Doing the reps matters. Reading James Vincent's new book, Infinite Edge, reminded me just how much.
A post from Daniel Priestley about publishing video content for over ten years made me wonder when I started.
April 2014. That's when I published my first YouTube video.
Starring: a blender
I wasn't even in it. It was a video of a blender doing its thing.
No face. No confidence. Just an upload.
I didn't feel like a YouTuber. I didn't feel like a video person. So I stayed behind the camera instead of stepping in front of it, and let the blender do the talking.
Other people were making polished videos with lighting and scripts. Mine starred a kitchen appliance.
What came after
Back in 2014, I had no idea that first awkward upload would lead to:
Selling live on a TV shopping channel.
Being interviewed on TV.
Guesting on video podcasts.
Building an audience online.
And feeling comfortable on camera, which is the one I'd have found hardest to believe.
None of that was visible at the start. There was no grand strategy. Just a decision to press publish, and then to do it again. (The TV shopping channel taught me its own lessons, which I wrote up in A one-hour show is six ten-minute shows.)
Last year I even dropped in virtually to a members' day to teach short-form video creation, and how much easier AI makes it now. The man teaching that session is the same man who once hid behind a blender. The only thing that changed in between was the number of reps.
Do the verb
Here's what I've learned since. If you want to be the noun, you have to do the verb.
You speak, and that's how you become a speaker. You create, and that's how you become a creator.
I wrote about this in my book, Done Beats Perfect, and in a post called Do the verb.
When I look at that blender video now, I can see what the reps built. First the confidence, then the authority, and in the end the identity.
Waiting to feel ready
Too many people wait to feel like the noun first.
"I'll show up when I feel like a thought leader."
"I'll record when I feel confident."
"I'll launch when I feel ready."
In my experience it doesn't work like that. The feeling comes from the doing, one slightly awkward rep at a time.
And you're allowed to start small. You don't have to show your face on day one. Point the camera at the thing you know about. A product, a process, a whiteboard, a blender. Press publish. And do it again.
So what noun are you waiting to become, and what verb are you still avoiding?
