Please critic this article. I would like to submit it to article sites to help promote my new email service. Thanks!
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The Magic of a Name
I remember back in 1994 when I first signed up for online access through America Online. Their custom software gave you a few choices for a sign up name which would also be your email address. I tried several things and finally had to settle for a play on my name with Roman Numerals at the end. But wait, that's getting way ahead of our story.
When I was 12 years old way back in 1984, we moved to another school district. Back then, having the first name Chance was more like a curse than a blessing. Kids always looked for something that made you different and found a way to use it against you. For me, it was my unusual, at the time at least, first name. So, when we moved across town, I decided I wanted to go by Tony, the nickname for my middle name of Anthony.
I remember it like it was not 22 years ago. On the first day, the teachers would take roll call and ask you if you wanted to go by another name. I would sit anxiously in my chair waiting for the teacher to call out Chance. Not a second after they uttered my name, I would blurt out a rushed, Please call me Tony, before the rest of the class noticed. It was bad enough that I felt like all eyes were on me. I didn't want to stand out on the first day at a new school in a new district. I wanted to blend in, be normal. And so it was as I repeated this process 6 times that first day as we changed teachers for each subject.
Then something happened a few years latter that changed my whole perception on having an unusual name. I was 15 and working for a pizza joint at the local mall. When I interviewed for the job, I used my real first name of Chance instead of Tony. On the first day, they had a name tag made up for me. I didn't get the opportunity to tell them I would rather go by Tony. So, there I was with a big fat name badge for the whole world to see and it said Chance. It was too late to change my name badge, so I stuck with it.
I am glad I did because I learned a valuable lesson. You see, working in a mall as a teenager is a great thing because there are so many girls your same age and they all have to eat sometime. Funny thing, my name badge became an ice breaker. I didn't have to say a thing. The girls always started the conversation. Wow, is that your name? How did you get such a cool name? And so on....
From that day forward, I have proudly used the name Chance and it has been a great ice breaker no matter where I go.
Email can have a similar effect. I know. I have seen it first hand. Whenever I tell someone My Other Email address, I get reactions like Wow, that is cool. Where did you get such a cool email address? You see, my email address is an extension of my personality. It is more than a box on some free public server somewhere.
Take a look at all of the free email offerings available today. You have Hotmail, Yahoo mail and Google's Gmail. How many people sign up for Hotmail today with a 6 plus digit number stuck on the end of a 3 word phrase? Yahoo mail isn't much better because it serves as a login for their website as well as an email address. So, then you have Gmail. Things should be better as they are currently in beta testing through invitation only. I finally received an invite about 6 months ago. I was excited because Gmail was the latest, greatest thing and I had an opportunity to get in early enough to get a great name or at least I thought I did. I tried all the variations on my favorite email address. It was a play on my name of Chance. Well, it seems I had no chance of getting the email address I wanted. Wouldn't you know it. That darn email address with Roman Numerals from my early experiences of email had come back to haunt me. Now, I had to use it again for my Gmail account.
I already had a cool email address, one that made people ask me questions without even prompting them. With Gmail, I was just another number in the sea of numbers. And it hit me. I am not a Roman Numeral. I am Chance and I want my email to reflect my personality. I want my email to open doors. I want an email address that reflects who I am.
Chance S. is the owner of My Other Email (
http://www.MyOtherEmail.com), a new free email service that allows you to be who you are, not just another number. If you would like to discuss this interesting new service, you can email me @ My Other Email dot com. Now that is what I call an email address with personality.
