GOOGLE YOURSELF

Do just that.

What do you see?

Googling yourself will help determine how visible you are -- you can have no brand if no one knows about it, and if at all, what the world knows you for.

It can go one of three ways.

One, that Google doesn't know you. You have no online presence. You have no email address, no Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram account. How can that be? Maybe you are retired and in the village -- you retired in the 1990s.

Two, you have an online presence alright but its not really in your control. Its often other people writing about you, the press? Which is rarely good. You know what they say "Nothing makes for good news like bad news" If someone is writing your story, filling your online vacuum it is rarely good or accurate.

And finally you not only have an online  presence but its you dictating the narrative generally. That's where we should all aim to be.

This is important for several reasons but not least of all that the first impressions of you online are created by yourself, everything else can only be built off your own narrative of yourself.

That is one of the reasons famous people publish memoirs. Everybody is free to write about them but they will have to start with your story.

Maybe legacy is less of a concern for you right now. 

Think of your online presence as enabling tool for recruiters looking for prospective employees or businesses looking for consultants or to pattern with someone. Think of it as making their work easier, and who doesn't want to do less work?

Today anyone who is anyone goes on line to get a sense of people they meet, people they may want to work with  or people they want to work for.

Personal branding can not be left to chance. Your online profile has to be a case of putting your best foot forward.

Seeing as most of us are not of interest to the mass media we advise clients to get blogs. Facebook doesn't quite work. 

In a blog you can have articles, audio or video of yourself speaking on the subject of your expertise and totally under your control without going through the filter of the newsroom.

And once you have you bog, essentially the raw material, you need to drive traffic towards it and push its ranking up your google page, where every one will see it first time.

A story for another day.