by: AskPat 340 Episode Transcript
Pat Flynn: What's up everybody? Pat Flynn here, and welcome to Episode 340 of AskPat. Thank you so much for joining me today. As always, I'm here to help you by answering your online business questions five days a week.
Alrighty, here's today's question from Gary.
Gary: Hi Pat, my name's Gary from GaryGreenFitness.com. I'm a fitness instructor, and I specialize in weight loss culture. I live in the northeast of England. Here's my question. When I run fitness classes, I'm really confident and everything just flows naturally. But when I try to record myself, a video or a podcast, I seem really awkward and the flow just isn't there. What I want to know is, is the confidence that you have on camera and in a podcast natural? Or have you had to develop it? How much prep goes into the show to have it run so smooth? Finally, do you have any resources so I can improve what I do? I love the show, I love everything you do. Thanks very much.
Pat Flynn: Hey Gary, what's up? Thank you so much for the question today. If you kind of go back into time, if we go to the Delorean and visit my first few videos that I've ever done, they are terrible. They are the worst things in the world. I cannot watch them at all. They make me cringe. Some of them were even done with screen recording, so it wasn't even me on camera at all. It was a recording of what was going on on my computer. Those I couldn't even watch and listen to as well, because my confidence level and the way my voice just crackled and all the um's and those sort of things, I don't do those anymore. Looking back at where I started, I just can't believe how far back I was when I first started. But you know what? The thing is I got started.
Gary, all this just to say, no, I was definitely not a natural at this. I got better over time. Most importantly, I just got more comfortable over time. The more comfortable you are at doing something, the more natural you're going to look doing it. Now, I will say about the work I've done on stage as a public speaker, I still get very nervous. It still feels unnatural to me. But the more I've done it, the more natural I've sort of become, or the more natural I am perceived, now that I've just been practicing and doing it over and over and over and over again.
You should do absolutely the same thing with your videos. Even before you create videos for courses and your YouTube channel and things like that, I would just start recording yourself. Just get started so you can get those first terrible takes out of the way. Yes, you need to eventually shift. You eventually need to publish and upload your videos. They're not going to be perfect, and that is okay. Perfection can come later. As long as the value is there, as long as the content is there. I know it's there because you're teaching people live, in person. It's funny because a lot of people go the other way around. They go on camera and they're fantastic, but then when they go in a live setting, they're terrible.
One thing you can do, something that I didn't do because I wasn't good at a live setting to begin with, but I know a lot of people who do this. They sort of imagine that when they're on a podcast or they're recording videos, like that audience that's there live with them is actually watching them live in person. Even though people are going to be watching the recording of it later, you're imagining as you're recording that there is a live audience there with you. That's going to help you because that's a setting that you're very comfortable in. That's what I would recommend for you, Gary. To give that a shot, try it out. Record. Don't have to publish right away, but record, practice.
But I would say that you shouldn't worry about being perfect. Watch those videos and try to work on one thing at a time. Maybe you watch those videos, and you see that your eye contact keeps going down, and that just bothers you. Just focus on that. Then try to improve that on the next take, and just that one thing only. The more you focus on that one thing, the better it's going to get and then you can focus and move onto the next thing. This is something that they do in Toastmasters, I know. I was never a part of Toastmasters. Toastmasters, for those of you who don't know, is an organization that allows members to come in no matter what part of the world you're in, they have little chapters in different cities around the world, and you can come and practice your public speaking skills. One thing that I know they do, because I was researching this when I was getting into public speaking, is they have somebody who records when somebody's speaking and they're practicing. They have somebody listening to record the number of um's in their presentations. Just having that number in there that you can get after you go up, shows you where you're at. Then the next time you go up, you can improve.
Again, keeping track of those things. Again, watching your own videos, and if you have the guts to do this, Gary, you can have other people watch your videos as well. People who are in mastermind groups with you, who are in the same space as you, get feedback from them. If you know they're going to give you honest feedback and respectful feedback to help you, then go to them and ask for feedback. Hearing it from somebody else is going to make it a lot easier for you to make changes because you're going to hear in that other person's voice, and you're likely going to see stuff that you won't see yourself while watching your own videos. But whatever you do, focus on one thing at a time.
That's something that I do when I get on stage. I focus on one thing at a time. I remember the first time I went on stage, this was 2011 at the Financial Blogger Conference. I watched the video that was taken of me and I was moving back and forth in this little five foot pocket the entire time. I found out that this is something that a lot of beginner speakers do, because they are completely nervous. It just makes them comfortable to move back and forth. Now it's okay to move during a presentation, but not like that and not the entire time. There's specific strategies as to where to go on stage, and also when to go to those places on stage and when to move and when not to move, and how to make an impact with where you move and all those sorts of things which I've studied since then. But all this to say, the second time I spoke, that was the thing I focused on. Just not being a wanderer on stage. One of the other times it was, “Okay, what do I do with my hands?” Then one of the other times it was, “How do I address the outside edges of the audience, on the outside of the stage who typically don't get any love during a presentation?” Those are things that you can work on with your videos as well.
Picking one thing at a time, focusing on that, recording as much as you can beforehand just to get used to it. And also, that's going to help you run through all the technical stuff involved with recording as well. Maybe even processing those videos as you would before or right before you upload them to wherever it is they're going to go. Again, sharing them with other people who you trust and who know will give you honest advice to help you. Don't show it to your mom or your girlfriend or something because they're going to give you what you want to hear. Maybe not your girlfriend, they might just kind of make fun of you the whole time like mine did in the past. Anyway, just find people who are going to give you good advice, and listen to them, and then work on those things.
Gary, I hope that answers your question. Some great resources I can share with you actually, there's one that comes to mind in terms of shooting video. That's Caleb Wojcik, my video guy. You can find him at DIYVideoGuide.com. He has his own product that will help you with shooting your own videos as well, which go into everything from the technical to the setting up to the batch processing to how to be great on camera. DIYVideoGuide.com. Before you check out his product, you might want to check out his podcast which is a video podcast. You'll see just kind of the type of person he is and what he has to offer. Again, DIYVideoGuide.com.
Gary, best of luck to you. I challenge you to shoot a video within a week of listening to this. After you listen to this Gary, shoot a video, record it, send it to me, don't be embarrassed. Send it to me, [email protected] I'll have a look at it. That's your homework. Do that. I promise you, once you get over that hurdle, it's just going to get easier and easier every single time. I was definitely not a natural. I still don't feel necessarily comfortable, but I am more comfortable than I was when I first started. I still get nervous, I still don't do everything perfect. I still say “um” on the podcast. I still say things I shouldn't. But I'm doing it. It's a lot more easier now, it's a lot easier. I found that with videos and podcasts specifically since I've been practicing and doing them over and over and over and over again, they've become the quickest way to produce content. Relatively speaking, they're a lot more valuable content than say, blog post content on a sort of general level.
Gary, best of luck to you. I look forward to your homework assignment reaching my inbox very soon. For those of you listening, if you have a question you'd like potentially asked or featured here on the show, all you have to do is go on to AskPat.com. You can ask right there on that page. If your question gets featured like Gary's here today, you will, like Gary, get an AskPat t-shirt sent to you free of charge. Gary, we're going to send you an AskPat t-shirt over the pond, over your way. You'll hear from my assistant in the next couple weeks and collect your information. Congrats and best of luck again.
Thanks so much for all the love. I appreciate it. Again, Gary, best of luck to you. As always, I love to end with a quote. Today's quote is from General George Patton. He says, “Success is how high you bounce after you hit bottom.”
Cheers, take care, and I'll see you guys in the next episode of AskPat. Seriously, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for listening and taking time with me today. You guys rock. Cheers.