It’s Day 24 of 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes, and today we’re writing on the prompt, BRIEF.
My personal series this month is on 31 Days to Telling Your Story. Click here for more posts in this series.
The first time someone said to me, “Give me your best elevator pitch,” I replied with, “Excuse me? My what?”
I had no idea what they meant.
In case you’re in that camp today, here’s what I learned afterwards:
An “elevator pitch” is a brief summary of your story, your product, your book, your main message, whatever you’re trying to “sell.”
Imagine you’re in an elevator with an important person and you’re trying to sell them on your idea or product within the brief span of time that you have together before the elevator dings and the doors open. Let’s say you’ve got 30 seconds, max.
How would you summarize your story?
It took me a long time just to get mediocre at this task with regard to my memoir, A Place to Land. It was harder than it sounded to sum up the main message into one paragraph or about 30 seconds. What should I include?
What would you include?
After lots of practice, I’ve narrowed it down to some variation of this:
A Place to Land is a memoir that explores the question, “Where is home?” and more specifically, “Where is the true home of the believer in Christ?” It weaves in the true story of my experience leaving a quiet, mostly white suburb in West Michigan for a college semester in the bustling and diverse city of Cape Town, South Africa. What I thought would be a few months abroad turned into more than a decade overseas, and I returned ten years later with a South African husband and three South African children. When I was in South Africa, I felt as if I didn’t fully belong, but whenever I returned to the States, I felt the same way. Where was my home?
During this time, my mom was diagnosed with cancer in the States, and eventually passed away. After she died, I started thinking a lot more about heaven, and ultimately came to the realization that as a believer in Christ, I’m not supposed to find home here.
(Okay, that’s probably a bit longer than 30 seconds . . . See what I mean? Crafting an elevator pitch is hard work!)
Now it’s your turn! Give it your best shot . . . How would you summarize your story in one paragraph?
If you’re feeling brave, share your elevator pitch in the comments below.
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For more posts in this series, 31 Days to Telling Your Story, click here.
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