- I'm gonna show you how to get more comfortable on camera,
and this is something that everybody struggles with.
I struggled with it myself
and I still struggle with it a little bit,
but I'm gonna give you my personal tips today
to help you become more confident
and more comfortable in front of the camera.
And though this is not a mobile-specific video
like the rest of my content is,
it does apply to all creators
and everyone who stands in front of a camera.
And if you are new to the channel
and you wanna figure out how to make better content
on your phone or become a mobile YouTuber,
be sure to hit that subscribe button,
followed by the notification bell
so you don't miss out on future videos.
Okay, so when I first got in front of the camera,
I was a nervous wreck, just like all of you were.
I stutter sometimes, I trip over my words a lot,
and I hated the sound of my own voice.
Like, here's the thing: everyone hates
the sound of your own voice,
and believe it or not, that never goes away.
I still cringe when I pull my videos in to edit it.
I wish I could just mute my voice
because I don't wanna hear it.
So, that hasn't gone away for me yet,
but I've become a lot more comfortable on-camera,
and these are the things that I've done and still do today
to make that happen.
First thing I do is I warm up.
If you need to do some jumping jacks
or walk around a little bit,
do something to get your blood flowing.
Do something to get your vocal chords working.
I do this silly little exercise
before I actually hit the record button.
(humming)
As stupid as that sounds, that kind of loosens me up here,
and I make sure that I drink water.
I wanna make sure that I'm hydrated,
and I always keep a bottle of water right here
so in between takes, I can always take a drink
and make sure that I'm always hydrated
and my vocal chords are loose.
And any time I feel it tightening up in here.
(humming)
So that's what I do to get this loosened up
and get my blood flowing, because the camera will actually
suck away some of your energy,
so when I turn the camera on,
I wanna up my energy by maybe five or 10%
because it allows me to be energetic,
and it allows me to present myself in a way
like you see right now.
Another tip about getting warmed up
is I recently saw a video with Jack Conte,
the CEO of Patreon, who's also an amazing creator,
but he says he turns on the camera
a good 10 or 15 minutes before and he warms up,
he tries to get in a positive emotional state,
so that when he starts talking about the content,
he's already excited for it, he's fired up,
he's ready to go, he's ready to share that information
and be the awesome creator that he is,
and I think it's a fantastic tip,
and I've actually started doing that, and it works.
Okay, so moving onto the next one,
people ask me a lot if I script my content.
Well, here's the thing about that:
I started out trying to script my content
and it was a disaster.
I was overwhelmed, there was too much to write,
there was too much to try to remember
and try to read the words, and it was horrible.
It was so bad I didn't even publish the video.
So what I've done is this: I've started writing down
bullet points on paper.
You can use your phone, you can use notes,
whatever you wanna do that works for you.
But basically it looks like this,
and I just scribbled down the important things
that I wanna make sure that I hit on the video.
So, when I'm talking to you, I make sure that
all the important stuff gets said,
and everything in the middle I pretty much just wing it,
but throughout the day, I'm also thinking about
what I'm gonna talk about
and certain things that I might wanna say
and ways that I might wanna say them,
so it might not be really fair
to say that I'm winging it, so to speak,
but I'm not going off of the script,
I'm going off of bullet points,
and that allows me to be a lot looser
when I'm having this conversation with you.
It allows me to flow, it allows me to think on my feet,
it allows me to go one way or the other
when an idea comes into my head
right in the middle of recording.
For example, if I'm reading off of a script,
it's gonna be stale.
Well, at least it is if I'm giving it to you.
It's gonna be stale, the energy's not gonna be there for me,
and it just flat out does not work for me.
Hey, if that works for you, roll with that,
and I do understand that there are some channels,
there are some types of content
where you have to read off of a script,
and if that works, that's cool if your content needs it.
But if you don't need it, try using bullet points.
It's really easy.
Moving right along, let's jump into the next one,
and that is to just be yourself.
Be who you are.
Don't worry about trying to be like somebody else.
Whatever your story is, wherever you're from,
however you speak, however you look,
that is what makes you uniquely you.
That's how you stand out is just by being yourself.
Don't try to copy anybody else.
I mean, I know that's hard to do
because everyone is influenced by somebody else,
but the more you that you can be on camera,
the more people are gonna respond to you.
And you need to love what you're doing.
You need to be passionate about it,
you need to care about the message that you're giving.
If you're excited about it, people pick up on that,
whereas if you're just kind of boring
and you're reading through it, that might be a turn-off.
So, you don't wanna do that, you wanna be exciting,
you want people to get into what you're talking about,
you want to excite people, you want people to feel
the energy that you're trying to convey to the camera,
which can be hard to do.
Get fired up, get the blood flowing,
and then hopefully you can transfer
the energy that you're feeling to you.
(humming)
And you have to believe me when I tell you that,
if you have insecurities about
what people are gonna think about you,
maybe you don't like your nose,
maybe you don't like your ears,
you don't like your face, or maybe you stutter
like I do sometimes.
Look, it doesn't matter.
Just be you.
Your people will find you, your audience will find you,
and the more authentic you can be,
the more people are gonna resonate with you.
So, just be yourself.
That's what makes you uniquely you,
that's what people are gonna respond to.
People don't really care so much about why X, Y, Z,
they care about the person that's telling them X, Y, Z.
There are a lot of topics on YouTube
that have a lot of different people
sharing the same topics,
but everyone goes to certain creators
that they resonate with,
because you like the way a certain creator
gives you the information.
For example, if you want tutorials,
you might like how Peter Mckinnon gives a tutorial,
or you might like how a different creator gives a tutorial
because you like that personality,
because that personality is them.
That's who they are, so you be you.
Now, if your camera weirds you out,
because you're looking directly at the lens
and it is kinda weird at first,
and you do get used to it, I promise you that.
But what I do and I know a lot of people do starting out
is they just pretend it's a family member or a good friend.
My best friend, his name is Rod,
and Rod, if you're watching this, I love you brother,
but I always pretend that I'm talking to Rod.
I actually envision his face right there in the camera.
When I'm having this conversation to you,
a lot of times I think I'm talking to Rod
and it makes everything so much easier.
He's my buddy, he's been my buddy for 20 years,
and I'm comfortable talking to him about anything.
So, when I turn on the camera, I'm talking to Rod,
I'm not talking to thousands, or tens of thousands,
or even five people, I'm talking to one person, my best bud.
And that moves us right along to practice makes perfect,
and I know you've heard this a million times,
and it's totally true.
The more you do something, the better you're
going to get at it, and that includes talking to a camera.
Like I said, I was terrified when I started.
I stutter, I still stutter, I trip over my words a lot,
but the more I do this, the more confident
I become in front of the camera,
so this is just one of those things
that you're gonna have to do over, and over, and over,
and you will get better at it.
And don't be afraid to critique your stuff.
Share with the people that you trust.
Go to Facebook groups, go to Tube Ritual,
or any Facebook group.
As a matter of fact, I'm gonna put some links
in the description below to some Facebook groups
where you can go and join, become part of those communities,
and you can share your videos on there
and ask for their honest feedback
if you're starting out.
Now, that does not mean you go there
and spam your videos or your channel,
but if you're looking for honest feedback,
go there, post your videos, ask them and say hey,
how's my speech, how am I delivering this content?
They'll let you know.
There are some awesome people in those communities,
and feedback is a wonderful thing
that can definitely help shape you
and get you on the right path
if you're not quite sure if
you're doing the right thing or now.
Let's be honest, the last thing any of us need
is a bunch of people who are
afraid to give us their opinions,
but strangers on the internet,
especially inside of the Facebook groups
who are already doing this,
they're gonna lend a hand, they're gonna help you out
and let you know what you need to change, if anything.
You might be great right out of the gate.
I doubt it, most of us are not,
but if you are, that's fantastic
and I'm happy for you.
And that brings us right along to
don't be so hard on yourself.
Look, this takes time, it takes practice,
you need to critique yourself,
you need others to critique you,
you need to actually just get in there,
get your hands dirty, get the work done,
publish, get online.
Done is better than perfect.
Get the videos made, publish it, get it online,
stop worrying about what people think.
Look, when it comes to creating content,
make it, get it online, just keep producing content.
The more you make, the better you are going to get.
Don't be so hard on yourself.
Everybody has to go through this, everybody starts at zero
and they have to build themselves up,
everybody has to build their confidence.
This is something that every single one of us
has to go through.
You're gonna have to go through it too,
so just put in the work, put in the time.
I promise you, it does get easier, you do get better,
and you get more confident as time goes on.
Now, I know none of this is groundbreaking stuff,
but I wanted to share it with you.
And I do apologize if my own voice
sounds a little rusty today or my eyes
are a little bit watery.
I am nursing a head cold.
(sighing)
But I wanted to make this video
because I thought it was an important one.
I had people asking me all the time
how do they get comfortable on camera,
so I thought I needed to make this video,
I wanted to share it with you,
I wanted to get it out there so hopefully I can help you
so you can get started today.
And by the way, if you're getting caught up somewhere,
if you have hurdles that you can't get over,
go down, let me know in the comment section below.
I read every question and comment,
and I reply to as many of them as I can,
and when this video's over,
I'm gonna go down there and carry on a conversation.
So, if you're hung up somewhere,
if you have your own hurdles
or something that's stopping you,
go down, let me know, let me see if
I can help you work through that
so you can get started or be more productive,
so you can start getting more content online to YouTube
or whatever platform you're uploading to.
Thank you so much for watching, I do appreciate it.
If this is your first time here
and you wanna learn how to master your mobile,
make better content on your phone,
or be a mobile YouTuber,
be sure to hit that subscribe button
followed by the notification bell
so you don't miss out on future videos.
And I will see you in the next video.