Empower Your Ministry Blog

I’d love to add my $.02 worth to this, but the simplicity is what is so great about Seth Godin’s blog post today.

Failure, success and neither

The math is magical: you can pile up lots of failures and still keep rolling, but you only need one juicy success to build a career.

The killer is the category called ‘neither’. If you spend your days avoiding failure by doing not much worth criticizing, you’ll never have a shot at success. Avoiding the thing that’s easy to survive keeps you from encountering the very thing you’re after.

And yet we market and work and connect and create as if just one failure might be the end of us.

I encourage you to go out and fail today!  If you learn from every failure, you are THAT much closer to success.

If you’ve never failed, you’ve never lived

I just finished lunch and great discussion with a good friend.  We were talking about several books including “The Four Hour Work Week” (which, if you have talked to me for more than 5-minutes, I have mentioned it to you, I’m sure!).  We ended up on the same thought:

Thinking about how to work less is much more difficult than just working hard.

Is that hard to understand?

Here’s the thing.

We get wrapped up in the comfort of just “working hard”.

“If you are busy, you will be successful”… that’s not necessarily the case.

Being still and REALLY concentrating on a “better way” is much harder than just “doing SOMETHING”…

“Doing something” can be the default mode that can keep you busy for sure, but not necessarily successful.

For instance:

I can get scissors and cut my lawn with them if I wanted… I would be busy…

I can get a lawn mower, crank it and make very easy work of it… be done in a few minutes… The first one makes me feel as though I have done more “honest” work.

OR how bout this… why don’t I hire someone who can do it in less time than I ever could..meanwhile,  I use that time to do something that is more creative for me.

The same could be said for changing the oil in the car, balancing the checkbook, or even calling Pastors trying to get bookings?

Just as love and hate are related and indifference is the opposite of those two things, being busy and being lazy are also related and being bored is the opposite.  Being bored forces you to create things… being busy makes you maintain things..

Are you “being busy” about your gifts?  Are you doing things others are doing just because others are doing them?  or are you doing the REALLY hard work of thinking outside the box?

Could your “dream” be holding you back from what you REALLY want to do?

I have a few thoughts that I would like for you to give me your opinion on.

Have you checked whether you would rather “do” something than “own” it?

I’d love to know your thoughts on this.

After some consideration, I decided to let you find the video on your own edit all the bad stuff out of the video.  I probably should have done that to begin with.

Don’t go looking for it either.

Okay!

There is a relatively new site out there called “Chat Roulette”.

It’s a site where you turn your web cam on and chat with who ever comes up on your screen… they see you, you see them.

The brutal thing that happens is.. If they don’t find you interesting, you are a mouse click away from never seeing them again.  [I'll admit that I don't have what it takes to do this, but some do.]

So, there’s this guy called “PianoChatImprov” guy on YouTube.

Click to see the video in another page. Don't worry. It's 100% safe. No Bad words here!

He plays piano and makes up songs about the people that he sees popping up on his screen during his Chat Roulette sessions.  Sometimes he writes a song about what they are wearing.  Sometimes he writes songs about what they are doing.  Sometimes he writes a song about what they are writing in the “chat box”.

When he sings a line like “hey, what’s up?”, he loses them.

I also noticed that when he said something like “she raises her eyebrows in surprise” and “Reclining guy with a white tank top”, they know he’s talking about them and they stick around to hear what he has to say.

When he says a line like “You’re next”, they’re GONE.

It’s an experiment in process.  He’s learning as he goes.

So, with all of that said (hopefully, not seen though), what can we learn from this guy? How could I possibly apply this to ministry? I have five things.  I hope you can point out some things to me after you see it.

1. Do something unexpected. There are literally millions of people who are doing what you are doing.  How can YOU do it differently than the others?
2. Engage people early. The easiest way to do this is to talk about them.  The piano guy let them know that he was talking to them by either telling them what they were wearing, what they were doing, or repeating something that they typed.  People love to either talk about themselves or hear someone else speak well of them. I’m finding that in conversation, no one really wants to hear about you… especially in the beginning… they want you to hear about them .  The first person to realize this and leverage it gains more knowledge.
3. If you fail at something, it doesn’t necessarily mean you should give up. It simply means that you should learn from what just happened, adapt, and then try it again.
4. If someone is copying you, it’s a good thing. As of the last time I looked at his stats, several other people have copied his video and posted it under their own YouTube account.  Are you doing anything yet that anyone wants to copy?
5. [I know I said 4, but this is a bonus] Don’t use bad words, it’s a lot of work to edit it out!

I didn’t really know how to categorize the following stuff so, I’ll do another list… (you like lists don’t you?)

• An interesting trend is happening now.  People are going to “chat roulette” hoping that they will get to chat with Piano Guy.  Wow.  He went from anonymous to a virtual rock-star in less than a week.
• He’s been a member since March 8th 2010 and he (as of last Friday) had 1,598,618 views… I looked 3 days later and it was over 5 million.  He’s since been copied and other people are taking advantage of his traffic.
• 12 days since he signed up for a YouTube account, he has over 170,000 subscribers. (These are people who want to hear what he does next)
• Imagine if he had posted his website on the YouTube video.  Guess where over 5 million people would have gone next… and if he had a recording to sell or give away…

You can do something like piano dude did.  Maybe not quite as many viewers. Sometimes you have to push the envelope and be willing to look foolish for a minute.

Many times, you have to EARN the privilege to minister to a person.  You earn it by listening, engaging, entertaining, or flat-out impressing people sometimes.  Ministry is not necessarily a “right”.

Comment below and let me know what YOU saw.

Have you ever been playing catch or fetch with a dog and after a few minutes of spirited play and connection, your 4-legged friend lost sight of the ball?

“Over there!” you point with confidence.  “Look, over there!”

He looks at you with concern.

You act like you are throwing the ball again.   He’s still looking at you.

If only you could tell him, “Stop looking at my finger and look to what I’m pointing at!”

I’m almost afraid sometimes to point at something cool that I find on the internet.  I’m concerned that because the word “ministry” is in the title, that I’ll be held to some unrealistic guidelines as to what I find inspiration in.

“But Kevin, that YouTube clip had a curse word in it and you referred it to me and you have the word “ministry” in the title.”

Stop looking at my finger.

What we could do with this is bigger than the curse word!

What I want to show you tomorrow is one of the most GENIUS things I have ever seen… It has a curse word in the video.. maybe 2..  But it’s something YOU could easily implement into what you are doing.

If you will look past my finger, you will see the very real opportunity to minister.

So, what do you think?  Should I post it? Should I embed the video from YouTube? or just reference to it?

I would really love your input on this.

A few weeks ago, I asked you guys to send in questions about whatever you wanted to hear more about.

Here is a good question from Tim:

[I] would love to know your thoughts on how to better use my MySpace page to share my music. I don’t have an official website yet, so I would like to use my MySpace page to the fullest until then.

MySpace, FaceBook, and a few other social media platforms have revolutionized marketing as we know it.  Seemingly overnight,  you were able to put your songs, your videos, and your pictures for thousands, if not millions to see.

The upside is that there are millions of people out there ready to hear your music or watch your video.. The downside–its pretty saturated.  MySpace and FaceBook are both very busy– and LOUD..

I equivocate having a conversation with a fan on Facebook or MySpace to trying to have a conversation during a rock concert.  It’s frustrating and distracting.  There’s always someone poking, super-poking, pinging, or giving out drinks or good wishes to who ever you are trying to talk to.

Why not invite them back to your website for some one on one time?   Introduce them to your friends, your family.. let them get to know you..  offer them some coffee, cake., mp3, an audio book, some free songs, whatever.. make them feel at home.  Make them come back to your website for the good conversation.

If you don’t have a place of your own, you should get one.  Some are nearly, if not completely free…I highly recommend getting your own website (100 bucks per year or so MAX).   [Crossroads will  be offering some solutions for you soon]

Careful not to “cheap out” here..

If you won’t invest that into your own ministry, then, as a consumer, why should I  want to invest anything into you?

I think its okay to “push” information out there to those sites… they are huge, but make sure that there is an invitation back to YOUR house for conversation.

I hope this helps you, Tim.

[if you must tidy up the MySpace page, the guys over at BandPlanning.com have a MySpace Mod tutorial that might help you out too.]

I’m paraphrasing an essay that (the brilliant) Kevin Kelly wrote:

It doesn’t take a gold or platinum record to make a decent living in music or music ministry. What it takes is 1,000 TRUE FANS.

I’ll define that. A true fan is someone genuinely interested and engaged in what you do, who you are or what you are about.

Think of someone who has all your CDs already, so they buy a T-shirt. Think of somebody who buys things that they don’t even need just because that’s all you are offering.

If you have 1,000 people to each just spend $100 per year on you (this could be a combination of concerts, T-shirts, subscriptions, and yes, even CDs), that’s $100,000/year. A soloist can do very well supporting the family on that. Although, a trio might take 2,000 or even 3,000 fans to be able to buy fuel, meals, insurance etc.

Here’s the challenge though: Let’s discuss this. How do you convert a casual fan (guys that just, eh, like you) into TRUE FANS (guys who will keep supporting you and allowing you to do what you love to do)?

(We teach ways of doing these things during the EmPower Your Ministry coaching classes by the way.)

What would convert YOU into something more than a casual fan?

(does anybody know the song I referenced in the title?)

I’ve been waiting for this day since last summer.

NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice” is back on!  It’s one of the very few shows that I watch anymore.  I learn so much from it.

If you watched last night, you saw that the men (Rock Solid) and the women, (Tenacity) had to sell hamburgers for charity.  They were both given very prime spots in New York City to set up their restaurants.

The men set their price point at $100 per burger minimum with a rissotto dish that was $250.

The women set their price point at $25. Both teams could take “tips” for charity in addition to the burger tab.

The women work their hineys off, so did the men. But, the men beat them by $25,000… almost double!!

Ok, Kevin.. What’s your point?…What does “The Celebrity Apprentice” have to do with ministry?

Hard work does NOT neccesarily equal success!- (if it did, most of us would have more ministry opportunities than we could handle.  We’d also have plenty of money to support many other ministries to boot.)

If the women on “team tenacity” could have gotten EVERY patron off the street at $25 (plus tip) they still would not have even come close to the men.

The problem with the women on this particular task was that they terribly underestimated their “peeps”, their patrons, their supporters… at one point, Cindy Lauper even called them poor!

Here’s my question to you..

1. are you working hard on something that’s not really bringing in the results that you would like to see?
2. are you underestimating the value of your “peeps”?
3. are you giving them enough opportunities (products) to be able to contribute to your ministry?

I challenge you to take a long hard look at HOW you are approaching ministry.  You might just find that you are only offering the $25 hamburger with things like this.

• Taking dates out of “your need to feel busy” when you could use the down time to build something that could help people more easily and more deeply.
• Producing a CD or DVD just because its been a year since your last one.
• NOT building your website so that it attracts community and conversation because you think it’s too expensive.

I’m not beating anybody up.  I’m analyzing myself daily.

Tell me what you have done lately that you are wondering if it really even works anymore… or tell me what’s something inexpensive that’s very high value to your “peeps”.

As always, your comments are valuable! (so comment… or “You’re fired”!)

I’m sitting here tonight with Janna and she’s letting me know when Kaelyn is kicking and moving.  It’s unbelievably emotional for me.

So, as most of you know by now, I’m pretty analytical.  I can’t help it.  I try to learn a lesson that maybe I can teach someone else in everything I do.

I was doing a coaching call this week with a good friend and we were talking about her next step in ministry.

“So, what are you thinking you are gonna do next?”

“Well, people are asking for a Christmas CD and a DVD” she said.

This is where the “new-daddy” analytical side kicked in.

You’re fans are a lot like babies, I said.  Now, I don’t mean that in a negative way either, just hear me out, okay?

“Okay, go on.”

Literally.. a $17,000 pacifier

“When babies cry, they just cry… they don’t really know enough about life and living to REALLY know what they want.. they just cry.  It’s up to us as parents to be conscious enough to figure it out for them.  It’s our job.”

When a fan of yours “cries” out, most of time we just shove a pacifier in their mouths. “They must want a new CD.” we assume, so we go out and spend $5,000-$25,000 to try to satisfy them.

“We’d love to see you guys on a DVD”, they say, so we go out and spend that much again (or more) on producing a DVD that usually has the same songs as the CD.  Now they have to choose.  We have created product to compete with our own product now.

My theory is this:

• If they like you, what they really want is to know more about you.  In their quest to do that, they sign up for your mailing list. (But, you don’t write too much because, understandably, you are too busy)
• If they like you, what they really want is to spend more time with you.  In their quest to do that, they hang out at the record table after the concert or offer to help you carry your equipment out. (But, understandably, you have to leave for the next date)
• If they like you, they want to support you. In their quest to do that, they buy the only 2 or 3 products you have on your record table. (But, understandably, you can’t afford to record as much as they like)

What if you could create a product that didn’t cost a fraction of what a DVD or CD did, they would get to spend more time with you AND they could support your ministry at the same time…

Here are a few suggestions:

• an e-book
• a teleseminar
• an audio book
• instructional videos (screen capture)
• these are just a few things.. the list is expanding every day!

We talk about this stuff in MUCH more detail in the EmPower Your Ministry Course as well as step-by-step ways of creating them without getting overwhelmed.

I’m excited also about an on-going program that we are putting together to not only TEACH you these things, but a system to keep you pressing toward getting something like this completed and delivered!

Sign up for the mailing list over there =====> so that we can send you info as soon as we have it ready.

Until then,

Remember the video from the group OK GO?  The video where the whole group does choreography on treadmills?.. If not, I’ll send you a link later.

Well, they’ve done it again!  They have taken an OK song and made it viral.  Not by production, but presentation.

Here’s what I was thinking when I saw this…

Maybe:

• We should probably spend more time thinking, planning and executing the presentation than we do the song itself.
• We should probably do something worth talking about more often.
• We should present our message in a way that is innovative – (but it doesn’t have to be perfect).
• Then, people will take notice
• Then, Sponsors will take notice (did you see the State Farm truck and the credit at the end?)

Here’s the video:

• Could you do something like this? Maybe not the dominoes and paint guns, but something that people can’t wait to tell their friends about?
  
• Is anyone talking about what you do?
  
• Why?
  
• How can you make people talk about you?

Be thinking, I know I am!

[By the way, I LOVE your comments!!]