Writing a personal or professional bio does not have to be complicated. It's just 4 - 6 sentences that address the following questions:

1) who you are

2) what your expertise is (credentials and experience)

3) why the reader should care about your expertise

4) how the reader can contact you

Probably the most important point is number three: "why the reader should care about your expertise". This is because although your bio is about you, it is for your reader.

So be sure to mention how your expertise will benefit your reader. Some examples include:

• Will they learn something from you?
• Can you solve their problem?
• Would you be an interesting speaker for their event?
• Might you be the perfect fit for their job opening?

These are the types of questions readers have in mind as they read your bio.

And a final word of advice about writing your professional bio: If there's something that you think is interesting or important to add, by all means do so! Trust your own judgment and let your personal or professional bio reflect what is unique about you.

Click here for more bio templates to write your personal or professional bio.

by Peggy M. Jordan

For Owen Jones, running a home-based property management business means juggling the roles of marketer, webmaster, bookkeeper, handyman, rental agent, gardener, and sometimes even graphic designer. But his most challenging trick is walking that fine line between being at work and being at home.

Owen launched Dreamcatcher Properties of Idaho, LLC just over two years ago and loves it. “I like being the one who makes the decisions,” he explains, “knowing that whether I fail or succeed is completely up to me.”

Working 16-hour days in the corporate world taught Owen that life should be about more than making money. That’s why his definition of success or failure goes beyond the bottom line. “Balance is more important to me now than profit, so I’m intentionally growing the business at the right speed to provide great service and still have a personal life.”

Keeping Overhead Low

Like many of us, Owen works from home to keep costs down. He has also found creative ways to leverage what he’s good at and likes doing. Thanks to job experience as a bookkeeper and proficiency with QuickBooks, accounting is no stretch for Owen. He even enjoys it, saying, “For me, the complexity of the accounting is what makes it fun.”

Years in computer programming gave Owen the expertise to build, design, and populate his own website. He even owns his own server. Being both host and webmaster enables him to keep his website current without paying for tech support or a web developer. And because of his skill with the Linux operating system, he can use free, open-source software instead of having to invest in pricey applications.

When it comes to hardware, Owen looks for opportunities to buy used equipment, especially from companies going out of business. That’s how he scored bargains on two Internet-based phones, as well as a high-end HP all-in-one printer.

Investing Now for Payoffs Later

Despite being such a do-it-yourselfer, Owen is willing to spend money where it counts. He’s convinced that hiring a professional accountant to prepare his tax returns is an absolute life saver. “My accountant finds deductions I never would’ve known about and saves me money, stress, and headaches,” he explains.

He advises other small business owners to, “keep track of everything you do that can – legally, of course – be funneled through the business. You can’t be lazy and say, ‘it’s no big deal, it’s too much work to track that’ or you’ll miss some great opportunities.”

Making the Leap

Even though Owen has always wanted to work for himself, he didn’t initially set out to be a property manager. While in his early twenties, he and some friends tried launching a computer consulting business, but soon realized that there was more to it than they were ready for. “That was scary,” he admits. “We found out pretty quickly that we really didn’t know what we were doing.”

Mark Kokocki is a Vancouver, B.C. life/business coach and personal trainer who works primarily with a certain type of client – people living with hiv/AIDS and other chronic health problems. His business is provocatively named "dropdeadhappy.com"

dropdeadhappy.com grew out of a need Mark saw during the late nineties. He noticed that there was a new challenge facing people living with hiv/AIDS: though they had once believed their life was over, they were now suddenly being told, “The drugs are doing their job, get back to work.”

To address this challenge, Mark started a coaching program called “On Our Way” in 2000.  This program supported people living with hiv/AIDS who wanted to get somewhere: back to school, back to work, or start a business. For a few people, the “get somewhere” was learning how to live again. These challenges became opportunities for learning, self-discovery and healing.“On Our Way” remains one of Mark's proudest accomplishments to date, and provided the starting point for his current business "dropdeadhappy.com".

Innovative pricing structure

Mark has structured dropdeadhappy.com as a social entrepreneurship project to provide health, fitness and coaching support to those in financial or physical need. A secondary goal of his business is to promote a dropdeadhappy attitude in the pursuit of individual, professional and entrepreneurial achievements. The business model is simple. Everyone pays 1% of their gross monthly income or budget per coaching call. The result is Mark can offer services to people who otherwise could not afford it, volunteer time to nonprofit service providers and be a financially successful enterprise.

Perhaps surprisingly, the idea of 1% of gross monthly income per coaching call was not a hard sell. Lower income clients felt included, and higher income clients often welcomed the opportunity to help others. In fact, some wealthier clients offered to pay more than "the norm" (some clients pay $250 or more per call) in order to help others reap the same benefits. Mark points out that AIDS has taught a lot of people the value in sharing and giving.

Marketing challenges and surprises

Mark told me that the most difficult part of starting his business was converting the "On Our Way" model into a broader market. It took nine months of hard work to get the word out and start seeing some steady referrals coming in. His big break was with a hiv/AIDS service provider in California which over time has turned out to be his biggest source of referrals (now the majority of his clients are from California, even though he lives in Vancouver).

With 25 years of active involvement in the fitness industry (as a manager, presenter, group exercise instructor, personal trainer and coach), 20 years of frontline involvement with hiv/AIDS service providers (as a personal trainer, shiatsu practitioner, counsellor, coach, cheerleader, and friendly face on a hard day), and 15 years of entrepreneurial experience, Mark brings a wealth of talents to his work. And as he says with a smile, "I’m always open for a collaborative adventure with a social message".

What's a "dropdeadhappy day"?

I asked Mark what a "dropdeadhappy day" would look like for him.

A typical dropdeadhappy day for me includes: a morning run and work out, a couple of coaching calls with situations like a client working to get from social assistance to self reliance and beyond, then a baby boomer transitioning from being an employee to entrepreneur. A healthy lunch and a walk with my now 15 year old dog balance out a few more coaching calls and administrative nick knacks.

A few hours a week I put on my personal trainer outfit and help someone sweat, make time for writing an article for myself or another party and spending time with someone living with hiv/AIDS who just needs someone to be there and who understands. I live my dropdeadhappy day helping others live theirs. I can’t think of a better life and enterprise I could have.

What would a dropdeadhappy day look like to you?

Andrea Lee has put together a list of 60 ways to collaborate with others for increasing your bottom line. Each idea is very straight-forward and can be implemented immediately.

1. Interview someone.
2. Have someone interview you.
3. Write an article with someone.
4. Have someone write your ezine while you're on vacation.
5. Offer to write someone else's ezien while you're on vacation.
6. Invite a guest to lead a TeleSeminar
7. Send a complimentary copy of your product to 10 key players.
8. Put a promotion of someone else's product on your thank you page.
9. Invite someone to use your Pink Spoon Autoresponder for their target market.
10. Offer your 1-hour audio CD to someone to brand for their market.
11. Merge your membership site with another one and form a new branded site.
12. Hold a workshop together.
13. Put together a panel and write a proposal to speak at an industry conference.
14. Offer to write an endorsement.
15. Hire someone who's just starting out in their profession.
16. Invite guests to post insights at your blog.
17. Deliver a free TeleSeminar to promote someone else's product for an affiliate fee.
18. Send an article to 10 key players in your market - one that will help them.
19. Do a pre-event call for attendees of a conference you're speaking at.
20. Do a pre-event call for organizers of a conference you're speaking at.
21. Introduce a key player you already know to someone else who'd benefit.
22. Provide sponsorship opportunities for your offerings.
23. Take a photo of yourself using the product of someone you want to help.
24. Build an R&D Team.
25. Get in with a top-notch mastermind group.
26. Get an endorsement from someone who can benefit.
27. Promote the businesses of the suppliers you recommend.
28. Co-write a book.
29. Get your book ghost-written.
30. Make a list of things you need help with and make it public.
31. Offer a lucrative affiliate program.
32. Spend time training your affiliates.
33. Use humor and emotion to create a viral storm.
34. Hire someone who has a day job.
35. Get bonus gifts from 10 key players.
36. Offer a bonus gift to someone creating a big launch.
37. Build a relationship with 3 meeting planners.
38. Send your book draft out to be reviewed by area experts.
39. Groom a business partner.
40. Put photos of your business partners on the product or program.
41. Solicit feedback and comments on your TeleSeminars.
42. Ask for 'the biggest question' on the minds of your customers.
43. Find 3 key players to cross-promote your offering.
44. Offer to help finish a project someone else is struggling with.
45. Approach charities to become sponsors of your business.
46. Do a fundraiser for a charity.
47. Use an incentivised payment plan (partial pay for performance) for key team members.
48. Ask everyone for help, more often.
49. Recruit volunteers for finite projects.
50. Always request referrals.
51. Invite 2 key players to co-lead an event.
52. Create a product or program based solely on other people's content.
53. Use case studies.
54. Private label some of your content.
55. Find places that look for speakers for their ready-made audiences.
56. Work for someone else for a length of time.
57. Ask 3 authors to sell you their book for cost to provide as a gift to your customers.
58. Invite your customers to review your products at Amazon or Ebay.
59. License someone else's material.
60. Sell your business.

This article provides 8 sure-fire ways to increase your Google page ranking through building backlinks. Tips #2 - #8 come from the comprehensive guide to backlinks available at Search Engine Workshops.

Backlink Building Tip #1:

Increase Google page ranking by adding your website to the free Qassia directory.  You'll get unlimited quality backlinks (as opposed to "no-follow" backlinks), and you don't have to add reciprocal backlinks.

Backlink Building Tip #2:

Host your own affiliate program on your own server. Sure it takes more work: you have to set it up, administer it and pay out the affiliate checks. However, if you use an affiliate service, such as Commission Junction, the links point to the affiliate service and get redirected to your site. A more effective strategy is to host your own affiliate program, so all those affiliate links point directly to you. You can find affiliate programs, some of which may be free at The CGI Resource Index (Bill Gentry with Look Sharp Designs)

Backlink Building Tip #3:

Increase google page ranking by finding linking opportunities within discussion lists related to your site’s topic.  Warning: do so responsibly and carefully (in other words, don't join a discussion list for the sole purpose of getting backlinks.  Participate and add value to the discussion group). Try YahooGroups, which has thousands of topical discussion groups on almost any topic. I often send short posts to appropriate lists with links for my clients’ sites, and if you do so properly, it is very effective. (Eric Ward, President, NetPOST and URLwire)

Backlink Building Tip #4:

Anywhere you can leave your link, do it: in chat rooms, guest books and social networking sites (the warning from tip #3 applies here as well).  You would be surprised at where your link turns up on search engines when you start doing this. And if the search engine has found it, then it adds to your link popularity. (Don Hammond at DonOmite.com)

Backlink Building Tip #5:

Now that Google indexes the content of newsgroups, if you post to related newsgroups, be sure to use a signature line with your link and appropriate link text. (Robin Nobles of Search Engine Workshops, Online Search Engine Marketing Courses, and the TNT-Guides for Successful Web Sites.

Backlink Building Tip #6:

Ask a question at a site that has a question and answer page and include a link. Post questions on forums that allow links. Post into the newsgroups. Include an e-mail tail tag. Put it on your T-shirt. Include it as a sticker with each shipped order. Tattoo it on your forehead. Tell your mom. Get a vanity license plate. (Michael Campbell with Internet Marketing Secrets)

Backlink Building Tip #7:

The number one way I've built link popularity is by offering a good information product or service, establishing a good conversion on the site, and then getting super affiliates. I've found that getting super affiliates multiplies the number of regular affiliates I'm able to get. All of this leads to hundreds of inbound links. It takes a very disciplined approach, but one I've found very effective. (Jon Keel with Improved Results)

Backlink Building Tip #8:

I'm surprised at how many people don't have their link in their signature line of their e-mail. (Don Hammond at DonOmite.com)

Artist and art marketing consultant Alice Parmelee Rich provides smart advice on how to sell your art.

To earn one's living as an artist requires both the making of art and the marketing of art. As difficult as it may seem, the artist's road to success requires figuring out how to sell art.

There's no doubt that getting your work into the world and keeping it out there can be challenging. However, once you have gained the habit of devoting two mornings or one day each week to "marketing" it becomes much easier to sell your art.

First Step in How to Sell Your Art

The foundation of any artist's marketing should be research. Dedicating those hours to constructive research can be fascinating, rewarding and makes marketing a non-threatening activity. Give yourself permission to actually devote yourself to taking time for those things that you may have known were important but have put off.

Those important art marketing activities include reading art magazines, visiting people in their studios, organizing your inventory, writing a new artist statement, compiling your submission list, making follow-up phone calls or researching the advantages/disadvantages of making giclees of your artwork. Remember: your marketing research time is not "wasted time".  On the contrary, marketing research time is key to building your art career.

Find Your "Warm Market"

What does it mean to find your "warm market"? The phrase describes a market for which one's work is a fit. But how exactly does an artist find the warm markets? Where does one look and how does one recognize these markets? Again, research is the answer, when word-of-mouth networking or manifestation on a spiritual level falls short. Someone may see the right place for you and pass on the name, but research allows you to make the most of that contact or lead. Before following up, some investigation into the opportunity will help you know what you may be walking into, and to make the most of it.

For anyone with a healthy curiosity, as most artists possess, some healthy information gathering or espionage can be fun, while at the same time taking the sting out of the entrance. The best sales people in any field are often those who take the research time to learn about their quarry, giving them points in common to address on meeting.

How to Find a Gallery to Sell Your Art

In selecting galleries or other organizations to approach, your advance research will help you minimize rejection by finding the most appropriate gallery or organization to sell your art.

Compile an initial list of those galleries for which you believe your style of work would be most suitable. You will refine and focus this list as you gather information about the galleries. The warm market grows from this groundwork on your part.

As you narrow your focus to people most likely to share an interest in your body of work, some of them will express interest in your work and become your warm market.

Your research on where to sell your art will suggest new ideas, places and opportunities to approach but will also cull out many wasteful false starts. In this context it is preparation. Just as preparing the ground of a canvas provides the basis for a good painting, preparing for a submission, a gallery meeting or a meeting with a prospect, provides the basis for a productive meeting. Good choices cannot be made without this material. Once you have found the opportunities that closely relate to what you want and how you want to sell art, you will have a list of places to target.

Where to Sell Your Art

There are several good publications that serve as resources on how to sell art. The Artist & Graphic Designer's Market, edited by Mary Cox, is a resource for artists wanting to market to greeting card companies, prints or posters. Names and addresses are listed, along with how to submit. This book and others can be found in bookstores and directories on the Internet, other media and newsletters.