A while back, I covered how I got my first 100 USD/hour contract, combining Machine Learning and analyzing investments over here. I created a follow-up YouTube video to that, giving more details about the journey itself, complete with screenshots of our conversations to give you a more thorough breakdown of my networking process.
In these, I mentioned that I sent The Motley Fool people a proposal to improve their services. It was that proposal, that lead to them being excited to work with me and ultimately that contract.
A lot of you that went through the article and watched the video wanted me to share the proposal I had written to them. That is what I will be doing in this email/post. I will be sharing it with you, as-is.
Points to Note
As you read through the proposal, consider the following things-
How the Motley Fool Service works- TMF sends out stock recommendations and analysis to their paying subscribers. Subs also get access to message boards to interact with other community members. When stocks take a downturn, many subs vent on the message boards.
The proposal- I noticed the stock analyses were restricted to the financial (earnings per share, stock valuation, etc.) By adding an analysis of a company’s technical competence, the analysis would be more valuable. It would also help investors stay in the market longer, as they would have a stronger conviction in what they were investing in.
Keep things specific- One of the reasons that this proposal was so appealing to the TMF team was because I kept things as specific to TMF as possible. I mentioned both the TMF subscriber experience and their competitors. When designing proposals, try to keep your pitch specific to your target.
Apply the Carrot and The Stick- The proposal hits upon both the carrot and the stick for TMF. It touches upon subscriber anxiety and subsequent churn in the bad times + how integrating a more thorough analysis would allow TMF to stand out from other competing services. When negotiating with someone, try to integrate both these ideas into your pitch.
Buy time- Ultimately, this proposal only worked because I could take my time and really figure out what value I could best add to them. This is key for all proposals. Make sure you have a lot of time when crafting your ideas. The internet and the fast pace of life can make you feel like things have to be done now, but all good things take time. Take it easy, don’t rush in, and spend time building the foundations. Once you do, your results will be much better.
If you have any interesting ideas/comments on this, you know how to reach me. Think of ways you would improve upon it, and/or change it to match your needs. Drop them in the comments and/or email it to me. I’d love to hear from y’all.
The proposal
The following section contains my unedited proposal.
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