When was the last time you had to stop and think about what it is you do?
If you’ve been doing what you do for a while now you’ve surely got your elevator pitch down pat. I mean, saying what you do in a couple of brief sentences when you’re standing in front of someone isn’t so tough. I mean, if you mess up a bit, they’re right in front of you so you can explain yourself or answer any questions that might come up.
But what happens if you have to *gasp* write about what you do?
Believe it or not, as much as I write on a day to day basis, you’d be surprised to learn just what I go through to avoid writing. About anything. And writing my new bio was no exception.
About a month or so ago I came across this great article by Copylicious offering up16 questions to help write that douche-free bio. You’d think that with the hard stuff – the actual what to write stuff – out of the way that I’d be off and running and have the easiest, breeziest bio.
Yeah…not.
I put it off as long as I could. And then I struggled over it. Then I had a deadline put in front of me. Next week I’m speaking to the Women Jewelers Association about how social media can help their business. And you guessed it, they needed a bio.
So I pulled out Copylicious’ fabulous list of questions and did the best I could. Now, I’m not proud it wasn’t my best work by any means. I mean, wow, I sure can babble on and on. Even though I handed something in, notice that my About Me page hasn’t been updated.
Then we jump ahead to today…
Months ago (and I do mean months…back in early January), I was invited to be included in the Crave LA book (that’s a mock-up of the cover over on the left hand side). I agreed to participate and then realized I had to answer some questions and write a brief bio. Basically, I was given the order that I needed to get this done…today.
So I did. I sat down and spent a good two hours trying to figure out how to clearly and authentically, describe what it is exactly, that I do. In less than 65 words! Wow. Not an easy task.
On top of that, I had to answer 10 or so questions (of which they’ll only pick maybe two) about what I like, what I do in my spare time, what makes me so fabulous, etc. You know, the stuff you want to sound fun and breezy, not cheesy. Not the easiest task.
My suggestion, get started rewriting that non-douchey bio now when you don’t have any pressure to get it out now. And if you haven’t done it yet, get that elevator pitch so smooth it just rolls off your tongue.
So….what do you do?
