Steve Sims, Bluefishing – InnovaBuzz 243
Steve Sims, Bluefishing
Do you know anyone that’s worked with Sir Elton John or Elon Musk, sent people down to see the wreck of the Titanic on the sea bed or closed museums in Florence for a private dinner party and then had Andre Bocelli serenade them while they eat their pasta? You do now!
In this episode, it’s a privilege to have as my guest, Steve Sims. Quoted as “The Real Life Wizard of Oz” by Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazine, Steve Sims is the best selling author of “Bluefishing – The Art of Making Things happen”, a sought-after consultant and a speaker at a variety of networks, groups and associations as well as the Pentagon and Harvard – twice!
As the founder of Bluefish, one of the top personal concierge services, and an expert marketer within the luxury industry, Steve has been quoted in various publications & TV including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, London’s Sunday Times, South China Morning Post and many more. Stay tuned for a fascinating glimpse into the life of an entrepreneur whose day job is to spend other people’s money to make the impossible possible and who’s ‘No is not an answer’ approach has and is taking him on an amazing journey.
In our discussion, Steve and I talked about:
- How to ask good questions and he explained that if you get a NO, you are either asking the wrong question or the wrong person
- Why most people are petrified of the word “Why?”
- How to discover peoples’ motivation beyond their expressed needs and then deliver an outrageously remarkable experience for them
George Bryant in episode 226 introduced us to Steve.
Listen to the podcast to find out more.
Listen to the Podcast
When you get a NO, it means that you either asked the wrong person or the wrong question. @SteveDSims1 on #InnovaBuzz podcast Click To TweetShow Notes from this episode with Steve Sims, Author of Bluefishing
Key points and takeaways from this episode include:
- Never ask a question in which you can suffer the liability.
- When you get a NO, it means that you either asked the wrong person or the wrong question.
- If you don’t want to be rejected or you don’t want to get a NO then don’t ask a question that someone can say NO to.
- People have a YES limitation. If people keep on answering YES, they start getting suspicious. They don’t want to say YES anymore because YES is a confirmation and they don’t want to commit. That doesn’t exist with NO because NO is the final word. People are far more comfortable to say NO a lot of times than a YES,
- It is never as painful as you think it’s going to be and it’s never as devastating as you dream it’s going to be.
- The most successful people share one thing in common. They are all serial failures. They’ve all had immense unfathomable failures in their lives, but they never allowed those to define them. They allowed those to refine them.
- People all laugh before they applaud. The most successful people have been a laughing stock before they’ve been a genius.
- No one ever drowned by falling into the water. They drowned by staying there.
- People are embarrassed to say what they truly want so keep asking WHY.
- You have to get down to the core and know the reason behind what people want. Once you know where you are starting from, you can work out where you need to end up to surpass what they are hoping for. You can literally divert them and send them down a completely different direction of providing a greater experience.
- Give your clients what they want and desire and not what they asked for.
- When you’re able to confirm and consult with an entrepreneur and make his business more dynamic and profitable, it doesn’t just help the entrepreneur. It helps everyone in his gravitational pull. Everyone around him benefits from one person doing better.
- You can risk all in a low liability stake. Think about how you can surpass the acceptable. Think about what you can offer that is beyond where acceptable is that you can afford to fail and still be 50% above what your competitors are doing.
- We are all in the experience business. You can create an experience around anything.
- Keep asking WHY. Focusing on those questions will allow you to give your clients what they desire, what they need, and what they are lusting for rather than what they asked for.
- A brilliant idea is worthless with zero action. A mediocre idea is brilliant with positive action. Everything is about action and not the idea.
The Buzz – Our Innovation Round
Here are Steve’s answers to the questions of our Innovation round. Listen to the interview to get the full scoop.
- #1 thing to be more innovative – Get up. Get up and take one step towards whatever the goal is. Stop overthinking things and just do the first thing – get up!
- Best thing for new ideas – Constantly try new things. Constantly stretch your experience by trying many things. Be open to change.
- Favourite tool for innovation – The radio – music.
- Keep project / client on track – Know when the project is finished. Reverse engineer and start dissecting that project into chunks. Set an appointment with yourself.
- Differentiate – Stop being like everybody else and start being like YOU. Focus on those people that resonate with you. Get clients that you can connect with effortlessly.
To Be a Leader
Put the effort into being you and not on trying to copycat somebody else. Focus on YOU time and time again. That is what will get you ahead of the game.
Reach Out
You can reach out and thank Steve through his website and Facebook.
Suggested Guest
Steve suggested I interview Zachary Babcock of Underdog Empowerment, Pro-Victim Rights and Personal Safety Advocate, Tim Larkin, Jeffrey Madoff of Madoff Productions and Jeff Spencer the Cornerman and Champion Maker. So Zachary, Tim, Jeff, and Jeff, keep an eye on your inbox for an invitation from us to the InnovaBuzz podcast, courtesy of Steve Sims.
Links
- Website– Steve Sims
- Website – Sims Distillery
- Podcast – The Art of Making Things Happen
- Facebook – An Entrepreneur’s Advantage with Steve Sims
- Twitter – @SteveDSims1
Book
Cool things about Steve
- He launched BLUECause, which has raised over half a million dollars for non-profit organizations – without taking one cent in administrative or any other fees.
- He worked for Royalty, Presidents, A-list celebrities, the rich and famous and the richer and unknown.
- He started his working life as a bricklayer at a construction site.