Feb 27, 2008 | blog
Here’s a question that many people don’t often think about as they begin developing their personal brand.
What is your personal brand?
I wonder how many people have actually sat down and defined what their strengths and skills are before diving in. Realizing that you’re as marketable as your favorite soda, not to mention more valuable to employers or clients, is a very powerful revelation. Making the best use of this concept for your career and family shouldn’t be taken too lightly.
Personal brand has been described as “Reputation 2.0”, and it is to a certain extent. However, it’s also much more than just what people remember about you. As you start online social networking, blogging, using social media tools and techniques to build an awareness, you are also building an easily indexed and searchable history.
At the same time, don’t put too much work into a personal branding plan. When it starts seeming like a flashy PR campaign by some high-end New York firm, you know you’ve missed the point. Just like you should put some thought and define goals for your career and life, your personal brand should have just enough structure and focus to help identify a direction and/or methods to work on.
Just like your life and career, things will come along that will change the course of your branding strategy. Keep it loose and follow the opportunities that arise, think about them a bit to make sure you’re not making a rash decision… but make the decision and move on.
I am curious though, have you defined your personal brand? What is the message (mission statement?) that you are working to present?
Technorati Tags: Personal Branding, Personal Improvement
Feb 26, 2008 | blog
Testing a mobile post via Pocket SharpMT.
Feb 26, 2008 | blog
Testing a mobile post via Pocket SharpMT.
Feb 25, 2008 | blog
I’ve come to the conclusion that there is only one feature in Outlook that is holding me to it at the moment. Can you help convince me that it’s time to drop Outlook?
See, I’ve been a longtime user and proponent of Microsoft software. It’s actually really good software, and a decent value… for the enterprise. For personal use, it’s long been questionable whether one needs such overblown feature laden software.
Also, Microsoft’s software is what I’d built my technical career on – and still rely on. It solves business needs, and integrates together very nicely. I’m not claming it’s the best-of-breed, or that it’s the most intuitive. It’s simply been the best value proposition for most businesses when compared to other shipping options, personal opinions aside.
Anyway, want to know what that one feature is? The ability to sync the contact list to a Windows Mobile phone. In nearly a decade, it has simply worked time and time and time again. It’s only failed me on one occasion, which was a user-instigated problem (I goofed up). In all these years, my phonebook has always been up to date and consistently backed up with changes replicated back and forth with no effort or thought about it on my part.
All my mail is online, I’ve moved my calendar to Google calendar, and all the rest – but the one thing left is that sync of my trusty T-Mobile MDA’s phonebook. With the MDA at 2 years old, I’m soon to replace it too – and it’s likely not to be a Windows Mobile phone… so is it time? Should my friends perform an intervention? Can I do it? Will I have get the shakes? I’ll keep you posted. 
Addiction photo credit: Mr Gonzales
