gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards"

I totally agree, and will forward this post to Flo-Inc Group where women are launching new projects and businesses.

I disagree, if I stopped blogging tomorrow my net worth would not decrease. I'm also not making minimum wage.

Actually my net worth might _increase_ as I wouldn't have to pay hosting fees, electricity costs and suchlike.

My 'brand' is not my most employable trait - it's the Nurse/EMT training I have under my belt.

Hugh - not everything is about advertising, nor about work done on the internet. How many doctors do you think are internet-savvy? I don't see their lack of blogging as a disadvantage (and to be honest a lot of institutions may well see it as a disadvantage, something that I'd argue against).

Not sure if I agree, Tom...

I have a friend, a very well-known heart surgeon.

Based in Houston, people fly in from all over the world to get operated on by him. He makes an utter fortune.

"Global Microbranding" at its finest, I would say ;-)

I also disagree with the idea that a blog could not feasibly help improve understanding and dialogue between a doctor, his patients and his peers.

As for yourself... Your training and your abilites inform your reputation. Reputation and "brand" are fairly synonymous.

Thanks Nichelle ;-)

Tom, I understand what you are saying, but if you pull the advertising and even the blog out of the concept of "global microbrand" you are really looking at reputation, reliability, trust, and conversation. That is what your microbrand is built from. Blogging or other internet channels enable you to spread your reputation from a local, word of mouth currency to a global audience (even if it is an extremely niche audience.)

Or here is a more defensive way to approach it. "I better tell my own story or someone will tell it for me."

I agree with a blog helping patients understand a doctor, which is why I don't agree with institutions not letting doctors/medics/nurses blog.

If you want to equate 'reputation' with 'brand' then fine, reputation _does_ count, but...

...There is a medic in my area with the worst reputation going, but he still gets paid the same as I do. Should either of us wish to join another service then, as you cannot get a 'negative' reference, we would both have to rely on our interview skills

(Or rather we'd both get a job as there is a chronic understaffing of ambulance jobs at the moment).

I'm not 'global', I'll doubtless never be 'global', and my job, my career, will never need 'global microbranding'.

If anything the fact that I blog may well be a detriment towards me earning any more money...

My brother is a teacher, but he won't get more money if he blogs about work, and again, with a threat to confidentiality, he may well scare away potential employers.

If you are a freelance, then yes 'Brand' does matter, but the for sort of jobs 'the rest of us' do, then global microbranding will not be the thing that gets us earning more than minimum wage.

"Let your employers manage your reputation for you" is a seriously limited business model, Tom.

Yes. Maybe Hugh's statement is a touch extreme if you apply it to everyone but if you apply it to his audience it is sound advice. And don't get caught in career think. Careers change. Maybe a reputation built around a hobby or avocation leads to new opportunities. People who are reading Gaping Void are doing it for a reason. I doubt your poorly thought of co-working is checking out Hugh's cartoons. In his instance maybe it doesn't matter, even in the long run. But most likely his opportunities are limited by his reputation. Build your own story and open up your opportunities. Your right. Your paycheck stays the same. But you are better prepared to face the inevitable change that will hit you down the road.

What I struggle with is whether should I have separate "business" and "personal/creative" blogs. Or should they be one and the same? How much of our private, artistic, non-work selves do we share in a professional context?

For example, Hugh's cartoons are funny, but as he tries to sell his theories into the business world I think they will become a problem. "Let's just get together and fuck and fuck and fuck and fuck" may cause a corportate meat puppet to pause before signing a big check. You know?

Unless one of them is done anonymously or under an assumed name how are your going to separate them? They will find their way back to you eventually. But if it is all for public consumption be prepared for what you share in your personal life to be discovered in your business life and vice versa.

Timbo, I assure you the cartoons have not been a problem for my business.

They act as a great "idiot filter", for one thing ;-)

If you fashion your brand to appear non-threatening to corporate meat puppets, Congratulations! You now get to spend your life surrounded by meat puppets. Lucky you.

Enter the requisite "arms dealer", the provider of "on demand", customized lifelong learning and career services. Details coming online at http://www.opportunitv.com

Thus concludes this little exercise in microbranding ;-)

True. No one wants to roam in a field of meat puppets. Although most of us put up with that viewpoint just to get paid.

Your comment brings up a larger issue I've noticed on the site: The "Get Its" vs. "The Don't Get Its" and what to do about the latter. You've ranted that you don't give a shit about people who "don't get it" and that basically they can sink on their own. I think that's shortsighted.

As I see it, part of your value is that you've managed to grasp something most meat puppets haven't. If you only sell to "Get Its" all you're doing is implementing something they already know. It’s similar to the old “Hugh, I need a ad. Have one on my desk by 5.”

If you sell to "Don't Get Its," suddenly you're innovating and bringing new ideas--a much more valuable role in my opinion. “Hugh, this multi-channel thing is kicking my ass. I need to make my customers like me more. How do I do that?”

That said, how much are you/we willing to beat your/our heads against the wall to convince the Don'ts? Or are we content to preach to the (at this point very small) choir?

Timbo, my experience with "Don't get its" is:

1. They invariably sink.

2. They invariably take you down with them.

Long term, I think you're better off working with people whose ideas and values strongly resonate with your own.

Sounds to me like your looking for a formula that is both (1) safe and (2) delivers.

Doesn't exist.

Hugh,
Do you have children? Did you ever have to sit with a child who doesn't get it? Either potty training or how to read and write conversations?

A child who doesn't get it? Heh. ALL children get it ;-)

Hugh,

Sounds like working with "Get Its" IS the elusive formula. Safe. And delivers, 'cause they're the only ones who'll be left!

Maybe we can add another category: "Get It Enough to Sign the Checks".

We've recently helped a world-class orthopedic surgeon start a blog, where he:

1) provides all sorts of information in very accessible ways to existing and potential clients

2) gets into conversation with people about the ins-outs and arounds of orthopedic surgery

etc. ... he clearly sees the value ... and 'cuz he's a busy guy, we're providing a hybrid blend of assisted blogging, as he seeks to stretch the envelope in terms of professional recognition and influence.

How many more "professionals" in various fields that depend upon knowledge, being current and offering authentic influence will "get it".

As Hugh says, i think increasingly it will come to be about surviving and thriving in a creative, conceptual age.

Seems to me there is a difference between drawing readers with all the personal stuff and drawing potential business clients who don't care to know the sexual habits of people they are intrusting their business to.

I believe it depends on your business model. If you are making money from generating hits, then talking about fucking all the time will draw the numbers you need, but if you are looking for high paying clients, then the crowd you're drawing most likely won't convert well.

So whether or not to "go personal" depends on the objectives of your blog and who you are wanting to impress.

With all due respect, Hugh, it looks to me like you define "gets it," as "agrees with me and fuck everyone who doesn't," which itself is a viable stance only for the short-term. ;)

"Unless one of them is done anonymously or under an assumed name how are your going to separate them? They will find their way back to you eventually. But if it is all for public consumption be prepared for what you share in your personal life to be discovered in your business life and vice versa."

Pat, they're going to make shit up about you anyway, may as well make it your own. In fact make it bigger than life. Ever notice how many complete fuckups are huge?

I know so many control freaks so worried about their rep...they're dying inside. People my age that look twice it. Dying - a slow agonizing private tooth-grinding brain-ulcerating death by shame-based fearful-of-peer-censure ass-out-and-up-for-another-ramfuck ordeal. Cancer without the benefit of symapthy or enlightenment.

Still, put on a mask if need be...but, at least, release the clubhead.

I don't think the world neatly falls into the "Gets It" and "Don't Gets It". And as individuals we don't either - I've been a "Don't Gets It" in some realms of my life. Thank God not everyone gave me up for static. We're all capable of learning - but it's a choice.

This is STILL simplistic, but maybe it breaks down to: "Gets It", "Don't Gets It, But Is Teeny Bit Curious", "Doesn't Get It, Don't Even Go There". Timbo is right - you can't sell much to the "gets it" because they already "got it." And it's tough to stay sane selling to the latter.

The market is at cusp that chooses to continue learning as long as THEY aren't on the bleeding edge themselves...they know it aches a bit because their stretching muscles are out of shape but they aren't resolutely resigned to the couch like the "Don't Even Go Theres".

"In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists." - Eric Hoffer

Heh. Agreed, Evelyn, not to mention "gets-it/doesn't-get-it" sounds a wee bit too much like high school ;-)

Then again, Evelyn, I'm not sure if I agree with Timbo. Most of what I "sell" to clients these days, they already have in spades.

I'm really just there to help remind them of that ;-)

Often, what they are say they are buying and what they actually are buying are two different things.