Pitches and Proposals

This post is about business strategy and the role of "pitching" things versus "making a proposal" about a much larger proposition.  Both play a role.  However, it is important for you to understand the difference between pitching-an-opportunity (whether it be a product, service, or tool) and making a proposal-for-life- transformation and having the sophistication to understand how each fits into your overall business strategy.

So as an analogy, let's talk baseball.  Everyone knows what a pitch is. A pitcher throws a ball to a catcher.  It is a single act, repeated over and over during the game.  It is a single, solitary, isolated "thing" that is just one part of the overall strategy of the game.

A proposal, on the other hand, is more like the game plan.  On offense, what will the batting order be?  Who is best to lead off, and who is best to bat clean-up?  Do you plan to steal bases, or hit and run?  Are there situations where you will bunt?  In the field, where do you position players based on the hitters' tendencies?  You get the idea.  The point here is that everything starts with a pitch, but everything around it is the proposal of how to best win the game.

It is the same in business.  A "pitch" is an offer.  It is something someone can buy or "buy into" conceptually.  It is a 90 mile an hour fastball and the batter will hit it or, they won't.  Some hit foul balls.  The same pitches are thrown at different batters.  In business, we do the same.  The question is, what are you pitching to attract interest or to generate cash flow?  Business is about making money.  You have to pitch.  It is an offer in front of eyeballs.

Then a ball is struck in-play and a million things happen all at the same time.  Nine people react and each has a different role.  This is analogous to the "proposal"... and by extension, this repeats itself for 9 innings.

When we talk about a Home Business Strategy, it inherently has to include both "pitching stuff" and the larger context of how these pitches fit into your overall proposal.  We pitch to gain interest, to gain customers and business partners.  There does not necessarily need to be a relationship at this point.  It is simply transactional.  I have this "thing or idea" and you buy it.

(From baseball to sailing...)  At this juncture, you have someone's attention.  The key is to transition a percentage of these people to the "vision" of a larger proposal.  What do you offer that can serve as an anchor that someone can moor to that is reasonable and safe?  What do you propose as a Business Strategy that is a safe harbor surrounded by land and calm water?  How well-articulated is this strategy?  Is it a part of the brand of who you are and how you represent yourself to the market?

Or conversely, maybe you are completely comfortable with simply being a vendor, no different than selling a candy bar or a pair of blue jeans?  If so, simply acknowledge that this is who you are and let your customers know what they can expect from you.  In my opinion, if this is you, you will not be well-suited as a business partner especially if a part of your business model is to build an organization of interdependent people in a community setting.

So, to bring this full circle, my point in writing this post was to highlight the difference between pitching and proposals, to refine your level of (understanding-and-sophistication) regarding the role of each, and how they are related in conducting your business.

Meet Jeff the Genius, Master of Tenacity

This is a tale of perseverance and courage in the face of mountains of obstacles. It tells the story of relentless commitment to a vision, being squashed like a bug and somehow reassembling all of your parts and only to come back bigger, better, and stronger.

Among many things, Jeff Long, the CEO of Textbot.ai is an artist - a classically trained singer.  He has all the markings of creative people.  Emotional.  Impetuous.  Brilliant.  His lived experience in breathing life into the Textbot platform has been a tale of triumph and tragedy, then triumph and tragedy...  In this evolution, he shared both the intimate details of the devil on his shoulder and the better angels that came to his rescue.  I did not always agree with or appreciate his level of disclosure, but now in retrospect, I see it as a necessary means of catharsis to deal with the stresses and pressures that he carried through the ordeal of surviving through Abundance Network and giving birth to TextBot.

Now, at the time of this writing, my exposure to Jeff has been about 12 months (give or take).  For the longest time, I had a "wait-and-see" posture given the flops, drops, and stumbles that in many cases were beyond Jeff's control.  However, each time he re-invented.  He adapted.  He championed his own cause and vision with excruciating detail of his struggle and with total candor and transparency.  The platform has undergone transition after transition and with each successive iteration, it has come back improved and more sophisticated.

At one point this caused me to ask, "What kind of leader does this?"  Frankly, I thought it was kind of crazy to share deeply intimate and personal thoughts that were informing his professional decisions.  In retrospect, I was in no position to judge.  Lesser men would have wilted and dissolved into dust.  Jeff steadfastly focused on his vision.  He did and said what he thought he had to do at the moment to maintain his sanity and simply moved forward, day by day.

The result, through these many iterations, is TextBot, his "child" of sorts that has been born with all the markings of pregnancy:  morning sickness, back pain, swelling... that interpret as a hostile user base, vendor partners that said "no thanks" blowing holes in the ship, perfecting and finalizing the compensation...  It has been quite the ride.

Ultimately, through it all, there is this "platform" that is a thing of beauty.  It is a refined and sophisticated money machine that is state-the-art technically that at the same time, makes it super user-friendly.   It combines phones and funnels with people interacting with a Texting Robot that navigates to videos that explain the product and the business.  As well, there is a constant effort to refine and add value to the entire business model.

The point I want to make in writing this is that this was not always so.  It exists due to the sheer will of a man, his soul, and his vision.  As the title of this post states, Genius, Master of Tenacity.  Jeff and his team deserve truckloads of credit for creating a resource that is easily understood, simple to implement, and can complement any primary source of income due to it (foremost) being a marketing tool that is made all the more compelling by being a robust money-making platform.

If you are not using TextBot as a marketer or as an aspiring money earner, you should at a minimum understand it.  It will open your eyes to a new world of possibility and creativity that simply did not exist a year ago.  I encourage you to learn about it if you are not already using it.  Once you understand its potential, it is hard to ignore it as part of your marketing arsenal.

Thanks, Jeff.  The swords that were thrust your way and the bullets that whizzed by are now just faint reminders. These were not able to kill the Noble Intent of the execution of your vision.

Congratulations.