How to Pitch Yourself Fearlessly
In an ever-changing and noisy world, it’s essential to be able to pitch yourself, what you offer and how your impact makes a difference in a very clear, concise and consistent way. It’s also essential to be able to adapt your pitch when you are making lateral moves or pivoting.
Where to begin?
Well, remember that in order to get paid you either have to create value or solve a problem for someone else.
You are offering a product or a service.
You are not necessarily selling yourself, you are selling the ability or skills to create value or solve problems for someone else.
So when it comes to ability and skills, THINK DEEP!
I like to think that underneath any belly fat, we all have a six-pack.
We all have core strength, and we also have core skills underlying whatever job title we have now or have had in the past.
It’s these core skills and the ability to apply and sell them that will make the difference.
The World Economic Forum said back in 2023 that we wouldn’t just have one career in the future, we’d have many, and it would be our core skills that count.
So think deep - push your job title to one side and think about what you are actually doing.
For example, I was a factual entertainment producer director.
The skills underpinning this were creative vision, answering a brief, research skills, communicating with multiple stakeholders, and good emotional intelligence to navigate tricky characters and situations, etc.
If you think of those core skills, there are many many ways I use them in my life as a coach and facilitator now.
Think of putting it into a colloquial form to make it come to life. For example:
"I’m the one who….. (solves team conflicts)"
"I’m the go-to person if…. (You want an efficient workflow)"
"I’m perfect if you’ve drawn a blank and need someone to come up with a vision and execute it"
If you need help to think laterally, then ask!
Ask past colleagues, bosses, family, and friends. Ask them....
When you think of me, what comes to mind in terms of what I do and how I go about it?
How do I create impact or help others?
What problems do I solve?’
I remember getting feedback from a boss who said I was great but in the wrong job. I was a bit offended at the time but now I get what they were saying.
My core skills were not best put to use in that job. My core skills are being a starter-finisher, and in that role, there were a lot of decisions made by committee. The core skills needed in that job were someone who was politically savvy, not someone who was straightforward and said it how it was. I digress!
Once you’ve figured out those core skills, then the trick is to see how they can be used to solve problems for others that need solving.
It’s no use saying, ‘But my core still is making strawberry doughnuts,’ if no one wants strawberry doughnuts because they’ve all moved onto cronuts (those doughnut/croissant mixes).
We have to work out how our core skills are needed in the market right now and in the future.
And how do you that?
Well, you have to be a market researcher like all those products and brands out there. This means understanding the zeitgeist, seeing the bigger picture, anticipating change, reading, talking to people, asking your network, and building new networks.
Otto Sharmer calls it sensing into the future as it emerges.
So it’s a twin-track thing:
What are your core skills that solve problems for others for which you will get paid?
What are the problems out there that people need solving?
If you are wanting to branch out or worried about how you use your experience to move up or into other areas, and need more help then do contact me!
Remember to Be Fearlessly You and if you are finding that hard, call me!
Take care
Tracy
