Voice Notes is (now) an occasional Friday feature. We take you inside the online brand presence of a business owner we think you should know — through a dozen evocative sentence-starters.

Abby (Chief Voice Bureau Officer) says:

For the longest time, I’ve wished there were a simple, inexpensive ‘handbook’ for putting a would-be successful online business together from the foundations up. When Paul Jarvis mentioned to me late last year that he was getting ready to release just such a guide, I told him I’d be happy to endorse it and sing its praises. I’ve been fond of Paul’s thoughtful, no-nonsense-with-a-side-of-humor writing style for a while — not to mention his clean, cool digital designs — and his new book Be Awesome at Online Business: A Handbook for Succeeding on the Web, also takes the cake (a vegan cake, in Paul’s case). It’s the exact primer I’m going to encourage all of my new-to-selling-goods-and-services-online clients to read — because it’s needed. His advice is straight to the point, never cloudy, and BS-free, and his perspectives on building a viable online brand and sales platform are tried and true. If you’re looking for a refresher in the basics, or bringing your brand to the web for the first time, this book is for you.

(The link above is our affiliate link, which means if you click it and buy Be Awesome at Online Business, we’ll receive some thank-you monies from Paul for helping to get this in front of your eyeballs.)

Paul Jarvis, Digital Storyteller, Web Designer & Developer

Paul Jarvis is the genius designer and developer behind some of your favorite online brands, including Danielle LaPorte, Justine Musk, bestselling authors, Silicon Valley startups, and Fortune 500 companies.

Twitter: @pjrvs

Personality typing? Why, yes:

My Myers-Briggs type is INTJ (“The Scientist” or “The Conceptualizer Director”), which shouldn’t come as a shocker to anyone that even slightly knows me, being the introverted, logical, constant tinkerer that I am.

An unlikely source of creative inspiration for me is:

Walks in the forest. Call me Thoreau, but I’m happiest and most inspired when I’m alone in the woods.

My brand is all about:

Helping people succeed online.

If I couldn’t do the work I’m doing now, I’d be a:

Vegan chef. With all the tattoos, it’d be either that or a cat-burglar (which I’m too clumsy for).

The iPhone/Android app I wouldn’t want to live without is:

Instagram. I never realized how much I like taking photos (of food and rats) until I started using it. I have no problem admitting I’m a sucker for their hipsteresque filters, either.

The truest branding advice I’ve ever heard is:

Be authentic. (Danielle LaPorte.)

I can never get enough:

Cuddles from my wife and rats. [Abby’s note: He’s not kidding about the second one. Follow him on InstaGram and see!]

Three online voices who really inspire me are:

• Matt “Chevy”
• Corbett Barr
• Julien Smith

My lifestyle, in 3 words:

Quiet, LOUD, quiet.

My favorite question to ask people is:

Why do you need a website?

The song/track/album that feels the most like my brand is:

My actual band, Mojave — because the music I compose sounds like how I design and write (at least I think it does). [Abby’s note: Listen to this! Found myself some great new tracks to write by.]

If my clients only hold onto one piece of advice from me, I hope it’s:

Don’t try to emulate successful people. The reason they’re so successful is because they’re not trying to emulate anyone else.

In the comments, we’d love to know:

What does being awesome at online business mean to you? (Or feel free to say ‘hey’ to Paul. I’m sure he’d dig that, too.)