The Christian Entrepreneur

Look What I Stumbled Upon This Week

Brad Harmon — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:40:21 +0000

This week I’ve been spending a lot of time behind the scenes working on the new home of this website. As a result, I didn’t get a chance to visit as many sites as I normally do; however, I think I still found some gems below that you’ll want to read.

If you like these links, please leave a comment on their website and/or share them on your social media sites. Also, I’m always looking for feedback on how to make this series more helpful to you so please let me know any suggestions you have in the comments below.

If you’re new to this series, every week I share my favorite links from bloggers that I have Stumbled Upon during the week. These links will feature resources for blogging and social media, as well as, great posts on incorporating our Christianity into our businesses and the marketplace. There may even be some random stuff that makes you laugh.

Fill up that coffee mug, and let’s see what I Stumbled Upon this week.

Christian Entrepreneurs

Here’s the best posts I found this week to help you run your business.

How to Tell If Your Business Vision Is a God Vision

This post by Sue Miley is on a subject that I have struggled with throughout my life. It’s so easy to take the vision that God has put in your heart and co opt it by changing it to fit your own desires.

Digital Footprints

Here’s the best posts I found this week to help with your blogging and social media use.

How to Write a Great Blog Post in Just 15 Minutes

Okay, I don’t know if you’ll be able to write a 15 minute post after reading this, but following the tips in it will dramatically reduce the time it takes you.

How to Add a Visual Slider to Thesis

Like the new Featured Posts slider on the home page? It’s created with the Dynamic Content Gallery Plugin. It’s a snap to install if you’re using the Thesis theme and following the instructions of this post.

Marketplace Christianity

Here’s the best posts I found this week mixing our Christian faith, the workplace, and personal finances.

Redeeming Social Life Online

This post by Justin Buzzard has made me really stop to think how social media has changed my life. How has it changed your life? Think about the relationships you have with your coworkers, your family, and your friends.

Tidbits & Random Stuff

Here’s the best posts I found for the week that were humorous, touching, thought-provoking, or just plain weird.

You Might Have TBD (Too Busy Disorder)

Our good friend, Brandon Cox, shares a hilarious video he found on TBD (Too Busy Disorder). It’s takes a comical look at how our work lives can carry over into our personal lives.

Want to See More Links?

Well, that’s my list for this week. I hope that you found these links helpful, interesting, and worth your time. If you’d like to see more, check out everything that I’ve Stumbled Upon for the week.

A Smart Phone Could Cost You Your Job

Brad Harmon — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:23:30 +0000

The look on this guy’s face when he realizes the implications of the video that was just posted to YouTube is priceless. It’s a great reminder that even something benign posted to a social media site can have consequences for us in the workplace.

It’s Like Living Your Life on a Movie Set

If you’re like me, it’s probably hard to separate you from your smart phone. I can’t imagine going through a day now without my iPhone within arm’s reach. They’re handy to have around for just about everything.

When my sister was married last year, I must have had 50 pictures posted on FaceBook by the time they left for their honeymoon. Only a few relatives could make the trip down from Indiana, so it was great to share the moment with them.

It never occurred to me though that maybe someone at the wedding, especially the reception, may not have wanted their picture plastered over FaceBook. Who knows if a picture I thought was harmless caused grief for someone in the pictures.

I doubt that when they were getting dressed to go to my sister’s wedding they were thinking about their starring role on my FaceBook account.

Blame it on Kevin Bacon

What if someone saw the champagne glass in that person’s hand who wasn’t supposed to be drinking? Try explaining it was sparkling cider to your boss while you were on-call as a nurse or to the Sunday school class you teach.

It’s amazing how many people you’re connected to through the people you know and the people they know. It’s the whole seven degrees of separation game except you’re Kevin Bacon. Is their boss’s spouse or pastor in your social media network?

I was connected to over 1 million people on LinkedIn with only 50 people in my contact list. It’s insane how technology instantly connects us to so many people. It’s likely I was sharing the moment with many more people than I’ll ever know.

Getting Fired Over a Social Media Post

The number of people losing their jobs because of something appearing on a social media network is on the rise. I saw a post the other day of someone being fired through a comment left by their boss in response to their status update.

I guess she forgot her boss was one of her friends. My wife is a teacher, and she has to ignore hundreds of friend requests from her former students every year. She’s seen how an innocent post from another teacher caused an uproar among parents, and she’s not taking any chances.

No matter how careful she is though, there’s always someone like me around to snap a picture or record an embarrassing video with their smart phone.

Smart Phone Dos and Don’ts

Maybe we all need a dose of good old-fashioned etiquette? I know I could use some. The next time you grab your smart phone to capture the moment make sure you’ve done the following.

Let everyone in the picture/video know you’re filming. We all know that everyone acts differently when they’re on camera. Smart phones make it too easy to candidly capture the moment. It might not be obvious to everyone what you’re doing.
Ask permission BEFORE you post that picture/video online. Your social media account actually requires you to have these permissions before you post. Something your friend may know will cause grief for them might not be something you think about.

What did I miss? Do you have a story or a tip about capturing the moment on your smart phone? I’d love to hear it.

Even Jesus Got it Wrong Sometimes?

Brad Harmon — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:26:30 +0000

Can I confess something to you? I don’t get why God did it. I don’t understand why He would create us knowing that we would rebel against Him.

I’m grateful that He did, of course, but it’s hard for me to fathom that depth of love. Like father, like son. Jesus, too, picked someone for his inner circle of twelve disciples that would betray Him.

If God and Jesus picked people that would betray them, it’s likely that we, as entrepreneurs, will pick people for our teams that will too. After all, we’re not perfect. It doesn’t look like that helps when it comes to picking people anyway.

Wait a minute! If they’re perfect, shouldn’t they be able to pick their people much better? Come to think of it. God has a pretty bad track record when it comes to His people turning their backs on Him.

Does God Know What He is Doing?

It’s certainly tempting to think this, isn’t it? We know from reading the Bible that He knows how it all ends, and His perfect will is being accomplished despite the chaos.

Maybe He is trying to demonstrate something to those of us who are not perfect? What can we learn from being betrayed? As entrepreneurs, what lessons are here for how we choose our own team members?

Lesson #1 – It’s Not If, But When

The first lesson we can learn is that it will happen to you, and you will probably do it to someone too. Think of these occasions as opportunities.

Judas Iscariot was not the only disciple to turn on Jesus that fateful night. Peter denied knowing Christ three times to the point of cursing by the time he was finished.

What was the difference between the two? Peter asked for forgiveness, and Christ forgave him. Christ even gave Peter three opportunities to reaffirm his love for Christ.

How will you act when an employee betrays you? Will you give them an opportunity to restore the relationship? How will that impact your business?

Lesson #2 – Keep Trusting in Your People

Accepting that your people will let you down at some point, it’s natural to try to protect yourself against it as much as possible. Trust, but verify. The Bible tells us to be “wise as serpents, but harmless as doves.”

Putting in policies and procedures to protect your business against fraud, theft, and employee misconduct are prudent steps to take. That being said, I’ve seen too many small business owners become paranoid about being betrayed.

Remember that you are only a steward of God’s resources. After you’ve taken reasonable steps to protect those resources, the rest is up to God. Keep trusting in your people. Believe for the best out of them.

Lesson #3 – Disagreements are Good for Business

Did Jesus know that Judas would betray Him when He chose Judas to be a disciple? God certainly did. Whether Jesus did or not is just speculation.

Judas was the holder of the purse – the treasurer of the disciples. It’s easy to imagine that he was one of those who complained when the woman anointed Jesus with expensive oil. Jesus used it as a teachable moment to remind them of what was coming.

Peter certainly provided Christ with several of these moments. When a team member expresses an opinion contrary to your own be thankful. Listen to them. It’s a chance for you to teach them or to be taught. Either way, it will strengthen your business.

Trusting People is Never a Mistake

When it’s all said and done, is it a mistake to trust people? Did Jesus really get it wrong? I guess it’s all a matter of how you look at it.

For me, I think the assumption that someone betraying you reflects on your ability to choose team members is flawed. There’s no way for you to fully inoculate yourself against it, except maybe become a hermit.

Have you been betrayed (or have you betrayed) someone in your business dealings? How did you handle it? What lessons did you learn from the experience?

God Bless You, But You’re Fired

Sharing Your Faith – There’s an App for That

Brad Harmon — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 23:40:45 +0000

When I was growing up, one of my favorite things to do at church was to check out the tract rack in the lobby. Remember those? Some smaller churches still have them, but they’re quickly fading away. (A word to the wise – spinning the tract racks like a kid in a revolving door will make the pastor mad.)

Some of these tracts were pretty scary. Some were funny. Some were like mini comic books, but these always seemed to make it in the hands of the youth group to read when the sermon was boring. My favorite was the one that looked like a $20 bill that you strategically placed in public places so people thought they were finding money.

Tracts can be very useful tools to help you share your faith; however, most workplaces have a policy against distributing any type of pamphlets that are not pre-approved by the company. Here’s a couple of ways that you can still use tracts without violating this policy by using your iPhone.

The Romans Road Tract

Without a doubt, the most popular (and perhaps easiest) way to share the plan of salvation is to use what’s been termed “The Romans Road.” All the scripture references you need come from the book of Romans in the Bible, thus the name.

Different tract makers vary which verses they include, and some even add supporting verses from other books of the Bible. The apps below use different verses.

Introducing Tracts for the iPhone

Living up to it’s tag line, there really does seem to be an app on the iPhone for just about everything. The convenience of being able to carry your Bible and tracts with you via your iPhone means that you’re always prepared when the opportunity to share your faith presents itself.

It would be nice if you could share the tract with the other person like the contact app Bump does, but I didn’t find any apps with this functionality. Until there is, just pull up a chair next the person at lunch, or at the coffee house after work, and launch your app.

Roman Road App by Cross Forward Consulting, LLC

Roman Road by Cross Forward Consulting, LLC simply displays the verses of the Romans Road on an easy to read background image (shown below).

It’s ideal for those who have used the Romans Road plan of salvation before, and just need a visual aid to show the supporting verses.

You can choose to display the verses in either the King James Version (KJV) or the World English Bible (WEB) translation.

This app is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad running iOS 3.0 or later.

There is no cost for this app.

The verses included in this app are:

Romans 3:23
Romans 6:23a
Romans 6:23b
Romans 5:8
Romans 10:9
Romans 5:1

You can download Roman Road from the iTunes app store.

The Romans Road eTract by Laridian

RomansRoad eTract by Laridian provides a series of questions and commentary to spark discussion about the verse displayed.

This app is useful for someone not used to using the Romans Road plan of salvation. It’s also great if you need to hand your iPhone to someone and let them simply read the tract (sadly, there is no share option).

While this app is the closest I could find to a traditional tract, it lacks the clean layout of the simpler app above. I wish it had a landscape layout and an option to hide the commentary.

You have a wide variety of translations (ESV, HCSB, KJV, NASB, NIV, NKJV, or NLT) from which you can choose to display the verses.

You can also change the font, font size, and color scheme under the settings tab.

This app is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad running iOS 3.0 or later.

This app costs $0.99 to download.

The verses included in this app are:

Romans 3:23
Romans 6:23a
Ezekiel 18:20
Romans 5:8
Romans 6:23
Romans 10:9
Acts 16:31
1 Peter 5:5b
Luke 15:10

You can download RomansRoad eTract from the iTunes app store.

Go Forth and Fulfill the Great Commission

I’m excited to see apps coming out that can help us bring our faith into the marketplace. We live in an amazing time where Christians have never had more resources and tools to fulfill the Great Commission.

¹⁹Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: ²⁰Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:19-20, King James Version)

I’d love to hear from you. What did you think of these iPhone apps? What apps do you use to share your faith with others?

Look What I Stumbled Upon This Week

Brad Harmon — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 18:04:12 +0000

This week we look at leadership, branding, social media marketing strategies, how Christians are handling their finances, and whether some Christians need to tone down their online comments. All of the sites are new this week , so I hope you find a resource you haven’t seen before.

If you’re new to this series, every week I share my favorite links from bloggers that I have Stumbled Upon during the week.

These links will feature resources for blogging and social media, as well as, great posts on incorporating our Christianity into our businesses and the marketplace. There may even be some random stuff that makes you laugh.

Fill up that coffee mug, and let’s see what I Stumbled Upon this week.

Christian Entrepreneurs

Here’s the best posts I found this week to help you run your business.

5 Examples of Leading Outside the Norm

Ron Edmondson shares some great insights on how to be a more effective leader. I liked his point about giving your team ownership in the vision.

Personal Brands: A Cup of Coffee to Differentiation

What differentiates you from your competition? Dan Schwabel gives some interesting ways for you to find out the answer. It’s a 30 minute exercise that can be a real eye opener if you haven’t done this with your business before.

Digital Footprints

Here’s the best posts I found this week to help with your blogging and social media use.

How to Avoid the Social Media Catch-22

Determining the return on investment (ROI) for social media campaigns is still rather difficult. Changing the perception that results come with no investment or just by logging on and posting updates is even harder. Tia Peterson walks you through a few tactics that should be in every social media marketing strategy.

How Social Media Drives New Business: Six Case Studies

From a street car vendor who only advertises on Twitter to huge corporations like Starbucks, these six businesses are experiencing success with their social media marketing strategies. What can you learn from their example?

Marketplace Christianity

Here’s the best posts I found this week mixing our Christian faith, the workplace, and personal finances.

Survey: Living on Less, Christians Still Giving, Avoiding Debt

I really want to believe the results of this poll; however, they just seem too out of the norm. In most surveys, Christians tends to fall in line with the rest of the nation on how they handle their finances – poorly. If we’re following Biblical financial principles then this headline should describe us.

Tidbits & Random Stuff

Here’s the best posts I found for the week that were humorous, touching, thought-provoking, or just plain weird.

Too Much Grace

Jon Acuff respond to a harsh comment he received in response to an article he wrote for CNN called My Take: Why Christians are Jerks Online. Both are an interesting read, and made me stop and think a bit about how we, as Christians, need to pay closer attention to the digital footprints we’re leaving on the web.

Want to See More Links?

What You Need to Know About Guest Posting

Brad Harmon — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:56:00 +0000

Photo courtesy of iStockPhoto/Lloret

To guest post, or not to guest post? Do you think Shakespeare would be asking himself that question if he were alive today?

I don’t know, but it seems inevitable that you will ask this question at some point in your blogging career. If you don’t ask the question yourself, there will be plenty of people who will ask it for you as your blog continues to grow.

It’s part of the maturation process of taking your blogging skills out of the familiarity of your own blog where you cut your first teeth and taking your first steps into the unfamiliar where a whole new audience awaits.

I took those first steps this week by announcing that I’m looking for 5 to 8 guest post spots a month. I already have four guest post spots lined up, and you’ll see me announcing them over the next few weeks.

You may be asking yourself why I am writing this post if I am just starting out guest posting myself. I wanted to share with you some very helpful posts by people who have done a lot of guest posting and know what they’re talking about.

Why Should I Guest Post?

If you’re on the fence about guest posting, or just started thinking about it, you might want to check out these helpful posts.

4 Powerful Reasons to Start Guest Posting by Nicholas Cardot
Three Benefits of Guest Blogging You May Not Have Known by Ann Smarty
Why Guest Blogging is a Powerful Way to Gain Exposure for Your Blog by Leo Babauta

What to Do Before You Guest Post

Once you’re convinced of the benefits of guest posting, how do you find blogs willing to accept you as a guest blogger?

A Step-by-Step Guide to Guest Posting by Kiesha Easley
10 Proven Steps to Snag a Guest Post on an A-List Blog by Jordan Cooper

How to Write a Great Guest Post

After you’ve identified where you want to post, it’s time to write a post for another person’s blog. This is much different than writing one for your own blog.

9 Ways Become an Exceptional Guest Poster by Darren Rowse ← Must Read
9 Sure Ways To Get Your Guest Post Rejected by Mk Akan

What to Do After Your Guest Post is Published

You’re finished, right? Nope. Many guest bloggers think they’re finished once the post is published. Big Mistake!

How to Guest Post to Promote Your Blog by Josh Klein/Darren Rowse
Guest Posting: After You Get the Yes by James Chartrand

Don’t forget to take advantage of the traffic you’ll receive from your guest post. People will follow your byline links to your page looking for more of the same type of posts from you. Make sure they’re easy for them to find.

Also, don’t take a holiday after landing a guest post spot on a bigger blog. It’s a great way to lose all of that traffic you worked so hard to generate.

Need a Guest Blogger or Want to Guest Post Here?

If you have a blog about small business, blogging, social media, or especially blending Christianity with any of these I could be interested in writing a guest post for you. I’m looking for 5 to 8 guest post spots per month for the rest of the year.

If you’re interested in guest posting for The Christian Entrepreneur, or becoming a staff writer, I would love to hear from you.

Know About a Great Link I Missed?

Have you found a post about being a guest blogger that was especially helpful to you? Share it with us in the comments below.

Need a Christian Marketplace Guest Blogger?

Brad Harmon — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:46:41 +0000

God has blessed each of us with different skills, personality traits, and life experiences. These all combine to create a unique point of view that nobody else in the world can offer.

Isn’t it interesting that Jesus chose men from various walks of life to be His disciples? Perhaps, it was because He knew that His message needed to be told through various viewpoints to reach the widest possible audience? Take the Gospels for example. Each of them tell the story of Jesus’s life here on earth, but each author told it in a very different way.

What about your blog? Are you only providing your readers with a single point of view? Have you considered opening your blog up for others to come and share your topics through the lens God has given them?

I’m Interested in Guest Blogging for You

By now you’ve had the opportunity to read my posts to discover how my personal lens impacts the way I see the role faith plays in the marketplace.

If you think I might provide your readers with a valuable point of view on your topics, I’d be interested in writing a guest post for your blog.

Choosing Where to be a Guest Blogger

When I write a guest post I throw whatever influence I have behind the post to send readers to the site. This includes writing a teaser post on this site sending Google link juice to the post, and using my social media accounts to promote the post.

I’ve adopted these guidelines for choosing sites where I’ll post:

The site must be established. Preferably your site will be at least 6 months old. You must have at least 20 posts that you have written on your site.
The site must foster a sense of community. If you’re not responding to your reader’s comments or engaging them in social media don’t ask me to guest post.
The site must have a professional layout. There are many free themes available, so there is no excuse to operate a website that is hard on the eyes.
The site must not be overly promotional. If most of your site is advertisements, or your pages are filled with affiliate links, I’m not interested.
I must know who you are. I want to write for people I know. Develop a rapport with me by commenting on my posts and engaging me on Twitter or Facebook.
The site must be relevant to my topics. This one seems pretty straightforward, but if your blog is about poetry, mud wrestling, etc. it isn’t going to be a good fit for what I write about.

There are no Google PageRank, traffic ranking, or subscriber count requirements that many bloggers impose. I would love the benefits from guest posting on more popular sites, but it isn’t why I’m doing this.

Invite Me to Guest Post on Your Blog

If you’re interested in having me guest post on your blog, and your blog meets the guidelines above, just email me with INVITATION TO GUEST POST in the subject line. I would like to do five to eight guest posts per month.

If you’re interested in writing for The Christian Entrepreneur please check out our Guest Posting Policy for details. We also have staff writer positions open.

Who’s Really Listening to Your Tweets?

Brad Harmon — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:28:53 +0000

Are you frustrated with the lack of interaction or response on your Twitter account? Have you ever wondered if anyone is really listening to the valuable information you’re tweeting?

You’ve done your research on how to use Twitter effectively. Your tweets are informative, thought-provoking, and engaging. Your follower count continues to rise each week. Where are the results you were promised by the gurus?

Does this sound familiar? You’re not alone. About three weeks ago, I became so frustrated that I started a new account fully intending to let my existing account gather dust. This sounded a lot better in theory than it was in practice.

Where Did My Twitter Strategy Go Wrong?

A week into my new account something was gnawing at me. If I didn’t know where I went wrong, wouldn’t I be right back here in a few months making the same mistakes?

Follow Back Lists

Like it or not, we all have a herd mentality. We’re more inclined to think someone with 100,000 followers is more credible than someone with 50 followers.

It’s takes time (or a lot of money) to generate traffic to your site and to start building a following through RSS subscriptions. It’s much easier to slap a Twitter follower count badge on your site, and utilize a follow back list to boost your numbers quickly.

I employed this strategy my first month, but even though my follower counts were climbing nobody was listening to my tweets. How did I know? I wasn’t listening to theirs either. It looked good on a badge, but that was it.

Twellow Pages & Keyword Lists

Using a Twitter directory, or a list generated from keywords tweeted, is actually a great way to build a targeted follower count. These are people who are interested in the topics you tweet about.

The problem is that most of us use the old spaghetti-on-the-wall method when it comes to these lists. We follow everyone on the list and see who sticks. If they don’t follow us back we flush them.

This used to be much easier to do when Twitter allowed automated unfollowing. Easy or not, employing this method is not much better than the follow back list approach.

Automated Following

While Twitter has banned automated unfollowing of people who do not follow you, they’re still in favor of automated following. It’s a little surprising since they’ve argued that following back anyone who followed you was not how Twitter is supposed to work.

Of course, Twitter etiquette has become that unless you’re famous you should follow back anyone who follows you. Automating this process makes managing your account much easier, except now you must manually remove those who unfollow you.

While reciprocating a follow is the polite thing to do, it has a major flaw – you give up control of your follower list. Your message of helping abused animals is now tweeted to Forex traders, gun enthusiasts, or Trump network pushers.

Inactive Twitter Accounts

You might just be surprised how many of your followers have become disillusioned with Twitter and flown the coop. This past weekend I spent several hours combing through my followers and discovered that a good percentage of them are missing in action.

I unfollowed so many people who haven’t tweeted for three months or longer that I stopped for fear my account would be suspended or banned. No wonder my nearly 5,000 followers were so unresponsive.

With automated following those inactive accounts will continue to gather followers from people who employee the methods above. One account I unfollowed had over 65,000 followers and had never made a single tweet.

Maybe It’s not About Strategy at All?

In the process of unfollowing all of those inactive followers, I noticed I’m following a lot of people for which I have no interest in what they’re tweeting about. I also found a few people whose tweets I do care about but were lost in my Twitter stream.

I realized this weekend that while I was frustrated about all of the followers who weren’t listening to me, I’d never stopped to ask myself if I was listening to those I followed. If I wasn’t listening, then why was I following?

Reciprocating a follow wasn’t something I was doing out of genuine thoughtfulness for that person, it was so they wouldn’t unfollow me and drag my follower count down. I was one of those people who wasn’t listening.

Does Your Follower Account Really Matter?

Tweeting to a larger audience is better than tweeting to a small audience right? Yes, but only if your followers are actually following what you’re saying. Otherwise, it’s more like trying to perform in the middle of Times Square.

Someone will stop and listen to the naked cowboy sing for a minute, but most won’t pay any attention. They’re just faces in a crowd to you, and you’re a face in the crowd to them. Wouldn’t a small coffee house setting with fewer people be better?

What Are You Doing?

Do you have a large number of followers on Twitter? How responsive are they to your tweets? What percentage interact with you?

Do you have a limited number of followers on Twitter? Do you experience a high level of interaction with your followers?

What strategies have you employed to increase your follower count? Has the increase in your follower count helped you?