PR - making other people sell you, or selling yourself?

I found this blurb while sifting through PR posts. It says that PR is about getting other parties to sell you. While I agree with this, when I think of PR, it is not the first thing that comes to mind.

Rather than getting other parties to sell you, I think you need to sell yourself first. You obviously can't go it alone - no one would know your name if it weren't for the bloggers, TV stations, etc that keep your story alive. However, without that initial personal drive, none of the other media outlets would care about you.

I whole-heartedly believe this line - "It's earned respect, and as such it's more powerful than any other form of marketing because when it's successful, it's actually believable."

In PR, we do not buy our way into the news, magazines, TV shows. If your story is in the media, it's because you earned it. Something about you resonated with the public, and while you may not have to buy it, you definitely have to sell it!