Are *Perfect* Videos Hurting Your Business? | Ep. 64

Why perfect YouTube videos make you lose money. I’m breaking down the mindset traps that keep creators stuck—like people-pleasing, perfectionism, and hiding behind tech. I’ll share three big takeaways from my latest business event and how showing up authentically (even from a hotel room!) is the real secret to building a thriving video brand and business.

✨ 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

Uh, this is gonna be a little bit of a different episode actually. This can be a very different episode. If you're watching this on YouTube, you can see this is not my usual setup. I'm recording this from a hotel room in Orange County, California. I'm headed home today from a conference with my business mentor, James Wedmore. So I'm in his next level program. He does these next level events with roughly around 200 people or so. My flight is delayed, so if you see me looking at my phone for flight updates, it's 'cause of that. And I am, well, I'm procrastinating on packing up all my stuff. And I didn't have an episode planned for this week, which is not true. Actually. I had an episode planned. I actually had an episode recorded, but silly me switched to the audio settings in e camm before I hit record. And the video I recorded didn't have any sound. So here we are. We're gonna run my audio through Studio sound in D script. I think this is episode 64 of video brand infusion. I don't have any notes in front of me, so I have no idea. If you're new here, my name is Meredith, and here on this podcast I have been pretty much talking about how to infuse the best marketing video marketing strategies into your business. So that you can build your thriving audience on YouTube so that you can build your thriving video brand so that you can generate consistent revenue in your business. So I talk a lot about YouTube. I talk a lot about strategy stuff. I talk a little bit about businessy stuff. One thing I want to talk about today is, I don't even know the word for it, but it's like the mental stuff and the emotional stuff of creating videos for strangers on the internet. There's three kind of things I want to touch on that have really, I don't want to say they just occurred to me at this event, but they have sort of been leading up to some pretty big realizations for myself for the most part, if you're in Video Brand Academy or if you've worked with me before or if you've watched any of my videos, you know that I'm like 99.9%. Like, let's talk about strategy. Let's talk about your setup. Let's talk about gear and tech, and let's talk about AI. However, the reality is when I talk to my clients and students online or in person, and I hear the things you're struggling with when it comes to YouTube or video or just business in general? Almost none of it comes down to strategy and tech and setup. So I want to share three takeaways that are kind of a mix between my mindset stuff, takeaways from this event mashed up with what I see and hear from you and from my clients and students with what they're struggling with, with YouTube and video marketing and showing up online. Before I do that, let me just get a little text set up out of the way here because I just want to share with you, I'm recording in my hotel room. I did put my laptop in front of the window so I have lots of ambient daylight here. The camera on my MacBook Pro, look at it makes my skin look amazing. And my face looks thin, but I'm just using the microphone on my MacBook, so cross your fingers that it's actually working. So now that I got the tech stuff outta the way, I had to put a little bit of tech stuff in there. One of my favorite discoveries this week has been, and this isn't new to me, like I've heard this before. I've done this kind of work before, is when you show up in person or on camera everyone wants to protect themselves from whatever, from ridicule, from embarrassment. Everyone wants to be liked, everybody wants to be accepted. And we all kind of carry these masks that we wear to, that we think is gonna help ensure that we are liked and accepted. We're not gonna dive deep into where those masks come from, but it's like way in your past. So we're talking about things like people pleasing and trying to appear like we're the smartest person in the room and trying to appear like we're the coolest person in the room and we don't have any problems and like we're just like, nothing bothers us. Everything's fine. And not to say that that can't be your personality, but some people wear that character as a mask. What I realized, and the reason why I'm bringing this up, and I'm trying not to go into, like, I'm trying not to go too far down the rabbit hole here, but the reason I bring this up is we had a whole list of these masks on the board up there, and I realized that for me, when I think like, oh, I'm gonna record a video, the more time and effort that I put into planning the video, planning what I'm gonna say in the video, the more masks I'm planning for the video. I personally have tried and been working on in the last, like I would say the last two years-ish is to not rely on a script. Not, I mean, first of all, what a time saver, right? To not have to script a video, but also I've been working on just kind of trusting my brain and my mouth to figure out how to get the words out and that the right words will come out. This is coming from someone who's been on YouTube for 10 years and was very uncomfortable on camera when I first started and wanted everything to be perfect. And I didn't script everything word for word 'cause I didn't have a teleprompter to read from. But everything was very meticulously planned. And I realize now that all the planning does is plan the masks in. You figure out, well, I have to say this so that I sound smart. I have to say it like that, so that people think I'm relatable and I have to have a good hook so that people stay interested in what I have to say. And it's not that like you do have to have a good hook, but also whatever comes out of your mouth might be a good hook. You know what I mean? Like it doesn't have to be overly planned all the time. I'm saying that out loud because I'm telling that to myself. There's a list of I think like 17 different masks that people wear. One of them is perfectionism, and I think when it comes to videos and video marketing and showing up on camera, that's probably like the predominant mask that shows up for my clients and students. And people that I run into in person, when I hear, oh, I can't start my channel yet because I can't, I don't have a space to set up my YouTube goal yet. That's perfectionism. You want it to be perfect, but you want it to be perfect partially for yourself, but also because Meredith has a whole series on her channel about how to crush it on camera, and I need to set up my camera like this, and my light's like this and my microphone like this. I'm noticing now there's a paradox of wanting to have the perfect setup, wanting to crush it on camera. But also at the same time, not worrying about perfection and focusing on just showing up, just being who you are and letting the words just like come out of your brain, however they come outta your brain. There's a paradox there that I don't know how to reconcile or if it's even reconcilable. The reality is like, yeah, I think you should set up a YouTube call so that you feel confident and comfortable walking into wherever you have your camera, your lights, your stuff set up, and hitting record and recording your videos. I think you should have it set up so that you can just show up authentically. Hit record and not get in your head about the text setup every single time you know that you record a video, obviously if you're watching this video right on YouTube, I'm recording this from a hotel room on my laptop. No special gear, no extra microphone or anything, sometimes you are using, this includes me too, okay? I'm not just talking to you. Sometimes you're using the setup and the perfection of having the setup as a mask, as a barrier to why you can't do it yet. You can't do it today. I'm gonna wait till next week, next month, next year. I don't have a script in front of me, this is all just kind of coming outta my head as it comes. So you're gonna get what you get. But I think the takeaway from that is two things. One, the more you plan, the longer you plan, the more effort you put into the details of planning your videos, the more you are just planning in all of the masks, all of the protection, all of the ways that you think I have to have all of these things so that I look smart, so that I am gonna be respected so that people are gonna keep watching, people are gonna like me, people are gonna accept me, and fiddling with or worrying about your tech setup is one of those masks. It's a protection mechanism because it comes, I think, under perfectionism and when we wear all of those masks and try to make everything so perfect, like we're trying to control how other people see us and perceive us in our videos. We're blocking all of our authenticity because we're literally planning how to get rid of it. If I'm planning, well, I have to say this so that you think I'm smart or I have to say it this way so that you know that I know what I'm talking about. Then I am figuring out how to take the authenticity out of it and insert something manufactured. What harm is it? It's there to protect me, right? It makes me feel better. The problem with that is it's 2025 and one thing that AI can't do is authenticity. And I don't mean like AI can't sound like you. It can. I made a video a few months ago with a completely AI generated version of my voice to see if anyone would notice and nobody noticed. AI can sound like you, AI can look like you or anybody. It can't connect because the AI doesn't have human energy that we like use to connect with other people. And I think that energy comes through on camera, comes through more so in person, but it comes through on camera as well. And when you wear the mask and you block the authenticity, you are showing up. Like this is gonna sound really harsh, okay? But when you block your authenticity by trying to be perfect, you are showing up no better than AI. You are not any different than AI. If you're blocking that authenticity and trying to make everything so perfect, I get why we do it. I'm not saying you do. I'm saying we do it. I do it. I think authenticity and connection is the antidote to losing your job or your business to AI. But it was always the antidote, the cheat code has always been authenticity and connection. It is funny recording this. I can, like now it's like I immediately sense, like I immediately know where I am trying to edit my words to sound like I know what I'm talking about. And the reality is all of these pieces of the puzzle that have been sort of just like floating around in my brain just sort of clicked into place in a lot of ways through a lot of conversations this week around authenticity and connection and AI and perfectionism and people pleasing and my brain is like, you can't talk about this because you don't really have this figured out for yourself, Meredith. But that's just me trying to protect myself. So I'm leading by example here. Okay. I'm coming to you with a video where I don't really have all my thoughts together. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what it is that I wanna say. I'm just gonna let it roll outta my brain and edit. I'll be editing this video for sure. Now another thing that I have picked up on the more business owners that I talk to about YouTube, like people who already have a business that I talk to about YouTube, the more I see the effect of the guru ation of YouTube. What does that even mean? I just made that up. The guru ification, the guru ification of YouTube. What I mean by this is business owners know, I mean, you get to a certain point in your business where you've got a system, you've got your strategies, you know what you're doing. You're not trying to still figure things out. You get to this point where you're like, okay, I just need traffic and leads. I just need people. I just need people to download my lead magnet. I just need people to come to my webinar and YouTube is a fantastic traffic source. It is a fantastic traffic source, but YouTube is an audience builder first, like think about the platform of YouTube exists for audiences. It exists to attract and retain audiences. Again, I don't have preplanned these words other than thinking about them in my head. I think a lot of business owners who are using YouTube, and I'm talking about course creators, membership site owners, authors, speakers, coaches, even like maybe service providers who use YouTube as a traffic generator are treating YouTube like a traffic generator. I think I did an episode on this, I don't know, a few months ago. If you're treating YouTube like a traffic generator, you are missing the whole point and the whole power of YouTube, which is audience, community connection, been thinking about this for a while, but just like, just in the last couple days, I realized that the cheat code for this, the antidote for this is that you, as a business owner, I think you have to treat your YouTube content, which could be like your podcast content, if it's on YouTube, or even if it's off YouTube. Whatever your YouTube content is, treat it like show up for it in the same way, with the same energy being the same person that you are when you show up for your paid clients, students, customers, and members. This was like a huge unlock for me where I realized why am I excited to open up my laptop in my hotel room when I shouldn't be packing to record a video? Why am I excited to create a piece of content for you, for my audience on YouTube? And the reason is because I, in my mind, I don't separate my audience where I'm just trying to get traffic from my paid clients, customers, and students who are in my paid programs. I don't like, there's no separation of like, well, I'm willing to talk to you in this way and create this kind of content for you over here because you are my free audience. But over here, like, for you guys that are paying me, it's gonna be better or different or I'm gonna show up differently and what I create over here is like more important. Think about who you are when you're trying to attract an audience with free content versus who you are when you're speaking to people who are paying you. Because if you are using YouTube to generate traffic, to generate leads so that people find you for your business, just think about if you want the audience to become your paid clients, customers, and students, you probably have to give them the same level of energy and priority and service that you give to your existing paid clients and students. You know what I mean? And what I see a lot, and this just blows my mind now that I have all these pieces of the puzzle clicked into place. In my mind, what I see a lot is business owners who have all their stuff figured out for their business and then they come over to YouTube and they're like, oh, I'm doing this, I'm doing that. But it's like not really working. I'm not really getting views, I'm not really getting subscribers. I'm not really getting leads. And when we look at why their strategy's fine, their thumbnails are fine, their topics are fine, their hooks are fine. They're looking at the wrong algorithm, right? They're looking at why YouTube algorithmically is not working when they've unknowingly, unknowingly missed the fact that who they are when they hit record is like a different person than who they are when they're serving their paid clients and students and how they prioritize recording that content is different than how they prioritize the content for their paid clients and students. And this, this is the thing that like, sort of like breaks my little YouTube part a little bit as a YouTube business owner is they just want to outsource everything. I just wanna hit record and just like my team will just handle everything. They want it to be very one way, and I just, I don't think that, I don't think that's the best approach for YouTube. I'm not saying you can't outsource your editing and your publishing and all of that stuff, but there's a certain amount of insight, there's a ton of insight that you gain from seeing your YouTube comments replying to them, from looking at your analytics to seeing what are the topics like, what are the videos on my channel that are like popping? What's getting the most views, what's resonating the most, and seeing the other channels that are connected to you algorithmically. In your analytics, you can do that in your analytics. We have a whole, there's a whole step by step for this inside Video Brand Academy. Shameless plug. And when you see, oh, the people that are watching my videos are watching these people's videos, you unlock this whole world of insight that I don't think it's a good idea to outsource. I think that's insight that you, that you need to have. It's gonna help you do your job better. It's gonna help you do your business better. 'Cause you're gonna have so much more understanding and insight around the clients and students that you're serving, and so often I realize when I talk to somebody who is outsourcing all of their YouTube stuff, not only are they paying an arm and a leg, but when it's not really working. But they're still not willing to do any of the work on their own. I just, I don't know what to say to that. I think there are parts of having a successful YouTube channel that successfully drives traffic to your business and grows your audience. I think there are parts of that that are un outsourceable. If you wanna be as effective as possible, again, because how you show up on camera is going to affect who you're attracting for the people that are watching your videos, and then ultimately become your clients and customers if you outsource everything else. Except for hitting the record button, I don't know how you can authentically and connectively create a piece of content that is going to connect to your intended audience. I really feel the pain of not having a script and having all of my thoughts together, because this feels very rambly to me. I don't know if anything I've said makes sense. I have. My sense is that if there are some things that sort of resonate in certain ways. But you're still like, okay, now what do I do with this information, Meredith? And the truth is, I don't know. The truth is I'm still figuring out what to do with this information. But I have one last insightful nugget for you here that I wrote down, which is how you see YouTube creating videos for your business, growing your audience on YouTube. How you see that is how it's gonna be for you. So if you see it as being like super hard and super time-consuming, like your brain is going to figure out how to make it hard and time-consuming for you, if you see it as light and easy and fun and worth it, then your brain's gonna figure out ways to make it that for you. At dinner last night I had a conversation with Jason Brown from the Brown Report YouTube channel. If you're into stock stuff, you can check him out. One of the things he said, and I wrote this down because it was so good, he said, if you do what most people won't do, you'll have what most people won't have. Which I think means in, you know, with regard to business, especially with regard to business, when most people are like, well, I don't really wanna create long-form YouTube videos. I don't have time for that. I'm afraid to talk to the camera. I'm afraid to make an unscripted video in my hotel room with no special gear. When you hear other people say those things, especially in your niche, that should be your sign, your signal, that you should be doing those things. I've always said this about YouTube. If you are the only one in your niche that has the guts to show up or that rearranges your schedule enough to make time to make a video, if you are the only one that shows up, you are not in competition with anybody. So as I'm recording this on Saturday morning at 9:12 AM Pacific Time, the version of me this past Monday that recorded an episode without the right audio and said, well, we're skipping a week on the podcast. That version of me is stuck back in Monday, right? Most people wouldn't be willing to go, you know what? I've got time. I've got bags to pack that I can procrastinate on. I can record a video in my hotel room, right? I've got light, I've got a laptop. We could do this. This is me doing something that most people wouldn't be willing to do. Even myself five days ago was like, mm, no, that's not, it's just not happening. It's just not gonna happen this week. Right? But here I am doing it. And now I have something to edit while I'm at the airport or on the plane. Thank you, Delta for the wifi. Hopefully cross your fingers. Let me know which part of this video perhaps resonated with you the most, or maybe like gave you something to think about. At least gave you something to think about. 'Cause even I, after recording this, feel like I have a lot more to think about as well.