So, I'm not usually a self-advocate and often fall victim to the mentality of "my good work should speak for itself". This is a VERY common attribute in women and studies have continually shown this to be part of our detriment to career growth. Ok ok... I get it. When the contest owner sent out a reminder last week of the contest deadline approaching, it spurred me to a little bit of action. Both my ideas had about $2000 invested at that point.
You know what I have after 17 years at my company and a variety of leadership positions? I have a BROAD network. My small self-advocating step last week? I sent a bcc email to a select group of base investor folks (each having $500) who I thought wouldn't be annoyed by my email and would, in fact, consider sending me some fake investment money. I also sent out a bcc email to the technical fellow investors that I knew personally (who each had $10k) to share my pitch.
The contest owner sent out a reminder yesterday morning that contest ends tonight at midnight!?! I checked the latest standings and one of my ideas was edging out the other and had about $6000 invested. There were 50+ ideas and I don't think mine was even in the top 20 list as of yesterday at noon.
Hmm... This is about the time I realized the following things:
- I'm insanely persistent when I am passionate about something ( I guess that might be why some folks call me a bulldog at work??)
- I really wanted to make a few points here (women have great ideas too, not all ideas have to be flashy tech to be VERY impactful, and we should encourage more FUN at work!)
So I managed to get off a little early from work yesterday and decided, BY GOD, I'm going all-in on this contest. The contest has a current standings sheet you can view that lists all the investors by name, all 3500 people. Starting at 2pm yesterday, I launched a direct marketing campaign and I went through that entire list, sending hangouts with my pitch to nearly every person I knew.
Last night, I also sent every single technical fellow a hangout, all 20 of them. By the time I woke up this morning? I had investments from at least 10 of them, all by taking 5 seconds to send a hangout asking the question for support.
I closed my direct marketing blitz this morning at 8am with another post to the Rockstarter Google+ community, including this message and a link to my personal idea pitch:
"I have been amazed at all the creative ideas flushed out as part of the Rockstarter Campaign! Today is your last chance to vote! And remember, sometimes the ideas with the biggest impacts are those that are close to home!"
And now, just a few hours from contest end? My idea has gone from $6000 invested to over $54,000 and is in the top 5! Most of these investments were individual contributions of $500 or less.
What have I learned from this experience?
- A good idea doesn't sell itself.
- A great marketing strategy includes multiple communication streams and repeated contact, direct marketing WORKS.
- A powerful network can make or break you. Don't shy away from relationship building and utilizing those relationships. At the end of the day, its what makes this world go round and is really what gets SHIT done.
- I AM an inventor. :o)
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