Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion for the world is to look out; yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good; and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now. — Teresa of Avila
In the last two weeks, several people have asked to meet with me at the International Christian Retail Show (ICRS) being held in Denver, July 12–15, 2009. I have had to tell them that Thomas Nelson is not exhibiting this year. We also didn’t exhibit last year. Some have asked why.
Historically, trade shows have played an important role in publishing and bookselling. I have attended scores of them and have very fond memories of connecting with customers, authors, and the media. But the market has changed. Dramatically. We simply cannot justify the enormous costs associated with these trade shows—especially in this tough economy.
Last week I did an interview with The Tennessean, our local paper here in Nashville, about my use of Twitter. Naomi Snyder, the reporter, asked me to respond to a few of the common objections people have to using Twitter.
After the interview, I realized that there actually are a finite number of objections. I have heard most of them. If you use Twitter, you probably have, too.
Inside of every tragedy, there’s always a little comedy. Last week, in the wake of the sad news about Michael Jackson’s untimely death, his former attorney, Brian Oxman, appeared on Fox & Friends. He made some startling claims about Michael’s prescription drug use.
Then he said, “I warned everyone that I could. I said to family members that one day, that Michael Jackson was going to wake up dead.”
Last year, our book club decided to read The Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. It was one of the best books we read all year. (I also listened to the audio version while I was running.)
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The book is the inspiring story of what happens when a wealthy Dallas art dealer and a poor homeless drifter become friends.
We’ve all heard the aphorism, “The devil is in the details.” Conversely, Oprah likes to say, “Love is in the details.” But which is it? Actually both. The details matter—more than you might think.
Yesterday, I visited three different retail stores trying to find a pair of shoes to replace a pair I gave away in Africa. I was looking for a fairly casual shoe style. Nothing fancy. Just something to wear with jeans.
Twitter’s influence has been growing by leaps and bounds. It is one of the fastest growing social media platforms on the Internet. But let’s face it, not everyone is on Twitter. In fact, even if you are on Twitter, you are still in the minority in terms of absolute numbers. Chances are that most of your family and friends haven’t taken the plunge.
So why not? Why don’t your friends Twitter?
Please take 30 seconds to take the poll below. Once it is complete, I will post the results, along with my response to each objection. Hopefully, this will help you convince your friends to give Twitter a try.
Several years ago, I wanted to encourage our employees to blog. As a traditional book publishing company, I felt that we needed to experience new media if we were going to transition successfully to it. I still feel this way.
Initially, some people expressed interest. Others were reluctant. So, in order to encourage blogging, we created a simple set of guidelines to help our bloggers know what we expected. However, I noticed this week that these never made the transition to my new blog, which I launched a few months ago. So I thought I wold re-post them here.
Yesterday, I shared a major obstacle that I faced in my career. At the time, I thought it was insurmountable. I couldn’t see a way out. But then, amazingly, everything turned, and the situation worked to my advantage.
So often, this has been my experience. I could share with you one story after another. You probably could, too. The problem is that we forget that obstacles are a necessary part of achieving our vision.
In my experience, vision consists of five components:
In August of 2000, I received a big break in my career. However, as is so often the case, it came disguised as a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.
I had just become the publisher of Nelson Books, one of the two trade book imprints at Thomas Nelson at that time. I had inherited a division with a lot of financial problems. Based on almost every metric available, we were dead last compared to the company’s thirteen other publishing groups.
I have a short list of truly great business books that I have read. One of them is The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. This book literally changed my life. It is the first book I recommend to people who are thinking about starting a business.
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In the book, Michael covers three big ideas:
The entrepreneurial myth
The turn-key revolution
The business development process
If you are going to succeed in business, it is critical that you understand—and implement—all three.
Question: Have you read Gerber’s book? What impact did it have on you?
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