Hey everybody!
Michael Gebben here and I'm super excited to be with you on another rockin' Wednesday.
So, I'm really fired up today to talk to you about something that...
I've been doing a lot of these strategy sessions with videographers and I also just spoke recently
in a University and there's this idea out there that there's no opportunity, that everything's
so competitive.
No matter what you're doing, no matter who you are in life, that it's difficult to get
a job.
It's so competitive.
There are so many other people out there.
How do I succeed?
How do I succeed in life?
My motto in how to succeed in life, "Think outside of the box."
In reality that's very cliché.
And I know that there are a lot of things sometimes that I say that are kind of cliché.
But the more I've experienced life and the more that I've experienced extremely high
performers, it's so true.
Now, I wanna tell you the three different areas that I think people fit into but how
that you, if you fall into the third one, you will crush it.
The first area is this area that literally we'll spend much time on.
It's the area where you're way down here and you don't do anything.
You just sit around everyday hoping that the phone's gonna ring or an email's gonna come
in, or someone's gonna be on your door with the publisher's clearing house and you've
won the lottery.
Something that's just gonna fall out off the sky, these opportunities.
That level, nothing will ever happen for you and yes, it's completely competitive and like
I said, nothing will ever happen.
Level #2, this is the area, this is the area that most fall into.
This is what I feel the box is.
This professor brought up to me, like a lot of people don't even know what the box is.
Maybe these kids in college or in highschool...
they don't even know what the box looks like so they don't know how to think outside of
it.
Well, I'm gonna tell you for just a second what that box looks like.
The box looks like when the professor tells me... they've got a class that teaches people
how to put resumes together.
That my friend, is the box.
That's just one element.
But the box is what everybody else is doing.
Everybody.
If you fall in the category of just following the trend of what everybody's doing, it's
gonna be really difficult.
It's really, really, really competitive.
I'm gonna use the example of a videographer or a photographer here for a second just to
paint a picture for you guys.
Everybody in that area is able to acquire what I'm even shooting in right now.
It's a Canon DSLR we'll say -- to take photos or to do video.
Everybody's got that.
After doing all these strategy sessions, everybody's saying that everybody's got these cameras,
it's so difficult, because I can charge a premium and they sit here and talked to these
different people and the thing I get asked over and over and over again, the first thing
I get asked, "How much does it cost?"
I tell people, well that's all people know what to ask.
There are all these other things that they're thinking but they're not gonna ask you.
They're not gonna ask you, "Are you a nice guy?"
"Are you gonna be easy to work with?"
"Are you gonna be fun?"
"Are you gonna do the right job?"
"Are you gonna show up on time?"
They're typically not gonna ask those things.
They're gonna ask you the only thing they know what to ask and that's how much it is.
So many of us wanna go right to that spot of telling someone how much something is.
But here's the thing, if you talk to 5 different people and yes, they all use similar cameras
and their work all look similar, there might be some nuances.
To us, the creatives, we might be able to tell the difference but to the client, they
might not be able to.
So you see all these work, they look all the same or similar.
And then they see prices that are all over the board.
But if all you've done is painting a picture of you have this gear, how many days, okay
it costs this, they're gonna go, "Well, I just talked to this guy and he said it was
$500 cheaper.
So we lose everyday to the cheapest guy.
Every day.
And that's where we're going, "Oh my god it's so competitive.
I just can't compete."
And now, I did say in a previous video, that I believe personality trumps talent.
I wanna tie that in here for a second.
Because what I believe in this world is although that's true and I'll tie tie that in, you
still have to strive for excellence with your work.
You still have to stand out.
That brings me to my third category.
That idea of being outside the box, that idea of not doing what everybody else is doing.
Be different.
If you were applying, we'll bring the photographer/ videographer thing here back in a second.
But if let's say you were applying for the job that's super competitive, if they get
500 resumes, what are they gonna do?
They're gonna look and they all look the same and then when they find something different,
unique, something that stands out, that's gonna bring that one to the forefront.
That's what you wanna do.
Do something.
I even had a buddy recently where instead of doing cold calls or cold emails, they had
a handwritten letter that they had to have signed, Fedex to a place and that got them
the call, that got them in the door.
It stood out because no one was doing that.
So there are things out there that you can do right now that no one else is doing.
Let's tie back to the photographer/ videographer.
Instead of being like everybody else and just immediately telling them the price and then
they're going, "Well, I found somebody else cheaper."
Be the guy who is not just the creative, not just the person who has the gear and the technology
and can make a video.
You've got to become something more than that.
That work still has to be excellent.
And then you as a person have to be stand out.
You have to be passionate about what you do in any field.
And then thirdly, you wanna bring massive value in other areas.
Divert the attention off the price.
The price is not important.
You want to create and paint this picture of how you're gonna be able to get the result
for that person.
That's what they want.
They want the result of whether you are making more money for their business, whatever it
is, they want that result.
Then there are all those other things that you have to overcome in the conversation is
they can tell you're passionate about.
They can tell that you're an expert.
They can tell that you know what you're doing.
They can tell that you're gonna show up, all these different things.
That is so vitally important, that you divert the attention away from the price and you
bring it to all these other things and how you're the expert.
You're not just a video guy who makes video.
You're the video marketing guy, like you understand how they can utilize that video, how you're
truly gonna help them, how that photography campaign is really gonna help them or how
you, if you come in to that job, you are gonna blow away everybody else and you're so confident
about it, not arrogant but confident in your ability to give them a result that they want.
That is vitally, vitally important.
I recently did an interview for a podcast that I'm gonna be launching here soon with
Michael Port.
And you'll get to see it in there but I got to plug in this nugget for this because I
asked him.
I said I believe that personality will trump talent.
And we both agree that you've got to be on that certain level still.
You just can't produce down here.
You still gotta produce at a certain level but you won't exponentially grow beyond that
level.
You wanna get more and more work because you're exponentially greater than that.
You still need to hit a certain level but then the rest has to be focused on you.
And what's so interesting to me is that what he said was that basically, he talked to two
other people besides me.
So I'm glad I got this job.
I was referred to by a friend of mine.
So I got the job but he talked to two other people.
Both of them were highly referred from trusted friends and both of them had equal or better
work than I did.
But the reality was, I connected with his vision more than the others did.
This is what he told me.
This was out of his mouth.
That I connected more, like he felt that I was that right fit, like I would get him,
I would ultimately create the best video for him because I got what he really needed to
the core.
I wasn't just gonna make a great video.
I was gonna really get his message like to a tee out there so that it really resonates
with his crowd.
That's just the thing that I hammered home that albeit you're still gonna have great
work and referrals are great too.
But you as a person has to be a stand out.
You as a person has to demonstrate that value and I've done it over and over and over again
in my life.
That's the big thing I want for you guys.
I want you to know that you've got to still be excellent.
Don't settle.
The print in my shirt says "Never Settle."
If you want that charge in life, if you want that enthusiasm, that excitement, that stuff
that lights you up.
I'm always learning.
I'm always moving forward.
I'm always pressing the max because that charges me.
That lights me up.
I don't just go, "Okay, I'm good."
That doesn't light people up.
Just keep pushing.
Guys, just keep pushing forward.
Remember that talent is very, very important and you still need to strive for excellence
but at the same time, focus on you.
That's what these videos are about.
Focus on you and you becoming excellent too and outstanding, an outstanding human being
who can show their value to the people that they're dealing with no matter what it is
that you're doing.
And if you can do that and focus on creating great work, being an excellent human being
that provides massive value to people and gives them the result they're looking for,
price will not matter.
All these other things with all these competition will not matter because you'll be light years
above everybody else because this area in the middle, this everybody's got a camera,
everybody's got this or everybody's putting a resume, everybody's doing the same thing,
everybody's in the box, that is ultra competitive and you'll have a difficult time.
But you just jump to that next level and I promise you guys, there's a much smaller group
of people in that level and you will be able to crush it.
So rock and roll my friends.
I truly appreciate you so much and be sure to SHARE this with your friends.
We've got some super exciting things coming up here in the future and if you haven't checked
out Gebbs Juice from my daily little audios, check that out in the description but also
remember to SUBSCRIBE because we have a new video every Wednesday bringing the fire and
I'm super excited.
Thank you guys so much.
Rock the week and we'll see you next week.
Take care.