No doubt you've thought about business branding, but have you heard about "personal branding?" This is when you think of yourself, an individual, in similar terms. What do people think of, when they think of you? It is a concept that is particularly relevant to solo entrepreneurs and micro business owners. As such, the brand you develop becomes about you, as much as it does about your business. You ARE your business, after all.

This new article takes a look at what personal brand is, why you might care, how you can begin to develop one, and what to do if you already have one, to keep your brand intact while you grow.

A couple weeks ago, I launched a new site for my client Anita Rabinoff-Goldman called PomegranateJudaica.com. Anita is a Judaic fiber artist and creates spectacular, heirloom quality pieces for her customers. The site was designed in Dreamweaver, with templates that work with Macromedia Contribute, allowing Anita to update her product info and photos on her own. Her art is beautiful - I do hope you will take a moment to see...

I've also started working on a web site design for Cartwheels for Kids, a new business offering structured play and music classes for children 6 mos to 6 years. This should be fun!

Over the last year, I've written and published a lot of articles, here and in print publications. Well, if you have ever considered writing to promote your business, check this out: Three of my articles have lead to some VERY nice attention! The virtual professional report I developed last Fall has been reprinted in Home Business Magazine, on newstands this month. I will also have a "MyGadget" feature in MyBusiness Magazine, the membership magazine of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, which stemmed from the love letter I wrote to my Treo 600. They actually sent a photographer for a 3 hour photo shoot in June and it looks great! Then to top it off, I was invited to speak on the Entrepreneur Hour, a talk show in South Florida, about online networking, last week.

So, let there be no doubt - if writing is a skill you have, let it out! You never know where it will lead. And if you think those two magazines are huge, you will not believe where I will pop up in September! (hint: it starts with an E)

Are you drowning in numbers, PINs, usernames and passwords? Well, SplashID is a really well designed application for organizing and managing all of that information in a secure environment, if you have a Palm Pilot or other PDA. It has a synchronizing desktop application (which probably would work even if you don't have a handheld!) so you have the info with you everywhere you go. You can keep everything in there - credit card numbers, PINs, web site usernames, locker combinations, birthdays, codes, frequent flyer numbers - you name it. It's highly customizable, sortable, searchable, fast, cute - and most importantly, SECURE (of course, you have to remember that password!)

Definitely worth a look - I don't know how I remembered anything without it!

That's it for this month. I look forward to hearing from you, whether it is a a story idea, feedback, or better yet, a way that I can help your business market with technology :)