Why you need help writing your professional profile.

We've moved past the age of detached, impersonal machines and computers. The robot age may soon be upon us, but we're still people (for now) and we care about personal things. You might have thought that having so many things online and digital would have made things more remote and detached, but, contrary to dystopian visions of a mechanised future, the world is drawing in on you--the person behind the screen. Your hopes; your desires; your dreams for the future.

So it is that your presence online needs to be personalised. When people come looking for you, they really do go looking for you - the person; not only the service or goods.

The truth is that finding the service or product you need is ridiculously easy these days. Tap a few keys into Google and bam! you see what you were looking for. But with so many providers competing for your attention, something must stand out. That something is a personal story.

Great products and services have a personal story built into their creation. In fact, as Bernadette Jiwa so eloquently lays it out, the story should really come before the product or service design. And we know this instinctively; you only have to think of the stories behind great inventions. It usually goes like this, "I was thinking about how X was missing from my life, so I sought to find a solution - Y".

In the service industry; in fields like real estate for instance, it is all too common for the only difference between agents to be their logo and branding. But real estate agents are people too (I really believe that: I have worked in the industry myself, although, looking in the mirror now...) and the first contact you usually have with an agent is with the person themselves. The story of the person behind the brand will tell you a lot about the service you can expect.

So when people search for an service, they will often look at the "About Us" or "Meet the Team" page of your website. If that page is boring, or looks like every other agents' page, then they'll move on, and at that point, you've likely lost them.

When I write profiles for people to use online (or elsewhere) I am always struck by the many and varied personal life stories people have. Peoples' lives are fascinating, and there's always something worth sharing. It draws you in. It makes you feel like you know them. And when you feel like you know someone, you also start to feel like you understand them and can trust them. That is the first and most important step to gaining business. The internet has changed nothing in this regard, instead, it has made it easier to filter the information. Without a personal profile for your potential customers to read and get to know you with, you'll be lost in the crowd. Make sure you stand out, and get help if you need it to write your profile well.