Why I keep rewriting my pitch: five ways asks stall.
Why I keep rewriting my pitch is the first of five ways the fourteen-day ask stalls. The others are upgrading the recipient, hiding the reply, reinterpreting it and an unwelcome yes. In the end, day fourteen shows whether you are somebody who sends the thing.
The rewrite and the bigger name.
The first stall is the rewrite, which is the whole book in miniature on its last page. So if you catch yourself asking why I keep rewriting my pitch, send the worse version. A worse question that gets answered beats a better one that does not. Second, the name on your page suddenly looks too small. However, there is no one shot. Send it, then send four more.
The hidden reply and the new story about it.
Third, you tell nobody, so only you ever see what came back. That is the afternoon you have had a hundred times. Fourth, a no becomes a story about timing, the wrong person or a bad week. Here is how to stop reinterpreting rejection: write the reply down verbatim before forming any opinion. Your version will have moved twice by Friday.
Why I keep rewriting my pitch versus what day fourteen tells you.
Fifth is the fear of the first customer saying yes. You find you would rather keep the idea than gain the customer. If that happens, you have learned the most valuable thing in the book. Then day fourteen answers a smaller question than viability. It shows whether you send the thing, and it closes either way.
Stop why I keep rewriting my pitch from stalling your fortnight.
Send the current version of your question tonight, even if it feels unfinished.
Prepare a blank page titled with your send date for the reply, word for word.
From the book.
The second is the upgrade of the recipient. Does the name on your page suddenly look too small? You start thinking about somebody more important, more likely to say yes, more worth your one shot. There is no one shot, and the belief that there is has kept the question in your drafts. Send it to the name you've got, and then send it to four more before the fortnight is out.
I Want to Start a Business but I Never Actually Start, chapter 11: Fourteen days
Questions about why i keep rewriting my pitch.
Why I keep rewriting my pitch instead of sending it, and what helps?
Rewriting is the book's pattern in miniature. Send the worse version, since an answered question beats an unanswered one.
What if I tell nobody that I sent the ask?
Then you have not done the exercise, only the part you already knew how to do.
What will I know on the fourteenth day?
Not whether the idea is good, but whether you are somebody who sends the thing.
Read the whole chapter.
This lesson covers one section of chapter 11, “Fourteen days”. The book goes further, with the full evidence, the stories and every exercise.
Lessons in this chapter.
- 01 When is a business officially started: the real line.
- 02 Does self monitoring work: two trials that say no.
- 03 Monitoring goal progress meta analysis: 0.40 explained.
- 04 Do self imposed deadlines work: what one study found.
- 05 How to ask an investor for a short term loan: 4 lines.
- 06 Ask a potential customer to pay: the 14 day rule.
- 07 Why I keep rewriting my pitch: five ways asks stall.