A New Look For The New Year!

This blog post was originally posted to PodcastAnswerMan.com on January 5th, 2011.  However, there is an update at the bottom of this post. 

 

Chances are, if you are reading this blog post, that this comic image of me is pretty familiar to you. In May of 2009, I began a journey of pursuing a more balanced and healthy lifestyle. As a result of regular physical activity, changing the foods that I eat, and a determination to never go back to my old way of life, I have noticed a great deal of positive physical change in my body, mind, and spirit. I think I've lost about 50 to 60 pounds so far.

After I started posting "before/after" photos, I started to receive emails, facebook comments, and Twitter messages that would ask when I was going to change my profile picture to reflect the "new me." Some time last year, I actually took another drastic step and I shaved off my mustache for the first time in about 20 years. I felt so weird at first. Stephanie, my lovely wife, actually begged me to grow it back. However, today, I look back and I can't imagine going back to having a mustache either.

After YouTube videos starting posting and recent photos started to appear on Facebook without the mustache and with my much thinner face, the number of those messages asking me when I'd be updating my profile pic began to increase. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I get that comment/question AT LEAST fifteen to twenty times a month. There are times when I'll get that many comments in a single week or day.

I'm excited to announce that I've placed an order for an updated profile picture comic avatar. A lot of people have wondered why I've gone so long before doing this. My main reason is that I've still got a way to go until this journey of pursuing a balanced life takes me to where I will reach my "ideal weight."

I wanted to avoid getting a new profile picture at my half way point, only to need another update eighteen months later. You see, this comic avatar is more than just a profile picture, it's very much a part of my brand. I've even incorporated it into the logo for Podcast Answer Man and it's even on my business cards.

I've decided to go ahead and pull the trigger now because I do look so much different (and healthier) than I did in that original photo. I figured it was time to go through the cost of updating my brand to reflect the "new me."

Since I know many people will ask, I will tell you that I ordered my original comic profile pic from Portraits By Nitrozac. You can find them online by CLICKING HERE. (This is NOT an affiliate link) The cost of having a photo turned into a comic portrait starts at $175.

Once I get the new comic photo back, I'll then have my logo updated to incorporate the new image, I'll update my website header with the new logo, I'll order new business cards, update my Podcast Answer Man podcast artwork, and I'll update all my profile pictures on all my social services, except LinkedIn which only allows you to post a real photo of yourself on their network. (Thanks, A LOT, to the jerk who "REPORTED MY IMAGE FOR ABUSE OF TOS"very kind person who helped bring my attention to this matter after it had been successfully posted as my profile picture, with no problems at, all for several years!)

Here is the original photo that I submitted for my first comic portrait and the end result:



Here is the new photo that I've submitted for my updated comic portrait. I did ask them to show me as clean shaven rather than with the five o'clock the next day shadow. Oh, and I also asked them to provide me a better looking smile. I actually took this as a screen grab from a video I produced a while back.

UPDATE January 17th, 2011
I am extremely happy with the results of my new Comic Avatar that I had created. This image below is actually a composite of two different updates that the artist sent back to me.


Here's the difference of what I'll Be Sharing on the Social Networking Sites: