About Me Challenge: Day 1

Reimagining the Elevator Pitch.

Note: Our 30-Day Challenge is for our paid subscribers who support FRESH’s work, but we’re gifting our first day to everyone! Not a paid subscriber yet? You can continue the challenge by subscribing here.

Happy New Year and welcome to our About Me 30 Day Challenge! We’re so thrilled you’re here.

For the next 30 days, we’re going to help you create an irresistible online identity that showcases your expertise with the world, so you can have a bigger impact on the issues you care about most.

Every day should only take you 10 minutes or less. The best way to stick with the challenge is to share what you’re creating in the comments section to stay engaged with the community and get feedback from your peers (and us!). We’ve learned from years of supporting people to become thought leaders that collectivity is the secret sauce. Let’s create a crew in these next 30 days and really support one another to commit and grow.

For Week 1, we’ll be focusing on building the foundation of an online identity. Let’s dive in!

Picture this: You get an email introduction from a colleague to a potential client or collaborator. They reply back, saying, “It’s great to connect with you!”

What do you say? Do you have a so-called “elevator pitch”? Is it concise? Memorable? Does it make people lean in and want to know more?

Welcome to your first assignment. The goal of an elevator pitch – whether you’re sharing it in person or online – is to plant a healthy seed for building a longer term relationship. To telegraph to the person you’re engaging with: here’s what I know and how I know it, here’s what I work on, here’s where you can find me.

Okay, here’s your assignment: Fill in the blanks:

Hello! My name is _______________ and I’m the ____________________ of __________________. We _______________________ so that _____________________. Would love to learn more about you!

Are you self employed/unaffiliated with an organization? Feel free to use this version:

Hello! My name is _______________ and I’m a ____________________ who has worked with __________________. I _______________________ so that _____________________. Would love to learn more about you!

Here’s an example:

Hello! My name is Courtney Martin and I’m a writer who has written for The New York Times, Mother Jones, and The Christian Science Monitor. I write about solutions, care, racial justice, and the ethical life so that I can accurately reflect back the best of who we are, not just the worst.

A few tips on how to be remembered.

• Kill the jargon. Jargon is great for shorthand with the right audiences, not good for general audiences who aren’t familiar or “in the know.” Even when we know this jargon to some extent, it makes our brains turn off, right?

• Don’t tell me what you believe. Tell me what you do. Do you have people in your field whom you’ve known for years but I still can’t really wrap our heads around what they actually do? So instead of saying, “I believe in the power of women and girls,” say “We train girls and women in Ghana to create their own radio stories.”

• Plant a seed; don’t describe a tree. The point is to say something interesting and understandable enough that you inspire them to want to know more. Even if your organization does multiple things, just tell me about one or two.

• Be understood, sure, but also be irresistibly you. The goal of a first impression (or elevator pitch) is not just to be clear and concise, but to be compelling, to most simply put: make people want to be around you.

Got an elevator pitch you feel good about? Create a doc or folder (Google docs perhaps?) where you can save your pitch and the rest of the content you’ll be creating for the next 30 days.

Want feedback? Share your elevator pitch below for input from the community and us, your FRESH mentors!

See you tomorrow for Day 2…