Recently an online personal branding expert from Iraq, Mohammed AL- Taee  asked for my opinion of what personal branding is? We have heard several definitions which include: it is personal uniqueness in the market place’, a weapon that one uses to market personal core competences and taking advantage of such in the marketplace, a way of selling one’s uniqueness and promoting self differentiation, the rush to re-apply the marketing process from products to people, to give them a beachhead in a million minds, is the great converging point of the modern world among many great definitions.

Self branding like product, service, corporate, institutional branding is now a must. When you open newspaper advert/vacancies for jobs today, the employers are looking for brands that match their DNAs.

Over time many are losing the will to participate because they do not want to follow any rule or guideline. Some complains rules make them inhuman. If you must excel in your personal branding journey, you must follow rules that will guide you against being a copy cat, robot or ‘crammers’. My take on this as expressed in a recent interview is that personal branding is an opportunity to influence others.
Every opportunity also carries its own responsibility. There is nothing like total freedom in life. The more freedom you have the more responsibilities you have to take. The difference is that the dividend of the responsibilities is the fun you enjoy as an individual. Take for instance, a financially independent person at twenty five can impact his/her environment (if he/she desires) than someone who becomes financially independent at sixty five.

So personal branding to me is never a ‘me too, I have arrived’ game. It is work. It is a permission given to you by your niche (when you have honed your skills, differentiated yourself in a niche) to use your developed, differentiated skills and make a contribution. To impact anyone you have got to honor, respect them and play the game according to what they feel, perceive is right. Anything outside the box will be a violation of trust. Violation of trust affects your perception and influence.