I was watching a debate the other day on Youtube between a small group of political pundits - it was organized by The NY Times (I'll link it below for those interested). I don't know much about politics, but I was fascinated by how these people communicate and I'm constantly looking for nuggets of wisdom to take into my own life. Ben Shapiro said something that resonated with me - he used journalists as an example, but I'll generalize for the sake of this conversation:
We should not trust someone because they tell us they're a thing.
You should not trust me because I say I'm a personal branding expert.
You should trust me because you can go and LOOK and see stacks and stacks of evidence of me building my own personal brand.
The point is this: Developing a personal brand is about putting out value into the world every day so your name, image, and likeness become associated with that value. You don't have to SAY you're a thing. You just go out and do what that thing does with quality.