Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Hey, good morning. Bradley Charbonneau here with a little Monday magic. You know, I like my alliteration Monday magic. What are we talking about today? We are talking about I am at an in person conference in Las Vegas. If you're watching the video version of this, that's what you're seeing. Gorgeous downtown Las Vegas. There's an airplane if you're watching closely. Airplane taking off. I know, it's exciting. It's exciting. Try to keep, keep up here, pay attention. So what am I talking about today? I am talking about the fact that I am at an in person conference and what have I done already before the conference has even started is that I have sort of honed my pitch and that sounds very salesy and very marketing and. But if you hold on a second, I'm going to make it a little more real, a little more human. What does that mean? That means I'm here. It's Monday morning, conference starts in like an hour or two. I'm up early because I'm still a little bit jet lagged. And this morning, barely before I wake up, I kind of, I had this little conversation with myself saying sort of I'm meeting new people and people are going to say, hey, what are you up to? What are you working on? Hey, Bradley, what are you working on lately? And you want to have a, I hate to say the word pitch, it sounds so marketing and cheesy, but what are you working on? Right, so you want to have an answer. There you go. That's better. You want to have an answer for them and ideally you want to have. This is going to sound really methodical, but stay with me here for a second. Kind of. You want three versions. So you want the version that's like 10 seconds, then you want a minute, then maybe five minutes. Okay, so remember, I'm at a busy conference. There's a thousand or two thousand people here. I don't even know. It's going to be overwhelming. There's a lot going on. There's a bazillion workshops to go to and stuff. So really excited about it. And I'm going to be busy too. Oh, I want to get to this next talk. Oh, I need to go to the bathroom. Oh, I got to get something to eat. Right, so everybody's in a rush. But we all do want to meet people, even the introverts here. I'm in a writer's conference, a lot of introverts. I'm kind of quietly, secretly an introvert as well. I am totally a homebody. If you let me be, if you put me out with the lions, I will roar with the lions as well. So great. So what are my, what are my tips here for what's going on here? And I'm honing my pitch and again, sorry for the marketing speak there, but if you think about it, this is going to sound really weird, but how do you meet people? How do you start up conversations with people? And especially something like this. We all have writing in common. We're all writers, or either on the writing periphery of services for writers and stuff. And so it's, what are you working on? And that's where you want to have these three versions of, ideally the same answer and just three versions of it. Like for me right now, the clarity I got this morning, I'm down to three words. It's almost two. I could even make it one. Ready? Math and magic. Two word version. Math magic, one word version. Mathemagician.
[00:03:05] Mathemagician. That pulls together a mathematician and a magician, right? And so if you're following her, you're like, wait, what's he talking about? That's kind of, that's a little intriguing, right? He's combining math and magic and a mathematician and a magician. That's what's that all about, right? So there I just had it in two words. Like if somebody literally. The elevator door is closing. Hey, mathematician. Doors close, right? Kind of cool. I mean, hey, I'm a writer. I like intrigue, I like cliffhangers. And so leave those people on a cliffhanger, they've got to go, what can you come up with that you're working on? And believe me, everything that everybody is working on, you can turn it into a cliffhanger. Just think about it in those terms. Think of it. You're a writer, you're a creative person. And I say this to everyone because we are all writers, we are all creators. It's just whether or not you allow yourself to do it. So there you have it.
[00:03:57] Knock it down, chop it down. If you need some help. I gotta say, I really turning to ChatGPT for this kind of thing. And remember, ChatGPT is a great summarizer, a great editor, right? So ChatGPT, I've uploaded a lot of my work and I say like, give me a, give me a one minute summary of this entire book, right? So similarly, that's what we're doing here. So we got the 10, the 5 second one, the 10 second one, whatever. The guy's like heading into the elevator and you're like, hey, Math and magic. And then you want to have sort of the next level where, okay, this person is going to be sticking around for, I've got at least a minute. And remember, you don't want to overwhelm them. And as I just did another video for our wide for the wing group, and I talked about how there's so much overwhelming information and so how can you really encapsulate what you're doing and really summarize it, right? Really, really get it down to the bare bones. And so here's the meta takeaway from this little chat this morning. And this is that you are going to get more clarity on what you're doing because you are making things more clear for others. So I struggle with this quite a bit because I think that I've got this brilliant idea. I mean, like mathematician, right?
[00:05:15] Or mathemagician, sorry. And I think it's fantastic. And yet at first glance, you might not get it, right? You probably won't get it. Like, what in the world is he talking about? So it's clear to me, but when I have to make it clear for someone else, then that helps me get more clarity on my own ideas. So if you're a fiction author and you're you. Oh, hey, hey, hey, John. What are you working on? Oh, I'm working on this new, you know, new book where, you know, there's a. There's another planet and it's taken over by extraterrestrials and they come in a spaceship and they come here and they all wear, you know, red shoes and they're like, okay, you already lost me, right? So how can you narrow that down? Like, what's your cliffhanger? What's your one sentence, cliffhanger that you can. What's a zinger? And I, you know, I know even writers don't like, I hate to use the word marketing and pitching. It's terrible. And I'm kind of sorry. Not sorry, because it's even helpful in situations like this. And it might seem odd, but if you remember, I mean, it's day one here, right? It's. It's 6:30 in the morning and I'm going to meet, I'm probably going to meet a hundred people. How in the world am I going to remember these hundred people, right? And the answer is I'm not. And so what about that guy who. Elevator closes and he says math, he says mathemagician. I'm like, what was that all about? I might even Google it, right? Mathematician. What's that all about? So what is that thing? And remember, I keep apologizing for making this salesy, but I'm kind of apologizing and not apologizing because this is helpful stuff. And we, as writers, we often talk about. It's a very common topic in the writer industry is that we are writers, but not necessarily marketers. And definitely, we're definitely not sellers, we're definitely not salespeople. Oh, yuck. Right. Although, what is one of the most important things of the entire publishing industry? Sales. Hello. What's the most important thing of possibly any in any industry? Sales. And what does that mean? It means getting your message across clearly and concisely. So that's the goal here. How do we get our message across clearly? Clearly and concisely. And it's kind of with those three versions, the kind of whatever, tiny, medium and big. And that would be that. The three word version, the one minute version, and then the extended version where, hey, you're sitting down for dinner. But you know, even if you're sitting down for a dinner, you don't want to go on about your thing for minutes and minutes, right? Let the other person talk, ask them questions. What are they working on? Right? So that's a difficult and yet extremely important element of conversation, of course, is listening. Listening and asking questions. What are they working on? And of course, it's not always bringing it back to you and your pitch. And you're a great mathematician. Fantastic, wonderful, awesome story. That's great, Bradley. But what are they working on? Ask them what they're doing, see how much they open up and you ask them, hey, hey, you know, enough about me. What are you working on? What are you doing? What's really like floating your boat lately? What are you really excited about? What are you looking forward to? What do you think? What do you think you're gonna get out of this conference? Right? So there you have it. I am at eight minutes. I'm gonna wrap this thing up because I'm trying to be. Hey, who's talking about it? Clear and concise, right? Let's get this clear and concise. What are my takeaways from my little chaturama here at 6:30 in the morning in Las Vegas on a Monday, because it's magic Monday. And that is getting your idea clear. And for me, this is math and magic. And I'm doing this partly for me here, but partly for you, partly for me, because I've seen this morning, I've gotten clear on my message for the conference talking about math and magic. I think I find a very intriguing and practical way to find more magic in your life. And if you don't know what magic is, let's talk more. If you don't know what magic is, walk with me to the next workshop, right?
[00:09:12] And then here's my personal sales pitch, is that it's. That it's. Do you want more magic in your life? And if you don't know what magic is, let me introduce you to the topic and let's talk about it more. Because it has to do with love and spontaneity and the unknown and the fantastic and the mystical and the magical and what is it in happiness and smiling and winking and just little oddball things that make your life more magical. That's what I'm talking about. That's the kind of clarity I got this morning. And that's the kind of clarity I suggest that you can find and hone in on the next time you're going to a conference. Bradley Charbonneau signing off. A little magic Monday here for you. I'll see you tomorrow for a little tech Tuesday. Bye for now.
