5 second trick that makes ANYONE confident on camera | Ep. 60

Camera confidence is possible... even if you’re a beginner! In this episode, I share the real reason recording YouTube videos feels awkward and my favorite brain tricks to help you feel confident before you hit record. If you’re a course creator or membership site owner, these strategies will help you show up authentically, connect with your audience, and finally grow your business with YouTube. Let’s make camera confidence your new normal!

✨ Cringe or Binge: How does your channel rank? Download the VBA app to analyze your channel in 1 simple step. It’s free! https://videobrand.link/app

📹 Be Binge-worthy on YouTube: https://videobrand.link/become-bingeable

🟣 Video Brand Academy: https://videobrand.link/vba

🎥 CRUSH IT ON CAMERA GUIDE: https://vidpromom.com/crush

🎧 Video Brand Infusion Podcast: http://meredithmarsh.co/podcast

📲 Download my FREE Video Brand Academy app! 👉 https://videobrand.link/app

👉 Consistent Sales of Your Course with YouTube: https://youtu.be/GBhulsp0s-4

📹 Follow on YouTube for Video Podcast: https://youtu.be/zkscCExxg9Y?si=B2EAIPxJV0-jEP-7

Transcript

If you are a course creator or a membership site owner, and you've been putting off recording your first YouTube videos because it feels awkward and uncomfortable to talk to a camera, what if I told you you could actually trick your brain into feeling confident

even before you hit record, I've got some counterintuitive strategies for you here in this episode of Video Brand Infusion, specifically for business owners like us, and especially if you've been avoiding the camera, even though you know that YouTube could really transform your business.

Now, if you're new here, my name is Meredith and I'm here to help you infuse the best video marketing strategies into your business so that you can build your binge-worthy video brand. And right now we are halfway through 2025. This year is flying by, but more. Importantly, what I'm noticing and feeling and just experiencing myself is things aren't changing really quickly in the online business space, in the content creation space, in the YouTube video and video marketing space because of things like ai. and I wanna dive into some of the things that have been on my mind in some future episodes like. How do we use AI to stay authentic as video creators? As content creators? How do we compete in a space where there are people creating content with AI who might be able to do it faster and be on even more platforms than we are?

what do we do about this whole thing that some people are saying about SEO being dead? My opinion is SEO is not dead. It's just different, and I wanna dive into all of those things in future episodes. The reason why I bring it up now is because more than ever YouTube. and having a YouTube first strategy for the content you create in your business is still one of the smartest things that you can do.

It's one of the no-brainer things that you can do, and I'm talking about long form YouTube videos, just like the one that you're watching now or possibly listening to since this is also an audio podcast.

I know there are a lot of different ways to create content for your business online, but in the age of ai. Video content has never been more important because your face and your voice on camera showing up as a human, showing up in an authentic way, being imperfect. That's the way that we know that you're real.

That's the way that we will be able to tell who is real and who is not real I mean, imagine all these people building up personal brands with ai, which are not personal because they're robots. Um, you know, imagine how much more effective and important it's gonna be to connect with other humans in person.

And when you establish your. Personness your humanness through long form video on YouTube specifically, I still think more than ever before. Long form YouTube content is the no-brainer way to build your audience, to build your business so that you're around in five years or 10 years.

So your business is around, you know, on into the future for the next few decades.

and that's why I feel very strongly that the sooner you get comfortable and confident talking to a camera, the sooner that becomes normal for you, then the better off you'll be.

Because then the content you create. will feel more authentic, it'll feel more human. and I think talking to a camera and creating video content is gonna play a huge role in that humanness factor in the future.

But let's go back in time for a moment because I wanna tell you a story of a time when I completely froze at my piano recital. One thing about me you may not know is. I am a pianist. I have been a piano player since I was like five years old, and music came naturally to me as a child.

I played lots of different instruments throughout school, but piano was like my go-to thing. If there was ever a moment where there was a piano in the room and someone asked me to play something, I would sit down and play it.

Without a problem, without question, with all the confidence in the world.

my piano teacher was in her mind she was like training us to be little concerts, pianists.

So every spring we had to memorize our piano pieces so we could. Go up on stage and play them without the music at all. We had a rehearsal before our recital. We had to dress up. you were a girl, you wore a dress. Because that was the proper thing to do. You walk up on stage, you curtsy, you sit down, you start your piece.

 And we had to learn how to do that. We had to learn how to do it properly. And our piano recitals took place in this enormous, like gothic cathedral style chapel, a big stage, a concert, grand piano in the middle of the stage.

just imagine little 9-year-old Meredith walking up, curtsy, sit down. I started the piece and I got to like measure eight, and I could not think of what the next notes were. I froze.

even though I had the song memorized, I could practically play it in my sleep. Something about that moment made me stop on Measure eight, and I just could not see the rest of the notes on the page. I started again. I got to the same spot and I stopped and I was willing my brain to please just, if you could just think of the next couple of notes, if we could just get those next notes from my memory to my fingertips, to the piano keys. Then we'll be good. Like my brain can take over.

But I couldn't do it. I froze again I completely botched my main piano piece.

And for a really long time, I used to say I'm not an onstage person. But the reality is I went on to do lots of other recitals and solos and things like that throughout the years. As I have looked back on that moment where I froze when I knew. The piece. I did have it memorized. I knew what I was doing. Why did I freeze right then and there? But any other time I could play with all the confidence in the world? What I've realized is there's a difference between performing and playing. 'cause at that piano recital I was performing, I was trying to live up to these, you know, BS expectations for a 9-year-old to be a concert pianist and get everything perfect and everything right, I was being, uh, held to this high standard of perfection, at a level that I didn't wanna be at.

I just enjoyed playing the piano.

And maybe you can relate to this feeling because like every single client that I've ever had is like, I don't know, Meredith. I can open up Zoom and have this conversation with you and it feels totally natural. I can have a conversation with my colleagues on Zoom and it feels totally natural, but when I hit record knowing that this is going on YouTube, It's like my brain goes blank. I don't know what to say. I start sweating and then whatever I record comes out sounding bad and looks bad, and it just doesn't feel good.

And if it doesn't feel good, then you're not gonna keep doing it. Right? 

But talking about the things that you are an expert in talking about the topics that you want to talk about in your business, the things that you help your clients and students with in your business are things that are perfectly natural and normal for you to talk about. Why do they become terrifying?

When you hit record for YouTube? It's because your brain thinks. I have to perform. there's an expectation of perfection But there isn't.

Your audience is not expecting any level of perfection out of you. Your audience is expecting. Connection, honesty, authenticity, value in the content that you provide.

Nobody is expecting you to be an on camera performer.

so how do we trick your brain into staying in that natural state where you feel comfortable playful even, and not go into like perfection performance mode when you record your videos?

Let's talk about the. YouTube lie that's keeping you stuck because everyone tells you just start recording. Even I have said like, just start recording. You know, like you just have to rip the bandaid off. You just have to do it. But nobody really explains why it feels impossible,

and I'm not a psychologist, but I believe the reason why it feels so hard is because. You've literally never done it before. if you've never made a YouTube video before, your brain is like, oh my gosh, how do we look? How's my hair? How's my makeup? How's the lights? You know, 

what is in my background? Am I saying the right things?

I recently had a video brand Academy member who recorded her first video, and when she came to one of our meetups, she was kind of, um, you know, telling me what she recorded and what her setup was like. And she said it was really painful. And I said, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, what do you mean it was.

Painful and she said, yeah, it was like, it was painful, just like getting it done, getting myself to do it, hitting record, and like actually doing it.

And so I think it makes sense. Your brain is freaking out because your, your brain's never done this before. Your brain has only seen the, the polished, perfection, pro looking videos that you see on the internet. It's never done it itself. Your brain doesn't know that the footage that you record is gonna go into a software where you can edit out the mistakes.

So your brain's trying to make it perfect, like from the get go,

and it doesn't know how to do that. So it's freaking out the entire time.

But everybody starts there, right? Nobody, I mean, well, this day and age, there are lots of people who are probably born on camera, right? But nobody's born knowing how to talk to a camera, how to be on camera. Everybody starts with their first video. There's a, um, like a common phrase thrown around that's like, just go out and create a hundred crappy videos and nobody wants to create a hundred crappy videos.

You don't even wanna create one crappy video,

your videos might not be crappy just because you've never done it before. But what everyone does have to do is give themselves permission to be awkward. and most people quit. At the first sensation of uncomfortableness, right?

As soon as you start to feel that you're on the outer edges of your comfort zone, that's where most people stop. They quit and they say, you know what? Yeah, I didn't really, I really didn't wanna actually make YouTube videos. I only spent like the last three months SEO planning my titles and my content and my spider web strategy and figuring out thumbnails 

 you know what? I didn't actually want it. I didn't actually wanna do YouTube 

 your brain is having this fear response. Where it's trying to protect you. It's saying, this is awkward, this is uncomfortable. We should probably not be doing this because your brain doesn't want you to make a crappy video and put it on the internet for the world to see and then judge you for it.

that awkward, you know, cringey feeling isn't. Failure. it doesn't mean, oh, this is uncomfortable and awkward. I probably shouldn't be doing this. It just means that you're learning a new skill that no one taught you in school, and your brain is in panic about it because it doesn't wanna be judged by strangers.

I guess what I'm saying is awkwardness is normal, right? but why do others push through that awkwardness while others seem to stay stuck and decide to not move forward with all of the time and effort that they've already put into planning their YouTube videos?

So here's what happens when you stop trying to be perfect. Most people wait to feel confident before. They record. I think people expect that if I go through all of the actions of setting up my channel, planning my content, setting up my space to record, figuring out what I'm gonna say on camera, if I go through all of that, then there will be a moment where I feel confident enough to hit the record button 

I just don't think that's how it works. I remember doing exactly that when I started my channel. I spent like a year kind of thinking about it, imagining what, what I might want to create. And then once I finally decided on my niche, I spent three months planning my content. I set up my channel. I remember the moment where I was like, okay, I have like 12.

Titles. I have like the outlines. I know exactly what I'm gonna record. I know how to record. I know how to edit. Like I had every single puzzle piece in place and I was like, Ugh, this sinking feeling in my gut of like, oh yeah. You have to record the videos.

Meredith.

That was me. Like just touching the outer edges of my comfort zone and going like, oh my gosh. I don't know if I could do it,

but I did it awkward. I did it uncomfortable. It turned out fine. We're all here now together. It turned out wonderfully.

You know, if I had a magic wand in that moment where I realized. I was gonna have to record. I sure would have used it, but I think the real magic pill, the real magic wand, is just giving yourself permission to be a beginner, to be awkward. Confidence doesn't come before recording. Confidence comes from recording.

So what is this? Five second trick that makes anyone confident on camera. Well, you've heard me say before that all you really have to do is pretend. Pretend that you are confident on camera. I know that sounds weird, but that's literally the trick is pretend that it is normal and it will become normal for you.

and take your attention off of you in thinking, how do I look? How do I sound, how is this going to, uh, you know, come out? I'm stumbling over my words. take the attention off of you and put the attention on who you're creating your videos for. I think of this whole confidence. Creating videos, YouTube thing as a little bit of a symbiotic relationship where if you put your attention and focus on who am I making this for? Like I'm actually excited for them to get this information 

 that person's gonna be excited to receive it instead of thinking as, is this perfect? Do I sound okay? Do I look okay? 

 your audience wants to connect with you, not some perfect version, perfectly edited, highly produced version of you honestly, unless you have a background in. Filmmaking or video production or news casting, like nobody is expecting a high level of perfection out of your content.

They want you, And overthinking, over preparing is going to make you less approachable, less human, and create this like barrier of connection there. So when you focus on actually helping your audience, helping the people that you want to watch your videos, that confidence is going to become automatic.

so if you're struggling with hitting that record button, you can create this kind of confidence feedback loop for yourself. The more you record, the better it's gonna feel. The better you feel, the more confident you're gonna sound. The more confident you sound, the more audience connection.

The more connection, the more comments, the more subscribers. The more leads in your business, the more sales in your business.

But it all starts with one thing hitting record despite the awkwardness.

now you remember the piano recital story that I told you at the beginning, right? Here's what I want you. To take away from what we've covered today.

You already know how to share what you know. You do it naturally with your clients, your friends, your colleagues, every single day.

The only thing that changes on camera is the story you tell yourself about what you're doing.

So as you get ready to record your first videos, I want you to ask yourself, am I here to perform or am I just playing? Am I just communicating?

Because when you remember that, you already know what you're doing and you are just playing. You are just sharing what you love with people who want and need to hear it. Everything becomes easier.

Obviously it's not gonna happen unless you actually do it right, but feeling confident. On camera is the first step to growing your audience with YouTube. The next challenge is making videos that actually build your thriving channel and bring subscribers to your channel every single day.

So if your channel is somewhere between zero and a thousand subscribers, and you're not seeing new subscribers come into your channel every single day and new comments and new leads and new sales of your course or program. Despite your best effort to like show up consistently to upload regularly, I'd like to show you how to build a thriving YouTube channel without spending hours creating videos so that your content starts getting the attention that it deserves.

This topic is a favorite among Video Brand Academy members, so I will link to that down in the description below, and I'll see you there.