The “from” line was in the format of  “steve@titleofmyjustpublishedbook.com“

There are a lot of Steves in the world and the book title didn’t ring any bells. So I thought the email came from a stranger, rather than someone I’ve known for 20 years. I nearly deleted it.

I’ve received emails in the past with a from line that just had a person’s first name, or just the name of their newsletter, or just the easy-to-forget name of their company.

It’s fine (and a good idea) to name all those things.

But as a solo professional with not a lot of brand recognition (I’m sorry to have to break this to you), none of these things will ever be as recognizable as the name your mom gave you all those years ago. And if I don’t open your email, nothing you’ve put inside of it matters.

Make sure your first and last name appear in the from line of all your emails! (Beyonce, you can just go with first.)