Welcome to the Muthership Creator Strategy. Ho ho ho. I brought the bells. Hopefully, I didn't scare you too much with that if you're just listening. But I am decked out in holiday attire today.

I have my sparkly green sweater on. I've got my sparkly Santa hat. I've got my bells, and I'm jingling all the way because we're in the homestretch, and I hope that you are close to done with whatever your obligations are in terms of getting ready and able to enjoy the last week or the last few days at least as as we're listening to this. So I wanna kick off by saying that I hope for those of you who have been participating in the Vlogmas holiday challenge are at least enjoying and getting some engagement. And I'm gonna say I'm not getting that much engagement on my videos, but I'm having fun with them.

So the few that I have posted have prompted the chat to be very lively with people's favorite childhood memories of their toys, people's favorite holiday desserts. I'm sharing holiday traditions, and I haven't done it every day consistently because I want my other content to be flowing out there as well with tutorials. So I didn't go quite as hard as I thought I would, but I'm giving myself space to say, okay, maybe that's not right for my page to do every single day something holiday related. And I'm letting myself I'm letting myself giving myself a pass. But I did enjoy doing it, and I've been doing it pretty consistently as much as I can fit it in.

And, I hope that you're enjoying it even if you're not getting the views that you were hoping for. I think just the idea that we're practicing, putting out different types of content that is very specifically targeted to a topic, whether it's like the holiday topic, the way that I'm the way that we laid out the holiday topics. So, hopefully, it give you a little exercise to do, and what we're planning to do in the New Year is have a more generic content challenge that will give you a lot more creativity about what the topics of your video are, but it will give you prompts to help you post every day for a thirty day challenge. If you wanna participate in that, hit reply to this for real. Like, drop a comment.

It'll be coming out in the newsletter so you'll be aware of it. Please, you know, keep your radar open because we wanna make sure that those of you who need help and wanna try and post, like, wanna kick off the new year by going hard, you're gonna have the tools to help you. But if you decide, well, I don't wanna post every day. Like, I don't wanna put that pressure on myself. You can make your challenge go, I'm gonna post four times a week, or I'm gonna post three times a week.

So you can use the challenge, and in a way it's gonna help you because you'll have seven ideas, and let's say you just need to pick four for that week, it might be easier for you to just be able to narrow down what you wanna do. So that's what we're gonna do in January, and I'm pumped for it. But what I'm gonna talk about today is I think gonna help a lot of people who struggle with being on camera. And as always, I like to get in with a unsponsored by product before I kick off the topic. And for today, I don't have it with me because guess what?

I ate it. Well, we ate it over a course of time. I received some, box a gift box called Alex Gift Baskets, and I have talked about this on an Instagram video. I haven't posted about this on a TikTok video just because I was afraid to get something started and let's say it picked up traction, and then the business was so overwhelmed that they weren't able to fulfill the orders. So I'm gonna tell you quickly for those of you who don't know about it.

My son who is autistic works at a at a business which is called Alecs Gift Baskets, and that's a l e c s. So Alec with an s, gift baskets. And they put together gift box gift boxes, they're actually not in baskets, they're in boxes, that are comprised of all different products that are helping biz that are businesses designed to get provide jobs for people with either special needs, veterans, some kind of a feel good giving back type of company. So it's not just the box itself that is put together by adults with disabilities, people with special needs. It's also everything in the box is a company supporting either special needs, veterans, people who were came out of were incarcerated and came out and wanna better their lives.

There are so many different businesses out there that are doing this, and what Alex Gift Baskets has done is brought them together in a gift box so that it's also, like, it's doubling down. And I'm gonna take it one step further. The cards, when you order, if you order a gift and then you say, what do you want your gift card to say? The cards are created by special needs students in the school where my son actually went to high school and middle school. So the cards were designed and they are also being printed by.

They're they're giving those kids in that high school jobs like job training. So it's so deep that I it was worth talking about. I just wanna explain it as much as because I know you get when you get a gift box, you would get this flyer that explains it. But I think when you first think realize, you think, oh, you have you're ordering something from a company who's supporting people with special needs, but it's so much more than that. It's going so much deeper than that because it's even comprised of the products in it that our businesses that are that are giving back.

I'm just amazed by it. And, the person who started it, the family who started it is someone that I know from my son's school. So she had reached out to me and asked me if I could help her give her some advice on social media when she first launched. This was a couple of years ago. And she was trying to build.

And then I said, I will definitely help you, and when you have the time when you get to the point where you can hire someone else aside from having your son work in the business, I would please put my son on the list. And you know what? She did. She called me back, and she said, we're looking we're ready to hire. And my son was their first employee, so I'm like, ah.

Anyway, not to get emotional because I'm keeping it I'm keeping it happy today, but yes, it is the most amazing thing, and I'm gonna link it here in the video description. I'm gonna have it in the newsletter, all the things, because I really want to support the business. And not so much for the holidays now, but for the new year. So I'm hoping that you would at least just keep taking note of it, say, oh, if I need a gift for someone, it's Valentine's Day or it's their birthday, let me tell you how these gifts have been received. Because my family, I decided to do this as family gifts to support the business, and and a couple of friends, and my the friends have been blown away.

They're like, wait, what is this? I just read it and it's so incredible. So the feedback on giving a gift like that is so much beyond the gift itself. So I'm gonna leave you with that and let's get on to the topic for today. How to be confident on camera?

And this took me a really long time to do. I was so scared to talk on TikTok. Now I was doing some speaking videos on Instagram, and I was interviewing people because that's my comfort zone. I'm interviewing so then I could point the camera at them, and I just asked the question, point the camera at them. And this really worked well for me to start to gain to gain some comfort on camera.

But then when I went to TikTok, it felt like a whole different platform, a whole different way of being judged. A lot of that was judgment. And seeing other people's clever, funny, confident, you know, insightful, educational videos, I was intimidated. And this is in 2020 when I was first on the app, so I didn't speak right away. And I was I took my time.

I made some baking videos. I did what I felt comfortable doing. I was dancing, dancing with people in New York City, really finding my legs on the app, and then someone asked me how to do something, and I said, oh, I'll make you a tutorial. And so I got my little voice out there, and when I look back at those videos, I was so timid and so trying to be nice, and I I wasn't even myself, but I mean, I was myself, but I was a timid version of myself. And now I look back at that and I laugh, but I realized I had to go through that process to get where I am now.

So if you are struggling with this, you have to go through a process, and it is an uncomfortable process. I'm gonna admit it, and I'm gonna tell you the truth. I'm not gonna lie. NGL, not gonna lie. You are gonna have to push through the discomfort of feeling weird.

Feeling weird on camera, feeling like you look stupid. I don't know where to look. Should I look at the camera? Should I look at myself? All those things are gonna be spinning around in your head, and it's so difficult to get over the hump.

Now for those of you who already are over the hump and you're making the videos, I beg you to think about, you know, how you're coming off. Are you talking like hi guys, big group thing? Are are you personal? Are you too harsh when you record? Like, really assess yourself.

Do you sound like yourself when you're recording? I because I've I've heard people on my Zoom meetings, and then I will hear their videos, and I'm like, oh, they're they're louder or they're more they're being more aggressive on their videos than they are in real life. You know, just this is the kind of thing that I watch when I see. I'm like, is the person really being themselves? And that's the first part of getting over the hurdles.

So here are some tips for how you can help yourself feel confident confident on camera. So now, first one is pretty basic. It's if you suddenly hit record and you feel like you're not yourself, you have to take your mind to a place where you are talking to a friend. And this is the biggest hurdle. If you can do it, it's like ta ta, like the the angels will sing.

Okay? I don't know. In my mind, they might. But because I look at my phone, I literally look at my phone, and I imagine, and I don't think of a person. My camera is my imaginary friend.

When I'm talking to the little sort of dot at the top of my phone, whatever it is, let's see what what actually is when I'm looking at it because I'm so used to just looking there and imagining someone. So for it's sometimes it's the numbers, you know, the numbers at the top, And and in TikTok, it might be just where the, I don't know, ad sound is or whatever. There's always something up there, and I just think of it as a little character, a little friend, A little buddy. Somebody who needs my help. Somebody who needs my advice.

Somebody who's gonna be interested in what I have to say. So you have to go I think I just said something really crucial actually. Know that you're talking to someone who actually cares about what you're gonna say. Wow. That's kind of insightful.

Because I'm always saying like talk to a friend. But why a friend? Because a friend is gonna be interested in what you have to say. And if you think you're talking to someone that you have to try and convince them of something. You might be using a different tone.

So if you are talking to someone you know is already open to receiving your thoughts, that's what you have to picture. You have to picture that person who's ready to receive your thoughts. Oh my gosh. That was kind of cool. I never even, I never really thought about it that way, and I like when I have just a sudden insight in a moment.

Because it's further than just talking to a friend, it's imagining that that person cares about what you have to say. So that's huge. Doing it consistently and daily helps you as well. Okay? So we'll get into that.

But the next thing is to release your expectations for posting. So one of the reasons everybody clams up when they're recording or they panic is because they're worried about what people are gonna think, how the video's gonna do, and am I gonna get views, and oh my gosh, this video tanked. And if you can release yourself of the expectations and just say, that was a really good video, and you like watching it yourself, and you know you did good. Or the few people that watched it, maybe you got a comment. Or you got some views, maybe a couple of likes.

Somebody paid attention to it. So if you can take away like this video has to do x many views, you will allow yourself freedom to not give a shit. I'm saying it plainly because I post my vlogs, and I'm, I don't even care. This I think this morning, I'm gonna look at and see if it even hit. I posted a vlog.

Oh, okay. Now it hit a thousand views. But when I tell you, posted I it last night. I woke up this morning. It had 700 views.

And that to a small creator is a good amount, but that to somebody with a million followers, usually my videos hit at a minimum a thousand views. That's my 200. Okay. That's my 100. When it's a thousand views, that's a low performing video.

But I am happy with that video anyway. That video is on my feed. I am proud of it. I talked about my favorite holiday cookie recipe. I actually shared footage from a video that I made when at in the pandemic in 2020 when I was baking the cookies on camera, and I like the video.

And someone might wanna make the butter cookies because I put the recipe. So I just feel like whatever. If if it's 200 people and one person, like, maybe wanted the recipe, good. That's a great thing that happened. So the expectations we set for ourselves are terrible.

And when I tell you people with one to point to like people with my level of following, I've heard them come on the apps and be like, I don't get any views anymore. You will never hear me say it. You will I don't say never to a lot of things, but you will never hear me say it. That you will never hear me say. Because if I reach a 100 people, even though I have a million followers, I'm happy.

I swear to you, I swear to you on my family, my kids, my whatever, my granddaughter. Okay? I am happy if if somebody sees it and gets something out of it. And it doesn't have to be the 1,200,000 people who chose to follow me. I'm excited that I have that many people that chose to follow me, but we know for a fact they're not seeing my videos every day.

Whatever. Sometimes people are going, oh, I haven't seen you on my feed in years. Okay. The algorithm sucks. What can I tell you?

And this is why sidetrack, but it's a good idea to make an email list because then you know at least there's a handful of people who wanna see you, who will see your content in a newsletter if you don't actually they don't actually get it in their feed, but that's like a sidetrack. We'll talk about that in the New Year. Okay. Next is baby steps. Start by putting your face on camera and lip syncing.

Oh, yes. I did the dancing, then I did some lip syncing, then I did some silly, you know, whatever videos, And I wasn't speaking, but it got me comfortable to get my face out there. And I think that's the first step for a lot of people who have been totally behind the camera, is start making yourself feel like, oh, I can put my face up there, and I can And I will speak to Mira Moon. Hi, Mira Moon. I don't know if you listen to this podcast, but you have made me so proud.

So this is somebody that's in my studio who wouldn't was always like, I'm not an on camera person. She does gaming. That's it. She's not going on camera. And because of being in the studio and gaining confidence, like this is gonna make me emotional now, but gaining confidence, seeing others grow and try, hearing me preach, like probably over and over again, about not comparing, about all these things that I say, and I probably say them too much, but eventually she clicked in and decided I'm taking a new path, she's doing something new in her life, and she's gonna start putting her face on camera.

And I can't even tell you what it does for me. So if you are listening, Queen Mira, you've really made my day, because made my day, made my week, made my year, made my given me purpose. Because I see, and if you are listening, Queen Mira, and if you are listening, Mira, you have really changed something in me, and you've given me even more purpose than I had before. Because I see you who was so adamantly not going to do it, suddenly something clicked from being around the studio, the content creators, seeing everybody make baby steps and make get traction and be excited to share, and you are, you jumped in the ring, you know? And I'm just like, oh my god, I love that so much.

I can't even explain how much, but I love that so much. Really my goal is to try not to get emotional on these podcasts, but sometimes it's tough. Because that one really got me. And it just makes me like know that I'm in my purpose right now. Okay, so baby steps.

As soon as you get comfortable lip syncing, maybe you're gonna do a little speaking video. Maybe it stays in your phone and you don't post it. Maybe for a week, you do it for yourself. For three weeks when I was blind, I recorded videos for myself, by the way, and I but I knew at that point I would eventually post them once I had my diagnosis, but that was kind of fun because I didn't have any pressure to post. Was it fun when I was blind?

I don't know. Maybe I'm lying. But what what I mean is I was still compelled to do it because I felt like I was talking about a different topic, so I wasn't confident to talk about my health issues. That was the first time I was ever doing that. So it gave me like three weeks of practice to talk about my health issues before I then went public.

So it's the same kind of thing. You can give yourself three weeks of practice of talking to the camera, seeing how you feel about it, feeling more confident every day because no one's seeing it. Getting more confident every day because no one's seeing it. That's so important. Oh my god, I'm making so many insights here.

The more you do it, then by the time you decide, you know what, someone's gonna see this one because that was freaking good. I'm putting it out there. That is that's it. Oh god. This is such a good this is such good advice.

Damn. I should have been a teacher. Okay. I am one kinda. But the next piece of advice is done is better than perfect.

And I like this piece of advice because I am always like, oh, I can do that better. Re record. Oh, I can do that better. Re record. Sometimes I re record something so many times, and then I end up putting the first one on.

And I'm like, why did I kill myself if, like, I can make it better? Because in the end, I got more fake. I got more scripted. I got more overthinking my head of like making it better. So doing the first one sometimes just freaking do it and throw it out there.

And that's usually what hits. Okay? So done is better than perfect. The first take is usually the most authentic. I find it I find it out even after five years being on this app, and I'm like, I'm gonna do it again.

I'm gonna make it better. Helen. Helen. You're not gonna make it better. You're gonna make it worse, actually.

I'm crazy. Okay. And the last thing is for me to sit here and say truthfully, I know it is easier said than done. I know I can preach and I can talk and I can suggest and all the things. But most creators, when they hit it, it's because the timing was finally right.

So you've got to kind of maybe wait for your timing, and you've got to wait for your moment. I don't mean wait. I mean do it, but expect to not have it happen right away. Expect that your moment might come in a month. It might come in three months.

It might come in six months. It took me a long time. I was on the app in April, and in May, June, July, I had a random stupid viral video dancing on the beach that had nothing to do with anything and didn't even get me any followers. But I was like, oh my god, had a viral video. How exciting, you know?

But nobody followed me from that viral video. Was me dancing on the beach and trying to get my son to dance with me. It was just like a silly viral video. There was no purpose to it. Nobody was going to follow me for that.

But then I, you know, that little bit of confidence was like, I can do it again, because it's addicting. When you have a little viral video, you're always chasing it again. And it's like, I think the good part is now I'm at a point where I don't really chase it. Like, there's that that there's a curve. You have a viral video.

Oh my god. Then, oh my god. Nobody loves me. Nobody hit nobody likes my videos. I suck.

I'm terrible. I'm terrible. Then you have one that gets a little bit of views, and you're like, oh, I'm good. I'm good. And so there's this wave that you ride, and you are constantly chasing like when's the next viral wave coming.

So now, in my content journey, it's five years in, I very rarely think about is this one gonna be viral, but I try to strategically go, well, a lot of people ask me for this tutorial, so I bet you like this one is gonna be maybe hot, so I'm gonna do this tutorial even though it's not even on my radar to do. I'm not really even interested in teaching it because it's so basic, like everybody knows how to do this. And then that will be the one that hits, like the Jonahan trend, for example. By the way, lesson learned on something that I need to share with you for those of you who are interested in building an email list. This is a complete sidetrack, and at some point I'm going to do a whole podcast episode on this.

But when I was posting the Jon Hamm tutorial, I had this idea that I had to make it easy for people to get the Jon Hamm clip, the Jon Hamm clip, without the TikTok logo on it. So I was like, I wonder if I can make a link for people to download it. So this is my process. I'm like, bing bing bing. And then it suddenly hit me.

Hang on. Because Julia and I did this before when I was teaching something on Instagram, and I said, oh, I'll I'll we can make a template, and then we could put it on my Stan store, and it says free template, and you can download it. But the thing with the Stan store is in order to download anything, you have to put in your email. So when I did that one for Instagram, a few you know, handful of people downloaded that template, and so I got a bunch of new email subscribers from it. So I clicked in because that was Julie's idea.

I I clicked in. Wait a minute. I wonder if I can post this somehow so people could download the clip, but give me their email address, and it'll get added to my email list. By the way, I'm not trying to sell anything in my email list. My you know, if you're here, you know my email list is very much trying to help every week, get trends, content ideas, and occasionally, I promote, like, here, we're having a thing in the studio.

Of course, I'm gonna use it promote my my business, but I don't that's not the lead of my email. That's just like a bonus in my email. Okay? So I did this thing. Like, I'm gonna put it.

I'm gonna figure it out. I figured out how to put it on a link to make the link downloadable, blah blah blah. It was a headache. And then I did it, and I made it live. Can I tell you how many email?

I I can't even. It's embarrassing almost. It's exciting. It's so exciting. It's embarrassing.

I've almost gotten 10,000 email subscribers from this right now. So it's crazy because every time Julie goes to import the emails, she goes, we got another 4,000. We got another 2,000. We got it's been a week, and I have 10,000 email subscribers. Like, what?

Stop the presses. And one person, only one person commented, oh, you're just fishing for emails. And I'm like, really? I have given away free. Like, I just came back at this person so hard because I was like, I am here.

Free content, free lessons, free tutorials, free email newsletter. You can get trends every week. I am doing the work, bitch. And this person had the audacity, so I wrote basically that without saying bitch on the end. I was like, I am this, this, this, this, and this.

And yes, I did the work for you, so you can give me your email to get that clip, really. And I because it's the holidays, I shouldn't have even cursed, and I'll be nice, and I'll keep it clean keep it happy. But I was like, one person, one rotten apple can spoil the whole bunch, you know, because that was a really successful tool that I learned. And now I know I can occasionally make helpful tutorial and potentially use it to gather emails. So think about how you can do that for your business.

Okay? That's my little piece of advice at the end. Everybody have a wonderful holiday season. Of course, I'm gonna have excellent holidays. If you know, you know, because my granddaughter is named Holly, and we're gonna have just a joyful time.

I am so excited to see her for her first Christmas. I don't even wanna get emotional, because I'm just happy to be here for it. Happy holidays. Enjoy every minute of it because it's done like that, and then we're gonna be into January content challenge. See you there.