Getting Started On Apostolic Singles Network

Hey guys, this is John Howell with Apostolic Singles Network. Today we’re going to talk about getting started on Apostolic Singles Network, five basic things that you need to understand before you’re successful.

Number one is properly set up your profile message. I’m not talking about the color of your eyes and hair, you know, how many kids you have or don’t have, what your relationship status is, single, divorced, widowed. That’s not what I’m talking about.

I’m talking about the actual description, when you sit down and you’re thinking, “Oh, man. What am I supposed to write about myself?” You’re not alone in this if you’ve had trouble. I would say somewhere in the neighborhood of 70% or more have trouble with this one task, and that’s setting up the profile message.

It’s overlooked because we don’t like necessarily to take time to reflect. What are we about? We seem somewhat self-centered if we spend too much time on that. But the truth of the matter is if you’re not self-centered by telling folks about yourself. In fact, you’re very . . . it’s a giving thing, to be able to share.

If you can’t, when you’re developing a relationship with someone, how effective you can communicate your personal message, which is everyone is unique. Your personal message is so important about who you are. So I would encourage you to think about this. I’m going to give you some pointers.

You don’t want it to be just really, really long, and you don’t want it to be really, really short either. Somewhere in a nice medium range. You can look at my profile page. I have an example there that I left for when I first set up my account on ASN, some now nine years ago, I think.

Anyway, what you want to be is clear. You want to be clear about the message you’re trying to convey, not all over the place, not talking about many different subjects. The subject is simply you. You’re not talking about anything more than that. So it needs to be about you. It needs to be concise, and it needs to be full of color.

Writing is not an easy thing. I do it a lot, mostly replying to folks. Sometimes conveying a message can get lost in the words that we put on paper. And maybe as a tip, you can use your phone or some kind of recording device and just talk about your message, and then you can maybe write it down and go from there.

One important thing that I want to mention is when to write it. Now, when you first sign up, you’ve already got it. If you’re seeing this video, you’ve already got something there. You may not be encouraged to go back and change it, but I would say maybe think about it. Maybe go back and review it. Is it putting you in the best light?

There’s an important time to write it. I would recommend writing it when you’re in a great mood. Maybe you’ve just come out of a prayer meeting at your home. I would recommend doing this, praying. This is an apostolic site. So I hope it’s okay to talk about prayer. I would recommend spending a few moments, or many moments, in prayer asking God to give you direction.

Then you coming out of that with a great . . . I’d turn on the jams and something that you love to listen to and praise God. This is my office. Maddie and I will sit around here and worship God here in my office. Get in a great mood before you write is my point. Don’t sit down and think, “Oh, my god, I’ve got to write this message. This is just . . .” It’s not the greatest place to be when you’re writing. So you want to be in a great mood. Very, very important.

Profile pictures, this is another area people, I don’t know why. Facebook is full of pictures people post, but when it comes to ASN, people are shy. That’s really just the way it is. Folks are shy. Why? Well, there are many various reasons. I won’t get into all that today. But we may be afraid, for whatever reason, to put us out there.

I didn’t have a whole lot of room here, but some important features about the profile picture. It should be you, not you and your friends, not you and a buddy. It should be you. If this was the picture, I would say somewhere around like this, you know, face. Generally, a good place, if you’re having someone take the picture, is probably not straight on. Add a little depth to it just by turning your face a little bit and maybe looking. That will give you a better profile look, maybe from the side of your face, not directly on to the camera, not the best look. You want to turn off to the side. Give a little side profile. That’s going to give you a better look and enhance your profile.

I’m talking about your main profile picture, the one that when you’re searching and you see, that’s the main one you see. A lot of folks need to check because they’ve uploaded, the iPhone takes a long picture, for example. Folks upload this long picture. Crop it down to be square. The thumbnail is square. So there’s a lot of pictures on ASN right now where you’re seeing this part of the body down. You’re not even seeing the head. Just take a look at that. That’s important. What you see on your profile is what everybody else is going to see.

Of course, you need to upgrade your account to participate. This may seem elementary, and pretty much everybody does it but browse the profiles.

What is ASN core, what is it about? Why was it created? It was created to create a place where apostolic singles could have a place where they could have fun, fellowship, and find the love of their life. I would encourage you to have fun, smile, laugh, chat, engage others, and learn.

When I say “browse,” browse for people. Again, this comes back to the profile message here. Browse those that are men and women, regardless of you’re trying to find someone to date. You want to make friends first. I’m skipping ahead, but you want to make contact and make friends. Make friends.

Kristin and I were friends before we ever, well, I had an interest in her. But I didn’t engage her in the dating aspect of the relationship until we first developed a friendship. How did we develop a friendship? We spent a lot of time in the chat room initially. Here in the next little while, I’m going to start scheduling maybe a chat day or a chat hour, because that was a really great time of engagement. The walls, the barriers were down. Folks could talk more freely, and you got to learn a little bit more than just surface things. There were some great conversations that we had about God, about life, about issues, about just fun stuff, where we’re going, things that are happening. Great times.

Anyway, you want to get in, make contact, make some friends, engage, and live. This is not to say that you aren’t. I’m just saying have fun. It’s supposed to be a fun time. That will get you started.

In future videos, I’m going to get in some detail about some more important things about dating and making contact and things like that you should be aware of.

Anyway, that’s it. That’s a wrap. Take care. Lord bless.