So I’m trying to turn it a round.

This morning I bought the Big Issue magazine, which is sold by people in need to give them an income. It’s a great read, and a great investment.

I thought I’d start my un-schmucking by creating a list of reasons why you should buy the Big Issue instead of getting a coffee today. (OK, as well as getting a coffee… at least I understand my readers that much…) Note, as I start this, I can only think of about 5, but starting helps with finishing.

10 Reasons Why The Big Issue is Better Than Coffee

1. It will make you feel warmer for longer on the inside.
2. You get to keep it. You only rent your coffee for a short while.
3. You get to share it. No one ever shares their coffee.
4. It makes you smarter. Coffee can make you sharper but only in short bursts.
5. It makes you smile. You feel good for doing it and that should make you smile, which is a very good thing. Coffee just makes you go “Oh yeah caffeine, that’s what I’m talking about.”
6. You’re helping someone who is helping themselves. As community support projects go, this one is positive and sustainable. The cafe owner is also in business, but they get plenty of support.
7. It will make you laugh. The last page is always a screamer. I go there first… The only thing that makes me laugh about coffee is the price going up and up. “$5 for a large, soy, decaf with a marshmellow!!!”
8. You get to meet someone new. Don’t just buy it, say hi. Ask how sales are going. This morning the guy I bought the mag off was this months vendor profile – he was very chuffed to show me. You probably spend more time with your barista each month than with your mother (which is bad).
9. You can safely consume the Big Issue on the toilet, coffee is far too dangerous.
10. Guest 10th Reason: I’ll shout the winner breakfast (if you’re a local, and if you bring a copy of the big issue….)

Post your 10th reason as a comment below.

I just wish they’d care a little bit more about the story. It would make the listening and getting pumped up about it even more enjoyable.

What’s the issue? Mainly that it’s a rolling essay more than an exciting tale of opportunity. It often starts in the middle, jumps back to the start, goes to the middle again in more detail. More detail. Another feature. And often forgets the ending all together.

I often joke that it takes 100 cups of coffee to get a new startup funded. Not because the investor is 1 out of 100 but because it takes a long time to get the story good.

My quick tips;

• Tell the story a few times to people who get you and see what parts excite them and what parts confuse them.
• Take that story and put it in a single page, like our executive summary. If you can’t tell it all in one page, then you haven’t thought it through enough.
• Start telling it again with a 5 minute limit. Ask people to repeat it back to you and tell you what they heard. If it’s not simple enough and clear enough then you’ll get Lithuanian (or Chinese) Whispers back to you.
• Go to networking events or trade shows. Not to find money, but because that’s where people ask you “So, what do you do?” You’ll fumble over it and they’ll ask lots of crazy questions, but you’ll hone your skills.
• Revisit your one pager.
• Make up a simple presentation following Guy Kawasaki’s rule of pitching. Don’t break any of the laws. None.
• Line up the coffee. Get a list of people you want to pitch to and start with those that you (a) don’t care about their response AND (b) have a good chance of good feedback. So don’t start with Sequoia, Ron Conway or Morten Lund.

It takes patience and it takes a very very very rare skill of being able to listen to people and ignore them at the same time. Why? Because their feedback is real, but people’s feedback can also disuade you from building something amazing just because they couldn’t see it OR it could distract you from what you can see by adding some stupid twist that is more about them than it is about you.

Tough. But welcome to the job.

Enjoy! And try not to have all 100 cups on the same day….

Photos:
Sarah McCans
Mike Schinkel
Spyndle