How much time do you have?

Because there were SO MANY MISTAKES I made when I first launched my business at the top of 2017.

For those of you who don’t know the back story, here is a video I made that is Cliff Notes

@patricepoltzer

if you can make it there…you can make it anywhere. don’t let NY spit you out!! #plottwist #nyclife #nycmedia #storytime #businessstory #nyctoktoker #storyteller #marketingtips #founderstory #nychustle #todayshow #videocoach #solopreneurlife #originstory #nyclife

♬ Send Me on My Way – Guy Meets Girl

In hindsight I now realize that me trying to be someone I wasn’t….mainly “bigger” than what I was…was a huge slow down to growth. 

Fresh out of the NYC media world & into entrepreneurship (and NOT A F%$*&^%ing CLUE WHAT I WAS DOING), I thought if potential clients didn’t think I had a MASSIVE TEAM then I’d never be considered.

So here is how I showed up in the beginning:

🔴 Buried my real personality (because if leaned all the way in, people would know I was new and learning (and terrified of failing)  & to me that meant BAD BUSINESS or worse NO business)

🔴 Spent HOURS (OMG hours) on elaborate proposals that spanned in the 25 slide range (I SUCK at design by the way). Giving away SO many ideas and strategies that in hindsight probably confused TF out of potential clients. Not kidding, the opening “intro” slide would often take me more than an hour to write as I would use so many words and long sentences and not realize I was overcompensating with flowery, boring AF writing

🔴 Said yes to a lot of the wrong projects because I was portraying myself in a way that wasn’t truly ME at the time…this lead to eventual client friction AND/OR me losing so much $$$ because I was scrambling behind the scenes to compensate for my lack of experience and overspending.

🔴 Used “WE” and “MY TEAM” in any email correspondence…when really the wizard of Oz was just ME. 

What do I know now?

✨️ I know my FIRE…my founder’s fire that I had for storytelling and video and helping businesses was actually enough in the beginning. I didn’t need to portray myself any other way than what I was…even if I was “new” to my business. I wasn’t “new” to storytelling and video work.

Had I owned my own fire and passion and learning curve…I would have

🟢 Been more attractive to potential clients (flaws and all)

🟢 Attracted the RIGHT clients sooner because there is nothing more attractive than confidence -at any stage…even at the early stages.

🟢 Had a hella lot more fun.

So many people give up too soon because they’re just not having fun. Imagine if we gave ourselves permission as founders to just be our true self from the start and to use that FIRE as our superpower?

Because we all have the Founder’s Fire.

Side note… I don’t do proposals anymore.