The Short Bio

There are many occasions where someone needs to have a “short bio” – perhaps you want to impress a prospective client or applying for funding or a position where the bare bones of a resume or curriculum vitae just don’t do it well enough.  It is a sales pitch about you!!!

A good bio will tell the reader who you are, and in the third person, state why you, your business, or your talents should be considered.  Be hontest.  Do not use information that can be proven to be false!

Make sure your name is clear, and at the end of your “pitch” put your contact details – all on the same page.  It should be no longer than 250 words and all positive with reference to your special skills or achievements.

Make it a little different.  Imagine you are the reader of a collection of bio’s and trying to use them to assist in making a decision about the best person for the job.  Make your bio stand out – perhaps in a subtle way.  If you can add a little (appropriate) humour it may well be what stands out to make the reader remember YOU!

I could write a whole page about it – but rather than write it all out – may I direct readers to a website which has the information.  Click here.

When you have done it – check for any typo or other errors, and then ask a friend or two to read it.  You might get additional suggestions from someone who knows you and knows your talents.

 An article by Jorgen Sundberg offers additional information. Click here.

 Another tip which might be helpful is to be able to say in a short sentence enough about what you do, or want to do, to impress the listener who may want to know more about you. In networking lingo we call it the “elevator speech” – imagine you are in an elevator and someone asks you what you do.  Can you put into a sentence enough words to impress?  This does take some practice, but it is well worth being proficient at this skill.  You will hear it referred to as "elevator pitch or elevator speech".

This article also may be helpful.  Click here

It is in a sense a micro-bio!

 

Why I Like to Write about People.

In 1963 I started my nursing training in Mount Gambier, in the south east of South Australia.  I had decided on the spur of  the moment to be a nurse - I had wanted to be a teacher, but "getting a job" seemed to be more important than anything else, so I had a few jobs and was in fact working for a doctor when I decided suddenly to be a student nurse.

It was an amazing three years and three months - so much growing up to do, so much learning, so much fun.  It was the time that something happened that impacted so much on me - a conversation with an elderly lady who was infamous within the hospital for throwing her faeces around the room around 4 pm each day! 

But it was another story about her that fascinated me - she claimed to have been a prostitute and named someone rather famous who had been one of her clients.  I was naïve and shocked and at the same time fascinated.  As we talked (and I didn't have to dodge flying poo on this occasion, she told me more of her story, which I confess I have scant recollection about now - some fifty plus years later.

I do recall saying to her - someone should write your story.  I was fascinated.  Sadly I don't think anyone did - but it was the first time that I recall being interested in life stories.  Many years later it is something that I am passionate about and intend to spend the next few years of my life inspiring others to write,  and to tell their story.

And so, as the year 2014 I look forward to promoting my business - The Official Biographer. 

When I talk with folk about writing their life story I get a number of reactions - often it is "My story?  I have had a boring life"  or "No one would be interested in reading my story" or "It is too hard."  Believe me, most people do have some interesting stories to tell - and if nothing else it could be a record for their children, or their grandchildren or whoever follows.

I like to help people write their own stories - or I am happy to do it for them for a fee.  But I like to talk first about "mini- biographies" - somewhere between 5000 and 10000 words to start.  That seems manageable.  For them and for me.

So, this blog is to record not their stories, though, with permission I may include some short pieces, but to encourage folk to start the process for themselves.