Why a Personal Email Address Matters

Do you have more than one?

How many personal email addresses do you have?

Personal Email Addresses Matter

In my case I currently have three that I regularly stay connected with and respond to inbound email. How many do you have? If none, why not? Perhaps this post will help change your mind if you have none. If you have at least one I’d like to hear how you use your personal email address(es) to stay in touch, stay connected and to keep the communications channels open.

Why do Personal Email Addresses Matter?

In this every changing world of job shifting it’s no longer wise to assume your company email will follow you wherever you go. It’s better to be prepared now.

Exceptions and Caveats:

• Exception 1 – If you have your own company — It’s safe to assume this will not change quite as regularly.
• Exception 2 – If you have your own personal domain. Which is a wise move.
• Caveat –  things still change.

What’s the Point?

A lot of people say and think that email is dead and dying. And it might be. But, today when you want to apply for a job, subscribe to a newsletter, apply for a loan and lots of other day to day (seemingly mundane) tasks … you WILL be asked for your email. Having an email address that you know can always be accessed by you … any time, any place and on any device is a smart thing for you personally and professionally.

Let’s consider a few scenarios:

• Coordinating a Party – Not only may this be a violation of company email policies it’s just bad form to coordinate your parties on your work email address.
• Ordering on Amazon – In a similar vein anything you order on Amazon or other online shopping adventures don’t need to be archived forever on your work email.
• Auto Loan – Your personal information – including credit scores, SSN and more are shared here. Again, this is not something you want to be stored as a record within the company email servers.
• Home Loan / Rental Application – Same as above.
• Newsletter Subscription – When you leave your current company (not if … when) you don’t want to have to remember and re-subscribe to the newsletters, websites and other information you have grown accustomed to reading.

The point is … Respect the Value of a Personal Email Account.

Why Do This?

Staying in touch matters. Staying connected matters.

Do you want to forced to remember something like this:
Oh yeah, I subscribed to that newsletter or applied for my loan with my “old work” account. Now what do I do to regain access?

Then realize that a) you aren’t getting notified of important information or b) missing a payment because you just plain forgot and were relying upon email for your task management (yes, this does happen).

Keeping A Personal Email is Smart

It’s also easy. It will also help you to Stand Out In Your Career! It’s never been easier to setup a personal email account. Taking 5 minutes to set one up (perhaps more than one if you have multiple interests) is a wise move and one that will pay dividends down the road. I say you’ll stand out in your career because you will not need to spend time re-creating subscriptions, loans and other important (and perhaps sensitive) documentation, etc. and you will be able to get on with your life and career.

Side Benefit of having a Personal Email Address:
Most corporate email servers keep EVERYTHING and file them as records. This is just one more reason to have a personal email address. Sure, these servers keep everything too, but when you aren’t working for said company anymore you’ll have a teensy little bit more privacy.

There are more than a few free email services out there. The most common are Microsoft’s Outlook.com and Google’s Gmail – which are quite robust and have a lot of additional features for calendar and task management. There are also the old stalwarts in AOL and Yahoo (a caveat with these … they may brand the user of these email domains as older. Beware of ageism).

I’m sure there are many other ways to do this. I’m pretty sure there is at least one great business idea wrapped up in a better way. Perhaps you will be the one that will solve this for all of us. If you already have created a solution … please share.

Got a Different Opinion? Please drop a comment here. I’d really like to hear how you handle your correspondence, communications and connections.