About
On quite a few places on the Internet I am known as “linkerjpatrick.” At first it started as a typical online “screen name” but lately I have been working on turning it into my “personal brand.”
Not too long I wrote an article on 100bloggers.com called, Why I call myself “linkerjpatrick.” Instead of repeating myself, go over there and real the whole story. That being said I have pretty much standardized on that screen name as what I like to refer to myself as my “personal brand.” It really tells a lot about who I am, what I am interested in plus it uses parts of my real name in an interesting way.
Often when I leave comments on a blog I will use “linkerjpatrick” as my user name. Linkerjpatrick is also my name on Twitter, Jaiku, Flickr and various other locations. I’m also using the photo that is seen in the post as my default photo in various places so when I meet people in “the real world” they will know who I am.
This idea is not new. For example Fast Company ran an article by Tom Peters called, The Brand Called You in 1997.
To me personal branding is not about pride or as they say, being “full of oneself”, rather it’s about reputation and how God created me to be a unique person with specific talents, experiences and values. I recognize that in life I’m supposed to be a reflection of God’s glory. I’m definitely not perfect by any means but the recognition of my personal brand is a reminder that what I say and do in both the “real” and online worlds is important.