As the credit crunch hits hard and 'the fat lady' of world recession begins singing, are there any opportunities or upsides? It's hard to stand out as a professional in a cluttered, noisy marketplace, without giving some thought to your personal brand. If you want to be the stand out choice, building your personal brand helps people come to you. If you're not familar with the idea of personal branding, take a look at this quick slide show by one of the world leading personal branding experts.

This is a quick slide show by Hajj E. Flemings, leading US personal brand strategist, on what a personal brand is. No need to take in everything as it's quite overwhelming. It will give you a feel for how strong personal branding works.

What can you learn from this? Three things.

1. A brand is more than a commodity. A personal brand is more than a person. If a substitute for you is as good as you, then you're a commodity. People need something a little different if they're going to choose you, above and beyond all of their other choices.
2. Your personal brand should make an emotional link. If you're going to send out the right cues and mesages (your brand) to build the personal reputation you desire, you've got to engage people with something that will swtich them on and appeal to their senses.
3. Personal branding is not something that just happens. You've got to think about it. The great examples Hajj gives did not happen overnight. Some serious thought went into them. What's going into yours?