Giving Thanksstring(13) "Giving Thanks"

November 27, 2014
Beth Misner, Bob, Gratitude, Health, Misner Plan, personal story, Self Development, Video Blog 1

Every day is a good day to stop and reflect on what we’re thankful for yet we often get caught up in the stresses of our hectic day to day grind and forget to take stock of the many things in our lives that we deeply appreciate and shouldn’t take for granted.

Here in the United States, today is Thanksgiving Day and I love this day because it forces me to take a break from my busy schedule and to take the time to reflect on the things I’m grateful for.  From my family to my business to my health to my network of friends, associates, and blog followers I have been extremely blessed and I would love to take this opportunity to give thanks and count my blessings.

I really appreciate you taking the time to watch this video and if it gets you thinking about what you’re thankful for, I would really love for you to share your thoughts in the comment forum below.  Gratefulness can be contagious so don’t be shy–share what you’re appreciative of no matter how big or small it may be.  Thanks! 🙂

brilliance

Bringing out Your Brilliance in Businessstring(40) "Bringing out Your Brilliance in Business"

September 25, 2014
, , , , , , , Author, Bob, Book, Business, Emotional Intelligence, Growth, Productivity, Self Development, Strategy, Success, Video Blog

In this video, I talk to my friend Arjuna Ardagh, author and world class business trainer about Arjuna’s latest book Better Than Sex.

Watch as we have a lively discussion during a recent visit to Croatia about this unusually titled business book.  The book teaches businesspeople how to find their brilliance by tapping into the dimension within themselves from which their most free thinking and creativity originates. 

Click “play” now to learn the relevance and the story behind the book’s racy title and to find out more about how to bring your inner brilliance to the forefront in a structured way for unlimited heights of achievement and success.

Thoughts on the video?  I’d love to hear them, especially since this video topic is quite different than any other I’ve previously touched on in my blog.  Please feel free to share your comments in the forum below.  Thanks!

To find out more about Arjuna’s book, Better Than Sex, please click here. 

Bob Takes the ALS Ice Bucket Challengestring(38) "Bob Takes the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge"

September 4, 2014
, , Bob, Giving, Uncategorized, Video Blog 1

Just last week, I took the ice bucket challenge which has gone viral in social media and is sweeping the U.S. by storm.  After I posted my video, several people e-mailed in asking if my sidekick Bob (check out photos of Bob here) was going to take the challenge so I asked him if he was willing and it turns out he was happy to comply. 😉

The purpose of the ice bucket challenge is to raise awareness and raise research funds for the neurodegenerative disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) which is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.  While the ALS Association’s rules for the challenge require either getting a bucket of ice water dumped on your head or making a donation, many people appear to be doing both and that’s what both Bob and I did.

As the rules for the ice bucket challenge state that you must nominate three additional people, Bob has nominated his friends Waldo (of “Where’s Waldo?” fame), the Elf on the Shelf, and Big Bird.  Bob says he’s looking forward to seeing their ice bucket challenge videos and that although the rules state that they can always simply donate $100 to help ALSA research for a cure for ALS if they don’t want to dump ice water on their head, he’s hoping that they’ll choose to do both.

So far, the ALSA has raised over $42 million through the ice bucket challenge and Bob and I are proud to be a part of that.  If you’d like to donate, you can do that by hitting the easy-to-find “donate” button on their website.

If you have taken the ice bucket challenge, or if you have or know someone with ALS, we’d really like to hear about your experience.  Please share your thoughts in the comment forum below so, together, we can help raise awareness.

A Burning Question for Richard Bransonstring(38) "A Burning Question for Richard Branson"

April 10, 2014
, , , , , , , , Beth Misner, Bob, Business, Entrepreneurial Enterprise, Ivan Misner, Online Networking, Storytelling, Video Blog 1

Last year, My wife Beth and I posted a question on Facebook in search of the most creative and interesting answer.  The question was: “If you had an opportunity to ask Sir Richard Branson one question, what would it be?”

In this video, I reveal the best, most interesting question that someone responded with:

“What venture or company do you wish you had started instead of someone else, or what business did you have a chance to invest in but didn’t and now regret not investing in it?”

I go on to reveal the equally interesting (if not more interesting) answer to this question which I got lucky enough to receive directly from Sir Richard Branson himself during a visit to Necker Island.

Watch the video now for Branson’s answer . . . and, hey, you never know–perhaps this will be the answer to a question you get during a game of Trivial Pursuit somewhere down the road, in which case you’ll be darn glad you watched this video! 😉

I’m curious– what would YOU ask Richard if you could ask him anything?  As long as it’s not something like, “Richard, will you adopt me (even though I’m 57) and make me independently wealthy so I don’t have to work for the rest of my life?” (Ha, ha . . . :-)), then I’d love to hear what questions you come up with!  Please leave your feedback in the comment forum below.  Thanks!

Sometimes You’ve Just ‘Gotta Do What You’ve Gotta Do’string(77) "Sometimes You’ve Just ‘Gotta Do What You’ve Gotta Do’"

September 19, 2013
, , , , , , , Bob, Credibility, Ivan Misner, Self Development 5

I really believe that sometimes you’ve just ‘gotta do what you’ve gotta do’ in order to stay true to what you know is right.  Last week I happened to tell three of my staff members a personal story about a time back during my days of teaching college that they really responded to.  All three of them urged me to tell the story on one of my video blog posts because it focuses on something we all struggle with from time to time . . . doing the right thing when it’s not so easy to do.

In business and in life, we’re all faced with dilemmas once in a while where it seems like the only option is to abandon doing what we know is the right thing because we feel (or are made to feel) like we don’t have a choice.  However, there’s always a choice; even though sometimes doing the right thing involves making yourself uncomfortable and being willing to put yourself in a position you don’t want to be in, it’s still the right thing and that’s important to remember because we each have to live with our own decisions.

Watch the video to hear about a predicament I found myself in where my higher ups were trying to force me to break my word and go back on a commitment I’d made.  I was in a very uncomfortable situation and it put me in a position where my job was on the line if I didn’t do what I felt was wrong.  I’m glad to say, however, that to this day, I have no regrets in how I handled it and I hope that sharing this story causes others to really think about the importance of doing the right thing even when it could mean losing something that means a lot to you or something that you really need.

If you have a story of your own about how you stood up and did the right thing for the sake of doing the right thing even though it was really hard for you, I’d really love to hear it.  Please share your story in the comment forum below and, as with some of my other more recent video blogs, this one also features my good friend Bob.  If you know where Bob is hiding in this video, be one of the first ten people to share your story and to also add  a note after your story correctly pinpointing where you see Bob and I’ll send you a surprise gift that will help build your networking skills.  (Note: To ensure you receive your gift, please e-mail your name and complete mailing address to Lransom@bni.com with the subject line “Bob.”)  I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

What to Do Before You Start Networkingstring(38) "What to Do Before You Start Networking"

September 12, 2013
, , , , Bob, Networking, Networking Prep, Networking Tactics, Video Blog 8

I met a businesswoman some time ago who approached me and asked if she could have a few minutes of my time to pick my brain because she was really having a hard time building her network.  I think the information I shared with her will likely be useful to many BusinessNetworking.com blog readers as well so today I’d like to share this video with you where I talk about what to do before you start networking.

Whether you think you’ve got your networking tactics pretty well nailed down or not, I’m willing to bet you’ll learn a thing or two from this video so take a few minutes to watch it and then ask yourself these questions:

1. Why are you in business?

– What do you love to do?
– How does your business serve others?

2. What do you sell?

– What are the benefits of your products/services?

3. Who are your customers?

– What niche do you prefer to work with?

4. What are your core competencies?

– What do you do best?

5. How well do you compete?

– How do you stand out from your competition?

Also, here’s the link to the video I made last year with Eddie Esposito of the Referral Institute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgnZuAjFGO8 and, as I mention in this video, I would love to hear your additional ideas and creative tactics for teaching people how to refer you so please share your thoughts in the comment forum below.  And, by the way, this is one of the special videos where Bob is playing his famous hide-and-seek game so for the first ten people who add to their comment where Bob makes his cameo appearance (and get the answer right) during the video, I’ll send them a surprise gift which will help them boost their networking knowledge!  (Note: To ensure you receive your gift, please e-mail your name and complete mailing address to Lransom@bni.com with the subject line “Bob.”)  I’m looking forward to hearing from you!