Today’s blog challenge from Live Your Legend was to write your elevator pitch. I have to admit the mess of apologetic words I currently blurt out when people ask what I do, is indeed in dire need of a fix-up. So, let’s do this…
I’ll try not to ramble, but as my answer to the blog challenge I’ve chosen to write out the creative process I took (don’t worry – it’s not too long). Firstly, I’m going to include a snippet of the challenge by LYL, so you can see what points I’ve addressed:
1. Create a minimal viable pitch.
Don’t over-think this. For starters, we want to have an interesting response to the “what do you do” question. You could write and rewrite your pitch until your pen runs dry, but it’s next to useless until you get it out in front of someone. All you need is enough to test. Ideally, have a few versions ready to go.
Your pitch (and follow-up discussion) should answer some or all of the below:
- What am I excited about?
- Why am I excited about it?
- How will it help people? Who does it serve?
- How does it uniquely tie into my story, passions, talents and/or experience?
- Why do I care and why should the world care? (Watch my interview with Simon Sinek for a review on the importance of Starting With Why.)
The real goal of our pitch is to talk about something you’re excited about and get a feel for how others react to it.
- What am I excited about? Creating musical compositions, peforming music, taking people to another place with my music, and helping them transcend the state they’re in, and feel better. I help people get high? Haha Or, I help people get lost in the moment?
- Why? Well, I’m excited about it because it uses (to me) my best and most precious talents; the thing I get the most enjoyment out of, and long to do the most with my life. So therefore I transcend with them. In fact, it’s only through my enjoying and blissing out that I help others do the same.
- How? And for who? It helps people to forget their worries, it helps their brains to feel good (improving neural connectivity and even helping their mental and sometimes physical health). It serves people who come to my gigs, or listen to my recorded music.
- It ties in to me? Music is something I’ve always loved to listen to, but took a while to get to do for others. I love to sing, and I love the feeling singing gives me. I enjoy creating music, and there’s a lot of music in my head that I’d like to get out. I’m learning how to do that better now, studying music production.
- Why do I care? I care because I feel music is one of the most powerful tools we have to bring about positive change. In people – their lives, their health, their mental states; in communities, and in the world – dealing with today’s societal and environmental problems.