How important is self‑promotion and personal branding for building trust in the industry, especially for professionals like lawyers, and should I focus on it or on direct outreach?

I usually tell people starting out to skip personal branding. A simple LinkedIn page and a one‑minute introductory video are enough and only take a couple of hours to set up. Spending a lot of time building a public brand is a poor allocation of resources because it takes months before you see any payoff and can even hurt your career if peers judge you. Instead, focus on invisible outreach: build lead lists, strip out the companies you’re targeting, and send personalized videos or cold‑email messages directly. I’ve reached millions of people this way without any public branding. This direct outreach lets you grow your business quickly and develop a skill—hunting and converting leads—that’s far more valuable than a flashy personal brand.