The Small Good, A New Book and A Busy Fall

I'm popping back in after another long absence. It's been an incredibly busy, but fullfilling Summer.

Our company, iContact, was named in our first year of eligibility #85 on the Inc. 500 list. Quite an honor and quite an accomplishment!

I'm checking in today to talk about two things: The Small Good and my new book.

First the Small Good. A concept that I first ran across earlier this year as I listened to a podcast. Here's the basic premise:

Someone has a need, an issue, a problem. They come to you for help. From your prospective it takes little effort to help this person - maybe a referral to a tax attorney you know or a tip on how to get better publicity for your company.

To the person your helping, it's HUGE! You have saved them time, money, worry - whatever that may be.

This is, in essence is the Small Good. This is one of the cornerstones of my use of LinkedIn. The other, of course the opportunity to Pay it Forward.

Here's an example: I have always said that my wife, Steph, married me because I'm cute (no comments please!) not handy. While I know where the Home Depot is, I rarely visit the store. We had the good fortune to find a very skilled handyman that came to our rescue recently. Small things - doors that would stick shut, sink stoppers that were broken - were nothing to Norm to fix. To me it was like taking Calculus all over again (I got a D at USC in that course). A small good was provided that had my wife singing and cheerful all day as a result!

So, the next time someone comes to you for a favor - something that takes five minutes out of your day - don't hesitate. This Small Good may be the best thing that happened to that person all week!

THE BOOK, THE BOOK!!!

As some of you may be aware, I have been toying with the idea of writing a book on Pay it Forward and my adventures in the LinkedIn community. Well, it's now becoming a reality.

In November, the Good Lord Willing, my eBook will publish through StartupNation and their website for small business marketing - www.startupnation.com - run by my good friend Rich Sloan. This will be followed by the hard cover edition.

Titled: "Linking In to Pay it Forward: Changing the Value Proposition in Social Media," the book chronicles my use of Linked In and how I've used it for personal and professional branding, media relations and paying it forward.

If you are interested in a copy or a discount on the eBook, email me at chuck@icontact.com

Wish me luck over the next month as I finish the manuscript by my early November deadline!

That's it for this week (and yes, I'm going to try and be posting weekly). I'm off to Greensboro to speak at the Tarheel Chapter of PRSA on Tuesday, October 14. I follow that with a Wednesday, October 15 speech at the Ragan Communications/SAS conference on Web 2.0 communications and then fly to Atlanta for the Executing Social Media conference. WHEW!

Anyone that wants to link up, I'm hosting a dinner in Atlanta on the night of October 15. Email me for details!

Stay well, stay connected, continue to pay it forward

Chuck