If You Are Ever Stuck in an Elevator with Me

I love the blog Indie Retail Academy by Clare Yuille. So much so that when she had a five week e-class on What Retailers Want, I signed up and paid my money without hesitation {and then promptly got so busy that I couldn’t even do one of the exercises. But I think that I can go back and do them all later. *Sigh* Does that happen to anyone else?} Clare is in the UK, but her lessons and wisdom are spot on no matter where you are in the world. Plus she is just so darn nice!

Recently, she has been unfolding a series she called “How To Stop Worrying and Start Selling.” I read all her posts with great interest as she seems to know exactly what I am hoping to hear and does it in a way that is easy to understand and actionable. This particular message in her series is one that resonated with me: how do you describe what you do in one snappy sentence?

As a maker, I have creative ADD. {Ooh…shiny!} I cannot sit still for long periods of time unless I am completely absorbed in what I am doing and then time stands still. That is when I forget to eat or use the bathroom. But finding that thing that sucks me in completely is sometimes a crap-shoot. There are so many inputs, so many piles and lists clamoring for my attention, so many crafty ideas left unexamined, that it is hard for me to focus when I walk into my studio. I feel like every bead is screaming at me to ‘MAKE SOMETHING’ and ‘PICK ME!’ that I have to stop the beady voices and often leave the room completely. {Or is that just me?}

Okay. It sounds like I need an organizational intervention. Perhaps in another post. 😉

But back to the one sentence idea.

{Think Good Thoughts – bracelets}

I am the ‘Queen of the Cliches’ as my secretly snarky husband recently said to me. But I would prefer to think of myself as the ‘Princess of Positive’ instead! I made up these bracelets with the hopes of getting the attention of the Uncommon Goods jewelry call for submissions back in June, but unfortunately, they were not chosen, despite telling a story and being ‘uncommon.’ {But I understand that this is now an ongoing monthly contest, so scoot over there and enter something!}

So I walked into a local boutique called Girls in Pearls while wearing the ‘take risks’ bracelet. I went in there to pitch some other jewelry, but this bracelet is what caught her eye. In addition to the jewelry, she asked that I write up a little card about me and my inspirations to put in a frame by the display.

Uh-oh. Even though I am a prolific writer, I always find it a bit daunting to write that short bio for publication without sounding full of myself. I try to be pithy and fun, but also serious about what I do. So this one sentence idea seemed like a great place to start.

{Think Good Thoughts connectors. I am proof that wearing these messages work!}

This is also known as the ‘elevator pitch’: a clear, succinct and precise explanation of your proposition. If you were stuck in an elevator with the editor of a magazine you loved, or the CEO of a company you wanted to work for, you would have roughly a 30 seconds to a minute to share what you do, why you do it and who you do it for.

Per Clare’s instructions, the fill-in-the blank breakdown goes like this:

Here is what I would write:

Of course, as a former English teacher, I would jazz it up a bit. You can change the syntax anyway you like. And it can be more than one sentence. But not more than three. {You are riding an elevator, remember?}

The descriptive words to define me are intriguing and hopefully want someone to find out more. Adding a question at the end, gets the listener {or reader} involved in the action and gives them a way to feel connected to what I am pitching. It opens the door to a conversation. If I wanted to distill it down even further, to just a motto or byline, I would say something like this:

My ‘elevator pitch’ is always a work in progress, and I will continue to play with words to keep refining my message, but for now, I feel confident that if I am stuck in that elevator with the magazine editor or the CEO I would have a pretty compelling pitch that might make them invite me to step off at their floor.