Everyone can call themselves an entrepreneur. It sounds so good, doesn’t it? It’s the same as someone saying they’re athletic. But when it comes down to it, can someone walk the walk? This was exactly the situation I was in over the weekend. Good thing I was able to prove it.
Birth Of An Idea
Two friends and I were at dinner Sunday night and one came up with a great idea. I had thrown a party the day before and everyone was raving about my cooking (yes, I can cook too). I had heard the “you should start a cooking business” many times before. Opening a catering business was not an option since I known people who were working 100 hours a week. After a few months, they quit and got a regular job. No, that would not be me. But the fact that I had a skill that everyone wanted was still intriguing. Finally, the idea came up that I should teach it. But I would teach it to a certain demographic with a spin on the marketing. Now, it was getting interesting.
Stand Up And Present
The starting target demographic would be guys from our church community. Just so happens, we were sitting next to a table of about 20 people from that community. Some were my friends and even one had been to my party so he could vouch for my cooking skills. So I thought, ok let’s not just brainstorm the idea further but get real feedback from our potential customers. Looking at my two friends, I said we will pitch it. They thought I was kidding. But they forgot they were sitting at dinner with an entrepreneur, a real one. I knew I had a few minutes of adrenaline where I would do it or else the moment will be gone (and I’ll lose some credibility as an entrepreneur). Fortunately, I convinced one of the two to pitch it with me.
The Pitch
We pitched it exactly the way I thought it would go. He started with a really good introduction and went straight into the idea. I jumped in to elaborate on the idea while listening to the responses. Overall, the response was good. There were the “oh yeah, great idea”. But more importantly, there was the “I really want to learn Italian cooking, can you teach that?”. That was real interest, something I was looking for. The pitched accomplished three things. One, it helped me and my friend to gain confidence as entrepreneurs. We were willing to put ourselves out there without caring what people thought. Two, we got positive feedback. And three, we helped generate buzz because once the people go back, they’ll have something to talk about.
“Two idiots made a fool of themselves pitching their idea to us over dinner. Actually, the idea was a pretty good one. They told us to expect something on Facebook in the next week or two. I’ll look out for it.”
Jack Liu believes that successful and ethical entrepreneurs make the world a better place. To make that a reality, he built TeenBusinessForum.com where he empowers teen entrepreneurs from around the world to be next generation’s business leaders.
