Experiment Failed; Am I Happy?
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Jun 3, 2011
About 2 1/2 months ago I took what I considered as kind of a drastic step. I removed my image from my website and from this blog. I knew it would still come up if I responded to people's comments, but figured something that small is often passed over by people. I wrote about it here in a post titled When You Eliminate All Other Possibilities…
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My thinking was that it was possible that there were some old school beliefs that kept visitors from calling to talk to me more often about projects. I felt that it was possible that having my image on the site would give some people the impression that maybe I wasn't quite the person for them; I hope I don't have to specifically say why, but if so you can ask me. So I removed the picture to test that theory.
The image is back because the experiment has failed. Removing the image didn't increase the number of phone calls at all. Everything held as status quo; it's possible that maybe my thoughts and beliefs were unfounded.
Yes, I said "possible". I'm pretty much out here on the internet. If someone really wanted to learn more about me it's not hard. Remove the former drummer for Jimi Hendrix and it's either me or the reporter for the Fort Worth newspaper that comes up the most, and the other guy doesn't come up in the top 50 searches of the name. I come up on page 3 on regular Google, but page 9 on Google Images; hey, that's okay I guess. 🙂
The real issue here then becomes not necessarily whether or not my image has prevented me from being busier but why I even had to consider it in the first place. When there aren't a lot of people who look like you that do what you do and you see that little shock on someone's face every once in awhile when they meet you, it's something you just don't forget. It's no wonder then that it becomes part of something one has to take into consideration whenever one gets into the position of trying to figure things out.
It's the 800-pound gorilla in the room that people aren't comfortable with, and it brings about many faux pas'. People are finding out they can't say some of the same stuff they've said about other presidents besides President Obama because suddenly those references take on a racial tone. Artists have to watch how they make caricatures of the man because there have been many racist caricatures of black people in the past. People want to tell black jokes but always end it with "I hope you didn't find that offensive"; ugh.
So I had to do my little test, and now the test is over and my image is back on my biography page. That would have made my dad happy.
I used to enjoy meeting customers with whom I had only previously had telephone contact. It was always interesting to see how much their actual appearance differed from what my expectations were (how can you tell by the way a person sounds anyway?).
I’m almost afraid to put up my current photo now. People keep telling me that I look like Dick Cheney??? Not the way I see myself!!
Lee
Tossing It Out
Arlee, I had fears in putting my picture up in 2001; my dad talked me out of it. When I decided on trying this experiment I suffered consternation that I even had to think about it, and went through with the test anyway. I know people have their reasons for wanting to take more time to decide on whether they want an image up or not but the truth is that people like working with someone they’ve at least had a glimpse at, especially if they’re going to think about hiring someone to come speak to them. So I’d have had to put my image back on at some point regardless. In other words, think about it in terms of a business decision; is it imperative to your business or not, if you’re doing business.
Through the last decade, I have work for some of the Gurus in coaching, leadership and self improvement. Some very big names, even one of the books is promoted on your blog. I think their secret is that they promote their name very hard and also promote the face. I think you should keep the image Mitch and in your case promote your nickname.
Carl, I did add the image back to my bio page, but I haven’t added it back onto this blog. Actually, I don’t even know where I’d put it at this point so I’m just going to let it lie for awhile until I decide if I really need it here or not.