About Me - completed and published. The challenge of self-marketing
About Me? Maybe it's not so much about me as I thought
So, after 2 days it's coming together. In my last job one thing I helped people with was job interviews. The question many people found difficult was "tell me about yourself?" It can be challenging because it is a broad and open-ended topic.
I recently read an article entitled, A Complete Guide to Answering “Tell Me About Yourself” in an Interview (Plus Examples!) where there is some good information and tips, albeit from a job interview pov. However, the take away is below:
You might be thinking: Um, what do you want to know?
How am I supposed to pick what to share out of my entire life story right now?
So what to keep in mind?
Remember - You are building trust.
Below are the 8 tips from the article that I have summarized and tried to apply for an online marketing purpose to help provide some helpful insights. But I have included the link to the original article at the end of the post.
Present, Past, Future
What is your current role, and its scope?
How did you get there, and what is the relevancy?
What are you doing now, and why are you here?
Tailor Your Answer to the Role and Audience
What do they need to know about you in relation to why they came to your site to begin with?
Keep It Professional
This should be obvious. But pay attention to grammar, spelling, etc. Also keep it relevant. e.g. It may be nice to have a pet named 'Charlie' who ate your slippers, but why is this important to financial advising? (If you do want to add this information than at least tie it in somehow).
Passion
Engaging the audience is important. I used to Facilitate workshops and engagement of the audience was critical in the final participation results as well as the retention of the content by the audience.
Be Succinct
People don't have time to read lengthy information online. Most employers initially look at a resume for 6 seconds. If they haven't found what they are looking for, they move on. I don't have stats handy for online web browsing, but I think most of us know that keeping things simple and clear is important.
Practice
This is a point for interviews, but I would add here that feedback and revision in writing is important. Don't get bogged down though. Does your message comes across clearly? You can "beta-test" your site content by letting others read it and ask them to provide feedback.
Know Your Audience
Did I mention that you need to know your audience? Are you speaking their language? After all this isn't really about you at all, it's really all about THEM.
Keep It Positive
Words have power. What flavor are you offering? How do the words you use taste? Are they going to come back for more? Do they feel great reading your words? Do they feel motivated? Inspired? Encouraged?
First Impressions Matter
First impressions are not everything, but they sure are important. A line in the article states, "If you have to spend the rest of the time making up for a bad opening, you’re in a very different position than if you gave a succinct, confident, and relevant answer right off the bat."
A little fore-thought and planning can save you a major headache later.
Hope this has been a helpful post. I love helping people find new insights and love the 'a-ha' moments. I see that WA blog posts don't like live links but if you'd like to read my About Me post if you feel so inclined, I will add to the Please Give Me Feedback on My Website area of WA.
All the best, and happy writing
Uramm
(PS: not sure if this blog will get flagged, but unsure how else to credit the image and article I referenced. This is a legal requirement and just plain good manners when referencing others information. I unlinked them. Hope this is okay. Thanks)
Reference
Article mentioned is byStav Ziv on themuse
Image Credit:
photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash
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Here is my About Me for those so inclined to have a look.
Not sure if the formatting will come through (have 1 sentence/phrase per header area highlighted for key points to be noticed). Open to suggestions. Thanks.
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About Uramm - Founder
Welcome to Johnnie Organic
Since 2012 we have been advocating for and enjoying the benefits of Organic and healthy food, and participating in sustainable and clean environmental practices.
From Humble Roots to Humble Educator
Having grown up on a small organic hobby farm surrounded by other growers in my community was a treat I didn't fully appreciate until I grew up and started my own family. I always thought that healthy living was a normal part of everyday life. We had a fairly large garden and decent orchard along with 40 acres of hay and forest. It was the late 1970s, but by no means did we own the property. Our family grew veggies and fruit, a neighbor produced milk from Jersey cows, another neighbor meat from Black Angus, another neighbor provided free-range eggs and chickens, and yet another neighbor raised lamb. Trading and bartering was as common as helping a neighbor in a power outage or snow storm. Sound amazing? It was. This was normal life as a kid.
When we did shop at stores, we typically found close-by establishments that provided local products. Sound familiar? Before organic was 'organic', before 'Shopping Local' was a marketing slogan, this was just normal daily life. I recall going with my mom to one of the only 2 health food stores in town where we could buy fresh ground peanut butter - if you ground it yourself, haha.
LEAVING HOME
Although quite rustic and peaceful, our acreage was also in the boonies. Not great for a growing teenager. Boy what a surprise after I left home. While friends ate at fast food joints and bought prepackaged grocery items whose ingredients can't be pronounced I was shopping the perimeter of grocery aisles in search of produce I recognized from our garden and my mother's cooking. For years, it was a challenge. My friend's thought I was picky and a little strange. That is until around the early 2000s. After the birth of my son I was adamant that he would eat the healthiest food I could find.
I was definitely blessed growing up and fortunate to not have been raised as an average consumer. Slowly, as the organic movement grew and became more mainstream, more options emerged, people began to see the value in healthy fresh food. And the options not only grew but the quality improved immensely as well.
Although this is a great time in modern society to find a wide range of amazing and convenient organic and health-conscious products, I still find most conventional grocery shelf items quite unappealing and often difficult to trust.
CURRENT LIFESTYLE
As my son has grown I have been a strong advocate for organic, clean and sustainable agriculture and personal health by humbly helping friends and family to better understand why choosing organic is often a preferable decision and investment.
Over the years I have worked as Project Manager for an Organic Farm, both growing and selling produce for the general public and private eateries, have delved into soil nutrition and seed saving while applying strict sustainable ecological practices to the land. Having a son who is Cree (and now Vegan) has also helped to remind me to always keep a strong connection to the land.
I have also and am currently involved in other projects using organic and clean agricultural products. Currently I share a 5 acre property with 6 goats and a sheep, am founding partner of an organic small batch brewer's guild and helping to project manage a small West Coast island boutique organic farm and food delivery service. Sound amazing? It is indeed.
NOT ALL ORGANIC IS CREATED EQUAL
Our focus is to be a source for consumers to find and access high quality organic and clean options that are convenient, trusted, and of value. We want to help educate and promote those products we believe in and feel are the best on offer. Although our focus is Canada and the USA, we also have friends and family living internationally - what impacts one, impacts others. We also value companies and products that are working hard to be sustainable, ethical and community focused. Whether they employ 1000 people or 3. We want to provide quality content that our followers will enjoy, while gaining insights into new areas and information about health, our environment, and sustainability practices while having fun along the way.
Organic and healthy living does not need be complicated, expensive or restrictive. It's really about living with more freedom, more connection to the things at our doorsteps, a simpler life.
Thanks for reading. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or leave them below and I will be more than happy to help you out as best I can.
To your health,
Uramm
Haha. Thanks Devitta. 2 days work building on some writing I did previously as well. Was a process for sure.
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I am pleased for this!
Respectfully
Vasile!
Thank you Vasile. I appreciate the feedback.