Own your identity.

6 months ago I started blogging.

A week ago something funny happened. A friend’s company attempted to recruit me. The friend had no idea - until he received recommendations from two different people, independently, in an extremely short time period. It happened because I’m slowly building my brand.

This is why you absolutely must own your online identity.

There is such great hubbub around online privacy, and I don’t mean NSA privacy, but the kind we abandon by over sharing on facebook, twitter, foursquare etc. I’m here to tell you the opposite: Worry about under sharing. Worry about people not being able to find you. I can say with confidence, I want to be the only Elliot Nash online.

Like most people I’ve googled myself, and I’ve gone through my namesake dopplegangers. My concern is people looking for me, might find them.

Here are three high value points of creating your own brand:

Its like a resume
Writing, sharing, and building your brand makes your experience and value public. The more you do this, the higher presence you’ll have in front of potential customers. Self branding isn’t about creating a resume, it’s about putting your resume on a flag pole to hang above the rest.

It helps you recruit
In the same sense it helps you be recruited - it’ll help you recruit a better team. The better known your brand and self-identity has become, the more other talented individuals will want to work with you. I can’t emphasize this enough.

Its a better experience for those who come in contact with you
Lastly, anyone who may come in contact with you in any way, will have a much better experience googling you if you’re easy to find. It’ll also promote their confidence in you - as seeing your brand is like a positive review on amazon and a confirmation in your ability to get shit done.