Do You Make Your Email You..

One of the worst things IMHO is that you brand yourself using an email address that is not yours. While many companies will give you a corporate email address and your ISP will also give you one with your internet service I never use them for anything.

I am partial to gmail as a free service provider, because it integrates well with my blackberry but even then I think I am making a mistake. As someone that owns many domains I probably need to start rebranding with one of my own domain names.

I have just started rereading "The Virtual Handshake" and it emphasizes the points of owning your own domain and branding yourself with your own domain and email address.

Using an ISP, free or Employer email for personal branding has many caveats.

Some cons of using them are:

-Employers email address are subject to monitoring.
-You may not always be employed with the same employer and miss an important contacts email if you lose your position or a job offer may get sucked into a black hole.
-Your ISP may change.
-Free indicates a lack of professionalism.

Of course your employer may require you to use their supplied email address for company business but even then it does not prevent you from adding a "personal" email address to your signature line or business card.

Of course there are other valid reasons to own your own domain for email. Especially for keeping track of your correspondences. I use specific emails for different types of communications. Such as newsletters, affiliate communications and projects.

What is your opinion??