I did it.

I got up on stage, in front of about 500 people, at Rachel Rodgers’ ROI: The Millionaire’s Summit, and I presented a business idea that I’ve had since I first started my business seven years ago!

My friend Tilita Lutterloh took this photo.

But let’s rewind a bit…

I have gone to this business conference every single year of its existence.

The first year, the ticket was included, if you signed up for Rachel Rodgers’ year-long business membership program during a Black Friday Sale.

That year, ROI was in January in Puerto Rico. Since I had just joined the program two months ago, I did not know anyone.

So, I attended everything, made friends during meals and breaks, and just absorbed it all. But I didn’t put myself out there in any way.

Last year, I celebrated my 50th birthday, and as part of my celebration, I invited some girlfriends to join me after ROI in Puerto Rico.

Two of my friends also joined me at ROI.

I set up “Braindates,” which are little speaking/networking breakout meetings at the conference. They were highly successful, leading to some breakthroughs in the participants.

At the event last year, they introduced “Shmillie Tank,” Rachel Rodgers’ version of “Shark Tank/Dragon’s Den/Money Tigers” (Depending on country).

Last year’s winner was a very well-respected member of Rachel’s group, and she has since really grown her business to close to a million now.

So, I applied, hopeful but not really expecting anything. But then, I got this…

In our first zoom meeting, the person running it said to the four finalists: “You should be really proud. We had over 100 applicants!”

I was blown away. I still question that there were that many!

Then, we went to work, preparing our pitches, getting notes in front of the other finalists, and editing and polishing our talks.

But then, the wildfires happened in January…a week or two before ROI was supposed to begin.

This year, instead of Puerto Rico, it was happening in Huntington Beach, California, about 52 miles south of where both the Eaton and the Palisades fires were located.

Huntington Beach, CA - I took this on the tech rehearsal day.

So, the whole event was postponed to June, and Shmillie Tank was held on Juneteenth, a day of celebration and liberation.

I had more time to prepare, but since I was affected by the wildfires and in the hospital recently, I didn’t get around to preparing until about two weeks before.

I was also crazy nervous about it, and I kept asking myself why I put myself in this position.

As I may have mentioned before, I don’t always feel safe being extremely visible. I have experienced violence, abuse and racism growing up, so it’s always felt safer to listen, figure it out on my own and stay out of the way.

I had a kindergarten teacher who even made fun of me in front of the classroom because I tried to show some creativity by coloring a drawing of a girl’s hair – blue. She asked the class if that looked like me, and when the kids all said “no” and laughed, she crumpled up the paper, threw it in the trash and told me to start over.

After that humiliation, I tried to be “perfect.” I listened intently, did what I was told, and never raised my hand unless I really knew the answer.

So, when I first started my business, I had to force myself to get coaching on group calls with my business mentors. I wrote down the questions ahead of time, so that I didn’t “stumble” over my words,” and I even asked my assistant, at the time, to go Live with me on social media with me and ask me questions, so that I didn’t have to do it by myself.

I worked through this with a visibility coach (shout out to Malika Amandi, who now has a podcast with her sister called, Happier Ladies, and while I was going through my trauma-informed training program, I took on visibility as my “thesis” project. I went Live every single day for a month and one of my worst nightmares came true - I had a troll. That experience took away the fear of going Live.

More recently, I did a SPEAK:She talk, and that really helped prepare me for this, although that audience was a small fraction of this audience.

So, the entire week, I was nervous as heck. The pitch was one of the last events at the conference, so the entire week, I wasn’t able to be as present as I wanted to be. The night before, I played a sound bath and fell asleep early, and the morning of the pitch, I meditated, moved my body, and grabbed some food before going to watch the main stage speakers.

Perle Noire brought the house down. She spoke at the first ever ROI, and she’s been invited back each year. There is no one like her. She takes up the space she needs and wants. She is deliberate with every word and every movement. She shows up on stage in capes, floor length gowns, and even barefoot. What I’ve learned from her: Be authentically YOU on stage, and everyone will love you for it. Self worth is also knowing powerfully that you are who you are, and it honestly doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about you.

(from left to right) me, ROI Host Dre Brown and Perle Noire poolside

After the main stage speakers, I attended a talk with Rachel Rodgers about how to scale your business without sacrificing your life.

Alright…you’re probably asking me… soooo, Katy…what happened at the pitch competition?!?

I won’t drag it out.

Not me. I didn’t win.

But that’s OK! I wasn’t expecting to win. Here’s what I did learn (which makes me a winner):

One of the contestants dropped out. I’m not exactly sure why, but instead of 4 of us, there were now 3, who were presenting on stage. So, they gave us more time on stage. Also, instead of 4 judges, they ended up having just two, because again, they wanted us to get more time… Now, I had a talk that was about 5 minutes long, but when we first got together for our zoom prep call, they told me to cut my talk down to 3 minutes. That was hard, but I did it! At first, I wanted to hold on to every single word. My mind had even memorized it that way. However, cutting it down to 3 minutes really helped me to find what is absolutely essential, without losing my personality in all of it. People are always talking about the elevator pitch. I got the elevator pitch down. And having that extra time just helped me to ad lib a bit, when I was on stage, and answer more questions.

You know how people say “luck is really preparation meets opportunity”? Well, that’s really true. I had so many people who said “Good luck” to me, but I’ve never been a believer in “luck.” I believed in preparing for this massive opportunity. Although we didn’t need to memorize it, I memorized the pitch. I worked with my friend and client, Shelley Phillips, a memorization coach for some big stars, like Austin Butler! I was super nervous even in the few minutes before I was on stage, but as soon as I got on stage, all of my preparation kicked in, and I delivered that pitch flawlessly! I also practiced the pitch and had my husband, friends and colleagues that I really trust ask me questions because…

I was actually more nervous for the Q&A afterwards. On Shark Tank, that’s where the Sharks really drill the contestants with all kinds of questions. I prepared ahead of time, and I knew my numbers. But they didn’t ask those kinds of questions. However, everyone thought I was the BEST during the Q&A. I felt comfortable answering the questions because I am super passionate about this business idea, and I know my stuff! The audience sort of disappeared during the Q&A! So, my takeaway is…be yourself, know your stuff, and also be super present to the questions, and the answers will be there.

I look like I’m even having fun in this picture!

This is minor, but I forgot a belt that went with my dress, and it really freaked me out about an hour before the pitch. But what I realized is … my brain was just trying to find something to control. And no one really noticed or cared.

After they announced the winner, I was, of course, disappointed, but a few things happened to help me realize that the actual competition did NOT matter. First, one of the judges came up to me and said that she was pulling for me to be the winner, and the other judge just wanted someone with a bit more traction, and that’s fair. The person who won has a LOT of traction. She said she’s received over $2 MILLION in funding already! So, what I learned is… you don’t know what people are looking for, so the decision was not personal. Also, sooo many people came up to me afterwards telling me that they LOVED my pitch and thought I should’ve won, and I bet that each of the other contestants also heard the same thing because again, we are not for everyone. We are all sooo different in our businesses, in our approach, and in the way we reach our individual audiences. So, the people who get us, really get us, and become our biggest fans. Also, I was told by a very credible person, that Rachel Rodgers herself would’ve picked me, if she had been one of the judges. So, again, it’s not personal that I didn’t win. I haven’t even started this business idea because it takes money to do it. I didn’t want to just pitch my current coaching business because I don’t really need the capital for that part of the business. I do for this platform I’m creating for creatives freelancers, gig workers, and micro business owners. The fact that I was able to pitch it in front of two powerful venture capital investors and in a room of million dollar business owners was incredible!!!

Afterwards, I also heard from the creatives – models, writers, Broadway actors, and other people came up to me to tell me they were following my journey and hope this gets made because they NEED what I’m creating. So, what I learned is – by speaking out loud this dream I’ve had for about 7 years – I was speaking it into existence. Chills.

Finally, I am soooo proud of myself. That 5 year old who was made fun of for coloring a girl’s hair blue is able to use all of the colors now and paint her world exactly how she wants! That newbie business owner who had to have her assistant get on social media with her to do a Facebook Live has just spoken, pitched, and answered unrehearsed questions on a stage in front of 500 people! I now know fully in my body that I can regulate my nervous system, not freeze up and be fully visible!!!

Finally, I remember saying to myself and my closest friends and family that the real win will not be just on stage, although that would be great. The real win will be getting one of the judges' connections and also sharing my business and what I do with the audience. And both of those things were accomplished. One of the judges gave me her personal number, and I made sooo many awesome connections afterwards. I’m still getting emails today! Now, I’m sure I have other takeaways, but this blog post is getting really long. If I have more, I’ll share next week! Please ask me questions too, if you have any! Happy to answer anything!

With Love & Gratitude,

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