Congratulations!  You've landed a fabulous job working for a company called Hotmail, or better yet - Gmail. They send mail to anyone with a g in their name and you are their top dog! 

Many times your email address is the first thing people see from you.  Whether it shows up in their inbox, is presented on a business card at a meeting, or listed in a membership directory; that first glance tells them more about you than you know.

How many times have you received a solicitation from someone and when you ask for a card it may say,

"Highland Landscaping Company  
Joe Schlomotica, Landscape Architect, Master Gardener
503-555-1212
[email protected]"

Tell me what you think about this Master Gardner now?
Would you be happy paying him at his "Master Gardner" rate or does his email scream, "AMATEUR?"
Joe has the education, the truck, the team, but lacks the branding and great first impression.

Now, many of us are independent contractors. You work for companies and then move on to the next project. Perhaps you don't want to use the company email for most of your freelance or "on-the-side" endeavors, but you want to still encourage people to hire you and trust you.

Get a real email address. My dog can have [email protected].

First meeting with a consultant trying to woo your account:

A woman walks in the room - Ed Hardy sneakers, LandsEnd backpack, Coach briefcase, St. John skirt and jacket.  Not bad by themselves, but as a first-impression marketing package, a bit chaotic and unprofessional.

There are so many inexpensive domain options that would speak more to what you are offering.  Spend some time on godaddy.com or other domain hosting companies to find some creative and professional solutions. Or contact your web professional for a quick overview and plan of attack. Don't forget to update your print materials as well.

I have to admit, [email protected] isn't very exciting or imaginative, but I have the domain and the other Susan Finches out there don't.  There's the Susan Finch that is soon to be retiring from the Times Picayune in Louisiana; and the other Susan Finch - Susan E. Finch - she's a voice coach and a voice-over talent in New York.  There's another who is a painter.  I've gotten to know them all because some of their leads and personal emails come to me. But that's another story.

Take the time to complete your personal marketing package.

Steps to making this update:

1. Make sure your domain account has email configuration attached to it.
2. Set up a matching email account.
3. Add it to your POP3 accounts (pulled in to your Outlook or Blackberry) - check with your email provider for set up instructions.
4. TEST THIS EMAIL. Make sure you can indeed send and receive from this account before making ANY other changes.
5. Change out your website emails links and forms to go to your new matching email.
6. Update your clients, their accounting departments and your printed materials.
7. Update your association directories and websites.
8. Update any professional email subscriptions.

Know that you and your talents are worth branding.  Show the world at first glance that you are a professional and are worth an initial test of integrity. Make it easy for them to remember you and how to reach you.  Don't confuse them with varying emails and domains, just because you have them all.  You may own smweb.com and susanfinchwebdeveloper.com. Yes, @smweb.com is shorter than @susanfinchwebdeveloper.com -- but if your website is one domain, get the matching e-mail.