March 19, 2024

Is Getting Over the Initial Fear of Doing Online Video Worth the Effort?

You are reading How to Get Started with Online Video Read more from this series of articles.

Is Getting Over the Initial Fear of Doing Online Video Worth the Effort?

Yes, it IS worth the energy.

It IS worth getting over the anxiety.

It IS worth getting over the awkwardness.

These are common (and necessary) hurdles to overcome.

But I assure you the initial struggle is worth the effort because it will be a catalysis that enables growth, and help you be a more effective communicator capable of telling people who you are.

You know how that is when you see everybody doing a particular activity, and you just know you’d like to do it but you’re a little bit timid and nervous to get started?

I sure do.

That’s exactly how I felt when it came time for me to do my first video.

The good news is that it’s a lot like learning how to use a new toy.

I’ve put this short video together to show you how. Click to play the video.

[YoutubeFancyZoom=ogTPZnaTVic]

Your video (and video in general) doesn’t have to be ‘super-polished!’  Remember the point is to be you sitting with a Flip Cam or Kodak Zi8 just recording it.  The video just needs to be genuine and to the point.  Get it done.

The more you use it, the more comfortable it becomes. Even something as intimidating as publishing your video to the world wide web for everyone to see.

There are number of things you can do to become more comfortable with this medium, and eventually have a lot of fun with it.

The more fun and comfortable you become, the more you’ll be able to attract people and business to you. It’s well worth the effort.

Now it’s YOUR turn. Give it a try.

I Would Like to  Meet YOU Through Video!

Introduce yourself in our comments section, and then post a link to a video that is about you. I will comment on your video to say hello, and make a connection.

If it’s your first time creating a video, or if you’re just getting started with video, You can do it! Consider this blog post your prompt to create a video that is About You. Tell the world who you are 😉

If you’ve already created that first ‘about me’ video, tell me about your experience (in our comments section), then post a link to your video.

Ask questions if you haven’t yet started, and I will offer feedback and suggestions.

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About Ann Sieg


Ann Sieg is the CEO of 80/20 Marketing, Inc. She's the author of The Renegade Network Marketer, The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing & The Attraction Marketer's Manifesto. I'm inviting you to connect with me. I love feedback. All of it. So let's have an intelligent helpful conversation to help you become more profitable in your business. Leave a comment below.

Comments

  1. Hi Ann,

    My first video was about your book The Renegade Network Marketer on May 18, 2008.

    I had just purchased a moped, and wanted to incorporate it into the video review of RNM. I recruited Katie to help me. I was not prepared, and just speaking off the cuff. I kept messing up, or Katie would give me a look that expressed, “No way that’s terrible.” It actually turned out to be a frustrating experience.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4peoro1cfUE

    If that wasn’t bad enough, the technicals of producing the video was worse. I was using Windows Movie Maker. Luckily for me, the person who sold me the RNM ebook, Jeremy Henderson, gave me a mini-tutorial. Despite his help, I created a very choppy video that was poorly edited from one scene to the next.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4peoro1cfUE

    I gained two valuable lessons that day:

    1). Never do videos unless you’re prepared, and know what you plan to say and accomplish. If it’s fuzzy, it won’t work.

    2). If you’re going to recruit a significant other to work with you, don’t get frustrated with THEM when you’re the one messing up, and wasting their time.

    Was the struggle worth the effort?

    Yes, that experience was the first of many experiential lessons. Just in the 90 minutes I spent creating that video, I learned a skill that would serve me from that point forward.

    It’s all part of the process, but that sometimes gets overlooked for results. I learned that results come in many forms. Not just a conversion to a sale.

    I hope you get a good laugh out of this video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4peoro1cfUE

    Thanks for your inspiration way back in 2008.

    Eric

  2. Hi Anne,
    My husband is a dentist and I have been asking him since December to allow me to make a video to add to his website. This has indeed been a painful process – especially when it’s me doing the techie stuff and all he has to do is talk! Finally he has agreed to do it this weekend – yippeee!!! But watching your video has inspired me – I also will add a video to my website. Now I just have to get the Flip camera away from my teenage daughter….

    • Hi Helen,

      Wow! That is making serious progress and what a great idea to have a video on your husband’s website. From the research I did on Marketing to Women it became clear to me that women very much gather information in the context of relationships. That is how they are able to better assign meaning and value. It’s becomes more relevant to them. And I am certain video definitely has a big part of building that channel. I experienced that when I watched Martin Dale’s first video. The Likability Factor shot way up.

      I’m sure men are the same way. Maybe not as much but certainly it factors. My husband, for example, does a great job (mostly on my behalf) of watching all sorts of videos of people in our niche and then reports back to me. He feels video is very important and conveys a lot about the person.

      I would love to see both videos. The one for your husband’s website and then your “This is Me!” video.

      Thanks for sharing.

      Ann

  3. Hi!

    Thank you, Ann, for this post and video. You continue to give great value.

    And…I absolutely LOVE these videos I’ve seen here! :)

    I don’t have my very first video on youtube anymore. I took it off some time ago during a “purging” moment. But, it was choppy, hehe. It was part of the MLSP marketing funnel. My husband had a script on the screen of my laptop and I was reading the script and trying not to look like I was reading it. One of my blog subscribers told me to “relax and take it easy…” I was so uptight and nervous, like I was actually in front of an audience during the recording! 😉

    I plan to start making videos again and will need to practice a lot. :)

    I am going to post one of my husband’s first videos he did. We took it after the Leadership Branding Conference last Spring. He’s better than me at videos.

    http://www.youtube.com/user/successwithbeth#p/u/0/jI-hW5_k5hs

    I am not a techie. Although I plan to start making videos in the near future, i will probably outsource some of the editing of some of them to someone else. Some of them, I will leave “raw and uncut.” The others will be a bit more professional and I don’t have a lot of time right now to learn that.

    Happy Thursday!

    Beth Stowers

    • Hi Beth,

      Thanks for sharing and I totally hear you on the nervous part. It reminds me of some videos I did way back in the fall of 2007. I had a script software running on my monitor that I read from. I really hated reading a script. It felt very unnatural and clunky. Well, those videos never saw the light of day.

      I really much prefer just being real and speaking from the heart. Just like that video posted above. I told my hubby I needed to get it done quickly. It was very cold outside (where I would much rather have done it) but then decided to shoot it in our dining room. Plus we did it on our flip rather than our high def camera. Reason is the “hassle factor”. If we do it on high def we have to run the chip over to our web programmer Blaine Glynn to process. Not enough time. It was go, go, go!

      So every situation is different. Main thing is to get it done.

      Thanks for sharing the video with your husband. I went to Hoover Dam too when I was in Vegas. And I remember seeing that bridge while flying in to Vegas. It’s epic. Will be cool to see when it’s done.

      Let us know when you get going with video again and by all means consider doing the “This is Me!” video. I Challenge YOU! :-)

      Ann

  4. Hi Ann,
    I totally agree with what you said about the impact of video about the connection with people, especially in the online world. Me, too…had fear about it…and indeed up till today, each time before I hit the submit button, I still have to conquer the fear in a sense of how people will think of it. I think it is a process, just like we all heard from those well-known speakers, they made it look easy when they were on stage, but they in fact had stage fret just we all do.

    My 1st “public” video was http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxeU4l3l2VA
    It took me 3 days to produce, and another 3 days to almost NOT submitted out to the group. The amazing thing to anchor me in video marketing was few week later, when I walked into the conference of that very live event, people can call out my name! I know then videos will work for me. :)

    Planning is the key, yes! Especially with my hubby. :) As we were wring on the video challenge you put on yesterday….we drove out 45 minutes to a location, while it was only 30 F degree. Both of our hands were shaking….good news was, I knew by heart what I wanted to say and express, otherwise, an “argument” will be expected.

    Ann, what I admire about you is I know you also pushed yourself out of the comfort zone to do videos. Set by example, we cannot get better than that!

    Much love,
    Kelly

    • Oh Kelly,

      I am totally smiling reading what you’ve shared here. Hands shaking because you were so cold. Hey! We can now better appreciate the Hollywood actors and what they have to put up with. It’s the job of a professional. They do what others won’t do.

      So we’re the “extra milers” for digging and getting over the hump of doing video, including holding our hand over the submit button because we’re so darned nervous worrying about what people will think. Then you do it, get over it and realize it wasn’t so bad after all. In fact, it’s how we start building relationships at a whole new level.

      Kelly, YOU are phenomenal for leading by example. What an outstanding leader.

      Thanks for all you do. You’re an inspiration for others.

      Ann

  5. Monica Penn says:

    Hi Ann,
    Building business is about building relationships, and videos go a long way, not only in letting people know who we are and what we are all about, but in developing a certain transparency upon which we can build trust. I think it is a great way to speak more directly to an audience and get your message out in a clear and authentic manner. Authenticity and integrity are everything and I think these traits, or lack of them, come through much more effectively through the use of videos.

    Have not made one yet, but in the process. Not scary at all if you are clear and confident in your message.The technical aspects of putting it together are more challenging than ‘speaking’ and being seen.
    Thanks for the important reminder!
    Monica

    • Hi Monica,

      You’re very welcome. I’m glad to hear this post (and my video) are an encouragement for you to be moving forward in the process. You know I did that whole thinking it through process first too. It’s only natural. It’s like we have to prep our mindset just to consider doing videos. That’s definitely a part of it just like learning anything new.

      This is reminding me of something Daniel Coyle talked about in his book “The Talent Code”. It was a study done with children learning a new instrument. The greatest indicator of how well a child did learning a new instrument was their “declaration of intent” PRIOR to starting the instrument. The telling question was, “How long to you intend to play?” In other words, the commitment came first not after the fact of “giving it a try.”

      Likewise with video. I’m guessing those who go beyond, “Well, I’ll give it a shot” do not fare out as well as those who commit to learning video accepting and understanding it is a skill and a skill worth learning and developing.

      It seems to me as an educator (and for all of us who love to teach others) is to pre-educate people on the value they will receive by learning video. This blog post and thread is an example of just that.

      I love what Eric has done here sharing first from himself what his first videos looked like and now how they’ve progressed. Now that is true authenticity. He didn’t wait until he was perfect. Instead it’s just getting in there with the eagerness and desire to learn. It doesn’t get much better than that except it does. And that is through that brave leading by example others have now jumped in in like kind to share their first video.

      And what does that do for the intrepid person lurking along the sidelines? After all I know there are people right now reading this blog that are watching, wondering, “Should I or shouldn’t I? Is this place safe? I don’t know.”

      So those of you who are nervous and wondering just know those are perfectly natural feelings. You are not unusual. That is the norm. So hang out here with us. We’ll help you overcome those fears and challenges.

      I think of Nancy Burke Barr who also posted her video in this blog. She showed her first video. Good for you Nancy! That is a true mentor. And she is known as Mentor Mamma BTW :-)

      Wow, your comment got me going Monica.

      Thanks for sharing!

      Ann

  6. Hi Ann,

    Loved your video and it was exactly what I needed to hear today. I’ve been putting off the this is me video because my kids and I have been sick, but it’s on it’s way! I will be posting it tomorrow! :)

    Love to see everyone’s first videos. Here’s mine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfCNx56_N-o

    Can’t wait to check out everyone’s about me videos.
    Heather

  7. Dear Ann,

    What a fun topic! Video Marketing is so cool and I have really learned to do a lot with editing. As you will see in this, my first video, I had weird talking at the beginning and the shadows blocked my face, but I did it! This was one take…finished! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCvLceti1RM

    I believe that making videos will benefit marketers on a lot of levels. It improves your poise and self confidence. It forces you to keep your thoughts together and not go rambling (Remember, this was my first!) It is amazing how you improve with practice. Improvement in the skills mentioned will spill over into many areas of your career! It will affect your telephone conversations, your skype calls, and your personal relationships……I don’t carry on so much with my lectures to my kids any more! hahaha!

    So just do it! : )

    Mentor Mama

  8. Hi Ann
    First I want to thank you for your 7 great lies, and other great content you have created, I started a little over a year ago playing with video and a computer for that matter, the video has to be the way, people want to see what you mean, I understand that, and for us beginners I like the mistakes,it shows we are human and not hollywood, today the government of Egypt stopped the release of live video out of Egypt, I am sure we all feel the same about the power of video and lets face it..hearing or reading about things, has its stengths, but video tells all. I only have 3 short videos in what I am hoping to turn into a series, they all need work but learn as you go and keep trying new things, here is the first of my series http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImeBCxe3RBE
    , notice the wind in the background..still can’t edit sound, but I will learn, the most important thing is just to get started, learn as you go…

  9. You asked for it, you got it. August 20, 2010 was my first stab at doing video:
    Here is the link to my first online video ever:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2Xyq611M4k

    I seriously had NO idea what I was doing, all I knew was that my coach at the time said to make a company video. Oh, and buy a flip cam. A what????

    So… yes – way too much external noise and no plan.
    It’s very natural for me to speak in front of the camera – I just need practice practice practice in fine tuning my communication skills as well as MAJOR practice in editing and producing the videos.

    I love doing videos and am looking forward to helping others do the same.

    So – is it worth doing video??? Absolutely, positively without a doubt – YES. I have made many new friends and business acquaintances this way.

    Thank you for your inspiration.

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