Note: This transcript was auto generated then some poor soul sat and listened to it, and followed through correcting any mistakes they spotted. Please however expect human error and shout if you spot an issue. Email: lee [fancy curly symbol] trailblazer.fm.
Verbatim text
Lee:
Welcome to the WP Innovator Podcast, the podcast for web designers and design agencies, exploring the world of WordPress and online business. And now your host, Lee Jackson.
Lee:
Hi, and welcome to episode number 87 of the WP Innovator Podcast. This is your host, Lee. And on today’s show, we will be talking to Amy Schmittauer, the author of Vlog Like a Boss, where we’re going to be talking about video and about public speaking and also a whole lot more. So stay tuned. Now, you may remember we were going to be talking to the guys from Book Like a Boss. We’ve moved that on to next week because I am currently doing the vlog every day in August. And this episode seems super appropriate to put out now because if you are thinking of getting into vlogging in any capacity, then I highly recommend you check out Amy’s work, you check out Amy’s book, and also check out the videos that I’m doing as part of VEDA, which again is a vlog every day in August. So if you want to go and see what I’m up to, head on over to WP Innovator dot com forward slash YouTube and you will be redirected to what I’m getting up to as well.
Lee:
All right. This is a brilliant show. Remember, if you enjoy this show, head on over to iTunes or Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts. And please do leave us a review because it does help us so much to build up momentum and get the word out there.
Lee:
If you’re not part of the Facebook group, head on over to WP Innovator dot com forward slash group. And guys, join us over there because we are always having great conversations and it’s a good laugh and people are not mean to each other. It’s just a really good safe space to be. Feels rare, to be honest, to be in a Facebook group where people are generally nice to each other and have a good time.
Lee:
So head on over. You can talk about WordPress. You can talk about design. You can talk about video. You can even talk cat pictures because it’s a great place to be. All right. Sit back, relax, enjoy the ride. And please keep your arms and legs in the vehicle at all times. Enjoy.
Lee:
Good morning, good evening and good night. And I really should stop saying that because I’m pretty sure The Truman Show will sue me one day. This is Lee and today’s guest.
Amy: Is Amy Schmittauer. How are you, Amy?
Amy:
I’m greatly. Thanks for having me.
Lee:
Well, thanks. Thanks for coming on board. Guys, you’re joining a conversation today with me and my real good buddy, Amy. She’s a legend from YouTube fame. And she’s also an author as well, which is pretty darn cool. And a public speaker and owns an agency. Is there anything kind of you don’t do? I presume you’ve been to the moon or anything recently.
Amy:
I don’t dance.
Lee:
Oh, OK.
Amy:
I don’t smoke cigarettes.
Lee:
Oh, that’s good. Good move. Or really anything. I’ve never smoked anything before. I don’t know why I got really specific there. It was just the first thing I thought of.
Lee:
Reminds me. I smoked for like two or three years because I thought it was cool as a teenager.
Amy:
There you go.
Lee:
And then when I first started dating my wife as well, she said it was really cool. So I kept doing it because I thought, oh, yeah, I’ve got this girlfriend because I smoke.
Amy:
It’s so funny because, like, I don’t know how I did not end up getting peer pressured into doing that. I just, but I didn’t. I just like avoided it somehow. I just I think I just lied to everybody and said, oh, yeah, I’ve tried it before. It’s great.
Amy:
I’m good right now, though. Thanks. And somehow that worked for like my whole, you know, adulthood.
Lee:
I really wish I thought like that because I hated it and had asthma. So it didn’t really work.
Lee:
Guys, you’ve probably heard me mention a few times now, Vader, as well as Vlog Like a Boss. So just to kind of connect the dots, if you weren’t 100 percent sure who Amy was, she is the Vlog Like a Boss author and the you are the star of your own channel as well.
Lee:
Wasn’t it called something else? I feel like you renamed the channel recently.
Amy:
No, it’s always been Savvy Sexy Social. It’s sort of like I don’t, I feel like it’s my personal channels. It’s like the Amy Schmittauer channel, but the show that happens on it is Savvy Sexy Social. So and that’s also the name of the blog. It’s all very complicated.
Amy:
But somehow some way people love it and they keep coming back.
Lee:
And it’s actually kind of one of my first questions, because like you, I’ve got a few different businesses and I’ve got a YouTube channel now that has just launched based on your book. Thank you.
Amy:
Yeah, brilliant. Guys, there is a link in the show notes. You’ve got to go buy it. Just telling you. But, you know, I also have this podcast. I’m also launching another podcast, etc. I’ve got irons in all sorts of different fires. And I’m finding it a bit confusing myself on how to kind of create some sort of consistent brand or some consistent image. Do you have any pointers in that? Because yourself, you’ve got Aftermark as well as the other things that you’re up to.
Amy:
Yeah, you know, I think this is a struggle for a lot of people. And I definitely find that I have a lot of things going on and it’s not always very clear to everybody. I think that has to do with some good stuff and some bad stuff. I don’t think you should be afraid to have a lot of irons in the fire because I think you have to diversify everything you’re doing so that in case something, let’s say something were to go terribly wrong. Something that could go terribly wrong for me is that my YouTube channel were to shut down if YouTube took it away or YouTube went away or any of those things. I can’t control that. And so I think it’s always good to have lots of different things going on.
Amy:
That’s a very micro example. I also have multiple businesses, multiple revenue streams for that matter. I have a podcast in addition to the YouTube channel. So diversifying is very good.
Amy:
It comes down to marketing it well, but you’re only going to be able to do that, in my opinion, you’re only going to be able to do that if you can sort of deduce that all of these things have their own purpose and they work back toward the same cause. Otherwise, you know, you really do have a branding crisis and maybe something does or doesn’t necessarily have to do heavily with the personal brand or the bigger brand that you’re presenting.
Amy:
I do so many things. It’s more like there are levels to me. It’s sort of like Shrek. They talk about like the layers of the onion or whatever. I feel like I have a lot of that going on.
Amy:
It’s funny that I just came up with that example with you on the phone, but that’s how I feel like it.
Amy:
One of the things I think I do that’s not necessarily very easy to explain, I have a vast online audience all over the world, but I also do volunteer work locally. I’m on boards. I advocate for my neighborhood. And so that’s not necessarily something that goes into my brand as a business, but it is a really great reason to like me as a person, which I think contributes to the greater cause.
Amy:
So I’ll talk about it here and there, but not to the extent that it’s going to be confusing because, quite frankly, there’s not necessarily something that my audience would be able to get activated on specifically in those areas as much as it would be to subscribe to a YouTube channel and tune in and let me know their feedback and things like that.
Amy:
So that’s a very long answer in terms of be okay with the fact that you have lots of layers, but always remember to sort of draw the umbrella for yourself and say, where do all these things lay out and what is their purpose and why is it a part of the brand? Because if there’s something here that shouldn’t be, that’s going to quickly point out which one it is and then it needs to exit stage left.
Lee:
That’s a great point. I mean, one of my brands really is not essential to anyone who listens to this podcast, etc. And I keep worrying, should I be mentioning it? Should I be including it everywhere? And I don’t even need to because it’s its own entity in its own right. It’s got its own audience. So I don’t necessarily need to use that because like you said, with the volunteering, it’s something else you do, but it’s not necessarily essential to invoke any engagement or any connection with people necessarily.
Amy:
Oh, that’s a freaking brilliant answer.
Lee:
I mean, we could literally add the podcast just there because I’ve already learned something, but I’d appreciate you hanging on just…
Amy:
Well, that’s great. Thank you so much for having me.
Lee:
That’ll be the shortest episode ever.
Lee:
But what I would love to do is kind of now talk about video and YouTube.
Lee:
And I’m interested to know your journey. Could you unpack your journey? You’ve got Aftermark, your agency. Did that start before YouTube or did YouTube start before? Can you kind of give us kind of rewind to the beginning of you getting into business and how YouTube happened?
Amy:
Sure. I think, yeah, Aftermark is actually the most brand spanking new sort of entity that I have in my umbrella. Aftermark actually started last year.
Amy:
I founded a company, co-founded a company with my partner and fiance, Vincenzo Landino, because we found that there is a need for video blogging expertise for medium to large-sized businesses. The ones who want to do something are very much strapped by some red tape and logistics, but want to be a little bit scrappy like a smaller business. So Aftermark is brand new.
Amy:
I actually started on YouTube. I mean, really entered the platform in 2007. Really started as a creator a couple of years later, but it was definitely a… I found video. This is a creative outlet path that showed up first in my life. I was working in a different field.
Amy:
It was a completely unplanned sort of decision to make is that video was fun for me and I wanted to make that. So YouTube was discovered simply as a platform to help me share those videos that I wanted to make. I was like, there’s got to be an easier way to do this than burning it on a DVD. And there was, so I could actually share my work with friends and whoever wanted to watch it.
Amy:
I didn’t decide until later, 2009, 2010, to start a side hustle business because I started to find my calling with social media marketing because I learned about creating content on YouTube and what it took to market that to an online audience.
Amy:
And realized, oh, businesses are needing this and this is actually an upcoming trend, which is when Vlog Boss Studios, my first business, was started. So that’s really how I got my start.
Amy:
But that was all social media marketing expertise related. When I started the business, video was simply helping me deliver the message on behalf of myself, the company that I knew how to do what I was doing and that businesses should consider working with me if they needed that expertise brought into their marketing department.
Amy:
So it’s funny because video didn’t start playing a role in the actual scope of work until much later because it’s been very difficult to get businesses to get on board with video. It’s a little bit expensive. It’s a lot of time. And luckily, I was using the medium to market myself. And therefore, I was a natural fit to kind of change gears with a social media marketing company and make it more along the lines of social content marketing and things of that nature.
Lee:
I like the fact you launched the YouTube channel. I mean, I’ve gone back because the book said to go back and check out your very early videos. And they were weird and squished, but the content was great. But the one thing I liked about the content that you consistently put out there is that it’s useful information for other people. You’re not kind of just advertising yourself and, hey, I do social media marketing. You’ve actually created a channel of free, valuable content.
Lee:
Did you ever hit kind of in the early stages? Did you just feel like you were giving, giving, giving? Was there a point where you felt like, why am I even doing this? Or was there a kind of an aha moment when you realized, actually, this is really helping empower my business or empower where I want to go?
Amy:
I never actually, I know this is going to sound weird, but I never had a moment where I was like, why am I doing this? Why would I share this information with people? It never occurred to me because I don’t know if it’s just in my bones or I’ve grown up with a computer and was blogging on Yahoo GeoCities before anybody was really thinking about blogging at all.
Amy:
I don’t ever look at content as a waste of time. I just don’t. I know that there’s going to be someone that sees something and learns something from it. And if I can be the one that told them, that makes me a connector in their life. And that’s always good. It is always good to be the connector whenever you become the center of a couple of people and they go, wow, I know that person too. That’s always a good thing for brand uplifting.
Amy:
So it never really occurred to me because I knew that if I was going to market myself at all and not have to pick up the phone and cold call companies, it was going to be to make something useful and get it online and hope that people see it and make it specific to a type of business or audience that I needed to see it so that I knew that they would be a good fit to potentially work with me.
Amy:
Creating the content, in my opinion, is never a waste of time. It’s just about classifying it and qualifying it to be for the right person that is eventually going to move the needle for you. And quite frankly, it’s not going to be tomorrow a lot of the time. So that’s why it was really hard to just count episodes and say, oh, God, there’s so much work. I’ve spent all this time on this and I’ve seen no return on it because I knew that what I was doing was building real relationships. And that takes time, especially in real life, but definitely online.
Lee:
You mentioned with regards to specific people and it’s something we talk about a lot. It’s like creating an avatar or having a niche. Can you just describe to us your avatar?
Amy:
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Charlotte is somebody that I know very, very well. She’s who I look at every single time I look at the lens of a camera. I see her. I see her struggles. I know what she does. I know what she wants to do. And I know what she’s struggling with. And she’s a very proactive person who wants better for herself. She’s never satisfied with the status quo. She’s always working on improving herself.
Amy:
It could mean that she’s going to start her own business. But most importantly, it’s going to be that she’s in the driver’s seat for her life and she’s going to put herself in the best case scenario. She’s not going to assume that she’s comfortable there at any given time. And she’s going to keep working hard to earning every moment of her life so that she can have those rewarding times of her life as well, which include family time and just being able to achieve those career milestones and sit in that satisfaction.
Amy:
But she knows that if her message is going to get out there, she has to know who she’s talking to and she has to talk to them on a consistent basis and with video because video is the way of content. These days written word is by no means going anywhere. And she understands that as well and factors that in. But video is where people are standing out because still today in 2017, as narcissistic as everybody would like to classify the world, we are not as active on video in a proactive and positive way for brand development and advancing our lives.
Lee:
Amen. And the reason why I asked was I just want to encourage people who do not yet have an avatar from that fear of creating such a specific avatar that you’re going to miss out on a whole range of people.
Lee:
Because you’ve described Charlotte in great detail. You do it in the book as well. However, even though you’re focusing on her, you’re still appealing to a much wider net of people because I am a 35 year old male with no hair. And yet the content that you produce in your book, etc. still hits many points that I need to progress in my life, etc.
Lee:
So just kind of want to encourage people you cover that in your book as well. And again, let’s just do a little plug because you’ve been kind enough to come on here. Guys, just head on over to vloglikeaboss.com. I really recommend this book, especially, you know, if you are looking at a way of just showing up in business and getting on video, then it’s such a great book just to get you started. And to just give you that little nudge, because I got to confess, I’ve got really comfortable with being on a podcast.
Lee:
There’s no video right now. I’m hiding in the guest bedroom. No one can see me. I can edit this out later on and all that jazz to make me sound great. But on video, you’re very vulnerable and it’s scary. And Vlog Like a Boss is definitely one of those books that’s helped push me over the edge.
Lee:
Now, over the edge. That sounds wrong, doesn’t it? Push me into vlogging. Now, you’re doing VEDA. You’ve launched SSS VEDA, which is the hashtag to encourage other people. Can you just tell people a little bit about that? Because, you know, I’m going to push this out in a couple of weeks’ time. There will still be some time for people to get involved. Just tell us a bit about that and why.
Amy:
Yeah, absolutely. So VEDA is actually a really old tradition on YouTube. And I had always tried to take part in it just personally because what it is is vlog every day in August or it could be April. Those are the two months of the year that we do this. And the point is obviously to challenge yourself to push out a video every single day. And that level of consistency and keeping up with a schedule is extremely important for your long game for video.
Amy:
But more importantly, if you can come up with something to talk about every day for a month, you really can’t make the excuse that you can’t come up with a solid editorial calendar. So I realized five years ago that this was not only a useful challenge for me, but I should actually be challenging my community who was just starting to get a feel for the fact that video was a big, big piece of social content and getting more organic reach on the feed as we started to see the ability to upload on Facebook. And, you know, live streaming wasn’t quite at its moment yet, but it was still in existence.
Amy:
So with all of that, I just decided to challenge my audience one August and a bunch of people signed up and it was really fun. And it was cool because there’s something about these online challenges where when somebody says we’re going to hold you accountable because you said you were going to do it just even if you just said it to yourself. But in my case, I actually have a Google form. People enter their name and their channel or wherever they’re going to upload and they put it out there in the public. It’s not for them to get on my email list. They’re literally just displayed and everybody can see who’s participating and we support each other. And that’s just a big thing for people to do.
Amy:
And it’s funny. I thought we were going to do it the one time. But sure enough, by next April, in March, I was getting texts. I was getting tweets. I was getting emails. People were asking, when is the beta sign up going to be available again? And so this is, I think, the ninth one, you know, over the last like five years. And it’s just so cool that we have over 500 people that entered their name on this Google form because they really want to challenge themselves to create a video.
Amy:
And the reason why it’s so vitally important is not it’s not about just getting the video out every day. That’s obviously the tactical thing that’s going to give you some practicality in this whole adventure. But it’s really just can you show up when you say you’re going to. And after 30 videos, you are astronomically better on camera than you were to start because you have to talk. You have to edit. You have to upload. You have to watch it back. And you have to go, oh, my God, I’m putting this in the public eye. I cannot believe this. You force yourself to get better.
Amy:
You don’t force yourself to get better if you don’t publish the video. If you delete that thing and no one ever saw it, you can’t learn from your mistakes. You can’t learn for the next one. So because of that, getting, you know, even if you suck at beta and you show up with 10 videos, 10 is a lot. You’re 10 videos better than you were to start.
Amy:
And so the community effort around that has been absolutely incredible. And I was even thinking we add a third one for the year. I haven’t quite decided if that’s a real thing yet because there’s another vlog every day challenge called Vlogmas. And so you can it’s like it’s like a 25 day challenge from December 1st to December 25th. And I thought maybe we could throw that one in this year. But at the very minimum, it will be doing it every April and August because it’s a great way to get ahead. But I challenge you not to wait for that.
Amy:
I think you should give yourself a schedule. But do it in a way that that first video isn’t the most vitally important video that you’re going to make. Like the one that goes on your about page of your website or your channel trailer or whatever. Because if your first video is going to suck and it will and the first few are going to suck and you need to get better, then the first ones should be warm ups.
Amy:
They should be practice. Maybe they just go on Twitter or on your Facebook or you practice live streaming. They should be warm ups to you hitting the ground running on content that’s actually going to promote your business.
Lee:
One of the things I remember that stood out in the book is when you said practice is not doing it over and over and over again. Practice is putting it out there. And that’s one thing that I didn’t realize I was doing with the podcasts. And I believe if people listen back to episode 000 of the podcast, I’m so boring and formal and things have changed so much over the years, etc. So I’m glad I kept putting those out.
Lee:
But with the videos, I have to keep telling myself it’s not perfect. I’m not happy with this, but I am going to put it out. For example, the one I just recorded before today, which is going to go out tomorrow. I think I look like a floating head because I got the lighting wrong. But hey, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to put it out. The content is still great. And I’m learning over the next… I’ve still got 21 days to go, so video 10 goes out tomorrow, floating head. But I will improve and keep doing that totally.
Lee:
Now, everyone has a book in them. I totally believe that. And you are already the self-proclaimed busiest person in the world. Actually, I would proclaim this that you are the busiest person I know in the world. Anyway, how the hell did you fit in writing a book? And what was the drive to write this book?
Amy:
Well, that’s a couple of really good questions, because I was really dragging my feet for a long time about writing a book. The biggest thing that made me want to write it is that I am a professional speaker. And so I hated that I could not complete my job as a speaker. And what I mean by that is after I’d get off stage, people would say, where’s your book? I want to buy your book.
Amy:
This was so motivating. I’m ready to get started. Let’s do this thing. And then they’d be like, where’s your book? I want a signed copy of your book so I can go hit the ground running. And I didn’t have one because I was like, look, I’m not asking you to buy anything. Go watch my free videos on YouTube. You’ll figure it all out. And that was me not coming to terms with who am I to decide the medium? There are lots of people that want to learn through reading. And certainly people that have barely experienced video, much less created it.
Amy:
So that was part of it is I wanted to really bring my presentation full circle for people. The other thing is that my audience asked me for a book. They said it over and over again. And I was like, you guys, I make videos for free. Why do you need something to buy? You know, just do the things I’m teaching you on a very regular basis. But there’s just something so credible about a book. Even in 2017, it’s like you can finish this really big project, much to your point about scheduling. And there’s something so fascinating about why people need it.
Amy:
But once I’d finally written it and the process for that looked like this. At first, I thought I was going to write every single morning and get it done and whenever I got it done. But because I proceeded with the rest of my schedule every day and I had travel, I really got distracted. And it felt like a very broken book to me. So I eventually had to start over.
Amy:
And I took three weeks off of work. Well, not off of work, like moved my schedule so that I could really focus on just writing. And I got it done. And once I finished it, I just saw what I’d been missing. It was just incredible to see the fact that you put in so much time and so much expertise and so much research and getting to know people and getting better every day when you’re passionate about something. That all those years and time and energy can really be compiled into an overall message and takeaway.
Amy:
And if you know my videos well, you know that I don’t let you walk away without some piece of practical advice that you can do immediately. Otherwise, I feel like I didn’t show up for you. It doesn’t matter what I did today or what I wore or where I went. If you can’t learn something from the experience that I had, it’s personally to me not worth the upload.
Amy:
So that’s why I thought this is going to be great because if I can take that same mentality and put it in a book, this is going to be the best manual for vlogging of all time. And according to me, it is.
Lee:
You should put that on the cover, shouldn’t you? Quote, the best vlogging manual of all time. Amy Schmittauer, 2017.
Amy:
I’m going to have to get somebody to write that as a review on Amazon. I just came up with that. I was just talking and it came out. I’m sorry.
Lee:
I think it’s the only book that I’m aware of. There are probably others. But I mean, I’ve got this, I’ve got so much knowledge in my brain that I want to tell people. And I find it hard to actually, I feel like it would almost be restrictive. Did you find that it hard not to write too much, but to try and break it down into something that was easily consumable? Or did it just flow naturally for you?
Amy:
I definitely had a hard time with that. And I really appreciate, I worked with a collaborative publisher. It’s still technically writing that I own 100% of. But my publisher really helped me map out sort of the path of what this book needed to be. Because that was the other thing that I really struggled with when I first started writing. I was writing about my old job and people that inspired me and what I’ve taken from that position that really benefited me in this case. And realized, you know, that belongs in a memoir or something.
Amy:
Like that’s going to be useful once it’s in the context of the right message. As it pertains to vlogging and the types of people who will pick up this book who don’t know who I am, this is not relevant at this time. So I definitely struggled with that.
Amy:
I also struggle with that as a speaker. I’ve gotten a lot better over the years, at least according to event organizers, which is definitely the audience you want to ask in this case. I will get on stage and kind of be more professor at a college than I am a professional speaker because I want you to have so much information. I want to tell you everything. But it’s not benefiting anybody if you do that. Because if you give people too much, they won’t do anything. And so that’s really where I realized I was headed in a bad direction by doing that, that I would penalize myself by not staying focused.
Amy:
You can be generous but focused. And that was the big thing. So the outline for your book is a critical one. It’s a critical one. And so, yes, I like that you asked that question because I struggle with that. And it only has to do with the fact that I don’t want to keep any secrets. I want to say everything. And you can’t say everything because then you’ll stop people from even getting started because they have too much.
Lee:
So I wasn’t even aware that you could do this sort of collaborative publication.
Amy:
Yeah. Yeah. I’m really fortunate that I even found somebody that does that. Author Academy Elite is the company and they’re based here in Columbus as well, which is really cool. But they want you to be able to own your own work but help you kind of go through the steps of publishing without tearing your hair out.
Lee:
I would really love an introduction. I mean, I’ve actually got like the first, say, three or four chapters written already of the book.
Amy:
Yeah.
Lee:
And I’ve got a kind of a rough outline. But, you know, there’s part of me that’s feeling like I’m just going into too much detail. And there’s another part of me that feels like I’m also missing something, like some valuable information that I’m not giving. So I would love an introduction.
Amy:
Absolutely. That’s no problem at all. Happy to introduce anybody. But don’t be, you know, if I get there, don’t be annoyed that the book may be a similar color to yours. Because if you look at my brand, it’s pink, but also I love the teal. I’m absolutely obsessed with pink and teal, my two favorite colors.
Lee:
I am obsessing over that teal. It’s so funny. We can nerd out about colors if you want. But like I really loved my first color for Savvy Sexy Social. It was like a dark purple. But what I realized over time is that it was really hard to work with in terms of setting the tone for the actual content. I kind of just defaulted to it. So I switched to the teal. The pink, though, on the book, the teal and the pink just ended up working out that way. Pink is actually pretty new for me. And from a design perspective, it really started with the book. It’s okay if we have common colors. I’m not. If you look at my site, it’s completely, I’m absolutely obsessed with pink. Love the pink. And I always think that teal really complements it really well. So you’ll see like snuck in teal all over the place. So absolutely. Yeah. No, I’d appreciate that connection, though.
Lee:
So you’ve done the book now, which is awesome. You’ve got the YouTube channel. What’s been the result of the book? You’ve done the book. What’s been the feedback from people? What’s been the shift? Or has there been any shift in your life? Or is it just that that’s done now and you’re on to something else? I guess I’m trying to get to is has doing a book changed anything for you?
Amy:
I changed as a is maybe not the way I would put it so much as I would say accelerated. I did not anticipate and I kind of alluded to this, how absolutely big a book is. People just think so highly of someone that’s been able to take the time and energy and resources and money and putting their ideas down on paper and and putting out a full thought. It’s almost like getting a college degree. It’s like you spent the time and you got that thing.
Amy:
And so congratulations, you can finish a project. And so there’s just something so commendable about that. I cannot believe how much it accelerates how much people want you to talk about yourself. Tell us about what you do and how you did this. And suddenly the audiences you maybe would have been wanting their call years ago if they would have called and you’re just like, oh, my gosh, this is incredible that they want to talk to me.
Amy:
It’s like a no brainer for them. Once you have a book, it’s like a box that they have to check first before they can do this. And that was also part of the speaking thing. It’s like if an administrator, an administrative assistant is vetting you for a speaking opportunity before they take it to the next round of people that have to vet you and they can’t check the box about you having a book. That’s just an unnecessary demerit.
Amy:
And because just because speakers are very good at getting their books done, I guess. I don’t know. But that was part of it. Just the insane amount of promotion. If you do your job and actually market the fact that the book exists, that people want to talk to you if you wrote a book and they want to hear about the principles, especially if it’s a relevant topic. And I’ve written a book about a very relevant topic at this time in digital marketing. So that’s definitely a big thing too.
Amy:
But everything seems to just be picking up because that relevancy and the fact that there’s something that people can put their hands on and hold. And today in content marketing, where it’s so easy to create your idea and put it out there, there’s something about it being in that paper form that people can hold and they can say, this is a credible source I need to talk to. So as a brand upliftment, you know, that’s a big deal. And as a speaker, it’s a big deal. Your prices go up because you have a book because you’re just you got your stuff together.
Amy:
It’s really fascinating. I thought I had my stuff together before. Don’t tell anyone. It’s all the same stuff that’s together. There’s just a book included now. And so it’s like really exciting that that is more valued.
Amy:
So I would absolutely recommend everyone write a book. You just need to know what it, you know, truly the focus, the thing that we talked about earlier and exactly what you wanted to do for you, because if you’re in it for book sales, then you better have a plan to get those book sales. But if you’re in it for other reasons, then really make sure you leverage the time and energy and money and resources that you put into it so you can make those other things happen, such as more clients, more speaking engagements, more credibility, more press opportunities. There’s just anything you can think of. It’s just a matter of the focus of what that thing is supposed to do.
Amy:
The money I made on the book was major icing on the cake. I mean, I’m still, you know, mind blown every time I get a deposit from Amazon for how many books have been sold because there people are actually buying it, which is so crazy to me that people still buy books these days because still you could even say people don’t buy books, but it’s a credible thing. We know it exists good enough for me. People are buying the book in a day and age when video is the predominant way of information. And that’s really just fascinating to me. But anyway, I went on forever because there’s a lot of reasons why this pays off.
Lee:
I appreciate it because I mean, the answer, I kind of murdered the question. I find it really hard sometimes to ask questions. I just waffle, but then finally get to the question.
Lee:
Outward processor. And that’s what I’m trying not to do on video is outward process too much because I can’t think things through in my head very well.
Lee:
OK. People know that I do this podcast because obviously it’s, it helps boost my credibility. It helps build up an audience, but also selfishly, I kind of ask a lot of questions because I actually want to learn or because I’m going through that particular journey. And I just want to digress ever so slightly. You’ve mentioned speaking. I really want to get into speaking because I feel like I’ve got a really valuable message for designers and design agencies and digital marketers, but I’ve absolutely no idea really how to get started in speaking engagements. And it’s actually been something that’s been talked about in the WP Innovator group as well by a few other people that would love to kind of dip their toe in kind of that arena. Have you any tips for people like me that would like to start in that direction other than obviously write a book?
Amy:
No, absolutely. And writing a book isn’t going to get you a speaking engagement either. I mean, like it’s certainly going to make you a little bit more appealing, but if you have no speaking experience, that’s a completely, that’s a completely different box that you haven’t checked yet. Right?
Lee:
So for me, I’ve got speaking experience, but not in kind of a traditional kind of business sense. It’s always been through places like church. And so I’m used to standing in front of hundreds of people and speaking, but never really kind of taken that skill into business. Right?
Amy:
You’re not necessarily taking those moments and recording them and putting them in your speaking trailer. Am I right? That’s what I mean by speaking experience. It’s really, really good if you don’t have to internally fight yourself to speak in front of an audience. If that’s something you’ve already combat, that’s fantastic. That’s a lot of things. That’s a big thing that people have not even dealt with yet. So that’s one thing to consider.
Amy:
The other thing is if you want to start doing something, you have to start doing it and no one’s just going to hand you that opportunity. You have to find it yourself. In the case of speaking, there are so many ways to start speaking. It’s just the hard road that people don’t necessarily want to do. They want the glorious, exciting speaking jobs when they first get started. And it’s just not going to happen that way. And just like you’re not going to get 100,000 YouTube subscribers on your first video upload. It’s just not going to happen that way.
Amy:
When I first started speaking, I was fortunate in the fact that I was talking about something relevant. I was making video about it. Video is a fantastic way to prove you can communicate from your mouth, like, period. It’s incredible how many speaking opportunities that I received because I made videos in an extra bedroom of my house. I thought that was weird. But I did. But that didn’t mean I didn’t have any experience at all.
Amy:
I was going to local marketing association chapters and presenting on a topic because they needed content. I have presented to local universities because college professors like to have people come in all the time and do their job. There’s always something to do. Go to a rotary group. Go to all of these different things where they rely on somebody to present information that is going to enlighten or motivate or inform and do that job.
Amy:
And get proof that you did that job. Whether it’s an event page on your website, photos, definitely video. Get an entire keynote or presentation filmed. Not just a trailer. The trailers are great and everything. But if you don’t have from the first moment you walk on stage to the moment you are taking a bow and exiting, if you don’t have a full version, you’re not going to get anywhere these days because it’s too easy to fake being a good speaker with a bunch of like B-roll and music and a voiceover. So trailers aren’t going to do it for you as much as a full version will when it comes to the picking stage. The trailer is great for like pre-marketing.
Amy:
But that’s the biggest thing. If you want to start, you have to go seek it out. And when you do, who knows who’s in the audience? They might need a speaker next. I mean, it’s really funny how quickly this can pick up. If you’re good at what you do, you go seek out the opportunity and then the people in the audience are like, you know, I know someone. And have that be your call to action. If you’re speaking to get more gigs, don’t tell anybody to do anything except if you’re interested in referring me to speak to your organization or yada, yada, yada, other organization that you know, please come up and talk to me afterward and I’ll give you my card or I’ll give you a free copy of my book and we can discuss it going forward. Do something like that because then you’re really showing that you’re trying to advance this cause.
Amy:
One specific example is when I started to really pick up and speaking, I’ve been speaking since maybe 2012. It was about a year in from starting my business full time. I started going around to these agencies because I realized the content was desired and I didn’t know I wanted to be a speaker. I just knew I wanted more people to follow me and send me business. So I started speaking because of that, but it wasn’t until 2015 that my speaking career was really picking up in terms of inquiries, not paid gigs, but I was getting a lot of people who wanted me there.
Amy:
So I decided that 2015 was going to be that year of yes for speaking. And I said, I’m going to walk on any stage where I am asked to speak in 2015, any stage. And I went everywhere from down the street from my house in Columbus, Ohio to Cebu in the Philippines to Manchester, England, et cetera, et cetera. I spent a lot of money. I spent a lot of budget on speaking travel. Don’t get me wrong. This was expensive.
Amy:
But because I had, and not to mention, I created my own gigs in 2015. I did a workshop tour called Savvy Sexy Social Live. I gave myself speaking engagements by telling my community to come to a mastermind event all day long. They paid a couple bucks to be there. I financed it and I gave myself speaking gigs. In all, I had less than 20, but a lot, close to 20 speaking engagements that year. And if you count that in hours, that’s a lot of speaking experience and you get photos and you get video.
Amy:
And then by 2016, you’re, you know, I was a lot more particular and specific about the engagements that I wanted to take. And it started to mean that there were only going to be so many free gigs because I didn’t really have the budget anymore. I spent it all in 2015 and then some. And so that’s, that was a really big deal. But at least I did that from a marketing standpoint. If nothing else happened from this, a lot more people knew who I was and started talking about me.
Amy:
And I would say, if you enjoyed this and you would like to see me speak at your organization, if you’d like to bring me in, which obviously if we’re talking about a for-profit company, I’m going to charge you for, if we’re standing on stage at a marketing event, perfect place to ask for that. Then now we’re talking. Now we’re moving that. But just like video, if you want to make video, make video. If you want to speak, speak. If you want to write a book, write the darn thing. I mean, we live in the age of doing anything we want. If we actually follow through, literally can do anything you want. Just wrapping your mind around that for people is overwhelming. And so they just don’t do anything.
Lee:
I feel like this has just been one of those kind of pep talks that kind of feels like a bit of a shift in my brain. Like this could be the day that a few exciting things are going to happen to me over the next few months and years.
Lee: I kind of want to set it to dramatic music as well on the podcast.
Amy:
You should just, you should cut our interview and go, okay, I’m about to play some music. Because it’s supposed to be really real. Are you ready to get really real? And just like ramp up the emotion. Or we just say it right like that. Montage style music or something like that.
Lee:
It was brilliant. Thank you so much. I’m going to go and fill in some request for speaker things that I saw the other day that I just put down further down my list.
Amy:
Yeah. Oh, that’s a great practical tip. Let’s throw that in. Google alerts is a beautiful thing. Google alerts. And I tell you, I still have these things turned on. I will put in quotations in Google alerts, “call for speakers.” And then I’ll add a term that’s relevant to me, whether it’s video marketing or social media marketing. And then Google alerts will send you that press release or that search result every time it pops up. If you’re looking for more opportunities, you can’t find them.
Lee:
That’s a really great tip. That’s awesome. I’m already on there. Google.com forward slash alerts. Do it. Call for speakers. I love it.
Lee:
You are a complete legend, Amy. Amy, thank you so much for coming on the show, for the book, for years of great content on YouTube. It’s been an honor to have you on the show. How can people find you on the socials? And then we will wave a fond farewell.
Amy:
Oh, well, thank you for having me, Lee. And I’m so glad I got to have you on my podcast last, well, in the last couple of weeks, depending on when this comes out. I really appreciate you and your expertise as well. So thank you so much for bringing that energy and those good vibes.
Amy:
You can find that interview with Lee and pretty much any details about me at SavvySexySocial.com. The book specifically, lots of different purchase opportunities with whether you want audio, Kindle, or a real in-your-hands copy at VlogLikeABoss.com.
Amy:
And I believe I have one of every single medium. Because we’re good friends and you’re just great to me. I’ll do the same for you.
Lee:
Oh, awesome. I have that on record. Have an awesome…
Amy:
All right.
Lee:
Yeah. And yeah, you’ve got the accountability now, too. Have an awesome day. And thanks so much for your time. Take care.
Amy:
Thanks.
Lee:
And that’s a wrap.
Lee:
Yes! That was such a good episode. I really enjoyed talking to Amy. I love doing this podcast because I meet such great people who have such great advice. And you’re all joining me on a journey where I’m learning as much, if not more, than the people who are listening to the show. So I appreciate you being on this journey with me on this ride. You’re all legends.
Lee:
And you know what? If you’re not part of the Facebook community, there are some great people in there as well. So let’s all get together. Let’s build this community. Let’s have some conversations together. So head on over to the Facebook group. It’s WPInnovator.com forward slash group. Let’s build up a bigger, stronger, healthier, more awesome community than it already is, which it already is all of those. So that would be great to see you in there.
Lee:
Again, if I can reiterate what I said at the beginning of the show, this show needs reviews. This show needs people to be talking about it so that we can grow, so that we can get the message out there to more people, so that we can attract more people and more talent to the show, so that we can grow this and get more cool, awesome information into our brains that we can action and activate into our businesses. So please do whatever you can to share the message of WP Innovator.
Lee:
Don’t forget as well, we are getting into the YouTubes of the world. So if you want to go see this ugly mug, head on over to WPInnovator.com forward slash YouTube. We will see you next week. And next week, you will get the guys from Book Like a Boss. And it is a total coincidence that we’ve just had the Vlog Like a Boss lady on. And now we’re having the Book Like a Boss guys on next week instead. Total coincidence. Hey, these things happen. Have a brilliant date. We’ll see you in the group.
