If you have links to other good photos, interviews or Catalyst media let me know and I’ll add to this post.

QUOTABLES
Matt Chandler

• “If you are teaching people about what Jesus can do FOR them, it’s idolatry.”
• “We baptized a witch. We baptized an atheist. And then we baptized a man who had grown up in the Church. I know that there are witches out there. I know there are atheists out there, but what really bothers me are the people who grow up in the Church that miss the Gospel while sitting in church. What do I do with this?”
• “The good news of Jesus Christ is not that everything is going to go well, it’s that if you get Him, He is sufficient no matter what.”

Craig Groeschel

• “To reach people no one else is reaching, we have to do things no one else is doing.”

Andy Stanley

• “Become preoccupied with those you want to reach rather than those you are trying to keep.”
• “Pay attention to people who are breaking the rules. It's the rule-breakers who are oftentimes the problem solvers.”
• “It's not "no pain, no gain" -- it's "no pain, no change." Without pain, there typically isn't any change.”
• “When your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near.”
• "At the end of the day, everyone is a volunteer. They can quit at any time."
• "Authenticity is a powerful leadership dynamic."

Seth Godin

• “No one is seeking a safe leader. You have to do something people will criticize.”
• “I am begging you to become heretics, someone who’s faith is so deep that they are willing to deal with the criticism of the status quo because their faith is so deep. Martin Luther was a heretic.”
• “Before most people commit to things they ask, “Who else is going to be there?”

Steven Furtick

• "Between the promise of God and the pay-off is the process."
• "When you are struggling through what seems insignificant to you, hang on to the promise of God.
  Be faithful in the process. Don’t get your eyes on the “big” thing or the “successful” place—just be faithful in the process."
• "After David was anointed, where did he go? Back to the fields to be faithful in his role as a shepherd boy."
• "There’s got to be more to life than putting money in a 401, buying a boat, and then dying.
  Be faithful. Be faithful Be faithful."
• "Use your platform to impact people, not impress them."

Jim Collins

• "Most overnight successes are really about twenty years in the making."
• "It took 7 years for Sam Walton to open his 2nd store. It took Starbucks 13 years before they had 5 stores."
• "How do the great typically fall? It’s not through complacency. It is typically over-reaching that derails great organizations. Going too far, too fast."
• "A great organization is more likely to die of indigestion of too many opportunities rather than starvation of not enough opportunities."

Tim Sanders

• "If not you, then who? If not right now, then when?"
• "Together we will fix this world."

Perry Noble

• "In order to accomplish God-sized vision, it takes God-sized risks."

VIDEO:
Steve Furtick talking about holding on to God’s promise.
Perry Noble talking about doing things when they don’t make sense.
Catalyst Opening worship set.

A bunch of other great videos and notes available at:
www.CatalystBackstage.com

[caption id="attachment_237" align="alignright" width="210" caption="Steven Furtick at Catalyst"][/caption]PHOTOS:
:: Amazing photos via Scott Fillmer (direct post link here)
:: Mike Foster has some awesome shots up, especially the Ninja pics. (also visit the Deadly Viper blog)
:: Cool backstage photos from Reid Greven
:: Kevin Bussey (good photos)
:: Great shot of Furtick via Cheyenne Shultz (more photos coming it appears)
:: Great behind the sound board shots via Dive Productions
:: Ben Arment - various shots

Thanks to all these bloggers who took great notes from Catalyst. Here are just a few that I pulled some notes from…

Brad Ruggles
Chris Martin
Tony Morgan
Will Johnston
Tim Stevens
Mark Batterson
Scott Hodge
Anne Jackson

Oh yeah, be sure to check out www.catalystspace.com for additional resources.

The prevailing belief about success in today's culture is that hard work and effort doesn't matter anymore. Everyone is looking for a shortcut to success and most just get lucky. But the truth is that very little people get lucky and the great majority of successful people just try harder, get stronger, and get better. Seth Godin writes:

Effort takes many forms. Showing up, certainly. Knowing stuff (being smart might be luck of the draw, but knowing stuff is the result of effort). Being kind when it's more fun not to. Paying forward when there's no hope of tangible reward. Doing the right thing. You've heard these things a hundred times before, of course, but I guess it's easier to bet on luck.

Luck is for amateurs.

Using Video Games as Bait to Hook Readers

Maybe video games are not as "intellectually stimulating" as a good novel, but I'm all for any tactic that gets children into reading. 

The Future of Content in the Age Of Information Overload

I don't agree completely with everything written in this post, see here and here for why,  but I do agree with this part:

Sites that serve as a comprehensive and reliable filter of information on a topic will be read, but they’ll always have to compete with other fast-paced news publishers. To aggregate information is incredibly easy. To process, analyze and situate it within a big picture context while offering an intriguing/unique perspective is considerably more difficult.

Those who can do so will be trusted: they are a valuable knowledge asset for any reader.

Certaines choses n'ont pas besoin d'être commentées, elles parlent d'elles-même. C'est de Seth Godin:

Everyone isn’t going to be a leader. But everyone isn’t going to be successful, either.

Success is now the domain of people who lead. That doesn’t mean they’re in charge, it doesn’t mean they are the CEO, it merely means that for a group, even a small group, they show the way, they spread ideas, they make change. Those people are the only successful people we’ve got.

Que les opportunistes se rhabillent, que les épidémistes prennent le pouvoir !

Godin writes, "And that's the key to the paradox of effort: While luck may be more appealing than effort, you don't get to choose luck. Effort, on the other hand, is totally available, all the time." In our daily lives we are perpetually lucky. You are here now reading this and lucky to be alive to be able to do so. You are being supported in countless ways throughout the day. Perhaps you are already aware of this or maybe you have forgotten it. Either way, luck abounds in our life, as we maneuver our way to work, back home, to the store and so on. Meanwhile, effort and effortful living, demand action and is not as easy as a reliance on "being lucky."

Effortful living is a choice and, as Godin says, "is totally available, all the time." There is a great difference between floating through your work day as a mere cog in the system, and owning up to doing what you need to do or doing what you would do through effort. Sometimes, "the path of most resistance," although the only path that will get us where we need to go, is pushed aside in favor of "taking it easy" or simply dooming our potential by "not caring."

Godin, in his article, has written a four point "Effort Diet", which I recommend you pay attention to and enact. He also encourages readers to make their own "diet." Transformation in one's life is possible through changing what one does, by developing new habits. Nonetheless, making the plan is one thing, but effortfully enacting it and living through it is immensely difficult. It is the "difficulty" of this purposeful and effortful way of living that make it worth so much more than aimlessly drifting through your day. However, as Godin writes, "This is a hard sell. Diet books that say, "eat less, exercise more," may work, but they don't sell many copies."

Here, are my four additions to Godin's "effort diet."

1. Learn a new word everyday for one month and use it in conversations or in your writings. See how the words that you use influence the way that you think about and experience the world.
2. Control your speech and your self-talk. Observe how caught up you are in how you imagine yourself to be.
3. Thank all of the objects and people that are in your life. Treat these objects and people with the utmost respect. If it wasn't for them, you wouldn't be who you are.
4. For one week, go to work in the frame of mind that what you do greatly impacts not only the organization, but your own ways of being in that organization. This may include working in a way that you haven't worked before.

On that note, I would like to share with you an aphorism by my friend and mentor, Dr. Corey Anton author of Selfhood and Authenticity:

"Worry About it After You've Started: So many people want to fix their lives but don't know where to start, so they don't."

Thank you for your attention.

Please feel free to add to this list or, as Godin suggests, make your own list and, more importantly, enact it, live it, be it.

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

Actualizing: A Constructive Living Approach
Constructive Living: Unpublished Texts Series #1
Constructive Living: Unpublished Texts Series #2
While the Coffee Brews: Five Morning Fragments
Living Constructively: Effort
Constructive Living as Lifehack Strategy
To Be That Self Which One Truly Is: Carl Rogers

If you are like me and did not have an opportunity to make it this year check out these blogs for a brief report or even notes from the conference. We must start with Tony Morgan's updates. Tony Morgan is a pastor and the Chief Strategic Officer at NewSpring Church where he develops creative solutions for communications, technology and NewSpring Ministries--the church's ministry that equips other church leaders. The following is a list of his notes on some of the featured speakers.

Perry Noble
Andy Stanley
Jim Collins
Steven Furtick
Seth Godin
Craig Groeschel

Two other blogs that are doing a great job at live blogging the Catalyst Conference are Coffee Shop Journal and Ross Middleton's Blog - Collide Leadership You can also check out Catalyst Backstage with Anne Jackson.

To be a successful Christian, look for principles.  They will breathe new life into the study of God's Word.  These are unchanging truths that will keep us from being “carried about by every wind of doctrine,” as churches are looking for new and better ways to present faith.  Principles connect everything and shape the world we live in.

Ephesians 4:14

 

Big used to matter. Big meant economies of scale. (You never hear about “economies of tiny” do you?) People, usually guys, often ex-Marines, wanted to be CEO of a big company. The Fortune 500 is where people went to make… a fortune.

There was a good reason for this. Value was added in ways that big organizations were good at. Value was added with efficient manufacturing, widespread distribution and very large R&D staffs. Value came from hundreds of operators standing by and from nine-figure TV ad budgets. Value came from a huge sales force.

Of course, it’s not just big organizations that added value. Big planes were better than small ones, because they were faster and more efficient. Big buildings were better than small ones because they facilitated communications and used downtown land quite efficiently. Bigger computers could handle more simultaneous users, as well.

Get Big Fast was the motto for startups, because big companies can go public and get more access to capital and use that capital to get even bigger. Big accounting firms were the place to go to get audited if you were a big company, because a big accounting firm could be trusted. Big law firms were the place to find the right lawyer, because big law firms were a one-stop shop.

And then small happened.

Enron (big) got audited by Andersen (big) and failed (big.) The World Trade Center was a target. TV advertising is collapsing so fast you can hear it. American Airlines (big) is getting creamed by Jet Blue (think small). BoingBoing (four people) has a readership growing a hundred times faster than the New Yorker (hundreds of people).

Big computers are silly. They use lots of power and are not nearly as efficient as properly networked Dell boxes (at least that’s the way it works at Yahoo and Google). Big boom boxes are replaced by tiny ipod shuffles. (Yeah, I know big-screen tvs are the big thing. Can’t be right all the time).

I’m writing this on a laptop at a skateboard park… that added wifi for parents. Because they wanted to. It took them a few minutes and $50. No big meetings, corporate policies or feasibility studies. They just did it.

Today, little companies often make more money than big companies. Little churches grow faster than worldwide ones. Little jets are way faster (door to door) than big ones.

Today, Craigslist (18 employees) is the fourth most visited site according to some measures. They are partly owned by eBay (more than 4,000 employees) which hopes to stay in the same league, traffic-wise. They’re certainly not growing nearly as fast.

Small means the founder makes a far greater percentage of the customer interactions. Small means the founder is close to the decisions that matter and can make them, quickly.

Small is the new big because small gives you the flexibility to change the business model when your competition changes theirs.

Small means you can tell the truth on your blog.

Small means that you can answer email from your customers.

Small means that you will outsource the boring, low-impact stuff like manufacturing and shipping and billing and packing to others, while you keep the power because you invent the remarkable and tell stories to people who want to hear them.

A small law firm or accounting firm or ad agency is succeeding because they’re good, not because they’re big. So smart small companies are happy to hire them.

A small restaurant has an owner who greets you by name.

A small venture fund doesn’t have to fund big bad ideas in order to get capital doing work. They can make small investments in tiny companies with good (big) ideas.

A small church has a minister with the time to visit you in the hospital when you’re sick.

Is it better to be the head of Craigslist or the head of UPS?

Small is the new big only when the person running the small thinks big.

Don’t wait. Get small. Think big.

Before reading this article, I had never thought of Modular Services Company as a “small” business.  But I suppose compared to the corporate world, we are.  As a family-owned business that originated in 1921, Modular Services Company has in all its years been under leadership of the Walker family. And although we manufacture capital medical equipment that ships to hospitals all over the world, we value each and every relationship with our customers. We listen to our customers and through listening, we custom manufacture each of our products to their specific design.

So, if small means the founder of the company personally interacts with our customers; if small means our leader is a part of everyday decisions that directly affect our customers’ hospitals; if small means thinking big. Then, yes, we are small.

Modular Services is the most experienced headwall company in the industry. We are the leaders and the innovators in our market.  Although “small” we create “big” impact.  We are committed to teaming with clinicians, architects, contractors and others who share our same desire to make a positive change in the healthcare environment.

We’d like to hear your thoughts on Mr. Godin’s article. Leave us a comment on your past experiences with “small” vs. “big” companies.

Will you be in New York on Oct 22nd?  If so, you might want to join me in seeing the master Seth Godin give a new presentation about his new book Tribes!  It's early... 9:15 am, so let's get coffee and hear a great presentation.

Seth's blog:http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/10/waiting-until-t.html

Buy 3 copies of Tribes and get a reserved ticket: http://www.squidoo.com/Tribesevent

Can you tell I am a little excited :)

Catching up with old friends...

Meeting new friends...

Being challenged by some amazing leaders.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the day:

"We have to lead from moral authority, which is the alignment between creed and deed, between what we say and what we do." Andy Stanley

"Greatness is not a function of the cards that we are dealt, of good or bad luck.  Greatness is a function of conscious choice and discipline." Jim Collins

"Over-reaching, undisciplined pursuit of more is how the great fall." Jim Collins

"Invest your time being interested rather than trying to be interesting." Jim Collins

"The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you've made a hiring mistake." Jim Collins

"Be faithful in the process." Steven Furtick

"You have to do something people can criticize." Seth Godin

"No one is seeking a safe leader." Seth Godin

"You have an obligation to take your leverage and opportunity and do something." Seth Godin

Hope to share more tomorrow.  Make sure you're checking out Catalyst Backstage for all the latest!

Session #1 Andy Stanley "Louder Than Words"

His text was Nehemiah 5:6-18. Astonishing to see the parallels between today's economic bailout plan and Nehemiah's bailout plan! Read for yourself. Which is what I need to do for the entire book. EVERYWHERE I go someone either tells me to read Nehemiah or I hear a sermon on it. I think God is saying something to the CHURCH and to me. 

His main concept was MORAL AUTHORITY. Nehemiah had MORAL AUTHORITY and that's why the nobles and authorities agreed to stop charging interest on their own people without ANY QUESTIONS ASKED!!! WHAT!?! Could you imagine president Bush sitting down with the banking and financial leaders and telling them to stop charging interest AND they did it without arguing!?! Sadly, most leaders today do not have moral authority like Nehemiah so instruction and discipline falls on deaf/stubborn ears.

He hit on three key areas of our lives where we need MORAL AUTHORITY

1. Forgiveness

      a. We must lead the way, as ministers, in forgiveness

      b. the boldest move as a leader is to get on your knees daily and forgive those who have wronged us

2. Family

      a. if your wife feels like the church is your mistress then you are part of the problem

      b. why sacrifice what's permanent (family) for what's temporary (job) ouch!!!

3. Finances

      a. every dollar in our paycheck is a gift/donation from someone who chose to give. Shouldn't this make us (salaried) ministers take our finances MUCH MORE SERIOUSLY??? Going into debt, spending above our means.... ouch...

     b. Principal of tithing to God and to ourself. He took out 10 $1 bills. Gave one to God, one to ourselves (savings) and the rest to spend... I've said this and believe this but I haven't applied it effectively. (Give, save, live on the rest)

Session #2 William Paul Young "The Shack"

This was an interview session. It was good. Interesting to hear how this guy was a janitor, wrote a book for his kids, had some friends help him publish it (by starting a publishing company) and now the book has been on NYT #1 best seller list for 20 weeks!!! What!?!?!

Session #3 Jim Collins "Good to Great"

This one was overwhelming but the guy is a genius! Here's a few (still) scattered thoughts:

"Good is the ENEMY of Great"

Work = infinite           Time = finite

Discipline of the FLY WHEEL. If we would use this as our system of leadership we would be more likely to change the world. 

Over reaching is how the GREAT fall. 

Signs of over reaching: 1. when you compromise the abilities of the people on your bus. 2. When growth gets ahead of you. 3. undisciplined pursuit of more

"If you have more than 3 priorities then you don't have ANY priorities. OUCH!!!

"In your organization, if you get better WHOs you'll get better WHATs"

"The signature mark of Good to Great companies is HUMILITY"

"Churches are dependent on POWERFUL PERSONALITIES" this is BAD! Will the work go on even if I am not there?

"Trouble = confusing values w/priorities.

"a TO DO list without a STOP DOING list is b/c of a lack of discipline." OUCH!!!!

"It may take 30 years to build a reputation but don't forget it takes 30 seconds to destroy it..."

Quote of the day: "Every generation needs to develop new practices to passionately exemplify external values that cross generational lines." think about it....

Session #4 Brenda Salter McNeil "Shake it Up"

First woman leader I've heard/seen speak at catalyst. So refreshing!! She spoke on Acts 2. That God loves to SHAKE THINGS UP. He doesn't typically lay low. She seemed to be Pentecostal and the conference attendees LOVED her! Standing O!

Session #5 Steven Furtick "From the Promise to the Payoff"

Pretty incredible session. A 28 year old pastor with a church that started with 8 families and grew to 3500 people in 2 years..... WHAT?!?! Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC. He spoke about not being impatient when waiting for God to fulfill the promises He's made you. Very interesting session. He had the same shirt on as Craig Groschel, HA!!

Session #6 Seth Godin "Tribes"

Very intriguing session. T-H-E leading business blogger and best selling author has some AMAZING insight into the drastically changing marketing strategies in our world. Marketing USED to be: let's pay big bucks to annoy the crap out of people until they are brainwashed to buy our product. It is now: lets invest in one person and let them spread our product name by word of mouth. This is a TRIBAL instinct and this is what he talked about the entire time. He probably had 2,000 power point slides during his 40 min talk. He also just finished a book called "Tribes" and he gave a free copy to all 12,400 attendees!!! UNBELIEVABLE, the book hasn't even been released... 

Session #7 Craig Groeschel "Finding 'it' when you've Lost 'it'"

Craig's talk last year was probably one of the most influential sermons in last 5 years of my life. It was titled "Disturb Me." This year's title was different but the content, outside of scripture, was fairly similar. This would probably make most people fall asleep but it was a much needed punch in the gut for my current life status. Craig's scripture text for the session was Joel 2:12 (see tag)

His sermon was STRETCH ME. But first HEAL ME. But first RUIN ME. It was like mouth wash in your mouth for over a minute. It burned like FIRE but it felt so good afterwards. Thanks Craig for being so honest. 

**Worship Leaders Steve Fee, Todd Fields, and Eddie Kirkland were amazing**

**Jon Foreman sand several tunes that made me smile and cringe. Download his EP immediately if you haven't already**

Well, that'll be enough for tonight. We've go a WHOLE other day to work through. Can't wait to tell you about Matt Chandler and Franklin Graham. 

Pray that we would not get so consumed in Leadership Principles/Practices that we would forget or neglect the power of God in our everyday lives!

It was a full day and I must admit, I probably should have waited to blog on all this when I got home after I rested and processed. I will do that later but here's a quick overview before I fall asleep.

So we travel into the conference center which yesterday held about 1500 people but today is packed with about 12,000. We took in the sights as much is going on from a more artistic and experience oriented conference. There are multiple vendors, performers in the halls and outside, signs and other items of visual interest, a girl riding on the shoulders of a guy telling us the conference is about to begin, others passing out candy, and so on and so forth.

Inside, we find more great worship and speakers....

Andy Stanley got the ball rolling and was interesting as he usually is (a compliment). He spoke on Nehemiah and focused on the importance for spiritual leaders to be of moral integrity to maintain positive influence in the lives of others. Andy is the pastor of  Northpoint in Georgia and one of the founders of this events which started 9 years ago. His most recent book is Making Vision Stick.

After that, there was an interview with the author of the Shack which is a controversial fiction book that has been kind of an accidental best seller. I'm about half way through and thought the talk was done pretty well. (On any of these, if you want more details, let me know and I'll give you more thoughts.)

After that was Jim Collins who is a facts and date man. He did an interesting study of what makes good church into a great church. His book on the topic is called (are you ready?) Good to Great: Why some companies make the leap and others don't). It produced a couple good questions for us to talk about as a leadership team but it was also pretty dry. I had try to read his book but it had the same effect on me. I guess I'm not as in love with data as Jim.

Then came Brenda Salter (A Credible Witness). I have to admit it started a little slow as it took a little while to build her base and she was covering some points that I had heard before by others who went deeper. However, at one point, it was just like the Spirit hit her, she did not become so dependent on her notes and she found her groove. The last half was very powerful as she went deeper into being willing to get messy and creating relationships outside of your norm.

Probably the surprise hit for me was Pastor Steven Furtick from Elevation Church. He is a young pastor and though he had a church of seven families 2 years ago which is now a church of 5,000, I was a little skeptical. It just seemed he was young and not a lot of time to gain the experience that would be looking to from a speaker at a conference like this. However, this guy just took the house down. His perspective was dead on and the faith walk he described was incredible. He had brought those first families that started the church with him to honor them for what they had done. When they signed on, they had no idea where the church was going to be (in the country) yet were willing to submit all to follow God. It was pretty cool and I hope to see more from him.

Next was a short interview with a 14 year old kid named Austin who had a heart when he was 9 to help orphan kids in foreign countries. He started a basketball fundraiser which is in it's fifth year that has raised over $400,000 for those kids which has already built a school for them and now building a medical center to help the parents who have AIDS. He did this work through Compasion International. Great testimony!

Seth Godin, the marketing guru was next. Though he is not in the "church" arena, he had great insights on how marketing no longer works for church (and other areas) but how relationships build community. Actually, he talked about how we work in "Tribes", his new book. Very well done. He has the most popular business blog of all times and is best known for his book "Purple Cow".

Craig Greshel (It) finished up the day with an incredible talk that was challenging and touching. He focused on Joel 2:12-13 and talked about, as church leaders, the need to be broken, healed, and stretched by God. Many pastors came to the Lord for renewal tonight expressing the need to receive their first love back in their ministry. It was a very powerful night.

The worship was great as well today with the lead singer from Switchfoot and the worship band Fee.

Well, I think that's about all the energy I have left. Good night and more will be to come.

For bios on all main stage speakers, go here.

There were lots of fun events like the world's record for putting together the largest Floam ball. A step dance team performed. A bus came and unloaded a dodgeball champion, a grandaddy banjo player, a mariachi band and a hog. Long story. Lanny Donaho and Reggie Joiner are the emcees and Lanny is quite a hoot.

They shared the story of a 9 year old boy that started a Hoops for Hope organization that allows children to raise money for Zambian orphans by shooting free throws. Over the past 5 years this little boys vision raised enough money to build a high school and medical/counseling clinic for Aids patients in Zambia. Amazing kid.

The EXtreme Team basketball stunt artists performed. During one of the worship sets two artists came onstage and free handed on individual campuses. We watched and sang while they worshipped through their art. It was really, really cool.

William Paul Young was absolutely amazing. Such a humble, compassionate, tenderhearted man. I am so glad I read his book and it made me want to read it again, but mostly want to meet him. He has an incredible story. Worked in as a warehouse manager, even did janitorial duties. He wrote the book as a Christmas gift for his six kids to try and explain his personal journey through this allegory and through crazy events everyone else was blessed by his book too. He cried while sharing the impact of his realizing at age 50 the depth of Christ's love for us. Wow!

Steven Furtick was ON FIRE!! Humble too and hilarious. That guy is really amazing. Craig Groeschel was also emotional while telling about some of his personal struggles and coming back from some of them. He is an impressive man. Andy Stanley really emphasized prioritizing family first over ministry and career.

I had a meltdown at lunchtime. I have had a migraine the past three days. Which my medicine helps but I am still just struggling. So wearing a smelly cow outfit and being with 12,000 people that are staring at me, teasing me and asking me questions constantly...while it is a blessing, I kind of had a mini panic attack at lunch. I went to the car for about 20 minutes and derobed and was just quiet for a while. Then I went back in and made it through the rest of the day, much better.

Honestly though I kind of feel like the enemy is really trying to distract through my weariness and rotten attitude. So I hope to get a bit more sleep tonight and be a positive, happy cow again tomorrow. Mark and I slipped out tonight and had dinner alone and now are visiting with my parents before bed. Again we are so thankful and blessed to be here. I did run into Cory Singleton a precious friend from college. We saw the Newspring crew. I also saw Craig Crosby, a friend from college from afar but didn't get to catch his attention.

It is fun running into old friends and making new ones. Such a unique environment and fun opportunity. Hope some of this made sense. Sorry for not linking to things tonight, just too tired! Try to do better next time:)

As I went into to store I was not sure where should I put my disk-on-key, so I asked the owner how do I print a document. He asked what I needed to print and how many copies. I told him I have a 2 page document and that I will need about 5 copies. A total of 10 pages.

He said no problem. But we have a minimum of 10 Shekels. I thanked him and walked out of the store. I walked another 3 minutes to another store and printed my document there for 2.5 shekels.

My question is why the set a minimum at all? What did the owner have to lose by printing my document? It doesn't cost him anything to reach the file and send it to printer. So, why make it difficult? I know he did not lose a lot of money by not servicing me. I actually might have understood it if the store was full and he needed the computer for costumers who had bigger documents and were willing to pay more for not waiting. But it wasn't. The store was empty. I was the only costumer.

I really felt cheated (even though I did not pay anything). I would never return to that store. This might not be a substantial lost to the store owner, but he could not have known that. With no cost at all for him, he could have made me happy and keep me as a costumer.

Many times you see such policies. Usually, they don't make sense. If you create rules that hinder your costumer you only hinder yourself. Even if your rules do make sense some of the time, they should be bendy enough to allow you to serve the costumer under the right circumstances. As Seth Godin says - Service is marketing.

Elad

Some of you maybe familiar with marketing guru, and founder of Squidoo, Seth Godin.

Seth posted a rather interesting blog today about something he calls the productivity divide. It is a series of questions, yes or no, as to whether or not you are capable of doing things that are now commonplace for any number of white collar jobs.

Journalists should absolutely be able to do everything on his list. If you want to be able to have any kind of career in any field even closely related to the media you need to be able to answer his questions correctly.

And the other most important thing?  You need to be on top of ahead of the curve, you shouldn't have to wait for someone like Seth to write a list, you should be learning the stuff before long before it's even on a list. 

You better believe that Chris Wink and Sean Blanda are able to do everything Seth Godin asks, and more. The more is  key.

Go see how you stack up.

I would add -- because you know I will never shut up about this -- that one should always transmit information in the most appropriate medium.  So, for example:

• If you need to make contact with several people, email, don't call call.  (A colleague of mine once confirmed an interview with a producer.  Meanwhile, the host called me to confirm and when I didn't pick up the phone, called my colleague, who coincidentally was also away from her desk.  We then both called back the host.  This could all have been avoided had the producer responded to my colleague and copied all parties.)
• But if you do email, email only the people who need to see the message.  It may be appropriate to Reply All on an interview confirmation; you probably don't need to do that just to say "Thanks."
• Any time a lot of names and addresses need to be exchanged -- which happens frequently in publicity -- this information should be transmitted in an Excel document because then the information can easily be imported / mail merged to make letters / labels / etc.  Typing names into a Word document is like writing a book in Excel.  (If that sounds familiar it's because, yes, I've said that before.)

Effort? Or luck?

Social media campaigns - they ain't like the traditional kinds. Nice overview from Kat over at Social Media Explorer.

CollabFinder - a place where designers and developers can find each other. Great use of web networking. Hat tip: Swiss Miss.

Mark Goren asks: Really, What is Marketing? From his Planting Seeds blog (nice design, btw Mark!)

Can you describe your personal brand in one word? Dan Schawbel is asking!

BONUS: New Twitter-generated TwIndependent presidential ticket announced. Go GaryVee and Chris Brogan! (now with bonus links to prior spoofs!)

For those who missed Seth godin's blog posts in the last 2 years, here are his best ones from the last 2 years.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/09/best-of-the-blo.html

SETH GODIN is a marketing guru, bestselling author, entrepreneur and agent of change.

***

Even the venerable Gray Lady is facing cuts: Editor & Publisher reports that the Metro section has been folded into the A section of The New York Times and Sports has been folded into the D section several days a week.

If you send a nasty email, there’s a real human being on the other end who gets it.
If you flame in a forum, you’re wasting real people’s time.
If you spam someone, you’re really only making yourself look bad.
If you write IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS it sounds like shouting.
If you want something to happen your way, try asking instead of demanding.
If you give, you’ll probably wind up getting, too.
If you blog just to pick fights, don’t be surprised when people don’t trust you.
If you collaborate, say thanks.
If you’re independent, say no thanks.
If you like someone, tell them.
If you don’t, walk away from the computer.
If you’re giving feedback, lead with just one good thing.
If you’re getting feedback, realize that the person must care a lot to have sent it.
If you goof, apologize.
If you apologize, mean it.
If you smile, mean that too.
If you don’t like something, don’t do it.
If you do like something, spread it.

But far far more important:

Give people a break.
The break you probably deserve yourself.
People are out to do good, 99% of the time.
You probably are too.
Say thanks out loud and a lot.
Try making someone’s day.
Chances are they’ll make yours in return.

Its been quite a backlog. Let me update you on my antics.

Thursday was a below average day – was out the entire day – on my wedding shopping. I am getting married in January and yes, that is one of the motivations to get fit as well.

Had a good breakfast. Lunch got delayed though and dinner was just a sandwich – a low cal day almost.

I was at Gloria Jeans Cafe for Lunch and had a Chicken Sandwich and a Cocoa Cold Coffee. Yup did give in the coffee stuff there - but come on folks - can't be perfect all the time.

Managed to catch a movie at a local theatre in the evening. Stayed away from the popcorn and colas there. That was the only saving grace. Went back home and continued reading on Small is the new big. Its been an amazing journey. The sheer number of ideas and thoughts addressed in the book make it a total don’t put me down kind of book.

To come to think of it. I wasn’t looking for this book. I went looking for Seth Godin’s other book - The Dip. The Dip - is a book about when to quit and when not to. It is about that juncture in life, when there is a lull after initial sucess and you are unsure whether to invest more time and go the whole way or quit and do something better. I feel i am at similar crossroads in my career and i wanted to read about it. However sinceThe Dip wasn’t available in my local bookstore, had to settle for this one.

Life has its own amazing coincidences. This was one and it introduced me to this lovely book.My friends always ask me how i keep discovering new authors and new books. My answer to them is Keep Reading.

Robin Sharma led me to Squidoo.com

I've built a few lenses on squidoo and i am totally addiction. You can build your own lens on any topic your desire.

Squidoo was founded by Seth Godin. That's how i came to know about him. Once i started reading on him - i learnt about The Dip.

One thing just leads to another. Just let your life flow, keep your eyes and ears open and just let go!

I only hope I don’t spend all my workout time on reading. Havent got a workout for a while now. Hope to get one soon.

I'm in for serious trouble, since i had to attend back to back dinner parties on Friday and Saturday. Look out for my next posts and how i navigated these days.

Cheers!

I pre-order Tribes by Seth Godin.  I've read enough from Godin to know that I his books are gold, and a pre-order is not a risk in anyway.  I got a pre-release copy yesterday, and I'm also going to get the copy that I actually ordered towards the end of October.  I wonder who I shall give the second one too?

Let me give you some Required Godin Reading

Purple Cow

Free Prize Inside

All Marketers Are Liars

The Dip

Meatball Sundae

And hey, here's a great video from the TED Talks

and here's one from Google about All Marketers Are Liars