Even if you already have an email account, there is nothing to stop you having another one – or two – or more. And they don’t have to be with the same ‘people’ – Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, Google – in fact you’d be better off if they aren’t.

Let’s now work on the basis that you have a personal HoYol account (get it? – Hotmail/Yahoo/Aol) which you have been using for years. Is it ‘fit for purpose’?

What I mean is probably covered by several concepts – and the first one concerns the actual email address itself. Is it right for the way in which you are using it – business, social, or simply personal?

Let me give you an example. One of mine is lynndalf@…. Straightaway, that will tell you that a) I’m a great fan of Lord of the Rings, especially Gandalf, which leads to b) that I set it up at about the time I saw the first Peter Jackson LotR film, The Fellowship of The Ring – and fell in love with it! (And the year was…? Answers on a postcard please or see below – or click this http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Lord_of_the_Rings_film_trilogy ) It probably says a lot more about me, but we won’t go there just now.

If I plan to have any kind of professional credibility, I’m gonna have to use a different email address. Unless of course I want to do something closely linked to the LotR concept, in which case I’ll probably have considerable copyright issues. We won’t go there either.

I once came across a funny email address for someone – evilpig@… – now, I honestly don’t think that is a good advertisement for a therapist, do you? People who are looking for someone to help them, may well see the humour, but then again, they are usually depressed, so they may not appreciate it at the time and move on to someone who seems more professional.

Your email address is an advertisement for you, albeit a small one. With one exception, using any of the free HoYol addresses does not speak highly of you – Gmail/Googlemail is probably the only one you can get away with. Besides, it’s easier for you to use as well and is much less cluttered in it’s user interface.

Next post I will examine a bit more about how you can set up your Gmail account/s to help you in your business, professional life, or even if you have other interests and just plain want to have a separate account.

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And the answer to when I set up my first Gmail account is

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2001.