Daniel Johnson, Jr.

This week I’ve spent some time letting you in on a secret about why I say good morning online the way I’ve done for over 2-3 years. Just to recap, the first thing I tend to post onto Twitter, Facebook, and now, Google Plus, is “Good morning from beautiful Cincinnati!” followed by something to get me going for the day.

Last time I talked about optimism. Optimism isn’t only seeing life through rose-colored glasses. Optimism is, when faced with a set of circumstances, choosing to see that the best possible outcome is still possible.

There’s still more to this story, however.

Daniel Johnson, Jr.

Growing up, the only times I’d get called Daniel were when either Mom or Dad were upset with me, or on the first day of school. My Dad and I went to the same university, and it wasn’t long before we started getting one another’s mail.  He told me I should start using “Jr.” in my name.  In college I got the nickname “The Danimal” from a classmate and some other friends. I started using that as my nickname online. But for much of my life, I’ve had people call me Dan.

In late 2006/early 2007, as I got even more active online, I wanted to better brand myself. As I’ve Googled myself over the years, I’ve noticed how many Dan Johnsons there are. So I forced myself to start using Daniel. Actually my full name. Well, not my middle name. At least for now.

 

Google Daniel Johnson Jr, and there’s probably a good chance you find me or something about me on the front page.  There are others. Last I checked I saw a Politician and a Lawyer. I think there may be someone who’s trying to help you be more wealthy, too. To paraphrase Obi-Wan Kenobi, those aren’t the Daniel Johnson, Jr’s you’re looking for.

I grew up in Cincinnati. I couldn’t wait to get away from this place and took a co-op job in college in the Detroit, Michigan area.  Guess what happened? People I worked with up there would ask me about things in Cincinnati.  I started to realize what a great place this city is.

When I graduated from college, though, I felt I needed to do something bigger. Our church had sent some people up to Dayton, Ohio, and I thought it would be great to be a part of what was going on there. So I took a job that let me move up there.  For about 10 years I lived in the Dayton area.

But we missed family and friends here in Cincinnati and moved back about 6 years ago. I still commuted to work, over an hour each day, for several years. To brand myself so that I could get a job closer to home, I started making sure online I was associated with Cincinnati.

I mentioned that I’ve been archiving my Twitter updates over here. After I moved my blogs over to WordPress three years ago, I found a plugin called Twitter Tools, that does that.

So, when I say “Good morning from beautiful Cincinnati”, I’m being sincere, of course. But I’m also being intentional as I create the content that will keep me in top of mind with others. As one of the most positive, optimistic people they’d want to connect with from Cincinnati, Ohio.

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Tags: cincinnati, content strategy, Daniel Johnson, danieljohnsonjr, marketing, optimism, personal branding, social media, tough-minded optimism, wordpress

This entry was posted on Friday, October 21st, 2011 at 6:42 am and is filed under blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.