Learn from the mistakes of others

Intended or not, personal branding is a result of blogging.

apparently, when blogging became the latest-cool-thing™, everyone who wanted to be thought of as anyone got one.

they also got tracked by google.

so anyone who wanted to find out something about these enthusiastic people, were only a few keystrokes away from n00boftehday.blog.com ... potentially embarrasing. especially if your blog read like the instructions for assembling a new toaster written in manglish (of any variety).

it didn't take too long for someone to notice. and write that-article™. in this case, 'the brand called you' (written 'back' in 1997).

now, marketing people love brands. so imagine what the solution was.

you guessed it: commercially designed personal websites. i mean, personal brands.

and the 'gurus' (some even call themselves gurus) are everywhere.

"Brandego™ is the essential career-management solution for executives, senior managers and solopreneurs in a competitive, global marketplace. Brandego will help you differentiate and market yourself through our leading-edge combination of personal branding and sophisticated Web portfolios. Become the CEO of your career."

just imagine the career you could have had, if you had a professionally bland designed website like mr waterman, who is, apparently:

"the guy you call when you need a creative business visionary who understands how to maximize the opportunities presented by the dissolution of technological boundaries"

who should i call if i need a guy i can understand?

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all this personal branding stuff boils down to two things:

1. Gnothi se auton/Gnôthi Sauton/Gnothe seauton : Nosce te ipsum : Know Thyself -- Delphi Oracle
2. "Speak clearly, if you speak at all; carve every word before you let it fall." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Intended or not, personal branding is a result of blogging.

apparently, when blogging became the latest-cool-thing™, everyone who wanted to be thought of as anyone got one.

they also got tracked by google.

so anyone who wanted to find out something about these enthusiastic people, were only a few keystrokes away from n00boftehday.blog.com ... potentially embarrasing. especially if your blog read like the instructions for assembling a new toaster written in manglish (of any variety).

it didn't take too long for someone to notice. and write that-article™. in this case, 'the brand called you' (written 'back' in 1997).

now, marketing people love brands. so imagine what the solution was.

you guessed it: commercially designed personal websites. i mean, personal brands.

and the 'gurus' (some even call themselves gurus) are everywhere.

"Brandego™ is the essential career-management solution for executives, senior managers and solopreneurs in a competitive, global marketplace. Brandego will help you differentiate and market yourself through our leading-edge combination of personal branding and sophisticated Web portfolios. Become the CEO of your career."

just imagine the career you could have had, if you had a professionally bland designed website like mr waterman, who is, apparently:

"the guy you call when you need a creative business visionary who understands how to maximize the opportunities presented by the dissolution of technological boundaries"

who should i call if i need a guy i can understand?

---

all this personal branding stuff boils down to two things:

1. Gnothi se auton/Gnôthi Sauton/Gnothe seauton : Nosce te ipsum : Know Thyself -- Delphi Oracle
2. "Speak clearly, if you speak at all; carve every word before you let it fall." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes