Screens

Have you taken a look around your life to see how many screens take up your time? I did this with my daughter last night an we counted 16 screens in our house. TV’s, computers, mobile phones, ipods, and personal game systems.

I was amazed when I took stock of this at how much we look at screens. Almost non-stop. I wonder what it would be like to turn them off and get away from them for awhile. I am sure after a period of withdrawal, we would come to enjoy the peace and quiet.

I like screens, but we have to find balance and sometimes turn them off!

40 Amazing Years of Life

On today, my 40th birthday, I am very reflective. God has given me an amazing life, one filled with joy! Sure, there have been some bumps in the road, but those have just been opportunities to see God show off his glory.

Here is a recap of Scott Mills first 40 years. Many details have been left out, but here are some highlights:

1970 – Freemont, MI: I was born – thank you mom, dad, and God
1970 – Freemont, MI: I was born in the USA – land of opportunity
1974 – Fort Wayne, IN: Met Jesus at age 4 – best thing that ever happened to me
1975 – Family moved to Adrian, MI
1978 – Adrian, MI: Attended First basketball camp – 3rd grade
1981 – Had lead role in children’s church musical – began discovering love for music
1981 – Family moved to Joliet, IL
1981 – Joliet, IL: Played organized sports for the first time – 6th Grade Basketball
1982 – Middle school was awkward! Learned to mow the grass
1984 – Began High School
1985 – State music competition – I sang, and got first place/Also played varsity basketball
1985 – Basketball camp at Tennessee Temple University
1986 – State music competition – I sang, and got first place/Also played varsity basketball
1987 – Basketball camp at Maranatha College
1987 – State music competition – I sang, and got first place/Also played varsity basketball
1987 – Basketball camp at Maranatha College
1988 – Senior year of High School – 5th place state basketball team – last time to pay organized sports (other than Intramural and church leagues).
1988 – Fall attended Word Of Life Bible Institute
1989 – Fall attended Cedarville College (now University)
1989 – 1992 – Lived with my Grandpa while attending Cedarville. I witnessed an amazing man of God daily. Very grateful, especially in hindsight
1992 – Graduated from Cedarville with no job and little direction. I wanted to be a DJ.
1992 – First real job landed at WEEC, Springfield, OH. $10 hr working 30 hours per week playing records.
1992 – Moved to Nashville to work with recording artist Steve Green; parents also showed up living in Nashville – God put us all here via different paths. Thank you God, we really needed each other in these days.
1992 – Started attending Two Rivers Baptist Church
1994 – Became National Promotion Coordinator at Sparrow Records.
1995 – Started Chandler-Mills Agency with friend Jeff Chandler
1997 – Met Kelly Lovett – my life would never be the same – 2nd best thing that ever happened to me
1998 – Left Chandler-Mills to form Charthouse Media
1998 – May, got engaged to Kelly Lovett
1998 – December – Got married!!! To Kelly (in case that wasn’t clear)
1999 – Began teaching High School Sunday School
2000 – Purchased first home in Hendersonville, TN
2000 – Charthouse Media merged into Bleu Sky Entertainment with long time friend Jenny Lockwald
2001 – Left Bleu Sky to enter the non-self employed world and joined Real Life Marketing
2002 – Shelby Mills was born – 3rd best thing that ever happened to me!! Beautiful little girl.
2004 – Left Real Life Marketing to help friend Steve Hooper launch Stuph Merchandise in Nashville
2005 – Left Stuph Merch and joined LifeWay Christian Resources
2008 – Sold our first home, moved to an apartment while we built a new one.
2008 – Left Two Rivers Baptist church where Kelly and I met, got married, and started our family. Began attending and joined Long Hollow Baptist Church
2009 – Moved into our current home in Hendersonville
2009 – Found out Mills kid #2 was coming
2010 – Found out Mills kid #2 is going to be a boy – 4th best thing that ever happened in my life.
2010 – Turned 40

Is change hard for you?

Have you been in your profession for a long time? Same company for years? If you have, then you have most likely experienced some change along the way. Think about what the world was like 10 or 15 years ago. Do you remember your first email address? Remember that really big cell phone, maybe you even carried in a bag? What was life like before the Internet, can we even remember? We experience change in life, it is inevitable as we progress in our culture. How do you deal with it? Are you the one holding out to the last second to get on board?

Here is my advice – take it easy, don’t let it stress you out, figure out how you can make it better. Don’t be left behind – rather lead the way through it. Be a part of the change, learn some good lessons along the way, and help those around you adapt.

Remember Pong?

A great old school game – Click here and remember the good old days.

Trade Shows – still relevant?

This is a busy season in my industry for trade shows. Since September we have been to 5 and have 4 more to go before we hit Christmas. Of course the ecomony has a big part to play in these kinds of events, but it seems the longer we do these, the more ineffective they seem to be. As industries mature, do these kind of events become less exciting, do people who attend become smarter? Do you really see anything new? I imagine in all industry these are issues to be addressed. We work hard and spend a whole lot of money to draw attention to a potential customer walking by, while all the while there are a hundred other companies who have something similar to offer trying to one up you. What are we to do?

I do not think these events are dead, I just think they need to have some life breathed into them. If you put on an event that allows vendors to come and share there story, please help them! Make the experience a win for them – this is good for your business too. Exhibitors are your customers and you have to make your product a positive experience. You really should give a care. If you make these type of events a part of your marketing plan, take some time to really think through what you reallistically want to accomplish. Do you want to build community with the customers? Do you want to sell a product? What is your plan? You can have several goals to measure success, but it is really what you do next that makes the biggest difference. What you do once you have met a customer, what you do when you get home, can your product live up to the hype?

So, take it easy a these events – be real – have fun – and know that the event is the beginning of the relationship, not the end!

Transition to Social Media

For old marketers, it is really hard to start moving from traditional marketing to the new world of Web 2.0 and social media. We (I’m old) are being asked to forgo many principles we have grown up on. It is no longer about getting the sale, and more about building a relationship or community first. It is more passive and less aggressive.

Many will be left in the dust if unable to learn quickly and understand the power of the new media. I recently heard Malcom Gladwell speak about leaders who are too proud to make a change. These leaders will be passed or in some cases get trampled over if unwilling to change.

We must not be afraid to ask questions, to learn, to trust those who have more knowledge about such things as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. These are powerful new tools that are replacing TV, Radio, and Newspapers. It is not longer big media, but rather relationships that will sell your products. Customers are in control, they want to know who you are and they want community with people and their favorite brands.

Be flexible, take some time to read, and engage. If you are fighting the pressure to create a Facebook page, begin a blog, or twittering, stop fighting. If you still don’t have a cell phone… you have some catching up to do.

How far out do you plan?

Business today, actually our culture today is all about the right now. Take the recent spending spree in Washington. Fixing today’s problems without regard to the future. This is not a political blog, so I will stop right there with the politics.

Have you ever stopped to think about how short of time we are here doing our work. Wether you are building a business, working for a corporation, in ministry somewhere, whatever you do, you will not do it very long. Think about the world 40 or 50 years ago. What was the world like in 1959? How has our world changed? Quite a bit in a really a short time. Think of the people that were movers and shakers in 1959 – The Barbie doll was introduced, Alaska and Hawaii had become part of the USA, people were watching Bonanza and the Twilight Zone for the first time. Just 50 years ago.

Now, think ahead 50 years, most of us reading this will not be here. We will be dead and gone. This leaves me to think what I am I doing today that will last 50 years. My daughter will be 57 years old, in the prime of her life, what kind of world am I leaving for her. What kind of shape am I leaving the place I work in so that in 50 years it is still going strong.

Businesses will come and go, I happen to work for one that has been around for over 100 years. There is rich history, but sometimes a company like this will struggle with the change necessary to maintain the next 50 years. That is also another topic for another day.

Work today with the long term future in mind, not just the immediate. How can you build your business to be sustainable, not just go after the here and now.

My favorite Twitter Tools

I have been twittering for quite some time, I think I joined when there were less than 100,000 people doing it. Here are some tools I use with the twitter experience.

*  Tweet Deck – http://www.tweetdeck.com – this is a desk top twitter tool that allows you to see your several things at once. It makes searching twitter, updating your status, and making URL’s shorter very easy and fast.

*  Tweetlater – http://www.tweetlater.com – this tool allows you to schedule your tweets in advance. While twitter needs to bring the personal side, much of twitter is sharing information such as links, videos, articles, and blogs. If you are planning your messages, this tool allows you to do that.

*  PollDaddy – http://www.twitter.polldaddy.com – this is a very inexpensive way to do quick research. For fun or for business, you can ask a question and Poll Daddy will track the response.

More coming soon! Have fun in Twitterland.

Year One – My review

Not sure if you have seen the new movie that released last week starring Jack Black and a host of other funny actors.  I was out of town last week, and what often happens when I am out of town, and by myself, I see lots of movies. Actually I see movies all the time, I love them.  Anyway…..  The movie is about the beginning of time, well probably a few hundred years in actually.  There are a lot of people created, some of them old, and you know that takes time!  As they go through the movie, they hit many biblical highlights such as Cain killing Able, Abraham sacrificing Issac, and a few others.  What I found interesting is that in order to make this movie funny, the writer must assume that people know the true story.  If you did not know the true biblical account of Cain and Able, then there modern day brother banter would not be funny….

To me this means that the church has done a great job in teaching kids bible stories.  I really think that most people in the USA have been to church, maybe Vacation Bible School, or a backyard bible club during their childhood years.  This really is a good thing.  Where the church has really missed the boat is on follow up, discipleship, and getting people from a head knowledge of the bible highlights and into a relationship with Jesus.  If the writer, actors, and all those watching the movie got it, that means they knew something, they were taught something at some point.  However, in most cases we lost them, they were not able to go deeper, maybe their parents band them from church, and probably, we did not try hard enough to teach them about a relationship with Christ.

This really is a bit of a reality check for me.  How am I teaching my daughter?  It is not my churches job to train her, it is mine.  I am thankful for here SS teachers, for our awesome church, but I need to disciple her, I need to train her up in the way she should go.  I do not want her faith to be a bunch of bible stories, but a relationship with our Almighty God.

You are leaving a legacy!

Yesterday our marketing department had a picnic.  It took place on the grounds near an old Baptist church. A Church that was 140 years old, and had been in this location for at least 100 of those years.  We had some time in the sanctuary reflecting on God’s faithfulness.  I had some of my own thoughts going through my head that included this thought – There is no one left on this earth that was here when this church started, yet it continues today.  100 years from today, most likely everyone who is here today will no longer be here, yet life will go on.  It just amazes me to think about it.

I think of the Legacy the people of Edgefield Baptist Church have left behind.  What they started continues.  What am I doing to day that will last 100 years.  When I go to work Monday, is what I am doing making a mark on this world that will last.  What am I leaving this next generation as a guide?  We have such a great heritage and tradition in this country.  I am thankful for so many legacies and lessons learned by so many that help me live my life today.  I hope 100 years from now, someone is able to say the same of my generation, and of Scott Mills.

This is amazing

Watch this video to see where technology is going. It is pretty amazing how things are progressing.

http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html