Shark Attack

Do you guys remember when reality tv shows were JUST becoming popular? I was so sick of them from the start, but now that its been a decade (and there's nothing else on TV), I occassionally watch one episode here and there.

Ok I lied, some of them I watch regularly. Like, my favorites are ANTM, Project Runway (I *heart* Tim Gunn), and The Apprentice (I don't *heart* Donald Trump, but he amuses me with his enormous ego).

The other day I was flipping through the channels when I came across a new show called The Shark Tank.

Its about these inventors who each get a chance to pitch their product/idea to 5 very rich people. I mean filthy rich. They probably wipe their face with 20 dollar bills when they sweat.

Anyways, these people are straight to the point and sometimes brutal. I cringed when they ripped apart this 19 year old who had an idea for eco-friendly t-shirts. I wasn't impressed by his product at all, but he was so determined. He was still in Business School at NYU, probably a sophomore, but he knew exactly what he wanted and he answered every single question they asked him. I liked him, I'd probably hire him if I needed a PR rep (for what? I don't know...my multi-million dollar company?).

Four more inventors came on after him and all of them sucked, frankly and the show was getting boring because none of the rich people would invest. Finally, the last two inventors came ( a team) ...their product was something very simple. They were cyclists who wanted to invent an easy way to remove grease from hands after fixing their bikes (when they were on the trail and no soap and water were available). Anyhow they came up with an orange/citrus based sanitary wipe which worked really well (in their demo). They call it "Grease Monkey" -- look it up if you like. Their presentation came to an end and all, except 1, investor backed out of it. I wasn't suprised because even I wasn't truly, truly impressed by the wipe, it seemed like something anyone, anywhere could make a rip off of and then it wouldn't be unique at all. But that one remaining investor kept thinking and thinking and that's when the girl inventor stepped up her game. She kept on pushing him and presenting her case more and more strongly, she just wouldn't stop and I think in the end that's what sold him. He agreed to invest and right then another investor changed their mind and invested too.

Anyways the point of my story is, seriously, it was soooo impressive how determined she was to get the investors attention. Even if her argument wasn't that great, she wasn't shy at all to keep talking. I would love to be able to do that. I was actually cringing for her, before he agreed, because I thought he was going to embarrass her or something (like I said they were extremely brutal to the inventors).

So yea, if you're thinking of doing something you feel passionate about, stick to it. Also because being sappy is my job on this blog, I'll offer you the moral of the story: people believe in you if you believe in yourself!! Even if they don't, at the least they can't knock you down because they know you won't put up with it.