Restricting yourself to 10 words, tell me about your business. Is it simple?

Have you described why someone should be interested in your product or service? Is it succinct?

Have you given me a what and a why? Does it resonate?

Is part of the heart and soul of who you are evident along with your value proposition?

Does what you say sound fresh, because you’ve used familiar (though not overused) terms in a novel way?

If you’ve pulled this off by yourself, you’re magic.

However most of us, myself included, struggle mightily to unearth our own business story.

By ourselves we can’t sort the wood from the trees, spot the gem in the dross, narrow down to the one central truth of what I call your Million Dollar Message.

An outsider is (essentially) the only way to bring objectivity to revealing the essence of your first, most important story.

Writing 10,000 words is easy. Refining your story down to 10 words is arduous.

But get it right, and you’ve faceted the diamond of your story crown.