Yup. It’s official. I’m gonna be a rat in an upcoming animated video from Timbuktoons… that according to their KickStart fundraising site!
Todd Hampson and Sean Copley are two of the most creative guys I know. You may not recognize their names – but you see their work all over the Kidology and the Kidmin world. Todd was the artist for my novel Order of the Ancient and Sean designed this blog theme and all my matching stationery, business cards, brochures, etc.
And of course, we carry a lot of their shorts and graphics and other products in our store. (4 pages worth!)
They are also the creative guys behind a LOT of the stuff you see walking through the exhibit hall at the Children’s Pastor’s Conference. (Though I’m not making the list, as I’m not sure I have permission to disclose all that they are behind?) But if it looks sharp, there is a good chance Todd and Sean are behind it! And I’d like to think I was one of the first to discover Todd. Though I’m sure others may make that claim too. He is fought over! And since adding Sean, they are the artistic dynamic duo!
So when I saw an opportunity to support them in fund raising for a new creative project I couldn’t whip out my credit card fast enough!
They have been doing excellent work for others (even being featured on JellyTelly.com!) but now they are trying to create their own animated series but it is a very costly undertaking. If you have enjoyed their work, help them out now.
Even just $5 would go a long way if a bunch of people stepped up and helped them out. They need to raise $3700 through this KickStarter website to get funded.
Kidology’s “This One’s On Me” fundraiser is a way to support one of your favorite children’s ministry websites with small donations that otherwise may seem insignificant. To make it fun, you can choose to “buy” the equivalent of many every day products as your donation. The catch? You’ll get nothing in the mail, but will receive our heartfelt thanks and a tax-deductible receipt at the end of the year!
If you’ve ever treated a friend to lunch or picked up the tab for a colleague’s Mocha Frappucino latte with whipped cream, then you know the joy a small gift can bring and the satisfaction from giving it. Here at Kidology we consider you a friend of our ministry and enjoy giving you the tools, resources, and ideas you need to be effective in your ministry to children.
We’d like to give you a fun opportunity to give back to a site you love! As a non-profit ministry we are dependent on donations to underwrite the costs of this extensive high-traffic site. Keeping our membership fees low means we need those who benefit from the site to help cover the expenses that memberships and product sales can’t cover alone. Plus, it may surprise you that a large number of members pay nothing due to being a student, an overseas missionary, or because of a scholarship.
So ask yourself, what would you be willing to give for Kidology? A Starbucks drink? An ice cold Mountain Dew? Perhaps just a candy bar or a new pair of shoes? We’ve created a fun “This One’s On Me” section in our store to help you give symbolic ‘gifts’ to Kidology ranging from a $0.99 iTunes song to a brand new Lexus or Lear Jet.
While we are a very small ministry, using conservative estimates, Kidology.org impacts well over a million children each and every month as over 20,000 unique visitors come each and every day to find ideas, soak up encouragement, and shop our helpful resources. As we look to enhancing the site we often wonder, “What if every visitor gave just a small $1-5 donation (or more)?” The impact on our ministry and the Kingdom would be significant.
So shop the “This One’s On Me” section and pick something that you’d like to give to Kidology. We’ll send you our utmost appreciation and continue to invest in making Kidology.org even more helpful to your ministry!
This is one of Barney Kinard’s “Coach’s Conundrums,” or what he calls one of his collection of pithy principles that need some explanation. As he often says to his Protégés (as he calls his students), implementing of his conundrums could alter your paradigm for children’s ministry or influence the way you approach kids.
I want to share this one with you – because it is one that when he shared it with me years ago, it hit be so hard between the eyes, it about knocked me over!
Karl & Barney (In our pre-Mac days!)
Not only is Barney a long time friend, he is one of our Kidology Coaches, who offers weekly coaching calls to his students as part of Kidology’s personal one-to-one personal curriculum based mentoring program. Every Monday, he faithful sends out his Coach’s Huddle, an e-mail LOADED with updates, insights, encouragements, pithy wisdom, fun puns, updates on his students, and bonus coaching materials exclusively for his students. It is truly a treasure of knowledge his students are blessed to get (and I’m lucky to be CCed on) every Monday.
I’m taking the liberty to post his Coach’s Conundrum on “Work expands to fill the time allowed” knowing that Barney will not mind!
Here is how he explains it:
This is something that continues to impress me, I find that time pressure is the motivational trigger that compresses the time a project needs for completion. The extremes do occur, too much time and too little time, but for this conundrum to work, we determine the pace to finish on time, mostly. The constant variable is “when does it have to be done?” The answer becomes “the pace of the race” for the finish line. If there is a time to beat, a drop dead goal to complete, the task, somehow, is better done, than if it would be either postponed, set aside or put on the shelf. To put anything “inactive,” is like stopping. However, harnessing the task with time frames is like testing the limits of the stretched rubber band. Our “one-step” method is an overt effort to stop this “all-or-nothing” orientation to work by breaking it down into “doable parts,” matched with a reasonable time table for completion, done, done well and on time.
Let me share with you – how this “Work expands to the time allowed” principle impacted me.
As the founder of the Kidology University conference – Kidology.org put on 15* different Kid U conferences over a period of ten years while I was on staff at the Village Church of Barrington, finally culminating with our 10th anniversary event in 2008. (download that brochure)
Barney was at many of those Kid U’s and at all of the first 3-4 of them, and every year, I was at the church late – and I mean late – up until 2-3a.m. doing last minute details to make the event just right. Each year, trying not to be up so late, I started earlier, and planned better, and delegated better, and yet still I would be there until 2-3a.m. doing last minute things to make the event just perfect for those who would be coming by 8a.m. the following morning. Barney, being a good friend, was always at my side, helping me with those last minute details and ideas.
Finally on the 3rd or 4th year (I forget which), I commented to Barney, “I don’t get it. Every year, I start earlier, I plan better, I delegate better, I have more help, more employees, and yet here I am, working late the night before. I just don’t seem to be able to go home at a decent hour.”
And that was when he kindly said those magic words, having never complained about being there so late with me, he just said,
“Well, Karl, it would seem to me, that the work expands to fill the time allowed.”
You see, because I was WILLING to work until 2-3a.m. the night before the event – because I loved the event that much, and the volunteers and trainers who would be pouring through the doors in the morning… I wouldn’t leave until 3a.m. I would stay there thinking of things to do to make it better!
The work would expand because I had allowed that much time for my work! I wouldn’t be done until 3a.m. no matter how early I started, how much I planned ahead, or how much I delegated!
The following year, I didn’t not allow that time. I planned a dinner for all my staff and volunteers for the night before the event and determined that after than meal, I had to go home and get a night of sleep. The work could no longer expand into the night. I did that from then on. A few times I did need to run back for a few quick things, but I no longer worked the whee hours… the work no longer expanded, for I was out of time.
And it worked, and I was much healthier for it.
It’s a powerful principle. Coaching works. Sometimes a simple sentence can have a powerful impact on years of ministry into the future.
Ministry doesn’t have to be a conundrum.
*Yes, to a few die hard Kidology fans out there, who love to constantly remind me there were previous Kid U’s in the city of Chicago, the “First Kid U” was not the truly the first! I hereby acknowledge that. In defense, when I said 2nd annual Kid U and 3rd and so on, it referred to the second, 3rd and so on annual at VCB. But once we expanded beyond VCB to WI and OH, it was too late to renumber them all to include the pre-VCB Kid U’s. But, yes, you are correct, there were more than 15 Kid U’s, and you, my friends, were at the REAL FIRST KID U in Chicago when I was truly an unknown children’s pastor just equipping and encouraging in the inner city of Chicago. Thank you for your ardent support over the years! You shall be rewarded in heaven for your encouragement to me over the years and for coming to those first humble Kid U’s in that small fellowship hall!
For those of you who write – let me give you a glimpse into what happens behind the scenes of writing DiscipleTown.
When I write these units, I am given a collection of raw material from Mark Steiner, the creator and author of the DiscipleLand Core Bible Curriculum, since I am creating a children’s church curriculum based on the 24 Disciple Skills that are part of the overall Disciple Making Strategy created by Mark.
As part of the Level Three, Second Quarter Curriculum, Mark provided a collection of character traits for the teacher to cover as part of the Disciple Skill of Building Character. They were:
Positive Character Qualities
Negative Character Qualities
Honest, truthful, fair
dishonest, false, corrupt
Caring, compassionate, merciful
unconcerned, insensitive, judgmental
Loyal, devoted, steadfast
unfaithful, disloyal, uncommitted
Respectful, courteous, polite
rude, impolite, disrespectful
Diligent, hard-working, determined
lazy, procrastinating, undisciplined
Courageous, bold, brave
fearful, timid, cowardly
Holy, pure, set apart
impure, polluted, tainted
Trustworthy, responsible, dependable
unreliable, irresponsible, undependable
Cooperative, teachable, helpful
disruptive, unruly, troublesome
Humble, servant-hearted, unselfish
proud, selfish, arrogant
Generous, gracious, giving
stingy, miserly, tight-fisted
Peaceful
troubled/agitated/worried
All 12 came with matching scripture. (I love the biblical depth of DiscipleLand)
MY CHALLENGE:
Match these 12 traits to the 4 lessons, 3 each! They needed to match, and not be contrived, if possible. It took some work, but I was pretty excited with the way it worked out. They fit quite naturally!
TRUE (When No One Is Looking)
BE HOLY (impure) Deuteronomy 7:6
BE DILIGENT (lazy) 2 Timothy 2:15
BE COURAGEOUS (fearful) 2 Timothy 1:7
OUTER (Toward Others)
BE COOPERATIVE (disruptive) Philippians 1:27
BE GENEROUS (stingy) Proverbs 19:17
BE CARING (unconcerned) Ephesians 4:32
INNER (Ones No One Can See)
BE HUMBLE (proud) Philippians 2:3-4
BE HONEST: (dishonest) Psalm 15:1-3
BE PEACEFUL (worried) John 14:27; John 16:33
REPUTATION (Known For)
BE TRUSTWORTHY (unreliable) Exodus 18:21
BE RESPECTFUL (rude) 1 Peter 2:17
BE LOYAL (unfaithful) Proverbs 17:17
MY FINAL CHALLENGE:
How do I visually communicate these traits in a way that would be FUN and ENTERTAINING, yet really illustrate to kids the differences among TRUE character (who you are when no one is looking), INNER character (those traits no one sees), OUTER character (those traits that impact others), and your REPUTATION (those traits that impact how others view you?)
I ended up deciding I needed to break the mold from my usual Object Talks, and do something entirely NEW!
Here is the first of FOUR YouTube-style videos of a puppet named Luke, video blogging about his week and the lessons he is learning about character. Each explores character very uniquely and covers TRUE, INNER, OUTER and REPUTATION.
Children grow up being told what to do and what not to do, learning behaviors that keep them out of trouble and earn them rewards. In this short-sighted approach, their walk with Christ becomes limited to seeking to please the adults in their lives. Remove those adults, and the kids’ pursuit of Jesus evaporates as well. Teach children to build solid Christian character, however, and you have disciples who can live victoriously, independent of adult supervision yet dependent on God. Isn’t that our ultimate goal? This unit trains children to evaluate and take ownership of their spiritual growth, following the model of Jesus’ growth in the short but powerful verse, Luke 2:52. In this verse we discover a comprehensive formula for Christian character in young people—wisdom, character, integrity, and reputation. Children can intentionally develop in these same areas, if we are willing to guide them!
Taking everyday mundane family occurrences and turning them into memories…
We had a small tragedy in our home this morning. Charlie’s nose came off. It would only take me 2-3 minutes and some super glue to fix it – but what an opportunity for a memory!
I went down to my “children’s ministry closet” that is still stacked full of boxes from nearly 20 years as a children’s pastor and prayed, “Dear God, let one of the first three boxes I pull have my doctor outfit!”
The first box looked promising – as it had the doctor table cloth in it! But I struck out with the next few boxes and it looked like my plan of coming back up stairs dressed as a surgeon was not going to happen. Then I remembered something I’ve said more times than I can count in workshops across America,
“Kids love to pretend and as adults we are handicapped by our need to be realistic.”
So I just grabbed what I did have access to – a poncho and sombrero, that surgeon’s table cloth and walked back upstairs and introduced myself as “Doctor Poncho” and said, “I hear you have a dog whose nose has fallen off?”
My four year old, Luke, lit up and brought me the dog and the nose for examination. Of course, I treated this as a very serious matter, but not one that wasn’t treatable. But we would need some tools! So of to the garage we went for some of his daddy’s tools.
Soon an operating table was set up on the coffee table, and as long as we were operating we went ahead and turned him into a super dog like Bolt! (One of Luke’s favorite movies.)
The entire surgery took no longer than ten minutes, but it was a lot of fun. Luke even went and found a bowl and put it on his head so he could look like me!
He held the flash light and helped with the examination and held Charlie’s paw throughout the procedure in case he was in pain and to help him not to be scared comforting him just as we do when we have to put ice on a bump or pull a splinter. We talked about how we help him when he is hurt and how he was helping Charlie while he was hurt.
Finally, Charlie’s nose was like new. But not only that, Luke’s day was off to a great start. Every time he called me “Daddy,” of course I corrected him saying, “Daddy? Who is that? I’m Doctor Poncho!” Although, when it was all over he followed Doctor Poncho downstairs and I let him see me take the costume off and he said, “See, I knew it was you daddy!” And I just said, “Of course it was me – but isn’t it fun to pretend?”
We have a choice as parents. We can just fix the toy (which often I do, of course.) Or we can choose at times to take these opportunities to make a memory. To enter into our child’s world of pretending and make believe and play with them. When you do that, you strengthen your bond with them. That is the currency of relationship with children. Too often we want to kids to be more like us – to behave and grow up. Yes, they need to mature and learn and obey and all that. But if you want them to listen to you and respect you and love you, you need to go their way at times too. That is what relationships are all about. It’s true in your friendships and marriage too, right? Give and take. Why wouldn’t it be true with your kids. Do make believe.
What are you going to do TODAY or THIS WEEK to enter your child’s world? Have a tea party? Build a fort? Be an alien or a cowboy or just have a pillow fight? Or perhaps it will be something as crazy and unpredictable as being “Doctor Poncho!”
Keep your eyes open and be ready so you don’t miss it!
…but it’s a God thing. I met Nicki Straza at the Kid Builder conference in Canada this past spring and could quickly tell she shared my passion for writing curriculum. She has collaborated with me now on several projects, the most recent being the ALL NEW NARNIA release, Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Perhaps you’ve already used one of our other Narnia series Wardrobe or Caspian – well, we are excited to offer this third one now. And if not, be sure to check out the “add on” option on buying all three at significant savings!
Here’s the official scoop on the curriculum:
This 10-lesson companion curriculum series for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will help your kids set sail into the 3rd installment of C.S. Lewis’ excursion through The Chronicles of Narnia.
Written by children’s pastor Nicki Straza, this downloadable study includes everything you need to plan, organize, and teach the adventures found in this magical book. Experience King Caspian’s voyage through magic waters to the End of the World!
Your download includes:
173 pages of teaching materials
10 Take Home Papers for kids
Print-friendly PDF and editable Microsoft Word formats
Lesson Overviews complete with Time Estimates
Detailed Supplies Lists
Chapter Summaries designed for reading aloud
Kingdom Key teaching themes for each lesson
Bible Story application & discussion questions
Memory Verse Games
Object Lesson Instructions
Small Group Activities
Planned Crafts with instructions
Snacktivity food-oriented illustrations
Supplemental Bonus Materials
If you are looking for something to teach in December when Narnia Fever hits again – this is it! And it will carry you through January as well.
As Kidology folks know, I’m passionate about the topic of “Intentional Parenting” – its the theme of my Online Training Lab “Partnering with Parents” (Kidology Members can watch the training video for free) – and something I have preached and “teached” about…
But, of course, it starts in your own home. Early on when we first became parents we got excited about starting a family learning time, and inspired by a family in one of our first ministries (the Camarenas) who did a “Praise the Lord Time” every evening, we started that with Luke when he was around two. It was a complete disaster. LOL. We quickly had to surrender that we were starting the family devotional thing too soon, and settled for bedtime Bible stories and prayers, of course prayers at meals, Christian entertainment, and learning moments throughout the day – and engaging with the materials from church, but set aside any formal home devotional time for the time being. My over-eagerness to be a good dad and start this with a two year old would have made for some good candid camera moments.
Since I actually write and publish family devotional guides for a publisher (download a sample) I can’t wait until Luke is much older to be able to use those as a family – but we probably let a little too much time slip by before restarting an intentional strategy again.
But the time has come for me to give myself a kick in my own rear to be more intentional as a parent in being a Deuteronomy 6 Dad and start doing some formal (but fun) spiritual training in my own home – and not just encouraging others to be doing it in theirs via the materials I write for churches.
I’m blogging about it for a few reasons:
1) To hold myself accountable – by telling others we are doing it, there is some public accountability! People can ask me how it’s going. (gulp!)
2) To get feedback, suggestions, ideas and questions to improve what we are doing.
3) To maybe inspire others to be more intentional in their spiritual parenting.
Daddy and Luke after our First Family Pit Stop!
My first challenge was to come up with a name for our intentional family time. I wanted something that would last for years – not sound too “spiritual” – and not overly define what we were going to do, as I want to be flexible. I was writing all kinds of words on a paper as Sara and I brain stormed. It had to be simple enough for a four year old to understand, and yet have some meaning that would still make sense when he is ten. (Yes, I pray we are still doing it years from now!) We had Bible Learning Time, God Time, Family Zone, Prayer Circle, Family Huddle – and lots of key words – and then it hit me: my boy LOVES cars, and race cars need to pull out of the race to refuel and get repaired and stop racing for a bit so they can get back in the race. Everyone knows what happened to Lightening McQueen when he thought he didn’t need a pit stop at the beginning of the Disney Cars movie!
So I explained to Luke that every night after supper we are going to have a Family Pit Stop. We are going to pull out of the family race and daddy is going to plan a little something to focus us on God. We might watch a video and talk about it, we might read a book, we might play a game, we might do a craft, we might watch a toybox tale, but we will always just take some time to focus on God. We’ll read something out of the Bible and pray. They don’t have to be long. Pit Stops are using fast anyway. But the point is to always make one.
Of course, I know there will be days we can’t make one – but I really want that to be the exception. I want my boy to grow up knowing that our family had a Family Pit Stop in the evening, even if it was short, we always pulled over to talk about God, read some scripture and pray. Some days I can get really creative (After all, after twenty plus years as a children’s pastor, I have an entire children’s ministry in my basement!) but other days it will just be a kids devotional book and prayer – but the point will be stopping and focusing on God as a family.
I think it will be fun to even do a Family Pit Stop by iChat when I’m on the road someday!
Preparing for Halloween
Tonight, since Halloween is coming, and Luke is starting to notice scary stuff around the neighborhood and in stores – I decided to show him what a skeleton really is. I got this cool books at Costco awhile back, one of a Car Body and one of the Human Body, where as you page through them you get to see the “parts” unfold and see the insides. We did the car first and talked about the insides of a car and how you can’t see the insides normally, but that is how a car works, and then we did the human and talked about how people have insides too, and he learned a lot about how his body works, and then we just talked about how that’s what a skeleton is. So when he sees skeletons, he doesn’t need to be scared, they are just pictures of people like in this book showing how God made us. He was fascinated and said that he wasn’t scared of skeletons at all and it was silly to make them walk and talk, people can’t do that with no skin on!
Then we did a devotional book with the story of Jesus on the road to Emmaus, and how he disappeared, and then when he appeared to the disciples they thought he was a ghost, but he proved he wasn’t by eating, and talked about how the only real ghost was Jesus – and he wasn’t even a ghost, and he proved it by eating. So all the ghosts and skeletons are just things people put out for fun.
At the very end Luke said he loved the Pit Stop and said, “This was fun, now can we get back to racing and run around the house?” Reminding me that kids are quite literal, so he took the pit stop explanation quite literal!
I plan to wear the racing jacket for Pit Stop time for awhile, until my NASCAR hat arrives. Then, when it is Family Pit Stop time, I will just put on the hat and announce, “It’s time for Family Pit Stop!” Pray for me that I will be faithful to keep up this commitment.
RELATED: Dads, you need to check this out: Pastor Dad
Please read the next three sentence slowly and thoughtfully:
Relationships can’t be measured.
Relationships can’t be quantified.
Relationships can’t be R.O.I.ed
I’m getting really weary of reading articles like this one that talk about the value of Twitter in terms of whether people click on them or “ReTweet” them as though they are a waste of time otherwise. So what if only 29% of tweets are “acted” upon and of those only 6% are “retweeted” or if 71% of tweets have a “shelf life” of one hour and get no “reaction?” They were never intended to be works of literature to last the ages. They were intended to be flashes of data sent out to those who might be watching and might be following who might find it interesting.
I’m on Twitter because I value relationship with people not geographically close to me. It provides a stream of humor, links, photos and information of a nature Facebook simply can’t.
Society has gotten obsessed with “making money” on Twitter. As one who DOES make money on Twitter – I still do not primarily see it as a money maker, nor is that WHY I am on Twitter. The money I make via Twitter is merely as a side benefit because of the increased presence my company has because of Twitter.
I know it works because as soon we launch a new Twitter account, sales will increase. Case in point, this week I launched the ToyBoxTales twitter account – but it proved all the “experts” wrong, as the account had NO click throughs and NO retweets (other than the few I did myself with other accounts) and yet sales spiked as soon as that account launched.
Should I write an eBook on making money on Twitter? No.
Quite the opposite. I think too many people are ONLY trying to make money on Twitter and have forgotten it original purpose. Yes, Twitter can be used for communicating resources and products you have that have been forgotten – get the word out there. Go for it!
But the vast majority of what I Tweet is just personal stuff – fun stuff – humorous things I experience, stuff I’d laugh with a friend about, things I find interesting, new blog posts, so I share with my “friends” that are following me, my friends all over the world. I allow Kidology folks (and anyone else for that matter) who wants to see the “man behind Kidology.org” a little more personally, to follow me on Twitter.
It backfires sometimes – they don’t like things I say politically sometimes, so I’ve chilled out there and set up a separate political Twitter account for that. (No, I won’t say what it is, you’ll just have to figure that out on your own, some have.)
But for all these articles that only measure Twitter success by click throughs and retweets:
THEY ARE WRONG. Twitter success is not limited to click throughs and retweets and “actions taken upon tweets.” This is near sighted and shallow thinking.
But, of course, it is because it is all they can measure. Think about it, if actions were all you could measure, why would anyone advertise in a magazine? You can’t click on a magazine ad? And I’ve advertised in a magazine and put a discount code or offer thinking that would give me measurement and gotten ZERO results – did that mean the magazine ad was useless? No. That would be faulty thinking too.
Magazine ads are visual advertising. They get your brand under the eyes of viewers. They get you into their consciousness. They say you are successful. They say you are innovative. Your message – if done well – will stick in their head and alter their thinking. It will cause reaction in your competitors. It works. And it pecks away at their misconceptions.
Twitter is the same way. People read them. Over and over they read about your company. They get to know you. They learn about you. They change their perception about you. As they interact with you, perceptions can change. As they DO click through they will gain insights into you, but even if they don’t, they see you making an effort to be relational – to reach out.
I also know as a user, I read over a hundred tweets a day (at least) and “act” on very few, but am influenced by many, and enjoy many – and have deepened many relationships as a result. Many of my friends I read daily, even if I don’t actually “talk” to them every day, I’m aware of what’s going on in their life. Often, as a Christian, I stop to pray for them. That’s an action that never makes a chart! But certainly impacts them!
Twitter works best when you focus on what you give TO it, not what you get FROM it.
You have to decide to contribute to it consistently. When you do that, in turn, you benefit. But otherwise, you are just a consumer or focused on results, and you’ll never be satisfied. When focused on what you can share and contribute – you enrich others and indirectly benefit as a result. I meet people all the time who let me know they enjoy my tweeter feed, and I’m always surprised because they have NEVER responded or retweeted. But the relationship is there nonetheless. That’s the key.
But as a business tweeter, here is another aspect to consider, if YOU click through, retweet, respond – if YOU are relational, then you show yourself to be relational, to care – to be engaged with your audience.
Twitter isn’t about click throughs and retweets. Twitter is about relationships.
It is about talking to your customers and to those who have an interest in you. Duh, that is why they choose to follow you – they have an interest in you at some level. It may be a one direction conversation for a long time – you talking at them, but talk. They are reading. Yes, they will miss a lot of your tweets, that’s the nature of the beast, but keep talking, keep tweeting. It’s like sending messages into space and hoping they get picked up someday. But the more followers you have – they DO get picked up, and read – and you ARE being read, even if no one “acts” on them.
So all these experts who measure effectiveness by click throughs and retweets – don’t listen to them, because you can’t measure relationships on action.
Imagine life before Twitter. YOU HAD NO WAY TO TALK TO THESE PEOPLE! Now you have a direct connection to their commuters, their cell phones, iPads and a growing number of other reading devices.
The purpose of Twitter isn’t to make money. It is to engage in a relationship with your friends, family — oh, and customers too. Keep it in that order.
Yes, you can make money. But if that is first, you will give up. Because you will be focused on that and will be disappointed and trying to make the numbers work – and the numbers won’t add up,
…because you can’t fit relationships into charts and graphs.
But if you focus on relationships, you will love Twitter! Because it connects you to PEOPLE every day, all over the world you share common interests with you. And then your company will get some benefit on the side.
It’s all about focus. Focus on People and Relationships and you will always come out ahead and satisfied.
I am personally convinced that one person can be a change catalyst, a “transformer” in any situation, any organization. Such an individual is yeast that can leaven an entire loaf. It requires vision, initiative, patience, respect, persistence, courage, and faith to be a transforming leader.
~ Stephen R. Covey
