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Thoughts and things I care to shareKudos to Dan Schawbel – a brand to follow
Dan Schawbel has been pursuing his personal brand like few others. He recently has consolidated his online brand to one central source: DanSchawbel.com.
Dan is an advocate for personal branding, using numerous techniques and new ideas to market his skills. If you were curious, Dan is the engine behind Personal Branding Magazine, and works with college students to help prepare them to enter the workforce. He does this with tips, techniques, and ideas in marketing that will help build their brand.
If you are looking for a great personal brand practitioner, check out Dan’s new site where you can find all sorts of information and ideas to use to build your personal brand.
Weekend Offline
This was the first weekend in several that I completely unplugged. While I enjoyed spending time just listening to the wind in the trees, I really missed the interaction with a number of people.
Hope everyone had a great weekend, and that your upcoming week is a good one as well! Here’s to you!
Jeff Pulver asks: If you are NOT an Entrepreneur and if you work for a Corporation, why did YOU choose this career path?
Wow for a long post title eh?
While this was a follow-up for a question Jeff had on Wednesday, it really started me thinking…
First the question:
If you’re NOT an entrepreneur, if YOU work for a corporation and have spent your career as an employee, why have YOU made that choice?
I suspect that many people either are unaware of their true capabilities, or are comforted by the “feeling of security” a corporation can offer.
Personally, I have chosen to take the other path – for good or bad. It’s hard to work without a net, but at the same time I CAN SEE the opportunities that did not seem obvious before.
So, I can’t answer Jeff’s question – I simply want to follow the more interesting drummer.
Via: The Jeff Pulver Blog – Today’s Question of the Day: If you are NOT an Entrepreneur and if you work for a Corporation, why did YOU choose this career path?
Expand your horizons – finding unique voices
Kent Newsome tipped me off to what I’ve been striving for in the past month. Unique and interesting voices.
I’d rather read about someone’s day than yet another post raving about the latest social network or Facebook application. Nobody’s life is as boring as that. Like TDavid, I tend to choose interesting voices over interesting subject matter.
While I do enjoy reading about the latest social this & that, I also have been striving to find quality in the blogs that I read on a daily basis. I honestly have been trying to read the blogs and feeds that I follow – and of course there isn’t enough time in the day to get through it all.
So I’m still on my quest to find the my top bloggers in a wide range of topics that I’m interested in learning more about. One of them is Joanna Young over at Confident Writing. Her blog is interesting to me because thinking about writing itself is something that I haven’t done much of (and it probably shows 😉 ). This is one example of how a fresh voice helps you expand your horizons and grow as an individual & a writer.
On the flip side, I just added Jim Long’s Verge New Media blog. Yes, it talks about new media, but it comes from someone that has experience in “old media” and has jumped into the new media arena with both feet. I’ve had the opportunity to interact with newmediajim often on Twitter and always enjoyed the viewpoints and the exchange.
Anyway, as I continue to read feeds, I discover that I still am looking for more than news. Every time I run across a an interesting post, I make sure to go back to the original site, and sure enough – I’m missing something in the reader that is there on the blog.
I really like the beginning of one of Joanna’s posts that also follows my line of thinking on this.
Words are powerful things. Just think for a moment about the impact other people’s words have had on you, for good or ill – or what you might read into the words that someone else has written, however quickly and casually they might have been penned.
It’s these kinds of voices that I want to continue to find. One’s that continue to push my thinking and writing skills. My thanks to everyone out there contributing to the conversation (as Shel and Robert put it).
By the way – any suggestions for new voices? I’d be interested in hearing who you think I should check out.
links for 2007-08-24
- Steve Hodson makes a great point that many have been saying for some time. Get OSX ported fully to the generic Intel platform. There are huge numbers of unhappy Windows users that would be itching to give it a try, let alone switch altogether.
- Hmm, what does this mean for Craig’s List?
Ugh, it’s time for my twice annual custom theme itch…
Don’t know why, but I always seem to get the itch to either develop or buy a custom theme for my blog. I’m not sure why I get these notions, but I start seeming more blogs with the free theme I found and I want to differentiate myself I guess.
I’ll honestly admit that it may be partly ego too – after all I’m only human. I’ve spent enough time with my current theme that I’ve really customized it quite a bit. It’s obviously “Misty Look” (eh, look v3.4 is out) by Sadish Bala – a great theme designer. My customizations are mainly on the sidebar, creating some custom widgets for things that I want on my blog. Another one is adding a feed link in the header for my Link Blog in Google Reader.
I have to admit that I’ve learned a LOT about PHP and WordPress code using this theme and how to customize it. I’m just a sidebar away from getting it widened out to accommodate a second sidebar – their tricky pieces, at least for me.
So I’ll try to keep from changing themes, I’ve made it through my “spring fever” attempt to change my theme and have stuck with Misty Look for many months. We’ll try to keep with one look for awhile.
🙂
Value of online communities = amount of your participation
An online community is no different than the one you live in. It’s built on the same principles and it’s citizens require the same kinds of social interaction. As human beings we’re naturally social creatures, and so require some kind of interaction.
While online communities are different in the physical aspect, they connect us in ways that our physical communities can’t. This, of course, has been talked about for a long time. However, as social networks mature you see new uses of them, and the adoption by the (gulp!) mainstream. This is inevitable.
So to get the most out of a social network, you have to put a lot into it. Look at the people who are gaining the greatest value today. Are they just lurkers? No – they actively update their status, post pictures, trade pokes, and engage in conversations. They don’t hold back and treat their online persona and friends in the same way they act and interact in real life.
If there is a negative perception of social networks, it’s in the eye of the beholder. Mostly I suspect it’s because many are afraid of participating. Either because of their own perception, their unsure of how to start, or what their friends peers would say.
Don’t be afraid of the big bad online wolf
I’ve often wondered why it’s so hard for people (especially tech geeks) to get themselves a site on the web. For many it comes down to time as much as anything, but for several, it’s also about anonymity.
I guess that I shouldn’t be surprised by this, it’s human nature not to expose too much information or place yourself in a position to be noticed. While we all may feel that way to a certain degree, I’ve often wondered why tech people are sometimes the worst at this.
Maybe it’s because they understand the technologies and capabilities inherent in the Internet. Maybe they are scared off by the possibility that there is someone out there smarter than they are, and that they may not be able to adapt quickly enough.
Whatever the reason is, it bothers me that several talented people don’t leverage their skills and promote their brand. There are so many possible things to promote yourself that it’s silly not to. Create a web site for yourself and have information about you, or start a blog about something you’re interested in.
Promoting your personal brand is not hard, and it’s not dangerous. It does require a different mindset than what people are normally used to. When you set out to start promoting your brand, you should be as transparent as possible and only hold back a few pieces of information.
Here are some tips that I strongly recommend for those sitting on the fence wondering if it’s worth the “risk”.
- Get a site on the Internet for people to find you. Whether that’s a blog, a static web page or simply a LinkedIn profile. Have someplace where people can find you.
- If you choose to do a web site, I’d encourage you to go for a blog. You’ll have someplace to do more than just a simple page. And with services like Blogger or WordPress.com, you can do it fast and for free.
- If you’re really serious about your brand – get yourself a domain name and host your own sites at a hosting service. It’s a lot simpler than you think and can cost under $5 a month.
- Participate. Get involved in discussions about things that you’re interested in. Get known around the communities that you have a passion for, things that really are fun for you.
- Make sure to have a page for your biography. Blogs all have a provision for an “About” page. Use it!
- Your resume must be on your site – no doubt about it. I always create a subversion (yes I version all my personal documentation) of my resume sans address, just for on the website. Also, I recommend making a PDF copy for placement on you web – that way nobody can change it easily when downloaded.
- Create an email address (GMail?) just to put on your website. Make it easy for people to contact you.
- Seriously think about putting your phone number on the website. Especially if you are actively involved in social media. (I know some bloggers even make it a challenge to people to call them!)
Yes there is the chance of identity theft out on the Internet, but their really after money. Do you store money on your website? Didn’t think so. Hell, if people want to be me, they can come and do my work for me as well! 
The reality, of course, is that most all the information that someone needs to steal your identity can be found in pay-for databases from a number of firms around the world. The little bit you expose on the Internet just being yourself is negligible in comparison.
links for 2007-08-23
- Looks like OCS will be out in October. Good news for those unified comms consultants. Anyone looking for one? Give me a holler.
- So Steve Rubel has made the decision to move to WordPress, one which I heartily commend. WP is a fantastic platform for blogging (and more!), so I know that he’ll be quite happy with it. His big question is in migrating his content. Give this post a re
Twitter Search
Well, I can’t not post about this. Twitter has added an all-important search feature that has been requested for some time. Now, right from your own Twitter Home Page, you can search out others. It’s over there on the right-hand sidebar, directly under the “Send Notifications” options.
Thanks to Biz Stone and the rest of the team at Twitter for the new feature!
@MAC_Arms Pay taxes when you make your money, pay taxes when you spend your money, pay taxes when you successfully invest your money, pay taxes when you save enough taxed money to afford a house, pay taxes to live in your house, pay taxes when you sell the house that you paid taxes on to
Yup, taxes are criminal and we need serious reforms. I've always said that if you want to see a tax revolt, make withholdings illegal and have Americans write a tax check every payday. They'll revolt for sure. You don't miss what you never had.
I think it’s safe to say that @GovEvers should stop blocking audits in Wisconsin and open the books…
“Only AMERICAN citizens should vote.”
Sen. @berniemoreno says voter ID and proof of citizenship are simply common sense.
“We’re talking about a very low threshold — identify who you are and prove you’re a U.S. citizen when you register to vote. I think we’re getting closer to
Wrong. Democrats are solely responsible for hours-long airport lines.
They voted to defund TSA three times and won’t even entertain a conversation about reopening it. Why?
They’re using it as leverage to stop enforcing immigration laws.