Posted by Brad Lomenick, check out more of his thoughts here & follow him here!

Are you starting a new organization? A Church Planter? Entrepreneur? Involved in a small organization just getting started?

Here are some tips for getting started:

1. Act like you've arrived. No one needs to know you're just starting. When you're small, act and think big. When you're big, act and think small.

2. Hire people you like. Look for chemistry first in terms of creating your initial core team.

3. If at all possible, don't work with your family. Start with competency, not relatives. And stay away from taking loans, venture capital, or seed money from family members as well.

4. Establish your values and organizational culture immediately. Build your organizational DNA early and often. And repeat.

5. Work hard, play hard. Have fun. Get things done.

6. Lean into interns. A great way to build capacity quickly. And to keep you young.

7. Establish partnerships. Look for opportunities to collaborate at every corner. Seek to build joint ventures.

8. Create benchmarks. Understand clearly who you want to be like, both personally and organizationally. Once you know, learn from them.

9. Celebrate constantly. Find the small wins as well as the big wins.

10. Seek feedback and accountability everywhere. Learn from everyone, and intentionally ask for input.

11. Create a board or advisory group, regardless of your corporate structure. You need this regardless of whether a church planter, entrepreneur, small business owner, or sole proprietor.

 Dozens of volunteers are joining together to give away thousands of dollars worth of clothes, toys, furniture and other items in metro Birmingham on Saturday, Dec. 3.

Now in its third year and with a new location that allows for the largest crowd ever, the 2011 annual "garage giveaway" is expected to serve thousands of people this year.

The giveaway is the brainchild of Ben and Cassidy Nelson of Alabaster. Working with the help of church friends, they pulled together donations from individuals, church groups other organizations in December 2009 and gave away thousands of items to anyone who showed up at their home. About 500 people attended and took home free clothes, shoes, toys, appliances, furniture, decorations, exercise equipment and other items.

The event mushroomed the following year, with more than 2,500 people showing up at the Nelsons' suburban home for free items that would have easily cost thousands at a yard sale or thrift store. The size of the crowd overwhelmed the neighborhood, resulting in a traffic jam and forcing a move this year to the parking lot at Regions Park, in Hoover.

The whole idea was inspired by a book called Crazy Love that Cassidy studied with a small group at church.

"This book is about living a radical life for God because he has a radical love for us,'' she said. "One Sunday afternoon as I was emptying the dishwasher and putting away clean towels I realized we still had a dozen clean glasses in the cabinet, and we never even made it to the bottom of our huge stack of towels. And it hit me, `We don't need all this!' So I thought, `Let's give it away.'''

Cassidy spread word about the "garage giveaway'' the first two years through Facebook, Craigslist and phone calls, and dozens of people responded with possessions of their own to give away. Public housing residents were notified about the giveaway, and friends of the Nelsons spread the word through fliers and social networking sites. Word is spreading quickly this year through all those means plus a new website, thegaragegiveaway.com.

Unlike many charity events, there aren't many rules at the garage giveaway. Anyone is welcome to come and take free items. Basically, Cassidy just asks that everyone be nice and take what you need.

"We discourage greedy behavior. These items were donated by families to help meet the needs of other families. Please be grateful and not greedy," she said.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Website: http://www.thegaragegiveaway.com/
Contact: info@thegaragegiveaway.com
Cassidy Nelson, 205-276-9815, or Cassidy.m

BLOGS

1. Your Leadership Position is from God, Hold it Loosely (a repost) by Andy Stanley
2. Rules for Young Leaders on Gaining Credibility by Brad Lomenick
3. 7 Ways to Motivate a Leader by Ron Edmondson
4. 4 Words That Change Everything by Trish & Justin Davis
5. 18 Rules for Creative Meetings by Brad Lomenick

ARTICLES

1. The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson
2. Ministry & Intimacy by Britt Merrick
3. Why Are The Women Fading by Rebekah Lyons
4. Labels Tell The Biggest Lie by Mike Foster
5. Just One More by Katie Davis

This is a guest blog post from Jesse Phillips, follow him here!

Seize the Year is a stylish and innovative calendar designed to help you suck the marrow out of 2012.

I came-up with the idea for a new calendar when I was at Catalyst. I needed a large calendar to help me plan the year, and nothing I found was large enough. My first version was 3ft x 7ft long! After creating several (smaller) versions, my office mates started asking for calendars. And I even sold a few to a co-worker.

So I launched a Kickstarter campaign in August 2011 to raise enough money to print the first color version of the calendar. I got funded in early October, and just launched a webstore (www.NeuYear.net) earlier this month. I've been humbled by the responsiveness to my simple design.

Here's how my new calendar will help you dominate 2012:

1. It's BIG.
It shows you the whole year at once. You no longer have to page through a traditional calendar (or on your small computer screen), to see the whole year. You can layout your goals for the year, set future deadlines, and clearly see the passing of time. Also, at 39" x 27" it has bigger squares so you can write more.

2. NO GAPS
Unlike other calendars, this one has no space between months. The philosophy here is that the week is the currency we think in, so this calendar focuses on presenting 52 weeks, rather than 12 months. This feature helps you plan across months easily, and see clearly the distance/days between any two dates in the year. It will also motivate you to see weeks passing, deadlines approaching and goals accomplished.

3. It's BEAUTIFUL
It combines functional features with brilliant aesthetics. In Making Ideas Happen, author Scott Belsky says "the design of your productivity tools will affect how eager you are to use them. Attraction often breeds commitment." You'll be eager to use this attractive calendar.

Most of us get overwhelmed by life and just let things happen. But as the saying goes "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail." Take this calendar for example. I'd thought of producing them for 2 years! Just sat there & thought about it. Finally, I made some goals: talk to 10 printers by this date, find 5 designers by this date, research Kickstarter, etc. You need goals & deadlines to get anything significant done (because we're all naturally lazy & love convenience).

So don't just let 2012 happen! Plan your work, work your plan and make it a great year!

And if you need a large calendar to map-out your projects, check-out NeuYear.net.

Use the coupon code "Catalyst10" to get 10% off your new calendar (good thru Dec 15th)