Big Is The New Small

Well another year has passed us by, out with the old and in with the new.  Not gonna lie 2011 was one of the quickest years ever. I can’t believe another year of life and year of blogging has come and gone.

I have been blogging at BigIsTheNewSmall.com for nearly 5 years now.  As a blog approaches the 5 year mark, you have to pay even more attention to relevance, focus, change, growth and direction.

I am looking forward to doing some new things on my blog and with other writing projects in 2012.  I’d like to gather some input and feedback about my blog from the most important people, the readers.  The information in my 2011 blog reader survey allows me to assess the demographics of my readers, as well as get input and feedback so I can continue to provide relevant content while continuing to dream BIG and think BIGGER.

The survey is very quick and is designed to take less than 3 minutes.  Your input is very valuable, extremely helpful and seriously welcomed.  I am also going to randomly choose one survey participant that shares a comment below and give them a $25 Starbucks gift-card.  All you have to do is leave comment and say something like “I took the survey, now give me my coffee.”  Your survey is anonymous; however leaving a comment is the only way I can select a random winner.  If you are not interested in the gift-card, simply complete the survey.  Please click here to take the survey.  

The Coffee Winner has already been selected; however you can still take 3 minutes to take the survey.

Please & Thank You!

BTW- I used Fluid Surveys for my blog survey.  Fluid has more features than many of the other sites and it even has some great options for their FREE version.  Check them out here.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the International Christian Retail Show In Atlanta.  It’s the largest Christian retail event in the world. For me, it was a power packed day of radio, magazine & tv interviews, topped off with a book signing.  I met some great people and this post is a short clip of a live radio interview that I did with @bobcrittenden for his radio show on Faith Broadcasting called ”The Meeting House.”  Bob asked the question, “Why BigIsTheNewSmall.com & how did it get started?”

Thanks for reading, watching and being part of my online community.

Once a month we will be doing something called the BIG Give-a-Way right here at BigIsTheNewSmall.com. For more details on the BIG Give-a-Way and learn how your business or organization can be involved, click here.

Today’s BIG Give-a-Way comes to you from The Treehouse Group, an award winning creative company focused on helping businesses and ministries reach their full potential through graphic design.

We are giving away a custom sermon series graphic package valued up to $1,000.  Elements can include but not limited to the designing of the Main graphic and choose from the design of bulletins, slides, mailers, banners, video elements, social sites, apparel etc.  Printing is not included and the agreement will be with The Treehouse Group.

Winning is easy as 1 – 2 – 3

• 1. Leave  comment stating that you would like to win the design package. Be creative, share why or simply say “I want to win.” (only 1 comment per day)
• 2. Re-Tweet my tweet about winning the package, or simply copy and paste this tweet info. to your Facebook status if you aren’t on Twitter.  If you don’t have Twitter or Facebook, simply leave a comment an we will pray for you to move into the new media generation.  :)  Seriously leave a comment and let me know that you don’t have either Facebook or Twitter.  Here is the tweet or you can simply find @scottwilliams on twitter and re-tweet it: Win a FREE $1k Custom Sermon Series/Graphic Design Package 4 ur church. courtesy @curtis_stephens http://bit.ly/e5D8Gr
• 3. Go browse around The Treehouse Group’s Website and check out their work.
• Note: Contest will run through Valentines Day.  Winners will be selected from the BigIsTheNewSmall.com comment section.  You can leave one comment each additional day that you follow steps 1 & 2.  I will post a new tweet each morning to be retweeted for that day.  An individual could have 4 entries if they tweeted and commented each day. Increase your odds, participate daily!

I will randomly choose 1 comment to win the package with the help of random.org or another random means from those who complete the above steps by 11:59 pm central time 2/14/11.

I will announce the winner on February 15th.  Good luck and share this info. with your friends.

dream BIG. think BIGGER.

Winner Update:  The random winner of the $1,000 Design Package according to Random.org is:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

3

Timestamp: 2011-02-16 02:08:07 UTC

#3  Joshua Riggs  (Thanks everyone for entering)

Do you ever click through the links on your blogroll from time to time and realize that some of the links have changed or no longer exist.  I have decided to start my blogroll over and re-populate it with those of you that have BigIsTheNewSmall.com in your blogroll or in some kind of linkroll on your blog.

So here is the deal.  If you have linked BigIsTheNewSmall.com fill out your blog information by commenting below and I will add you to my new blogroll, once I delete the existing one.  Thanks for reading and thanks for linking.

Leave a comment below with the name of your blog and the full site address, so that I can just copy and paste.

Example:

BigIsTheNewSmall.com or Scott Williams (however you would prefer to be listed)

http://www.bigisthenewsmall.com

It’s time for some BIG News as in BigIsTheNewSmall.com kinda BIG News.  I have been thinking through some BIG Ideas for BigIsTheNewSmall.com for 2011 and I have a few working.

Let me share a couple of the BIG Ideas with you and we will get them kicked off today.

• BIG Idea #1.  BIG GiveBack - I am going to give away a months worth of FREE advertising on BigIsTheNewSmall.com.  1 FREE 125×125 Advertising Spot $200 value.  My thought is to help promote some businesses, ideas, blogs, books, CD’s, causes, charities or whatever else you share, that I agree to promote.  The concept is simple, I’ll share a blogpost about the Big Giveback and anyone can share why I should choose their endeavor.  I’ll choose one, you provide the graphic for the advertisement and we will do again the next month.

• Consider this post as your opportunity to begin sharing this month.  I’ll select the winner on Thurs. January 20th. I’ll announce the Winner on January 21st and the ad will go up on Feb. 1st.  Once you share simply Tweet or share on your facebook status that you just shared a BIG Idea for the #BigGiveBack at BigIsTheNewSmall.com.  I encourage readers, to comment or give feedback on any of the ideas that you like.

• BIG Idea #2. BigGiveAway – Last month I did a #BigGiveAway of an iPad in conjunction with promoting my man Wayne Elsey’s new book, Almost Isn’t Good Enough.  This #BigGiveAway received thousands upon thousands of hits on the link provided and many more hits in general.  We had over 700 comments, 700 Retweets from the site and many more RT’s and Facebook postings. To top it all off Sonny Lemmons won an iPad. Check Out the Post Here. My thought is that I’m going to offer this as another advertising opportunity. Here are the details, you provide an item that you want to promote in conjunction with a #BigGiveAway with a value of at-least $600 and you give me one of the things that you’re giving away.

• For instance an iPad to give away and an iPad for me to have.  You could give away a branding, logo, design package or website package and you give me one of the same.  I will either keep what you give me for personal use or I might decide to #GiveBack and bless someone else.  This promotion will feature a blogpost on Friday and the promo will run from Friday until Monday with full promotion.  Everyone will have a chance to win and the winners will be randomly selected.  This will happen once a month, with the first opportunity kicking off in February.  Only 11 slots left for the year.  Of course I have to agree with what you are wanting to give away.  If you are interested in doing the #BigGiveAway shoot me an email above.

If You would like to be considered for the #BigGiveBack leave a comment below and share it on your Facebook or Twitter.  Consider the 3C’s: Be Convincing, Creative and Compelling.

If you are interested in the #BigGiveAway click on the email link at the top of the blog.

If you have been around BigIsTheNewSmall.com for some time, you know that the inspiration for the name came from Seth Godin’s Small Is The New Big.  In my opinion and the opinion of many other Godinites, Seth is a genius.  I read his blog daily, I’ve read every one of his books and appreciate the way he thinks.

I have been “hanging” with Seth Godin via his blogs and books for about five years now.  I have not personally hung out with Seth, although we have exchanged e-mails over the years.  That’s the beauty of blogs and social media, you can “learn and hang” with some of the brightest minds on the planet via their blogs, twitter and facebook updates.

One of many things I have learned from Seth Godin is: “If you can say it in less words… do it.”  In the words of Bill O’Reilly “Keep It Pithy.”  BigIsTheNewSmall

In 2011, one of my many goals that have been inspired from hanging with Seth Godin is to write shorter, simpler, wittier and more thought provoking posts, in as few words as possible.  I am not Seth Godin and You Are Not Seth Godin…  I even wrote a post about it here.

What have you learned from Seth Godin or other Authors/Bloggers?

What do you think about shorter posts?

Over the years I have done several versions of Promote Your blog aka BIG Pimpin‘. The concept is simple, you get the opportunity to do some BIG Time Blog or Website Promotion.

Remember the rules: We only promote positive and wholesome stuff, so promote your blog, business, website, music site, book site, friend’s site, pastor’s site… (you get the picture).  This handy dandy linking software will add the links to this post for others to easily check them out.  The bonus is that nice people can connect with nice people while promoting their business, product or site all free of charge.

It’s as easy as 1-2-3

• 1. Fill out your info. in this format-  Let me repeat that, Fill out your info. in this format.
• Your Name: Scott Williams – BigIsTheNewSmall  Your URL: http://bigisthenewsmall.com
• 2. Leave a comment in the comment section and tell us about yourself or what you’re Promoting.
• 3. Share Go Promote Your Blog w/ others via Twitter & Facebook use hashtag #GoPYB (Go Promote Your Blog)

We’ll roll this through the weekend, so be sure to check back and find some new peeps to connect with.  Go PROMOTE YOUR BLOG! #GoPYB

I’ll Go First!

You Are Not Seth Godin! Some of you are probably reading this post and thinking, “Duh, state the obvious!”  Seriously, You Are Not Seth Godin and neither am I.  Don’t get me wrong, I definitely consider myself to be a student of the Seth Godin School of Thought.  As a matter of fact, this little ol’ blog BigIsTheNewSmall.com is an Arkansas Kissin’ Cousin of Seth’s book Small Is The New Big.

I think one of the key leadership/life/marketing lessons that we can learn from Seth Godin, is simply this, “You Are Not Seth Godin.” Instead of learning from Seth Godin or learning from [fill-in the blank], people try to be a copy-cat of that person.   Just because Seth Godin has recently Given Up On Traditional Book Publishing, doesn’t mean every other author should.  Instead authors should learn from Seth’s decision and apply those learning’s to their situation.

What makes Seth Godin remarkable is the fact that he’s Seth Godin.  He’s a bald-headed, almost action-figure-looking, brilliant, thought leader and marketer that challenges us to dream BIG. think BIGGER. Seth takes the most simple concepts and makes them profound. He states in 300 words what most people can’t state in 300 pages. He doesn’t Twitter or Facebook in the same fashion that most people do; however in his book Tribes he defines leveraging Social Media as we know it.

What makes Seth Godin remarkable is that he learns from everything and he applies those learning’s through the Seth Godin filter.  He doesn’t learn from so and so and try to become so and so.  Seth learns from so and so and through his God-Given Seth Filter, he makes concepts remarkable.  Who else can make a statement like “Very Good Is Bad” and make it make sense. You might ask, How can very good be bad?   According to Seth in one of the old TED talks, “The trouble with very good is that it’s not remarkable enough and people don’t talk about it. They tune it out.”

You Are Not Seth Godin!  That’s the point…

Focus on becoming the best “You,” because “You Are Remarkable!”

Over the years I have done several versions of Promote Your blog aka BIG Pimpin’. The concept is simple, you get the opportunity to do some BIG Time Blog or Website Promotion.

Remember, we only promote positive and wholesome stuff, so promote your blog, business, website, music site, book site, friend’s site, pastor’s site… (you get the picture).  This handy dandy linking software will add the links to this post for others to easily check them out.  The bonus is that nice people can connect with nice people while promoting their business, product or site all free of charge.

It’s as easy as 1-2-3

• 1. Fill out your info. in this format-  Let me repeat that, Fill out your info. in this format. Your Name: Scott Williams – BigIsTheNewSmall  Your URL: http://bigisthenewsmall.com
• 2. Leave a comment in the comment section and tell us about yourself or what you’re Promoting.
• 3. Share BIG Promote Your Blog Post w/ others via Twitter & Facebook use hashtag #BIGP  This can represent BIG Pimpin’ or BIG Promotion for the more conservative folks.

We’ll roll this through the weekend, so be sure to check back and find some new peeps to connect with.  Go ahead, get your pimp on!  I’ll go first! I tried to go first, you guys beat me to it. LOL.

In the spirit of Lebron James’ “Big Decision,”  I thought it would be appropriate to title this post The BIG Announcement.  For those of you who follow my Twitter/Facebook streams, you are aware that I’ve had something to share and I can’t wait to share it.  Well that something to share is a message and a burden that God has laid on my heart for as long as I can remember.

That message, burden and story to share is dealing with the lack of ethnic diversity in the church, and the taboo nature of the overall discussion.  For years as a Prison Warden, I dealt with the tough issues of race, ethnicity and religion behind the walls and razor wire.  As a lobbyist and Political Consultant, I was able to be a part of making some impact in the areas of race and ethnicity at all levels of our political system.

As a pastor, I have been burdened by the fact that a statement Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made over 40 years ago still rings true today, “We must face the sad fact that at 11 o’clock on Sunday morning, when we stand to sing… we stand in the most segregated hour in America, and the most segregated school is Sunday School.”

Let’s cut to the chase.  After months of negotiations and conversations with a number of Christian Publishing Companies, including some of the largest.  I have signed a book publishing deal with New Leaf Publishing Group, for a book that will address the issue of the lack of diversity in the church.  The book will identify the primary reasons why, confront those issues head on and offer practical solutions to address this age-old problem.

More details on the release date, title etc. to come.  For those of you that know me, you probably already know what the title will be.

I am looking forward to working with the great people at New Leaf, as a matter of fact I have a strategy meeting with them for most of the day today.  They are bringing Jon Dale in to be a part of this meeting and help with the overall strategy.  If you don’t know who Jon is, he was one of the 9 people that was selected to go through Seth Godin’s MBA Program.  I love New Leaf’s commitment to this project.  Again, more info. to come in the near future…

I want to personally thank those whom I’ve worked closely with in ministry, every single person who has ever sent me an encouraging note, read my blog, tweets and Facebook updates. Thanks for listening to the things that I have to share and thanks for being a part of my offline/online family.  Through your engagement, God has given me a platform to share this bold and needed message with the world.

The BIG Announcement… dream BIG. think BIGGER.

(Disclosure)  Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will not be writing the book with me; however it will have some commentary from some super stars.