How important is personal branding for freelancers?

[Btaliat]

For someone that wants to be a good freelancer, there is a need for such a person to learn how to build brands. You need to make sure that you have what people know you for. When you do this, you are creating authority for yourself. There are instances where people, I mean the clients, only go for those that have established themselves already. They refused to trust those that have not created brands. What can you say about this?