Jared Dees's Blog: The Latest from Jared Dees, page 42
January 20, 2018
You Are Not the Savior
“Couldn’t we have some stratagem?” said Peter. . . .
“It’s no good, Son of Adam,” said Mr. Beaver, “no good your trying, of all people. But now that Aslan is on the move . . . He is in Narnia at this moment. He’ll settle the White Queen all right. It is he, not you, that shall save Mr. Tumnus.”
C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
I’ve had the pleasure of reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe with my oldest daughter during the last few weeks. I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. an...
Ask Yourself: Will doing this inspire the change I seek to make?
I sent a series of emails this week that inspired people to change. I got hundreds of responses many of them saying it challenged them to rethink the way they were doing things.
As authors or influencers we are pulled in all sorts of directions. Other people are finding success in the growing number of platforms available to us these days.
Even as I read through email responses telling me about the way the emails helped them, I was dreaming about growing my audience on other platforms.
Maybe...
January 19, 2018
Being OK with Not Growing
“My audience didn’t grow much in 2017. The newsletter seems to be holding steady around 30,000 subscribers and signups for my courses seem stable as well. In most businesses, this would be considered problematic since it’s not growing—but in my case, I’m actually quite happy. I have enough of an audience where I can make a great living and still have the bandwidth to actually talk to the folks in it who get in touch, reply, ask questions, or send notes my way. So I’m pleased it’s not growing,...
January 18, 2018
The Grunt Test (Donald Miller & StoryBrand)
Donald Miller, founder of StoryBrand, has a quick and powerful way to evaluate your website.
Does your website pass the grunt test? Could a caveman understand what you offer?
Look at the homepage of your website. If a caveman asked, “What you do?” Could you answer in a way that even a caveman could understand you?
Fill in the blank: “We sell _____.”
Your website should answer these three questions with just a quick glance at your homepage:
What is it that you offer? How will it make my life...January 17, 2018
December 2017 Project Report
Welcome to my December 2017 Project Report. My goal with these monthly reports is to help other authors, entrepreneurs, leaders, or anyone else who wants to make an impact on others. Each month I will share how I spent my time as an author and creative entrepreneur and the successes, failures, and lessons I’ve learned along the way.
How I Spent My Time in December 2017I track every minute of time I spend working in an app called Toggl (here is why). Here is a list of the projects I spent the...
January 16, 2018
What Facebook Is For
Have you read Mark Zuckerberg’s post about the changes coming to Facebook in 2018?
I’m both impressed and depressed:
On the one hand, I am impressed by his courage to be so transparent about the changes he intends to make to the platform. Facebook is a multi-billion dollar company that companies rely on to reach their customers. To say publicly that the content of those companies will be seen even less than before, is shocking. He even suggests that content from those companies that users en...
January 15, 2018
Pick One Big Idea for Your Talk and “Show Don’t Tell”
Before speaking at an event, I try to watch or listen to a great speaker while I get ready in the morning. This weekend I watched and listened to Seth Godin’s keynote at the ConvertKit conference as I got ready for my own keynote later that morning.
What I enjoyed most about the presentation was that it was really only about one thing. He was only trying to make one point. He had slide after slide with images and videos to show example after example of the point he was trying to make.
There’...
January 6, 2018
Chalking the Door: The Meaning of 20+C+M+B+YEAR
Why do Catholics have the symbols 20+C+M+B+YEAR written in chalk on or above their doors?
The symbols come from a Catholic blessing of the home connected to the Feast of the Epiphany.
Here is what they mean:
20+YEAR = The year of the blessing.
+ = The Cross
C = Caspar
M = Melchior
B = Balthasar
The letters can also stand for “Christus Mansionem Benedicat” which means “May Christ bless this house.”
The chalk symbols are nice reminders that you have asked for a blessing upon your home and all...
Does nonfiction (or non-fiction) have a hyphen?
As I write about my journey as a writer, I find myself referring to nonfiction with and without a hyphen. I must have grown up hyphenating non-fiction, but I see it presented both ways.
Here are a few ways to find a definitive answer to whether there should be a hyphen in nonfiction:
Does Amazon hyphenate nonfiction?
No. See Amazon’s Most Read/Most Sold Nonfiction Charts.
Does Barnes & Noble hyphenate nonfiction?
No. See Barnes & Noble’s nonfiction bestsellers list.
Does the New York Times...
January 5, 2018
The Two Paths to Success According to Ray Dalio
I found this “Success Chart” to be immensely helpful. Ray Dalio writes in his book Principles:
“There are two paths to success: 1) to have what you need yourself or 2) to get it from others.” (page 179)
The first path means that you have a good mental map, which you have either learned or received as a blessing of exceptionally large common sense.
The second path means you need humility. You need the humility to recognize your weaknesses and poor mental maps and to seek the help from others.
...
