[Progress] #AndyTalks

[Andy Black]

Background

(This background part was added 7 days after creating the thread.)​

I post a LOT !!!

I joined the forum 20 months ago and have posted over 2,000 times. That's a lot of posting! ​

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A few months ago I even tried to slow down the posting, thinking it was stopping me from doing "real work". Lol... that didn't last more than a week.​

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I can't stop myself. ​

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I read comments or questions and stories pop into my head. Often I start with a quick response, and end up writing a chapter in a small book. ​

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If I don't answer, it's like a bothersome little splinter in my mind until I go back and answer as best I can.​

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I PM people a lot !!!

Every time someone follows me or sends me rep, I say thanks. I think it's good manners for starters. But I've also enjoyed the little interactions.​

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That's over 600 PMs in 20 months.​

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It surprised me ...

To be made a moderator.​

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To have helped/impacted so many people.​

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That it mostly had nothing to do with AdWords.​

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(This thread here.)​

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Help more people ...

I'm starting to regularly be surprised when a new forum member likes a post from months ago and I re-read it. I mostly can't remember even writing it. I'd like to repurpose a lot of it somehow, rather than have it all scattered to the wind.​

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Anyway, whatever I'm doing seems to have helped people in the forum, and I wonder how many more people I can help if I start posting (somehow) outside the forum.​

Help people more ...

Three months ago @SmoothFranko left the following comment in this thread:​

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Make a show called "Andy's Talks" and you'd have the majority of all active members on these forums watching you. throw so ads on there + ??? = profit?

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I've had quite a few people say I should create an "Andy's Corner", or "Andy's Talks" and just start churning out content.​

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Creating content and interacting just seems to be one of those things I can't NOT do.​

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It seems to help people - so I'm going to see what happens when I double down on it.​

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This was an encouraging reply from @SlowlaneJay that made me smile when I said I was considering it.​

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ohmygodyes

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Thanks @SmoothFranko, @SlowlaneJay, and everyone else who's told me to "shut up and take my money".​

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Renaming the thread ...

I initially titled this progress thread "iPhone talking head videos", but I'd also like to document creating screencasts, creating a YouTube channel, doing live streaming (Periscope/YouTube?), and whatever else I do to get more content out of my head so it helps more people.​

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So "Andy Talks" will do for now. It's a bit embarrassing to put my own name in a thread title. It's not to "brand" myself. It's so people who don't want to follow this thread can avoid it. Anti-click-bait. (I vaguely feel this is something I have to get over.)​

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If anyone can think of something better, I'm all ears.​

My goal ...

I mention this in a later post.​

Help more people. Help people more.​

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I don't really know how I'll "monetize" it.​

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It's obviously an itch I can't scratch, so I'm going to do it anyway.​

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It should be either "Hell Yeah!", or "No".​

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So "all-in" it is.​

 

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[Andy Black]

#AndyTalks 001 - Get Your Goal Right!

A few weeks ago I created a quick video to say thanks to @SinisterLex in his video thread here.

I just used my iPhone 5S with the inbuilt mic.

I then bought a lapel mic that didn't fit into the iPhone jack (grrrr). I've since found out there's an adapter that can be used, but ordered a MOVO PM10 lapel mic anyway.

The next test I wanted to do was to improve the audio.

This first video was created using the "selfie" camera, and I found it really hard to look at the lense, hence not bothering and just looking at myself.

#AndyTalks 002 - Improving Audio

The MOVO PM10 lapel mic arrived today.

Here's a video comparing it to the iPhone 5S inbuilt mic, and the standard iPhone hands-free kit.

I've uploaded this video to YouTube for the moment.

I had the normal camera facing me, so wasn't distracted by an image of myself moving about. It was much easier to focus on the camera lense this way too.

I bought the iMovie app for my iPhone to edit this video. All I did was delete the first and last few seconds where I turned the video recorder on and off, and add a "fade in from black" at the start and "fade out to black" at the end. It was then easy enough to upload from the iPhone straight to YouTube and Vimeo.

The first video was done at night-time, and I had the blinds as a neutral backdrop. This second video was done during the day and is at the other end of the kitchen table. I noticed that during the day, some light shows through the blinds. Also, I might as well make the use of the natural light as well as the kitchen light.

I've positioned myself into the corner. I watched a video of a professional film producer giving advice about creating "talking head" videos. He said not to worry about black/white/green screens, but to use a non-distracting background, and try and sit in the corner of the room - so that all the perspective lines lead to you. I wouldn't have thought of that!

Oh, and I was convinced to buy the MOVO PM10 after watching/listening to this video on YouTube.

 

[Andy Black]

You have quite the soothing voice to listen to.

Are you specifically trying to go somewhere with the reviewing?

Or are you just doing that for us fastlaners?

Soothing as it puts you to sleep? Lol.

A few people in the forum asked me to do talks and/or courses, so here I am.

I feel I've not explained the benefits of paid search as well as I normally do when I talk to people. I've written a lot of content, but my best medium for presenting is talking with a flip-chart or whiteboard.

I thought I'd do a progress thread of me working out how to create the content in the first place. It might evolve into creating a YouTube channel, Udemy course, promoting the content, generating leads for my service business, etc.

I've not quite worked out the end goal yet. I think for the moment it's to just have a go and see where it takes me.

Thanks for the feedback @Omega

 

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[Andy Black]

Lots of times I find people want "fluff" to make themselves feel good that they are taking action by listening to this million dollar short cut or something. I on the other hand hate fluff especially in videos that can be 45 mins long.

I'm glad you brought this up.

If I'm targeting "the people in motion" (business owners), then they're the people who value their time.

Personally, I'd rather pay $100 for a 1 hour video on something I want to learn, than pay $10 for a 10 hour video.

People who prefer it the other way round aren't my target market.


...

Launch & Learn

Thanks for reading! (Inside joke... @marklov obviously read this post.)

I'm giving myself "permission to suck", as Doberman Dan mentions in this podcast.

My two other main take-aways from that podcast are:

1. "Darken the page." (Just start writing.)
   
   
2. "What can you NOT do?" ... "What do you HAVE to do every single day?" (For me it seems to be producing content... currently in written format.)

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The last mic sounds best, although the standard hands-free mic isn't too bad.

Thanks @Fox. Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality from the hands-free kit as well. I can see now that if I'm out and about and want to do a quick selfie video, then it's more than adequate.


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Video quality is as great as it needs to be for tutorials.

Thanks for replying. @FastNAwesome

Exactly. From my learning so far, when it comes to video, the content and audio are the most important, then the lighting, and finally the camera.

I'd like to use my phone. The less friction the better - be it getting started, creating the content, or publishing it.

You have a great, interesting voice tone. Perfect for online courses etc.

Your voice is great for this. Clear speaking, very pleasant tone and very professional - almost as if you have been through a course for a radio/TV speaker where these things are taught.

See? I've had this feedback a couple of times from other videos I dropped into the forum. I wouldn't have known this if I hadn't just thrown something out there.

Below are links to some of those other videos I dropped into the forum.

Some are done on my iPad with audio done after and edited in.

Some are powerpoint screencasts with audio done after and edited in.

One was a nightmare to do, because I didn't know much about editing. I lost the will to live after that one and am trying to find a way I can do it that comes more naturally.

• The online buying lifecycle

• What's your problem?

• The most important formula in business

• Online direct response metrics

• Segmenting AdWords data by more than one dimension

• (Insiders) Categorising keywords with Excel

• (Insiders) Bulk upload using Excel and AdWords Editor

...

But there's more to it - you have competence on the topics you cover and a great teacher personality.

Not every expert is a good teacher. You are.

Thanks. It reminds me of this video by Gary V that I posted here.


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Where I'm going with this...

I'm not thinking of creating courses or doing coaching. There's plenty of AdWords / paid search / online marketing courses out there that show HOW to do stuff. I've even created a step-by-step guide that I dropped into the forum here.

Instead, I have this vision of explaining to business owners WHAT can be done, and WHY they'd want to do it. The same way I do when I meet business owners for a "coffee" to discuss generating more leads for their business. Or the same way I'd do a 20 minute presentation to a business chamber morning (which I've not done yet but intend doing shortly).

I'd also like to record some of the presentations I did when I lead a team of 35 AdWords specialists. Every Friday I'd do a 20 minute flip-chart presentation to help them improve their campaigns... which really meant helping them to be the best they could be.

I'll also do more screencasts, and I've bought a Blue Yeti mic to use with my PC when I do that. (I use Camtasia to record and edit these.)


I'm guessing the video content can be used to generate more leads for my service business.

At the very least I'll learn some useful skills.

And last but not least, I'll be hopping from foot to foot until I get this content out of my head and "down on paper" anyway.

 

[Andy Black]

#AndyTalks 004 - Problem Solving

Observations from this video:

1) It's a bit longer than I thought/hoped.

2) I did pencil drawings first so I could just go over them with the pen. You can't see the pencil drawings, which is good.

3) I didn't manage any videos last week because I made the mistake of starting client work first thing in the morning, and then my day ran away from me. Today I had to do client work, but I was determined to shoot a video straight after lunch. I can do the rest of the client work tonight when the house is asleep (I can't shoot a video in the kitchen when everyone's asleep upstairs).

4) You almost can't tell I'm in the kitchen!
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Things to note for next video:

1) Ooops. This one crept over 10 minutes. I'll see if I can be quicker next time.

2) I still need to sort that exposure thing. It goes light then dark every now and then.

3) I'm not quite standing right because the leg of the flip-chart is in the way. I was concious of knocking it over. I'll sort that for next time.​

What do you think?



EDIT: I posted a different version of this video made a couple of years ago here.

 

[Andy Black]

I went on a course yesterday with Blaise Brosnan.

He's an all round gentleman who stands in the centre of the room telling business stories. I went on a course with him back in 2009 I think, and it was the best course I've ever been on - period.

Much of what I post about is what I learned on that course.


The course just started is the advanced one and there were 20 other business owners in the room yesterday morning.

I don't go on courses anymore, but when the email came through on Monday that he was doing this I couldn't get my credit card out quick enough.

This will be 8am-11am every Tuesday for 10 weeks.



Blaise is like a national institution amongst business folk here in Ireland. Very well liked and very well respected.

Here's his website: http://www.mriwex.ie

And here's a couple of videos from his website:

I ordered his book last night. Maybe we'll do a book giveaway?




Our "homework" this week was to do something uncomfortable that would help our business. I mailed Blaise asking if I could interview him next week after the course. Even just for 10 minutes. (TBH, it doesn't make me feel uncomfortable at all... but he couldn't very well refuse now could he!)

He's agreed so I've just bought this fella:

 

[Andy Black]

Marked notable. Gold watch.

With big expectations comes big responsibility.

Oh poo.

I feel like a rabbit who's just been janked out of his nice warm rabbit-hole. Thanks @Vigilante !

The urge to flee back to the comfort of perfectionism and not ship is strong.

But I'll overcome it ... because I've given myself "permission to suck".

 

[Andy Black]

You are doing great, you got a decent voice and great screen presence. You're working on the little things, so the more you do the better you'll become. Keep it simple no need for gagets, unless they will make things simpler and or faster for you.

Thanks for the kind words @Buickestate.

I agree 100% (and likely everyone in the forum does too) that getting off the line first is sooo much better than turning all the lights green before setting off.

I'd like to do a video a day. I can't see how at the moment as I'd wake the family if I did this in the kitchen when they're asleep, and the lighting isn't as good in my office (which doubles as the playroom when the kids are home and awake). I'll work it out.

A video a day would get me to 100 pretty fast, which is likely 90 more than most people do.

That's partly why Periscope appeals. I see people doing them in their (parked) cars, kitchens, anywhere in fact. Very ad-hoc, and pretty cool.

You're better at this than you think

Firstly, thanks so much for the encouragement. I really appreciate it.

We often have no idea what we're good at, because it's just what we do and we assume it's what everyone does. Maybe "presenting" is one of those things for me? It did get highlighted in that profile I posted earlier... which reminded me I've been doing presentations and training since I was about 21 anyway.

Your marvelous! Ha ha! I've been trying to get into this too, but the thing is my mind goes blank and then I'm like uhto! So, trying to figure out how to do it so I don't go blank and forget what I want to say. lol

Thank you @Mattie !!

Yeah, it's a really really odd feeling when you look at the camera and your mind suddenly goes blank. I marvel at it actually.

One of the days I sat and did about 3 terrible takes (forgot to turn on the camera, then had the camera facing the other way, then the storage ran out... grrrr....).

It was so hard to get the brain going, but I had a call while I was doing it and talked completely naturally, and then my step-son wandered into the kitchen and asked wtf I was doing, and then I quite normally explained to him. As soon as I turned back to the camera, my mind went blank again. Haha... it was *wierd* observing it in myself.

If you're reading this and haven't tried, you should give it a go. Tell me it's not an odd feeling.


I've only done 3 videos so far, so I'm not sure what advice I can give you Mattie!

Things that have helped:

1) Standing.

2) Making it my goal to pass on what I'd learned so people could follow in my footsteps (rather than "create a video").

3) Imagining talking to people in the forum (although I guess I should imagine I'm talking to one person rather than a group of people? ... I've no idea).

4) There was an exercise I read and tried (ahem... only once):

Step 1) Stare at the camera for a minute or two - to get used to looking at it. You don't even need the camera turned on.

Step 2) Stare at the camera and talk about something you know really well for a minute or two. Imagine you're talking to a friend (maybe even putting up an image of them behind the camera). You don't even need the camera turned on.
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5) A ritual beforehand (I've completely forgotten about this but will do the next time):

Stand in a power pose of hands on hips (wonder woman stylee), and do two big inhales and exhales.

Then say out loud something like "I'm going to create a kick-a$$ video to help people <insert goal>".

Go!
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6) When you screw up, don't turn off the camera and start again... just keep talking. You'll get into a flow and forget the camera's even there.

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Starting is the hardest part. (Where have we heard that before?).

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Hope this helps. Let us know how you get on!

 

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[Sheps]

I was expecting an Irish accent, I feel lied to.

 

[Andy Black]

[UPDATE]

There was me trying to fly under the radar until I was happy with the videos, and doing digital marketing ones.

A friend who must be in my Google+ circles mailed me last week and asked if it was correct that I had 83 people in my circles, and 156k views of my profile. I can't see that 156k views reported anywhere, but someone else confirmed it. I've no idea what those views actually mean.

The only thing on my profile last week was two of my videos on YouTube. I've since posted all videos to my profile.

Another friend in my Google+ circles must have seen Episode 5 (Getting Interviews), and he's then posted it to LinkedIn, which sent me an email alert.

I've then logged into LinkedIn to see three alerts from people liking his post.

Here's a screenshot of my phone:

...

Here's the people who liked Paul's post:

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(One's me of course!)

I personally know the Chairman of the Irish Internet Association, and he keeps telling me to lecture.

I don't know the other two personally.

I've thanked all three people for watching and liking the video, and hoped it helped them or someone they knew.

The Head of Product & Pricing for one of the big insurance brands here in Ireland PM'd me back already (at 10pm on a Sunday evening).

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I looked on YouTube and here's the current views of all the videos:

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LinkedIn's been good for me over the years. I can directly attribute quite a few contracts to people finding me on LinkedIn.

It's very easy to grow your network on LinkedIn. On the app on your mobile, go to the "My Network" menu, and then click the + next to people's names.

Earlier last week I had 3,300 connections.

I've been sending connection requests via my mobile all week (when I have a cup of tea for instance), and I'm up to 3,874 connections this evening.

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I'm going to post that video out now to LinkedIn and see what happens.

I might as well post it to Twitter (only 100 followers I think).

I'm not sure about Facebook. I'll wait till I have a business page instead of use my personal account (which I hardly ever use anyway).

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When I'm on LinkedIn, if someone endorses me, I send a PM to say thanks (not religiously, it's tricky on a mobile). I also send those suggested messages to people when they have an anniversary at work, a birthday, or get a new job.

I did that when I joined this forum too.

It always sparks up a few short conversations, and it's good for deepening the network slightly.

If I get a connection request (to me), and I accept it (always), then I try to send a thank you note for them connecting, and then ask them how their business is going (I've checked their profile so can ask about their business by name).

One connection request last week was a guy (the Head maybe?) of "Irish Times Training" (The Irish Times being a BIG national newspaper). He's just PM'd me (10pm Sunday) asking if I'd be interested in developing a "search" course for executives. I've PM'd him and will eventually point him towards my blog.

Wouldn't it be nice if I could point to a series of videos about search?

I'll get there...




EDIT: Well that was easy enough:

 

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[Andy Black]

#AndyTalks 015 - Who can you help?


Contents of video:

I regularly PM people in TFLF.

A common theme is that people don't know where to start when they create a business.

In this video, I take a morning stroll along the canal, and discuss a way to get started in business.


How the video was created:

I'm using the Snapchat app to create the video in clips of 10 seconds max. I then download the Snapchat story for the day to my camera roll.

These are MP4 files and Camtasia on my PC just can't deal with them.

I've installed Premiere Pro and had a problem with the audio and video not being in sync. A weird little workaround was to copy the MP4 file, and then change the extension from .mp4 to .mov (go figure!).

I imported the video, pulled out the 2 minutes below, then exported to a file that I uploaded to YouTube.



Progress?

I created this video on a morning walk using the Snapchat app.

I didn't create a script beforehand - I just started talking.

The post-production work was minimal.

The video is under 2 minutes.

Let me know if it makes you sea-sick!

... and if you have any other thoughts.

EDIT: The video currently isn't showing full screen on my iPhone 5s.

On YouTube, I can see a wee button to toggle full-screen, but all other videos defaulted to full screen.

I've uploaded the video to my Facebook page too, and it's showing small there too.

Now to work out how to default it to full screen...

 

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[Andy Black]

#AndyTalks 016 - You don't have to be an expert

Ack, I couldn't work on how to export from Premiere Pro and upload to YouTube and Facebook so it showed full size on a mobile.

I'd rather do the editing on my mobile tbh, so downloaded free app "Splice", and used it to edit this next video. After saving to my camera roll, I uploaded to YouTube.

It should show full screen on a mobile. Result.

 

[Andy Black]

AndyTalks with Mary - Getting Started in Business - Part 2

Crap title. I haven't worked out how to title these.


Anyway, second radio show on Dublin South FM.

Seems I'll have a regular radio show, where I won't have to go into their studio but can just create audios that they will put on the show. So chat's with forum members could work.

I had a chat with the young lad doing the audio. He's on a work-experience kind of scheme and loves it but will be gutted when he's back unemployed. I've said I might need help editing audios. He's delighted.

I also went for a coffee with Mary and the radio station manager afterwards and I was explaining how they could make more use of their content. Each show could be transcribed by rev.com and the transcription put up on their site to get some Google love and visitors. Then the audio and transcription added to YouTube (with a photo) and have captions.

Then update medium.com, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

They loved this.

I said I'd work out how to do it, show them how, if they'd then do it for my content.

They threw in time in the studio too and we have a deal.



I dropped the show into this thread:

• Freedom, Motivation, & Grow What You Know

EDIT: I got some very interesting feedback from forum members when I asked what I should talk about HERE.

 

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[Andy Black]

#AndyTalks 007 - Car Studio

I see many Periscopes being done in cars. People waiting outside schools to pick up their kids, doing quick Q&As or recording content.

So I bought a €5 little holder for my iPhone. With some map or sat nav app, it will stop me getting lost in Dublin too!

The sound is pretty good with the inbuilt mic, and I'm parked close enough to the house to pick up the Wifi. So maybe I can park near some hotel between client meetings, pick up their Wifi, and do a daily scope or something.

PS: This was all done on my phone. The video, editing with iMovie to cut off the ends and to fade from/to black, uploading to YouTube, editing on YouTube, then embedding into this post in the forum.

 

[Andy Black]

I must update this thread with a few of the more recent recorded calls I've done.

I've stopped using Snapchat for the moment. There's an intermittent issue with downloading a Snapchat story to my camera roll, and then uploading that video to YouTube and Facebook. The audio and video sometimes get out of sync.

I was using Snapchat as a way to make video creation fun and a new habit. I've fallen out of the habit partly because client work is picking up, but I plan on getting back into it shortly.

I'd like to do more of the flipchart style videos, and try Periscope and Facebook Live.

I listened to an interview with the founder of Periscope, and he said that the difference between Periscope and Facebook Live is that FB Live videos get seen by people who already know you, and Periscope videos get seen by people who don't.

I don't know how true that is, but last night I did a Periscope of one of my sister-in-law's 40th birthday drinks down the pub. I did it because the two guys on guitars and singing were excellent and I didn't have storage left on my camera to record any of it.

FUNNY THING!

30 people joined the Periscope live to watch, and one of them did so because he saw it was in Ireland and recognised my name from TFLF.

@Paul David then said hello in the Periscope and asked if it was Andy Black from TFLF!!!

Small world or what???

And proof that Periscope can help you get found by other people, whilst Snapchat isn't designed for discovery (at the moment as far as I know).

Expect some more activity on Periscope soon, and then some on Facebook Live.

I'll have a look at YouTube's live streaming thing later too.

 

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[Andy Black]

AndyTalks Podcast Episode 12 was a few days ago:

• Give them what they want. Sell them what they need.

A podcaster said this recently to me about Soundcloud:

I don't recommend them... there were some big rumours doing the rounds last year. Apparently they've been haemorrhaging money. I've been reluctant to suggest them as a host as a result.​

So I'd better get round to doing this "properly"... whatever that means.

We'll be working through Dan Norris's document here:

• https://wpcurve.com/the-beginners-guide-to-podcasting

Here's how Soundcloud is looking at the moment (the latest one has no views as I've uploaded it again after someone kindly got the volume levels similar between myself and Ricky).

I don't know how that first one has so many views on it. Is it people from the forum? Or is it people on Soundcloud finding it?

 

[marklov]

Instead, I have this vision of explaining to business owners WHAT can be done, and WHY they'd want to do it. The same way I do when I meet business owners for a "coffee" to discuss generating more leads for their business. Or the same way I'd do a 30 minute course for a business chamber morning (which I've not done yet but intend doing shortly).

Actually something a lot of business owners would really pay good money for especially in a series, I am too burnt out from consulting to make my own podcast series in the lead gen space.

I have done my fair share of webinars through my linkedin group (thankfully now sold) with lots of different service based businesses owners who operate heavily on leads and word of mouth. Another big revelation is that these guys are willing to spend big on "systems".

They really appreciate easy to consume information that speaks their "tradie" language and is short.
most of my webinars weren't more than 30 mins at a time.

Most owners are overly involved with low rung work and heavily fatigued at the end of their day,so imagine a 35 min session with the first 15 filled with tony robbins esque stuff.

Take for example Remodelers, a mom and pop operation with no website
could be doing 3-5 million in sales they have built up over the years.

You can create a website/facebook/yelp/google places and get them some "web presence"
that drives leads and some really good ones if they are laser targeted.

Flip the coin and say get some young unemployed kid give him a script and get him
calling some neighborhoods offering an inspection to set an appointment.

Kid can easily generate 3-5 appointments a day and remodeling leads through CC tend to convert very well and a typical smaller project is around 7k-24k and bigger projects 40K-70K

Although both methods have the same lead value potential, explaining the WHY behind both is severely lacking in most material, it's usually along the lines of do this BECAUSE.

My knowledge in this niche is mostly offline methods such as directmail, telemarketing with a little ppc as that's what I found owners grasped faster.

So take my perspective with a little grain of salt.

Lead gen space has lots of room for value

 

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[Andy Black]

[UPDATE]

This was unexpected.

I loaded that second video (the MOVO PM10 one) to YouTube instead of Vimeo purely because it seemed to be hanging when uploading to Vimeo (it wasn't - I was just impatient).

It's currently the only video in my YouTube channel, and not what my channel is going to be about. I was going to delete it, but then thought I'd fiddle with the title of the video instead.

Now I see it ranking within an hour on Google. It's for a search term no-one is likely using... but still.

(Look how cr@p the ads are btw... Only the Amazon one is relevant.)

I've updated the video description and tags a bit:

I've no idea what I'm doing with YouTube SEO.

I picked up a couple of YouTube marketing courses on Udemy over Christmas, but haven't gone through them yet.

Time to get my head round YouTube...



Oh, and that stuff is being dispatched from Amazon and might be here in a couple of days.

I already have a flip-chart I used last year to give weekly Maths grinds to a couple of teenagers doing their Leaving Certs (to get into College). (They both passed btw, and are doing Business Degrees of all things... I said I'd help them with Marketing and Excel.)

 

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[DaRK9]

Google gives YouTube videos waaaay too much power right now. I'm taking advantage of it atm. Not a scalable model, but an easy sideflow of cash if you find the right searches.

 

[Andy Black]

[UPDATE]

I've been busy doing that client stuff that pays the bills. I'm gonna have to burn the midnight oil this weekend to get the momentum on a few projects.


It hasn't stopped me thinking about this though...

Whilst I enjoy writing, I also like creating content live (and helping people by responding live), so I'm looking at Snapchat and Periscope (and YouTube live streaming/hangouts/etc).

They could be good ways to:

1. Talk to my iPhone camera without feeling like I'm talking to no-one (that is such a weird feeling - just try it and see how you're suddenly at a loss for words.)
   
   
2. Get my head round these new platforms.
   
   
3. Get questions from people that I can use to generate more content.
   
   
4. Give myself more "permission to suck" (those platforms are *supposed* to be live and unproduced).
   
   
5. Get in front of more people anyway.
   
   
6. Suss out these new platforms before others do (go where the puck is going as Gary Vaynerchuk would say).

Here's why I'm leaning towards unpolished, unscripted , and maybe live:

My first 15 years of work were as a Production Oracle Database Administrator. Any IT guys amongst us will know that's highly anal retentive, detail oriented, and not especially creative.

I read Perry Marshall's excellent book "80/20 Sales & Marketing". It had an upsell to an 80/20 productivity course, the crux of which was that you won't be at your most productive until you fully understood what you do best, and focus on that and outsource the rest.

It included a test at www.marketingdnatest.com.

I did this maybe 3 years ago, and it was a BIG eye-opener to see that I'd been doing the EXACT OPPOSITE of what my strengths were (and I was a pretty damn good DBA btw).

Take this as a lesson to know your strengths and go all-in on them.

 

[Andy Black]

Congrats Andy on the action taking, Looking forward to your journey.

Knock 'em out...

Thanks @Dami-B

Yes, I see it as a journey, and a journey is nothing more than a series of steps taken.

I hope this thread inspires other people to take steps, the same way @SinisterLex inspired me to get off my butt and do something I've been wanting to for years.

It starts with giving yourself permission to suck.

 

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[Andy Black]

I like the sound and video quality on this video. I didn't notice much variation in volume - I watched the video first and then read your text, and I was surprised to see your comment around that. The sound seemed realistic to me, as if you were standing in front of me. The picture quality is good - slightly shadowy from the lighting, but overall good.

Thanks @StompingAcorns

I noticed the sound slightly when I turned my head, and I could see the spikes when I imported the video and audio into Camtasia to edit it (to cut off the ends and do fade from/to black).

I say "so" a lot too, and am trying to break that habit. Let me know if you figure out how! lol

We'll see how I get on. Apparently, with practice, a part of our attention can get to "observe" ourselves and direct ourselves a bit better.

The one thing that struck me is maybe have a stronger hook in the beginning. I feel like you give it starting around 1:05; but you may want to lead with a strong, interesting hook in the first 20 seconds - why should I sit and listen to you for 15 minutes? The video content was good, but especially for such a common topic - CVs, interviews, etc. - you need a way to draw the listener in.

Yes. I agree with this 100%. I'm already bored of "Hi, this is Andy Black. In this video..." I'm really saying that to get my mouth going, but I don't need to include it in the actual video.

I'll come back one day and redo this video, and see if I can get people hooked within 8 seconds, and get the video down to 5 minutes or under.

BTW, kudos for not rambling for the first 10 minutes. I really despise it when I want to watch a video on a certain topic and I have to slog through 10 minutes of comments on the weather, their latest sales pitch, what an unrelated video series is about, where their mother is from, what they had for breakfast... Neither do I like long introductions where they take their sweet time introducing the topic and tell me nothing I didn't glean from the title and byline.

It never even entered my mind to ramble for this one. I knew I had a lot to cover, and wanted to keep the video short(ish). That maybe put a bit too much pressure on myself to go too fast.

Having the ability to edit videos on my PC now has suddenly opened up new ways of doing things... I don't have to do everything in one take, and I can split a 15 minute video down into 5 x 3 minute ones.

It's making it much less intimidating to start a video now, so hopefully that will help me create them more regularly. Saying that, this week is chocka with calls with leads and clients, and then the coal-face work on client campaigns.

It's funny, but I'm itching to do another flip-chart video now, but my next one is going to be a screencast with my Blue Yeti. (Hopefully this afternoon if I can clear the decks.)

 

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[Andy Black]

[UPDATE]

Bought a "video sweater". Ha!

8 likes on episode 5 (Getting Interviews) that was shared on LinkedIn. Most are from people I personally know, which is interesting. They see I've created a video, so they watch it (curiosity, or because they already know, like, and trust me?).

That video's already helped a few of them who're in the process of looking for jobs. I've ended up with a few people emailing me their CVs to look over, so I really want to get my next few videos done as it should help them, and will stop me repeating myself. I know I'll get this done soon, because I want to help them get jobs... I know that feeling of looking at never-ending bills and not knowing where the next pay-check will come from.

I've got my first follower on Snapchat. Thank you! So this morning I was fumbling around on it trying to be informative and useful. Just having one follower/friend is enough to often kick you into action. (In case you want to see me fiddling on that platform too, then you can follow AndyBlack10. I'm also AndyBlack10 on Twitter and Periscope. Why AndyBlack10? AndyBlack was gone, and my kids loved Ben10.)

 

[Andy Black]

[UPDATE]

If you want to go further, move faster.

(^^^ I just made that up, but it's pretty good!)


I've not posted any YouTube videos recently, but wow... Snapchat is sooo addictive, because it's so easy.

It's incredible how quick you learn when you're posting short (hopefully sharp) clips, and every few hours.

The frictionless nature of it has me moving so fast I need to slow it down a bit.


Learnings so far:

1. Even with only 4 followers you get great feedback on what people like, which steers you to doing more of it.
   
   
2. Just because the maximum time a photo shows is 10 seconds doesn't mean you have to make it show for 10 seconds (duh). I did a series of 1 second photos of me walking from one place to another to test a "time-lapse" style story.
   
   
3. No worries. You don't have to publish it anyway, and if you do, it's gone in 24 hours. This is a BIG deal for Snapchat, and takes a while to get your head around, but then feels 100% natural, because ... well ... it IS 100% natural. Our everyday life isn't being recorded for posterity!
   
   
4. Again, just because a video can be 10 seconds, doesn't mean you have to fill the full 10 seconds.
   
   
5. Said something right? CUT! Then publish to your storyline. Say your next thing. It's been an AHA moment to learn I don't have to keep flowing into the next thought and sentence. This will be good for longer videos where I'll be cutting out the rehearsals.
   
   
6. When it's frictionless, you *want* to do more, and have to put the brakes on a bit.
   
   
7. I've already got good feedback on what people like, that can direct the longer and more polished videos I'll do later (did I just say my previous videos were polished?).
   
   
8. Even in this early stage, people seem interested in my lifestyle outside of the 9-5 cubicle world, my thinking when I'm working on client accounts, and stuff about me appreciating being my own boss. It would have been hard to predict a lot of what's resonating, because it's my normal day-to-day, and I don't know what's not normal anymore.
   
   
9. It's like a flip has switched and all the thoughts are starting to jostle to get out. I think I need to plan it a bit better. Maybe have a daily theme - one thing that I want to focus on that day, and if I have any other ideas, then I add them into my calendar for another day (which will stop them from trying to interrupt until they're due).

TL;DR

Good progress, but you can't see it in here because it's all going on ... on The Snapchat!

 

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[Andy Black]

#AndyTalks 008 - Sales Pitch Post-mortem (My First Periscope)

Haha. This was so much fun.

I didn't even know how to turn the scope off at the end.


I dropped the video into this thread:

• How I screwed up a sales pitch

 

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[Andy Black]

Looks like a nice place to live, where's the lunch food pic? The Foodies audience would love to see that, and some could be potential customers.....

Thanks for the feedback @Buickestate

It was the gardens of a hotel. I was going to an all day course on "Advanced LinkedIn for Business".

On the walk from the bus stop, I thought I'd start answering someone's question they'd Snapchatted to me.

When I got to the venue, I was half an hour early so thought I'd make use of the beautiful grounds.

I'm amazed at what I could create with my smartphone, hands-free kit, and Snapchat app.

And maybe 3 weeks of practice on Snapchat.

It's frictionless.

It's fun.

It's fascinating (that self made movie production is so accessible).



My current thinking is to use Snapchat to record stories, rants, explanations, B-Roll, etc

Download the previous 24 hours at exactly the same time each day.

Copy each day's story to my PC.

Edit out a short story with ONE message each evening.

Publish to YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.

Get into a nice rhythm.

With a nice fast cadence.

With feedback loops so I can learn.

Measure - Report - Analyse - Act

(But the secret is to start at Act.)



I'm amazed at the difference already between videos 001 and 010.

It's interesting too how my "vision" of flipchart videos is taking a backseat at the moment.

I'll come back to it later, and I'm sure my delivery of each line will be better because of using Snapchat and it's max 10 second clip, and simple ability to retake each clip till happy.



As Dan Norris said in his book "The 7 Day Startup" ...

"You don't learn till you launch."



I'd have never predicted I'd be creating 5 min videos in the grounds of hotels by my 10th video.


Act first.

 

[Andy Black]

#AndyTalks 012 - Mothers Day & Lining up the ducks

 

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[Andy Black]

Snapchat Notes
(Originally posted here.)


I'm following and recommend these people:

1) Gary Vaynerchuk (username: garyvee)

Of course...

I prefer his DailyVee videos tbh. It's interesting to see snippets into his life though. Damn... he's a work horse, and a nice guy to boot.​

2) Joshua Van De Broek (username: joshuavdbroek)

Josh runs an Exercise Physiology clinic in Sydney. He started doing videos for this business, did well, then started doing them for other clinics. He now also has a video marketing agency.​

3) Dan Norris (username: thedannorris)

Dan Norris wrote "The 7 Day Startup" and runs WPCurve and is building a brewing company with some buddies. Great daily Snapchat stories of his business, marketing, and content marketing tips.​

4) Elia Locardi (username: elialocardi)

Elia is a professional travel photographer. I'm not even into photography, but some of his snaps are breath-taking. It's very interesting to see how he even packs his stuff into his carry on luggage. He's also the most smiley person ever. He's never not smiling in his videos.​

(I won't be following Tai thanks, and here's why.)



Personally, I'm using Snapchat as an app to create video stories. Because of it's limit of 10 seconds max per video clip, it's teaching me to deliver my lines, and not bleed straight into my next sentence. This will help when I record videos in one take, and edit afterwards.

I've not got many followers on Snapchat but I'm not worried about that.

Snapchat is just texting via pictures or quick videos. It's easier to do than writing a text to your friend. It's massive in the younger demographic. It's also fun, and the wild west (new for businesses so open to land grabs).

For me, 2016 isn't just "mobile first". It's also "video first".

I'm writing this post on my PC. It would be tough to do on my mobile.

But I have my mobile with me whereever I go. I can quickly and easily record a quick rant, answer a quick question, or just ramble to my phone.

I can then download my day's story every evening (before it disappears after 24 hours), and I've a ready made vlog, and I'm building a bank of content and b-roll that I can reuse later on.


I've managed to edit the Snapchat story that's saved to my camera roll using the free app "Splice".

I've then uploaded, still on my phone, to my YouTube channel.

I can then, still on my phone, paste the link to the YouTube video into this forum (in my AndyTalks thread), into my Facebook page, into Twitter, etc.

Really though, I should be uploading the edited video to each of those platforms, natively.



Video's the way forward lads.

Video on mobile even more so.

If you can create content via video, and make it part of your daily routine, then I think you're going to be in a good place in the future.

I'm getting stuck in.

And it's fun.



I'm also slowly realising my real job in my business is NOT to be building the AdWords campaigns - I can hire people to do that.

My real job is to get more clients for my business.

So me learning Snapchat, creating videos, producing and publishing content ... IS my job.

(I know I'm over-simplifying.)



I'm following people on Snapchat to learn from them, not for entertainment.

Make sure you're on Team Producer, not Team Consumer.​

 

[Andy Black]

#AndyTalks 018 - Talk to Everyone

 

[Andy Black]

[HASHTAG]#AndyTalks[/HASHTAG] 039 - Another way to cold-call (2016-04-21)

In this video, I talk about:

1. How to get the web guys onside when you're an external marketing consultant.
2. Another way to get clients if you're in the lead gen game.

(Apologies for missing the odd word off at the start of sentences... maybe I should do longer videos on Periscope...)

 

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