Personal Branding is not spin, pretending, or an ego trip. It's simply smart business. 

What is Personal Branding? It's about how you market yourself to the crowd and how that crowd decides to interact with you. It is discovering the core of who you are and being able to express it to people who need to know. If you don't do it, someone else will. First impressions automatically label you. The guys at Tricycle Consulting say, "Your brand is your business. Your brand is the way people feel when they experience your product or service. Your brand is the legacy that people will remember when you're gone.".

Why you need to brand yourself? People buy personalities and ideas long before they buy the product. Tom Peters, a pioneer of personal branding, says "Be distinct or be extinct." Let people know who you are. All of those unique, creative, quirky things you do can work for you in a positive way.

How can you brand yourself? It sounds elementary, but is vital -- find out who you are. Ask people to email five adjectives that describe you and what your value is. Knowing how others perceive you lights up the blind spots within yourself. Are you hiding bits and pieces of yourself or are you too humble to acknowledge your uniqueness? How can you change your perceived liabilities into true assets? Once you are in alignment with yourself it is easy: be a resource for the media, be an expert in your industry, or write an article for a local paper. For more information, visit the people at A Brand You World.

Go all out because it's You, Inc.!

"Always be a first rate version of yourself and not a second rate version of someone else." -Judy Garland