So a little while back I spoke about the importance of selling yourself and your business — having a good elevator pitch. That post was inspired by my own experience trying to pitch an article, in front of a camera in two minutes or less, to the editor in chief of Best Life, an upscale men’s mag published by Rodale.
Let’s just say I have a new-found empathy for those singers on “American Idol” who Simon calls “wedding band” or “karaoke” singers or “okay but not great.” Clearly they know how to sing, but they fall short. They lack that extra sparkle or shine. They don’t sell it. And that’s pretty much how I felt. On “American Idol,” it often comes down to song choice, song choice, song choice, as Randy likes to say. In my case it was pitch choice, pitch choice, pitch choice.
While I had rehearsed my pitch, I just wasn’t passionate about it — and didn’t have a “hot” hook. My problem was I was still hung up on my initial pitch, the one that won me a place in the contest, but that I decided to drop after I found out the magazine had run a similar piece not that long ago. In other words, I wasn’t at the top of my game, and I didn’t get the gig.
OK. So just how badly did I do? You can judge for yourselves by going to http://www.mediabistro.com:80/articles/cache/a9452.asp.
Anyway, if you’re feeling sympathetic or had the same or similar happen to you, please cast a vote for me.
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