Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Fool Coverage

Life@Work GroupZine: The Art of Balance
The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”- Psalm 53:1 (NKJV)

Foolish notions come from foolish people.  In life, your best bet may be to keep away from foolishness.  In business, it makes even more sense to do so.

I started reading Steve Marr's Business Proverbs some years ago and I always go back to it as a devotional reading when I see myself sinking into a lull of seemingly foolish decisions in business and ministry.  The book is a great resource that can keep one grounded in a biblically-based mindset for sound business practices.

Bob Briner is also a great read when it comes to management and leadership for Christians. I like The Leadership Lessons of Jesus and Roaring Lambs, but I truly have been blessed by reading The Management Methods of Jesus. 

Additionally, I have found other authors to present Christian principles for business practices in some profound and insightful books.  Laurie Beth Jones did so through The Path and Teach Your Team to Fish.  Larry Burkett's Business by the Book still speaks volumes to any budding Christian entrepreneur or manager.

The Management Methods of Jesus: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Business
You have to engage in an intentional effort to remain ethical in these days.  Don't let an uptick in sells numbers sway your thinking.  Maintain your resolve in times where fudging the numbers a bit won't hurt anyone- or so they say.  Make it your business to handle your business matters like the Master.  Make it fool-proof.  That makes sense, even if the fool is you from time to time.

Try out some of the above-mentioned titles and some others listed below:

Monday, December 27, 2010

Daily Dabble

"To have a great day every day it helps to think great thoughts and to concentrate on at least one every day."

-
Norman Vincent Peale
Have a Great Day

Daily you may find yourself bombarded with schedules and meetings.  Stop for an instance prior to 2011 and start prioritizing going beyond the norm.  Make an effort to approach each day with a new expedition to undertaken.  Seek to dive into today with dabbling.

Yes, I said dabbling.  Dabble in some of this and some of that, but dabble daily.  Set aside some part of the day to dabble into something new.  Learn Spanish.  Take up salsa or flamenco dancing.  Read biographies and autobiographies about famous business titans and politicians.  Start a new hobby.  Make your long-time hobby into a part-time business.  Make your daily dabbling deliberate.  Don't get willy-nilly with it.  Plan it out with a month-by-month or week-by-week Day Planner.  Dabble in new things daily and see how much you grow from the experience.  Review each month's activities and discover your daily dabble's rewards.
Carpe Diem: Seize the Day


Friday, December 24, 2010

Early Bird Specials

Roadmap to Success: Building Your Business God's Way
http://www.amazon.com/Roadmap-Success-Building-Your-Business/dp/B003D7JZXA?ie=UTF8&tag=ministrioc-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969



When you plan your events for 2011, think about adding some special offers or discounts for those who register or purchase tickets early. 

Chase's Calendar of Events, 2011 Edition: The Ultimate Go-to Guide for Special Days, Weeks and Months
Go out of your way to treat your early birds special.  Have plenty of giveaways and logo-covered items ready for your event "swag bags." Be sure to allow the early birds to experience V.I.P. and red carpet treatment throughout your event.  If you remember them, they will certainly remember you and your special treatment of them when your next event comes up.


The Five Star Church: Helping Your Church Provide the Highest Level of Service to God and His People 

The One Minute Manager

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Market Profusely

"Don't blame the marketing department. The buck stops with the chief executive." -John D. Rockefeller
You need to get the word out about your new service, product or publication.  You need to market it to others.  You need to be the primary spokesperson for what you have to offer.  No one else will be able to share it like you.
 
How do you do it?
 
You have to make marketing a multi-layered endeavor.  You need to be sure that you cover at least three primary areas with your immediate marketing strategy.
 
  • Market Personally: Tell all of your personal family and friends, both near and far.  Let them know that you published a book.  Share how excited you are about this new service that you are rolling out for your clients.  They may not be able to do much for you if they are not in the market for it themselves, but they certainly can keep you in mind when their child's class needs a speaker about literacy or their buddy who just launched a new business needs a techie who can build a website.  Speak up and speak out to the people who may be able to serve a mid-level spokespeople for you and your business.
  • Market Professionally:  Business people interact and share a lot at the executive level.  Look at Google and Facebook.  The people who were in on the initial wave of these Internet gold mines actually started and funded other online ventures.  Business people talk to other business people, and since you are in business, you need to be talking to other business people, too.  Make yourself part of the conversation.  Develop genuine relationships with business decision-makers such as purchasers, presidents, executive managers, and the like.  You never know who you may meet at the local chamber of commerce luncheon or Kiwanis golf tourney.  Be sure to stay in the loop with your local business publications and calendars of upcoming events.  Make an appearance when you can.  Send an email apologizing that you cannot make it and would love to stay on the mailing list.  Try it and see what types of responses you get.
  • Market Publicly: It sounds absurd, but you have to market to the general public intentionally.  Bus stops, billboards, gas pumps, atop of taxi cabs, and whatever else may reach a new market.  If you write books, market to readers.  Direct your "public" marketing dollars towards those areas where you can reach a plethora of readers.  Get in BookPage with a simple and small ad.  Get in touch directly with local book clubs.  Post articles at sites where readers go to read and hear directly from authors like www.redroom.com and http://www.gather.com/.  You need to do what you have to do to get in front of your market of readers and increase readership. That's just one example.  I can think of tons of others, too.
The point of all of this is for you to embrace a new way of approaching marketing beyond simply creating a brochure on your desktop and some matching bookmarks or business cards.  Take the time to invest in marketing to these three immediate areas and expand your marketing to niches as you start to prosper from your immediate marketing efforts.  It's worth the initial investment.








Friday, December 10, 2010

Modern Messaging

The Web Designer's Idea Book: The Ultimate Guide To Themes, Trends & Styles In Website Design (Web Designer's Idea Book: The Latest Themes, Trends & Styles in Website Design)

"Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler."

Einstein: His Life and Universe

Today's technology has all sorts of possibilities.  Can I offer some simple possibilities that float around in my imagination? Here there are:
Imagine if you thought more about how to use the technology as a tool.  See how you could get the Word out over the Web (Wow! That was another good one.  Can you patent online content? Hmmm...).



Entrepreneur