Redeeming Reading, Writing, and Random
This video discusses my recent social media fast, the benefits, and why you should plan one for yourself.
Books mentioned:
A Tale of 3 Kings-http://amzn.to/18MoJxA
Making it All Work-http://amzn.to/11zc4oT
Getting Things Done-http://amzn.to/1aVWppm
http://www.twitter.com/heathmullikin
http://www.facebook.com/heathmullikin
I am a huge fan of Twitter and other social media. At the point where I was trying to build 2 blogs, make a little money online, and connect with people around the world I made the decision to use a program called TweetAdder. TweetAdder is a tool that allows you automatically follow back anyone who follows you on Twitter, send messages automatically, and do things that can gain you a large following. I was obsessed with my follower count. At one point, @chaseurlion was over 40,000 followers, @chaseyourlion was over 15,000, and @heathmullikin was over 20,000. I was trying to build a brand, but instead I built a monster.
There are lots of people who use tools like Tweet Adder to spam the world. I tried not to be one of those people. I was content to follow people based on certain criteria and unfollow them based on other things. Out of over 75,000 followers, only about 30% were real people. Now, did this tool and strategy help me connect with great people I wouldn’t have met otherwise? Absolutely. In the process was I following around 75,000 people myself? Yes, and many of them were sketchy to say the least. I knew it was time for a Twitter Reboot.
A few things have happened over time to bring me to this place. First, there was a run of great people who decided to unfollow everyone and start all over on Twitter. Michael Hyatt blogged about it here and he heard about it from Chris Brogan. Now, I’m not going unfollow everyone, but I am going unfollow a lot of people. Secondly, I decided that managing multiple accounts and blogs was not in my best interests. Finally, I realized that every connection mattered. Being followed by a spam California real estate firm with 100,000 followers was far less important than connecting with a college student with 25 serious followers. TweetAdder had taken true intentionality and connection out of the equation.
Enter ManageFlitter. Erik Fisher from Beyond the To Do List recommended this service and I am loving it so far. ManageFlitter is not a bot that runs 24/7. It allows you to really see who’s following you and who you’re following. My favorite feature is that I’ve been able to see who’s tweeting too much(spammers) and who’s not tweeting at all(quitters). Neither of these groups are real connections so unfollow away! It also has a great Whitelist and block feature. I can list everyone I know and never want to unfollow(Whitelist) and blocking means that I will never follow that person and they are unable to follow, DM or @mention me. There are all sorts of great uses for ManageFlitter, but right now I’m concentrating on making all of my connections count. Did I mention that they have a free version?
All of this is part of a strategy involving two projects I’m working on this year. It will all tie in with the calling God has placed on my life and some great opportunities ahead of me. Call all of this “Launch Preparations.”
At the #Follow12 Wesleyan Youth Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, I had the opportunity to chat with Pastor Keith Loy following his Sunday morning message. It was a powerful service and an emotional interview.
My friend, David Gould, is a pastor in Nashville, TN, but he also hosts The Good Morning Show from 7-8 am(CST) on 760 AM The Gospel. I’m his Tech Talk guest on Tuesdays, but last week he allowed me to share about some amazing things God is doing at Oakway United.
This is a brief message from Pastor Heath Mullikin to Oakway United about our SoulShift series and the Slave to Child message this Sunday. Don’t forget that the SoulShift DVD study starts at 10 am and this Sunday night is our membership class from 5-7 at the parsonage. Bring a friend and pray for God to move this weekend and beyond!
Here’s a video on how I started my own pastor’s coaching network. This is in response to a lot of questions I received on the Wesleyan Pastor’s Facebook page.
I’m a big fan of Rhett and Link. Their stuff is hilarious. I found their latest video amazing and also depressing. In 13 years as a youth pastor and veteran of 40 lock-ins I never had the creativity to do something like this.
Here are some must read blogs.
Last week my Tech Talk Tuesday segment with David Gould was about Why Church Leaders Should Blog and this week we talked about some must read blogs. Here’s the video of the segment on Continue Reading…
Are you ready to start your own blog?
I have been blogging for 6 years. From MySpace to Facebook to Blogger to WordPress.com to WordPress.org I have used just about every major blogging platform. Tumblr and Typepad are two other popular blogging tools. A survey of the top 100 blogs shows which platform is preferred by almost half of them(48%):
WordPress
Many people are familiar with wordpress.com which is a free solution. You can still see one of my original blogs at dailydoseofheath.wordpress.com. With wordpress.com you can also use your own domain which is where heathmullikin.com started several years ago. While free is great, it isn’t always better. With wordpress.com, you don’t have a ton of flexibility with how your blog looks and functions. Since wordpress.com is hosting the blog for you they have most of the control.
Three years ago I started Chase Your Lion as a self-hosted wordpress.org site. Why? I was looking to earn some money with my blog and wordpress.com does not allow affiliate links(to sites like Amazon) or ads. With a self hosted blog, I own the content, control the content, and can make money off the content. A self-hosted wordpress.org blog gives you total control over how your blog looks and functions. In early 2010, I moved this blog to a self hosted account.
BLUEHOST.COM is the number one hosting company recommended by wordpress.org. They have excellent 24/7 customer service, call you to verify your account set up, and do not allow pornographic sites on their servers. Their regular price is $8.95 per month but right now you can SIGNUP FOR 12 months at $6.95($83.40), 24 months at $5.95($142.80), or 36 months at $4.95($178.20). After your initial contract is up the cost goes up to $8.95 per month($107.40 yearly). Did I mention that this cost includes your domain name and if you already own a domain name BLUEHOST and I will show you how to switch it over?
What’s the Catch?
There is no catch. As an affiliate for BLUEHOST.COM I make a commission when you sign up. If you don’t like your blog when I’m done there is a 30 day money back guarantee they offer. If you’re not satisfied in any way they will refund all of your money and I will still email you the weekly blogging tips. My goal here is to build connections around the blogosphere and get more people blogging.
Sign up for Bluehost using one of the links provided or the banner below.
Choose a domain.
Choose a domain
Choose your plan and payment options. I personally do not choose any of the extras that are offered.
Choose your plan and payment options.
Email your bluehost receipt and log in information to heath.mullikin at(@) gmail.com. Also include your name that you will be blogging under, the Title you want to use for your blog, and what it will be about. This information will be entered into your settings and can be changed at any time. After I email you your wordpress log in information I will destroy the email with your bluehost information.
Verify your account when BLUEHOST.COM calls.
What are you waiting for? CLICK HERE TO START YOUR NEW BLOG AT BLUEHOST.COM
A life mission statement can keep you headed in the right direction.
What does that even mean? I’ve been working on some life planning for myself, my family, and my church. This past weekend I had the opportunity to share some thoughts on forming good habits with some ministerial students from Southern Wesleyan University. One of the habits was to create a life mission statement to Continue Reading…
