“No sympathy for the devil. Keep that in mind; buy the ticket, take the ride.”~Hunter S. Thompson

This post is a direct response to Carlos Miceli’s post about the Media Attention Whore phenomenon and all of the subsequent comments that I’ve been able to read thus far.

I sympathize with both sides of the argument against and for whoring yourself through new media for whatever end goal you have.

I’ve seen  posts lately about how some folks don’t like the idea of “branding” themselves and ideas like this are the run-off of that concept. Why are we rebelling against personal branding? It’s a NEW opportunity that is revolutionizing the way that individuals can become successful business people without having the credentials of rich parents, an ivy league eduction or a 4.0 GPA.

What are contrarians to the personal branding and Media Attention Whore movement suggesting as an alternative to working your ass off night and day to create good content and promoting it like there is no tomorrow? How do you think you’ll get noticed otherwise? Simply on the merit of your personality and intentions?

I also agree that if your personal brand is shit and you don’t have any real substance or innovative nature behind what you’re pedaling, you’ll likely fail or fade away.

I try to never wish failure upon people. I try very hard not to hold people’s bad decisions against them… there’s usually a reason why people act the way they do and if they’re wrong, the decent ones try to fix their messes and learn from mistakes.

Especially if you’re trying to make a name for yourself through social media I think there’s a unique on/off switch to dealing with folks who you don’t agree with. If you think they’re decent people and producers of good ideas, try reaching out to them. Bring them back into your community and try to understand them. If they’re not receptive to that, don’t waste your time dwelling on how they’re behaving. There’s little chance their actions or ideas will affect you in the long run.

Besides, when the gods of wine and MTV tally up all your karma points, do you really want a bunch of perceived spitefulness to be held against you?

For the persons branding him or herself… do your thing! Take it to the wall! However, if you’re cutting corners and thinking the people who really matter won’t notice, you’re sorely mistaken.

We’re all accountable for our own actions. Might as well have most of those actions me made out of good will and supporting one another rather than undercutting the very medium that is getting so many of us ahead in the first place.

Much conversation surrounds the topic of personal branding in an economy where way more people are looking for jobs and companies seem to be hiring less often. Sticking out in a sea of applicants is becoming harder and harder if you’re not willing to give up the lazy practice of just sending out cover letters and resumes to nameless job openings. Dan Schawbel has really helped bring personal branding discussion to another level and given people ideas on where their job searching and career development strategies could be bolstered. However, I’m finding that my personal situation is becoming slightly too complex for the bread and butter personal branding advice that I’m seeing flood the interwebs every day.

I want to do too much. Anyone who knows me well might critique me with having a million irons in the fire at any given moment. I look at that as my key to current and future success. Through osmosis and relative early adoption, I’ve been blogging and thinking self-critically for several years now. It wasn’t like I was suddenly on the scene giving advice to people about their lives and being featured on blog networks; I started blogging while I had a full time job and learned as I went along.

Since I started blogging and thinking myself as a brand, as well as a rather funky homosapean, I’ve switched jobs a couple times, completed a ton of freelance contracts and currently find myself working a full time job as well as being a community editor for the best Generation Y job seekers social network on the web. I work and I work and when I’m finished working at the end of the day, I work some more. I’m passionate and probably a bit nuts, but I know that at some point a few years ago when I decided to pursue my career in marketing and social media, I committed to myself that I wasn’t going to go at it half-assed and that I was going to ride this strange ride until the wheels fell off.

Do you ever get so busy with something you love doing that you forget why you started and need to take stock of what you’re all about again? Ryan Paugh’s blog post about launching the new Brazen Careerist social network struck me when he wrote about a gut check he had with Penelope Trunk regarding the scalability of his job.

I pulled Penelope aside a couple weeks ago to talk to her about this.

“How exactly does a Community Manager scale?” I asked.

“Where does his/her career path lead?”

“Ryan, you’re doing a great job,” she reminded me.

And I realized that I know exactly how to scale my job. Well, not exactly. The Community Manager role in business is still a little young to know the exact path, but I know that it involves growing along with the Community and continuing to be a voice to as many as possible even when that number rockets through the thousands, to the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and millions.

You know… personal branding still rocks in my mind. I personally know many people who stand to benefit from it if they simply take a little time and make some effort in branding themselves. There is tons of good information out there for newbies who are looking to get into this new, big world of social networking and career development. As for me, I’ve done it, I am doing it and now I’m sort of scratching my head as I work my butt off trying to figure out what’s next.

I’m probably not going to read “it” in a blog or get “it” from a coach. The “it” factor for me won’t be purchased in book for either. No, I’ll probably attribute the long days and nights of work and a rigorous daily mental regimen of self-critique to my Ah Hah!” moment when it comes in the middle of the night or early in the morning.

I liken this moment of growth to something I’m quite fond of; pushups. You do them every day, no questions. Perfect technique, burning muscles, boredom, repetitiveness.. you simply do the damn pushups every day. Your numbers rise, 20, 30, 40, 50… 50… you can’t get past 50! Weeks pass and 50 is pretty much the last number of pushups you can do before your muscles quiver and you fall on your face. Why keep doing them if you know that no more are coming? Finally you decided to take a day off, you’re disgusted with yourself, you relax, you don’t worry about how your arms and chest look for just one day and then the next day, you’re back on the band wagon and what do you know… you just did 65 pushups and you know you could probably do even more. THOSE are the types of moments I live for.

I come across a lot of successful young entrepreneurs, but a local favorite of mine is Dan Schawbel. The guy is absolutely on fire. His following is huge and seems to be constantly growing and his book Me 2.0 is becoming a quick seller. He’s really tapping into the atmosphere of this recession and helping people turn their negativity and fear in on itself by giving pro-active tips on how to develop a personal brand online and get hired.

The concept of the personal brand can be an elusive one for people looking for quick returns and tangible results. I have a lot of older friends ask me why I’m involved with so many social network platforms and some even ask me how they can get involved and start benefiting from the amazing pool of resources that exist online.

My response to people who are looking to get involved is always to be as genuine and focused as possible. Another social media genius in Gary Vaynerchuk comes with a great point that people are the keys to social media, so you need to be interested and passionate about people. If you’re passionate about what you do, passionate about what others do and passionate about connecting, then suddenly you’ll be immersed in an interactive community that has unlimited benefits, most of which haven’t even been discovered yet.

Dan Schawbel’s book Me 2.0 is out now and I’m going to have to pick a copy up. He spoke nearby at Emerson College in Boston and I didn’t get to go listen to him, but he’s from nearby to so I’m guessing he’ll come around once more. I suggest you find him on Twitter, he’s a real asset for social networking and personal branding!

http://twitter.com/danschawbel

I cannot talk too negatively of my housemate as I narcissistically believe he reads my blog every once in a while. But, my jealousy consumes me as he is in New York City right now on a business account soaking up the fun and Fall sun at the Digital Media Conference. My feelings towards him boarder on hatred over his ability to score sweet business trips like this (just kidding, I hate no one). I hope he shares his contacts and knowledge when he gets back.

New Media, Web 2.0, Social Media and all of the other new age advertising, marketing and PR techniques seem to harbor some of the most intelligent and talented business minds today. Plus it’s a fairly young crowd. People my age and younger will be especially apt to this field due to our life long immersion in electronic and internet technology. I personally didn’t get a computer until high school, but I learned the basics at a young age and learn almost anything thrown at me. I suppose the missing link between Nu Marketers and yr. average techie addict tweenie is the business psychology targeting the tweenie as a consumer and not a fellow social network member.

As stated previously, I was so against embracing the Internets breed of social communities as I wanted to maintain my individuality. As reach my mid-twenties (eek-err), I feel that I’m missing out on a lot of opportunities if I don’t embrace this culture.

Then there’s this voice inside of me. It’s my literary resonance. This is where I innovate. I articulate the human experience through non-organic mediums.

Where do I focus my energy? Blogging? Freelancing? Both? I know I want solar, wind and sustainable goodness to be the focus of my career, so do I hyper-educate myself on that too? All of the above?

Twitter is something I was sure I’d never use regularly. I’ve never been one for serious social networking via electronics or “social media,” but as I grow up and become more serious about my career, I realize the “next step” is reliant upon people’s image of who I am and what I stand for.

How can I realistically get my name and work out there when I work 10 hour days regularly and then try to get the right amount of sleep, exercise and extracurricular fun and freelancing in? I don’t want to, nor can I afford bars or nigh clubs, so Web 2.0 has offered me interesting alternatives to seek out and be sought out by like-minded professionals.

The question remains, how do I effectively use my time on social network sites? How do I blog effectively to convey my ideas and personality in a productive manner? How do I brand myself and become an internet rock star like Gary Vaynerchuk? Well I’m sure I’ve got a story or two inside this brain of mine and many more ideas to formulate. Marketing one’s self is so important.

As GV says on http://www.garyvaynerchuk.com, it’s all about the “hustle.” Hustle. 2.0.