Personality Pitching - The Investor Pitch Process

Running the Bases today with Michael C. Clark CEO & Founder Personality Pitching - a coaching and consulting firm for startups.  Personality Pitching is a consulting firm dedicated to coaching and consulting Entrepreneurs and Startups through the investor pitch process. Services include creating an investor pitch from scratch, pitch refinement, pitch deck review, and live investor pitch practice.  Michael’s services are delivered through one-on-one coaching, group masterclasses, and webinars.

Michael has been coaching for over ten years with experience in marketing and media and has personally coached in the areas of film, television, technology, and more. His clients have raised from $20K to $50M of funding from Angels, Private Equity, and Venture Capital.

Execution and traction.  This is critical in attracting investors at any level.  Michael shares his thoughts on how to approach investors.  Where to start.  Who to touch first.  How you can fully prepare for that big moment.

Looking for investors can be difficult and sometimes discouraging.  But, as in many aspects of entrepreneurship - you can’t give up.  As Michael shares “Create your pitch, start, do something every single day. Do something to bring yourself closer to your goal and really figure out what that is. Don't give up.”

Thinking about seeking investors - you’ll want to listen to this show!

Want a FREE Coaching Session with Michael?  Use this link for a FREE Coaching Session and E-Book:  FREE COACHING

Learn more about Personality Pitch and Investor Pitch Process  at http://www.personalitypitching.com/

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Transcript

Randy: 0:13

running the bases with small businesses. I'm Randy Rohde. And I have a passion to work with small businesses and I love baseball. So I thought, Hey, let's bring them together. So every episode, I sit down with local entrepreneurs, business builders, and small business owners to talk about their wins and whiffs their tools of the trade and to give actionable tips to other business managers, we'll cover the bases with entrepreneurship, operations, sales, digital marketing innovation, plus a little fun baseball talk. Thanks for joining us today. Settle in, grab your Cracker jacks and you know what they say, play ball. And it's a great day for a ballgame. Hey, welcome to the show. Running the Bases with small businesses. I'm Randy Rohde. And today I met a very interesting guest. Uh, let me tell you this. Guy's got 10 years experience and we've got to get this little flare there. Alright., he's got 10 years experience in marketing and media. He's helped clients raise 20,000 to $50 million in funding. He's been to Kenya five times on medical missions., super excited to have Michael C. Clark from personality pitching,, on the show today. Michael. Welcome.

Michael: 1:45

Thank you so much, Randy. I'm excited to be on the show. Thank you so much for the invitation to come out today. I appreciate it.

Randy: 1:51

Hey, there you are really quite fascinating., personality pitching when I first heard and we first started talking, if that what in the world, this is really amazing. And I saw it, especially for. Our audience, small business and entrepreneurs., I thought, man, you've got something here that I'm sure that people really want to dig into. So tell us about your agency. How did you get started?

Michael: 2:15

As we mentioned a personality pitching, it's a consulting company. I created an am totally devoted to helping entrepreneurs and startups through coaching and through the pitching process., I always like to say I help, uh, startups and entrepreneurs create a clear, concise deal closing pitch., a number of years ago. when I was pitching myself,, in both the corporate space entertainment space, I was out there trying to search for the best way to pitch and how to put together a pitch. And granted, there are a lot of videos and a lot of books out there, but there are very few coaches or services that you can kind of help. Hire and help you,, create, like I said, that deal closing pitch., and also as I gained experience through the years, friends, family, and colleagues were coming to me for help. And because I had so much experience as both successes and failures, I was able to really help them. And help them in a very, you know, successful way. And so I created personality pitching because again, out of that pain point of my own suffering through and stumbling through finding the best way to create a deal closing pitch. Personality Pitching is a company I created about a year ago. And again, as I mentioned, you know, over the years, helping people kind of with one-offs and I said, you know, let, let's make this thing official and I've seen great success. With it,, entrepreneurs and startups and even investors coming to me,, the startups come to me and I help them with everything from their deck to practicing their pitch, helping them identify investors., also a lot of what I do is help them overcome the mental barriers to success in pitching, many entrepreneurs have the mechanics, they have their deck and, you know, they have their story and they have everything ready. But often I find that there's these mental barriers, their past failures,, doubt in themselves, not properly practicing their pitch, really that hinder success. When it comes to the actual meeting, because everybody can talk a good game until they're up to bat, you know, using the baseball analogy. Now your soccer, you know, you can talk a good game, but, there, there are swinging the myths when it comes to that pitch time.

Randy: 4:24

I love that. Thanks for using the, the baseball analogy. And here, this is the other thing where I thought, Oh, this guy is going to be a great guest because you know, you got the pitch in the name in your company and like, how can that be? So tell us about then. What, what is your typical client?, Michael: well, it's, it's a range again. It's startups, entrepreneurs from all areas. I help. App developers and tech startups to writers producers. So it's a range. Some of my clients come to me with just an idea and some of them come to me and they have a full-blown pitch pitch, deck, traction. They've raised funds before, but they're,, there's a barrier. So they've seen a measure of success, but they know that there's some things they still need to work through. So it's, it's really the range and all levels of experience. I have,, MBA students that are still in school, as well as,, seasoned veterans that have pitched many times before. But a lot of times there's not one thing that's kind of throwing them off or they're missing it. And again, because I'm helping them with all aspects of the pitch, I kind of go through systematically to see what their pain points are and where they may be missing it. so you work with now instinctively, I should say I I'm thinking that well, you're probably working with people who haven't done this before, or, you know, that's all really intimidating, but you're saying you've worked with people that have, Hey, we've done pitch, we've done funding with investors. And you still work with him and fine tuned,, their delivery and their deck and their pitch and all of that then, right?

Michael: 5:58

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, because what happens is,, you know, teams change or to that extent, they've many people in that case, they'll come to me and I'll say, you know, uh, I sat through 10 pitches and these investors, they don't want to move. And then I'll sit down with them. They'll go through their pitch. And I find out they get totally flustered when someone doesn't agree with their plan or they totally flustered when someone kind of pushes back on their numbers or our marketing plan. So, again, those are just mental things that they have to be able to actually handle the meeting. So again, there's the mechanics of having, okay, here, I've got this business, I've got the deck, let me go into the meeting. And a lot of times I'm helping them with things in terms of navigating the actual meeting itself, because some people see it like, Oh, I've got my pitch and that it's enough. No, I deal with them in terms of how they actually handle the meeting. And now with,, COVID and the pandemic we're doing a lot of online meetings. So that brings new opportunities and new challenges. So you have people that are not used to having to read faces and read feedback over zoom. I had a meeting just this week where an investor and entrepreneur asked me to sit in. And they were totally nervous and thrown off. I said, well, what happened? They said, well, the investor just stared at me and didn't give me any feedback. And I really wanted to know that they were with me and I told them, I said, look, you stare into the camera. Don't look at their face, you know, totally focusing on your pitch, be the star of the show. You know, imagine you again, let's use a baseball analogy. You're up to bat. You're not looking at the face of each and every person in the, in the stadium. You keep your eye on the ball and you take a swing.

Randy: 7:39

So, Michael,, what are some of the common issues maybe that you're coaching or working on with clients? Because I'm sure that you've got a certain amount of things that you see almost widespread with friends, right?

Michael: 7:53

Yeah, absolutely. I would say the first one is, is there common, myths and misconceptions about pitching, um, that the first one being the thought that an entrepreneur or startup can just pitch from their heart and that the investor will just get it, that doesn't work., I've. Sat in meetings where an entrepreneur will be talking about their product and it'll be five, 10, 15 minutes. And the actual pitches hasn't even started. You know, these VCs and angels don't have a lot of time. You should be able to. I tell my clients, you should be able to pitch your product clearly and concisely in one minute, have a three-minute version of five minute version, depending on how much time you have. So again, the first one is that they think they can pick from the heart. And next they believe that they can get an investment with just an idea, which is not true at all. We'll talk about that, but that they can, I have this great idea. I made these slides. I went online and looked and I know it's worth,, it's a $50 million idea and I have to kind of bust that bubble to say, it's not an idea. It's about the execution it's attraction. It's you being able to show that you can execute it, that you've done the research for the. But there's a market, a viable market for it. And then final biggest misconception is that they think that my idea is worth millions today as it is right now. that's, that's just, it's just not true. And they asked for, I've had one client asked for a million dollars and I say, well, yeah, you know, what have you done? And what do you have in place? And again, all they had was a pitch deck. So. Those are the top three pitching from the heart,, thinking they can get investments with just an idea, and then thinking that the idea is worth millions today.

Randy: 9:33

So do you ever have,, clients who come into I'm sure, probably in some of your,, initial conversations, you know, it's coming at well, how much are you looking for? Right. What, what is your pitch? What's, what's your ask and,, Do you find that they just come up with a dollar amount? That's just, listen, that's not enough., like you just said, somebody that needs a million dollars. And I know I, throughout my lifetime and experiences I've have done all different types of startups and, and have known a lot of entrepreneurs doing startups and. Running,, and I've had angel and all different cycles of investment. And one of the things, the biggest mistakes that they always say is like, we never, I asked for enough when we did our initial, you know, we should have put a multiple behind it because otherwise we're just constantly asking. It seems like for money., is that something that you find as well?

Michael: 10:27

Yes. I totally agree with that. They're not asking for enough and what they're asking for. They can't like fully justify in that they say, Oh, you know, we're going to spend,, $350,000 on marketing, a 750,000 on a development. And it's like, well, what agencies going to execute that marketing plan? Well, we just thought that would be enough. So I'm like, Well, no, you have to find a marketing agency that can execute that. So to your point, yeah, they don't ask for enough and. And then investors don't want that call on Wednesday that you can't make payroll. They don't want that call that all of a sudden you need another check. So to your point, absolutely. They don't ask for enough. And couple with that, what they ask for is not really, they haven't justified it with a full budget and a full, a spending plan.

Randy: 11:17

do you help., the clients find investors as well. Or do you, are you early the coach and not to say merely, but you know, only the coach or is that the only kind of function that you're playing there or do you also kind of introduce him to potential? Cause I'm imagining you probably have got quite the Rolodex if you've been working with folks and probably sitting in on some of these things,, with investors, right.

Michael: 11:42

Yes, I absolutely do. And yes, in terms of what I offer, I will say kind of broadly is I help them first identify the right investor., you know, my philosophy with pitch meetings is that it's a two-way street. You have to find the right investor. Like they, they're trying to make sure that you're the right opportunity to invest in., I create this investor profile, like what type of message really do you need? Do you need someone who's going to be just on your board and that's going to advise, do you think you want to have someone that's involved in day to day operations? So really first helping them identify the right investor,, where they can find investors. So. I gave them like on that first level, but yes, absolutely. They have, I've worked with clients that I knew of a great investor or, or entity that would be a great match and I will make that match. But you know, that's never something I can kind of guarantee upfront and it's not something I kind of hang out there, but. Absolutely. I love matchmaking. And if there's an opportunity, uh, to put two people together, I'll definitely do it. Um, but there's no way I could comfortably,, be hired to, you're going to find me an investor right now. I can definitely help you identify the right investor and,, Help you, I can show you where to find them,, be it through,, incubators, accelerators., there's a lot of VC groups that have a full application process that people are not aware of. And there are a lot of, Smaller meetups that happen in different cities where angels are gatherings gathering and they hear pitches on a weekly and monthly basis. So a lot of people just aren't aware of those resources.

, Randy: 13:21

and maybe just,, just to clarify, I guess,, cause we didn't touch on this earlier, but so there are different,, phases of investors and, um, and maybe cause you use the term angel investors. And so maybe you can define that a little bit maybe, and maybe as well, just kind of walk through a little bit of some of those,, funding phases, if you would.

Michael: 13:43

Absolutely. Absolutely. And it's., going back to what you asked before, in terms of like, when clients come to me, they, they have, again, an image in their mind, they're starting day one. And they're like, can you, they introduced me to a VC and I'm like, well, are you really at that phase? How much are you looking for? And people don't realize there's typically an industry pre-seed funding stage, there's a seed funding stage their series a and they, you know, you have to do the research on those. So typically when they're looking for a kind of. Up to $250,000. That's pre-seed anything from like two 50 to about a million or so would be considered seed., I sat in on a, a pitch meeting just this week where someone was in a seed pitch and they were asking for$7 million to go before the FDA. And I was like, Whoa. Um, I think you're kind of in the wrong place right now. So,, in that initial phase, when. If listeners are just starting out, I always say your angels and they do come in kind of segments. You can consider like your friends and family and people that, you know, with money, those are angels. And I always say go after your friends and family first, not necessarily, you know, crowdfunding here, send them the link, but these are people that know you that love you that want to see you succeed pitch to them first and pitch to them like an investor with a full deck and don't rule anyone out. You'd be shocked that if you came to them with a real business plan, And, and pitch and proposal, you'd be shocked who around you would actually invest. And to that extent, I also get clients that think they need, again, that million dollars today when they actually need$20,000 to design the app and they need another $30,000 to develop the app. They don't need a million dollars, like get some traction get started. So my three tips there is like, look, start small, get some traction, create a prototype. Um, so in those early stages, you don't need, you, you know, you don't need as much as most people think you need to get started.

Randy: 15:47

Mm, I love that., and great tips. here we are in COVID in the midst of this pandemic., and depending upon, I guess, where you're sitting a little bit, I mean, there are a lot of businesses that are hurting,, themselves right now, just because of revenue drops., but I also know kind of on the other end of that,, that I've read in various publications that. People are just socking away money and there's, you know, kind of stockpiling money because they're not spending,, because they're not going out, they're not doing all this other stuff. Right., and so I'm wondering, what are you seeing as far as kind of the climate for investors right now?

Michael: 16:32

I would say there's definitely in some sectors apprehension., if you have a startup or business that's related to say travel and hospitality, I'm sure there there's definitely gonna be some apprehension there, or if your startup or idea is based on serving a COVID need, because we don't know the timeline of the pandemic. And when this thing is going to turn around and when the vaccine is coming out and all these other variables. Yes, there is apprehension and investing in those areas. But. I spoke to several VCs just this week. And the sentiment is this is the greatest time to start a business. This is truly the greatest time to, to bill something. And yes, there is money. You know, I use the term there's money on the table right now. there's what you kind of read and depending on who you listen to, but I can confidently say that there are. Venture capital groups, private equity groups, they're angels investing in the right opportunity. I think the only other nuances that they are, some VCs are taking the perspective of, because you can't meet face to face logistically, they're doing things a little bit differently, but, I've seen about 90%. A VC still funding, even without a face-to-face meeting, they're using zoom, they're doing the same due diligence process, but there's still money moving. I hate to go against, I kind of, uh, the narrative out there. Oh, doom and gloom and things are so bad, but I will tell you, if you look back historically 2008 and other. Downturns. There've been great companies that have been created out of times, just like this. So you are company, your enterprise, your startup could be one of them. So I would say just, just keep pushing them.

Randy: 18:21

Yes, exactly. I love that because,, and I wish I could be smart enough to like rattle off, but I've read somewhere as well that some of these,. Billion dollar companies that we're out of the Oh eight recession and absolutely it is a great time and I've always believed, I'm curious on what your opinion is of this. I've always believed in this statement. There is no shortage of money.

Michael: 18:48

Absolutely. I totally agree. I totally agree. Now, now what can turn that tide is your mental state. Remember? We talked early on most of the things I have to deal with our mental when it comes to people. So if you go in there thinking, Oh, you know, custody economy, you know, people are not, you know, given, given out money they're they aren't investing. So I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do that. Or I'm going to go into this with a certain attitude. No, you have to shake all that off and to your point, no, that great companies, billion dollar entities, as you mentioned, have been created at a time, such as this.

Randy: 19:23

Yeah. Yeah. what are investors looking for then today? What, what do you think they're looking for?

Michael: 19:29

Well, first they're looking for a solid team of founders with experience, passion, and definitely integrity and some combination thereof. So. When it comes to experience., many times I've seen founders come up with ideas and they don't have any background in that particular area, but they have experienced in some other area. And there's a passion. There's a story behind how they came up with it. The solution to this problem. and more so integrity is just huge. as we know, we can't teach integrity. You can't, you know, you can't buy integrity. So they're looking for founders that are going to follow through and execute on what they say they can do that are not gonna,, fake it till you make it fudge the numbers. you know, I've sat in meetings where., uh, a colleague says, uh, Oh yeah, we could do that by August. And I'm like, no, there's no way we could do that by August. And you know, we get out of the meeting and start saying, well, you know, we want it to at least get the deal first. And it's like, no, this is all about integrity. So that's really a common theme. So. Founders with experienced passionate integrity, a solid team with experience that can execute. So say, for example, say if the founders have varying experiences, but you've pulled together a solid CFO, solid CTO and a solid team to execute, that's where they're looking for a solid plan., and that you understand the industry. So. When you give these numbers and projections of three, five years and, Oh, well, you know, it looks like a hockey stick and how you'll make $5 billion in five years,, pull back from that. And they just really want to know that you understand the landscape and market that you're getting into. So. Yeah. I've seen people lament over pages and pages of projections and like, look, if these are numbers based on research, real research, and you're not fudging those numbers, present them and say, look, this is what we project. And it's understood that it's not that it's a projection. It's not a guarantee. And then I would say the last thing they're looking for is traction that you've done something to execute that you have. Actual customers or prototype samples that you've, um, done focus groups. There's so many easy, low cost ways to get traction. that's what they're looking for.

Randy: 21:55

Good stuff. Good, good tips., and I especially,, Loved the,, kind of the, the reality and projections based in reality kind of thought because, um,, I think too often we were having this conversation with another guest, uh, a few shows back and talking about how sometimes as either the business owner or the guy who was with the ideas, they're like, so kind of inwardly focused, they're not thinking of. Outside of themselves a little bit. And so they give these projections or they talk about their service or whatever it is. That's not really based in, in okay. But this is in researched reality here. So yeah. Yes. You may think it's going to be a $5 billion company. But exactly, but let's kind of couch it a little bit more on what's happening today and what we think that it could go to,, with that dose of reality.

Michael: 22:48

And just one note, I just want to make one note when it comes to numbers and markets, some industries. Like say rideshare and other markets and industries, and you do these research and ISA, you know, this is a $5 billion industry or $200 million industry, right? So often you say a founder will say, well, Hey, w w we're gonna make just that much one day when in all actuality, if you only made 1% of that in your first year or a half percent of that. In actual profit, you would be very successful. So I think managing expectations,, internally among your team, as well as with an investor is much better than the promise of, we believe that we'll make $2 million in the first year, if you profit a half million dollars you're in a great shape. I mean, it's a great things when we know that so many companies don't make it past the seed phase. Yeah.

Randy: 23:49

Well, and as well, so many even today's world, great companies like Amazon, as an example, I don't know how many years they were in existence before they even started turning a profit. I mean, that's right. I dunno. It was like five or six years or something like that. I thought there's no way this company is going to survive. And now they're. Just this monster., all right. Well, those are all great tips. Great insights., Michael, now, do you know what time it is? It is what? Oh yeah. Now we get attacked a little bit about baseball. All right. You ready for that? You like baseball? Absolutely. Okay. And he's fan and, uh, okay. Here we go. From the New York areas. So our research team, you know, kind of worked hard to find, uh, information around kind of your industry. And so we actually came up with some thoughts around pitching, right. And, um, and we thought, well, You know, the biggest kind of question that comes around in pitching is really is like, well, how hard, or how fast can that guy actually throw the ball? What is the velocity of that thing? So we kind of did a little research on this and, um, do you have any idea now? You may, because, uh, you know, especially if you're a Yankees fan at all,, who holds the record for the fastest velocity ball?

Michael: 25:13

Ooh. Uh, you know, is that Roger Clemens? I'm not sure, but I dunno,

Randy: 25:21

uh, uh, role does Chapman. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. He threw a ball, uh, not in a game. So there's to in today's world, there's a lot of specifics, right? Some,, um, metrics and what have you that they have to do, but he hit, uh, threw a ball hitting 105.1 miles per hour. Did that about six years ago. And that holds the record. Still today in modern baseball. Now the crazy thing. So I've got to tell you a couple of other ones., and one specifically, because you know, we're out of Ohio here in Cleveland, this is just a fascinating story that we dug up. So back in the 1940s, Bob feller, great pitcher for the Indians., so Bob feller, listen to this story though., so before you were thinking, how in the world could you even Trek because they didn't have radar guns at that point, right? So it's like, how do you know that this guy even could throw up? So Bob feller had the fastest pitch clocked in the most unique way. So he had a motorcycle. Running through Chicago's Lincoln park in the summer of 1940. And so this is a major league baseball approved test. So what he did feller waited as a city policeman on a Harley Davidson race toward him. The motorcycle traveling at 86 miles per hour, I had a 10 foot headstart on fellers, fast ball. Then it zipped by just a few feet to the right of the end of the Indians. Um, Uh, ACE and then nanoseconds after the motorcycle blew past fella released the ball, the balls zoomed past the man on the machine reaching the bull's eye paper target, approximately three feet in front of the motorcycle. Right? So a split second. Yes. Split second. After fellers pitch broke the paper target, the more, uh, the motorcycle destroyed the target. So the test satisfied. Multiple preset standards and M L announced that fellers fast ball had been clocked. How fast do you think at that time? And so using kind of this whole process, how fast do you think that he threw it at that time?

Michael: 27:36

Ah, let's see. You said the fastest one Oh four Oh one Oh 5.1. That was for all this. Yeah. Uh, was it faster than the one Oh five?

Randy: 27:46

Well, isn't so bad then MLB said, okay. We're and through the mechanics and calculations, we're clocking this at 104 miles per hour, but, uh, according to the documentation adjusting fellers pitch with today's. Motorcycle less standards. They would say that it actually registered at one Oh 7.6. Oh my goodness. Yes. Wow. Isn't that crazy? So I've got one last one. So these are the three kind of known fastest Nolan Ryan back in 1974 through a pitch., and at that time hit a 100.9, but if you know baseball at all, It was actually, a longer,, distance between the base and if they made the adjustments to, with, uh, in today's world. So kind of comparing it on an even status with our oldest Chapman's,, Ryan's pitch actually would have been a 108. Point five. My goodness. That's crazy stuff. But anyway, I love that story about Bob feller though, just because like how in the world would you ever think? Well, let's measure it against a motorcycle. Exactly. So nuts. All right. Well let's, let's get back into it. All right. so tell me What's your biggest challenge as a solopreneur? I mean, so you are the man, right? You're, you're running, you're running your agency, just you. W what is your biggest challenge?

Michael: 29:23

I would say kind of like everyone, else's, it's just time management. It's being able to give that a hundred percent to the business, my clients balancing it out with family and, and being able to stay sane and just balancing it also is time management. And I was trying to make a point of just putting more hours in my day by getting up earlier and staying up later, I have some clients that are night owls. They, we do coaching sessions at night and some are early birds. We're doing early in the morning. So it's just really time management and, um, yeah. You know, and also just resource management, deciding kind of what I do versus what I farm out. I have this thing about,, it's not how to do something. It's who, so, you know, I'm not an expert at,, Facebook marketing. So it's like, uh, I do hire someone to handle some of my Facebook marketing and other things. So I try not to do everything myself.

Randy: 30:18

That's good. That's very wise actually kind of focus on your expertise and don't get bogged down with kind of all of the additional noise that's out there. And I wonder,, you talk about kind of that work life balance a little bit. So I know you've got kids, right? Yes. Yeah. What's the beautiful kids. And what's the age range on those guys?

Michael: 30:39

Oh my goodness. It goes from eight, 10 and 17. Oh my gosh. Yes. And, and a, and a dog and a wife, and there's always something happening. There's always some action, but I will tell you, yeah, go ahead. No, I was going to say, I was just going to make a, Kevin, you got a full minivan there, but yeah, yeah, absolutely. And what I will say this and I stress with my clients. I do this in my own life is that you always have to look at the positive of every experience. And even if it's a seemingly negative situation and out of this pandemic, Uh, we've spent a lot of time together., and it it's been, it's been great,, the, the amount of FaceTime, you know, versus,, running into the city. And do you usually do so much traveling, but this kind of time together has been priceless? And then, you know, on a personal note, um, COVID. Has taken a bit of a toll on, on us personally, my, my father-in-law passed away and seven days later, uh, we lost his wife also to COVID 19. And so I think the way I don't mind talking about that here, because it's, it's one of my drivers in that. You know, there's that saying that tomorrow's not promised? And one of my drivers in helping people is to get it done and that you never know what tomorrow may look like. So I really have a personal vested interest in each of my clients to see them succeed, get from point a to point B. In, in my mind's eye is a service to help dreams come true when people are funded, they're their dreams come true. They reach financial milestones that they would've never reached before their service, which is, uh, has been created to solve a problem, reaches millions of people. So I look at it like this. That I'm this conduit of finances for people, this conduit of, of good things. So I know that scent may sound kind of touchy feely, but I take that very seriously. I have a vested interest in each of my clients exceeding and going to the next level.

Randy: 32:40

I love it. I like that. And I can tell just by the passion, in your voice, that it's not just some., flavor of the month kind of thing, that you actually are committed to that. And I'm so sorry for the loss that you've suffered through this. And I know it's, that's gotta be incredibly hard and, uh, you know, we just kind of reach out and let you guys up with that. And then working through that,, in thinking about, you know, you as a solopreneur, w what, what is your marketing plan? You touched a little bit about,, in Facebook marketing or whatever, but what is it that you do as a solopreneur,, for marketing? How do you find clients?

Michael: 33:20

Sure. I try to do as much content marketing as possible. So going live on Facebook,, posting questions and engaging Facebook groups., as of right now, I try to,. I always try to what I So I have a part of Facebook groups. And if you add up all the members, like right now, it equals 600,000 people. So. I know that when I spend my 30 minutes a day engaging those groups, I'm reaching out to a 600,000 people that are entrepreneurs that have startups that could use my services. I'm making them aware of it because I find people in three categories. Like they either don't know about me. Right. They don't know I exist. They don't know they need it. And then they know about me. They know they need it. And I kinda. I give away a lot of information to kind of let them know kind of who I am, how I work. And it's very personal because even when it comes to clients, when it comes to coaching, I do kind of have to qualify my clients and not in a way of, you know, good fit and personality. But I always tell my clients, are you devoted to putting in two to four hours a week? Working at this pitch and this plan, and I tell them upfront, they have to put in the time, the homework, I'm not just about, Hey, Hey, or pay my invoice. And if it works out, it works out. No, again, as I mentioned, that vested interest in seeing you succeed. So I make sure that they have the time to devote to coaching. So again, going live on Facebook content marketing, I do a lot of free webinars,, free coaching sessions on different, Different aspects of pitching. Um, so I do a lot, a lot of free coaching where I'll just do 15 minute 30 minute sessions and just. Give little tips here and there. And again, if there's a fit, people move forward. If it's not, Hey, they've gotten some great information and maybe we'll work together in the future.

Randy: 35:16

I think that's great advice and I really appreciate,, what you do there. I think you lay out a great blueprint, which is give, and you, you are giving of yourself, you're giving content, you're giving information and I've always believed that the more that you give and obviously as well, you're investing in,, an emotional and an energy in your clients,, that I've always believed that we'll come back to you as well. Absolutely. And, and the way that you do it, it goes back to a principle that. That I've always believed in is that people will do business with people that they know like, and trust. Absolutely. You only can achieve that if you are giving of yourself in, in that way, that they can kind of get to know you and decide whether they like you or not. And then through that, they will trust you. So I just think you're doing it the exact way, and I'm sure that you're seeing some great success with it. So, With that in mind. What do you see is kind of around the corner for your agency? What, what are the next steps?

Michael: 36:20

Well, I'm in the midst of aligning with different pitchfests and meetup groups around the country., creating relationships, actually like establish, uh, official relationships with certain VCs and angels that I'll be able to funnel clients to. When I see. The match. Cause as of right now, it's very relational kind of matchmaking on a case by case basis, but I'm formalizing some of those relationships. And I know definitely in the, not so near future, I'll be adding coaches to different components and kind of duplicate myself., I'll be adding, I do have a online class that it's online live and on demand. So cause there's some people that I will tell you this, there are some category people that. Don't need the coaching. They just kind of need that refresher. So I am creating like a bootcamp where they can kind of get in and,, go through their pitch and see what they need work on as well as a, more of a master class where they can really walk through in their own time to perfect.

Randy: 37:20

And can they, they catch that bootcamp off of your website at personalitypitching.com?

Michael: 37:27

Yes, absolutely. There'll be able to find that on the website.. Randy: So here we come down to Um, and here's the question. We kind of ask everybody really at this point in the show, which is, what advice do you have for rookies that are getting into the game? You know, those that are starting out in business, those maybe as well, who've already have had their business and you're looking for some guidance and some support and some encouragement. What kind of words do you have for them? Sure. Well, the first one I would say is,, don't try to do everything yourself., if you're a solo entrepreneur or you're building, or you just have an idea,, do the research, um, hire out, get advice from professionals., you can take small aspects of your business and hire it out., often I'll, I'll talk to. I start up and I'll say, well, where are you at with the business? Well, I'm still trying to find a distributor. And I said, well, okay, well, have you found, well, I found this one and I'll use them, but it depends on this. Depends on that. And so often you need to just be able to decision a particular phase of your business and move on. And a professional can kind of help you come up with a game plan. Step-by-step build the phases and take. Building that business, building that pitch into smaller bites., don't try to learn everything. I know so many people are trying to, Oh, I need to learn Facebook marketing before this. I need to learn how to do pitch decks. I need to learn how to do, learn how look, go to sites like Fiverr and Upwork and indeed, and hire someone. Ask for advice there many times people in your circle in Facebook, on Facebook that may know how to do some of those things that you're struggling with. Reach out to me. If you need help with your pitch shameless plug., but again, go get the help., I also suggest you network, you'd be surprised once you start to talk about kind of what you're doing, people around you again, that I always say that know you and love you. In your circles, be it social media or, and otherwise we'll help you push the ball forward. So put out there on Facebook, Hey, you know, looking to do X anybody know of, uh, can anyone advise an expert on this or that? And then I would say, lastly, just don't give up. don't give up. It takes, they say it takes, you know, a certain number of pitches to raise your first a hundred thousand., don't give up and creating just. The deck, create your pitch, start do something every single day. Do something to bring yourself closer to your goal and really figure out what that is. So don't give up. I know a lot of people that are just, you know, that have, there are so many, I believe, great ideas that are sitting on someone's hard drive and sitting in a file as a half done deck that if they would just open that up, put something down on paper. There's that saying? That. Done is better than perfect. Right. Do something. Don't try to go to perfection though.

Randy: 40:26

Those are great words of advice. I love that last one done is better than perfection and that is so true., all right, so you've got some great stuff and I know,, specifically, even for our audience, uh, you have created a special offer for them. I'm going to go ahead and let you,, kind of talk a little bit about that and then I'll follow up and tell folks where they can get it.

Michael: 40:48

Yeah, absolutely. For the listeners of this podcast, I'm offering a free 30 minute coaching session, as well as an ebook on how to find the right investor for your startup. And again, With these sessions, it's a, it's a no obligation. It's almost like a discovery session to see if there's something I can help you with. Or maybe as you were listening to this podcast, you said, Oh man, I wish I could ask him, look, take that time to ask me that question. I'm more than willing to help., if there's a fit and you know, we work together great. But if not, Hey, there was a relationship built and,, Feel free to reach out to me.

Randy: 41:25

Wow. That is great. Thank you for offering that up to our folks., and there will be a special link it's in the show notes. So folks, uh, out in the audience go to the show notes and you'll find the link right in there, and you can get connected with Michael on this particular offer. So,, listen, Michael, that is the ball game., thank you so much for being on the show. Really fascinating. And it was great for me just learning. More about your particular industry. And it was just so great getting to know you as well as,, as just a great, great guy.

Michael: 41:59

Oh, no problem. Thank you so much. I think this podcast is so great, you know, just as a resource and what you've done giving of your time, money, and effort., you've been giving,, so much of yourself and, and I'm sure the listeners appreciate you. And I have, I appreciate what you've done.

Randy: 42:15

All right. Well, thank you. Thank you very much. Well, and for those in the unattained, thanks for joining us today. If you liked our show, Hey, please tell your friends subscribe. And of course, give us a review. And as we like to say, we'll see around the ballpark. Running the bases with small businesses is brought to you by 38 digital market. A digital marketing agency committed to client growth with lead generation higher conversions and increased sales connect with us today@thirtyeightdigitalmarket.com.