The Good, The Bad, and The Bio

If you are in business, you need a good personal bio, written and at the ready. Your bio can be your 60 second advertisement for why you are the perfect person for whatever it is you’re seeking – a new job, a writing or speaking gig, or an introduction to a volunteer board with whom you’re working.

A great bio has three key features:

The most important and eye-catching information is at the beginning (don’t save the fact that you were recently featured in the Wall Street Journal for the last sentence.)

The words are in the active tense (for example, “Suzy Q. Jones is the top salesperson at XYZ company, and continues to lead the company to exceed its goals each year.” instead of “Suzy Q. Jones has been the top salesperson for XYZ for 5 years, and has continued to lead the company to exceed its goals.”

It’s short. That’s right, no need to write an actual hard-cover biography book. Hit the highlights of your career, keeping it to 10 sentences, max.

There are many components that make a bio perfect, including excellent writing, but if you keep these three features in mind when you write your bio you’ll be off to a great start!

Grab your laptop and get started writing your bio today. Happy Writing!