As business owners, there are so many experts sharing their wisdom that can greatly help us in our businesses. We are fantastic in the areas in which we support our clients, but there is so much more to know. That is why I enjoy learning from others. Do you attend conferences, seminars, workshops, masterminds, or other professional development to learn how to improve your business?
I’ve heard for quite a while how important it is to add video to help promote my business. I realized I needed to implement it, but I wasn’t sure exactly what to do. I’ve created a few when the necessity arose (for instance when an award I was applying for required one), but they weren’t what I’d call truly professional. And many of the options I’ve seen have frankly been out of my budget, or required a set number of videos of a specific length which were much longer than I’m looking to do with my business. My idea is to share tips on my social media pages or in my newsletter which may be just a couple of minutes, not 30 minute “shows”.
However, a good business friend recommended an expert to me who had a day-long seminar a few months ago in the area of speaking which is something I’ve been doing more in the last year and a half. About a month after attending, I received an invitation for her 2 day video training which would include a professional video to use on my website. I figured it was about time to go for it. I have to say it was a fantastic workshop and I learned so much. The first day was learning techniques, and seeing how we appeared on camera, and then we had to watch ourselves and see how we did (did we look into the camera, did we move around nervously, etc). There were only 6 of us in this workshop (it was meant to be VERY hands on so attendees were limited to this small number). We also learned what type of information to share in the different types of videos (positioning, promotional and personality). After the first day we had to go home and write out the content for the video we were going to shoot the next day.
On Saturday we shared our content with two others and tweaked what we wanted to say. Then we ran through what we were going to say in front of everyone once. Afterward, it was time for hair and make-up, as well as selecting what we’d wear for the shoot. Professional stylists made us look fantastic, and it was time to record (the photo here was taken as they finished my hair/make-up). I was nervous, but I’m excited to see how it will turn out. Stay tuned as the video is currently being professionally edited and little extras added in before sending to me. I’ll be posting to my website very soon!
So I highly recommend you take the time to attend at least one or two events in the next 12 months with an expert in an area that you feel you need to learn some tips and tricks in order to apply to your business. If you don’t know who to use, contact business owners you like and trust and ask if they’ve used someone they recommend for the area in which you need assistance. I’m pretty sure you’ll be glad you invested in yourself and your business.
To your success!
