I was testing a new cellular phone at T-Mobile last night, and I asked the sales person to show me the speed I could enjoy to search videos on YouTube. He asked my name and search it on YouTube. Much to my surprise and delight, there was a new video posted there from a customer who was saying great things about the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide.
Brad Tollefson of VLST Media attended one of my recent live presentations during which I shared how to “Kick Your Boring Bio to the Curb to Attract Money, Clients and Media Attention Now.” He bought the guide and likes it a whole lot. You can view the video by visiting this link. Wow. That made my day.
Clients write to me just about daily to tell me how this guide helps them attract more of the right opportunities. In fact, I just heard from Mary Hutson at The Huston Group. She writes,
Hello Nancy,
Just a quick note to say “thank you!” again for all you do. Your advice in your e-books and on your blog is spot-on with how to connect to and interact with the media. We’ve had some recent “wins” that I chalk up to your good advice, including an interview with CNNMoney.com about business interruption insurance as it relates to the BP oil spill. Your advice work and can make a real difference to small business owners. Thank you,
Mary Hutson, Content Manager/Principal,Hutson Resource Group
I love receiving emails like this.
Is your bio ready for the big results you want in your business? I’d love for each of you to have the same success that Forensic Accountant John Hutson enjoyed as a result of his great bio and expertise. Let me make it easy for you to read John Hutson’s bio, prepared with the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide as his tool of choice. If this guide is what you need to finally get your bio in great shape to attract money, clients, and media attention now, I’d be honored to earn your business. I can also write your bio for you via your very own Extreme Bio Makeover appointment. Whether you take the DIY approach or ask me to do it for you, I am here to help. Click here to read more and engage in the ways that suit your “getting it done” style and budget best.
It is always a thrill to hear from happy clients who use the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide to help them tell their stories in a winning way. Today, Melissa Wadsworth connected by email to share the new bio she created to tell her own story.
Melissa Wadsworth has empowered thousands to access their creative intuition and vision – propelling them from blocked to brilliant! After working with Melissa, her clients have released age-old fears and self-doubt to manifest business and personal breakthroughs – from securing major speaking engagements and media attention to experiencing deeper connections with loved ones and a profound alignment with their purpose and place in the world.
Melissa’s fun and mind-expanding What You Notice Matters!™ books, videos, retreats, workshops, and one-to-one mentoring help clients step out of their “smallness” and celebrate their authentic gifts and talents. Melissa is a DailyOm.com instructor and is a featured presenter at personal development events such as Harv Eker’s Master Your Mind conference.
“It’s a Dream Come True for You and Me”
As a child, Melissa was captivated by the Disneyland “Carousel of Progress” attraction. The message of the theme song, “There’s a Great, Big, Beautiful Tomorrow” imprinted resolutely on her tender soul. Years later she realized it spoke directly to her passion for creative evolution. Then in her late thirties she had inspired AHA!: “What You Notice Matters!™ In quick succession, she manifested her dream home, her dream man, and she left her 20-year PR career to fulfill her writing dreams. Her first book was published in 2005 and she is currently at work on From Blocked to Brilliant! 9 Steps to Living Your Dreams.
Transformational Vision
Melissa has taken her unique process and created a transformational program for others. This process connects clients to the importance of living their purpose and paying it forward. What You Notice Matters! reminds clients to Wake Up and notice that the universe is always sending them THE perfect guidance, people, resources, and opportunities they need to activate their true potential and achieve their goals. Quite simply, you can’t access, appreciate, or expand what you don’t notice. As one client rejoiced, “I’m diving deeper and flying higher!”
Message from Melissa
“Let me introduce you to your inner decision-maker who keeps you on track and expands your visionary power. It’s an honor and a privilege to guide you on a journey that will light you up and give you goosebumps!”
Live radiantly with attention, intuition and vision!
I think Melissa sounds like one compelling professional who is contributing a great deal for her ideal clients and welcoming plenty of good things in her life as a result. Don’t you?
Melissa wrote her new bio with the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide and the accompanying 70-minute audio file as her tool of choice. Here is what Melissa had to say about the role the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide and audio played in helping her to share her story:
“Nancy Juetten’s Bye Bye Boring Action Guide and audio file were just the shot of energy I needed to turn my pretty good bio into something special and memorable. I’m a strong non-fiction writer, but writing about myself is a real challenge. By having great examples of outstanding biographies and following a couple of Nancy’s powerful suggestions, I was able to transform my bio. Now it reveals more personality and dynamically speaks to the exciting benefits of my business. Thanks Nancy for enabling to put my best self forward. What a fantastic and much needed service you provide. Entrepreneurs everywhere need to know about this.”
Thank you Melissa, for sharing your story and the tool you used to get the mission accomplished.
Anyone else out there who wants what Melissa is having is just one click away.
You can also register for the one-time teleseminar with me and Pam Perry, taking place on Thursday, July 15 at 4 p.m. Pacific Time. Eighty-seven people have already pre-registered for this call. Join them! You can register at this link. “See” you on the call!
Would like to meet me in person and learn some useful tips to get seem, heard, celebrated and COMPEN$ATED because you have finally have a bio that makes you and your expertise stand out and shine?
If you answered YES to both questions, join me at Friends Philosophy and Tea on Wednesday, June 23 from 3 p.m. – 5 p.m. I am hosting a free Biznik event that promises powerful tips you can apply immediately in your business to connect more readily with the right clients so you can attract more bounty in your business now.
I gave this same presentation a test drive at a live event attended by 20+ aspiring authors last week and I earned rave reviews like this one:
“I just heard Nancy speak at another event and she is a true gem. Don’t miss this event if you want to see an outstanding professional who is talented, funny and personable.”
– Jeff Bow Executive & Business Coaching
I invite you to put my content to the test to your own benefit.
There is space to welcome 50 perfect guests, and 24 spaces are already spoken for. Of course, there will be time for informal networking before my presentation, so bring plenty of business cards and be prepared to make connections to guide your business to a new level of wow right now. Read all the details about this event at this convenient link. Pre-registration is required.
And, if you have some “dead” cell phones you’d like to donate, bring them along! I promise to recycle them in an eco- friendly way and donate the proceeds to Olive Crest and Northwest Hope and Healing. These are two local non profit organizations that are near and dear to my heart.
Congratulations to the five lucky winners of the Extreme Bio Makeover as a result of the Done for You Giveaway Sweepstakes of the Century:
- Charlotte Marshall, Aim Higher Coaching
- Victoria Cook, The Guilt Free Coach
- Sharon Day, Miabella Design Group
- Erika Kalmar, Career Wellness Coach
- Dawn Martinello, Monday Morning VA
I am looking forward to working with all the winners.
Since the contest launched May 17, 2010, 798 people entered to win the Extreme Bio Makeovers. That tells me that there are a lot of people who are fed up with their boring bios, fired up and ready to do something about them.
If the timing is right to get into action now, you know it. If the Done for You approach resonates for you, get in touch to schedule YOUR Extreme Bio Makeover today. If you love to do things yourself, treat yourself to the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide. Either way, you get what you need, and you’ll be beaming with pride as you invite more clients, more media attention, or both to your business.
Speaking of which, I received this wonderful email today from a Bye-Bye Boring Action Guide customer that makes me beam with pride.
Hi Nancy,
… One thing I’d like to say is that your book is helping me to not only change the way I think about presenting myself in my bio but also in all of our marketing and PR materials. My husband and I own Red Paper Clip , and we find that it’s easy to write about other people’s businesses with fun, funky copy that takes them from being just another price point to consider to being a business that people are STOKED to work with. However, it’s much more difficult to do that for yourself…
Your book was recommended to us by Tad Hargrave, who Red Paper Clip hired for a one-on-one marketing session over the weekend. Tad is absolutely awesome, and when he recommends something, we trust him. However, when I visited your website, I checked out some of the other people who had given you testimonials, just to see what their bios look like and how the book has worked for them. One stood out in particular, and that was Kelly Watson of One Woman Marketing. I clicked on the link to her website, and was really impressed by what I saw. So, Tad gave us the referral to you, and Kelly helped seal the deal. I bought the book immediately.
I’m already on a roll with my bio, and once I’m finished, I would be happy to send it to you along with a testimonial for you to share on your website. And, if (or, as is more likely the case, when) we ever need a one-on-one PR session, I’ll know who to call.
Thank you Geneve! And thank you to the Done for You Giveaway Sweepstakes organizers for creating an engaging event that delivered so much value for all.
Main Street Media Savvy Tip of the Day:
Whether you like to do things yourself or have them done for you, just DO something to get what you need. Nothing happens without action.
Out here in free agent nation, millions of independent business professionals are pounding the pavement, attending networking events, and sharing their messages via cyberspace and social networks as they seek more perfect clients and media opportunities. The trouble is, many of them are failing to launch because the stories they tell about their background, experience, and qualifications are falling way too short of the mark.
Now more than ever, decision makers are doing business with PEOPLE as opposed to companies. That means they need to like, trust, and respect you immediately in order to engage. If the story you share in your online bio or social networking profile is bland, boring, and unremarkable, you’ve built a roadblock that can stand in the way of attracting the perfect engagements you seek. Here are among the most common bio blunders independent business professionals make that can stop opportunity in its tracks.
Arrogance and Affect
- Lofty language
- Too many five dollar words that don’t count for a lot
- Too many words that say too little
- The story leaves you with a gut feeling that this emperor has no clothes
- You feel at arms length as opposed to wanting to lean in and engage
Blah, Blah, Blah Boring, Bland, and Boilerplate
- The words scream “Who cares!”
- The story conveys no personality
- Unmemorable and unremarkable information put the reader to sleep
Content
- Crisis of credibility
- Absence of credentials or proof to your claims
- Absence of clarity about who you serve and why it matters
- “Cute” stories that don’t deliver content your ideal client cares about
- Too little content, too much content, and absence of “right sized” choices
Differentiation
- Information is disconnected and fails to tell a compelling story
- The words read like every other professional in your category
- Absence of stunning results, quotes, or compelling facts
Failure to Compel
- There is a “so what” reader reaction that fails to attract clients or opportunities
- Frustration continues to mount, along with your obligations
If you are fed up, fired up, and finally ready to do something about it, here are three suggestions.
Put your own bio through these filters.
Revisit the content to lead with your stunning results, succinct stories, sassy sound bites, and social information to help your ideal clients connect with you.
Share your new and improved story with the right decision makers to invite more of the right opportunities you seek.
Oh, by the way, help is close at hand with three ways to get the help you need, no matter the size of your budget.
Review the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide success stories and generous audio files posted to this blog. It’s free and fabulous information to guide you along your own path to bio success.
Buy the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide so you have the best tips, tools, templates, and examples to make it even easier to achieve success.
Make your appointment for an Extreme Bio Makeover and benefit from the inspired work of a professional who cares about putting your best story forward almost as much as you do.
You get one chance to make a fabulous first impression. Take the time to showcase what you bring to the marketplace in a compelling, memorable way in your online bio and social networking profiles. That will increase the likelihood that ideal clients will learn to like, trust, and respect you more readily, and you will likely get to “YES” a whole lot faster.
No matter which approach you take, remember this. It’s your story. Tell it well.
Permission to Reprint: You may reprint this article, provided you use it in its entirety and offer the following bio box for attribution.
Nancy S. Juetten is a “Media Savvy” newspaper columnist, speaker, Publici-Tea™ trainer, and the author of the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide. If you are a rock star, but your bio is all washed up, this guide shows you how to write a rockin’ bio, one step-by-easy-step. Get an excerpt from this popular guide when you opt-in to receive the Media-Savvy-to-Go ezine at www.byebyeboringbio.com. Reach Nancy at nancy@nsjmktg.com or 425-641-5214 (PST).
Tad Hargrave, founder of Radical Marketing, does a lot of work helping holistic professionals make the most of their limited marketing budgets. I invite you to see Tad’s video that addresses the three marketing tools you need most. He says, “Most holistic practitioners spend hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars on business cards, a beautiful logo and brochure and maybe some ads in holistic magazines. These almost never work.” Here’s Tad’s take on what DOES work.
Watch the Video.
If you weren’t able to make it, take heart. You can listen in at your 24/7 convenience by clicking on the audio file link below. You’ll hear how the recipe of the four s’s — stunning results, sassy sound bites, succinct stories, and social information to help ideal audiences connect — delivers the goods for clients who can benefit from how Nina serves the marketplace.
Nina was delighted by the transformation of her information into a powerful story, and here is what she had to say about her Extreme Bio Makeover:
“Inspired by Nancy Juetten’s Bye-Bye-Boring Bio Action Guide and using her fabulous templates, I turned my boring bio into one that impressed even me. I then handed it to Nancy along with a few pages of eclectic, random facts about myself, my past, my business, my clients, and my likes and dislikes. In 20 short minutes, Nancy applied her magic, bio-whispering talent and transformed a pretty-good bio into a stunning, proud-to-be-me product to post on my media page. Thank you, Nancy Juetten. You rock!”
You can also read Nina’s new bio that I prepared based on her excellent pre-workshop input, and here it is:
Hundreds of empty-nester women seeking to step off the back burner into satisfying, energetic, purposeful lives are singing the praises of Life Coach, Workshop and Retreat Leader, and Radio Personality Nina Durfee. Since 2006, Nina’s inspired work has shone light on a time-tested, proven, and practical process that guides her followers to get exactly what they want out of life — finally! Those touched by Nina’s gifts delight in being heard, acknowledged, and guided lovingly and deliberately to make meaningful life choices, to take action, and to design the sassy, classy lives they could barely imagine without her help.
Nina’s book, Full Bloom: 7 Practical Steps to Get What You Want + 1 to Grow On, has earned readers worldwide as she’s shared her life-sculpting message on Blog Talk Radio, in Northwest PrimeTime, The Country Register, Writer’s Journal, and Going Bonkers — the self-help magazine with a sense of humor.
At age 16, Nina took off and landed an airplane in a 35 mile-an-hour crosswind without the benefit of autopilot, and she lives to tell about it. Her fearless, adventurous approach to crafting an extraordinary life continues as she inspires others to do the same.
Happily married for three decades to the husband she met as a can-can dancer on stage in an Alaska saloon, Nina’s essential advice is this: “Live not by default, but by design.” Why wait a moment longer? Click here to find out more.
If you want what Nina is having, read more about the Extreme Bio Makeover service and sign up for your appointment. I schedule these appointments on Thursdays at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. I’d love to work with you.
I enjoy reading the bios of successful entrepreneurs. Check out Ali Brown’s bio as shared on an event sponsorship package I received recently and see how she tells her story:
One of the most dynamic female entrepreneurs of her generation, Ali Brown is founder and CEO of Ali International, a company that received the distinction of being named to the 2009 “Inc. 500″ list of fastest growing private companies in the nation. Through her coaching and inspiration, she has created a dynamic multi-million dollar enterprise that is devoted to empowering women around the world. She has been featured on TV networks including FOX, ABC, CBS, CW, NBC, E!, and HGTV. Ali’s rapidly expanding business empire now includes Ali Magazine, the Ali Boutique, the Millionaire Protégé Club®, and Ali Events. She currently supports close to 40,000 members as they start and grow businesses for greater income and personal freedom. Her main website, www.AliBrown.com, highlights her spectacular brands and highly sought-after programs that have commanded recognition and respect within the industry.
Her stunning results are clear. The credibility of her performance is well demonstrated. I might re-write the last sentence to say that her sought-after programs have successfully guided thousands of entrepreneurs — from stay-at-home Mom newbie business owners to fully fledged savvy business divas — to achieve greater financial independence and realize and experience that their success has no boundaries. That seems more meaningful than “commanded recognition and respect within the industry.” I would add a sassy sound bite from Ali to bring some of her warm and generous personality into this description. Or, I’d also search through her considerable media credits to find a quote that describes her in compelling and inspiring terms with attribution to the source.
A succinct story that would lend even more impact to this bio is a story I’ve heard her tell. When she was a just starting out as a business owner, she didn’t have enough money in a checking account to withdraw $20 with her ATM card. There is something very compelling about a “rags to riches” story like this that goes a long way toward bringing even more of the right people to the table to benefit from the banquet Ali delivers to loyal fans and followers worldwide every day.
By the way, when you read Ali Brown’s longer bio on her website, you’ll find all these additional pearls. You just have to read more text to find them. I am a big proponent of putting all the best pearls front and center without having to ask the reader to go searching. Most radio and TV program producers won’t go to that trouble. More importantly, it is crucial to make it easy for members of the media to introduce you exactly the way you want to be introduced so the table is set for you to work your magic straight away.
Nancy’s “AFTER” Bio with These Edits Reflected:
“Nothing makes me more proud or excited, sometimes to the point of tears, when my members have a big breakthrough, share a success story that changed their lives, or multiply their incomes in ways that they couldn’t before imagine.”
– Ali Brown
One of the most dynamic female entrepreneurs of her generation, Ali Brown is founder and CEO of Ali International, a company named to the 2009 “Inc. 500″ list of fastest growing private companies in the nation. When Ali was just starting out as a business owner, she didn’t have enough money in a checking account to withdraw $20 with her ATM card. By immersing herself in books and courses on marketing, success, and prosperity, Ali figured out how to grow her influence and wealth as she served prestigious clients such as New York Times Digital, Adweek Magazines, Scholastic Books, and Dun & Bradstreet. In doing so, she became a recognized and often quoted authority to a number of books and the media about driving sales and marketing via email marketing in Entrepreneur Magazine’s Business Startups, Personal Success magazine (U.K.), Success for Women magazine, and the Sydney Morning Herald. Today she empowers thousands of entrepreneurs — from stay-at-home Mom newbie business owners to fully fledged savvy business divas — to follow her lead and realize success without boundaries. Through her coaching and inspiration, she has created a dynamic multi-million dollar enterprise that is devoted to empowering women around the world. She has been featured on TV networks including FOX, ABC, CBS, CW, NBC, E!, and HGTV. Ali’s rapidly expanding business empire now includes Ali Magazine, the Ali Boutique, the Millionaire Protégé Club®, and Ali Events. She supports close to 40,000 members as they start and grow businesses for greater income and personal freedom. Learn more about all of Ali’s brands and sought-after programs and products at www.alibrown.com.
And, if radio interviews are a priority, I’d shorten this bio to two or three sentences so any radio host can just read those lines as they welcome Ali to their shows. That three-line bio could read as follows:
Ali Brown is founder and CEO of Ali International, a company named to the 2009 “Inc. 500″ list of fastest growing private companies in the nation. A self-taught entrepreneur with her own “rags to riches” story, Ali’s events, products and programs empower thousands of stay-at-home Mom newbie business owners to fully fledged savvy business divas to create success for their lives and work without boundaries. Please welcome Ali Brown to the show.
These additions add impact and social connection to the story, and that makes the story even more worth telling, sharing, and remembering. And it sure makes it a whole lot easier for the media to get to the meat of the matter right away.
(Ali, if you are reading this blog post, know that I am a big fan of your work and would love to meet you one day. Can’t wait!)
What a treat to be invited to contribute to Sue Lundquist’s “I’m Thankful” radio show this morning. The subject of our interview was — big surprise here — how to kick your boring bio to the curb. I talk about how one bio doesn’t necessarily fit all situations. It’s best to have the perfect bio for every media application — your radio interview, your speaker sheet, your book jacket, and beyond. I even give Sue some tips to help get her speaker sheet in great shape to invite more of the right opportunities.
Here is the link to click to listen in so you can apply some of the useful tips shared during this engaging interview for your own benefit.
You can also read what Sue had to say about today’s broadcast at this link
The Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide teleclass hosted by Tshombe Brown and me has been earning some great reviews. You can tune in at this link:
My favorite part of the call was transforming the bios of a real estate agent in Portland and a serial entrepreneur from Perth, Australia from “boring, bland, and boilerplate” to “memorable, remarkable, and really great” as a means of demonstrating the lessons I teach from the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide. The business owners whose bios were being “workshopped” were “on” the call to respond to the Extreme Bio Makeover suggestions, and they were really wowed by the transformations.
Please, share this with everyone you know so we can get a jump-start on banishing boring bios everywhere. And, you can see some of the special offers I have extended to call participants at this link.
Thanks Tshombe Brown for being such a great co-collaborator. And, oh by the way, when you listen all the way to the end of the call, you can hear about the Publici-Tea™@Sea luxury cruise to Alaska that is brewing for August 8 – 15, 2010. I’d love to have the perfect people come on board who are truly serious about building their businesses, building the buzz, and forming new relationships to catapult success to even higher levels. Aren’t you the least bit curious? Don’t you want to know more? And won’t you come and play and learn this summer? It’s going to be fun. Come on aboard!
List
If this guide is what you need to finally get your bio in great shape to attract money, clients, and media attention now, I’d be honored to earn your business. I can also write your bio for you via your very own Extreme Bio Makeover appointment. Whether you take the DIY approach or ask me to do it for you, I am here to help. Click here to read more and engage in the ways that suit your “getting it done” style and budget best.
