#1 Mistake Worship Leaders Make, and How to Avoid IT

So just what is the number one mistake worship leaders make? How did we miss it? The answer: Taking care of our physical bodies. As lead worshipers we can get so caught up in all the aspects of the ministry that we just simply let this area slip by. But believe me this is a very important step in preparing for worship. In fact it’s important for ministry and life period.

Scripture tells us that when we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, The Holy Spirit comes to live within us. In fact our bodies become the temple of the Holy Spirit. Knowing that fact, it should be a God honoring priority for us to take care of our physical bodies.

How do we do that?

By exercising, eating well, and getting plenty rest. If we neglect any of these, our health will suffer. Which in turn will cause our service and our ministry to suffer.

To use a sports analogy: We practice and prepare through the week. Sunday, or whenever you service is, is game day!

Not to say in any way that church is a game or that we are performers, nothing could be further from the truth.

My point is this,

You must be prepared to give God your best! You must be in good health, to give your best. God deserves nothing less!

I have type 1 diabetes, so my health is # 2 only behind my relationship with Christ on my priority list. Neglecting my heath would be dishonoring to the God who created me, to my family, and to the ministry.

Try to do some sort of physical exercise 3 – 4 times a week. Whether it’s weight training, running, swimming, cycling, or whatever. Just get moving. Your body will love you for it. And you will be honoring God.

Eat a well balanced diet. I know this can be tough since we can be on the run so much. Food is the fuel for our body. If you put junk food in it, it will run like junk. Work at eating a well balance diet, so your body will perform at its best.

Try to get 7-8 hours of good sleep every day. I know some people can operate on less, some need more. But the point is, while you sleep your body refuels and repairs itself, neglect it, and your body will suffer. You need to be alert, clearheaded and well rested. Especially when leading.

Take care of your body. It’s the temple of the Holy Spirit. Exercise, eat well and be well rested. Honor God!

And now I would like to invite you to get a free copy of my mini-guide “Preparing to Lead Worship” at http://www.worshipleadingtoday.com

Jim Williams, Worship Leader, Worship songwriter

If You Didn’t Measure It – You Didn’t Do It! Part 1

If you’re going to spend money doing something, the only way to know if you accomplished your goal is to measure it. Here is a tool that works well to both define the problem and provide a yardstick against which to measure results.

The analysis breaks down into three main components:

• Need – What is the problem, and what is the result we expect from the money we are about to invest?
• Content – How will we move people to the desired result?
• Measurement – Did you actually meet, or better, exceed, the goals?

Need drives the entire process. You are not going to spend the money to do something that doesn’t need to be done. You have a situation or a problem – and it usually has a measurable cost – and you need to solve that problem, to eliminate, or at least significantly reduce that cost.

We may have to invest time or money to solve the problem, but if the problem is well defined and quantified, not only can we reduce or eliminate the problem with appropriately targeted communications; we can measure how well we did it. It could be increased sales, increased signups for a new program, or broader support within a community for a new service or idea. Whatever it is, it must have the necessary yardstick for success.

Let’s use an example to illustrate how this process functions and how well it can work.

Several years ago, a company was planning to introduce a new product into a saturated marketplace. The new product represented major innovations, and would likely have been very successful by itself, but the company needed to ensure that success and overcome several other issues. We’ll start the story of the launch in this article, and follow it through two more articles.

The NEED – The situation or problem:

• Moderate existing market share for existing product, #2 in sales
• Lack of respect for the company because of “me too” parity products in the past
• Low company sales force morale from carrying unexciting products
• Lack of personal contact by company executives with dealers across the country
• An exciting new product to launch, including many firsts, under a new brand umbrella, based on a new and very unfamiliar technology

The GOALS – what were the desired measurable results?

• Capture #1 sales position in the marketplace, as measured by published industry data
• Establish the new brand with dealers and consumers
• Build new levels of respect for the company brand and their sales force in the market place
• Dealer owners pleased with personal contact with company executives
• Retail clerks educated and excited about the new product, and motivated to sell the product and the company
• A memorable event to keep the company “top of mind” for the foreseeable future.

The Obstacles:

• Low respect for company in the market place – would dealers even listen?
• Large number of outlets and clerks to be informed/trained/motivated across the market, preferably in as short a time as possible
• The introduction would be in January/February, the worst time to travel a show around the country.

You can see how all of these elements defined the measurement criteria. Sales can be plotted against the launch. Market share is a standard industry published statistic, and can be plotted against the time of the launch. Respect will be reflected in the attitudes of the retail clerks to the sales representatives calling on the stores and the how the products and the company are received after the launch. This, and how well the event was remembered, would show up in weekly sales call reporting.

Observable, accurate, and actionable. The hallmarks of good metrics.

This is the first of Three Parts of this story.

Part 2 is here: http://www.EzineArticles.com/?id=899065

Part 3 is here: http://www.EzineArticles.com/?id=886852

Copyright 2008 Dan Davenport

Dan Davenport is an award-winning business communications producer: Multimedia, video, print.

Goal: Bring excitement to business communications.

Look to http://blog.smallofficecommunicator.net to blog with us about small office communication ideas and answers – share your own experience with others and get answers to your questions.

Offering Choices – A Good Marketing Practice

Ever notice how easy it is for someone to say “No?” Make it easier for them to say “Yes” by offering choices in your marketing.

If you’re a Realtor, rather than asking a listing prospect if they’re ready to list today, ask them if they’d like to list for 3 months, or for 6 months. If you’re trying to get an appointment with buyer prospects, ask them if they’d like to view homes on Friday or Saturday. Or ask them if they’d like to schedule time to see 3 homes or 5.

If you’re selling shoes ask if they’d like them in brown or black. If you sell furniture, ask them if they’d like the couch, or would prefer the whole set, with chair and ottoman to match.

That’s called an “assumptive close” because you go forward assuming that your prospect is going to say yes rather than fearing that they’ll say no.

It serves two purposes – the first being a change in your own attitude and the vibrations you give off. Your fear of a “no” could actually cause it to happen! We all give off vibrations all the time, and the one you want to give off is confidence. Confidence in yourself, and confidence that the product or service you offer is a good thing for your prospect.

The second reason is that as humans we all want to feel in control of our lives. We don’t want to be forced into a corner and we intensely dislike the “Now or never” ultimatum. I know, a whole lot of marketers use it, and some customers fall for it – out of fear.

But as a smart marketer, you’re in the business of creating lasting relationships with your clients – not one time orders based on fear of loss. You’ll gain their respect and their confidence when you offer them choices – even if that choice is waiting until next week to order.

If you’ve done the right things to collect your prospect’s names, you’ll be reminding them again in a few days. You can even tell them so, if you like.

You can use the same psychology in your on-line marketing and postal mailings.

Rather than offering a yes or no choice, offer 2 or 3 ways to take advantage of what you have to offer. Depending upon your product, it could be colors, styles, sizes, length of service, amount of service, or combinations of products and services.

For instance, if you have information products, why not offer individual e-books or bundles of 2 or more? Explain the difference between your books so your prospect has a clear understanding of which is best for his immediate needs – or why he needs them all.

If you’re selling a newsletter, offer choices in the length of the subscription. Of course offer discounts for longer terms, but let that be their choice, not your demand.

Whatever you’re selling – be it your services or your products, find some way to offer your buyers at least three choices – “no”, “yes this,” or “yes that.” And don’t mention the first one. They already know they can say no.

One caution – don’t overdo it. Remember that your goal is to make it easy for your prospects to say “yes” to something. When you offer too many choices you make it harder, so they’ll fall back on “no.”

A recent test showed that grocery store shoppers who were offered samples of a new jelly/jam brand chose a flavor and purchased when there were 4 or 5 choices. When they increased the number of choices to 15 or 20, they didn’t buy at all. Making the decision was simply too hard, so they walked away.

So, balance is once again the answer. Avoid only one choice, avoid too many choices. Always make it easy for your customers to say yes, based on a few good choices.

Marte Cliff is a Freelance Copywriter who specializes in making people feel good about buying products or services – or donating to worthy causes.

She has extensive experience in writing search engine optimized web copy, direct sales letters, postcards, space ad copy, press releases, and more. She is also available for marketing plan creation and editing services.

You can visit her at http://www.marte-cliff.com While you’re there, sign up for her marketing ezine. When you do, you’ll also get access to reports that will help you get better results from your own writing.

Custom Bathroom Vanities – Adding Beauty & Value to Your Home

Custom bathroom vanities are a great way to add value to your house or the house you are remodeling. These are not vanities that you will find in your neighbors homes nor will you find them at your local home improvement superstore. It used to be that custom vanities were exactly that… custom made for each situation. They were designed specifically for you and according to the requirements you set forth. With more and more products being made in China, they have even started importing Decorative or Custom Bathroom Cabinets that come completely assembled, with the vanity top, sink bowl, hardware, and matching mirror(s).

So Why Should you Consider a Custom Bathroom Vanity?

The are many reasons why they could be right for your project, but most importantly would be resale value. Buyers like the idea of getting a great bargain for their money and are often eager to buy a home that has custom cabinetry in the kitchen or bath that is unique to that house. With all of the mass produced neighborhoods popping up, homeowners are looking for ways to differentiate their homes from those of their neighbors. Because of this, it is very rare that you won’t recoup your investment when you go to sell your house.

There are many things that make custom cabinetry and vanities appealing to many different people but one of the most easy to identify is the quality of not only the workmanship involved but also the craftsmanship. It shows when you have custom cabinets and buyers will recognize that ‘pride of ownership’ and experience less apprehension when buying from you, particularly if you’ve taken great care of your woodwork. With higher quality materials, and more attention to detail, I decorative bathroom vanity will hold up much longer to the wear and tear of your family.

The best reason for making the investment in a custom bathroom vanity is for your personal enjoyment. The bathroom is where we usually start and end our day. With more and more people trying to turn their bathroom into a spa environment, it only makes sense to carry that feeling over to the vanity that you install.

A custom made vanity is not only about appearance but should also meet your requirements for functionality. Everything seems to work better when it has its own place and is put back into that place. A good custom vanity will have a spot for all your morning bathroom routine needs.

Where can you find a decorative bathroom furniture vanity?

Even with the increase in popularity, custom pieces are still hard to find. Since they are not mass produced, you won’t find custom vanities gracing the aisles of your local home improvement stores. As I mentioned before, you can find some manufacturers and importers online by searching for decorative bathroom vanities or custom bathroom vanities, but even the search engines have a hard time finding all of the companies that are available because of the lack of traffic they generate. Searching for local carpenters is another way to go, but be prepared to pay a lot for your custom project and be ready for a long lead time.

Most of us have a good idea of what we like when it comes to design features and looks but have very little knowledge of the actual physics involved in getting the look and functionality we desire. Searching on-line is a great way to find samples or pictures of what bathroom vanity you would like to have for your bathroom. It will also give you an idea of what styles each manufacturer or carpenter specialize in.

A custom bathroom vanity or a piece of decorative bathroom furniture can not only add value to your home, but also create a unique focal point for your oasis. By having a good idea of what you are looking for, doing some research on-line, and narrowing down the manufacturers and carpenters that specialize in what you are looking for, you will be able to build the custom bathroom of your dreams.

I have been remodeling houses for over 15 years, and I have found a way to save hundreds on each bathroom that I remodel. If you are looking for a High End Bathroom Vanity , Euro Vanity, or RTA Bathroom Vanity check out one of these links to find out my secret.

Top 10 Weirdest, Most Ridiculous Jobs

Think your job is dull? Check out some of the bizarre things people do for a living in this list of jobs you probably didn’t know existed. You’ll either wish you were doing one of these, or you’ll be thankful for the job you do have. And now, the top 10 weirdest, most ridiculous jobs out there:

Pet Food Taster Not only do these people eat dog food all the time, some actually enjoy it! It’s kind of like wine connoisseurs enjoying a new wine, except its stuff your dog or cat eats. To each their own…

Gross stunt producer If you’ve ever seen a show where people have to do disgusting things for money (like wade through rat-infested sewers or eat living bugs), rest assured it’s because someone’s job is to come up with such twisted concepts. A surprising amount of research is necessary to make sure that your ideas are not only gross, but also safe.

Bad Breath Smeller How else would you figure out if your company’s chewing gum is getting the job done? This also implies there are people whose job it is to chew gum and breathe in people’s faces.

Whiskey Ambassador Getting paid to drink whiskey- a job college kids everywhere can only dream of. These lucky people’s responsibilities include selecting the best whiskeys and teaching clients how to fully appreciate each whiskey’s nuances.

Ufologist As the name implies, ufologists are all about the study of UFO’s. History, recent reports, government conspiracies, it’s all included, so if the unknown is your passion this might not be a bad start.

Cryptozoologist These are the people you see on television explaining so convincingly why Big Foot or the Loch Ness monster are real. It’s all about using your science skills in less conventional ways.

Chicken Sexer The actual job responsibilities for these guys are relatively mundane- chicken sexers just have to figure out what gender baby chicks are and sort them accordingly. Still, nothing quite spices up your resume like a job with that title.

Pathoecologist You’d be surprised how much you can learn from…poop. Pathoecologists study feces from thousands of years ago, learning much about the lifestyles and diets of our ancestors.

Foley artist You probably hear their work all the time and don’t even realize it- foley artists are responsible for making those everyday environmental sounds in movies and shows on television. They often utilize whatever objects they please (from watermelons to flare guns) to accentuate sounds.

Queen Bee Producer If bees aren’t your thing this is probably the least desirable job out there, as these people work with bees everyday. But not just any bees- they specifically raise the most impressive of them all: the queens.

Andrew is a recent college graduate working on MyCareerRx http://www.MyCareerRx.com, a site devoted to making the job hunting process easier for college students everywhere, from free career personality tests to resume and interview help

Use a Treadmill Mat to Prevent Permanent Damage to Your Machine and Flooring

Do you have a healthy lifestyle? Are you in the habit of getting regular exercise daily so that you can keep your weight down, or just remain fit and healthy as you get older? Do you have workout equipment in your home like a treadmill?

If you do, you should probably know that without a treadmill mat, you run the risk of doing a lot of damage.

Now it may not seem like much to you, but the use of a high quality foam mat under your treadmill will extend the life of your machine, while keeping your flooring safe from harm.

Don’t believe me? If you have your machine on carpet, move it a few inches either way. You will see that you have severely compressed the pad under your carpet. While it may come partially back up, it will never again be as good as it originally was.

If you have expensive marble or tile under your treadmill, take a close look at it where the feet come in contact with it. You’re liable to see many things there, including permanent scuff marks from the rubber feed, stress cracks, or even full fledged cracks in the flooring.

Here’s a way the machine itself can be damaged in the absence of a pad. If the treadmill sits on carpet, those tiny little fibers will work their way into your equipment over time, mixing with the oil and grease in the system, clogging things up, and causing premature failure.

A treadmill mat is designed to eliminate these problems before they even start. It’s designed to protect the entire machine. In addition, it will help to dampen any vibrations or shocks that come from walking or running on the unit.

Finding quality mats for treadmills isn’t difficult. You can easily find them online or in stores. Most will come in the standard size of 78″ x 36″, though larger ones are available as well.

In most instances, you will want a treadmill mat that is 1/4″ thick. However, if you do a lot of running on your machine, consider getting a 3/8″ pad. Finally, if you constantly run on it, and you are over 200 pounds, you might want to try and find a 1/2″ mat.

To learn more ways that using a treadmill mat prevents permanent damage, just Click Here.

The Basics of Tire Rotation

Most drivers neglect to rotate their vehicle’s tires. They know instinctively that treads wear down over time. They also realize that worn treads reduce fuel efficiency and can eventually present a safety risk. Despite knowing these things, millions of motorists only consider rotating at the behest of their mechanic. If you have some time on your hands and you’re handy with a torque wrench, you can actually do the job yourself. It’s relatively easy. Below, you’ll learn why rotating your tires is important, as well as the right and wrong ways to do it.

Why Rotation Is Necessary

Let’s quickly review. Treads wear down, but it may surprise you to know that those in the front wear more quickly than those in the rear. That’s especially true for front- wheel drive vehicles. The reason this happens is due to friction between the rubber and the pavement. Whenever you drive your car, the friction generates heat, which causes the treads to wear down. As a result, they become less responsive, create more resistance (which affects fuel efficiency), and need to be replaced more often.

When you rotate your tires, it relieves the pressure created by friction on those placed on the front axle. Remember, those in the front wear down more quickly than those in the rear. Swapping them lets you prolong the useful life of your tires as long as possible.

The Right (And Wrong) Way To Rotate

As noted above, you can perform the rotation yourself with a torque wrench, but it’s important to know how to rotate them properly. The rule of thumb for most makes and models is to swap front and rear tires without changing sides. That is, the passenger rear goes on the passenger front, not the driver’s front.

A lot of people make the mistake of rotating their tires in an “X” pattern. For example, they’ll swap the driver’s rear and passenger front, and passenger’s rear and driver’s front. They do this thinking that they’re spreading the tread wear more evenly. In fact, they’re probably doing more harm than good because treads wear down based upon the vehicle’s suspension system and alignment.

Getting Your Hands Dirty

Even though rotating your wheels is a relatively simple job, consider having a mechanic do it for you. Given that you only need to have it done approximately every 10,000 miles (check your owner’s manual to make sure), it’s a low-maintenance task that’s inexpensive and doesn’t take much time. If you’re absolutely invested in doing it yourself, buy a sturdy jack (a hydraulic model, if possible). It’s dirty work and there’s some heavy lifting involved. But, you’ll save a few dollars and have the pleasure of knowing you fixed it yourself. Personally, I prefer having my mechanic do the job.

When looking for used auto parts and used engines consider the leader in parts, http://www.everdrive.com

Top 10 Training Metrics

Is it time for you to measure the effectiveness of your training programs? If you’re not sure where to start, these Top Ten Training Metrics can help.

Measuring the effectiveness of training is a very difficult task, for stakeholders, training departments and end users. If you are a training manager or company stakeholder looking for ways to measure the effectiveness of your programs, these ten metrics are a great place to start.

One: Increased retention. Most Human Resources departments measure the rate of retention in all or various jobs. Many times, the front line, high turnover jobs are the ones that receive the most attention. If newly trained employees feel ill-equipped for the job, they are more likely to leave within their first 90 days. When you measure training success this way, higher retention points to a successful training program.

Two: Increased sales. Many organizations can track efficiency based on sales. If training is heavily geared toward a sales or customer service force, an effective program will eventually increase sales numbers. You can also measure product knowledge training as part of a sales number – poorly educated sales people usually do not make the sale. Dollar figures and unit sales make good metrics, but be sure to balance any metric with other factors that can influence sales numbers.

Three: Increased operational efficiency. In highly regulated or production-oriented businesses, managers look for more efficiency, which raises the bottom line. If your training programs teach skills, look to management’s efficiency metrics, as a baseline, before and after the training intervention. If you are building a new program or product, look at the efficiency numbers to obtain direction on training course content.

Four: Customer service results. Any organization can link training to customer service, which can be both internal and external. Customer service is also one of the easier place to start: one well-written survey can identify a host of customer related issues that can be addressed by training programs. Remember that training may not be the only solution to those issues. If your organization already has a customer survey in place, use those metrics to cross check your programs. When your programs impact the survey items, you can correlate an increase in customer satisfaction back to training.

Five: Company-defined scorecards. Training outsourcers tend to use client-defined criteria to determine training effectiveness. If your organization has a wide variety of possible measurements, sit down with management, and stakeholders, to create a custom scorecard based on expectations and the training programs that need to be in place.

Six: Cost of training. This is an internal training department measurement. In high turnover organizations, lowering cost per student can be used as an effectiveness measurement. Cost of training could also relate directly back to retention – if you’re spending less on new hire training, your retention may be higher. Work with your stakeholders and the HR department to determine training costs and where you want those numbers to be.

Seven: Return on Investment. ROI has long been a “catch all” metric. In some cases, it’s easy to define ROI, but in more cases it’s increasingly difficult. If you deliver soft skills training, it’s hard to put a dollar figure on the return. There are numerous ROI calculations available, so if you’re thinking about using an ROI metric, look for the formulas and plug in what you can. If you are part of a numbers-driven organization, you’ll be able to make friends with the stakeholders by defining and measuring concrete ROI.

Eight: Revenue generation. This metric appears most likely as a combination of sales numbers, operational efficiency, and customer service. If an organization shows increased revenue, a solid training program can be part of that increase. If your organization is rolling out a new revenue generator, such as a product or service, that is generally the best time to use revenue generation as training metric.

Nine: Instructor performance. Instructor evaluation is an important internal measurement. The results can come from student and manager evaluations, and must take into account the instructor’s presentation skills, knowledge of the subject, projection of organizational values, and adherence to instructional guidelines. The good part about instructor performance as a metric is that it can also be used as an external measure. When training is under discussion, training managers should be the first to praise their instructors for delivering quality instruction in every course – and instructor evaluations provide the supporting evidence.

Ten: End-user satisfaction. Your audience can measure effectiveness quicker than anyone else, both immediately following training and after a given time period, such as 30 or 60 days. The immediate results, sometimes referred to as “smile sheets”, can give you a picture of what happened in the classroom. The delayed results can tell you if the material is useful or not. Plus, end-user surveys are great tools for proving effectiveness with management.

Remember that training metrics may take time to put into place and show results. It’s also important to obtain buy-in from your stakeholders while you’re determining how to measure results. Use these metrics to start with – and use them whenever you’re developing or revamping training programs. Once you can prove bottom-line effectiveness, your credibility will go a long way.

Copyright 2008 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved.

Bryant Nielson – Managing Director and National Sales Trainer – assists executives, business owners, and top performing sales executives in taking the leap from the ordinary to extraordinary. Bryant is a trainer, business & leadership coach, and strategic planner for sales organizations.Bryant’s 27 year business career has been based on his results-oriented style of empowering.

Subscribe to his monthly ezine – Lengthen Your Stride! ™ – and learn the legendary secrets of top business achievers at: http://www.BryantNielson.com

Violin Instruction is the Quickest Way to Learn the Violin

Learning how to play the violin and finding resources that will help you accomplish this is not hard. Either you can hire professional violinists or you can go online and find a great online teacher or software that can teach you that way. The difference in hiring professional violinists to come to your home and finding a good program online is the amount of money you are going to have to spend. Professional violinists are very expensive and generally teach by the hour.

If you cannot figure out something while learning, you are going to have to spend lots of money for the professional to go over this repeatedly. If you find an online resource to teach you, it is self-paced and you can go over and over the parts that are hard to learn.

In the beginning of learning to play the violin, you will first start out with getting to know your instrument, such as tuning your violin, how to change the strings, using rosin, instrument care, and bridge adjustment. After this, you will learn how to hold the violin, the 360-degree violin position, and how to hold and place the bow. Next will come the learning how to read notes, rhythm, the history of the violin, key and measure signatures, as well as the symbols and terms of music.

Once all of this is learned then you will begin to learn how to play. Learning how to play the violin include fingering and positioning, shifting and positions, the finger chart, bow strokes, and advanced techniques when you are ready.

Practice, Practice, Practice cannot be said enough. This is what makes or breaks the violinist.

Get FREE Violin tips at Violin Lessons online and enjoy Violin Instruction from a Master Violinist !

Tips on Avoiding Fraud

Fraud is an ever increasing problem in our society today we can all take steps to ensure that we do not become victims of fraud. Millions of pounds a year are lost to criminals from fraudulent operations. It is essential that we take steps to protect our private information and prevent identity theft. Make sure when you throw old bank statements out into the rubbish that you have shredded the statements so that nobody is able to read the details. The cost of a shredder is nothing compared to the cost you may suffer should you become a victim of fraud or identity theft.

When you’re using your card at a cash machine please make sure nobody is able to see you entering your PIN. You must also make sure to check if there is anything suspicious or unusual about the cash machine you are using. Fraudsters have been known to attach devices to cash machines that will read the data on your card and enable them to clone it. Please also make sure that when you are giving your card to a waiter in a restaurant that we do not take the card out of your sight. They have been known to steal the contents of your card and hand the card back to you as if nothing has happened. You will then log into your bank account and discover that many large amounts of money and been extracted from your account without your knowledge.

Please also be very wary of any unsolicited e-mails arriving in your inbox asking you to give money to participate in a scheme with guaranteed rewards. Remember that if something is too good to be true it probably is. Please also be aware that your bank will not send you an e-mail asking you for your online banking details. Fraudsters have been known to write e-mails pretending to be from banks asking you for your details to, for example, validate your account. You should ignore these e-mails and do not write anything back to them. These are organized criminals and you should not ever engage with them.

Keeping up to date with the latest Tips on Avoiding Fraud is easy with Financial Affairs the web’s forefront authority on money and finance.