It was the day before they’d walk on a stage and stand before the sharks on Shark Tank to present their business for funding and these two ladies, they were sharp, intelligent, witty, they had a fantastic product, and they were ‘ready’.

But something was off.

Now I had gone as far as gathering a panel of five people to take on the role of a shark tank character and grill the heck out of these entrepreneurs so that they would be very mentally attuned to what was coming.

And here we were three months later, in the comfy Los Angeles hotel room and I was drilling them on the 100 questions that we’d spent months preparing to answer and practicing how to respond to – and they knew the answers. They knew their numbers, they knew their business in and out and yet, they were botching it BAD.

I motioned for all three of us to pile onto and snuggle up on one of the beds in the room and then I inquired, “How are you feeling?” And Oh, Buddy, did it all come pouring out of them. All the emotion that they had been bottling up…
the voice of fear of failure began to speak,
the voice of their anxiety rooted in not enoughness expressed itself,
the voice of their angst arrived (What if this does work? What if we do get a deal? What does that mean in my life and business? Is my business going to be taken over by a celebrity investor?)

So, for a few hours, we allowed all their emotions to be voiced and the tears to flow. And with each emotion we lovingly acknowledged it and then we’d run through scenarios and examine how they would be okay, no matter what happened… Deal or No Deal.

• Then, I took them through some psychological ways to manage themselves…
• how to lead a shark to the next question,
• how to direct the dialogue,
• how to anticipate what might be asked next,
• what to do if they didn’t know how to answer something or if they forgot something.

By the time those few hours had passed, these two ladies were more confident and ready than ever. They’d become indestructible!

Want to know why?

Because all parts of you matter. You see resolutions, strategies, practice, and plans…they only get you so far. When you ignore or attempt to bypass what’s really happening in any one of your aspects of yourself including your emotionality, what you’re really saying to yourself is I don’t matter.

The next day those ladies walked out on that Shark Tank stage and they nailed it. They had four sharks fighting for them. Their deal went down as one of the most historic deals in Shark Tank history and they walked out with more money and a better valuation than they went in asking for. When all was said and done, Mark Cuban became an investor and very pivotal in their business growth.

My wish for you today and always is that you remember that you matter enough to acknowledge the truth of your emotional experience, that you have the courage to express your truth, that you go for the things that matter to you like your life depends upon it (because your happiness does), and that you go all in as a ‘master in practice’ and fully prepare yourself. When you do, you’ll land the sharks that you are aligned with and that matter to you!

Below is a copy of the Pitch Prep Questions I used to prepare these two women entrepreneurs….

(Maybe a line about reaching out if they’d like support for this in their business)

Follow LivWeal on

Follow Jennifer Love on