The Handshake Club

 

J.D. Gershbein is quite a character.  He is the President of Owlish Communications and a successful Internet marketer, LinkedIn profile writer and trainer.  He helps individuals and businesses navigate the often murky waters of Social Media.  He’s also a gifted cartoonist who’s turned his passion for humor and art into a viable business opportunity.  J.D. is the creator of The Handshake Club, an entire cartoon universe of characters who are thinking, feeling businesspeople—and social networkers.

 

Enter Will Banter, CEO of Banter Media and Brandy Share, owner of Cliché Marketing Group.  Both are inhabitants of The Handshake Club and, as they are in business, are represented on LinkedIn.  Look deeper and you’ll discover these characters are expertly crafted vehicles that are deliberately and sophisticatedly marketed on the platform.  Replete with head shots, qualifications and back stories, they are intended to showcase J.D.’s distinct and unprecedented approach to personal branding.  J.D. takes great pleasure in presenting his characters as high achievers despite their flaws and idiosyncrasies.  Through their frequently accidental accomplishments we see the potential greatness in ourselves. 

 

Take Will Banter.  He is charismatic, kinetic, fun and a true pay-it-forward guy.  His company, Banter Media, is known for “creating success in Social Media for those seeking success in Social Media.”  Will is the guy who gets it.  He has time for this sort of thing.  He seems to effortlessly keep all the plates spinning.  He is a prolific podcaster, keynote speaker and blogger.  Yet he often gets tangled up in his words and communicates in redundancies, an apparent handicap for those so entrenched in the social networking arena.  Still, he’s your man when you need a crash course in Web 2.0.  Will is a virtuoso bass guitarist who plays for a band called The Rhomboids.  He works out regularly and loves coffee.  Lots of coffee.

 

Then there is Brandy Share, the Principal of the Cliché Marketing Group.  Her core expertise in marketing and branding mirrors that of the top players in the game.  Although she renders awkwardly fragmented phrases and, yes, clichés, as taglines, her clients consider her brilliant.  However, she simply cannot come up with a suitable tagline for her own business.  She has obvious passion for helping women entrepreneurs.  She launched G.A.L.S., Growing Alliances with Lasting Synergies, a networking group designed to unify and empower businesswomen.  Her personal interests include Oprah, oil painting and movies.

 

 

 

In the end, all roads lead back to J.D. Gershbein and Owlish Communications where individuals and businesses are showing up at his virtual door wondering “how the heck did you come up with this stuff and what can you do for my company?”  This down-the-rabbit-hole approach might have some shaking their heads.  But in this crazy, fast-paced business world where everything is going online and differentiation is king, it’s working for J.D.   

Comments

[Natural Anxiety Remedies]

Nice Cartoon. Where are mosts of your illustrations at?

[Jennifer Djordjevic]

Thanks for your inquiry! J.D.'s work will become more prolific in the coming months. To keep up with what he is working on visit his website at http://www.owlishcommunications.com/. Thanks!

[Generic Viagra]

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