As the old adage goes: Keep It Simple, Stupid.
You aren’t stupid, but the maxim still holds true. Small, personal bios are extremely important when you are trying to sell yourself, whether you are an actor, model, author, lawyer, or involved with any person-to-person profession. When you meet someone face to face, your first impression is almost always a visual one, but when you are dealing with clients or partnerships through the mail or online, your bio is what introduces them to you and your brand.
In this day and age where it is almost impossible to circulate your "brand” without an online presence, your bio needs to say a lot of things about you in a short amount of space. However, before you can do this, you need to:
- Make sure your resume is up to date. Generally speaking you should list your past experiences in chronological order.
- Then, just as you would with a resume, extract the most notable accomplishments from all of your experiences. This is what you will use to represent you in your bio.
- Bullet-points are helpful for drawing attention to the details.
Yes, you are a brand, and that is the way you need to think about your bio.
Your bio needs to describe your accomplishments and your positive attributes in just a few short lines. It needs to deliver the most "bang for the buck,” so to speak. Think in these kinds of terms and it should make it easier to understand what directors and agents are looking for:
If I were trying to market myself on a 30-second television spot, what would I say?
If someone were to ask my friends or coworkers to sum me up in one sentence, what would they say?
If I had to describe myself in five words, what would they be?
You aren’t stupid, but the maxim still holds true. Small, personal bios are extremely important when you are trying to sell yourself, whether you are an actor, model, author, lawyer, or involved with any person-to-person profession. When you meet someone face to face, your first impression is almost always a visual one, but when you are dealing with clients or partnerships through the mail or online, your bio is what introduces them to you and your brand.
In this day and age where it is almost impossible to circulate your "brand” without an online presence, your bio needs to say a lot of things about you in a short amount of space. However, before you can do this, you need to:
- Make sure your resume is up to date. Generally speaking you should list your past experiences in chronological order.
- Then, just as you would with a resume, extract the most notable accomplishments from all of your experiences. This is what you will use to represent you in your bio.
- Bullet-points are helpful for drawing attention to the details.
Yes, you are a brand, and that is the way you need to think about your bio.
Your bio needs to describe your accomplishments and your positive attributes in just a few short lines. It needs to deliver the most "bang for the buck,” so to speak. Think in these kinds of terms and it should make it easier to understand what directors and agents are looking for:
If I were trying to market myself on a 30-second television spot, what would I say?
If someone were to ask my friends or coworkers to sum me up in one sentence, what would they say?
If I had to describe myself in five words, what would they be?
