Would you like your bio to go from flat and boring to enticing and exciting? Today I want to talk about your bio. Whether it’s your LinkedIn profile, the “About” section on your Facebook page, the “About” section on your website or maybe it’s the intro when you speak at the local group, if you’re in business you need a bio.
If you’re like a lot of entrepreneurs, writing your own bio is hard. I’m a professional writer and I hate writing my own bio. I’ve written dozens of profiles for other people but when I have to write my own I’d rather clean the toilet.
There are a couple reasons why this is. First, it’s really hard to be objective about yourself. The things that you find most interesting and most important about yourself are not necessarily what other people care about. And the things that you think are unimportant are probably the stuff that other people really find interesting.
The second reason it’s a difficult to write your own bio is we grew up being told don’t brag about yourself and then suddenly you’re having to do it in writing. As a result it feels icky and painful.
Instead, imagine you are going to your high school reunion and you run into a bunch of your old friends. When they ask you what you do, do you tell them the name of your company, a list of your qualifications and the products and services that you sell?
No. You come up with the story about how you got the idea to start your business or what made you take that leap from being employed being an entrepreneur. Or you tell some funny stories about some wacky clients you had or brag about amazing clients you have.
You don’t go into the technical details of your business; you want to tell a story that’s entertaining. And that’s what your bio should be; that’s what your About page should be.
Because all marketing is about getting people to know, like and trust you enough so that they can reach into their wallet and buy from you. However if you don’t ever give anything of yourself so that they can decide whether or not they know you, like you and trust you that’s never going to happen. So if you are ready to rewrite your About page or your bio, take a couple minutes and think of some of the stories that you tell about how or why you started your business.
If you use these stories as the basis for your new bio I think you’ll be happy with the results.
If you have a really great bio, or you know somebody who does, leave a comment and share link to the bio so we can take get inspired by some other great bios.
