If we read one more boring-ass bio, we are going to scream. Who made the rule that professional bios have to read like an engineering textbook? No offense to engineers, but yuck. If the point of a bio is to pique someone’s interest, why does it seem like a competition for the most boring?
It’s like we were told to check our personality at the door when entering professional work land. We think that is stupid, so here are our tips on writing a fun, engaging, and attention-grabbing bio.
Keep it short, stupid.
Bios are inherently a little braggy. They’re all about you and the things you’ve done that others might consider a big deal. Be concise, or as we like to say – be brief, be memorable, and be gone. Start out with a one to two-sentence blurb, you’ll need to have this for any articles you might have published.
We don’t need to read about that one time at band camp, instead, try a sentence like this: Kim Bode, Dog rescuer (hoarder), community advocate (vigilante), wine drinker (wino), and proud (obsessed) business owner – often distracted but never deterred.
The reader now knows everything they need to about this Bode person – she clearly loves dogs, is a little overzealous in the community, might possibly be an alcoholic, runs a business, and is distracted by shiny objects.
Be a storyteller
Tell who you are in the third person, and pretend you are introducing a friend and not yourself. How would you characterize them?
“Bode loves small businesses, almost as much as she does dogs and iced red wine. She is constantly writing or talking about her business journey on her blog, smallbizmusings.com, Entrepreneur Magazine, Authority Magazine, and the Happy Hour Hustle podcast. She loves chatting about culture, leadership, and public relations. She’s incredibly honest, which endears her to the audience (ok – we embellished this part).”
Let your personality shine through.
Organize it
Intro
Describe what you’re passionate about and outline the values you live by.
- Small business
- Supporting women
- Giving back to where you live, work and play
First value
Expand on one of your values, then show how you’re putting that into action.
Surrounding herself with small business owners led her to serve on the Small Business Association of Michigan’s Legislative Action Council and Leadership Council Advisory Committee. Don’t worry, she also passes her knowledge of things onto college students by supporting all Dr. Adrienne Wallace’s efforts to mold young minds through GrandPR and Grand Valley State University’s PRSSA.
Second value
Keep outlining values, until you’ve reached three. Any more than that and it comes off as disingenuous. No one has that many values unless you’re Mother Teresa and we both know you’re not.
Supporting women is another passion of Bode and she lives it out by serving on the Inforum Regional Council (2022) and their event committee. She has brought in people like Tarana Burke, founder of the Me Too Movement, and Sarah Thomas, the first female NFL official to chat with the West Michigan community.
Third value
Wrap it up, enough bragging.
She is also the Vice Chair sits for North Quarter Corridor Improvement Authority Board, board advisor for the Michigan Women in Defense chapter, founding board member of the nonprofit For the Vets, and committee member with United Methodist Community House and Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP).
Get personal
Leave them with something to remember you by. What are some accomplishments you’re damn proud of it?
When Bode isn’t networking and serving, she is hanging at her cabin in the woods with her incredibly supportive husband and seven eight seven six dogs.
- Badass accomplishment: Being a business owner for 15+ years, 2021 Michigan 50 Companies to Watch, oh and being on the Forbes Top 200 PR Firms of 2021 (only one in Michigan).
Is this everything this Bode person has done or accomplished? Obviously not, but it’s what is current and the most important.
You’re not writing a novel, you’re writing the back cover of the book to entice people to dig deeper and find out more.
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