m I an E or I and they forget the way how they go together and to me that’s ashamed, because it is one of the best tool out there for all of us to figure out who we really are.  Whether it is our life, business, relationship, it is of our utmost importance to figure it out.  So with those two problems out there I really put this system together for people just have a funny and unique way of understanding their personality type, so that they remembered it and they can have language around it, so that it usable and funny.  You can use it with your kid, you can use it at work, you can use at different aspect of your life.  Again some people are actually using it.

 

Steve Kidd:    Do you find that there are a lot of people are surprised by the personality they have or didn’t even know what’s their personality type is?

Jessica Butts: most people don’t really know their type and if they do know their type so they understand it. In my experience some people have interaction with their type, whether they taken it in the military, in a job, in college, someone always seem to have taken it.  It’s again the shame and the problem that I’ve seen out there they don’t even get it.  They were told these four letter words they don’t remember and they don’t understand what it means.  The point of taking it is to understand what it means so it can help guide your life.  Because all type C is innate meaning we were born this way I know you and I are both Christians and we believed we were created by God as we are created by God we were given a personality type.  You and I came out of the womb with our type.  Lady Gaga says we were born this way.  Been able to live your life the way we were literally created to live our life is a very, very powerful thing and so it so much more with understanding these letters because all 4 different dichotomy that Myers Briggs talk about and then there is 16 different type and there was all different type of information that people again, I think find incredibly validating, so once they actually understand it and they not given this information or given these 4 letters.  There is actually so much you can do with it and the part of it is living your life from the front seat.  So to answer your question, yes I think that most people have had some experience with it but in my experience, very, very few probably less than 10% of the population actually understand what it means and to me, it an incredible shame and so again that why I develop this tool for people to understand it and once they do. I find that they are not shocked by it.  In fact probably 100% of the time it’s validating.  It’s one of those feelings that you have when someone tells you something that you’ve known about yourself that you know really long time, but society need to beat it out of you or your family or your school or whatever that told you that you’re not supposed to be a certain way and when going through your type. Then really walking through this chronology that I’ve come up with people validated. I would say majority of the time there’s tears involved, because it’s an intense validation, I’m not crazy. I am normal, all of these feelings that I have about myself are the things that I’ve known that I’m really good at.  It feels good to be validated and that is one of the joys of doing this work.  It makes me a little teary to just thinking about it, just walking the people I get to work with having that validation and how that feeling of oh my gosh is who I am, this is how I suppose to be living my life and there is no greater satisfaction for me.  The world has seen people realized that and then start living their lives from that place.

Steve Kidd:    I can totally understand, I think especially I have some personal experience with this because I happen to be married to an introvert and I’m an extrovert , which basically mean I like to be around people and she just stay home.  I watched her go through the transformation, the cause on a person’s life when you realized being introverted which is different from what you have to be outside in the world.  You know it’s not some kind of craziness.  It’s actually just who you are and that ok too.  It is so much fun to watch her give herself permission to like who the way she is.  Rather than feeling like something must be wrong cause I’m not out there like other people are.

 

Jessica Butts:  Your wife and I have done amazing work together too on her personality type and so the two areas that you’re talking about speak specifically to the introvert that she experience with.  I don’t write the rules but we live in an extroverted world.  Our world is designed to validate and reward extroversion and so there are a lot of feelings that introvert have. That they suppose to and be a certain way and there’s a lot of shame and guilt of what’s wrong with me kind of feeling and reality is there is absolutely nothing wrong with you.  When I talk about this we do a lot of apologizing, we labeled people and we feel that something wrong with us instead of learning our type, really understanding the nuance of who we really are so that I can feel validating and feel normal and feel ok to embrace who we are and Kathy is a great example of somebody who’s done that in two different areas, one, her introversion and second, her intuitive- typeness. I’m guessing a lot of our listeners have listen my show I’ve done here in Seattle too our Intuitive type being able to embraced that is a challenge to our Society something I want to talk a little more of.

Steve Kidd:    let’s make a note of that we are going to talk in the next segment mainly about the different types and especially about being intuitive, but going into that if you could just give us 30 seconds definition of what does it mean to be intuitive?

Jessica Butts: Intuitive-typeness that psychonomy we sensing an intuition about how we take in information, so sensor take in information via their 5 senses and intuitive type take information from the world via their 6th sense.  Got a hunch or speculation about something   the interesting part about this is the division of the population.  75% of the population is sensor and 25% is the intuitive types, which is fascinating in itself.  It factors in greatly of how intuitive types feel about themselves and the world and again I think it’s something helpful to talk to the listeners about today.

Steve Kidd: Great, let’s talk about that so people can how do I use my personality.  I got these four letters, but how does that work especially if I’m thinking about how do I run my business, what do I do? Do I just run and slap these four letters on my home page and then everybody would know how to do business with me?  So what we do right after the break we come back and talk specifically what these letters mean and how can I use them so I can really be who I was created to be.  You know I like to use the example and I admit it freely I stole it from T.D. Jakes, he talks about the fact that we are so uniquely special that actually it was in the exact microseconds that our conception happened.  That it is the only way for us to have been conceived and if it had been any other people any other moment in time you wouldn’t existed and he said point blank that God is so in having us exist that was foremost above and beyond who our parents were the circumstances of our lives or any kind of those things I think when we take how unique we are in the world it could happen in that finite of a time frame.  It really can expect us to accept ourselves and then really empower ourselves to really step out in the world and be that all we are as opposed to what the world tells us or other people had told us who we should be.  We are going to break and when we come back we talk more with Jessica about how we can be the best us we can possibly be.

We are here with Jessica Butts and we are here to talk about the personality types and how uniquely special you are and how to uniquely bring out the personality of your uniqueness.

Welcome back Jessica

Jessica Butts   thanks so much, fabulous conversation, one I literally cannot f=get enough of.  It’s wonderful, thank you.

Steve Kidd     you’re welcome.  We were talking in the last segment about your personality, how uniquely special you are.  I’ll like you to dive into that it’s not just 4 letters or name tag or something.  What is the importance AND HOW DO YOU KNOW YOURS?

Jessica Butts   that is a great question and unfortunately not enough time to answer on this show.  Let me make it an opportunity for listeners on my website, I have 7 videos, go to my website on buster.com enter your information there and you get the videos to figure out your self assessment.  What it does is to walk through the four different areas. It’s very important to know what your preference is for the 4 dichotomy.  The 4 dichotomy are introversion and extroversion, sensing and intuition, thinking and feeling and judging and perceiving.  The reason it’s so vitally important to figure out in the beginning it’s not only each dichotomy of itself.  Fascinating in our life, business and relationship, but then from there it helps to figure out our whole 16 model types and figure out our car.  The car thing I’m talking about how to live your life in the front seat, then the back are areas in your life you want to avoid.  Before we jump into that let me give you a little background about what this is.  The 4 dichotomy are Myer Briggs way of talking about 4 functional areas in our live

Introversion and Extroversion is how we get our best energy and give our best energy.  You have mentioned earlier you’re an extrovert and you really give and get your best energy from being out in the world.  There is so much more to it but in the limited time that we have.  We need to go through quickly, but if you want more information there are tones of information on my website.  Introvert on the other hand they get and give energy from been by themselves.  It retards them to be alone and I’m sure being married to Kathy you two experiences this type of dichotomy and it’s not about necessarily pathologising each other.  Just literally understanding we are all different and then how we go about managing this in our lives, business and relationship.  For business owners out there knowing that you are an extrovert that gives you energy and if you sit down all day and your self employed and you’re not interacting with anybody you’re in your own office, you’re working on books or whatever that is not good for your energy, that is actually going to suck your energy.  You and I, Steve we actually get energy from being with our client.  On the other hand, Kathy for her, that more of energy drains, she actually gets energy from sitting behind her computer and doing research and working on tax, working on things which she could be alone.  Work on things inside her head.

You and I are more external processors, if you’re thinking about business and your energy you have to be aware of your personality types that you can give not only your best self to your business but also give your best self to yourself that your energy can keep maintained.  When introvert are giving too much to the world and to the business, it exhorts them.  When extroverts are spending too much time alone the reverse is true.

The next dichotomy is about sensor and intuition, the last time we talk about interesting impulsiveness, so I won’t go through that in as much details as before.  This is all about how we take in information and 75% of the population takes in information in a very factual concrete literal way via their 5 senses, meaning if they can touch, taste, feel, hear and see it’s a fact.  Therefore, our world is really designed to be reward and set up for these kinds of people, since the population is so skewed in that area.  School and businesses are really designed against 4 sensors.  Intuitive types on the other hand I called them the ‘woo-woo’ people.  They are the ones who have their heads in the cloud a little bit; they are little out there, and they very interpersonal development always thinking about what’s next.  I called them ‘what ifer’s.

Hey, honey what if we move to Costa Rica or sell pineapples at the side of the road; what if we move to Paris for the year or the kids studying abroad. What if we went to Iceland for the winter or whatever?  There’s always the need to be doing something outside the box.  Where Sensors is really great at living in the moment, the greatest at working 9-5 job, the greatest at day to day routine of living life.  For Intuitive type, actually painful because they always planned for the future, always thinking about what next.  How do I get out of this 9-5 job?  How do I design my life outside of the box?  In relationship there can be a struggle.  I was married for 20 years to a very strong sensing type and I’m a very strong intuitive type and it was a battle for us for a number of years.  He and I are still friends, we had dinner the other night and I’m putting up book from the front seat live your live from the front seat.  I was telling him, how it’s going to be full color.  How I want the experience to be for the readers and I described the theme and energy of the book.  Intuitive type think very big picture and they can see concepts of things before even the details.  The very question he asked me and all Sensors can understand ‘Was that taken from the Revenue?  If I was married to him I would probably be pissed, I just laugh and say oh, honey this is why we are so different.  It doesn’t mean you have to get divorced, please understand. Not exactly why we get divorced.  It such a different perception to him facts didn’t make sense, from a revenue.  From his standpoint, he was saying I don’t understand why you would do that.  You’re writing a book to put your message across not to make money and I’m thinking not really.  I want this to be an experience for the readers; I would pick up a book like that.  I want a full color beautiful piece of all kind of work with amazing content.  I thought what a perfect example this is, kind of different mindset of how we take in information.  Sensory they take up a book they want to see black and white word to teach them the fact.

Intuitive type wants to take up a book and have an experience with the book.  Neither one is right or wrong, but if you are running a business, you need to know who your target audience is and be speaking to them.  For me, my target audience is intuitive type and yes people say to me or you seriously limiting yourself from 75% of the population and my answer is yes, I guess I am.  Because I know who my target audience is and so for those of you who are listening about Striving Entrepreneurs, you need to know who your target audience is and be speaking to those people.  I’m not speaking to the Sensor type, but not typically to be honestly they are not energetically drawn to me either.  My clients are drawn to my energy as well as my books, drawn to my coaching programs.

In fact I’ve designed a group coach program for just Intuitive type people because we are so left out in the world, so misunderstood that we need a place to be able to be together  to talk about our live, talk about our relationship and our businesses.  In 2015, I’ve got this Intuitive type group, so again we got a place to come together.  Most of us like myself like you and Kathy too grow up kind of feel like weirdo.  In fact my mother still don’t get me, she says why are you doing this, why are you writing a book, why does your book have to be in color?  Why are you coaching? Why don’t you just be a therapist?  Why, why?  I don’t have to explain it.  I want to just be able to be and I know that 25% of the population feel very much like me and so I want our community to come together to strive for one another.

Steve Kidd     that’s great I really appreciate, you saying that.  We were just talking last week when we were talking to an expert about the fact that niche makes rich, being focus is actually good for your business and so often as entrepreneurs; we don’t want to leave anybody out.  We actually discovered that last week by trying to be all things to all people.  We actually end up to be nothing to nobody.

Jessica Butts   I completely agree, cause then people can resonate with you.  For those of you out there writing your website copy, how you’re talking to your niches.

Steve Kidd     we’ve been talking about the personality types.  We talk about the difference between an Introvert and an Extrovert and Intuitive and Sensing people.

Break

Steve Kidd     this is Steve, welcome back.  We’ve been talking about you’re e personality type, how to transform your business through unleashing the secret power of bringing the real you to your business.  I’m joined with Jessica Buttss; she has been sharing some great stuff with us.  A lot of time we get lost in the different letters that the important things for Entrepreneur are to know that we have to bring ourselves.  What you do in business and what you bring to the world is so uniquely special and so important that it needs to be out there, that you need to share you to the world.  I encouraged you as an entrepreneur embraced who you are then bring that out to the world share that with people and let your business be out there and that’s a whole concept of thriving to be an entrepreneur.  You are sharing the best part of you with the rest of the world.

Jessica lets jump back in the letters we were talking about introvert versus extrovert, intuitive versus sensing people.  Tell us about the other type and what that means to us?

 

Jessica Butts   the two more dichotomy that are all more important to for all areas of your life again is your life, business and relationship and those are exactly what you are saying, thinking, feeling and judging and perceiving.  So far we have talked and extrovert, sensing and intuition.  The third dichotomy, now that we are taking in all of this information and we know where we give and get.  Think and feeling dichotomy we make decisions, so thinkers over emphasize this incredible.  Thinkers make decisions with their head and Feelers make decisions with their heart.  You bring information to people and they have a preferred way or a preference to go about how to make their decisions.  Thinkers know the facts in personal decision makers.  They are not impersonal people but they do not make decisions with their hearts.  Feelers on the other hand they make decisions circumstantially the facts are not all that important cause they consider their feelings and everybody else feelings.  This can obviously be a big issue intimate relationships as well as work relationship because it can seem again impersonal.  It can seem ridiculous to thinkers.  Feelers make decisions with their heart in their business.  This is the area a lot of people struggle with, why can you just make decisions based on the facts, why can’t we do certain things or why don’t we do certain thing.  My philosophy is don’t do things that you’re not good at.  Don’t do things that you suck at.  For me to go about making decisions where my head is not who I am based on my energy to go to sit around and do things that I’m not good at.  Have other people in your life to help you with that.

Get a great Business Coach, get a book keeper or an accountability partner or whatever it is to help you in the areas that you are not good at.  Being well rounded is a thing in the 80’s and I disagree with that.  I say do the things you’re really good at.  Life is too short for we to sit on the things we were not designed to do.  We are designed a certain way.  If we are spending energy trying to do the things from our back seat that is not going to happen.

Let’s finished the dichotomy so we can talk about this car.  Its funny all of them are my favorite, but judging and perceiving is my favorite.  This is all, Steve how we are in the world.  If everybody who is listening could place themselves in the world; this is how we like our world organized and how we like to be organized in the world.  I don’t know how Myers Briggs came up with the world but all the other ones seem to make sense except these two.  It’s called J&P because judging and perceiving makes no sense.  J likes their world organized, decisive decisions makers.  They don’t like things hanging out there.  They are planners, they have calendars, they are organized.  It’s easier for them to get things done because they like things round up.  P,’s on the other hand much go with the flow, they are more undaunted by surprise, very spontaneous, they can really live their life kind of going with the flow.  Js’ are not so good at going with the flow like things more organized makes them actually stressed out.  Gets uncomfortable when things are not decided upon.  The reason it’s not for me cause it causes many conflict in relationships and business.  Those people show up 5 minutes late for a meeting and thinks nothing of it. Just like whatever, that drives Js’ crazy.  Js’ are very work then play people.  Ps’ are play and work; they kind of do things at the same time where Js’ would say let’s get the work done and then we’ll play.  Js are excellent coaches and accountability partners; because they are organized and structured they just have that mind set.

Ps’ are really great at helping people see the big picture and kind of going with the flow and white boarding things and mapping things out for people.  They have a great vision of that and so now that we understand these four dichotomies.  Where you go from there, in fact each dichotomy is very fascinating.  If you want more information your whole type 16 of those, there’s a timetable on my website jessicabutt.com.  You can pull up your whole type if you’re interested in doing that and then reading your entire whole type.  It gives you many details, because an ENFP looks more important than an ENFJ.  Only one letter would make a huge difference in your personality type.  Understanding that is the next step before you moving in the car.

This is an appropriate time to jump in the ‘chronology’ I come up with.

Steve Kidd     absolutely, talk to us about the car, I’m really interesting to know about the back seat.  To tell us a little bit about not doing what we suck at.  I love that word ‘I may steal that one from you’.  I’m totally using that one in my coaching practice now.

Jessica Butts   We stuck in our back seat, I believe we live in a society that tell us we are not suppose to suck at stuff and the reality is we all have a back seat.  Just a reality I have it, you have it, Kathy has it, and every listener has it.  Once you think you know your whole letter type, you can fill it in my car.  They way I came up with the car is its good it’s a methodology its, an inferior type.  I love them but I don’t think they do a great job describing it in a language in a framework that people can understand.  It kind of by accident I was doing a workshop.  Probably 5 years ago and I realized I needed a way to explained to people so they understood it and somehow this idea of a car pop in my head then it really been growing in this idea of living your life in the front seat.  What is it that your front seat imagines yourself driving across the country and there are 4 passengers in the car?  The two people in the front are the driver and the co-pilot, your driver is in charge of your car.  They see the directions where you are going they are inside the car, they decide how fast to go, turning and they have a vision of where you’re going.  You’re driver is literally your best self.  If you are an extrovert you’re driver is an extrovert, if you are an introvert your driver is an introvert meaning that is what the world is seeing of you, that is your best self.  Your co-pilot is you’re second best self, this co-pilot is really important.  You need somebody there to keep your company.  You need somebody there to change the music, talk to you and Google mapping telling you where you going.  It’s really kind of your wing man in your life.  If your extrovert, this person is introverted and if your introvert this person is extroverted.  It’s balance.  These are the two best parts of yourself and in my opinion; you need to be spending at least 80% of your time.  Your authenticity, this is your God-given talent.  These are the things you should be doing your two people in your front seat cannot trust it enough.  This is where most people tend to get a little emotional sometimes.  A lot of people are not spending their life from the front seat; they are spending their time in the back seat.  Because they are beaten down by their family of origin, being beaten down by society for whatever reason they are not living their life from this authentic place.  This place of innateness and how we are designed in the world and so they are sucking their energy.

People in business often say to me ‘I don’t know why I’m not attracting my ideal clients’; most of the time is because you’re not living your life from the front seat.  If you’re trying to be something you’re not.

 

Steve Kidd     we going to talk about our back seat, the things we going try to avoid in our life and business.  These are really important people in the car and often times bring a little tear. They realized this is where they are spending majority of times.  I want most people not been spending their time right here

Let’s talk about these two passengers in the back seat are kind of funny, I don’t know where I came up with this stuff.  But this is my definition with these two people we all know these are the driver and the co-pilot are having a great time.  There are two kinds of people in the back seat they are your drunk Uncle and a baby in the back seat.  This drunk Uncle is kind of in reference to unfortunately we have these persons in our life who is passed out and they are not just asleep in the back seat.  They literally passed out.  Unfortunately some of us being drunk in our past lives and know the difference between sleep and passed out.  This is an analogy for the part of our personality type that is kind of for the drunk person and we need to leave them asleep, we need to let this type of personality just being drunk being in the back seat and past out.  It is the stuff, in our lives and business that we are the worst for me this is a detail.  Doing my books is a detail kind of thing, I’ve learnt and I hire people to do those kinds of things for me because it is literally I’m drunk trying to do my books.  If I sit down to do quick book, everybody can imagine, you don’t do your best work when you’re drunk, obviously and it literally like doing that part of your business being in a fight or being in that place in your life where you’re drunk and my believe is that people just leave that drunk Uncle in the back seat and let him passed out and just.  We have some things that we are not good at, everybody need to figure out what that it.  You do not want a drunk person running any part of your life and that kind of person in the backseat kind of dreaded baby in the backseat.  Babies are usually either asleep or they awake and screaming and yelling.  Babies are also very immature.  They are underdeveloped they literally have no communication skills.  We love them they are cute and cuddly but in this case they are not a good thing.  Because it is this part of our personality type shows up like a baby would show up.

Steve, when we are stressed out our back is against the wall, we all being there ‘I certainly know I have’ and we taking a deep breath and life is just throwing a curve ball at you.  The person in the car who wakes up and takes over is the baby.

If our driver in the car is an extrovert meaning our best self is out, giving to the world.  Showing compassion and we’re being out in the world.  Our babies that wakes up quiet, here she is quiet and revert from life and shut down not in a good way, doesn’t answer the phone doesn’t communicate, just lock off into a room doesn’t want to work, doesn’t want to do anything.  Then over think things, over feed things, gets overly dramatic and.  Again it’s not like productive way, it’s a child like baby way.  I’m guessing a lot of people listening can really resonate with this to a period in my life where it was very painful.  I hid from the world for eight months.  I just sat and was not my best self.  People would notice it and if you think people can’t read that you’re wrong.  People think that they are getting away like living their life from the back seat and doing things they are not good at or dealing with what going on in their life and thinks they are getting away with it.  I’m here to tell you, you’re not getting away with it.  It’s also sucking your energy.  The other way that baby in the back seat show up where all the introverts in the world their babies wake up and they get loud and they get in your face and they scream and yell, sometimes they make demand or they get way over their emotions and they in your face but sometimes, they actually be very scary, because it’s so not who they normally are.  People always say my baby in the back seat is my exact opposite and I say you’re absolutely right; cause if you sit down and map it out your baby is exactly the opposite.

Simplifying Technology with Tom Moline

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Technology.  Do you have a negative opinion about it?  Do you avoid it?  Does it scare or confuse you?  Why is it that the technologies that are designed to improve our lives, all too often just create new challenges and struggles for us.

Every business should have an online presence whether it is as simple as listings on 3rd party websites, or things like Facebook and Twitter, or a personal website. It is impossible to be a business today and not have an online presence.

On today’s episode, we are going to address the root causes of this confusion. We are going to offer you some practical, and easy to implement, solutions that you can begin using immediately to have your online presence serve you.

Steve Kidd is joined today with a good friend and an expert technology guru Tom Moline who is going to help us discover how to K.I.S.S (keep it simple). Meaning, how to remove some of the complications from the technologies we need to use for our business. Tom has generously donated his time today to help the Wounded Warrior Project.

We know you don’t need another technology to learn. You don’t want to have to become a master at something before it is effective.  What you want and need is someone to show you how you can simply and effectively make use of social media, the internet and other technologies in such a way that it aids the growth of your business. You also need permission to hire a professional to come in and set up or manage some or all of your technologies, so that you can spend your time sharing your unique brilliance with the world.

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Show Transcript

Welcome to another episode of Thriving entrepreneur.  I am so grateful to have you here today.  Today we are talking about maybe one of the most prejudice words in all of our business and that’s the word Technology.  For those of you who haven’t turned out let’s say we know that everybody has thoughts and feelings about Technology.  As soon as I say that word amazing how something always immediately surfaces.  It’s interesting to see how much resistance become from that one word.

Kathy and I run to this so much that we actually refer to technology as your online person to kind of soften it for people.  But today we want to jump right into it, we want to use the word technology, we want to use technology and talk to you today about why you afraid of or hate technology or how you could use technology to suit you better.  We want to find some solid solution.  Today I am so fortunate, very grateful to have actually one of my mentors and really honestly I have to tell you guys Tom is a Technology Guru.  This is Tom Moline, my good friend that I’ve known for a lot of years.

Hey Tom, how you doing today?

Tom Moline:  What a wonderful morning to be with you Steve

Steve Kidd: Appreciate having you here, Tom has been dealing with Technology for so long that we don’t talk about it anymore, but surprise to say there are things that you use every day that Tom probably had something at least auxiliary but not directly involve with some of the things you use  every day.  So Tom, why don’t you tell us a little about your background.

Tom Moline:Well thank you very much Steve .  I am blessed, but you let the cat out of the bag.  I have been doing this for obviously a long time and it’s both a blessing and a curse, but let me give you some of the background.  I actually started my career in technology in the 1960s while playing the …..and discovering even then Technological presentation was somewhat wanting I had a great curiosity of how things work, how they were put together and often times more importantly why it was just broken and not working right now.  In that very early time, I was fortunate enough to meet some people from IBM and control data two companies that were in the 1960s was really the forefront and pioneers of our computer revolution and throughout the later part of the 60s I get to look at some very by today standard anti equated system  that weren’t very powerful but gave us a lot of interesting experiences.  There are some  people out there may understand how you get a callous from punch card in a computer, but maybe new territory of people we don’t have to go into it. But I did have an opportunity to serve with the US military late part in the 1960s early part in the 1970s and during that time I really got exposed to a really different adaptation and usage of technology and discovered everything from FM transmitters for telephone communication and interestingly enough which at the time more extraordinary large .  But suffice to say that period of time I really was blessed with running into people who kind of want to share their expertise in technology and it was a very much a pioneering moment for me in the technology field.  It was quite basic quite simple and often times easier to understand the technology that we approach today.  Coming forward in the 1970s I got out of the military and have a great agenda to work with the number of businesses at that time were already looking at adaptation of and usage of computers and their business models.  These can be large well funded companies and they did open the doors of possibilities as we fast forward in the 1980s when the Perrine computer became a reality and companies like Apple and Microsoft went on technological revolution and really have a tremendously good time but people as again blew things up blew fuses start the computer up on fire and crash.  Generally there’s a lot of things that we should have say oh probably we never should have done that.  It was during that period of time when I learn that experience as a teacher send you down the wrong road you can learn what not to do more so what to do but the characteristics again .  The machinery and the people in that time it was just a wonderful experience.  I don’t know if a lot of our listeners today can relate to the very early days of the computer , but a do recall the time when we put 4 megs of ram on a computer and we have three states away drive to come see how it operate.

Steve Kidd: One of my favorite stories you tell when you talk about the fact when you remember back when debugging a computer meant you actually crawl through pipes and actually got the bugs out.

Tom Moline: Some of the early military Government computers that actually used vacuum tubes and it was important to get them off out of the tubes and some of those computers I suspect I might be wrong that there is some computer phonetic out there that got some high trailers parked in their back yard  full of that computer.  Probably as powerful as your cell phone.

Steve Kidd: Well you bring up a good point, you talk about doing a lot of experimenting, blew some stuff up and things like that.  I think that maybe one of the first things we should address is I’ve often run into people who their biggest concern is they going to break the whole internet or they going to  blow up their whole house;  because you know they make a blog post or something like that.  I think it’s important to the listeners to practically realized that it really going to be ok . Most everything that you can do with your computer, with your technology present is that you going to use in your business  these days  will aid.  They going ask that are you sure you want to do this or you sure you want to do this. Approach.  It really hard to break these days, especially to break them so badly that it cannot be fixed quickly.  I think that was a good point for you to take up.  Let me ask you a question to endorsed this segment,  why do you think it is that technology  even just the word of it , especially computers and things like that , even though we use them everyday are such a turned off  for so many people ?

 

Tom Moline:  I think it’s just a natural  order of things Steve, and over the years I’ve dealt with computers and dealt with people and introducing them in business  and government .  introduce the computers and how to adapt  the programming .  There is a fear of the unknown  and it’s a natural order of things because it’s why we as  species the human race has been able  to survive cause we downright scared of things. And it’s a healthy thing .  its also one of your strongest tools, I think in business is to understand what you’re afraid of and turn that into a strength.

 

Steve Kidd: You think it normal then we can actually tell the listeners when you approach a new technology whether that be a brand new cell phone  getting for Christmas or new computer or things like that .  you think everybody experience that, im not sure if I want to touch it or experiment with it too much cause I’m afraid, I’m going to break it.

Tom Moline   I really think it’s more common.  I think I’m personally not the brightest bulb in the room , so I start pick something up and start pushing button before anybody else want to step up to the plate.  I believe it’s healthy and you can use that to your advantage understanding technology.  One of the simplest thing I find that any new technology introduce to any whether person with a cell phone or computer network to set up your back up protocol.  What if you drop your cell phone in the toilet tomorrow, what’s your back up plan?  I think if people stop for a second and say if my computer crash today and really wants their data, what’s going to happen.  if you got a good back up plan, you just going to be recovering nicely .  I think that those are aspects people want to approach in technology should gravitate towards first.  What’s the best thing for risk management.  The best way to navigate your fear is to remove that possibility from your future.  Good back up result in few computer problem Technology tends to put people off a little bit particularly people in their businesses because it real easy to waste a whole bunch of time on technology.  I’m sure lots of people have experience where people offer to build them a website; it will only be $50M, if you write your check for $20M and wait as soon as I clear the bank will contact some people in India and get back to you.  There is a lot out there that people have to deal with and I think it’s important in technology and computers , in cell phones and particularly online presence for your business if you feel uncomfortable in the category look to a person or company that can fill that void for you until you feel a little more comfortable doing it on your own or you just built relationship where  you put that onus on someone else and they can mentor or take care of the issue for you.

Steve Kidd: I think that’s a very good point that we are going to spend a lot of good time today that going back and forth between what Kathy and I always refer to the weighing between times versus money. When is it good for me to learn a technology, I wonder if it would be better for me to have somebody who already knows it. You are really good at whatever you are doing in your business. You have something that is unique about you that is the whole purpose why you were created. The more time you can spend last week or two weeks ago, we talk about.  We’re talking about Jessica living in your front seat and that kind of thing.  You can spend being uniquely you, the more you do that the better your life going to be, first of all; but second of all the more successful your business going to be

Steve Kidd: What is the number one thing that people could do to feel more powered when approaching technology, Tom any thoughts on that?

Tom Moline: I think there is a couple of area that are important and it’s hard to say that ok, this is one size fits all.  I spent many years teaching computers and writing curriculum for computer class.  I came to the attitude that if you approach technology in the simplest form in other words divine and conquer.  You find that the steps through any questions you may have or the adaptation of technology that your trying to work with becomes smaller and easier if you take smaller increments.  Let me give you an example of divine and conquer in terms of business approaching technology, I know Steve from working with you in the past that you were familiar in the 1990s when govern the portal was the online centric , community based website.  That I think start in the private sector, the newspaper notice that and said we better be honest that we going to lose a lot of customers.  So many newspapers in the 1990s decided they need a Word press and of course they starting to contact programmers, developers and putting together an online presence that aggressively move them in that space.  one of the earliest conversation I have with the newspaper about an online portal was the obvious you’re in the news print business, you sell newspaper , if you print all the news online and everybody goes and read it for free; how you going to make money?  That’s a simple look on technology and say ok what we going to do.  Now that model has change.  I believe we could call it the ‘Evolution of the portal in the newspaper as they become more adapted, I point out some of the pop up ads ‘irritating’ but that’s just me.  You do have to have some revolution, and I think that by using that example and the reason that I like that example and I like to point out to our listeners particularly those in business struggling with technology. Is this really important to focus you focus in the last segment about the uniqueness of the individual, each person in business has inherently , unique asset feature which they need to discover , understand and exploit. As they are approaching technology from that unique perspective, it becomes simpler.  I do believe to say im going have an online presence and this is what im going to feature and its really important that people understand the value of networking , mentoring, really grasping of the absolute values that again support the individuals , make the individual unique and with that understanding.  Then approaching technology from a business perspective.  I think most people do find out they are able to make decisions, so they can see core results , everybody got a website , now how many website do we need that explain how to tune your guitar. How may website we need that are dedicated to certain aspect  that at the time we started in the 1990s were very unique and fast forward to 2014 and now there is 100,000 phones out there, so every attribute of the individual is the core strength that make migration to technology so successful. Ive dealt with people with online presence  and I think you will agree if people knew who they were  and have a firm grasp of the direction they want to go and at the same time not afraid to seek counsel to ask questions and to weigh the pluses and minuses of any action they would take with technology as it relates to their business.

 

Steve Kidd      I think that’s a good point.

 

Tom Moline:  As we look at that for an individual weigh that out, one would think this is an old school 1. Involves paper, pencil and pens, and things.  I have to qualify that I have meant a college trained draughtsman in one of my previous life, I’ve learnt how to actually draw hose with pencil and hand drawing is interesting.  One of the concept is to take a piece of paper make a line down the middle of the paper  on one side of the top  put Pros and the other side put Cons and then ask yourself questions from your own understanding write those things down , be honest. These are the type of foundation that we can take to anyone and say this is what I want to do; what do you think about it?  It takes one second to pass that information over .  the strategy goes back to programming, we discover this very early on programming.  If someone came to us and would say and can say in one sentence paragraph what is it they wanted?  We typically could build it real quickly and I think you will agree more often than not we have business people come to us and say  ‘well I think I want a thing that does something like some of the things I’ve seen, but I’m not really sure what it look like or how it going to work.  Can you guys build it?

 

Steve Kidd:    I think that a really good point Tom , I think more than anything the thing that can really empower somebody when they think about all the things you can do online, your face book, twitter, LinkedIn and everybody else’s’ site , having your own website or blog or what have you.  The very first thing that a person can really feel empowered is to really be solid in what you doing in your business.  There are just so many voices out there , persons going to tell you, you should tweet 15 times a day , im exaggerating. Another will tell you don’t use twitter its dead and the real key is to clear out voices that are saying do this, do that and really get clear on what do I do ?  what is my business about.  If you understand how to do that that technologically great , if you don’t feel free to get advice  from people who do that every day.  Im telling you these are the kind of things that’s going to help you be able to bring that specific thing to the world.  You agree with that Tom

Tom Moline:  Absolutely , one of the most foundation things we can express to anyone listening is the importance of framing a question and asking someone that question and it doesn’t necessarily mean everytime you do that you going to ask a person who have the actual answer .  Sometimes you have to ask 2-5 people but anyone in business should certainly be able to adapt to the concept they need a business coach , they need logical coach, they need advice.  You know when your marriage is in trouble; you go to a marriage counselor, if you don’t like the first one go to the next one.  The reason I throw that out, don’t go for the answer your looking for, if you need to do it find the answer you need and that critically important to understand the difference.  I have lots of people that tell me exactly what I want to hear.  It really didn’t do anything in terms of moving my agenda forward.  More oftentimes, business and technology get right up in my face and say you doing this completely wrong.  Finding out what I was up against and where I was making mistakes on that path and I think that, it’s very common in business , to our listeners and everyone, me and Steve would get together and talk about many different things.  The story that I recently told Steve about is a restaurant that changed the name in front of their building.  They had basically, the same people, the same food, all they did was to dump a major Franchise name and go with an inspiring local sounding name.  The thing that they didn’t keep track of though was the Social Media around their transition.  In business, today 2014, soon to be 2015.  It is important to get online presence to watch your social media.  People will always say ‘my goodness do I have all the time to do that?  Any business owner can interact with social media at a level with any time frame that is adequate for their business.  To think that social media awareness is a critical path and a way forward in terms of understanding technology and importantly how it ties in the business.  To make a long story short the restaurant went out of business, because they really got hang up on social media after they re-open with their new name and there was a huge negative backlash.  I found it really extraordinary.  Watch it go through, it seems to me that every business owners need to look at technology that affects them directly

 

Steve Kidd:    We can tell what people are saying.  There can be a tool that really helps us.  I think you said something that’s real interesting to point out.  You said if your marriage is in trouble go to a marriage counselor.  I would go a little further with that and say before your marriage gets in trouble learn how to have a good marriage, read books on it, talk to folks that have successful marriages.  The last thing you want to do talk to people who just got divorce last week.  It’s important for us to not become an Island. It’s so easy for entrepreneur especially if you working from home to fold into this bubble where you are the whole world and not get outside help.  I think that really important is to get the help that you need, but also realize that learning and getting help and things like that are really significantly important to the growth of our business.

Steve Kidd     its important to that you keep all the information forward in your mind, that your technology is just a tool.  Will it be your twitter, face book or website?  Keep it simple make it something that serves you, don’t have a whole list of things that you have to do.  So many times, I see people become overwhelmed by the immensity of all they have to in technology.  How a person can weigh out a time versus money perspective.  We say here in our business all the time everything is a juggle between times versus money.  Do you have the time to learn a particular skill?  Or is it better to have the money and let somebody who already has that skill set do that work for you.  You know sometimes, it is good to learn skills and sometimes it is good to have the professionals do it.  Can you give me some insights as to how do we think when it’s good to take a class and when it’s better to call the pros.

Tom Moline     that’s very interesting and very simple to take steps in achieving those goals, no#1 the individual is most important , where you have a large or small business, you just starting out business or you been in business for 25 years.  One of the first things I do with anyone working is ask them, how many hours a week do you work.  I know from experience I know I survive the Mountain Dew programming era, where we were caffeine addicted and we do 36 hours runs of programming, there was a point in my life where  in programming I would become so consumed with program I was writing  that literally tune out people and I think programmers can understand that and if you never program you probably don’t excuse you for that.  You as a programmer create your own world.  You have things called constructers and detructors and you literally become a God like figure in an arena that you are totally in charge of and I know many programmers that have gone in that concept and end up spend so many hours they actually lost their personal life.  We have lives and children, moms and dad, uncle, aunt, cousins.  How many hours a week do you put in your business.  It really interesting when people start to look at it , they will discover like some have when you put in long, long hours , you sometimes end up burning the candle at both ends and you start to feel less than your quality.  I always encouraged people to say this is my business, im going to encourage 40 hours to work in my business; lots of things are going to come up. You have to stay up late at night s do paper work , bills is important you have to bring the money in , but really if you can take yourself and dispose yourself in a 40 hours week at the end of the 40 hours week you can say what I didn’t get to accomplished.  That’s the point where you as an individual would say maybe I need someone to do that.  If the person is working 50 hours a week and you spend your time on social media perhaps that your lot in life and you enjoyed that.  I think that if you find you will back off a little bit and bring other people in, share the abuse and the work loads . Ive work in Government service to know that teamwork help to take the blame off.  Its important to individually stop at the door  and say im I going in today?  I’m I going in for a $120 a week or I’m going in for a 30 hours week and I think really it’s a technological advancement for everyone when they realized that its one person , you can only work so many hours in a day and so many in a week and so many in a  year .  Hours tend to wear down and the quality of the work begins to suffer.  Any person in business need to set their own limitations if they don’t reality or someone come will come along and set those limitations for you.  As business people we want to do better next week than we do this week , we want to do better this year than we do last year.  Those attributes that results in growth really go back to some things that we talk about earlier.  First of all absolute, what are your core strings, individual aspects of you that make you be a business person.  Now, earlier in the onset of the web presentation  we saw some amazing things , one I personally laugh about I was at a doctor’s office awaiting X-ray I did have a laptop computer with me and at that time developing websites for people these were simpler times now.  I want to caution people, these isn’t the type of website that you do today. I met a young couple who likewise was waiting for an X-ray  and we started talking and interestingly found out they were both employed doing 40 hours a week  but they were selling home beer brewing kits .  I was intrigued by that and I sat there developing a  one page website for half an hour , then upload it to my uploading site put it online for them and let them know it will help more people to find them.  At the time I recall they were advertising some magazines that was the extent of their presence.  Then fast forward it was about 30 days , might be a little longer , but I run into them at the same clinic.  Got to talk to them and as a result of that , one page website they been able to completely stop working on their day job were know fully selling their beer brew kits.  That was a type of story Steve and I know you could relate to it.  In the early days of the internet those was the type of rewards came to people to be first in the place.   I don’t know how many people sell their beer brewing kit online today , the successful one have found their way to picture their uniqueness and to present that uniqueness in a way they will connect with the consumer.  The lesson learn in being able to through technological advancement concentrate wholly on their core business these two individuals became extraordinary successful in a short amount of time.

Steve Kidd:    I think that’s really important.  We were really talking about couple a week ago and Jessica Butt said ‘the things we really need to do is to stop doing what we suck at’.  I think it’s just that simple.

 

Tom Moline:  its so true cause what we really need to do is be more and more and more focused on that thing that makes us uniquely brilliant.  Rather than approaching our business as a jack of all trade master of none, because we are talking about our very first episode about Niche make rich and try to hit everybody mean you end up getting nobody and it is important for us to know we need to be focused, we need to focus our time into just be honest with ourselves that learning can be fun.  These days you can take a class you can just get up in the morning, take classes all day on whatever subject until you fell asleep in your bed at night and have that be your full time life.  You take 8-10 classes per day and never have to do anything.  It’s very important that we focus and that why we win that time versus money preposition is by focusing  on what you do best, be a master of what makes you uniquely brilliant and allow others who what makes them uniquely brilliant is twitter, I could be something else that have to do with technology .  Allow them to shine in that arena you both will profit.

Steve Kidd:    Can you give us a tip or two things that a person can do today that makes their technology serve them better

Tom Moline     it boils down to some really simple steps, each listener has to ask themselves what I’m I looking for in a short term?  What I’m I looking for in a long term?  That’s an individual question only they can answer .  if you going a brazillian dollar tonight then I suggest you go buy a lottery ticket go on your knees and pray.  If you are committed to a path that looks like a career and a life time  then there are some various steps forward for any individual  in any category.  The one thing I done in my life is that never be afraid to go to College.  I also been afraid to leave college and go take a job as it paid for what I was doing .  I have a lot of college credit and personally don’t have degrees.  Over the years it has point out to me, that I have these people working for me had phd and I have credits.  What im saying any individual who have college level education in today more so in the past, you can go online and take three college courses from some excellent universities right now.  I encourage every person out there to pick something and go get a credit in.  If you’re lucky enough you might get two credits in it ,  if you’re really lucky the credits are portable and you will be  able to use them towards a step towards your degree.  I think that in the long term anybody in business will find that you spend a quarter at some school and find out from somebody how social media work.  At the end of that quarter you not only have that experience been added to your personal resume, but if you are in a true college setting where you network with those other students and you meet and greet and talk.  It opens up a new sea of possibilities for you.  I’m sure anybody that been down that road would totally agree that some of that unknown areas carry the biggest rewards.  In terms of how do I adapt in my short term to bring my technology to a controllable elements, tame the beast.  We don’t want people to look on technology as a 900lbs gorilla in a room.

My advice to anyone one is simplify down.  People in business do know this I use a what, where, when, how.  It’s a very simple four step program that allows me to capsulate what is it im trying to do and trying to keep it focus and deal with absolute.  If what you do you cant explained to anyone in less than 4 hours you are trying to land a rocket on Mars.  You should probably sit down and simplify it.  If your business is selling biscuits then your job is to sell biscuits and how to bring that technology to the forefront to make that happen.  If you can explained , what you expect from technology in certain instances then there are path and steps that you are able to accomplished those things.  To all listeners if your standing 80 hours per week really look in the mirror and say will I treat my employee they way I treat myself?  You are a perfect candidate for time management and a little evaluation of what you’re doing.  I don’t even remember  and I apologized who told that to me many years ago.  If you’re in business never do anything t hat you wouldn’t pay someone else to do and that is a very simple statement.  All of us would agree it very complex to establish that limitations on our own environment, but in business  understand who you are, what your skills abilities are, then simplify your approach toward technology .  maybe you can manage your online presence, maybe its important to have someone else doing that for you.  It unique an individual answer those questions.  Any exception always simplify in technology remove the fear by establishing a back up.  If your business is important with technology you have database of customers, products and information make sure you back those stuff up.

 

Steve Kidd:    Thank you for investing your time.  I couldn’t agree more, the more simple you can keep things the better and I would encourage you, the number one thing you can do to make your technology simple and to serve you is the age old saying ‘don’t try to swallow the alligator all at once take it one bite at a time.  Don’t ask yourself what is everything technological you can do to make my business better?  Ask yourself what is the one thing that I can do technologically that would really impact my business, this week, this month, next year and then get really good with that or find somebody that really good with that.  Let all the other voices fall off to the side allow yourself to be focused.  Do what you do well, allow others to do their things well to come and help you to focus on taking your technology one step at a time, one day at a time.

Success is Planned with Sandra Yancey

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When you started your business, you wanted to succeed.  In fact, success in business is something we all want.  Isn’t it?

This brings up the interesting question, why do so many businesses fail?  And why are so many people in business not achieving the level of success they hope for.

Why do you think that is?  Is it lucky?  Is it skill? Is it random? Or is there something to success that we as business owners need to know and do to succeed.

If you talk to enough successful business people most will agree that one of the key reasons many people fail is…they do not have a plan to succeed!

Some people don’t know how to plan, and some are just waiting for success to come get them.  They wake up in the morning and just expect that success will have miraculously shown up overnight.  That couldn’t be further from the truth.  Success is not a gamble. It is not an accident; it is not fate, it is something that happens as a result of specific things that successful people do.

It has been said, “Successful people do every day what other people aren’t willing to do.”  We are going to share some amazing insights from phenomenal successful business women that you WANT to know – Sandra Yancey.  But I will warn you –   The truth is success takes work!

From performers to business people the ones who succeed are the ones who work at it – diligently  – every day.  Success in business isn’t something they wish for wait for or hope for; it is something they make happen, and they do it starting off by having a plan for success.  And now you can too!

There are some very solid things you can DO to succeed.  These are the kinds of things we can’t do by accident these are things we need to have planned out (and then follow them).

To give us insight in succeeding on purpose, host Steve Kidd is delighted to be joined by a phenomenally successful woman – Sandra Yancey!  Sandra has built the largest women’s networking organization in the world and has surrounded herself with powerhouse friends, mentors and talent like Mark Cuban, Ken Rutkowski, Lisa Nichols, Matthew Knowles and so many others.  Sandra is one of THE go to people for business advice.  Listen in as Steve talks with the one, the only, the amazing – SANDRA YANCEY!

Show

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Show Notes