From Where I Sit

What I Have Learned in Four Years of Blogging

I began blogging in April 2004. (I actually began writing articles and posting them on my Web site in 1998, but that was before we used the term “blogging.”) Since that time, I have posted 344 entries. At an average of 800 words per post (which, for me, is conservative), that is 275,200 words—almost four 256-page books.

During this time, I have learned a good deal about blogging. I’m sure I still have way long way to go, but I thought I would summarize what I have learned so far:

12 Reasons to Start Twittering

I originally committed to using Twitter for 30 days. So far, I have enjoyed the service and intend to keep using it. My wife, Gail, and three of my five daughters are active. I have sure this is one of the reasons I am still using it.

Don’t know what Twittering is? Read my original post on this topic. If you want to know how to get started, read The Newbie’s Guide to Twitter.

Twitter-dee, Twitter-dum

At the recommendation of my friend, Randy Elrod, I decided to start “twittering.” I have now been engaging in the practice for about a week.

What is twittering? Twitter’s home page says it best:

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

100 Resources for Bloggers

I just ran across a great resource for bloggers on the Bootstrapper web site. It is called The Business Blogging Toolset: 100 Resources for Entrepreneur-Writers.

I had no idea that this many resources exist. I am especially interested in the ones having to do with marketing. If you are a blogger, this is worth checking out.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Blogs

Summary of Posts

For the Week Ending March 31, 2007

The table below provides a quick reference of my blog posts this past week. In case you missed some of them and want to catch up, this provides a quick way to do so.

Date	Post
03/26/07	My Vacation Drama
03/27/07	Question: How Do You Balance Work with the Rest of Your Life?
03/28/07	February Update: Top Ten Publishers in America
03/29/07	Track Amazon Sales Rankings with TitleZ
03/30/07	Do You Know What You Are Especially Good At?

Unplugging from the Matrix

I will be on vacation next week, so this will be my last post until I return.

I don’t know about you, but periodically I need to unplug. I sent an e-mail to my direct reports today and told them I will not be checking e-mail. If they have an emergency, they can call my cell phone. Otherwise, I am offline for the next week.

Send Me Your Questions

I have read a couple of blogs where the writer answers questions from readers. It got me to thinking—this might be a good thing to do on my blog.

So, if you are so inclined, send me your questions. I have even created a new e-mail address for this purpose: Question4Mike@gmail.com.

Summary of Posts

For the Week Ending March 10, 2007

The table below provides a quick reference of my blog posts this past week. In case you missed some of them and want to catch up, this provides a quick way to do so.

Date	Post
03/04/07	The Importance of the Weekly Review
03/05/07	Rhythm and Pacing
03/06/07	The Quarterly Review
03/07/07	The Power of Questions
03/08/07	My Current Blogging Tools
03/09/07	Why Books Are Here to Stay
03/10/07	Update: Top Ten Publishers in America

My Current Blogging Tools

Warning: this post will likely only be relevant to you if you are a blogger or are thinking about starting a blog.

I’ve been blogging on and off for almost three years. Periodically, I am asked about how to start a blog. I have posted on that topic previously, so I won’t repeat myself here.

However, I also get asked about the specific tools I use. Since I started blogging, I have used several. But for the last six month or so months, I have settled into a grove with the following four:

Summary of Posts

For the Week Ending March 3, 2007

The table below provides a quick reference of my blog posts this past week. In case you missed some of them and want to catch up, this provides a quick way to do so.

Date	Post
02/25/07	Our Standards
02/26/07	Taking Responsibility for Your Mistakes
02/27/07	Project Management and Herding Cats
02/28/07	Ten Reasons I Am Excited About Christian Retail
03/01/07	The Problem Behind the Problem
03/02/07	Don’t Take Life for Granted
03/03/07	Five Publishing Hurdles

Summary of Posts

For the Week Ending February 24, 2007

The table below provides a quick reference of my blog posts this past week. In case you missed some of them and want to catch up, this provides a quick way to do so.

Date	Post
02/18/07	Strategic Relationship Management, Part 1
02/19/07	Strategic Relationship Management, Part 2
02/20/07	Strategic Relationship Management, Part 3
02/21/07	Strategic Relationship Management, Part 4
02/22/07	Q & A Regarding Thomas Nelson’s “Open House” Announcement
02/23/07	Why Vision Is More Important Than Strategy
02/24/07	Chapter 5: Our Vision (The Little Blue Book Series)

Summary of Posts

For the Week Ending February 17, 2007

The table below provides a quick reference of my blog posts this past week. In case you missed some of them and want to catch up, this provides a quick way to do so.

Date	Post
02/11/07	Half Marathon Update
02/12/07	Interview Questions for the Ideal Candidate
02/13/07	Leadership Under Fire
02/14/07	Let It Go!
02/15/07	The Gratitude Rock
02/16/07	How to Boost Your Energy Level
02/17/07	Ten Difficult Words

Summary of Posts

For the Week Ending February 10, 2007

The table below provides a quick reference of my blog posts this past week. In case you missed some of them and want to catch up, this provides a quick way to do so.

Date	Post
02/04/07	A Better Voice Mail Greeting
02/05/07	Three Lessons I Learned from Getting Fired
02/06/07	Q & A with Christian Retailing About the Bestseller Lists
02/07/07	Publishing and the Current Economic Environment
02/08/07	Overcoming E-mail Overload, Part 1
02/09/07	Overcoming E-mail Overload, Part 2
02/10/07	Overcoming E-mail Overload, Part 3

Summary of Posts

For the Week Ending February 3, 2007

The table below provides a quick reference of my blog posts this past week. In case you missed some of them and want to catch up, this provides a quick way to do so.

Date	Post
01/28/07	Building Airplanes—in the Air
01/29/07	My Favorite Presentation Resources
01/30/07	Vote: Which Tagline Do You Like Best?
01/31/07	Five Rules for Better Presentations
02/01/07	The Thomas Nelson “Death Crawl”
02/01/07	Seven Out of the Top Ten Bestsellers
02/01/07	Seven Rules for More Effective Meetings
02/02/07	Vote: Is Blogging a Good Use of My Time?
02/03/07	The Power of One

Vote: Is Blogging a Good Use of My Time?

One of my dear friends called today to report that some people at Thomas Nelson are skeptical about my blogging. He said they are wondering if this is a good use of the my time. “How can the CEO possibly be doing his job and writing a daily blog. It’s impossible!”

Well, maybe not. I guess I am a little naive about this. Honestly, it never crossed my mind. As the CEO, I think that communication is one of my primary responsibilities. My job is to cast vision, shape our culture, and mentor those under me. Blogging is simply a means to an end.

However, I like blogging because it gives me direct, unfiltered access to my colleagues. It also provides a way for me to hear directly from all of our employees. It essentially “flattens” the organization and puts us all on an equal footing.

Summary of Posts

For the Week Ending January 27, 2007

The table below provides a quick reference of my blog posts this past week. In case you missed some of them and want to catch up, this provides a quick way to do so.

Date	Post
01/21/07	Are You a Leader?
01/22/07	How to Get Your Boss’s Approval When You Need It
01/23/07	Thirteen Ways to Frustrate Your Employees
01/24/07	Ten Annoying Meeting Behaviors
01/25/07	Five Things You May Not Know About Me
01/26/07	Little Blue Book: Chapter 8: Our Culture
01/27/07	Little Blue Book: Chapter 3: Our Values

Technorati Tags: blogs, from where i sit, michael hyatt, post summary

Thomas Nelson Enters Brazilian Market

I am pleased to announce the official launch of “Thomas Nelson Brasil.” (“Brasil” is the Brazilian spelling.) This is the first phase in our global expansion initiative. We have also opened offices in Beijing and Mexico City, which will both launch their first titles later this year.

The Thomas Nelson Brasil staff, from left to right, Judith de Almeida, Eduardo Cavalcante, and Carlo Carrenho (Publisher), all holding copies of a newly published book by Donald Miller.

As you may know, Brazil is a vast country. It is the size of the continental U.S. with a population of 180 million people. Portuguese is the spoken language. Interestingly, because of Brazil’s large population, more people in South America speak Portuguese than Spanish. Brazil is also the only country in the world to have won the Football (Soccer) World Cup five times.

According to the official census, more than 30 million Brazilians are evangelical Christians. This number is growing at the rate of 5—6% per year. Brazil has the third largest evangelical population in the world, behind the U.S. and China.

Go Ahead: Rate Me!

Iam a frequent reader of Guy Kawasaki’s blog, How to Change the World. If you haven’t yet discovered Guy, he is must-reading.

Recently, I began noticing some of the cool features on his blog. One of them is a “star rating” at the bottom of each post. It is powered by MajikWidget. So I thought I’d give it a try here.

I am now including a star rating at the bottom of each post. I really do want to hear from you, so please use this opportunity to provide feedback. It just takes a single click to register your rating.

Technorati Tags: blogs, cool software, guy kawasaki

Blogging Guidelines, Redux

About a year-and-a-half ago, we developed a set of blogging guidelines for our employees. These have been cited by a number of other sites and a few books. I have created a fixed link to the guidelines in the “Special Interest” section of the right side-bar. It is entitled Thomas Nelson Blogging Guidelines.

If you are trying to promote blogging within your company, you might want to take a look at these. Please feel free to borrow what we have done or build upon it. However, we do request that you give appropriate credit: “Based on guidelines originally posted by Michael S. Hyatt at www.michaelhyatt.com. Used by Permission.”

Subscribe to This Blog Via E-mail

Perhaps you know how to subscribe to this blog via RSS. Probably not. According to some studies, only one in ten Internet surfers know how to use RSS. If that’s you, you’re in good company.

I am not going to explain how to subscribe to Web sites and blogs via RSS. It sounds more difficult than it really is. You can find a good tutorial here. All you really need is a good RSS reader. Just search Google for “RSS +reader.” I use endo on the Mac. But I digress.

The easiest way to subscribe to this blog is via e-mail. Simply enter your e-mail address in the upper left-hand corner of this page. Then, whenever I post a new blog entry, you will receive it via e-mail. You can, of course, unsubscribe at any point along the way.

Technorati Tags: blogs, email

Sometimes Life Is Like Skiing

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Life has been a blur. In the last month, my father-in-law died, my family moved into a new house, and we finished our company’s fiscal year-end. This last week was particularly busy. I had a Thomas Nelson Board of Directors’ meeting, a Quarterly Leadership Meeting, and a trip to Taylor University in Upland, Indiana where my former business partner was awarded an honorary doctorate degree. Fortunately, I am taking Monday off to get a little rest before my next round of meetings.

I’ve especially missed blogging during the last thirty days. I find that blogging makes me slow down just enough to process what is happening around me and in me. It helps me clarify my thoughts and keeps me focused. But, unfortunately, this kind of processing time is not always a given—at least not for me.

Sometimes I find that life is like skiing. You get off the lift, only to find you are on a black trail rather than a green one. (For you non-skiiers, green trails are for beginners; black trails are for experts.) The only way down the mountain is to lean into it, trust your instincts, and do the best you can. That pretty much describes the last month for me.

A Blogging Manifesto

I normally don’t write so much on blogging. However, many people within our company are starting blogs, and I am stumbling across some great links I just have to share.

Robert Scoble, an employee of Microsoft, bills himself as a “Microsoft Geek Blogger.” I read his blog daily. He’s a great model of honesty, transparency, and a writing style I really like. When I wrote a post entitled, “Memo to Windows Marketing Department,” making fun of Microsoft’s goofy code names, Robert was the first to post a comment in response to my article. He said,

Yeah, our code names suck.

So do our product names, actually. “Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005” doesn’t exactly roll off off my tongue.

You gotta love that kind of honesty. It only served to endear him to me further (and probably thousands of other people who saw his comment).

Look Ma, No Amazon Commissions

When I launched this blog, I felt like it was an opportunity to connect personally with our employees and the outside world. However, intuitively I knew certain things had to be present for that to work.

First, I wanted my blog hosted “outside the firewall” by an independent, third-party hosting service. (I use TypePad.com.) I did not want people to see it as an officially-sponsored, corporate blog site.

Second, I wanted to write it myself. Blogging is not something you can turn over to your PR department or an outside service. If it is going to be authentic, it has to be personal. You can’t use a surrogate. (Note to CEOs: if you think someone else can do this for you, you still don’t get it. Go back to “Go.” Do not collect $200.)

How to Read Blogs

Many people have e-mailed me to ask, “How can I read blogs more easily?” Perhaps more importantly, “Why should I read blogs at all?” I started to write on this topic myself and stumbled on an excellent article by Stephen O’Grady over at tecosystems. He says,

The purpose of this post is to give the many people who still haven’t gotten into blogs—i.e. not my regular readers—a simple, step-by-step example of how to dip a toe in the blogging waters.

The article is entitled How to Get into Blogs 101. It is definitely worth a read if you are interested. One of the most helpful parts of his post is how to set up a blog reader.

How to Start a Blog

After reading my new blog, a number of Nelson employees have told me they intend to start their own blog. Several have written to me, asking how to get started. So, rather than continuing to repeat myself, I will outline the process here. It’s actually easier than you may think.

1. Determine a theme. Most bloggers take one of three approaches. Some write on whatever happens to interest them at the moment. In this sense, their blog is truly a “web journal.” Others, select a single theme and stick to it. Frankly, this takes a lot of discipline. Still others, like me, focus on a primary theme but occasionally deviate from it. If you want to develop a following of loyal readers, I think the latter two approaches are best. People who have similar interests will keep coming back for more.


2. Select a service. I use TypePad.com. My daughters use Xanga.com. These are only a few of scores of services available. Some of these are free, such as Blogger.com, LiveJournal.com, Blog-City.com, and MSN Spaces (also Xanga.com). Others charge a nominal fee. Examples include SquareSpace.com, BlogIdentity.com, and Bubbler.com (also TypePad.com). However, even the fee-based services usually offer a 30- to 60-day free trial. Why do I use TypePad.com? Because I think it offers the best balance of power, customizability, and ease-of-use. Your mileage may vary.