Overcoming the Fear of Video

Welcome to the third edition of my newsletter on LinkedIn. If you're new here, this is where I share tips, tools and tales to help you on your content creation journey.

When we start creating content, especially video content, fear is usually involved. Especially the fear of judgement. Fear will often stop us and override our desire.

I've never shared this story publicly but when I first got on video in 2017 to promote an upcoming community event, I did it out of desperation. No one had signed up and I was super nervous the event would be a bust. Video was getting so much traction on Facebook and LinkedIn and I'd be stupid not to utilize it to bring attention to the event. So I posted my first video. And then another, and another. They got more and more traction and I watched the views increase.

A weird thing happened though, the more views I got, the more scared I got. It had actually felt safer when there was less attention. By the fourth and fifth video, I was actually getting the hang of speaking in front of the camera but I always felt anxious after the video was posted. I felt this incredible sense of responsibility to deliver and not being able to meet expectations. One day, my heart rate got super high and I got really dizzy and chilled. So dizzy that I had to lie down because I thought I was going to faint.

A few days later, I was still feeling really anxious and my heart still felt like it was beating out of my chest. So I went to see my doctor. I honestly thought I had developed a heart problem. My doctor did all the tests on me. Everything was normal. He asked if I had been under a lot of stress lately and as soon as he said that, I started to tear up and had a moment of realization. I had a panic attack that other day.

So if it makes you feel any better, here I am in 2022, a video content strategist and loving my work, sharing that when I first started doing videos in 2017, it lead to me to having a panic attack. Crazy, right?

I share that story with you because here's what I've learned about overcoming the fear:

1) Trust Yourself - Know that you have something of value to share, you have a message that someone needs to hear. It doesn't matter what level you're at, you are enough.

2) Focus Out, Don't Focus In - When we focus in, we're worried about how we sound, how we look, whether we'll be judged. When we focus out, we ask ourselves how can we help somebody today, how can we say something to be of service.

3) Practice - Practice, practice, practice. Walk around the house and record yourself. Stare at that black dot on your smartphone, stare at your webcam when you speak. The more you practice, the better and easier, it'll get.

4) Do It With Someone Else - Interview someone on video or record the Zoom session. Make it a question & answer format. You don't need to do it alone.

5) #DoItScared - The fear never really goes away. Lean into the discomfort and do it anyways.

Watch my video on these tips and it'll help you get started to overcoming your fear of video.

What's stopping you from creating videos? Let me know if any of those tips resonated with you.

This week's Live Show guest . . .

Does your LinkedIn Profile need a refresh? How can you leverage your profile to attract leads and opportunities?

These are the topics I will be exploring with?Leanne Calderwood ?on the?Fanny Dunagan Show this Thurs, Feb 10 at 4pm CST. Leanne is a LinkedIn Educator for the?hospitality industry, helping them discover their brand and find their voice.

?? State of the Hospitality industry

?? Importance of an optimized LinkedIn profile

?? 3 key areas of your LinkedIn profile to attract leads & opportunities

?? Her favorite content creation tool to spark ideas for you

?? Emerging content types you need to know

?? Evolution of LinkedIn content for 2022

Watch the Live Show and replay here .

A little inspiration . . .

Do you know who Chris Do is?

I've subscribed to his YouTube channel for a long time and every single video brings HUGE value. He is the Founder and CEO of The Futur and he's on a mission to teach 1 billion people how to make a living doing what they love. He's really well known for role playing conversations between clients and designers and how to set yourself up for success with pricing. Take it from me, there's no one else doing content to this level of depth on pricing.

I stumbled upon Loren Greiff 's LinkedIn live show with Chris Do today through Gabe Leal 's Live Stream Guide. The show is called "Stop Confusing Cost, Price and Value." That title made you stop and think, didn't it? The episode is as good as it sounds. Watch the replay here and learn some mind-blowing tactics for pricing.

Chris Do finished off the show with this piece of wisdom:

If you don’t fail, then you’re not really trying to stretch yourself. In the failures, your character is built. The only true failure is when you have a set back and you don’t learn anything from it. You’re just repeating the mistake. When you make a mistake or have a failure, instead of beating yourself up. You should say, CONGRATULATIONS, what did we learn from this? How can we be better? In the obstacle and failure is the lesson and complete set of plans or instructions on how to succeed. - Chris Do

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Let's connect on LinkedIn if you're new to my work. You can also find a more personal side of me on Instagram and YouTube .