How to Make a Biography about Yourself
Learning how to make a biography about yourself is very important because it enables you to make a good statement by introducing yourself in a professional manner. A biography or bio refers to a description of the life of a person- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biography. While writing a biography about yourself, you describe your life. A personal biography enables you to introduce yourself, list your credentials, highlight achievements and other notable projects that you have engaged in- smallbusiness.chron.com.
Personal biographies ought to be concise and short and they should list the relevant information only. You should avoid including irrelevant information in the biography. Instead, the biography should include information that your intended audience wants to get about you whether for a professional networking site or a personal website.
Why you should know how to make a biography about yourself
Writing a biography about you can be a difficult and even intimidating task but it is necessary. Today, people use personal biographies more than resume. Generally, you need a personal biography for various reasons.
They include:
- To tell people more about your attributes, reputation, make up and tone. These aspects are what differentiate a bio from a resume.
- To enhance conversation. A biography is written using a third person tone. It does not have a rigid structure like that of most resumes. This makes it more conversational and readable
- To convey more information. Most people have difficulties in conveying more information to target readers. Unlike a resume, you do not have to worry about the length of your bio and this allows you to convey more information.
A bio can be used when applying for an employment post, general networking through the social media, guest blogs and article publishing. Using a biography, you can communicate with the intended audience quickly and more efficiently.
How to make a biography about yourself in seven simple steps
- Reflection
Before you start writing a biography about yourself, know the reason for writing it. Start by listing down the major reasons for writing the biography. Think of a biography about yourself as the story that will describe you to the world. You can start your biography with a quote and then proceed to describing the journey that you have been through in life.
- Introduce yourself
Start the biography by telling the target readers who you are. To do this, use third person instead of first-person. For instance, say “Henry is a professional freelance writer” instead of “I am a professional freelance writer”. Tell the readers about your education and years that you have been working in a particular field. For instance, “he has a bachelor degree in journalism and has been working as a freelance writer since 2011.” In the introduction, list all areas that you have specialized in.
- Divide your life experiences into categories
Your life should be separated into different categories. For instance, you can divide it into childhood, adolescent years and college then working years. Ensure that each category provides an overview of your experiences at that particular category. While writing about each category, come up with themes that dominated your life at that particular time. For example, you might have had sadness and poverty to overcome during childhood. Make these your themes for that category. If for instance you had joy, happiness and pride during young adulthood, make these your themes. Come up with appropriate headings for each category. This way, you and the readers will be able to picture your life in a different light and know the main themes in your life.
- Describe your childhood
Your childhood has greatly impacted on the person that you are today. Let readers know how and who molded you into the adult that you are. Tell relevant stories about your childhood. For instance, you can tell readers about your other siblings and how they taught you certain things such as riding a bicycle. Tell readers how you sustained injuries due to multiple accidents while learning how to ride a bicycle yet your siblings motivated you until you became a great cyclist. Make childhood stories interesting and unique so that they can interest the readers. Go through family photos and other items that may help you recall your childhood. Using photos, you can easily remember moments that had great impact on your life. For instance, you may have lost a family member in your life. You may have also gotten the first boyfriend or girlfriend while in high school. Mention such people and events as well as how they changed or impacted on your life. You can include photos to make the biography more personal- forbes.com.
- Growth
Take readers through your life. Perhaps, having a life’s timeline is the most important things to master when learning tips on how to make a biography about you. Start from childhood, teenage years, youth and adulthood. Make sure that readers can easily follow your growth from childhood to the person that you are. For instance, you can tell readers about education and academic achievements that you have made as you grow to the person that you are. List them down including the degrees that you may have earned, the institutions that you attended and how they transformed your life. Make sure that the biography includes all relevant experiences that include the additional certifications that you have earned and professional bodies or organizations that you are a member to.
- The major turning point
When learning how to make a biography about yourself, master how to inform readers about the turning point of your life. This is the best part of any good story because it is where one reaches an epiphany. It is the point at which the main character in the story starts moving towards the appropriate direction or realizes something new about life. Therefore, tell readers what exactly transformed your life and how it happened. For instance, you may have come across a businessman or a professor in college who mentored you to become who you are. Something might have also happened that renewed your life and made you make a life-changing decision. It could also be a noble award or achievement that enabled you to get a particular job.
- Your current position and the future goals
Tell the readers about the current happenings in your life and where you are headed. You can tell readers about your next five, ten or fifteen years. For instance, you could be an employee right now but you are planning to be an employer in the next ten or five years. If you want to motivate your readers, let them know the odds that you have had to beat in order to reach where you are now and that you are enjoying your current life. Let readers know that you are learning, growing and improving.
Important tips on how to make a biography about yourself
After knowing how to make a biography about yourself, it is important to know the tips that will make your biography more effective.
They include:
- Write in a conversational tone
Make your biography sound like a conversation between you and the intended audience. Ensure that the tone is professional though light. Avoid big words and slang because these can alienate readers.
- Add personality
You can achieve this by making the biography a snoozer. Spruce the biography up with colorful and well-chosen words. Include metaphors, humor and photos too.
- Share information about your volunteer work and hobbies
This is very important because it shows the readers that you have a social life. Volunteer work shows that you have diverse interests and that you like serving others. You should also indicate the skills that you have acquired by engaging in volunteer work and hobbies.
- Tell readers why they should consider you
Let readers see the essence of considering you as their resource or an employee. You can do this by including presentations, awards, professional memberships and publications.
- Tell readers how they can find you
It is important that you include contact information that can be used to reach you. This includes telephone numbers, email address, social media and blog or website URL. Remember that if you are a businessman or a professional, your biography should present you as a professional that people can freely work with or do business with.
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Online Sources
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/write-short-bio-yourself-57289.html
http://theundercoverrecruiter.com/8-steps-writing-bio-pro-chris-brogan-fact/
http://www.profkrg.com/how-to-write-a-professional-bio
http://communicateskills.com/2012/08/05/look-good-on-paper/
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4866913_writing-personal-biography.html
http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Personal-Bio
http://classroom.synonym.com/write-biography-yourself-college-2414.html
http://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2014/06/03/what-to-do-when-you-need-a-bio-rather-than-a-resume/