The TWENTIES First Competition
Austin, TX - Urban Creatives Pitch Competition during SXSW Festival
One of the first steps when developing a small business is finding funding in whatever way you can and that is a task in and of itself. Donations, crowd funding and grants are all viable options but my first attempt at raising some serious cash to help manage The TWENTIES Book was a pitch competition. Sorry to kill the suspense but I didn't win whaaaa whaaaaa. I didn't place, hell I ended up being a bit of a mess, however, excelling in your TWENTIES especially is about following through and making blessing out of the lessons along the way, so this is one I thought I'd share.
A Lesson In Turning Rejection
Into An Adventure
The Urban Creatives Rapid Accelerator & Pitch Competition kinda fell in my lap, or should I say on my timeline. I was scrolling Twitter and so random that I don't know that I even follow the person who put this opportunity in my path, I was just discussing with a friend how a quick 10,000 bucks could change the entire trajectory of my process, and here it was. A competition hosted by one of the biggest black owned publications advocating for businesses small to beta built to apply for 10,000 seed money for their company. Straight from my mouth to God's ears, I felt I had to try my hand at destiny.
One week. The deadline was around the corner and although I thought I knew The TWENTIES inside and out, the submission got my wheels turning. Flushing out the vision further, I added a few new components (details to come) and bust my brain to complete the written portion but with 2 days left I still had to produce a 90 second video. Seemed easy enough but honestly this video almost took me out the running for good. Resources were... minimal and at this point a helping hand was non-existent but a simple minute and a half, I could pull this off - RIGHT? The day of submission, half confident and half discouraged another sign to see it through was that helping hand I was looking for had arrived from out of nowhere. My great friend and partna-in-crime was passing through Houston and if there was any chance this video would come together, this was the person to help. I was back to full confidence and knew exactly where I wanted to film - now it was just time to get it done.
A Short Story
on barely meeting My deadline
Josh got in super early, so we got breakfast - and mimosas, of course mimosas but just a couple to get the jitters out and juices flowing. We ate, I went over my "production schedule" and script for the video and once I was back at my apartment “getting my life together" as I like to call styling and collecting myself overall, we headed to the quaint and typically chill outdoor hammock bar that I thought would be perfect for filming; Houston's town hall had other plans. I started setting up on these cute colorful high-top chairs when I realized that a meeting was about to commence. A freaking town hall meeting? At a bar? Great! Way too loud to get any useful footage we downed some beers while I practiced to see what I look like on camera and went back to the apartment to redirect.
Day turned to night and the 11:59pm deadline was rapidly approaching. #Shoutout to my roommate for the great accent wall, I was able to throw together a whole new set and started rolling as soon as I could. A few hours later of trying to jam so many words into 90 seconds and cursing out my friend for actually holding me to task, I finally had a video I could use and couldn't post it to Youtube. ARE. YOU. KIDDING. ME! At my breaking point and in a panic I tried everything to get the video off the iPad it was trapped on with no success. Ultimately, with 45 mins to the deadline I re-shot the entire video on a new device and with mere moments to spare posted the video online and submitted my application on time. I fell out as soon as it was over, exhausted, both my friend and I called it quits for the rest of the night. I rolled over the next morning hardly able to see - with one eye open - refreshed the competition webpage to a week-long deadline extension. #FML I took my ass back to sleep!
... CONT
Now was the worst part, WAITING! When applying for anything in life the most annoying part is waiting around to know your fate. So hopeful that maybe this could be the break I needed, I started freeing up my schedule in possibility. Five finalist would be moved along to an accelerated week of mentoring and then present their companies to a panel of judges during a pitch meeting amidst infamous SXSW festival in Austin, TX to vie for the prize. Luckily, I currently reside in Houston, which added to the ease and excitement of potentially being apart of the competition. I just knew it was LIT!
The verdict came in and I got one of many emails I expect to receive when soliciting monetary support for my business; "Unfortunately we can not more you forward, but your idea is grand and keep working blah blah blah." With a clear understanding that in any endeavor you're likely to hear more no's than you do yes I was a bit disappointed but saw it as an opportunity to strengthen my plan for the RIGHT YES. Seeking to find the lesson in my lost, a pivotal practice in beginning stages of entrepreneurship, I still booked a bus to Austin and went to see what the finalist were made of. For all the reasons I mention in The TWENTIES Book (coming soon) Austin quickly became one of my favorite cities and the energy of the festival created an even more vibrant atmosphere. In true #TWENTIES fashion - as I often do - I turned the closest bathroom into a Clark Kent phone booth and from bussed down to bossed up made my way to the meeting.
All five companies; Go Dutch Today, Scriptertainment, Camellia Alise, LLC, Think and Zoom and winner of the 10,000 cash prize Innclusion were amazing and well deserving of being finalist. I sat and witnessed each presentation and learned something new about what I needed to improve, what information similar competitions and people of interest in my company would want to see moving forward - the entire ambiance was motivating!
Accomplished alumni from my alma mater Howard University; Natalie Cofield, Co-Founder of event sponsor Urban Co-Lab and members of the judging panel Chanelle Hardy and Ryan Smith, played a major role in the success of the event. Other event sponsor, Bulliet bourbon got me right where I need to be for the day and I met a bunch of dope new people, including 2017 Texas State University graduates; Erica (IG: eriicamarie) and Christina (IG: ceexsquaresd) CONGRATULATIONS! - who later invited me for Pillow Talk (they were roommates, it's their web series) which I promise I'm coming back to Austin to film! I was already satisfied with my visit, but the day got better...
Masera, probably my only friend who lives in Austin, despite how amazing the city is dropped everything and came to show me a good time before I left. We bar hopped the SXSW party scene before she had to meet up with her in-laws and I would be heading back to Houston, I have friends with in-laws - Wow, real grown! We started at Isenhauer's with a live band and humongous sangrias that had way more impact than just red wine and soaked fruit and we ended at The Parlor Room, popular for it's appropriate DRINK UP sign.
Needless to say, I had an awesome time and was surprisingly back on the bus to Houston - definitely drunk - before the strike of midnight a more enlightened person than I was when I arrived. If you made it to this point, I thank you for your appreciation of long winded storytelling and hope you learned with me that every opportunity is an experience to grow from if you are resilient and humble enough to overcome defeat.
New
Knowledge
A new ride-share company, Fasten - at the time both Uber and Lyft pulled their services from Austin but since has come to a resolution with city and have resumed operations.
A new approach to presenting - Go Dutch Today had the most appealing presentation style. Very active, incorporating movement among each of the three owners, engaging the audience with a sort of subtle choreography. Definitely leaving me with an impression.
A new appreciation for neck pillows - The one thing that got me through this 1-day turn around bus trip was the comfort of my damn neck. I finally invested in one and I don't know what took me so long.