“No one ever bought anything on an elevator. The elevator pitch isn’t about selling your idea, because a metaphorical elevator is a lousy place to make a pitch.
When you feel like you’re being judged and only have a minute to make a first impression, it’s tempting to try to explain the truth and nuance of who you are, what you’ve done and what you’re going to do in the time it takes to travel a few floors.
That rarely works.
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Instead of looking at everyone as someone who could fund you or buy from you or hire you, it might help to imagine that almost no one can do those things, but there are plenty of people you might be able to help in some other way, even if it’s only to respect them enough to not make a pitch.”
The Cold Open
Major publications continue to post graphs and charts that are nonsensical and redundant at the same time.
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… what is it trying to say?
If you don’t know what you’re trying to say, not saying it with a graph is a good way to hide.
The clarity (and risk) of graphs
Better clients challenge you. They support you. They spread the word. They pay on time. They pay more and expect more.
Everything else will take care of itself if you focus on getting better clients.
Better clients
“All players must agree to not cheat.”
It’s simply too difficult to enumerate all the rules necessary to engage with people who don’t have goodwill about the process. If you want to cheat, you’ll figure out how to cheat.
When all the players enroll in the spirit of the game, the game works. No matter what the game is.
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Breaking the first rule ensures that the rest of the systems will be under great stress. Let’s play or let’s not play. But cheaters aren’t welcome.
The first rule of the game