How I've been using asynchronous video to double (yes, double) my productivity

About a year ago, I had the chance to get to know the last CEO of Evite, Victor Cho .

Both of us are passionate about using business for good, and our mutual interest led to some content collaborations on this topic.

Months later, when Victor first approached me with the idea of “getting through email 3x faster” using his new start-up Emovid…

The value prop didn’t totally sync in with me.

For context, Victor is SUPER smart. Like, he can build products and develop funnels as well as anyone I have ever met. (Evite has over 100 million users, it’s like a small country)

But, 3x?! That’d be a huge improvement.

My first couple of weeks on the platform…it was interesting, but I definitely wasn’t addicted.

Then, one day, I decided to REALLY commit to Emovid-ing. And something crazy happened…

It was Friday (early) night. And my inbox had been crushed.

Going to a dinner with friends that night, I was on cloud nine. I couldn’t believe the superpower I had in my hands.

I was addicted. Right then and there.

The basic ethos of Emovid is that:

1. AI risks destroying human communication
2. Authentic video might be able to save it

A (notable) side benefit is that asynchronous video is much easier to record and send than typing a long text email…

And using Emovid’s proprietary AI engine, Emovids are also easier for recipients to ingest via their “summary” feature.

Here is a sample, for context:

A 30 second Emovid video message from Miles

So, really, you can send them 3x faster than you can type an email. With (hopefully) a happier recipient getting more authentic and personal communication.

Next, I started to get creative with my new supertool.

We have about 169 active clients for our cold email and LinkedIn content services. And I get a lot (call it about 100) of real, non-spam, actual human emails every day.

Coupled with trying to build an audience on LinkedIn…this number of messages quickly can feel unbearable. Even when using a tool like Superhuman.

What Emovid has allowed me to do is more or less eliminate the “30 minute” sync-up call.

So, now, when I get a message: “Hey Miles. Love your stuff. Can we connect on how you can help me?”

What used to be “Sure, here is my Calendly”…has now become: “Sure, I started an Emovid thread for us. Can’t wait to hear what you’re thinking.”

Similarly, if a customer sends me a message asking a service question…

Instead of defaulting right to “Talk tomorrow?”…

I am able to immediately address their concern with human emotion, and give them the chance to respond in the same way. On my own calendar terms.

Of course, while many people appreciate these messages…some don’t love this idea (and don’t respond). And plenty of people opt to respond with text (not video) replies.

But, the net of it for me? I’m still having really meaningful dialogues with the RIGHT people (aka more engaged), and using the process to screen out the WRONG people (aka less engaged). It’s been like a kind of “polite sieve” that I never imagined it could be.

(To date: we have two signed sales contracts where Emovid played a role in the communication, and another verbal).

The result is that I finally have my calendar back. All of it.

Now, instead of taking as many as 10 external calls in a day…

I have truly been able to cut down to as low as 0 external calls (first time last Thursday!).

It’s too early to say exactly what this will mean for revenue growth, content quality, my leadership, etc…

But what it has meant for me is the chance to really be proactive without feeling bad about it. Something my people-pleasing personality hasn’t ever figured out before.

Also, Jeff on my team is seeing the same thing.

Once Emovid was working for me, I had to spread the joy to our team.

Jeff (who heads up our SMB tier on customer success) has also totally transformed his calendar and productivity…

(I think he had only one external call last week…even though he services around 80 accounts?!)

And Jeff actually recently told me: “I’m sad I don’t have any more emails to send to.”

For context, Jeff is also in grad school and has a new baby. He is SLAMMED time-wise. That is a weird thing for someone so busy to say.

But sending Emovids, somehow, is both this fun and this fast. Again, I realize this sounds weird. You just have to trust me!

Jeff and his team are handling more accounts with less stress, much thanks to this tweak. (for anyone running an agency, two people spearheading something like 80 accounts is somewhat insane productivity).

If you want to see if this holds for you, too…

A free ("friends of Veth Group”) link to sign up for Emovid is here.

For those that do give it a shot, I hope you find it as helpful as I have.

Onward,

Miles