I learned a large amount by participating in the competitions as a contestant when I was in school, however being on the other side of the table teaches you a great deal and is a fantastic learning experience as well.  For the record…I like being on the investor side much better

Here’s 5 quick tips on helping you successfully pitch your business to investors, or judges in a business plan competition.

1. Strong Attention Grabbing Opener- Try opening your presentation in a way that relates to your audience.  Asking a question or utilizing a “Picture this” or “Think back when” statement is one that I often used in the past….Have you ever (been in this bad situation or felt like this)…well millions of others do every day.  But we have come up with a solution…I’ll get to that momentarily.  My name is (X) and I’m with (X company).
2. Follow a Logical Sequence- The sequence I usually use is a modified version of “Monroe’s Motivated Sequence”.  Attention Grabber–>Market–>problem–>solution (your product/service)–>Team–>Marketing plan–>Sales–>Financials–>Ask
   
   This keeps your presentation on track and flowing smoothly.
3. Don’t Read Directly from the slides! The first two teams who presented on Friday read directly from the slides.  This is not only very boring, but it also shows that you’re not very knowledgeable about your business.  Reading from the slides also prohibits your passion for your venture from showing.  Showing your passion is a very important part of selling your audience on a concept.  The first two teams that presented this past Friday read from their slides and I wanted to slap some sense into them!
   Please don’t make this same mistake.
4. Utilize Visuals- This tip goes with my last point and makes your presentation more engaging.  Don’t simply put massive amounts of text on your slides.  If your presenting about an actual product, bring your product or a beta in to share it with your audience.  The other option is simply adding graphics to your presentation:

   - Add pictures of your market
   - Add images that represent the pain they are facing
   - Add graphics of your product or service offering
   - Add images showing your marketing initiatives
   - Show a graph of your financials (revenue, expenses and break even

5. Make sure your financials are solid! One team that presented in the competition didn’t even have financials!  One of the other teams had financials that were very incomplete.  The team spoke a large amount about their marketing and how they would capture 5% of a large market and didn’t even allocate a marketing budget!  Don’t make this mistake!  I would recommend having an income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement and financial assumptions.  If you are very early stage everyone is going to know these are not 100% accurate, however you need to be able to defend these financial statements….hence the reason for your financial assumptions.

Now there are a lot more tips that can be said, but these were the five that really stuck out in my mind after judging the competition Friday.

I wish all of you the best of luck in your various entrepreneurial endeavors.  If I can be of any assistance let me know!
If there are any other tips my readers would like to share feel free to drop a comment.

Cheers,

David

There were some really creative ideas.  The team that generated the most money actually ended up selling their 3 minute presentation slot to a company interested in recruiting the students.

Some ideas that I think would do quite well include:

1) Buying tickets and cans then raffling off “dates” for group members. (This depends on the attractiveness of the group members.  This could also be an auction where the highest bidder wins the date)

2) Massages for $X or doing them free for donations.

3) Hold a focus group for businesses in the area so they can better understand and reach college/grad students.  Call restaurants and solicit food donations.   This focus group concept could be held for almost any vertical.  You could simply give the participants a free lunch and charge the companies $10-$20.

4) Hold a educational session on how to use twitter or new media to grow your business.  Again lunch would be provided through solicitations and you would charge people to attend.

5) Call a magician or other skilled person (artist, musician, etc) and invite local parents and kids (or the talent’s target market).  Convince the talent to perform for free to get his name out there and request $10 for admission for attendees giving half to charity.  People give their money away a lot easier when they know a portion goes to charity.  You could also get food donated for this event as well.

Well it’s late and that’s all I got for now.  I may add some more later.

What do you think about this challenge? Which was your favorite of my ideas?  What would you do with $5 and 2 hours to generate the most money possible?

Allow me to explain…

First off let me say that I not only quit my job, but a job at a really great work environment with awesome people and fun/unique company culture….Where else do you ring in new hires with tequila shots, have cubicle decorating contests and plow your face into cake on your birthday & anniversary of employment? Of course I’m talking about IZEA, a top social media marketing company that operates SocialSpark, PayPerPost and more.

So the question I know many people are thinking…Why the H*ll did you quit? or What is he thinking?

Well I have always been a person that doesn’t shy away from challenges. I have also always trusted my gut, which was one of the main reasons why I moved to Orlando in the first place. I knew no-one in Florida, but something told me this was the right choice. That decision turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made and over the last 2 years I’ve accomplished a great deal.

Besides trusting my gut I also moved to Orlando to be in a fertile environment to grow my own ventures. My goal has always been to create jobs for others, not be bound by an hourly job and to grow extremely wealthy in the process. Then be able to give back and help other young entrepreneurs achieve their dreams.

With these goals constantly in mind I came to the conclusion that IZEA has done all it can to assist me in reaching them at this stage in my life.

I’ve really enjoyed my time at IZEA, feel that I have learned a great deal and built relationships with a lot of great people, however now is the time for me to go hard after my goals. As time passes many people sink into a mode of comfortably and they stop striving and are content with their current situation. Though this is completely alright for some people at this point in my life this is not okay for me. At this time I have no children to pay for and no major expenses. There’s no better time for me than right now. If you desire to reach your goals no matter what they may be you have to go for it. When there’s more risk, there is a greater chance for more of a reward. In addition to that my dad taught me a long time ago that you improve and grow the most during periods of uncertainty and turmoil. If you’re not working through problems or challenges your performing not growing. I recently saw a great quote on Drew Mclellans blog: “Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.”

That quote really sums up how I feel and why I did what I did. I have so much of a desire to achieve my goals that fear seems very trivial in comparison. Some may call me foolish, some may call me outright stupid, but the way I see it it needed to be done. I have full confidence in my abilities and in god and know I will make it work.

Stay tuned…

More to come

It’s all based on risk and return.  If you are involved in a venture that needs full attention to succeed it’s ok to put other ideas on the back burner.  However, I feel that just as a successful student may take 5 classes at a time and be able to get good grades in all of them, if you delegate your time and resources properly you can do, and succeed, in multiple ventures at a time.  Again if you are involved in a venture that needs your full attention to succeed and feel the return will be worth it, by all means that venture should have nearly all of your energy.  However if it doesn’t and you can put people or resources in place to make something happen….why not?

Diversification is key to obtaining wealth (Any investor worth their commission, or degree would tell you the same).  If you have your hands in a bunch of different endeavors and have proper people in place to help them grow, your likely hood for success & wealth rises immensely.

I can’t tell you how many times that I had an idea that I thought would do great and then someone else launches it.  I take it as a compliment, however compliments won’t put dollars in your bank account.  Ideas are really nothing until they’re implimented.

If you have an idea that you feel could be a success and don’t already have your hands in too much, what are you waiting for?  You don’t want to be that guy (or girl) that says “Hey….I had that idea” after a million dollar company is born.

There are ways to fund or grow a company with slim to no budget.

Make it happen!

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Since it is Valentines Day I spent some time reflecting on my wonderful relationship of three and a half years with my boyfriend David. However, being the girlfriend of an entrepreneur is challenging but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. So for those of you in the same boat as me, hang in there it will be well worth it! Here are some tips that I found helpful:

1. You must be able to block out the alerts coming from the cell phone. It will drive you nuts with all of the e-mails, phone calls/text messages and Twitter updates.
2. Only expect a tiny little corner of the bookshelf. Most likely the book shelf will be completely stacked with books like “Future Millionaires”, “Rich Dad Poor Dad” and “Founders at Work”.
3. Let him know that dinner is ready about 10-15 mins before it actually is. Therefore, he can finish his e-mail, conversation on Twitter or phone call in a timely manner before his food gets cold. I can’t tell you how many meals I’ve had to microwave.
4. Always be supportive. Being the girlfriend or wife of an entrepreneur requires you to be their support through the many ups and downs of the roller coaster ride.
5. You may have to move across the country because he needs to go to the state/city that will be best for his venture.
6. Be prepared for him to NETWORK everywhere you go!
7. Be prepared for him to be in front of or at least near his computer 75% of the day
8. TV shows like BIG IDEA will be filling up your DVR
9. Get used to going to bed alone. Especially if you work early and want to get at least 8 hrs of sleep. Most likely he will finally shut off the computer and crawl into bed around 2 or 3 am.
10. Most importantly, understand that you are with an extremely motivated, self disciplined and inspired person, be proud of them. It takes special people to be entrepreneurs.

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Not bad for her first post huh? Thanks for being the best & most understanding girlfriend ever! Happy Valentines day babe!

- David

Do you have any helpful tips that you would add to the list? If so drop them in the comments below.

If you didn’t see the moon walking bear going by the first time that’s ok. The key is to make identifying things others miss a habit so when that potential million dollar opportunity comes moon walking by you can see it and take advantage of it.

In addition to being able to seeing things others miss, I feel the best entrepreneurs have a strong sense of urgency, strong immunity to rejection and the ability to cost effectively bring the best resources together to accomplish their goals.

What characteristics do you feel the best entrepreneurs possess?