60 Seconds or Less

I have found composition of an elevator pitch to be one of the more difficult things ever!

On multiple levels, describing what I do is tremendously difficult. I recently met with a résumé writing specialist. She said she had written 3,000 résumés in over three decades of business. After talking with me for 90 minutes she said “you still haven’t told me what it is that you do, exactly.”

But when it gets right down to it, I use my money to make money and I have done this successfully for the last 10 years!

THERE. I said it.

And I hate saying it because to some degree I feel it sounds arrogant. To me it carries undertones like “you have to endure a tough commute, work long hours and deal with the day-to-day stresses of a corporate job while I just sit at home in my sweats working a few minutes per day to pay the bills.”

Except that it is not arrogant since I have put in a great deal of hard work to create the business I now operate on a daily basis. A lot of outside-the-box thinking has also been implemented, which may be why it’s called “alternative investing.” For all this, for believing in myself, and for the risk I have taken in leaving an esteemed job as a pharmacist, I am to be commended.

And I am not threatening karma because every business day I take some time to remind myself of where I am, of the gratitude I possess, and of the challenges that lie ahead.

I strongly believe my experience qualifies me to manage client accounts; can I put together a brief 60-second pitch to present this opportunity?

Here’s my first attempt:

      > After several years working as a retail staff pharmacist and pharmacy manager, I
      > retired at the age of 36 to start my own securities trading business. This has been
      > a journey without clients or co-workers that has required extensive self-study,
      > strategy development, and outside-the-box thinking. Over the last 10 years I have
      > learned a great deal about the mechanics of trading and investing. I have
      > succeeded at replacing a six-figure pharmacist salary by posting average annual
      > returns in excess of 15% since 2008. Having risked my own hard-earned money
      > to learn, I now seek a broader application: wealth management for others.