How To Develop Your Camera Confidence
In today’s post we are going to talk about developing your on camera confidence.
We’ll cover how you can take an inventory of what’s holding you back and learn to leverage your strengths and develop your weaknesses.
This exercise is unique way to look at why you are afraid of being on camera and helps you surface your hidden fears and start to find ways to overcome them.
At the end of this post, I’ll have a special opportunity for you to work with me one-on-one if you’re struggling with your on camera appearance and confidence.
One of the reasons I wanted to talk about this subject today is this is the number one stumbling block I see for professionals and entrepreneurs wanting to start using video.
We all have insecurities about how we look on camera, whether if it's how we feel about ourselves, our hair, makeup, the way we speak or our overall appearance.
And that's your truth. I get that.
What's tough though, is when it keeps you from doing what you need to grow your business by using video.
In last week's post, we went over three key reasons you need to be using video to market your business and how using video can help you build trust with your audience whether you're an entrepreneur or a CEO.
This week we are going to look at how we can identify what’s holding you back. On camera confidence is a result of working with your strengths and developing in areas where you are not as strong.
"What Can I Do If I Don't Like The Way I Look On Camera? I Know It's Silly, But I Can't Help It..."
During my career there have been times where I've been really sensitive about my appearance too. When that happens, I have had to work to get that voice out of my ahead that always judges how I look and sound.
Like anything, some days I do a better job than others.
What I can share with you are some concrete actions you can take to start getting to the root of your on camera shyness.
And, you are not alone!
I’m going to share a really cool tool to help you build your on camera confidence...
In episode one of my podcast, I shared with you a bit about what led me to do my graduate work in organization development or OD.
For those of you not familiar with this area of study, I think this definition supports our topic today.
"OD is the practice of planned, systemic change in the beliefs, attitudes and values of employees for individual and company growth. The purpose of OD is to enable an organization to better respond and adapt to industry/market changes and technological advances."
And what we are talking about here is looking at the planned and systemic change in the beliefs attitudes that are keeping you from being confident on camera.
One of the first tools I use when we go into an organization to get a clearer picture of the current environment is a SWOT analysis, which is simply doing an inventory of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
Many of you no doubt have used this in your business at one point or another to plan for the future or identify what’s going on in the current environment.
Strengths and weaknesses are internal to an organization and opportunities and threats are external.
The same goes for an individual SWOT analysis. Your strengths and weaknesses come form the dialogue going on inside you that guide your behaviors.
Opportunities and threats are what’s going in the external environment that affect your business or industry.
What Does That Have To Do With Me Doing Video?
Everything! If you are constantly putting yourself down and focusing on your weaknesses and that’s keeping you from doing video, guess what? that actually becomes a threat to your business.
Not doing video keeps you from thriving at the level you would if you did and you are missing out on a lot of opportunities. Kind of interesting how that works huh.
In this blog post you will learn how to:
perform your own personal SWOT analysis
leverage your strengths
overcome your weaknesses
So if you’re ready, let’s dive in.
The first thing we are going to do is:
List your strengths. Right now I just want you to focus on your ability to present on camera - it may be that you have a great attitude and smile, or you are passionate and enthusiastic or you have a great sense of humor.
Write until you can’t think of anything else and don’t me modest. This is your chance to list your on camera assets.
When you think about your passion and enthusiasm a good question I learned from my marketing mentor Mike Kim is what makes you mad? What makes you sad? These are at the core of your why and valuable insights to tap into when you’re getting ready to go on camera. These are strengths in connecting with your ideal audience.
When you list your weaknesses I want you to write down everything that comes to mind and then when you’re done, I want you to rank them and then ask yourself, is this true?
So many times something we see as a weakness is something we’ve accepted as true because we let someone else define us. To learn more about self limiting beliefs, listen to episode 12, there’s a worksheet you can download to go through an exercise on self limiting beliefs.
To be sure, some of your weaknesses are just that and it’s great to acknowledge them so you can work on them. It could be that you write on your list: "I’m afraid to look directly at the lens, or I’m not happy with the 10 pounds I need to lose and my hair needs a makeover. I’m afraid that I’ll look stupid, say the wrong thing, that people won’t like me or that they will compare me to someone else."
Or a big weakness is not being sure who is in your audience. You think you may know, but you’re not sure.
This is critical to being able to connect with them and show empathy for their problem that you can help them solve.
Write, until you can’t think of anything else. Now to be honest, I have seen some instances where someone can’t think of any weaknesses, so this would be a good time to ask a friend you trust to give you some honest feedback about what they see.
Share your video and ask for some honest feedback about how they perceive you.
Next we get to the opportunities and threats.
What opportunities are out there you aren’t taking advantage of right now?
I love this quote from Mike Kim about thinking differently about taking steps toward our goals. He asks “what does that make possible?” Meaning by being on camera, what does that make possible?
So often we think in terms of what completing an action means as far as next steps or checking off our list. It takes on a different emotional context when you think of it from the standpoint of what does that make possible next?
Write till you can’t think of anything else.
Lastly, let’s look at threats. These are external threats to your business. Things like other brands in your niche who are using video to get their message out. How does that affect where you want to take your business? How does your playing small keep you where you are? I know that’s some tough love, and it’s true. I face the same challenges too and that’s why I’m here in your corner today, cheering you on.
Okay, once that’s done, stand back and look for themes.
Your strengths and opportunities will line up and so will you weaknesses and threats.
Write them down on a separate sheet of paper where you can acknowledge them. You have data that defined them and they are real. Once you’ve done this it’s a lot easier to take concrete actions to address the areas you have identified.
Now here’s the fun part. Look at your weakness and threats as opportunities to grow your camera confidence and build your business through using video.
What are some of the ways you can use those threats as a motivator to take your on camera skills and business to the next level.
If one of your weakness is not being really sure about who is in your audience, see it as an opportunity to do some more research and find out and make more connections.
Pretty cool stuff huh?
I love this as a discovery tool, and I use it all the time in my business to help me get clear on where I am and where I want to go next.
You can try this on your business too as you plan for your new year.
Okay, let’s sum up what we covered today:
Developing your on camera confidence is an intentional process. It takes self awareness about the chatter going on in your head that’s keeping you from doing video.
By going thorough personal assessment of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats attached to you not doing video, you are going to get a pretty clear sense of where you are doing well and where you need to develop.
And, you are going to see very clearly, what not doing video means to your business.
I know for some of you it can feel overwhelming, you already know what’s holding you back, you just feel frozen and don’t know what steps to take next.
Or, you’ve tried to do video and end up recording and re-recording videos because you don’t like how you look or how your message is coming across,
Well, If you’re tired of putting video out there that’s not connecting with your audience
And hate how you feel when you see your competitors using video
If you are ready to take that next step, you’re in luck.
For the first time ever, I’m offering the opportunity for a small group of high performers and entrepreneurs to work with me one on one. In our time together you will learn:
Your key areas to develop to get camera ready, including wardrobe and makeup and office setting
How to develop your unique on camera presence, get over your nerves and let your authentic self shine through to reach a larger audience
Learn how to make sure you are clear about the purpose of your videos whether they are for social media, webinars, product launches or on line courses.
How to plan so you can maximize your budget and time and make sure your messages and videos are on brand, every time
What equipment you need to get started
And you’ll get email access and 1:1 coaching from me on your on camera presentations.
And the best thing is you’ll learn all of this in a little over a month. This is a great opportunity if you are serious about using video to grow your business.
But don’t wait, space is limited and if you want to be ready to rock the new year, now’s the time to get started.
Gain the skills you need to start the new year with camera confidence, knowing what to say, what to wear, what videos you need and how to use videos to market your business.
Here's a link to fill out the application, and then we can set up a call and discuss your goals.
Okay, that’s all for today, if you have a question about being on camera, don’t hesitate to give me a shout and I’ll answer it in a future post.
Until then, remember, when you know your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, you can leverage them to help you develop your on camera confidence, every time.
Val Brown is an Emmy Award winning television producer, story, visual and personal brand consultant, coach, and speaker. She consults and coaches high performing business professionals and entrepreneurs looking to up their game and increase their confidence and credibility on camera. Val teaches you how to use your story to support your brand in video and photos.
p.s. I’d love to connect on social media and hear your questions and concerns about being in front of the camera.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VisualBridgeCommunication...
Twitter: @valbrown08
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/visualbridgeco...
Email: Val@visualbridgecomm.com
