Writing a biography, or a bio, is an essential part of introducing yourself to potential clients, employers, and other contacts. A bio can allow you to make an impression on a person before you even meet them.
When your bio leaves a positive impression on readers, it can contribute to your success, personal brand, and professional development.
When writing a freelancer bio, you should consider a few essential things. Next, we will show freelance bio examples and discuss how you can write an eye-catching bio that leaves an excellent impression. And we'll demonstrate how Indy can help you build a better business, helping you to create a professional bio that will sell.
What Is a Bio?
Biographies, or bios for short, are short paragraphs that professionals use to introduce themselves to potential clients, customers, and employers.
Bios can be found on social media, personal websites, and even company directories.
Typically, a freelancer bio provides a summary of the accomplishments, previous clients, exciting projects, and an overview of their career history. Freelancers often also include a description of their professional goals.
Your bio is often the first thing your target audience sees when they speak to you.
They might visit your social media profile or your website and read more about who you are as a professional and a person.
To catch the reader's attention and to provide them with comprehensive information about you, the bio should include at least the following:
- Your name
- Your job title and company name
- A relevant achievement or accomplishment
- Your hobbies and interests
- Your skills and areas of expertise
- Your hometown or country
- Your personal and professional goals
Although your bio should be comprehensive, it does not need to be long and detailed. By highlighting your most important achievements, you will be able to keep the reader's interest.
What Is the Difference Between a Bio and a Resume?
Your resume lists your professional roles and places you have worked before. In comparison, a well-written personal bio goes deeper than that and allows the reader to get insights about other things, such as:
- Your interests and hobbies outside of work
- Your background
- What inspires you
- Your passions
- Your personal and professional goals
Knowing and understanding all of this personal information can allow a client to see if you are a good fit. Sometimes, the readers may want to connect with like-minded people, and reading your bio and getting to know you can be an excellent way to connect.
For example, many freelancers like to keep in touch with other freelancers. That way, when they've got too much work on, they can subcontract to other freelancers they know. Without a freelance biography, there is limited chance for the reader to get to know you as a person.
And sometimes the freelance bio can be a good way to have a draft cover letter for prospective jobs. All you need to do is take the bio and edit it for the specific role and target audience.
What is often not included is the primary responsibilities of the freelancer for past roles.
Freelancer Bio: Why Should You Write a Bio?
Personal and professional bios are an excellent way to get to know a person. It can help you to establish connections and even increase trust among clients and employers. In some cases, a bio can even help the reader to relate to you.
You might think people do not care about where you went to school or what your hobbies and interests are.
However, the truth is that you will never know who is reading your bio. For instance, if your interests match with the reader's, it may encourage them to get in touch with you. Personal stories can really engage the audience and make you more relatable.
Can you imagine a social media page without a bio? Or your company's website without an “About” page? A job title is not something that describes you as a person. Nor does a job description tell someone what motivates you.
Not knowing anything about the people behind a company or about the writer behind an article does not exactly instill trust. In a way, the bio is your way of introducing yourself.
Who Will See Your Freelancer Bio?
Your personal bio can be seen by anyone. Thus, you should be careful about what you write and how you write it. After all, you want your bio to make a positive impression on potential clients. For instance, looking up great professional bio examples to get inspiration can be an excellent way to get started.
Creative bio examples will allow you to get your creative juices going, and you will get an idea about what other professionals write in their bios.
Should You Hire a Content Writing Expert for Your Professional Bio Template?
There are many professionals who hire out the creative writing aspect of the professional bio and get a freelance writer to create the bio for them. You can often find there are people who are willing to do this for a relatively small price.
However, it is not always the best option. While they might follow most conventions of the professional bio, they might also go against this. For instance, they might not use the third person, which can sometimes seem impersonal.
In addition, while the freelancer might be good at creating good copy, they don't know you personally and so can't write content with the same passion that you can. This might restrict the professional bio attractiveness to potential clients.
That is why any freelance bio should be written by you.
What to Include in Your Freelancer Bio
When you are writing your professional bio, one thing you should consider is where it will be displayed. Different locations will require a unique freelance bio; examples include social media platforms where some will have different bio lengths.
A freelance bio on a website can be significantly longer.
For social media purposes, the bios need to be short and sweet. However, if you get a chance to expand on your bio and post it on your website or company directory, it should include the following.
Your name
Of course, one of the first things to include in the freelancer bio is your name. Most people include their full name, including their last name. But in some cases, you can shorten it to just your first name, or first name and the first letter of your last name.
Using your surname with a first name initial can seem very formal, and this can reduce the attractiveness of your freelance bio to potential clients.
Your position and job title
Next, you should include the position and title you hold at your current job. This is especially essential if you are looking for a job or posting your bio on LinkedIn or other professional platforms. Here, you can also include the company you currently or last worked for.
Remember to not use fancy names for your past job roles. The job title can become part of the search terms people use to find you online. So if you were a social media manager, content writer, graphic designer, or WordPress developer, be sure to use these titles.
Fancy job titles like Customer Communications Guru aren't going to attract potential clients.
Educational background
If you've got a strong education, then including this can be really useful. Potential clients can see the training you've undertaken and how hard you've worked. If you've been to some of the most prestigious schools in the US, then these can show you're competitive.
Don't just include your schooling either. Try to add additional courses you've taken. So if you took a social media manager qualification with a college, add this, even if it is not your main role.
Taking additional qualifications showcases that you're willing to learn and you take personal career development seriously.
Your experience
Your bio should include as much information about your experience as possible. You should mention the key roles you have held in the past and what kind of responsibilities you had. This shows the reader how you have gotten to your current position while giving them more insight into your professional skills.
For an impactful bio, you might want to include some key projects you've worked on and successes you've had. Statistics can make a big difference. So if you're a graphic designer that has had your work showcased on popular publications, list them.
Using past successes in your personal stories gives you credibility and improves trust.
Your hobbies and interests
Although it may seem unnecessary to add your personal hobbies or interests in your professional bio, it can still be beneficial in many ways. When potential employers and clients get to know you as a person, it can help them to connect with you and to encourage them to get in touch.
While family is often used, it is not always something of value to center your hobbies and interests on. Though if you were a member of a sporting club or a local history group, it demonstrates that you have other key skills that can be used by the client.
Professional accomplishments and successes
Talking about your professional accomplishments and the successes you have achieved so far will allow the readers to understand what you are capable of.
Some of the key aspects are what differences you've made to a community or previous clients/employers. So if you are a content writer that has been quoted or has written for the New York Times, then you should discuss this.
Goals and dreams
Also, talking about your goals or things you want to achieve allows your readers to see what your profession means to you.
Goals and dreams are a way to show you are proactive and looking to continue driving forward. Goals and dreams don't have to be big. For instance, you might not want to create a multimillion dollar business.
Instead, your goals might be more realistic or humble. Some bio examples of goals include being featured in the local awards or being recognized for local good causes you support.
Personal stories
If you have room in your bio, you can spice it up by adding some interesting pieces of information. For instance, you can talk about where you grew up or what you dream about.
Little nuggets of personal information can make the bio more relatable and human.
A call to action
As with any good piece of content, at the end of writing your bio, you should include a call to action. A freelance bio call to action should be about getting into contact. You might want to include links to other profiles you have, like an Instagram bio or a blog post that you know talks more about you.
Alternatively, you might include your contact details for the readers and potential clients to call you.
There are endless options to personalize it for the platforms. You might also have a different call to action for your Instagram bio than you do for your Facebook bio.
How Often Should You Update Your Bio?
Your personal and professional bio should reflect your current situation, so it needs to be updated whenever something notable in your career happens.
If you are not sure about when to update your bio, consider the following:
- When you get a new job or promotion
- When you achieve a big milestone (either personally or professionally)
- When your old one just seems out of date one way or another
If you haven't updated your freelance bio for about six months, it might be a good idea for you to update it.
Displaying Your Freelancer Bio
You can display your professional bio anywhere people might need to find out more about you. For instance, you can add your freelance bio to your social media, website, guest post, or company directory.
You can add your professional bio, for instance, in the following places:
The Twitter bio is a relatively short bio. You can only have about 160 characters or less. However, this allows you to build an effective snippet into your career and services. Include a few core key aspects that are important to you and what information you want to share on the platform.
The LinkedIn bio is a great location for larger, more detailed information about you. Normally when you create a bio on the platform, you want to have it be mostly about your career. Be sure to add your key skills, education, and work history. You should also use the platform to connect to other freelancers and professionals.
LinkedIn also allows you to showcase your work, so if you're a graphic designer, showcase your latest work.
You can spend some time creating a freelance bio on the platform. And it is useful to update on a regular basis as this will be shared with your contacts, which can grab the target audience's attention.
The Instagram bio is even shorter than the freelance bio potential on Twitter. However, it is a good way to be specific. Remember that on Instagram, you can only link to one page. So it might be a good idea for you to link directly from Instagram to a website where you can be more detailed.
Use numerous hashtags and relate the freelance bio to the topics that you're going to cover. If you're going to use more personal content, be sure to include that.
Personal website
Whether you're creating a freelance bio or just a personal brand for your career, a personal website can make you more interesting. And a website bio can be a great way to talk more about you.
You should have a very detailed freelance bio on your website. It should include all the important information with examples and statistics.
In addition, you can link out to other profiles or ways the target audience can contact you. You should also look at keywords within your website bio. That way, when someone is searching online for a content writer, and your freelance bio includes this term, you should appear on the search results.
Don't forget to include the CTA on the website that gets them to follow you on social media.
Company directory
A company directory can sometimes include a little information about the people who are working for them. There can be significant differences to how long the bio can be; some will allow short bios of a couple of lines, while others want three or four paragraphs.
Talk to the website management team about what they want, and look at bio examples that are already on their website.
Guest posts
Guest posts should always have a bio attached to them. This is a chance to grab the attention of the target audience. You want to describe why you are an expert in a field, and give them something to do after reading the article, like how they can communicate with you on social media.
Best Tips for Writing a Compact Bio
You don't need to have significant content creation skills to write a freelance bio. Writing a perfect bio is a matter of writing, rewriting, and improving. Even when you have written a bio already, you may want to read through it and see what you can improve. Below, we have outlined some tips for writing an excellent bio.
Write according to the space you have available
Sometimes, you have a limited amount of characters or space for your bio. Writing a compact and concise bio usually consists of four to eight sentences that highlight the most important qualities. For instance, social media profiles have limited room for bios, so pick and choose your words carefully.
On the other hand, if you are writing a bio for your website or even LinkedIn, you will have much more room, and you can be more comprehensive with your bio.
If you have room to write more, take advantage of it.
Be human and relatable
One of the most essential elements of a good bio is adding a personal touch. Be relatable and give the readers a thorough impression of who you are.
This applies to telling the readers about you as a professional and as a relatable person.
Adding some specific details, such as your hobbies and interests, will make the bio more relatable and even easier to read.
Be honest and authentic
When writing your bio, it is essential to be honest and give the readers an authentic representation of who you are. Describe your accomplishments without exaggerating. Sincerity, honesty, and authenticity are essential elements of a successful bio.
Freelancer Bio: The Process of Writing Your Biography
The process of writing your bio can seem overwhelming. The good news is that the process itself is not challenging—you simply have to get started. With a few easy steps, you will be able to write your unique professional bio and get it published for the world to see.
1. Decide where to publish your bio
Before you can write and publish your bio, you need to decide where you are going to publish it. The place where the bio is published also determines the length of your bio and how much information you can include.
You can publish your bio on the following platforms, for instance:
- Facebook Business page
- LinkedIn profile
- Instagram account
- Personal website
- Your blog
- Company website
In some cases, you may need to write multiple bios to suit the places where you want to publish them. You can write a full freelance bio to your website or LinkedIn, and summarize it for social media profiles or company directories.
2. Start with your first and last name
First things first: you should always start with your name. Your first and last name should be displayed above your bio. Also, the first sentence should start with your first and last name.
Professional bios are often written in the third person, so refrain from referring to yourself as “I” in your bio. Instead, use your full name and “he/she” throughout the text.
3. Mention any associated brand names and companies
Your professional bio represents you professionally; so, of course, you will need to also mention your job title and company, as well as associated brands. For instance, you can add your name, job title, and the company you work for.
If you own and operate your own company or work as a freelancer, you should mention this too.
4. Describe what you do
After adding your title and the company you work for, describe your responsibilities. In your bio, you can tell about your experience in the field, what your responsibilities include, and what your normal day looks like.
5. Include your accomplishments
You want to entice readers with your professional bio, so you should also list any professional accomplishments.
Highlighting at least one accomplishment will let your readers know what you have achieved so far.
Also, it may be a good idea to add something you want to achieve in the future and describe some of your professional goals.
6. Tell the readers who you are outside of work
People like to connect with others. Even if you are writing a professional bio and highlighting your achievements in your career, introducing yourself as a person who has a life outside of work allows your readers to relate.
For instance, you can tell about the following:
- Your family
- Your hometown or country
- Hobbies and interests
- Favorite music
- Anything you are passionate about
7. Add some flavor
You can end your bio with a funny note or tell a personal story. Having a light and fun finish to your bio can be an excellent way to hook your readers and have them want to connect with you. You can add a joke, a personal story, tell some pieces of unexpected information about yourself, or more.
Adding some flavor will make your bio unique and memorable. After all, you want to stand out from the crowd and stay in readers' minds.
8. Read it and improve it
Even after you are done writing your bio, go back to the beginning and reread it. See if there is anything that can be improved or added (or even deleted).
You may want to speak to others who know you. They might tell you that you've forgotten something interesting about yourself. Or they might say that some of the information is something they don't think should be included.
Remember that any freelance bio should be in the third person, and this is often a complaint of friends and family because they know you so well.
Freelance Bio Examples
There are some excellent bios out there, and reading through someone else's bio can give you some inspiration and the boost you need to get started with your own bio.
Take some ideas, but remember not to copy—you want your bio to be unique. Below, we listed some short bio examples that can give you motivation to create your own professional bio and promote your personal brand.
Indeed bio examples
Indeed has more than 40 examples of bios that you can look at. Many of them feature the same aspects that you would expect.
They start by introducing the subject of the freelance bio or the individual. Then they talk about a recent major event or accomplishment. Then the bios discuss what the goals and aspirations are for the future.
Some of the aspirations include what job the individual would like to get; others talk about what skills they would like to develop or demonstrate.
These are fairly good for short bios on social media or in guest posts.
LoginRadius
LoginRadius has some excellent examples of bios that are longer. It is interesting to see how some of the examples link to high accomplishments, like recent publications in national/international media outlets.
It is also important to note how many of the examples here have a next step for the reader, such as linking to their social media channels or connecting to them via a blog. Many of the well-written bios are excellent for describing the professional and personal history of the individuals.
JivoChat
JivoChat shows how you can use a short bio or create a long bio to get across the key message for your audience. Looking at their fictitious and real-life examples can be very inspiring for your freelance bio.
They show that you can be brief for some platforms, like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, but also how your website can have a longer bio.
It is a good read, and their bio templates are well worth a read.
Conclusion
A bio is often the very first impression clients and potential employers get of you, so you should spend some time and write an eye-catching and captivating bio that tells your readers what they want to know. The idea is to make people curious to know more about you and, ultimately, want to hire you!
But having a great bio is just one piece of the puzzle—Indy can help you with the rest. With Indy's tool suite, you'll have one software for gaining new clients, creating contracts, managing projects, tracking time, and sending invoices. Check out how Indy can make freelancing simple today!
