This is a question that I’m always asked, and while there is no set rule on the matter, it’s certainly something that divides opinion. Just glance through a handful of LinkedIn profiles to see what I mean. But as our personal bio becomes more important in a world where our digital profiles are read before our voices are heard, understanding how best to write your bio is definitely something worth figuring out.

Your personal bio serves several functions. Firstly, it needs to tell people who you are and what you’re about and it’s a great opportunity for you to tell people what makes you great/different/interesting/unique/qualified for the job/credible/worth listening to (*delete as appropriate). Ideally it should tell people what you think they will be interested in knowing about you and help you to stand out and be memorable. What you don’t want, are people giving up on reading your personal bio half way through because they’re bored or they think you’re an idiot. Anyway, back to the question; “Should my personal bio be written in the first person or third person?”

As part of my research for this post, I put the question to my Twitter followers, and here are some of the responses I received.

@Story_Jon Jon Thomas “If its your own site, I would say first. Otherwise, third.”

@colinjbrowne Colin J Browne “Third. That way people can cut and paste it, which is really the point, I reckon.”

@CopyFountain “Personal bios: 1st or 3rd person RT @colinjbrowne: @AlexiaL Third. That way people can cut and paste it. <- Mark likes this.”

@gspress4attnpr Greg Simpson “hmmm re personal bio, I would say 3rd person as often used by people who do not know you”

When I ran a poll on my Facebook page, the votes were 67% – first person and 33% – third person. What does that tell you? We don’t really know! So, to help us figure this out, I think the first question we need to ask ourselves is this:

Where is it going to be used?

Is it on your personal website? Is it for a speaker bio at a conference? Is it for the “Meet our team” page on the company website? Is it for a book? All these are very different environments and the reader will have a different expectation of “who” is doing the talking. For example, at a conference, all literature and collateral is likely to be produced by the event organiser. So, in this situation, most people would probably expect a bio to be written in the third person. Just as if the organiser is standing there on stage introducing this person who’s about to come on.

However, if it’s for your personal website or your LinkedIn profile they are going to have a different expectation. People are going to be engaging directly with you (you hope!). So, in this environment you want to be able to create that connection as effortlessly and as naturally as possible. Imagine being at an event and introducing yourself: would you do it in the 3rd person? NO! Not unless you’re an idiot or you’ve multiple personalities. People are going to assume that you are responsible for your own website or LinkedIn profile and that you write it yourself. That is, unless you want to create the impression that you have a team of minions that do everything for you. But even if you did, would you still outsource the bit where you meet and engage with new people? Probably not. A great bio will encourage people want to find out more about you. People are more likely to want to find out more about you if you’ve helped to create a connection with them and in this situation, a connection is better created when you’re speaking as you rather than through someone else.

@StoryJon ‘s response “If its your own site, I would say first. Otherwise, third.” highlights my next point.

Your personal bio never exists in the singular

You have several. It is likely after all, that you will be engaging with different audiences, in different places, in different contexts. Different audiences have different needs and will be interested in different aspects of you. In some instances your bio will need to be four or five lines, whereas others may be two or three paragraphs. Do you have the same bio in your Twitter profile as your LinkedIn profile? Knowing what to say, where, and to who is the art of communicating. So having one bio to fit all these is just not going to work. You don’t have just one way of introducing yourself when you meet people; you have several depending on who you meet, where you are and what you think they’ll be interested in. The same goes for your bio.

Free for all?

@ColinJBrown ’s comment “Third. That way people can cut and paste it, which is really the point, I reckon.“ is interesting. Personally I’d never considered that someone would copy and paste my bio from my site. Why would anyone be using your bio without your knowledge? In my mind, if someone wants a bio from you, it’s very likely that you’re already engaging with them on some level and that you know that they will want your bio. Maybe you’re speaking at their event, or contributing to their magazine or blog. In this case I would send them a bio that is tailored to the audience and message I want to get across. This may well be a standard bio that you have ready to send, even if it is a direct copy of your first person bio.

Keep control of your message

Mark (@copyFountain) likes the fact that people can copy and paste a bio from the online home where it may be living. Personally, I find this a risky strategy. If anything, you DO NOT want people to copy it. If someone wants your bio, then it’s worth taking the time finding out where it’s going to be used and who’s likely to be reading it. This then offers you the opportunity to tailor your bio appropriately thus ensuring that you are saying exactly what you want to say to that particular audience.

This close management of your message will go a long way in helping you to build and maintain the kind of reputation that you can be proud of. The lazy approach of letting people copy and paste what they like, maybe even writing it for you, means that you are relinquishing control of one of the most important opportunities for you to be clear on what you’re about and thus extend your reach and your network in the way that you want. In a world where people will first meet you through your personal bio, can you afford to take the lazy approach?

So, what are your thoughts on whether your personal bio should be written in the first person or third person? I would love to know, so please leave me a comment and let me know!

I’m on a mission to ban elevator pitches! Why? Well, they’re usually wooden, soul-less pitches that sound so cheesy that the message and impact is often missed. So, what’s the alternative? Telling your story!

We all love a good story don’t we? That’s because we are hardwired to tell stories. Did you know that 70% of everything we learn is through stories? Such is the power of storytelling.

If you want your personal brand to have impact, a great way to achieve that is to wrap it up in a story. All great brands have stories. A great story can be engaging and memorable. If you want a strong personal brand, you’d better get yourself a great story. So, what’s your story?

“But what am I going to do with a story?”

Think of your story as your personal pitch or your elevator pitch. So, in the same way that you would use those, you story is a great thing to share with people that you meet. It’s a great way to get a conversation going. And conversations are the beginning of great connections and relationships. And who doesn’t want one of those?

I strongly believe that there are a lot of missed opportunities out there when people meet each other and they are asked to describe themselves or what they do. Mike Brown tackles this in his post “Personal Branding Decision – how do you describe yourself?”

In my view, too many people choose to identify themselves through their job title. Seriously. You are MORE than your job! There must be so many things that you’ve done with your life that you could share other than your job title. It’s do devaluing. How can you stand out and be remembered when you used a job title to describe yourself. A job title that zillions of other people have. You’ve just put yourself in a box! What a lot of people don’t realise is that when they’re asked the question “and, what do you do?” the asker doesn’t actually want to hear the answer. They’re just trying to make conversation. So it’s your job to create the platform on which that conversation can flourish. And while you’re at it, why not make it a memorable one?

On January 25th I will be giving a talk on Storytelling and your Personal Brand at the Personal Branding UK meetup. I will share my ideas on how storytelling can be used to enhance your personal brand and what I believe are the key ingredients for a great personal story.

I will also be running some “What’s your Story?” workshops in London and Nottingham in February and March. Details will be launched very soon.

We’re a lot more like onions than you think. Yes. Really.

If you’ve recently started working for yourself, one of the challenges you’re likely to come across is finding your true voice, your authentic self. Connecting to who you really are and what you really want is not always a straightforward process. One thing I have realised working with my clients is that the people that find it the hardest are those that were working in corporate environments that didn’t encourage them to be themselves. They’d spent so long trying to change who they were to fit in that they lost site of who they really are. This might have been because the organisational values and theirs were not aligned, or maybe they were doing a job that didn’t fulfil them or make use of their talents and strengths. Whatever the reason, once you’re free of the corporate machine you’re next biggest task is to do decide what to do next. And in doing so you’ll need to define yourself. In other words; develop your personal brand.

In making your next move, the chances are that you’ll use the online space to do so. Whether it’s on LinkedIn, ecademy or if you end up with your own site or blog. If you’re going to present yourself online, you’re going to need to make a call as to how you want to appear and what you want to say about yourself. That’s in addition to being clear about what you’re trying to achieve so that you know who you’re trying to talk to.

So, back to onions… like onions, when we’re an employee in a hostile environment we develop a thick skin to protect ourselves. It protects us nicely from the dirt that surrounds us; you know the politics, the falsities and all the other corporate BS. Then, when we get plucked free, the bit that people really want is the juicy fleshy bit. But to get to that, we need to shed a few layers first. How many layers will depend on how hostile corporate life was. Over to you Shrek…

Shedding these layers can take quite some time. I know personally, it took me well over a year to find my true voice. And believe me, the journey isn’t over!

The thing is, once you’re well on the way to finding your story you are blessed with the ability to really carve out a niche for yourself. Because in discovering your authentic self comes with it a renewed sense of confidence. This confidence enables you to inject your personality into what you do in a way that you’ve not done before. And once you get to do that, you’re on the road to uniqueness. The one thing that you can be sure of is that no-one else has got your personality. So, no matter what you end up doing for a living, if you do it YOUR way, then you will be unique and stand out from others. One of my favourite examples of this is Danielle LaPorte of White Hot Truth

Once you do this you will naturally attract others with similar values to you, which means you’ll probably enjoy working and being with them. And when you get to that, work doesn’t feel like work. And that my friend is success!

Here is an article I wrote as guest blogger for Smarta.com that you can find here.

Let me ask you this: when people ask you what you do, do you have a response that is clear, compelling and engaging? How you answer this question is a key part of your personal brand. It’s your story and should help you to be memorable and stand out, so that people know who you are and what you stand for. After all, we all know that the best form of marketing is word-of-mouth, and what better way than to inspire others to share your story. When you do this right, it won’t be too long before you hear the words “Oh yes! I’ve heard of you”.

Your personal brand is a combination of many things: how you present yourself and engage with others, your past results and achievements, your values and strengths, your goals and ambitions and what you’re known for. Developing and refining your brand takes time and effort, as it is crucial for your brand to be authentic and YOU. Anything else will be sniffed out. But overarching all this is the need for consistency. All strong brands can be relied to deliver upon their promises, consistently. And this is something that you need to think about.

Having a clear personal brand will not only improve your confidence in yourself. You will be able to attract investment more easily. As your profile improves, potential investors will hear about you and know whether or not you’re the sort of person they want to invest in. You are also more likely to attract the right staff for your business. Your personal brand and your business brand will be very closely linked, and your actions should be driven by your core values. As such, when you communicate your values through what you do, those people with similar values will be attracted to you. Of course, the same goes for attracting customers!

Social media is a great way of enhancing your personal brand. In this digital age, it is most likely that people will first come across you online. If not, they will certainly Google you after meeting you. So how your present yourself in the digital space needs to be consistent with your brand. Personal websites, blogging and active social network participation can all contribute to a strong online presence. But, don’t forget to show people the real you. After all, people do business with people. Twitter is a great way for showing your human side as well as engaging and forming new connections. It can be too easy to be “professional” and this can sometimes come across as cold and distant, not to mention boring.

So, what are you going to do today to enhance your personal brand?