Take Your Shot

A friend recently invited me to help launch LeanIn circles in our area. The mission is to empower women in their careers. During the conversation, she mentioned that Forbes accepts nominations for their “Next 1000” list.

On Forbes website, it says:

“Take Your Shot. This first-of-its-kind initiative will spotlight bold and inspiring entrepreneurs on their way to great success. The Next 1000 list celebrates the ambitious sole proprietors, self-funded shops and pre-revenue startups who are redefining what it means to build and run a business today, especially in the “new normal.” They are proof-positive that American entrepreneurship remains resilient, vibrant and ever-changing. We’re looking for nominations from every industry across the U.S, with a mission to showcase diverse regions and businesses across the country. The final product: 1,000 new faces with a running start to one day land on the cover of Forbes.“

Forbes Magazine

Pretty cool. I decided to apply. My thoughts are:

• I have a shot of being selected – and I don’t if I don’t apply!
• Regardless of whether I get selected, more people will learn about what I do and my mission.

Take Your Shot!

The application is not very long.

You are not alone if you find it hard to articulate what you do in only 250 words. For me, too. Writing about myself is not easy. I thought it might be helpful to you to share what I wrote.

I decided to lead with what I do now and then share where I started. The bio becomes more story-like and hence more engaging. That is my hope anyway. Lead with what is new. Then share how you got there and give credentials from your past work.

My Bio Submitted to Forbes Next 1000

I am a Brilliance Extractor. My Brilliance Extraction™ system is a proven method for pulling brilliance out of experts’ brains and making it immortal.

But that is not where I started. I am a Ph.D. chemist by training and performed award-winning research and development with DARPA, NSF, and DOD agencies. My work includes novel landmine detection technology in use today. I also learned about business to commercialize innovation. While growing and turning around several companies, I had an “aha” moment. It dawned on me that my superpower is recognizing the brilliance of people around me. “Brilliance” is the term I use to describe the unique combination of expertise, experience, and wisdom experts carry in their brains. Often we lose much of our brilliance because we fail to capture and share it.

I pull brilliance out of the expert’s brain, systemize it, and support them in leveraging it. This method makes it immortal as well.

With the Brilliance assets, you can grow and scale your business. Your business becomes transferrable. Your freedom rises to a whole new level.

The Brilliance Mine works with business owners across many industries. We build systems for knowledge transfer. Systems include books, manuals, process maps, online courses, training portals, and more. Our courses have helped hundreds of people all across the U.S.

The company is now launching an online course to teach Brilliance Extraction™ to others. The course is expanding our bandwidth, making the method available to many more business owners.

Are You Inspired to Take Your Shot?

I hope so.

As I reflect on this bio, I am grateful that this application prompted me to write it. Writing about yourself is hard enough. Making it compelling and saying it in no more than 250 words is even more challenging. But you can do it! Go for it. And perhaps my bio can act as a template for you.

Live brilliantly and share your brilliance,

Dr. Stephie