First of all, forget what you’re supposed to be writing.

In this moment, you’re NOT writing your About page! You’re just writing some sentences that are clear and true about yourself. Your hopes. Your dreams. Your beliefs. Your experiences. Those big life questions that enthrall you.

Who cares where they’ll end up? You may end up tossing them all.

Flip open a new page in a notebook, or open a new Evernote file, or hie thee [that’s Shakespearean] to a new Google doc. (That’s usually what I do.)

Second, look at your Voice Values.

If you don’t know your top 3-5 Voice Values, go here and take this first. 

Got ’em? Good.

Now, find your top mix of Voice Values in the sections below. If you have Voice Values in multiple sections, start in the section you feel most drawn to. There’s no wrong way to do this.

Finish the sentence stems in your Voice Values’ section(s) with what is true for you. Try just one of the sentence stems, try them all, try whatever feels right. Again, start anywhere in any section you’ve got at least one Voice Value.

And hey — no need to stay away from the other sections. If a question or two inspires you there, have at it!

Remember — you are NOT writing your About page right now.

Right now, you’re simply writing down some clear, true stuff about you and your business. Maybe something will end up shimmering, maybe not. It doesn’t matter.

What DOES matter if that you try this.

If Love, Helpfulness, Intimacy, AND/OR Transparency are in your top mix, try these:

• If my Right People could tell me a secret about ____(themselves or something or someone else)______________, it would be that _______(the secret) _____________________________________________________.
• If I believed in past lives, I would think I’d once lived in ____(place)_____________ and/or was a ___________(describe the type of person)____________________________________________.
• I’m probably nothing like you would expect when it comes to ____(something unorthodox, against the grain, or surprising about yourself)_____________________________.
• A little known fact about me is _________(little known fact)_________________.
• The truest truth I know is _____________(the truth) ________________________. What this has to do with my business is __________(how it connects) __________________________________________________________.
• My Right People have never told anyone that they____(goal or aspiration they’ve never confessed to anyone before)__________________________________.

If Enthusiasm, Playfulness, Audacity, AND/OR Community are in your top mix, try these:

• Yep, I really am as __(adjective/descriptive word or phrase)_____________ as you would expect me to be.
• In my business, nothing delights me more than ______(what delights you)___________________ and this matters or makes a difference for my Right People because _______(how it makes a difference)__________________________.
• I would love to personally thank ____(someone famous or someone infamous)______________________ for inspiring me to _________(what you’ve been inspired to do or be)_________________________________________.
• Someday, I’d love to get all my Right People together at this kind of venue: _______(description of venue)____________________________________.
• I am a bit of an aficionado when it comes to ____(thing, place, person, or idea you love) ____________________________________________________________.
• My favorite risk I’ve ever taken was  _______________________(the risk you took)_______________________________________________________.

If Excellence, Power, Legacy, AND/OR Security are in your top mix, try these:

• I’m the first person to ____(do something)__________in my family/peer group/industry/niche. [Just make sure it’s true!] 
• I’m the only one in my industry/niche who ______(does something or believes something)__________________. [Again, it’d better be true.]
• My approach/philosophy breaks with tradition in this way: ____(describe the way)______________________________________________________.
• My competition would say that I’m ________________(descriptive word or phrase)_______________________________________, and they’re right!
• My Right People have made a vow/promise/oath that they _______________(will or will never do/be something)__________________________________________.
• In five years, I believe this business will be known for ___(what your business will be known for)__________________________________________________.

If Accuracy, Clarity, Depth, AND/OR Innovation are in your top mix, try these:

• I love sharing my process around ____________(process you share in your business) _________________________________________________________.
• Nothing makes me more curious than _________(topic, thing, idea)___________ ___________________________________________________________.
• If I were guaranteed a truthful answer, I’d love to ask everyone I meet this question: ______(question you’d ask)________________________________________.
• What my Right People are often surprised to learn about me is  _______(what they’re surprised to learn)_______________________________________________.
• The age old question I continually wrestle with is __________(what’s the question?)___________________________________________________.
• I wish someone would dare me to __________(thing you wish they’d dare you to do)________________________________________________________.

Now what?

Transfer the sentences you’ve written to a clean doc. Are there relationships between any of them, content-wise or theme-wise? Do you feel excited by any of them? Do you feel resistance to any of them?

Have you already inadvertently written a provocative headline that could — if you WERE writing your About page (which you’re not!) — set the tone for your About page and make your Right People want to read more?

Can you get a sense of order, as in, if you were using this material all together, what feels like it should come first, second, next . . .?

Star the sentence you’re MOST delighted by. Why does it delight you?

If you were thinking of writing or rewriting your About page, you could start there. Just saying.

You could also join me and more than 50 other participants (so far!) inside Write Your Authentic About Page, an online course that takes the ouch of the process.

We start this Monday, June 15th and the course runs live for 4 weeks.

What’s inside? Twice-weekly lessons (audio + transcript), easy-to-follow templates that’ll get you started, screencast (video) tours of successful About pages from around the web, screencast critiques of participants’ pages-in-progress, and a smart and sensitive community of business owners who are also writing their About pages alongside you.

And this time around, I’m modeling my own About page-writing process for you in a series of 3 videos. It’ll be like watching over my shoulder as I write and share the strategic and artistic thinking behind my process. There’s also an upgrade available where you can work with me one-on-one at a special rate ONLY available for 6 weeks to participants in this course.

CLICK HERE to learn more and write (or rewrite!) with us this June and July.

All stages and types of businesses are welcome.