How Can Business Owners Become More Comfortable in Front of a Camera

On today's episode we talk about:

-  practicing

-  being perfect

-  mimicking other people

Aaron: [00:00:15] Hello,and welcome to Episode 9 of the Marketing Natives. Today we are talking abouthow business owners can become more comfortable in front of the camera. We'regoing to break down how to practice more, be self, and not to psych yourselfout.

Christian: [00:00:31] Excellent.So I think I want to start by saying that probably a lot of you who arelistening to this right now can definitely understand and relate if you've tryto record yourself in front of a camera. First, I mean, I want to say that it'sOK to be nervous. This is perfectly normal. Don't worry. This stuff does notcome natural. Even people who are on TV and movies, sometimes they strugglewith being in front of the camera. So you know, being nervous is completelynatural and will hopefully drive you to do better, you know, and excel in this.I remember some of the first episodes that Aaron and I recorded, it was nervewracking. I mean, it still is to some degree, even recording this podcast. Youknow, it's not- it's not video. It's audio, but still to some extent it's, youknow, you get a little bit nervous. You get a little jitters. You want to makesure that this is perfect.

Aaron: [00:01:33] Butthere has to be a way to mitigate some of the risk or some of the fear or thenervousness. Right?

Christian: [00:01:41] Yeah,and I mean, the first thing is practice, practice, practice. Keep going.

Franklin: [00:01:46] Ilike how you say practice three times.

Aaron: [00:01:50] Hesounds like Zig Ziglar over here.

Franklin: [00:01:51] Practice,practice, practice.

Christian: [00:01:53] Now,I think one of the main things that have benefit us, Aaron and I and you,Franklin, now, is just keep doing videos. Just keep on going. Definitely we'vegotten better as time has gone along. You know, keep doing it and do it anddoing it. You just kind of get into a rhythm or flow. So definitely practicing,it's a big thing.

Franklin: [00:02:18] Right.And there are different ways that you- Sorry about that, Aaron. I know you'relike stop hitting the table, but I know that there are multiple different waysout there that people like to practice. And one of the ways that you canpractice, if you don't want to practice on the camera, you can sit in front ofthe mirror. I know that's an old, like, speaking tactic. You know, like, peoplestand in front of a mirror when they're trying to actually get their form whenit comes to speaking, but it works for being in front of a camera too. I knowfrom time to time- don't laugh at me. Neither one of y'all laugh at me. I'll goin the bathroom, and then I'll come up with a monologue that I'm actually goingto be saying to myself or saying somewhere else in the mirror. And I actuallysay it, and I'm like, OK, that sounds right or I don't look weird. It's cool,and I continue to do it over and over and over. And I feel good about it, andthen I'll deliver it in front of a camera.

Christian: [00:03:12] Ithink that's a good idea. Now another thing that we've talked about too is practicing,and I'm using air quotes. Practicing but still hitting that record button.You're going to be surprised, and we've actually talked about this in our Tipfor Tip episode number 69, which you can find on Facebook and YouTube by typingTip for Tip or BitBranding. But we talked about earlier the tip was, you know,start recording people, you know, and tell that that you're practicing, but inreality, they might even do better at the practice than they do when youactually tell them, oh, we're recording now. So yeah, definitely practice.Another cool tactic is to, and Franklin actually came up with this, is to mimicother people. So if you're a fan of, for example, Gary Vaynerchuk and you likethe way he introduces- does that intro, like, "Hello, and my name is GaryVaynerchuk." I don't know exactly how he does it because I don't watch anyof his videos, but you know, just practice that. Practice other people untilyou have your own little intro. Your mojo comes into play.

Franklin: [00:04:17] Exactly.And I put that on there for that, and also, like, there is a specific type ofenergy that you want to give off whenever you're actually delivering a video.So if the person that you're mimicking has the same type of audience that youwant to try to reach, yeah, that would be a good idea to kind of get a feel oran idea on how their energy comes off whenever you are practicing their style.

Aaron: [00:04:42] Right.And the biggest- well, not the biggest. One big thing to take away is that it'snot going to be perfect. I think that the video tips that you guys gave at theend is probably one of the biggest things to help you. It's like cringing towatch yourself after you've recorded that video, but you can actually takenotes, look at it, and you know, pick out different things that you could tryto fix. You know that you're not going to be able to fix everything becauseit's not going to be perfect no matter what. Even people who have done this for30 years. I mentioned Zig Ziglar earlier, but I remember listening or readingone of his books, can't remember. But he practiced his speeches probably 15times before he gave them every time, and he gave the same kind of speeches,like, every week. And it was, like, why would you keep practicing the samespeech? And it's because you're going to still pick up new things, you're goingto always be perfecting things, and he'd been doing this for 30, 40 years. Soit's OK not to be perfect, I guess.

Christian: [00:05:40] Yeah.I think in the imperfection, there's perfection.

Franklin: [00:05:44] Right.

Christian: [00:05:44] Youknow? Making these little mistakes here and there will make you one, morehuman. People don't want to see these robotic videos sometimes or even audios.Like we mess up here on the podcast, and we just call it ourselves and we'relike OK. Like, earlier you guys were saying, oh, I can't even get my words out,and you actually said that out loud. So yeah, you don't have to be perfect.It's never going to be perfect, and those imperfections are going to bring yourperfection.

Franklin: [00:06:15] Exactly.It's going to bring you-

Christian: [00:06:17] Itsounds kind of made up.

Franklin: [00:06:17] Goahead. I was going to say- OK, well, those imperfections are going to bring youto doing what I was just about to say. It's like being yourself, and eventhough we did say try to mimic someone and actually get into a flow of, like,bringing out their energy, like, the best way to actually be yourself on camerais to be yourself. Don't try to be someone else or try to do exactly what thisperson is doing because it's not you, and also if you are worried about whatsomeone's going to say about you trying to, like, be someone else, this isgoing to take that whole entire fear away because you're not going to beportraying anyone. You're going to be portraying exactly who you are, how youwant to be, and how you want to be seen. Being yourself is, like, one of myfavorite parts of actually- like, one of my favorite tips to give someone wheneverit comes to, like, how do I get more comfortable in this area? Just beyourself.

Christian: [00:07:13] Yeah.Just relax. Just do it. Nike.

Franklin: [00:07:19] Exactly.Exactly.

Christian: [00:07:24] Anyway.So, another big thing is to not worry about how many people are going to see itor if any people are going to see it. None of that stuff should matter. Again,I can't reiterate the fact that just keep doing videos. You know, just keepdoing it, and another big thing, and I think we see this a lot because werecord a lot of business owners, is that sometimes they psyched themselves out.And like they have, like, a little mistake or something in the beginning, andthey can't sort of get past that. And I feel like that's, yeah, one of thebiggest things, and even for us too. I feel like at the beginning I doremember, you know, experiencing that of, you know, the fear of messing up, andthen when you do mess up then everything else seems like-

Franklin: [00:08:18] Itstarts to trickle down.

Christian: [00:08:20] Yeah,it starts to trickle down.

Franklin: [00:08:21] Yep,and you can get to the point to where before you even hit the record button,you've already psyched yourself out and said that I'm not going to do this.That's why I like this quote, and Aaron, I believe it's a running quote. And Iwanted to make sure I got it right.

Aaron: [00:08:34] OK,cool.

Franklin: [00:08:35] SoI went and researched it. It's, "The hardest part is getting out of thedoor." And that means that, like, the hardest part is actually go aheadand get started, and after you've done it, you can get on a roll and keep onrecording. Keep on recording.

Aaron: [00:08:51] Right,so, it's- I believe it's something like, "The first step out the door isthe hardest step," or something like that, but yes, I get what you'resaying. Not to mess up the running quote, but we gotcha.

Franklin: [00:09:03] Butno, I really- one, if I had to give anyone some advice, and wait, that's whatwe're doing right now, is don't get in your own head about what you think thatyou're seeing on the other side of the camera. You should just be in your ownmind that you're going to record this. You are record it, and then I'm going tocontinue to practice. And if I fail this time or it doesn't come out the waythat I want to, I don't have to post it. I can critique it. I can sit there andwatch it again, and I can do it again and over and over and over to make itsomewhat perfect. That way that if this perfect time isn't perfect, I can makethe next time perfect.

Christian: [00:09:45] Perfectlyperfect.

Aaron: [00:09:46] That'sa lot of perfect. One thing I would say to that is that unless you are an audioor video company, this- you're not getting paid to put out these videos. We'retalking to those local business owners who are trying to grow an audience, andyou know, if you mess up, nobody's going to be like- I don't know. You don'thave to post it basically is what I'm saying. So like, if you know pre-hand,live video's a different animal, but you know ahead of time if it's somethingthat you're comfortable with and you're comfortable with it then it's out thereand it's- there's nothing to worry about. You're not getting charged, or you'renot going to have to pay more, or you're not making money off of itspecifically. So, just putting it out there is not going to hurt you.

Franklin: [00:10:28] Right.

Christian: [00:10:29] Soyeah just to recap here. Some of the stuff we've talked about today, veeryimportant. It's OK to be nervous.

Franklin: [00:10:35] Yes.

Christian: [00:10:37] Practice,practice, practice. And I would say practice makes perfection, but that leadsus to our next one which is, you know, it doesn't have to be perfect. It's notever going to be perfect, and in that imperfection, you always have to makesure that you are yourself. Just be yourself. There's no other way around that.Another thing is don't worry about how many people are going to see it. Justimagine that this video's just for yourself.

Franklin: [00:11:04] Right.

Christian: [00:11:05] Andthen the last thing is don't psych yourself out. Just do it. Like Franklinsaid, the hardest part of getting out is just-

Franklin: [00:11:12] Justto start, man.

Christian: [00:11:13] Bustingout the front door.

Aaron: [00:11:14] Openup that front door.

Franklin: [00:11:16] Orin this case, just push the red. Push the red button.

Christian: [00:11:23] Thereyou go.

Aaron: [00:11:23] Allright. Thank you, guys, again for tuning into this episode of the MarketingNatives. We hope you got a lot out of it. This is an episode that we think allbusiness owners can use. So, if you are listening to this and you have otherfriends who are business owners, go ahead and share this with them. Probablyshare this with, I don't know, a friend of a friend. I don't know. Put it onyour Facebook page. That'd be cool if you shared it that way, but just so youcan stay up with all of our content, make sure you click that SUBSCRIBE button.And then go ahead and click those three little dots in the right hand cornerand click share with that episode, and you can actually save the episode. Wejust looked at the button. You can save the episode too, you know, just in caseyou want to hear us talk some more. So, that's it.

Franklin: [00:12:06] Allright.

Christian: [00:12:07] Seeyou later.

Franklin: [00:12:08] Takecare.