BBF066: Making your Dreams come true with Steve Sims

Making Your Dreams Come True With Steve Sims

When Steve Sims was sacked as a stockbroker after only three days in the job, it certainly didn’t look like it was the beginning of an extravagant adventure that has seen him arrange a wedding in The Vatican and have dinner at the feet of the statue of Michael Angelo. Steve’s company Bluefish specialises in creating unique experiences for high net-worth clients who want to live life to the full. He literally makes people’s dreams come true… for the right price of course! But Steve’s journey is an important example of how successful someone can be if they are passionate and they understand how to make people happy.

The small touches can sometimes make all the difference, and likewise, the ability to think big and tell people something is possible can be very lucrative indeed.

Beyond that, there are a multitude of insightful and inspirational points that came up when Steve discussed what made him and his company successful:

** If you fail at something, don’t be ashamed, just have a strong Plan A to dig yourself out of it, but then be open to a Plan B/C/D/E, because sometimes they can be far more fruitful than Plan A.  In Steve’s case, his plan to court high net-worth individuals to encourage a bank to give him a job ended up creating an international concierge business by accident!

** Only work with people you like.

** Successful people don’t grow up and don’t conform.  Think of what a 2-year-old does, i.e. what they want.  They’ll scribble all over the colouring-in book because they know no better, but when they get older they are told to colour within the lines.  Most successful people ignore this kind of conformity, and never really grow up.

** Set up your company and product in such a way that clients do the selling for you.  If you give them more than they pay for, they’ll sell you to others.

** Don’t forget the power of “critical non-essentials” i.e. the things you don’t have to do for clients, but that might just make a difference in the long term if you do them.

** Thought and empathy cannot be automated, so often they have more of an impact than the many other things in business that can be automated.

** Use old-fashioned methods of communication like letters… the open rate is generally better for snail mail than email.

** Or if you’re going to send an email, consider sending an audio voice message as an attachment.  That way, more can be said in less time, and it has a more genuine meaning.

** Keep your word, even if it costs you money in the short term.

By Steve’s own admission, he is not an intellectual, but if you are good with human touches and you display the passion and energy to make things happen, you can be clever in business. In this episode of Business Brain Food you will learn:

** The crazy adventures of Steve Sims and Bluefish

** The value of old-fashioned methods of communication

** What can be possible if you subvert the system

** The benefits of sharing your rewards with others

Resources mentioned in this episode:

** 20-minute business coaching (http://actioncoachanz.com/meetwithben)

** Blue Fish (http://www.thebluefish.com)

** Ugly Sims (http://www.uglysims.com)

** Facebook (www.facebook.com/businessbrainfood)

** Business Brain Food Facebook Group (www.facebook.com/groups/businessbrainfood)

** Twitter (https://twitter.com/bfewtrell)

** ActionCOACH (http://actioncoachanz.com/itunes)

** ActionCOACH (http://actioncoachanz.com/stitcher)

 

Steve’s made a business out of following dreams, and that came after his biggest knockback in life. Don’t ever give up on yours! Also, if you are enjoying these Business Brain Food podcasts, then make sure to share them via social media sites or email the links to family and friends. A lot of time and effort goes into producing each of these podcasts with the goal in mind of the more people we can inspire about business the better. You can help us do just that!

Until next time, have a profitable day.

Cheers, Ben Fewtrell [phone]