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Oh, could this vintage store be any cuter?
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Right. So we shouldn't get the parachute pants?
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These are making a comeback.
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3:08
Talk about elevator pitch.
3:12
And seven steps to nailing your elevator pitch.
3:16
Yeah, so first thing first is anyone that's listening to this.
3:20
If you're going to be pitching, whether it's at Invest Fest or you're going to be pitching at any place,
3:25
the first thing is you want to have a clear and concise message.
3:29
What do you do? Who do you serve?
3:31
What is it that you're actually giving to people?
3:33
What do you want the judges to know or the investors to know?
3:36
So, have a clear and concise message.
3:39
The second commandment that I would say is make sure that you know the problem.
3:43
What's the problem that you're trying to solve?
3:45
A lot of times I've seen people come in pitch, Richard,
3:48
and they really don't know what the problem is that they're trying to solve.
3:51
They just want to sell a product to you or say, hey, can you invest in my product?
3:55
So, you have to make sure that when you're pitching with your message being clear and concise,
3:59
you need to make sure that you also know what the problem is.
4:02
And then third, know the solution to the problem.
4:06
What are you trying to solve?
4:08
I understand you want to be able to have a tech company,
4:11
but what is the solution or what's the problem that's being solved and what's the solution?
4:16
What are the vehicles to solve that problem?
4:19
The third thing is make sure that you know your market stats.
4:23
What's going on in the market and the industry right now?
4:26
A lot of people don't do their research on the industry stats,
4:30
which leads to the next one, who's your competitor?
4:33
Right? I've seen people do pitches and we don't even know who your competitor is.
4:37
You just tell us all about the business,
4:39
but if we were to go deeper beyond a 60-minute elevator pitch,
4:42
a 60-second sorry elevator pitch,
4:44
and let's say that you all were to ask more questions,
4:47
one of the questions that investors are going to ask is who your competitors are,
4:52
So because of that, it's important for anyone that's pitching to do that.
4:58
Make sure that you're using proper visual aids.
5:01
That's another thing too. I'm not really sure how it's going to be for investors.
5:04
When we get there, but if there are going to be visual aids,
5:07
make sure that your visual aids are not all over the place.
5:10
Make sure that you're not using all these different fonts and colors and everything like that.
5:14
Keep it clean, keep it fresh,
5:16
but make sure that everyone, every judge that's looking or any investor that's investing into
5:21
what are interested in what you have to say,
5:23
can understand it clearly in your visual aids.
5:27
I will also say just making sure that as they go through their pitch,
5:31
that they speak clearly, that they understand,
5:34
and also do a call to action.
5:36
We've had pitch, I've sat and pitched up matches or pitch competitions where,
5:41
so what are you asking for?
5:43
You never really say what you're asking for.
5:45
Be clear and concise, and make sure that whatever the call to action is,
5:49
that it is clear, it is realistic.
5:51
I'm looking for $2 million to do what was.
5:54
What's the budget? What's the forecast? What's the numbers?
5:58
That's another one. Know your numbers, right?
6:00
What are the numbers going to? Where's this money going to?
6:03
When is it going to happen?
6:04
Most investors don't want to be married long term to something.
6:09
So we want to make sure that we understand I'm an investor myself.
6:13
Make sure that we understand what's the return on investment.
6:15
Do we get equity, right?
6:17
All of these things are what people should be considering when it comes to their elevator pitch,
6:22
whether it's 60 seconds, two minutes, five minutes,
6:25
even up to a 30 minute pitch.
6:27
A tremendous insight, because we get pitched all the time.
6:30
You actually have now just helped us.
6:32
And I'm sure everybody that's listening will take notes from it as well.
6:35
You said that vocal health is important.
6:38
And so these things sound like how I will prepare as I'm going to the stage.
6:44
But there's that build up.
6:45
And we talked to a lot of people.
6:46
We just had a pitch competition a few months ago.
6:48
And people were talking about the anxiety that it felt leading up to the day.
6:51
So what are some of the type of things that you suggest for people leading up to the event?
6:55
What should they be doing at home the week before or the month before to prepare themselves
6:59
for this moment, this five minute moment that could change their lives potentially?
7:02
Absolutely. First things practice, practice, practice, practice.
7:06
And there is a couple of ways in which a person can practice, right?
7:10
So the first thing I will say is practice in the mirror.
7:14
So you can see how your facial expressions look.
7:16
See if the nerves are taken over, right?
7:20
And lots of times people do not like to see themselves.
7:22
They don't even like to hear themselves back, right?
7:25
You'd be surprised that a lot of anxiety that happens on the stage happens because of what people are going through in their personal lives.
7:32
And it just comes over in there.
7:34
So practice, practice, practice.
7:36
Practice in front of family and friends and peers, a mentor, a coach, right?
7:40
And also record yourself on video and watch yourself back with no judgment.
7:44
That's one of the ways in which you can actually help yourself prepare for the pitch.
7:49
Another one is actually do what we call mindfulness.
7:52
Walk through the pitch without you having to say something.
7:55
So how am I going to enter the stage?
7:57
How am I going to intro myself?
7:59
How am I going to speak what I need to say?
8:01
How am I going to exit the stage?
8:03
How am I going to leave?
8:04
Like all of that is what we call mindfulness.
8:07
Whether you're performing as an entertainer or speaker.
8:10
That's one of the things that will tell people, sit through in mind, do mindfulness of it.
8:15
Another way to prepare is breathing techniques.
8:19
There's a couple of breathing techniques that I tell people to do.
8:24
Is you breathe in for four counts.
8:26
You hold it for seven counts.
8:27
You breathe out for eight counts.
8:29
What this does is it triggers what we call the parasympathetic nervous system.
8:34
Which is if you're having like a warm bowl of super ice cream and you're kind of like calm.
8:40
Where there's something called a sympathetic mode, which is that fighter flight mode.
8:44
The moment people get on a stage, their palms get sweaty.
8:47
They want to use the bathroom.
8:49
Their knees want to buckle.
8:50
Their mouth gets dry.
8:52
And so mindfulness breathing helps them to trigger that PNS, that parasympathetic mode.
8:58
I always say to arrive early.
9:01
I tell people, go to the venue.
9:03
See what it looks like.
9:05
Like, look at the stage.
9:06
Sit down on it in the chair.
9:08
And actually visualize what it's going to look like.
9:11
The audience that's going to be there.
9:13
Walk yourself through it as you do mindfulness.
9:15
But be in the environment as well.
9:17
That's going to help a lot in preparing.
9:20
And then also to making sure that you have a backup.
9:23
One of the, I had a pitch competition that was a judge at one of the persons forgot their visuals.
9:30
And so they did a whole entire pitch, asking for a whole bunch of money with no visuals.
9:37
Mess up their entire elevator pitch.
9:39
And so I tell those that are preparing, make sure you have a backup.
9:42
If you're going to be doing something where you're sending something electronically.
9:45
Make sure you have something on a USB drive.
9:48
Some sort of electronic drive.
9:50
So that your anxiety can actually decrease.
9:53
Because lots of times people kind of cause their own anxiety too.
9:56
Because of lack of preparation.
9:58
So those are practical things that they can do to prepare their pitch.
10:02
Just a follow up because a lot of times people will confuse anxiety with nervousness.
10:09
Some people will say it's healthy to feel nervous.
10:11
It's healthy to feel angst before something.
10:13
Because you're prepared for it.
10:14
You want to deliver it.
10:16
You want to do a great job.
10:18
Is it healthy or when does it not become healthy?
10:21
It's absolutely healthy to be nervous.
10:23
I was nervous coming here because I've never met you guys in person.
10:27
Are they going to ask me?
10:29
So there's something called good nerves.
10:30
You just can't allow those nerves to take over and become your master.
10:34
And that's where anxiety comes in.
10:36
Anxiety in angst really says, what if something happens?
10:40
And what do I need to do to prepare it just in case what if happened?
10:42
So there's something between wisdom and then allowing anxiety to take over.
10:46
Wisdom says, you know what?
10:47
Let me have a backup.
10:49
That's not anxiety.
10:50
That's just wisdom.
10:51
But anxiety is like all of the intrusive thoughts going through your head.
10:55
That's literally just thoughts.
10:58
Two things that I've learned in life, guys.
11:00
No one owes me anything and never create a story.
11:03
Anxiety is the culprit that helps people create stories that literally don't even exist.
11:08
And so because of that, absolutely, there's a difference between nerves and anxiety.
11:12
The nerves is good, right?
11:14
But you don't have to let it master you.
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It's tax season. And by now, we're all a bit tired of numbers.
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