Using Video to Grow Your Business

Video has become a huge part of online businesses, from Solopreneurs, to Coaches and Consultants, online course creators, authors/keynote speakers, even for Facebook Livestreams.  These days more than ever, it’s so important to be comfortable on camera so that you can get your message out into the world, and virtual is here to stay!  We talked about this topic on our introductory episode of “Webcam Confidence for Women”, a Podcast-Plus LIVE Experience to help women with real-time strategies and skill-building for women wanting to use webcam in business, along with successes, challenges, bloopers, tips & tools. Read the highlights from the show here and learn why learning to R.I.S.E. in business: Releasing Inhibitions and Securing Enthusiasm is the foundation of confidence and authenticity on video.   

You can also watch the video version of this post below or listen to the Podcast archives!   

Susan:  So I have been a confidence coach for women for years, but the clients who are finding me now are women who have a deep and abiding passion and want to get into the intuitive space that I teach. But they suffer from lack of confidence and especially lack of core skills, systems and structure. As a result, they feel inhibited. And that is how this acronym came to me in my work. I could feel the inhibition. I hear it all the time. And so the acronym is RISE -  Releasing Inhibitions and Securing Enthusiasm About Your Business. Enthusiasm is found in your voice. It's in your demeanor. It's in your essence. Enthusiasm is found when you're having fun with customers and clients and they will flock to you when you have this rise, when you release your inhibitions and secure your enthusiasm. Now I want to tell you that one of my clients and friends said to me, you know, Susan, enthusiasm doesn't speak to me. Energy does. I'm like, OK, just insert energy, but make sure that you have that rising energy in you. Now, this brings me to our number one tip of today. How do you get that rising energy in you? How do you release the inhibitions? How do you get secure? Our number one tip today is this practice, practice, practice.

 Pam:  So even though I know it's important, especially these days, everything is virtual. And so a lot of businesses are using video and live webinars and things like that. So I know it's important, but I know it's hard to do. It doesn't come naturally for me at all. And that's what I hear from a lot of my clients, too. It's not natural. They get nervous.  I grew up painfully shy. I took zeros in school.  In my corporate career, literally felt like I could die in meetings with presentations The one thing that really did help me was practice, learning a few tips and, you know, knowing that I have something valuable to share and to get out there, that alone gives me confidence, too. And of course, watching experts like Susan and I'm still I'm still on that journey. So I'm right there with everybody.

 Susan: Well, you know, Pam, what you said, that last thing you said is so important because, you know, we're here as experts. We are experts. We get paid to do this, each of us, in our own way. Right. So we are experts. But the truth is, we're also on this journey. Everybody who knows me, who follows me on Facebook and LinkedIn, I've been putting out all over. I myself have had some tech problems this week and I have been practicing, practicing, and practicing myself. This isn't about being perfect. It really is about getting authentic and really giving yourself permission to have your own voice rise. And so we Pam and I are not here to pretend that we got it all right or we get it at all right. We're here to give you an opportunity to consider the use of video in your business. And when you do that, tips, tools, strategy, text. And time in the studio to get confident on video, so, Pam, how honest are we with this claim?

 Pam: Yeah, I feel we can truly say that we are webcam confidence coaches. We hear it. I've been in my business. I've heard it from so many people that they say, oh, my gosh, I have my own producer and, you know, when I'm working with my clients. And so, you know, just that feedback is has been great.

 Susan: Now, I'm going to talk about this number one tip of practice. Pam just shared with us that with her clients as the producer, she actually is. She gives them the opportunity to practice, practice, practice. And this is something that I also teach in my confidence speaking program. I've been a public speaker for decades and I teach confidence speaking. And so for your tips today, I want to share this. It seems kind of obvious, but the first thing that I encourage you to do is to look in the mirror. Yes, I said look in the mirror. Practice starts to get confident on video practice starts by looking in the mirror when you see one. One of the things that happens is when you're speaking, you have this feeling that people are looking at me, they're seeing me. But if you're not comfortable and confident with what they're seeing, then you will feel that little bit of discomfort inside. So I actually mean, look in the mirror and see what people are seeing. Stand in front of the mirror, stand there, square out, bring your shoulders back and down.

 Look at yourself as if you are sitting on a video or about to make a public presentation. The next thing I suggest is that you practice with others, even if it's only a conversation on Zoom. This is really important. We are here to talk about Web cam confidence and to help you rise in business by using video. And I want to remind you that every time you do a zoom meeting or a zoom call, that literally is an opportunity for you to practice in business. Every call I do, I am in awareness of this. OK, I will say my Soul Sister's best friends have seen me with no makeup and, you know, not exactly in my professional attire. But other than that, every time I'm on Zoom for me, I literally am using it as a way to practice. And so that's another thing that I want to share with you, that you can practice in real time and make the connection with your business brain that you're practicing for your business. Now, Pam, I want to get into what we call a most important thing. Why does video matter?

 Pam: Yeah, video, there's a lot of different ways to create content, and if you have an online business, you're probably creating a lot of content for different things.

 But video really is the number one way. I think that really gets the trust of your audience. You know, they can read a blog or they can, you know, get a download from you. But when you're on video, whether it's prerecorded or live. But any kind of video gets that trust. They can see you, they can hear you, they get to know you. And you can also when you're creating videos and things that way, your customers learn about your business a little bit before they start working with you. And then I think that really that really helps that whole relationship.

 Yes. As I said, I'm still on my own journey to video. I'm getting there and I'm so much better now than I was. I mean, I've come such a long way. I have to say, I worked I worked in the corporate world for a long, long, long time, up until a year and a half or two years ago, full time in corporate world. And I had so many, you know, even then there was so many times where I would just freeze in any kind of group presentation or meeting or anything

 Susan:  And I mean, this is important. Honestly, this is this is such an important tip.

 It goes back to our number one tip of the day. Practice, practice, practice. I will gosh, I don't know how long. Oh, my gosh. I just realize it's 20 years ago in 2001, I was the president of an organization and I had to give speeches all the time for the organization. And I kid you not when I say practice, practice, practice. I used to do this in front of the mirror and then I would have my two kids and my dog sitting on a couch and I would practice my speeches in front of them. This same thing applies with video and and that's what it is that we really wanted to share with you today.

 I was being interviewed on a podcast and I had that same experience, Pam, where I froze there. Now, what happened was like my mind was like, oh, no, what do I say next? Now, what it appeared like, of course, I always watch my videos back. I watched it later. I had a little bit of a disconnect. It just just for a moment. And then I got myself together. I lifted, I breathed, and I just thought, what is it that I'm intended to be talking about here? What are we talking about here? I brought myself back. I don't even think that podcast host knew that I lost my place.

 Pam:  Starting from my corporate career, where I did a similar line of work, I would have people all the time just say thank you so much for spending just a half hour or an hour beforehand to go through it and tech and how helpful it was. And then I started in the entrepreneurial world. So I started my own business and the same line of work. And so I was hearing from my clients, too, that it's just so helpful and something that really kind of makes it more polished because you don't want it to be, you know, fully rehearsed, like you said. But I think that's important. You want to be you want to be natural and authentic and genuine, and you want that to come across. And if you're nervous and freezing up all the time, you know, it's makes that hard.

 So listen, friends, Pam is fond of saying we all know that you have a bright light in you to share. The first time I heard her say this, I loved it. And we want you to get that light out. So we want to thank you so much for joining us.

 Pam: And I can't wait to see everybody in the studio.