From the desk (and BlackBerry) of Keith Parnell

Okay, maybe blogging won’t change the world as in solving world peace. But blogging can play a major role in influencing the opinions of many people.

Blogging can work wonders in creating, managing, and molding your brand.
Blogging can provide a way to share your thoughts.
Blogging can provide a way to begin meaningful conversations.

Stowe believes that blogging provides a medium to change the world one mind at a time.

Euan believes blogging provides an outlet for your ideas.

What about you? Why do you blog?

image credit: flickr.com/photos/barnett

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

Listening to Let It Grow by Eric Clapton.

photo credit: sportsagentblog.com

I just ran across a blog post by my friend Leah that touched on a topic that a lot of people think about, discuss (sometimes heated), and wonder about almost daily if they do business on the Internet. Read her blog post here. By they way Leah is an online sales consultant for a local home builder in Hampton Roads.

Leah is struggling with mixing the personas of her business life and her personal life on Facebook. A lot of people struggle with this. Should I mix my personal brand with my professional brand? How would this affect any current or potential business relationships? How would this affect the communications with my personal friends on Facebook?

I offered my comments to this topic:

I think the thing I like the most about this topic is that there is, and won’t ever be, a right answer. Each of us use social media and its various platforms in our own special manner, which is what makes us special, which is what social media is all about - people (personalities).

I don’t think that any of us ever want to upset or disturb the balance of a friendship or a business relationship on any level. And I think the best way to not disturb that balance is to just be yourself. Be your brand. Be your company’s brand (if that’s your goal). And people will like you, or not. And that’s okay.

What about you? What is your take on the mix of personal brand and professional brand on communities like Facebook for those of us that do business on the Internet?

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On Twitter? Follow me at @parnellk63.

I have no great pearls of wisdom today. I only have a question for you that will hopefully be thought provoking for you and maybe even spawn a few conversations across the social networks.

Here it is. Ready? ( … drum roll please … )

What are you doing for your brand today?

Your brand. Today.

Even though you are on holiday, your brand portrayal is not. Are you tending to your brand?

2009 has been a solid year so far for our organization. Business is on a steady increase and outperforming our sales goals.

Pondering the causes of this growth during a tough economy, I thought back to my professional goals I set for myself on January 1, 2009. Here they are.

1. I will identify those in my network of influence (on me) that are negative and impress upon me a non-productive demeanor. I will totally eliminate them from my circle.
2. I will attempt to increase the size and more importantly the quality of my network of business partners. I will work my hardest to learn from their experience and offer my participation where appropriate.
3. I will schedule my days and weeks to be more fluid, yet more productive.
4. I will attempt to face-to-face network more than I did in 2008.
5. I will be more cognizant of my personal brand and achieve to sharpen its edges.

Hard Work Means Success

I can honestly say that I am well on the way towards accomplishing each resolution. And even better than that, I can attribute much of JASE’s success this year to the processes I’m living to achieve these goals. So for once in my life, I can say that I’m living up to my New Year’s Resolutions and they’ve not been a total waste of my time to establish them.

- Good thing I didn’t throw in the ‘lose 30 pounds this year’ resolution! -

What about you?

How are those resolutions going?

Nicole and I love to get out in our neighborhood during the evening hours and walk. We say it’s for the exercise but I think, for both of us, it’s more to enjoy the fresh air and to walk the beautiful Lafayette River shoreline.

Earlier this week we were walking, occasionally chatting with neighbors passing by, soaking up the warm spring air and listening to a mix of tunes from my BlackBerry I had tucked in my pocket. We were about 3/4 of the way through our trek and a really cool Stevie Ray Vaughan song, Chitlins con Carne, enveloped us like only his guitar can do.

Nicole looked at me with half a smile and said, “Hey, that’s ‘your’ song.” I smiled back at her.

I knew what she meant but I asked her anyway what she was talking about. I wanted to hear her reaction. She explained that the song we were listening to was my song now and it doesn’t matter that one of the ‘greatest guitar masters ever’ actually owns the tune.

Nicole is an accountant by trade, and a very good one, by the way. I tell you this because she doesn’t live in the marketing and branding world like I do. So she really had no idea that she just paid me the greatest compliment any brand manager could ever receive. She recognized that song as the theme song for my Coffee with the CEO videocasts and podcasts and has now subconsciously associated one of Stevie’s great tunes with my brand. And not just my online brand, my overall personal brand.

I smiled again back at her, blushed, and walked on towards home with a grin in my soul. My brand lives. My brand lives even in those that would love me if I didn’t have a brand.

Grab your coffee and let’s talk about building your personal and professional brand through social communities. Online and offline!

Social community references in this video:

• JASEzone
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Plurk
• FriendFeed
• blog
• Hampton Roads Internet Marketing & Technology Group
• Entrepreneurs Forum of Hampton Roads
• Virginia Opera Guild
• Tabernacle Church of Norfolk