How I Got Over My Fears to Finally Record My First Video Online!

This is part 2 of 5 of my Crushing It With Video series on how to create awesome videos for your online business.

1. A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating & Recording Awesome Videos For Your Business
2. How I Got Over My Fears & Recorded My First Video
3. The 5 Best Microphones Recommended By Entrepreneurs For Online Video Creation
4. Blue Yeti Tutorial: How To Use The Blue Yeti Microphone To Get Clear Audio For Your Videos 
5. How to Edit Your Videos With Screenflow 

Getting over my fears of appearing in front of video was much tougher than the technical part of recording and getting the necessary equipment.

You may have all the technical knowledge about online video creation, but the BIGGEST obstacle will always be how you are going to psych yourself to do it in the first place.

If you just want to learn the technical stuff, proceed to part 3 about the best microphones to use online. Otherwise stay to prep yourself mentally to succeed with video.

Mindset is half the better won!

What You’ll Learn:

• My fears about video recording and whether they really mattered
• 5 tips that helped me get over my fear of recording videos online
• How to make a DIY teleprompter (you’ll never trip over your lines again without spending hundreds)

My First Experiences With Video Recording

When I first saw entrepreneurs create videos, I was excited.

There was one big problem, though. I had some serious fear of getting in front of the camera. To this date, watching old videos of myself (taken down already) makes me cringe sometimes.

The whole reason I wanted to be online was because I wanted to snuggle behind my screen in a tank top and shorts, ya know?!

But as I saw how online businesses who were doing videos were able to differentiate, connect and most importantly make sales, I was IN.

My Fears

Being an introvert and a perfectionist, videos were 1000x harder for me to make than they were supposed to be.

Firstly, I hated wearing makeup and then having to rub it all off again after video creation.

I hated changing clothes at home and then changing back to my usual scrubs.

I felt stressed whenever I was on camera because it always had to be perfect.

I was insecure about how I looked (lol). Such insecurities ranged from a fear that people would judge me because I was Asian, of my age and well, my face & demeanour and even my voice. I also come from Singapore, where we speak Singlish (English with a Singaporean accent).

I was way out of my comfort zone.

There was once I spent 3 days filming & editing ONE 25-minute video because I kept deleting it and editing it over and over again, obsessively deleting all the errs and erms from my videos.

I took so many takes of my videos it frustrated me that I was taking so long to do something that seemed so easy.

Editing was no easy task either. It was crazy and time-consuming as I cut away something imperfect every 10 seconds of talking or so.

How I got over all these internal problems…

The lessons I’m going to share now are hard-earned lessons over months of video recording (and failing too). These are the top tips I have that’ll help improve your mindset and make your video recording much more effective.

Firstly, I accepted that ONE video is always better than NONE.

Instead of taking video after video and obsessively editing my stuff, I decided that publishing SOMETHING was better than publishing NOTHING.

IT DOESNT HAVE TO BE PERFECT.

This manifested in results in a couple of ways.

Filming and editing time were shortened. I let go of imperfections here and there and just published that darn video.

Yeah, I know. You’ll be surprised how much of a difference being relaxed will bring you.

Secondly, I got over the haters (+ my fear of being criticized when I put myself out there).

There’s something painful about being criticized and being called names online when you put your face, name, voice, and heart into your content.

One lady even called me a scammer when I was giving her free content! 

I started procrastinating on recording videos because I was afraid of being judged and criticised.

But y’know what, haters are gonna hate. Get over it, or you won’t ever record any videos with personality and hard work in it. *cue Taylor Swift’s shake it off*

Thirdly, I struck a balance between staying IN and staying OUT of my comfort zone.

I had to push myself out of my comfort zone by making videos. At the same time, I did not want to be SO out of my comfort zone that I did nothing productive at all.

It’s a delicate balance you have to find.

I stopped doing videos with my face in it and focused on how-to screen sharing videos with loads of photos and branding to personalize it. After all, my brand is focused around no-fluff content, so how-to tutorials are what my audience love.

Once in awhile, I would do a video with my face in it.

After months of trying and putting so much effort, I came to the conclusion that speaking with my face to a camera was just not something that I was gifted in. I could do it, but it took massive amounts of time.

So I started small – by screen sharing.

Fourth, develop a routine so that video recording is second nature.

After loads of practice, I’ve gotten much better and faster.

It depends from person to person. Some people can do it without a fuss – so leverage on it if that’s your advantage.

So my advice to you is to be sensitive about your strengths, and don’t give a shit about your weaknesses.

Fifth, leverage your videos to its fullest potential.

All my videos are shared across all my social media channels again and again. It becomes timeless content that’s used multiple times.

Think: Youtube, Facebook Group, Facebook Page, Twitter, Website, Email List…

I know that when I record something, it’s going to be staying around to benefit people again and again, and that drives me to create videos.

TIP: Fear of forgetting your lines?

Have you ever felt self-conscious? Perhaps you have a terrible fear of memorizing your lines. You find it a hassle to stay eloquent and professional on your videos. Well, this tip is definitely for you. Buying a teleprompter can cost hundreds of dollars and is out of reach for most entrepreneurs.

Here’s a cool set-up for you to have a FREE teleprompter. You’ll sound like a first-class salesmen, sounding all smooth.. by building yourself a free DIY teleprompter! 

Step 1: Use the free teleprompter service at http://cueprompter.com
Step 2: Set your laptop at the desired height (Eg using an ironing board)
Step 3: Then stack up some books or other stuff with the Logitech camera on top. Make sure you can only see one single line of the teleprompter above the camera. If there are more lines, people may notice that your eyes are wandering and that you’re not looking into the camera and they may notice you’re reading.
Step 4: Experiment a little bit to find the right speed of the autocue and
Step 5: Start recording.

Credits to Lucia Sandaal who posted this in a Facebook group I’m in. Yes I know, this tip is GENIUS.

Now that you’ve mentally prepared yourself, it’s go time!

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Continue to part 3: The 5 Best Microphones Recommended By Entrepreneurs For Online Video Creation

This is part 2 of 5 of my Crushing It With Video series on how to create awesome videos for your online business.

1. A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating & Recording Awesome Videos For Your Business
2. How I Got Over My Fears & Recorded My First Video
3. The 5 Best Microphones Recommended By Entrepreneurs For Online Video Creation
4. Blue Yeti Tutorial: How To Use The Blue Yeti Microphone To Get Clear Audio For Your Videos 
5. How to Edit Your Videos With Screenflow 

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