Ep. 116 - What is Success on Your Terms?: From Poverty to “The Pitch Queen” - with Precious Williams

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Precious Williams, AKA The Killer Pitch Master, is a 13-time national elevator pitch champion and four time best-selling author. She has also been featured on "Shark Tank," CNN, WSJ, Forbes Magazine, Black Enterprise Magazine, Essence Magazine, and the movie "LEAP."

And her new book — "The Pitch Queen: A Woman's Journey From Poverty To Purpose & Profits" — is a memoir that shares how she rose from the poverty-stricken streets of St. Louis to the global stage of influence.

This is one of the most fun, powerful, and poignant conversations I’ve had the pleasure of recording and I am so happy to be able to share it today.

Precious’s Career Journey

Precious is a woman fueled by passion and purpose, and that has propelled her to accomplish some pretty incredible things… things that people told her she would never be able to do.

Like when Precious launched her first business, Curvy Girls Lingerie. She had negative $400 in her bank account. She had no family or friends to invest in it, so she went to an event and pitched the producers of MSNBC. They loved it and booked her on a national show. And after just 54 seconds on TV, she walked away with hundreds of thousands in investment.

With a renewed sense of confidence, Precious entered 14 pitch competitions in an effort to seek more investment — and she won 13 of them.

Precious went on to pitch on Shark Tank, become a 13-time national pitch champion, and start another company before becoming the international speaker, trainer, and author she is today.

Now, Precious wouldn’t claim she knew exactly what to do at any point in this process. She says “you build into clarity by taking action.” She had a goal and persistence — and by taking things one step at a time, she was able to test and learn what worked, helping her develop clarity on what to do next. Really, she created her own strategic plan without even knowing it, constantly pivotin and skill building along the way.

Becoming “The Pitch Queen”

Within the pages of her new memoir, “The Pitch Queen,” Precious shares even more incredible stories of overcoming adversity: dating a former drug kingpin, living on the streets, losing her mind, getting evicted twice, getting kicked out of law school, and more. She also shares how she lost and rebuilt her empire and a secret she thought she would take to her grave.

Precious has previously written about the art of pitching and how to find your voice. But she decided to do something a little different with “The Pitch Queen.”

“I thought it was time to share stories that people have never known about me and my background,” Precious says. “I thought it was time to do part memoir, part inspiration, and part self-help because I've embraced every mistake, flaw, thing that ever happened to me, and most people can't.”

Becoming the Celebrity Of Your Own Brand

“You have to be imperfectly perfect and beautifully human. When you showcase your differences, people will take notice.”

I love this quote from Precious so much. This is the heart of Being the CEO of You, of learning how to create your own Career Mashup.

It’s the process of figuring out your unique combination of skills, experiences, and interests — then using those internal trends and insights to plot a path towards a life that makes you happier.

You won’t always get it right the first time. You will probably stumble more than once. But Precious shows us how that internal clarity can give you the persistence you need to keep trying and pivoting toward what feels right.

Definition of Success

“Becoming who I was meant to be, not who others think I should be, and fulfilling my God-given purpose while I'm still here.”
“My purpose on this earth is not just to provide for everyone else, but to also make sure that you're the best version of you by following the path that’s right for you.”

Best Career Advice

“Fortune favors the bold.”

Key Takeaways

“Persistence beats resistance.”
The very things that we think are our flaws — race, class, sex, sexual orientation — are not flaws. These are actually our secret weapons.
You do not start off with clarity. You build into clarity by taking action.
- Not everything is going to be crystal clear in the beginning. There won’t be one clearly defined path forward.
- You will need to talk to those you trust; those ‘Kings and Queens’ who've been there before.
If you don't have the money, you'll build towards it.
In the beginning, as an entrepreneur, it's good to work on different skill sets. Then if something goes wrong, you will know how to handle it.
But things change when you start to grow your business. When you are able to hire people who are smarter than you in their zone of genius, it makes life easier.
If everybody in your network looks to you to have the answer, that’s a problem. Partly because you just won’t always have it. Partly because you need people ahead of you to pull you forward if you want to grow.
You have to be the celebrity of your business. But don’t lose perspective, you’re still human and you can’t do everything.
You're always growing into the next version of you. You never stay stagnant.