“Me”, the Brand: Who Is Terry Starbucker?

I read an article in the NY Times yesterday about “Creating Brand You” - coming up with a way to “stand out..in the current deteriorating economy“.

A psychologist named Judith Sills believes a professional identity is a blend of reputation (what others think of you) and resume (what you say about yourself) - a distinctive imprint you leave with others.

Yep, a “brand” if you will. Sills tells us it should be “distinctive, valued and stand for something“.

Oddly enough, just recently my friend Dave Rothacker was ruminating on much the same kind of thing, and went as far as taking a shot at branding some of his Joyful Jubilant Learning brethren, including yours truly.

So how did Dave tag Mr. Starbucker?

“……women, uber-positive-life-outlook, leadership, caring, smart”

That first one was a little perplexing, but thankfully Dave explained it for us - he observed that more women link to my site than most other business-life writers (he also said some very nice things about my writing - thanks Dave!).

Now that never had even occurred to me over the course of my 2+ years of blogging - honestly, I wasn’t keeping track of this. But it was an interesting perspective of the “brand” I was putting out there.

On top of all this, we can even throw my blogging name into my overall brand presentation; it reveals a certain appreciation for a certain hot beverage (although if they keep going on their present course I may have to change it to “Terry Dunkin“).

So, let me take a shot at my “brand”:

“Terry Starbucker - latte lovin’, caring optimistic leadership junkie (and women like to link to him)”

Mmmm…………stands for something, but not quite distinctive. It’s too long. I wonder if something more simplistic would be better?

One of my all time favorite (very) short summaries of someone’s essence was uttered by Muhammad Ali:

“Me, Whee!”

Was there any better way to describe the enthusiasm, exuberance, and hubris of “The Greatest”?

With that inspiration, I’ll try for something more concise:

“Terry Starbucker - Half-Fuller”

This one presumes you all know what a half-fuller is- but at least it’s short.

Then again, why shouldn’t I go all the way with something “Ali-like“, and just bypass the name entirely.

OK, here goes:

Me, Golly!

I do go through my days in wonderment (and sometimes puzzlement) of this crazy and unpredictable life, so why not?

I guess I better hope the economy stops deteriorating…………