How to Write About Yourself When Bragging Makes You Cringe

I have a confession to make.

I am terrible at writing about myself and my accomplishments. It’s so hard to be objective about who I am and everything I’ve done.

I can write about email marketing and why it matters to you and your business. I can show you great ways to get your nurture emails written ‘til the cows come home.

Whenever I try to write a bio or an About page for myself, I hate the way it comes out. I feel like it’s “too much” and no one will believe me, despite the fact that it’s true.

We’re all taught to be humble. This is especially true for women. “Keep your head down, don’t brag, don’t toot your own horn.” Except that as small business owners, we need to do just that, so we can show people why what we do matters to them.

Add to all of this my own impostor syndrome (yes, everyone has this, including and especially me) and it makes figuring out ways to talk about myself and what I do from any sort of self-promoting or self-congratulating position a serious challenge.

I mention this because in last week’s issue, I talked about telling your story and why it’s so important for your business and to your audience.

Now, here I am confessing that, when it comes to telling my own story, or at least highlighting the parts of my story that show my successes… It’s hard!

Consider this week’s issue as sympathy and encouragement (for you and for me) on getting out there to tell your own story, even if it is hard.

The Catalysts for This Confession

There are two reasons I decided to write about this topic today.

The first is a comment I got from someone on the LinkedIn version of last week’s issue. This person really appreciated the suggestion of telling your story to a few friends and noticing where they pay more attention.

The second is the fact that I am trying to write my About page for my new website and it’s been a real stumbling block for me. I had to bring this problem to a coaching session with one of my mentors to talk about it because it’s been so frustrating.

I figured if I find this frustrating, you probably do too. And if you don’t, I totally want to know your secret!

I do have a few secrets, or at least ideas, of my own to share in today’s issue, as a follow up to last week.

1. Write Down Everything You’ve Done In Your Business

Seriously, write it all down. Every person you’ve helped, every twist and turn your business has taken, every challenge you’ve overcome (or not), every victory you’ve celebrated. Make a list and keep it where you can look at it regularly.

As crazy as that may sound, it actually helps.

First, you now have a “bragging list” of things you can legitimately talk about when you’re promoting yourself.

Second, the list shows you how far you’ve come since you started your business. If you just started your business, write down everything you did to get to this point. If you’re like me and many other business owners, this list should be a pretty good ego boost,

Pro tip: Your list is great fodder for future emails too.

Third, this list will give you perspective on everything you’ve done. Taking a step back and looking at all of your accomplishments shows you why you’re the “right choice” for your ideal customers. It also helps you frame that reasoning when you sit down to write your weekly nurture emails.

2. Have Your Friends Ask You Questions About Your Accomplishments

This goes along with the “Tell your story to a few friends” tip from last week. As you’re telling your story, encourage your friends to ask questions, especially about the parts of your story that interest them.

When I was talking with my coach, she asked me questions that pulled accomplishments out of me that I hadn’t really thought of as something I could put on my About page.

Again, I’m not accustomed to bragging about myself. But many of these accomplishments are really cool, and they are exactly what my ideal audience (presumably you, as you’re on this email list) would want to know about me.

Write these down too, as part of your overall list. If nothing else, it will help you remember them. And I also suggest recording this conversation. Having your own words, and someone else’s reaction to those words can be very helpful when it comes to writing your emails or your marketing materials in general.

3. Have Someone Else Write It for You

Believe it or not, I am not promoting my own services here. Instead, I suggest having a friend write whatever bragging piece you need written, so you can see how they see you.

Someone else’s perspective on you can be inspiring, especially if they like you and appreciate what you do. It can also help you see yourself in an entirely different light.

I did this with a friend and fellow copywriter when I was working at Leadpages. We were asked to write bios for the company website, something we both loathed doing, because we’re both bad at bragging about ourselves.

So we traded. I wrote hers, she wrote mine. I think we both made minor edits and turned them in. We were both very happy with the results.

Having someone else’s perspective on you gives you a stronger place to start. I think having my friend write my bio made me much less self-critical, because someone else had said all these good things about me. I wasn’t just saying them about myself.

My Third Reason for Writing About This Subject Today

Honestly, last week I spent 5 days working at a voting center for the U.S. mid-term election and I needed something easy to write about this week. And yes, writing about ideas to help you write about yourself is easier for me than actually writing about myself. My brain is a bit fried.

I hope these ideas help you as you break through your own personal barriers on writing about yourself. I’m going to go tackle my new About page again.

I promise to share something more in-depth next week.

Finally, this week’s pictures, besides the screenshot, are the obligatory cat photo and a pano shot of the view of the Channel Islands from the hills here in Ventura. It was exceptionally clear that day so you can really see the islands.

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