This might be one of the best-branded professionals I’ve found – and finding him was almost an accident.
Rex Gradeless “followed” me on Twitter a few days ago, and I checked out his Twitter profile. He’s a 3rd year law student, looking for a litigation position… and has (get this) 10,687 followers (as of right now).
Most people on Twitter don’t have over 1k followers. It takes a lot of work to get over 5k followers. It is rare that I see someone with 10k+ followers… and this dude is a third year law student?!?!?!
My first thought was “when he tweets that he’s ready, and he’s available, and what city he wants to go to, I’m sure his network will help him in ways that I only dreamed of.”
But let’s go beyond Twitter – there’s more.
I should mention, the purpose of these personal branding awards is to help YOU know that YOU can do this to. Rex is not a professional blogger, or twitterer, or social media junkie, he’s a professional almost-attorney. He just uses available (free) tools to put his brand in front of an audience… just like you can should!
Rex owns the Social Media Law Student blog/site. I’m no lawyer, and I don’t know all the resources they have, but I’m guessing this is the most comprehensive collection of current thoughts regarding the intersection of social media and law around. From a third year law student. I thought all third years were cramming for that big test they have to take?
Apparently not – Rex found time to brand himself in the legal community as an expert in his field with social media.
Think that will do good for him? I bet it already has.
As I read the About page I kept thinking “this guy is going to do in this space what Michael Arrington did with TechCrunch.” I’m amazed how Michael took a simple idea and created an empire out of it – this was an idea that hundreds or even thousands of real journalists could have run with, but Michael did it. Just like Rex seems to be doing it. Think about multiple streams of revenue… the opportunities here are rich.
the “law student contributors” page shows me that Rex is smart enough to recruit thought leaders into the mix, so this is manageable for him. Understand that this all still falls under Rex’s brand, BUT/AND Josh Camson and Sharon Lovell, just because they are associated, will be recipients of any good and strong branding that happens. They get strong branding by association with this site! Smart for all three involved.
I am absolutely blown away by what Rex has done here. He’s created a massive following, he’s created THE thought-leadership role in this space, he has strong content (thanks to his contributors, I’m sure), and I know this will serve him well for the rest of his career.
Don’t get overwhelmed by what he has done, as I’m sure it’s taken time and concerted effort to put together. Go see what he has done that you might be able to emulate… the goal here is to learn from these winners, and Rex is one of the best I’ve ever seen.
I’m awed. Check out all of his online stuff here:
Congratulations Rex! You join a special group of professionals and have earned a coveted link from my monthly winner’s blogroll area (on the left), six months of premium JibberJobber (you can transfer/award this to someone else), and a cyber-high five! And, a new addition to the prize list is the two hour (!!) recording of Blog Marketing 201 – 501 (part of the CEO Training for Me, Inc. – listed at $49.95 (but much more valuable than that!).
You can see the other winners of this award, which has been going on for over two years, at the Monthly Winner category.
Rex looks like he’s got a lot going on. Gary Vaynerchuk talks about “who is going to be the Dr. Phil of law?”
Go get it rex.