The Big Leap

Do you remember the Bozo the clown toy? No matter how many times he got punched in the face, he bounced right back up.That’s Entrepreneurship in a nutshell.If you’re an Entrepreneur you NEED to expect that you're going to hit turbulence now and again but knowing how to recover is KEY.Our guest, Dave Colina, founder of O2 Water, is very familiar with this concept.He has the grit, the guts, the determination and the hustle it takes to be successful AND he is operating in one of the hardest industries to succeed and make money in… The beverage world.Dave is going to tell you a unique story about his product and the stuff that matters most. This is your opportunity to learn about an industry that has huge upsides and how to build a business like this. Listen to this episode because it doesn't matter what you do for a living. You're going to learn something today.Mike met Dave through a show that he was involved in called “Elevator Pitch” with Entrepreneur Magazine. (Think Shark Tank in a 60 second pitch)He was a contestant on the show and as he stood on stage, Mike fell in love with who he was right away. His immediate reaction is “this guy's got grit.” He's the kind of person that investors want on their team because he's not going to let anything stop him.Gay and Mike know this first hand because they’re both investors in CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) products. Gay was an early stage investor in Kavita Kombucha, (which sold to Pepsi for $225 Million a few years ago) and Mike was an early investor in Bullet Proof Coffee and Good Idea Beverages.The business of Consumer Packaged Goods is really, really, really hard and the Big Leaps that founders need to face are very challenging. Case in point, when Dave was launching O2 water and on his way to his first big Crossfit event he discovered that his manufacturer gave him hundreds of slime contaminated cans.Rather than turn around and cancel, he spent the night squeezing 720 cans to eliminate the bad ones and the event went on flawlessly.Despite all of the challenges, Dave has persevered, made an amazing, HEALTHY product, found HUGE success, puts relationships (over profit) first and gives back to his community.Tune into the whole show to hear more incredible stories about Dave’s journey and learn how you too can Get Back Up After Being Knocked Down.

Hey look… SQUIRREL!! Did you look?! Mike knows he would have. He has major ADHD and is easily distracted.You?It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do or how successful you are. It happens to the best of us.The important thing is not what distracts you, but how quickly you can recover from those distractions to get sh*t done.We all know how easy it is to waste a lot of time with distractions, but what if you could reel it in and put that time into something that brings you freedom and joy? Things that could grow your business and improve your lifestyle.If you feel like your brain has a million squirrels running around inside, this episode is for YOU! Make sure to listen or watch on YouTube. Mike has always been super, super ADHD, but he's learned enough about his brain over the years to treat the “challenge” as a creative gift. People are always telling him that they can’t believe how much stuff he gets done. However, he knows in his heart of hearts, that if he would have focused on just one thing, he'd be richer than he is.He's not unhappy. It's more that he's learned to accommodate his lack of focus. He's interested in A LOT of stuff. He likes doing a lot of things, loves lots of relationships, but when the rubber needs to meet the road, he'll get stuff done to reach the finish line. In this episode Gay and Mike share five key systems they've developed that not only work for them, but Mike teaches and incorporates them in his advisory work with clients to make sure they’re focused and get what they want.Here are the steps to move yourself out of distraction quickly:Make a “to-do” list daily: From 1 - 10, starting with the thing you want to do LEAST. Doing this every day helps set your priorities and stay organized. Both Gay and Mike are big 3x5 card and white board users. (Mike carries them wherever he goes!) Yeah, there are more modern / digitized ways to keep track of the things you need to accomplish in a day, but they've found that the 3x5 card method really works, and lots of uber successful entrepreneurs use the same method. (Watch the show to see how this is done.)Anchoring + Grounding Exercise: First thing in the morning, take a big, deep breath and get totally into your body. Relax through your fingers and toes, all the way to the top of your head. Then, imagine shooting roots out of your legs and into the center of the earth. Imagine these roots grabbing the earth's core like bird feet, tightening and holding the center, but flexible, like a palm tree. Take another big deep breath, get super aware of your surroundings, then ask yourself what emotions or feelings you want to experience today.Hone in on your Genius Zone: The more you focus on your “genius” and doing what you most love to do, the easier it is to protect against distractions because you've got more to protect. You're protecting your genius. Decide what the price of your freedom is, decide who and what you want to attract and get really, really good at saying NO to the things you’re no good at or don’t want to do.Wait until the last minute: This one might feel counterintuitive, but it works for Mike. He tends to procrastinate, but the pressure of a deadline and HAVING to finish a project in time really gets his creative juices flowing. He's found that if he waits until the last minute to start / finish a project, it takes him less time to complete than if he starts weeks before.A Healthy Lifestyle: Sleep until your body wants to wake up, take healthy supplements, meditate, get outside and connect with nature, intermittent fasting (this has been a game changer for Mike—his brain works better on an empty stomach), cut out sugar, caffeine and gluten.Don't worry too much about what distracts you, measure the time it takes you to get back. The quicker you can get back to whatever you're supposed to be focusing on is the key.Listen to the whole episode to find out why Gay thinks distractions are a POSITIVE thing, plus how they’ve been able to buy their freedom, work because they want to and because it gives them an outlet for creativity, connection and impacting others. Tune in here now and share with someone you love. 

Our guest, Laura DiFrancesco is a REAL renaissance woman.She’s a true Polymath who’s had a great deal of successes and taken a lot of incremental risks along the way.Most importantly, she's got a POWERFUL commitment to learning.Today’s episode is all about learning how to think and behave like a Polymath by studying the questions she asks herself. You’ll learn the value of covering a lot of territory in yourself, opening up to those multitudes of genius and letting it express itself in many different ways.Listen to and Watch this episode to find out How to Install a Big Leap Operating System in Your Mind.Laura grew up in Chester County, PA on a farm with her sisters and parents.From a very early age she was shadowing her parents at board meetings (both of them are entrepreneurs) and doing tax returns by the time she was in fifth grade.Her dream was to become an entrepreneur.In order to do that she triple majored in international business, finance and real estate at University of South Carolina.She did that in three years before getting her JD and MBA at Villanova, went to work in corporate law then started her own businesses and practice.She’s accomplished all of this and she’s only in her 30’s! One of Laura’s seeds of genius is her FULL BELIEF in herself. One of her deepest core beliefs is whatever she is drawn to, she can do in some fashion. Everything from getting dirty on the farm to putting in 200 hours making her own evening gown for Miss Pennsylvania, USA.It's the idea that no matter what sparks her interest, she can do it because she has faith in herself and faith that the universe will support her in her journey.She follows her passions and that's what's led to so many of the Big Leaps in her life. Laura has “Jane Street Law,” which is her corporate law firm specializing in negotiating multimillion dollar transactions for all types of businesses and companies. She also owns, “Flourish” a co-working space and her latest Big Leap is an educational platform through her personal brand.Her intent with the educational platform is to inspire others, whether it's sharing what she knows about law, business, lifestyle, design or any number of her passions.She also has a new program called The Vault, which is a 24/Seven access to a legal mentor.It's as if you had a personal Google for all the legal concepts that you need in business with tons of video lessons, glossaries, guides and checklists. Everything that you need to be successful in your business.Don’t listen to all the so-called “experts” telling you that you need to “niche down.” SO many of us are multi-passionate and it’s VERY possible to find incredible Success as a Multi-Passionate Entrepreneur.Don’t forget to check out Laura’s new program www.LauraDiFrancesco.co/The-Vault

You know how you watch your favorite movies and TV shows over and over again because they’re SO GOOD?That’s the idea with today’s REWIND episode!It’s one of the most downloaded episodes of all time and Mike and Gay thought you might want to revisit it this week.How well do you read your body to know what’s really going on?How much time do you feel you stay in your Superpower zone?What % of your day or life do you feel STUCK? Like you’re just not going anywhere? Like nothing has changed, moved forward, or inspired you in a REALLY long time?What if you could access an unbounded source of creativity inside of YOURSELF at any given moment? What if you could use your own natural body resources to feel good ALL the time?Imagine being able to use your body as a dashboard that tells you exactly what's going on in your life.Gay Hendricks and Mike Koenigs produced a new episode of The Big Leap that they think you’re going to LOVE — Especially if you’re interested in learning how to turn ON your deepest creativity. They include a very practical process that Gay uses to get unstuck.They'll also talk about a big distinction between your zone of genius and your zone of excellence and how to get yourself there AND a really practical tool that Mike only uses with his $50,000 Superpower Accelerator Vision Day clients. (And how he activates energy to get in sync, and create together!) It's a never-fail process!Gay describes something he calls your “emotional dashboard” and how to read your body in ways you may never have done before. It’s something that’s had a massive impact on Mike. It’s a Superpower Visualization you'll be able to start using today. Something we all need help with is how to open up and let more of our true creativity emerge. There's a difference between ordinary creativity where you're using your creative skills to do things for other people and true creativity where you're using your skills to do things for other people that benefit yourself. Gay says the antidote for getting unstuck, doing what you’re good at, and drawing on your genius is inviting people into the fourth genius. This gets you past The Big Leap and into your Zone of Excellence, where you’re doing stuff you’re good at. When Gay is working with a private client (in addition to visioning) he spends a lot of time beforehand creating a space inside himself for connecting with that person, knowing something about their journey, and making space for that. Dedicating himself to serving them is incredibly important.When Mike is working with high-end Superpower Accelerator clients, he always asks them to go out into an imaginary future a year from now, look back at where they are now and ask themselves, what will it take to get to this other place. Sometimes the act of simply shifting them out of the present and looking back at where they are now is enough to kind of pop into the SuperCreativity Zone because Mikes thinks our creativity is sitting there waiting to be invited. So what are some of the resources and tools for pulling out your inner genius? What are the techniques that they've used with their highest-level clients over the years to activate that center and get them in the right fit space? You’ll have to listen or watch this episode to find out AND to hear some powerful questions that you can use to elevate your relationships with people you care about and how you can elevate anyone you come in contact with.

Mike and Gay's guest, Troy Lavinia, says there is a lot of work we can do to help people see the intersection between entrepreneurship and spirituality.The world is changing and growing really quickly.We’ve never been more inundated with information or more stressed.Yet SO MANY of us have an incredible desire to do something creative or entrepreneurial AND are super open-minded to spirituality. This episode will show you how AND how to take it further.Listen to this episode to learn how you can operationalize spiritual principles to create great organizations and LIVE IN "EASY WORLD".Mike and Gay don’t do a lot of interviews on the Big Leap so when they do, it’s always with someone really special.Gay has known Troy for over a year and has been really impressed with the way he goes about his business.His company is Mosaic Research Management, and they’re what's called an “expert network.”Essentially they’re a matchmaker between investors at institutional investment firms. For example, they may have a client who is a hedge fund analyst and thinking about investing in Nike. They may end up taking a $100 million position in Nike, so they really want to do their homework. They'll read everything there is to read but they also want to talk to “on the ground sources”. Troy’s company might go find the former CFO of Nike, who understands that business and its drivers, or they might find competitors of Nike who can talk about on the ground competition. They put those people as advisors in touch with their clients for one on one telephone consultations. By speaking with those industry experts, their clients get more knowledgeable about the business, fortify their investment thesis, and have more conviction in their investments. Then, about a year and a half ago, they started a subsidiary business, which is recordings and transcripts of those calls. With the permission of the experts and analysts, they’re recording and transcribing those conversations and putting them in a library so that you can go in and read them. So if you're an analyst who wants to do the research on Nike, you can go in and read the interviews that other analysts have done about Nike to get smart on that company really quickly. They’re advertising and monetizing this subsidiary through a subscription.There is SO much more valuable information on this episode including Troy’s first Big Leap that involves his concept of MIDNIGHT PIZZA. (You're not going to want to miss this… it’s life changing!)PLUS you’ll learn about creating great organizations through spiritual principles and operationalizing them AND how to start living in “EASY WORLD", where everything IS easy.

We have a special treat for you this week! We’re REWINDING one of our most popular episodes of all time.We know you’re going to love revisiting this very special episode. ENJOY!Do you ever wonder… what’s the point? Why am I here? What am I really meant to do? What’s my PURPOSE?!Maybe you’ve been there, done that, know it’s time to reinvent yourself but you don’t know how to start, where to begin or feel as though it’s too late or too hard…What would you give to be able to FINALLY figure out what your life purpose is OR your “next purpose”?You are not alone. Many, MANY of us have struggled with the very same questions and it can be SUPER frustrating, anxiety-filled and frankly, pretty depressing.Don’t worry… Gay and Mike are here to help guide you through the process and figure it out.Today on The Big Leap podcast, Gay Hendricks is going to tell you about the moment he finally figured out what his life purpose was and how it’s affected every moment of his life since. Needless to say, it was a major turning point.Mike is going to share some of his big leaps and some of the reinventions that he's gone through throughout his life because for him, he hasn't had just one big leap… he's had a bunch.Their goal is to give you the tools, resources, and guidance to get you to where you want to be, so let’s dive in!The moment Gay figured out his life purpose happened at a time where from the outside, it looked like he had it made. He had jumped to a “new level” in life, (but as he points out in The Big Leap book,) oftentimes when you have a big upsurge of love, money, or fame, it trips old mechanisms inside that bring up fears and then you shut yourself back down.Since Gay was 15 years old, he wanted to be a university professor but didn't know exactly what he wanted to teach. When he was 22 he was bitten by the psychology bug, got his master's degree in counseling, then his Ph.D. from Stanford, and landed his first job as a university professor at the University of Colorado. He had made his dream come true.And yet, a week before he was supposed to start his new job, (he had already moved to Colorado, rented a cabin in the woods, and was having a great time communing with nature) he had a panic attack when he realized, “Oh my God, I know all the textbook stuff but I don't know anything in my heart about what it takes to have human beings transform their lives.”In graduate school, he learned dozens of different marriage counseling techniques, and dozens of different anxiety treating techniques but he never had a real person sitting with him where he did his own, natural work and had them change. That’s when he knew there was something missing.Then he had a once in a lifetime experience. Standing out in the woods, he said out loud to the universe and himself, “what is the essence of human transformation?” What is it that we do that darkens ourselves rather than enlightens ourselves? He stood there for a while and felt the question rather than trying to work it out in his mind… then the magic happened.He got this amazingly powerful roar of energy through his entire body and mind that seemed to come from the ground up. It was like a freight train of white light and it felt good. Like a rolling wave of energy that passed through him and after it did, he realized that it had answered his question.The information it left behind was this; the thing we do wrong as human beings that keeps us stuck, is we resist what's going on inside ourselves and the feedback that's coming in from the outside. We take a stance of resistance towards the world and out of that stance, our experience gets rougher. Life starts to treat us more harshly, simply because we closed down that part of ourselves. We’re not open to learning. It's this defensive posture that keeps us stuck.He realized that the only way to transform is to let ourselves be exactly where we are and love ourselves for being there. Instead of judging or shaming ourselves, we simply need to feel where we are, and then love ourselves for being there.So that’s what Gay did. He simply wandered around the woods for a while loving all the parts of himself that he’d never been able to love before until that moment.He ended up in a beautiful state of being, both open to himself and the world around him. It was this magical moment of being completely free of his programming and having no expectations of the future that left behind a meta-tool for transformation in him.That’s when he started to work with people, encouraging them to feel their way into where they were rather than trying to talk them out of it. To feel and understand why they might be depressed or why their anxiety is a natural thing to have. It's the act of opening up, accepting ourselves, and loving ourselves as we are that opens up the space to move into something new.That was the moment that changed everything for Gay. It led to a more precise definition of his life purpose.Listen to hear about the many Big Leaps and reinventions throughout Mike's life that lead Mike to discover who he  is, what he was great at, where his value is, and most importantly… HIS LIFE PURPOSE.

Imagine being able to solve ANY problem or challenge that comes your way, effortlessly. Entrepreneurs LOVE to express themselves creatively and invent new things.One of the best ways of doing this is with Collaborative Experiences.Today, Mike and Gay will show you how to use the power of shared consciousness to make miracles happen with ease and clarity.They'll talk about collaborating and how to get the most out of working with someone else. Mike is also going to introduce something he calls the “Reverse Mastermind.” (It's a really powerful way to get decades of wisdom from super smart people with improv.) This is a BIG topic and really worth paying attention to because when collaboration goes well… magic happens!Listen or watch this episode to learn the ART OF COLLABORATIVE EXPERIENCES.Gay and Mike agree that, “You get to success as much by saying no, as you do by saying yes.”Learning how to say an enlightened, “NO” is one of the hardest things to do, but once you do, your life will get infinitely less cluttered.Gay has had experiences in the past where he didn't do enough emotional due diligence with folks he started collaborating with, so when stuff came up, he didn’t know how to deal with it.Consequently, he’s spent a lot of time learning how to spot and say no to things that are going to be trouble later on.Here's the best thing he’s learned about collaboration:“The more I can be in touch with the things that are driving me, being aware of my intention, of things I'm afraid of, of that inner world, the more I'm open. It becomes easier for me to collaborate with other people, because I'm open to them.” You know the old saying, “Never love another person, unless you love yourself first.” That goes way beyond loving relationships. It applies to business, too. The major thing that goes wrong in business almost never has anything to do with business. It's not because of a clash of the numbers or budget. It’s because one person has dug into some old issue that goes way back into the recesses of their early life and an old trauma explodes into drama.Mike recently hosted a mastermind group called “Fishy Business” where he created the concept of REVERSE MASTERMIND.He asked everyone, ”How could we make this experience an 11 on a scale of 1 to 10?” They went around the room and one person said, “I would love to find a way to invent something, and collaborate together. Something we all walk away with.”It created a higher level of thinking in the group for everyone to find opportunities together.The BIG IDEA here is Shared Consciousness.Humans actually share consciousness. It’s just a quirk of our minds that makes us think of ourselves as individuals.If we can let go of the idea of our individuality, our ego, and own that other part of ourselves that's connected to everything in the universe. It's a much better place to collaborate from and helps us understand ourselves better and certainly helps us open our hearts and minds to other people.

Imagine being able to open your consciousness so that your deepest fears recede into the background, allowing you to contact your creative essence.Would that ability CHANGE your business, your relationships, your LIFE forever?When it comes to your fears… the problem is never what you think it is.When you open up to your feelings and find a place of clarity and “pure consciousness”, suddenly everything comes together. (and FAST!)The reason we don't get to that state of pure consciousness is because we're unwilling to face and feel the things that are in the way. There's no problem that can't be solved with 10 minutes of sweaty conversation, but sometimes that sweaty conversation has to be with yourself.A perfect example comes from a conversation Gay had with Ed McCracken, the founder of Silicon Graphics years ago. They were $100 million dollars apart on a deal with a movie studio, running up against one problem after another. “The problem is never what you think it is.” Ed assumed the problem was money but it turned out the REAL issue was the guys they were doing the deal with were afraid they didn’t like them.They were from such different cultures that they were afraid that they disapproved of their culture.Fortunately, Ed's wife was very familiar with meditation so they got everyone into a room together and into a meditative state.They opened up to their feelings about it until they got to a place of clarity and shared consciousness. Instead of arguing about numbers, they went underneath the whole thing and suddenly the deal came together.The $100 million dollar thing evaporated and they got the deal done in 20 minutes. Once you understand these concepts and start doing the practices, you go into a nonlinear place, where something you think should take a year to accomplish, can be done in two or three weeks. It speeds up time because it eliminates barriers that you didn't even know were barriers, and it eliminates problems that look like intractable recycling problems.One of the ways to speed up time is by SLOWING DOWN YOUR MIND.

What if you could grow your business by having a BLAST connecting with like minded entrepreneurs?Imagine coming away from a fun, life-enriching event with multi-million dollar deals.That’s exactly what happened for a few of the folks at an event Mike recently hosted.Mike's wife, Vivian, called it “Fishy Business” (You’ll understand why in a moment.)This is a MASTERMIND, but on steroids…In today’s episode, Mike and Gay will share exactly how the GREAT ones are run.They'll tell you how to get the most out of them, and how to change your thinking to open yourself up to huge, BIG LEAPS. Listen or watch this episode for all of this and MORE.Imagine being with a bunch of people who are further ahead of you in life, consciousness, business, health, whatever it is that you'd like to be MORE OF.They're positive, they follow a structure, and have a specific method for sharing information. In the mastermind that Mike just led, he invited eight business owners to “Fishy Business”.Mike loves fishing and helping business owners get more out of life so he combined the two.They flew down to Baja, Mexico, stayed at an exquisite hotel, ate amazing food, fished and shared their biggest challenges, insights and opportunities for a few days.It was super chill. No one was rushed.It felt more like PLAY than work.It was like meandering into something you weren't necessarily intending or hadn't thought of before, but because you were in the right place with the right people… magic happened.One of the members called it “strategic stumbling.” Mike LOVES that. This episode will illustrate how attending or hosting a mastermind can completely transform your life and business. More importantly, you’ll hear some of the best strategies for getting huge results and how you can do the same.

Imagine that you had a certain type of client that you wanted to reach with your business.What if, instead of marketing to hundreds of thousands of people…You could find just ONE person, who, with their recommendation, could bring you all the clients and followers you could ever maintain for the rest of your professional career.How would that feel?For many people, marketing is a major challenge.Today Mike and Gay are going to show you a new way to think about marketing. A paradigm shift.It fits in well with the kind of principles and ideas that Gay teaches in The Big Leap.It’s something Mike calls Ambassador Marketing, and it's how to find an ambassador who will influence the most influential people to grow your business, support a cause, or create momentum and impact. Listen to this episode for all of this — and MORE.Ambassador Marketing is a model that makes marketing really simple, saving you time and energy. Think of it like a bullseye with 4 concentric circles inside:Your IDEAL Client. (Who do you want to be a hero to?)Affinity Group (What groups do your ideal clients belong to?)Influencer (Who are the influencers inside the affinity group that you can connect with?)Ambassador (Someone who could introduce you to influencers who in turn influence multiple affinity groups.)Instead of doing complicated marketing, like Facebook ads, email marketing, social media, webinars, sales pages and funnels…The Ambassador shares your story and their TRUST in you. BOOM! Results.This episode will expand your thinking and mindset so that you can grow your business in a whole new, heart-opening way.