The username iamnotjared is one I came up with on the fly while living in Florida. I went to set up a new account. First step “What’s your username?” My username? I don’t know! This will forever define me! It can’t be boring. jaredthroneberry@email.com? UGH! No. It must be different; silly yet intriguing. iamnotjared. Perfect. It doesn’t make sense, but it does. It has on hundreds of occasions garnered a snicker or at least a puzzled eyebrow raise, and that’s all I could have ever asked for.
I about overturned the tables when I saw “iamnotmark@email.com” on a sign-up sheet once. Copycat.
But in a strange way the tail has wagged the dog in that I am not the Jared you think you know. Whatever side of me you first encountered, there’s probably a different side of me you wouldn’t have suspected. My wife gets me, and she’s probably the only one. I am not a typical personality or have one defining characteristic. My least favorite survey question: “What are your interests/hobbies?” I don’t know. None of them, all of them? I am very much a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. Problem is that this dilemma bleeds into my professional life.
I have found an interest in public speaking. Something I believe I do well. I won four levels of the Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking to compete at the Semi-finals in Malaysia in 2014. So, why can’t this be my thing? You know, public speaking. (My Toastmasters club would get me for having said “you know.”) I’ve tried to stick my toes in the water a couple of times but haven’t jumped in. I realized why last week while watching a webinar on How to Get Paid for Speaking! His first questions:
Why do you want to speak?
Who do you want to speak to?
What do you want to speak about?
I’m not sure, I don’t know, and I don’t care.
Needless to say, I didn’t purchase his Become A Speaker package for 12 easy payments of $67 since I couldn’t even get past the first question. Apparently that was supposed to be the easy part.
I’m easy-going, I usually do what I’m asked to do. So for me to go out there and say “You should pay me to speak about this!” is beyond me at this point. If you came to me and asked “Jared, will you speak to our Kiwanis Club about the Benefits of Social Media? We’ll pay you $100.” YES MA’AM! And it will be a good speech, too. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. You won’t even notice time passing by (an actual comment made to me by someone who recently heard me speak. Made. My. Week.)
Thus…. this blog.
Hoping that gathering my thoughts on random topics and experiences will help me sort out what it is I have to say. Intention here is not to become a blogger, but to figure out as Billy Crystal’s character in The Princess Bride asked, “Hey! Hello in there. Hey! What’s so important? What you got here that’s worth living for?”
Jared Throneberry 
