How I Wrote a Millionaire’s Business Proposal — From a Nobody to CMO
CUT TO: — Interior — Five months ago
Here I am alone with my laptop, sweating bullets, about to hit send on an email. Spell check — did I remember to spell check?! Oh no, what if they don’t respond? What if she laughs as her assistant reads her my email — my request to help write a joint business proposal getting shut down while my heart pours out from the screen…?
It’s a bit dramatic, but you get the picture. I was so nervous trying to contact this total stranger. I was a brand new business owner. I had zero connections, a skeleton of a website, a few liked posts on Instagram — I was a nobody. My imposter syndrome was something I had been struggling with and it was getting the best of me for a while. But, after I realized how little it took to try something different in my business — I haven’t looked back since.
To help me get out of my own way, I hired a creative entrepreneurship coach name Vondell J. Burns. I took her Paid to Produce course and after a few short weeks, I had the confidence necessary to leap, and I got some fantastic results! But, I wasn’t always like this. I used to be a confident creative but somewhere along the way, I lost myself trying to figure it all out.
Entrepreneurs, like most people, just want to be seen, heard, respected — not only by their clients and paying customers — from the big boys and girls playing in the million dollar sandboxes, as well. I had all these ideas to start a business and support myself while trying to get back into the film world, but I could never stop saying ‘never’ to myself. I had to do something to help support myself, I had to figure out how to sell!
Business means more than starting a company and making a living. It means scaling up and eventually getting to where the larger clients are. I wanted to be there and I needed to find a way to get there. My career as an actor depended upon the ability to find a way to make money while I slept so I could spend time auditioning. But how? I followed the recipe laid out in the Vondell’s course and as a result, began contacting people — interjecting myself into their world, and seeing how I could be of service. I found a way to sell my skills, to people who can afford to pay what I’m worth so I can get back to being on-set.
Once I finally got out of my own way, a door opened. On the other side, a millionaire starting his next company looking for someone they could like and trust to deliverer him a pitch deck and business proposal. After building a relationship and creating those assets, I was asked to take part of the start-up company’s team of founders. He asked me to be Chief Marketing Officer of his FinTech company and I was floored! ‘Who me’? I kept telling myself he was talking to the already rich, amazingly talented, super-duper business owner who HAD to be levitating just over my shoulder — but no, he wanted me!
I did it! My imposter-self, the negative Nancy, the naysayer of my own dreams just melted onto the floor before me. No one told me I wasn’t smart or couldn’t add value. No one knocked on my door and made me consider that the person I’m reaching out to is too busy making money and shouldn’t even acknowledge my email. No one, but my imposter syndrome kept me from utilizing my talents and offering them to successful people, in exchange for nothing less than fair market value for my time and energy. I had built my own prison in my head. And, Paid to Produce helped me to Shawshank my way out of it!
Through the course I was able to diagnose and treat my imposter syndrome. I had no idea how much I was being held back. I just knew I couldn’t go any further in my career — whether it be as an actor and filmmaker or as a budding business owner looking to help people sell their skills via digital assets.
A weight was lifted off my shoulders. I was worthy. I was enough. I can do this! I started getting other big-time players in the entrepreneurial space to want to hang out with me also. I was even interviewed by the former CFO of Paypal about my company Seed&Legacy.
It became so clear. So easy, I just kept repeating the process over and over with other influential people in the space I wanted to be in. Some listened and a few got back to me. That’s really what mattered. Knocking on 1,000 doors is tough. Knocking on five millionaires’ doors can be scarier. But, what if one of them opens up to you and says ‘Yes’?!
Find a problem and solve it; make yourself indispensable.
There’s a joke in business: Entrepreneur is French for problem-solver. It doesn’t translate to that verbatim, but it’s what these people do everyday — find a problem to solve and charge accordingly to provide a solution. Mutually beneficial, everybody wins!
My imposter syndrome had held me back for nearly a decade. After 6 weeks with this program, I bust down more doors and have gone after more opportunities than I can remember. Most importantly, I’ve landed the deals and built the relationships. I could never be this person by just googling information and attending YouTube University. I needed the clarity of the material, I needed the inspiration the course gave me to dive into the deep end — and the floaties to put on just in case my swimming was a little rusty.
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This is only the beginning.
