This is the wrap-up to my original "run" of Stereotype-fu columns. I'm sure there will be more, but I've covered most of my intended materials.
I'm going to close with a piece of advice near and dear to my heart: Being Stereotype Evolved.
Personal Branding
Self-reference for success
You love your Pomeranain, which is why your gamerhandle lets people know they've been P0wned by CerebusPom23. Your sig file on your favorite message board references your Twitter account. Your color scheme for your fansite is a subtle variant on your favorite sports teams, each page lovingly coordinated.
If you're a fan/geek, especially if you're heavily online, you've probably got a lot of self-references. Handles reflect interests, websites reference other sites, your cosplay costume is based off of your love of Japanese history, etc.
Congrats. You're practicing one of the skills necessary for career success- self-reference.
Fans And Brands
As anyone may have guessed, I'm a fan of the whole personal branding thing. I'm no Dan Schawbel (hey, who IS except, well, Dan Schawbel), but I feel it's overall a positive thing -it's about establishing and communicating identity and building a presence. Sometimes it can get overdone (especially when one treats it like PRODUCT branding), but I feel it's a good thing overall – it makes people aware of themselves and how they present themselves.
And if you're a fanboy, fangirl, geek, nerd, etc. guess what, you are probably FAR better at it than you realize, because fandom socializing in the online days has massive elements of personal branding.
So guess what – you're probably pretty good at it.