In honor of the anniversary of my journey with E for All starting I thought I’d share my whole experience!
My E for All journey began with an event called a pitch contest on January 14,2020, its a spin on shark tank but instead of “sharks” we have a panel of judges who get to ask hard hitting questions within 2 minutes and then vote amongst each other to award 1st-3rd place to the contestants.
The evening I pitched there were 6 business owners, either in business or in the idea phase of there business. We all had tables to present our products or ideas an hour before the pitches started. Attendees of the event were able to talk to us about our business and ourselves getting to know us better, it honestly helped me a lot with nerves going into the other room for to hear the other contestants pitch and give mine I was at ease... that is until the actual pitches began then my heart was racing, my palms were sweating and I felt like time was standing still.
When it was my turn to pitch I took a deep breath, told the timer I was ready and picked a spot in the back of the room to talk to. I did all I could to talk to the judges directly but every time I looked at them I would lose my train of thought. I believe we had 2.5 min to pitch, the buzzer went off as soon as I stopped talking. I was shaking so bad, my stomach was in my throat and that wasn't the end of it. I was on to the question round, the judges had 2 min for Q&A and I can't even tell you what any of the questions were because honestly, I think I blacked out!
I was done! I had to listen to a couple more pitches after I went and I felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders, I took several deep breaths and decided whatever happened that night I would not stop my mobile business. The judges went to another room to decide our fates and I took the time to network and hear some more stories from E for All alums. One fun thing I forgot to mention was the audience got to make noise for there favorite and that person won $500! That was not me, but the person who won is very well deserving and spoiler also won 3rd place! She continued on to the accelerator with me and I loved watching her business flourish.
The judges came back from there deliberations they entered the room and one judge announced in reverse order 3rd-1st place. Im getting butterflies reliving this in my head. I was so happy for the other winners and had accepted that there were so many other great businesses in the room and they were far more deserving then I was. They announced MY name for 1st place!!! I was in complete shock I had to ask if it was me! Of course I cried and I accepted a jumbo check for $1,000!! Shaking and crying we did our photo op, I text a picture of the check to my husband and called him with shaking words I said I won 1st place! He was so proud of me, I should mention he has always been my number one supporter. I went home, he waited up for me and I said I got the validation I needed and can make this a full time thing in like 5 years! Spoiler 2020 had other plans for Nails by Becca S and the world...
Next I was onto the accelerator program. The accelerator program you apply to and have to interview and be chosen just like the pitch contest. And after the pitch contest I knew I needed the accelerator program because I had no idea how to run my business properly. After being chosen to interview I was chosen to be one of the 15 entrepreneurs in the Spring 2020 cohort. We began in February by meeting 40 mentors for the program during mentor matching, which was speed dating style and a little overwhelming to say the least. Out of all the mentors you are matched with three, I was very fortunate to have three amazing mentors that helped me navigate through the 12 weeks and have continued to offer great advice over the past year. We began classes mid-late February ( I don’t recall the dates) we were on a roll then COVID...
That’s when the Spring 2020 cohort became the COVID cohort! We were extremely successful at pivoting to a virtual platform, in E for All as well in business you never know where you may pivot and 2020 taught me that you can plan your life and have to pivot 1,000 times before you get where you’re meant to be. Half way through the 12 weeks there is a Mid-Pitch where you say where your business is at that time, where it will be at the end of the year and where you see the business going. At that time I wasn’t working so I was able to share my plans once I was able to reopen with the group and sort of manifest what will come. At the end of 12 weeks there is a final pitch where you summarize where your business was when you started, where is was at the end, where its going as well as if you met the goals you set in the first couple weeks of class. After the final presentations we have a PARTY! Well a virtual one in our case, we celebrate our accomplishments, have class and guest speakers and guess what? E for All gives away MONEY! We vote on 1st-4th place winners out of the class and they are awarded, with it being virtual we were “Ed Mcmahaned” haha basically E for All alums showed up with giant checks at the winners houses, Ive had the honor of doing it for someone its really fun!
After the 12 weeks we meet quarterly with our group for updates and more money being awarded and meet monthly with our mentors should we choose. We also have access to the whole E for All family to network and ask professional advice and have others to lean on when needed. I know I’m not the only one who has a partner who thinks all my business ideas are gold and tells me to go for it even when they may not be the greatest. But I love that he’s always got my back and I have his.
One last fun fact about my journey, when we got to the financial portion of the 12 weeks I was very overwhelmed, I had ZERO income at that point due to COVID, so I had a lot of hypothetical numbers. However looking at those numbers I saw how “easy” (I use quotes because business and life is never as easy as expected) it would be to make the money I needed to support my family and have more time with my family. So when I was able to reopen in June 2020 I did so ALONE! I had decided I was going to grow my business and not return to the salon I was in full time. It was scary at first and I have PLENTY of room to grow but my business is growing thanks to the knowledge I gained from E for All and having the support and love from my family I am able to say I relaunched my business in 2020 when so many things were uncertain.
If you have a business idea or are in business and need some direction PLEASE look into E for All, It is one of the best decisions I’ve made. If you have any questions about it feel free to reach out to me also!!
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