Knowing when to stop (quit?) is as important as knowing when to start. In the spirit of focusing on being Effective and Essential, I’ve decided to stop posting here at blog.mybrandhq.com. I really appreciate you reading - that means a lot.

You can still find me at blog.websuccessagency.com and LifesAStartup.com.

See ya there.

A

…nothing against you, it’s just human nature.

Background

A strong personal brand is a springboard in life - especially for entrepreneurs. While it takes work, getting funding, partners, clients - everything needed for a successful business - is much easier when you have a strong personal brand. So it’s a worthy pursuit.

Aha

Now, when it comes to the strategy…

You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you. -Dale Carnegie

Twitter, Facebook, Chamber of Commerce, Cocktail Parties… What’s your strategy in these environments? Are you focused on getting other people interested in you? You wouldn’t say that and you make sure it doesn’t appear that way, but is that your intention?

Or are you, like Carnegie suggests, focused on other people, generally interested in them?

My Experience

A couple weeks ago I went to an event in Miami for web professionals called Refresh Miami. I had a great time. It was a great group of people.

I had some great conversations with a number of very sharp people. What never ceases to amaze me, though, is how few questions about me I ever get in these conversations. This doesn’t bother me because it gives me more time to learn from them, but I do feel like that habit keeps them from some great opportunities of learning from other people - more than just me of course.

You With Me?

Lets do our best to engage with people with a genuine interest in them, both through social networking and the “real thing”.

This is very important!!!

On Saturday, June 13, at 12:01 AM EDT, Facebook will allow you to choose a username for your Facebook profile. Most imortantly, this will make your profile url easy to display and remember.

Two important things:

1. Log on as soon as you can on Saturday to make sure you secure the best url you can for your name. It’s a big world out there and chances are there are other people with your full name.

2. Choose carefully. Facebook will give you an option (looks like 1 of 4 options). Choose carefully because they’re saying that you can’t change it after you set it. I recommend choosing your name like “avinkline” if you can (your name, not mine :)).

More info on Facebook’s blog

In today’s online communication, the “cool” thing is to be negative. If you do a search on Twitter for the popular #fail tag, you’ll see countless statements observing the failures of organizations and products.

Pointing out the bad is always easy (and many times valuable). The question, though, is if you want your personal brand to be What’s Wrong in the World.

My observation is that being a critique may earn you points on the coolness scale, but often doesn’t give you points on the Know, Like, Trust scale.

Not to say you shouldn’t point out what’s not working (and even twitter about it), just be mindful of the overall brand you’re putting out there.

If anyone has reached the Personal Branding tipping point it’s Gary Vaynerchuck. Even though he built a hugely successful multi-million dollar company, his name was virtually unknown for a long while. Since then, though, his personal brand has gone from zero to the weight of a 7 figure book deal in about two years.

When I met Gary at the Future of Web Apps Conference in Miami this Winter, I asked him about his attitude that took him from zero to star: I’ll post that later. Right now I want to highlight something he said in his keynote there.

Gary said something to the effect of: “When did I reach my tipping point? I reached my tipping point when I had two viewers watching my show.”

While I’m sure everyone feels this way to one degree or another, I know that it’s way too easy for driven entrepreneurs to only appreciate what feels Big.

• We don’t take our businesses as serious as we should unless the revenue reaches a certain “respectable point”.
• We treat a few users listening to us as nothing in search for thousands (or millions).

The fact is, one person taking the time to read, listen, or watch what you have to say is huge, and you have a responsibility to those people. If you’re only focused on the thousands, you’ll probably never get there.

It’s said well to be “faithful with the little things”. That’s something we entrepreneurs need to take to heart.

Thanks for listening - really, thanks.

A key to growing your personal brand online is having a good picture ready to use for your social networking profiles. Here are a few tips to help:

1. Intentional Picture. If you have a digital camera and a friend then all you’re lacking is taking the time and effort to get a few good shots of just you. They don’t have to be stuffy or have a pretty curtain background, just good shots that have a look that fits you.

2. Upper Body. In general, crop the picture if needed in order for your upper body (mainly shoulders & up) to be the focus.

3. Keep Handy. Keep the picture(s) handy in a folder on your computer so you can easily access them when creating new profiles.

4. Standard. In general, use the same picture or two for most of your profiles. This also helps you define a general look that defines your brand.

5. Genuine. Make sure the picture actually looks like you. When you meet someone online, they should be able to recognize you in person.

6. Just Do It. Don’t wait for a perfect picture. The important thing is to get a picture out there that follows the tips above and represents brand you.

Have any tips of your own? Help us out and comment below.