Yes, that Brian Meeks; the one on the cusp of super stardom.

Give up what?

His damn @ExtremelyAverage moniker, that’s what. I have been hounding him for close to two years now because that moniker is a much better fit for me than him.

Sumbich won’t budge.

He was featured this week by Geoff Livingston no less; you know, the dude that wrote Marketing in the Round with Gini. In addition to Brian’s most recent self-published book Time and Again which you can snap up for free on Amazon if you hurry, he’s has a whole litany of other works ready to follow. Extremely Average my ass…

You think I’m kidding?

Just to show you the depth of my quest to wrest this moniker away from him, this is my post of January 30, 2012; verbatim. Do you think he budged? Hell no; that’s why I’m cutting lose a second salvo. Republished with Billy’s permission; this is what he had to say that day:

* – * – * – * – * – *

Time to move on Brian Meeks*

Ha ha funny, right? Except I’m not kidding; Mr Meeks of @ExtremelyAverage notoriety needs to give it up. Whenever I crack on him, all the women are quick to defend and quickly proclaim he is anything but ‘average’. Hmmmm…..all I know is that ‘extremely average’ is a much better fit for me, so this is my active campaign to make it happen. There is a shelf-life for these things Brian, and you have exceeded it my friend.

I mean really; the dude already has books published and 9 zillion blog posts. I barely have reply buttons at my place; c’mon man…….

You probably find this hard to believe after reading of all my exploits of heroism, how it was really me who invented the internet, and I’m really a double-naught spy; but in reality, at a party I am so extremely average I have to keep moving so as not to blend in with the wallpaper.

This past week was tough

My day job and meetings pulled me in many different directions; all of it good, but all of it primarily offline. No big deal, right? Except when you peek in and see all of your friends playing; kind of like staying home sick from school and you see all your friends outside afterwards. Makes you kind of antsy, huh?

I keep telling myself I am NOT going to jump back on the hamster wheel; but the pull is there.

So what’s the problem?

It was difficult to catch back up with all the posts I missed; I’m realistic in knowing the only way I drive traffic is through my engagement. I’m afraid without it, I could very well pull out the invisible moniker once again and just leave Brian alone.

So what do you want to do?

Part of me says quit looking out the window and just keep doing what you are doing. The other part says, quit being a doofus and if you are going to be in the game at least be the best you can be.

There is even another pull to put all this effort into our corporate blog at @LanierUpshaw which is probably what I should do because it is my company after all, right? That would probably be the smart thing, but don’t know it it will be the fun thing. Fun is my motivator BTW…..

And of course all of this takes time, so do I substitute my commenting for writing and guest posts? I can just show up and comment; writing takes thought and planning. And it’s a given I don’t have enough game to attract an audience on my writing alone.

Where did you come up with all this?

As I had small blocks of time during the week I could have very easily caught up with friends one blog at a time. However, when the time came I could not muster up the energy.

During my catch-up phase over the weekend, I did read posts and some gave me reason to think and once again ask myself ‘what are you really doing in here’?

Dino at DIYBlogger featured Francisco Rosales, the brains behind @Socialmouths and whereas our models are different, it made me think I should be more strategic and doing something like Francisco suggests.

The other was from my good buddy Jack Steiner (or whatever name the witness protection program will let him go by this week) @TheJackB. He’s calling out the guru’s and exhorting everyone to just be themselves and forget the noise.

And finally, my friend Margie Clayman at @MargieClayman.com who I respect and admire but seems to be feeling some angst on several fronts. She’s trying to wade through what is real and what isn’t (and this wasn’t a shameless link BTW…:).

Did I miss the boat?

One thing I can do, is be myself; and part of that is truly ‘just showing up’. I have tried to play the person who doesn’t care for about as long as I can carry this thing. Now the big question is, do I want to do anything about it; or just keep on ‘showing’ up and take what I can get?

It never ceases to amaze me how a couple of days offline can totally change your perspective and potentially your focus.

If anybody out there is reading their tea leaves or horoscope this week, will you let me know what direction it is taking me in? I’m a Leo…:)

*Brian had no prior knowledge of this….hopefully he is a good sport.