Amy Vaughan:
Hello everyone, and welcome to our Weekly Power Lounge. This is your place to hear authentic conversations from those who have power to share. My name is Amy Vaughn and I’m the owner and chief empowerment officer of Together Digital, a diverse and collaborative community of women who work in digital and choose to share their knowledge, power, and connections. You can join the movement@togetherindigital.com. And today we are joined by someone who has transformed personal challenges into professional power moves, just the kind of lady we love to have here in the Power Lounge. Debra J. Mitchell is an Emmy nominated producer, video marketing strategist and founder of Debra Mitchell Media and Associates. With over 20 years in storytelling, media and media from co-hosting alongside Geraldo Rivera, maybe you’ve heard of him, to producing for CBS news, Deborah has mastered the art of helping executives and entrepreneurs turn video visibility into business growth. What makes her story particularly compelling is how she has navigated caregiving responsibilities and career pivots to become a CEO, who now empowers others, especially women of color, to claim their digital space and authority and authenticity. Deborah, I can’t tell you how excited we are to have you here with us today.
Deborah Mitchell:
Oh my gosh, thank you for having me. What a great time we’re going to have.
Amy Vaughan:
I know, absolutely. And I think so many of our members and listeners today are going to be able to relate to everything I just read through because some of them are in the thick of some of that right now. And I think having women like you, Debra, just gives us hope that there is the other side.
Deborah Mitchell:
Hope there is hope and you can get to the other side. It’s going to take a little work, but you can get to the other side. Definitely. Absolutely.
Amy Vaughan:
So live listeners, we know, we love to hear questions from you. You are the reason why we’re here. So if you have a question, if you have a comment, anything like that, please drop it into the chat. We’ll make sure we hear you, we make sure, we’ll make sure we get your question asked. Thank you all for joining us today. All right. So Debra, you have had an incredible journey from network television to founding your own video marketing firm. I know it doesn’t always come down to any one pivotal moment, but when was it that you realized, or what was it that made you realize that video visibility wasn’t just about being on camera, it was actually about wielding power?
Deborah Mitchell:
Well, the interesting thing is, working in television my entire career, I always knew the power of video being on television, being in front of an audience on a regular basis, your audience gets to know you. They feel that you are friends, whether it’s their character or in real life. And I actually spent some time on television. I was for a few years, so people would see me in the street and talk to me as though we were friends. So I knew the power of video. What was interesting was after the pandemic or during the pandemic, when everyone went online, that was the time where I saw the power of video, how it could actually work for you online. Now everyone has video on their phones, video’s accessible. You can post whenever you want. Anyone can find you any place in the world, anyone can Google you or look you up. So the fact that you have video now accessible on your smartphone. Yeah, you see the power there and people building community with the video online.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah, exactly. We were just talking about that, weren’t we? Through digital and the shifts and the dynamics, we’ve had to make changes in and do a lot of Zoom networking now, which sounds really atrocious, but I promise you all, it has literally led to some of the best friendships of my life. And I literally was selling Deborah right before we got on. I was like, I spend all week weekend Costa Rica with my good friend Molly, because just you can still connect, you can resonate with people, and I think you’re so right, and I love it so much, Debra, because I feel like you’re putting words to things that we often think, but we don’t capitalize on. We don’t actually take that concerted effort to say, oh, there’s something here. How do I leverage this and make it work in my favor? So on that note, like I said with the colon, this is unquote zoom fatigue. Even as somebody who’s a former creative director who produced a lot of videos, I never wanted to be on the other side of the camera. That’s hard even for me now. And I know a lot of our listeners and women within our community struggle to show up consistently on video. What do you think is the biggest misconception about video visibility that holds, I want to say professionals, but also just women in general back from getting started?
Deborah Mitchell:
I would say the biggest obstacle, and I’ve heard this, I did a survey recently. I have a webinar series coming up and I hear it all the time. They want to be perfect. They want everything to be perfect, look good and sound good. So they’re either telling me they don’t like the way their voice sounds or they don’t like the way they look. They don’t know what colors to wear, they don’t know how to come off as professional.
Deborah Mitchell:
They get paralyzed by trying to be perfect, and you don’t look to be perfect. As a matter of fact, not being perfect plays in your favor because
Amy Vaughan:
Oh my gosh,
Deborah Mitchell:
Relatable. It humanizes you.
Amy Vaughan:
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Deborah Mitchell:
So yeah, that’s I think the biggest problem that women or most people have when it comes to being on camera and creating video content.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah, I love that. It reminds me of a story I heard of a college professor who was at an Ivy League school and fought and worked so hard to get to where he was getting and needed to come in and command the respect of his students. From day one, he felt based on the culture and the implications of him having gone to an Ivy League school, and he rode his bike to class that day and literally splattered mud all up the backside of his pants. So he looked like he pooped himself and he was like, oh my God, I cannot walk into this classroom, but if class is starting, I don’t have an option. And he was like, why am I worrying about this? Why am I even caring? Walked in, turned around, showed the class’s ass and was like, look what happened to me on the way in today.
Amy Vaughan:
This is why you get a splash guard for the back of your bike. And everybody laughed and he was like, listen, we all are coming into a new classroom and a new environment. And he’s like, I want you guys to know that you’re allowed to be vulnerable. That’s how you learn by falling down, by failing, by not doing the right thing, by not always thinking ahead to the next step. And sometimes it just means you just kind of have to show up with the mistake on your backside and own it. And he said that changed how his class saw him and the respect he got from them was insurmountable in the ways in which they showed up for him after that.
Deborah Mitchell:
But if you think about tv, one of the more popular shows are bloopers.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah. Oh my God. Yeah.
Deborah Mitchell:
Everybody loves you catch ’em off guard. They’re making mistakes. Everybody’s relaxed, and that’s what makes it fun and it humanizes you. So yeah, that’s so true. So true. Exactly.
Amy Vaughan:
We’re trying so hard to be perfect when everybody just wants imperfection.
Deborah Mitchell:
That’s what it is. Yeah.
Amy Vaughan:
So good, Deborah.
Deborah Mitchell:
Perfect. Yeah.
Amy Vaughan:
All right. So you have navigated, this is another big topic within digital. In fact, we have a channel on Slack just for caregivers, for aging parents, and then a parenting channel as well. You were doing this as you were building your CEO journey. How did those dual responsibilities actually strengthen your approach to authentic leadership on camera?
Deborah Mitchell:
Okay, so first I’m going to tell you, I’ve interviewed many caregivers. I’ve done stories on it. I’ve done stories on entrepreneurs being a caregiver and being an entrepreneur to the hardest things I’ve ever done. So to do them together, it’s just unbelievable. And what being a caregiver has taught me, I’ve had to be very focused on what I’m doing with my mom. She’s 96 now. She requires time, she requires my attention, the paperwork that I have to fill out, there’s a maneuver. So I had to realize that I couldn’t be as perfect as a business person the way I used to be when I was producing, and that’s what all I was focused on. I had to give myself grace, so I wasn’t able to be in the business the way I would usually be if it was just the business I was focusing on. So I think that’s one of the biggest lessons that I learned. Give yourself grace and you have to be organized. Learn how to manage your time because you have to divide up the time that it takes to do the caregiving and then do what you need to do for your business. So I’ve learned, and I’ve learned to be a more patient leader because
Deborah Mitchell:
Nobody knows what’s going on with me when I’m caregiving for my mom. I may not be able to show up at networking events the way I used to. I’m working from home. I have to take care of mom first, but I have to realize other people might be going through the same thing. So as a leader, I’ve just been a little bit more patient and more understanding. You don’t know what other people are going through, and a lot of us are trying to juggle 10 million things at the same time, and you can’t do everything all at the same time.
Amy Vaughan:
No, you can’t. That space and grace is so necessary when you’re playing multiple roles for multiple people like that, because as much as you need to do that for everybody else, it needs to be done for yourself. I think back to before I was a parent and before my mom needed me for caregiving as much, and yeah, I’m like, oh my God, what did I do with my time? I think I always joke and say that for women who get penalized for having kids and then trying to come back to the workforce, I am more productive. I am more focused on my time. I am more intentional. I am more driven and committed to earning and my career and making sure that work is good so that I can go home and have quality time with my kids and create boundaries. And I’m just always like, yeah, yeah, being a parent and being a caretaker is 100000% maybe a better leader. Because on the other side of that too, it’s made you more empathetic. I was looking out, I’m like, not that I was ever pegging moms as lazy as I’ve heard some people say or that they don’t have their priority straight, which is absolutely ridiculous. Heard that once from another woman who was in HR too, by the way. Lovely. But it gave me empathy to think, wow, I kind of took for granted all these really powerful strong women leaders that I had who were doing the dual role of leader and parent and knowing the stats and where particularly mothers are with the parenting load.
Deborah Mitchell:
You don’t know In Somebody else’s shoes. That’s why I don’t have kids. I don’t have children. So this was really a new experience.
Amy Vaughan:
You’re like, wait a minute. Whoa.
Deborah Mitchell:
It’s really, and she depends. She needs me. So she comes first, and I have learned to be a better person as a kid.
Amy Vaughan:
She’s got a fantastic daughter. That’s so wonderful.
Deborah Mitchell:
Thank you.
Amy Vaughan:
I love it. I love it. You’re doing a good job. It ain’t easy. Like I said, that’s why we got that caregiver too.
Deborah Mitchell:
November’s family caregivers month. So to all the caregivers,
Amy Vaughan:
Oh, yay.
Deborah Mitchell:
And November’s family caregivers month, give a caregiver a hug.
Amy Vaughan:
I did not know that. Oh my God. Give ’em a 10 minute hug. They need it. Nobody, it’s like one of those things when you’re a teenager, you’re like, I can’t wait to tell you what to do, dude. Parenting a parent sucks.
Deborah Mitchell:
This is a good transition because I really, people who know me know that I’m caring for my mom, but I never put mom on video. I never put her out in the part of, I don’t want to say my brand, but I just didn’t put her out on video. But this month I decided to do that, and she’s gotten more likes or more comments than everyone’s going to love mom. Yeah, I love it. See her. Yeah. It’s interesting because the content that you put out doesn’t always have to be, it has to be a compilation of who you are. And so yeah, you’re putting out the information about your brand and who you are and the work you do, but again, I talk about humanizing. I’m all, this is going another side to my life. And so you decide you control what you can put out there. And so I’ve decided for this month to put a little bit of,
Amy Vaughan:
I love that. So cute. I think that’s great. It actually reminded me of a friend of mine, Cindy Gallup, who I love following her on LinkedIn. Cindy, Cindy. And she has done that from time to time. And in fact, if I don’t see a post of mom after a while, I’m like, okay, how’s mom? Because again, I think it’s that humanization, it’s that vulnerability that opens up and allows others to speak their truths and to share their realities as well, which is so necessary. Let’s shift it to some of our audience here too, specifically challenges for women of color and digital visibility. I’d be curious to hear what have been the struggles there, and then what are some of the strategies that you’ve developed to help them specifically create and claim their space with confidence and authority? So
Deborah Mitchell:
I’m going to break it up into two categories. First of all, women, I’m going to break it up from the great where you go to school, get all your degrees, get a job and hunker down and do your work. That is no longer the case. You’re not getting the awards that you used to. So with the major layoffs that you’ve had that we’ve had, what is it? Over 300,000 women of color have been put out of the workforce, and now they have to decide what’s next. So they’re going to look for work or they’re going to start, many of them are going to try and start their own company, which is why not use the expertise that you use to build and work for an organization to build your own company. So I talked to them about upgrading their skills. AI is not going away.
Deborah Mitchell:
You can’t ignore it. So you have to take on all the skills that you can, so you can be competitive and upgrade your abilities, your expertise using ai. So that’s really important. The younger generation who are coming out of school, they’re growing up with it, so they already think differently about how they work. So lean into them too. You have a niece, daughter, nephew, not the younger generation. Lean into them so that they can help you. Then also look for other companies, other individuals who are working in the space. I just met a young lady, Kelly, Charles Collins. She’s created this great program, Mobile Operations Systems, where it helps you to focus your business, figure out your revenue, and help you figure out what you’re going to put out there to your target audience. So I’m taking a lot of classes. I’m constantly taking classes. I’m constantly looking at ways that I can reach my audience in the newest way with the newest tools and women of color. I think it’s a great opportunity for women of color because we’re usually shut down in the corporate world. We don’t get to speak to the best of our abilities, but when you create your own stage online, that’s your opportunity. That’s your show. So it’s your opportunity. Put your expertise out there. So I think it’s a great time for women of color to be out there online.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah. Oh, a thousand percent. Because like you said, it’s like if you’re not going to give me a seat at the table, I’m going to go over here and build my own damn table. I love that.
Deborah Mitchell:
Exactly.
Amy Vaughan:
And I think for all women, that’s such an important thing to think about and consider that if I will get the room, the space and the voice, where can I go? Because somebody needs to hear you. Somebody needs to hear you, somebody. We need you in the world. We need your voice. So whatever way you can do
Deborah Mitchell:
That. Totally. Absolutely. So put your voice out there, and this is the time. So once you decide to start your business, you have to figure out who your target audience is. What’s the message, your, why are you putting yourself out there? What is the message? What do you want to say to them? What problem do you want to solve? And then you create your plan. So I’m big on planning, strategy and executing, and so I tell that to all my clients, no matter what you’re doing, that’s how you start.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah, you’re going to love this together. Digital community, so much, Deborah, they’re all lifelong learners. They are go-getters and they all come in different shapes, sizes, age backgrounds, everything. But that one thing remains true. It’s just the tenacity to keep learning and to keep looking for the opportunities. When people aren’t opening the doors for you, you’re going and building and finding the doors. So yeah, I love it so much. All right. Let’s talk about working between, because we have a good mix within our community as well. We have a lot of women who are still within corporate or agencies, so Corporate executives, but then we also have this emergence of entrepreneurs, which I agree with that the number of women specifically is growing and it makes me excited. It’s out of the circumstances and it’s not in the most ideal circumstances, but by golly, I’m glad it’s happening. What do you feel is the difference between creating video content and creating video content that actually converts viewers into clients, especially for our entrepreneurial folks? That sometimes feels like a challenge, right? To you as you’re doing your planning and your strategy and your messaging, it’s like, I don’t want to say all of these things, but what is actually moving the needle for me?
Deborah Mitchell:
So I would say you can create what the content is going to convert is the content that resonates with your target audience. So first you need to know who your target audience is, where are you going to find them, where do they live, what platforms? And then figure out what problem you are going to solve for them. Actually, I am doing a survey with some of my clients because I want to find out what their challenges are when it comes to video. Again, being on camera is one. Another thing I hear is that they don’t have the time to create videos. They don’t have the budget to create video. So that’s important information for me to use because okay, if enough of you are saying it, then that’s definitely something that it’s a pain point. I need to help you solve it. So that’s how I’m going to come up with my content. I’m going to use that information to figure out, answer those questions. And you’d be surprised, again, using AI to help with your content as far as flushing it out, but also putting your touch on it as far as what you’re going to bring to solving their problem. So yeah, I definitely say that’s the first place. That’s the difference.
Amy Vaughan:
Fantastic. Listening. It’s so key and falling in love with the problem, not the solution. I think that’s another thing too. We often think that we have to market ourselves, which feels kind of ick to some people, but at the end of the day, it’s like, but I have something to offer. I want to help people. So what is the problem? And how do I speak to the problem in a way, like you said, that relates to them So That then they’re like, okay, she is a trusted resource. She knows what she’s doing. And you build that credibility and then you create that awareness and then you make it relatable and there you go.
Deborah Mitchell:
And be consistent. Don’t Just Show Up and Disappear. Be consistent because people do business with people they know and trust. I hear, and I don’t come from sales at all. I’m a sales,
Amy Vaughan:
But you know it,
Deborah Mitchell:
But I know it. And so the way someone said, well, sales is kind of like booking a guest for a show. I was like, oh, I guess it is in a way because you meet someone and you’re talking to them, getting to know them, and you’re trying to get their interviews. So in a way, it’s the same, but you want to be compassionate. You really do want to listen, you want to care, and you don’t want to be salesy. It doesn’t have to be about selling, selling, selling. It’s about really helping the person solve their problem.
Amy Vaughan:
Agree. And that feels so much better. It feels better to you. It feels better to them. A thousand percent on the consistency. That’s a great call out right there. Alright. I would love to hear maybe a little bit about a time when sometimes strategic video visibility that was hard to say, directly transformed someone’s business trajectory. What was it that made the difference? I’d love to hear some stories about the success you’ve had with your clients in the past.
Deborah Mitchell:
So I’m going to have to talk about my main client, who I love to death, the Amazon conservation team, the president, the founder, Dr. Mark. Mark j Plotkin. He, we actually got together during the pandemic when everybody was locked down. He couldn’t travel. So he always wanted to do a podcast. And I started working with him on the podcast and it has surpassed a million downloads.
Amy Vaughan:
Oh, amazing.
Deborah Mitchell:
Seven Seasons. And I didn’t know a lot about Amazon. I’ve learned so much from him. He’s a, so I was like, okay,
Amy Vaughan:
So cool.
Deborah Mitchell:
And he has his community and they are a devoted community. So to see him grow, because when we started it was just Mark on the mic talking each episode and I’d say, mark, let’s invite some guests to be on. And it took a little while to get to that point where we had guests on, but then he started inviting guests on. And so it was the back and forth, the conversation that they were having took the episodes up to another level. So it was just really good to see the growth. And then we started doing multiple parts series and then so all of this took time, and again, people come in, you meet them where they are. In the beginning he just wanted to do it himself and that was great. But slowly over time, trust grew and then we were able to develop a great product. So like I said, we just wrapped season seven. He was very good friends with Dr. Jane Goodall. She just passed away. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to interview her before that was amazing. But it was just really a great experience. So to surpass a million downloads, that’s one of our successes. It’s
Amy Vaughan:
Wonderful. And what’s the podcast called? I don’t know if you mentioned it or
Deborah Mitchell:
Not. Oh, plants of the Gods. Oh my gosh, It’s called Plants of the Gods
Amy Vaughan:
I got to check it out. I’m such a nature nerd.
Deborah Mitchell:
Oh my god, you’re going to love it.
Amy Vaughan:
Jane was like my idol growing up. So yeah, I’ll be tuning in. I’ll be downloading more
Deborah Mitchell:
Ayahuasca. We’ve done so many episodes on Ayahuasca. It’s our number one topic that people have questions about, and Mark shares his personal experiences, so it’s really great. Yeah, it’s very good.
Amy Vaughan:
Okay, I’ll try not to nerd out. I’ll tamper the nerd out and I’ll get back to our questions here, but I’m still going to go listen to that. I love it. Alright. You mentioned AI earlier, which is great, not a minute. We’re not talking about it or thinking about it or using it around here. With that plus other technologies disrupting content creation, how do you maintain authentic human connection while leveraging these tools? Because we know that they are good for efficiency,
Deborah Mitchell:
Right? Oh, that’s a great question. So yes, AI is great for automation and efficiency, but as I said, you don’t just put it into AI cut and paste. You have to use it more as an outline or a template, and you still have to put your twist. I put Debbie’s twist on whatever I’m doing. I’m telling my personal stories. So you don’t just rely on it. I think that AI could come in handy for, especially the people who are afraid of being on camera. There are so many options that you can use so that you don’t have to be on camera. There are so many AI softwares that are available that you’re writing to B roll and visuals, so in using your voice or other voices. So there are definitely ways to use it in a constructive, instructive way.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah, I love it. That’s great. Yeah. Again, efficiencies and insights. I feel like that’s the other thing is having it review and analyze data because all it’s looking for is patterns. Just a really good at pattern recognition and regurgitation, which is something else you just have to be wary of and never necessarily trust everything, hallucinate people. But in that
Deborah Mitchell:
With your information, that’s the thing that people, if you’ve written articles, if you’ve been interviewed, put that into ai. So it’s beginning to get your voice. It’s beginning to know who you are. You’re training it. Yes,
Amy Vaughan:
I absolutely love it. Yeah, let it do the robotic things. You do human things. All right. So you mentioned Tabitha Brown and Jesse Nailer as inspiration in some of the stuff that you sent us before this conversation. What specific visibility strategies could our members learn from them and their success stories?
Deborah Mitchell:
Okay, so I’m going to talk about Janae first. I first saw Janae online during the pandemic. She was a fashion influencer. She was in her closet trying on clothes, doing outfits of the day. And she had a community, a Facebook community where people could write in and she would interact and talk to us. And I was watching her and I said, there’s something about this woman. She used to work for Target, that’s her story. She worked for Target. She left Target when she didn’t get a promotion that she wanted and she decided to go online full time. But when I looked at her, I thought if I was still on television, I would book her. That was one of the fun parts of being a television producer. You’d meet someone and they’d start talking and you think this would be a good guest. And I looked at her and I thought she is going to go places. What she has done in the last five years is amazing. She just launched a brand of sunglasses. So she has grown her brand from just being, not just, but being a blogger, a fashion influencer, to slowly building a community of followers and people who are supporting her brands pay her. She’s able to put out her own sunglasses line. But what’s great about her is that she’s not afraid to walk. She tries things and then she walks away from it if it’s not working. And that’s, I think, a very valuable lesson for any entrepreneur. This is very fluid what we’re doing, being entrepreneurial. And sometimes you might think something’s going to work and it might work for a little while, and then you have to change it up. So you have to be ready to pivot. And that’s one of the lessons that I actually learned from her. And I’m still learning the same thing from Tabitha. A lot of people know the Tabitha Brown story. She also, vek got online sharing ze and recipes during the pandemic. Ellen DeGeneres found her, put her on and things just blew up from there. It’s just unbelievable to unbelievable and amazing and inspirational to see what these two ladies have done and you can do it. And they’ve always been consistent. They’ve always been authentic. And that’s something else that people want authenticity. So they’ve always been authentic and you just want to relate to them and they’ve grown their followers and those are the lessons that I’ve taken away from the book.
Amy Vaughan:
Those are great. I love those. I would also say too, there’s just, and maybe this also just comes after being over 40 now too. It’s like there’s just something so freeing about owning that authenticity. All as women, and you put on so many masks in a day to be able to set those aside and sit those down and take those off. And to me it’s a little bit at a time. Sometimes it’s just a little bit of trial and error. And that’s what I love about community, because community is usually that safe space where you can sort of start to show up authentically and speak your truths. And then it’s like, oh, people agreed. Oh, they nodded their heads when I said that thing that nobody’s ever said, And It starts to feel so freeing. And so for those of you who are listening and thinking, I have to fit a mold, those two women are perfect examples of people who decided not to fit the mold and look at how it served them. Look at how it serves every person you choose to follow online, for the most part, it’s likely that they are living in some sort of truth. And we see that and then we’re like, oh, and we compare and then we get jealous. And I’m like, no, follow your envy. It’s showing you what you want. You want that freedom. You want the ability to show up and speak your truths and then do it and find just how much people are actually going to appreciate you for it.
Deborah Mitchell:
Don’t be afraid. I think people are afraid. Just don’t be afraid.
Amy Vaughan:
And it’s not jumping off the building, it’s not jumping off the edge, it’s just taking a first step. It’s just kind of showing up like 5% more authentic this time than maybe you did last time in a situation where you feel kind of forced to show up and be a certain way. And that could be like your next meeting at work. So you get off listening to this and your next call, your next meeting, you’re like, I’m going to ask that hard question.
Deborah Mitchell:
Always ask. All you’re going to get is a no. That’s the one thing I did learn about being a producer. You got to ask, just ask.
Amy Vaughan:
You don’t get it otherwise, which is a big part of being digital too. Our ask, give, grow. We really encourage our members to build that muscle of asking, because it’s scary at first, but once you learn and then you realize, oh my gosh, people actually want to show up and help me. Oh yeah, I’m going to do some asking and I’m going to do some giving in the meantime too. But that part comes in
Deborah Mitchell:
Giving. Yes. And you know what you meant. There’s a good point there because you talked about asking for help too. I have to tell you, we as women, we’re afraid to ask for help and okay to ask and accept help.
Amy Vaughan:
Yes. Oh my gosh. And you’re doing something for them. People want to help your friends. Your coworkers want to show you that they can do their jobs and their roles. And I think a lot of us, at least a lot within our group, are very strong, very capable women, but we tend to over-function. And then that doesn’t give rumor space for other people to grow and thrive and reach their potential because we feel like we have to be the ones covering it and doing it all. That is a whole nother topic for another day. We’ll come back to that one. I’ve got one more question for you, and then we’re going to go into our fun little power round questions.
Amy Vaughan:
We’ve had a couple comments in the chat, which is great. It’s nice that our live listeners are here listening to us. They agree with us on the bloopers point, but if you all do have a question, don’t be afraid. Right. Ask the questions, drop it in the chat before we go into the power round. My question I have for you next is looking at evolution, oh no, wait, actually I skipped a question. I have two. So we touched on the whole, I don’t have time for video, so to help that, I know that that is a common thing outside of not wanting to be seen or on camera or that perfection time. What is your framework for creating consistent strategic content without it consuming their entire schedule? Got all the words out.
Deborah Mitchell:
Okay. I talked about this before, but I’ll say it again. I’m a big fan of batching videos when it comes to creating, saving time, being efficient with your timing and getting the most out of it, as far as product batching. So that means that you decide you’re going to take an hour or two hours out of your week and you’re going to create video content. So that means you’ve already decided on what you want to talk about, the topics that you’re going to talk about. You’ve chosen a couple of different outfits so that you can change outfits during the two hours you’ve taped on different days, and you decide how many snippets of video you are going to create, whether it’s 10, 20, whatever you can do in those two hours. Again, it’s taping it, so it doesn’t have to be perfect. If you don’t like the first tape taping, you don’t have to use it, redo it. So give yourself that grace, but also set aside those two hours every week and you could at least get 10 or 15 little snippets of video, two minutes long at least that you have in store. And then you could schedule them out on your calendar. So batching is a big thing. I actually just started wearing metal glasses, so I am,
Amy Vaughan:
How’s that going?
Deborah Mitchell:
You know what I kind of like, do you? Alright. I’m always wearing sunglasses. I’m known for my sunglasses, so come in pretty handy. So I’m wearing them and when something catches my attention or I feel I can get some video, some point of view video out of it, I’m grabbing point of view video. So I try my best to be as efficient, work smarter, not harder, and that’s how I’m capturing video and making time to get my content together. That’s one great example.
Amy Vaughan:
Cool. I love it. Those are great examples. Yeah. Alright, next is looking at the evolution of personal branding. How should digital leaders prepare for the future of video visibility? Because like you said, it’s everywhere. There’s not really any kind of air, there’s no getting away from it.
Deborah Mitchell:
There’s no getting away from it. That’s a great question. How to prepare for it. Think long and hard about if you’re going to put yourself out there as an entrepreneur, how do you want to be seen? What do you want your message to be? Who do you want to serve? That’s a big question. You need to know that before you start anything. And again, that goes back to the target audience because once you figure out who you want to serve, you can start to focus on them and create, start building relationships with them where they live online.
Amy Vaughan:
Okay. I love it. I love it. Great advice. Sometimes it’s just a matter of ripping off the bandaid little baby steps at a time.
Deborah Mitchell:
My yoga teacher, I’ve said this before, always says the first time is the hardest.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah. Yes. I tell that to my kids a lot. My daughter wanted to try diving, she’s on the swim team and was like, I might try diving, but I’m really scared. I said, it’s okay to be scared. I said, what if you just showed up? What if you just showed up and talked to the coaches and shared your fears so that they could talk you through safety practices or you could just watch and see what it’s like for other students to do it. Tell her I’m a diver. Did you get out of the water for a while, but love it. Every time I’m going to get in the water, I’m scared. So now obviously the first time was the scariest, but tell her to do it. It is the thing. Oh my God,
Amy Vaughan:
She’s going to keep trying. She showed up and she was upset with herself. She wasn’t able to get on the diving board and do it, but I was like, you showed up. That was the first stop and you always have the option to go back. So
Deborah Mitchell:
This is funny because you said diving. I automatically thought of scuba diving.
Amy Vaughan:
Oh, scuba,
Deborah Mitchell:
Yeah.
Amy Vaughan:
No, diving off a diving board. But yeah, scuba, she wants to do scuba. She doesn’t, maybe once we’re in the water and trying it, she’ll get a little afraid, but she snuggles and stuff like that. She’s a great
Deborah Mitchell:
Scuba. Oh, okay. Yeah, I’d be afraid. Yeah.
Amy Vaughan:
I don’t know. You’re like, nevermind. I ain’t diving off a diving board. But I love that you did scuba. That’s also something we both wanted to get certified in. Okay. Well we have a question from one of our live listeners. Melanie, thanks for dropping the question in the chat. Are there ways I can utilize video without literally being on camera? Here we go. We’re still avoiding it, aren’t we?
Deborah Mitchell:
Yes.
Amy Vaughan:
Do POV video videos.
Deborah Mitchell:
Yeah. Point through videos where that means you’re shooting, you could hear you, I hope. If you like your voice, your voice can carry the conversation, but you’re just shooting in front of you and it’s your point of view. Then you have different AI tools that you can use so that you’re putting in a B roll, which is visuals of the story to tell the story as opposed to having you on camera. So yeah, there are different ways.
Amy Vaughan:
Okay. So then her second part of that question is a great follow-up too. It’s like do those videos do as well online from a performance standpoint? Do POVs and voiceover videos versus person on camera do as well? What you’ve seen
Deborah Mitchell:
From the point of view of the videos, people are having fun with it. It depends on what you’re shooting, but obviously being on camera is more personal, so there’s no getting around it. You are putting a face to the voice and a person to the experience. Yeah,
Amy Vaughan:
I would agree.
Deborah Mitchell:
Yeah, there’s no doubt about that.
Amy Vaughan:
One of those things that’s like marketing too. Most marketers know faces are what people want to see. But I will say I have young kids, so they’re watching YouTube, which is still weird and beyond me, but one of them, their favorite ones, she’s a crafter and a creator. And so she has a little character, I can’t even think of his name right now, but they haven’t watched him for a minute. But they were obsessed with their videos for a while and then you just see her hands and her voice and the character. And the character to me was kind of an expression of her and who she was. And so she would have him be kind of a thing that you could see and relate to, which I thought was kind of an interesting strategy because the kids loved the little character and the little guy, and that was her way of connecting to the audience without putting her face on camera.
Deborah Mitchell:
And there are a couple of chefs who are out there who they’re just cooking. You just see their hands in the ingredients and you’re not seeing their faces. So I can’t think of the names off the top, but yeah, it can work in some instances. It all depends on what it is you’re covering.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah, a hundred percent. Yeah. Maybe you can get creative with it even. Alright, let’s go to our power round questions, live listening audience. If you have additional questions, we have time. Feel free to ask why we’re here. All right. This is a good one. First thing you do to shake off on-camera nerves because that’s real.
Deborah Mitchell:
Yeah. Well always remember that you’re the expert, but yes, being on camera can be nerve wracking. So I would say that you can practice in front of the mirror, practice, practice, practice in front of the mirror, and you could say to yourself, I know what I’m talking about. I’m the expert, I know what I’m talking about. You and I were talking about getting the questions beforehand. I know we never did that. And when you’re on live tv, you don’t have that or you don’t want to get yourself confused. You don’t want to get confused by what you’re saying. You’re the expert. Think slowly, think fast, slow, speak slowly. That’s what it’s, yeah. And that’s one of the best ways to just kind of relax.
Amy Vaughan:
I love that. That is a good piece of advice to sometimes just slow it down. One of my favorite tricks is that your nervous system doesn’t know the difference between excited and scared. And so if you’re getting nervous right before you go on camera for something, I will just tell myself, I’m just really excited to be here. I’m really excited to do this. I’m really just, that’s what it is. And it kind of tricks your brain. You’re using your brain to kind of trick your body into saying, these sensory, these feelings that I’m having, it really has more to do with the narrative that’s up in my head versus what’s actually going on my body. It really won’t know the difference. And so it worked for me. You guys can try it if it helps you. Best piece of video equipment under 50 bucks, that changes everything for us. You like to go out and get the tools.
Deborah Mitchell:
Oh my gosh. I would say you’d have to have a good mic, a lavalier mic. People will tolerate bad video, but they won’t tolerate bad audio.
Amy Vaughan:
That is a great point.
Deborah Mitchell:
Yeah, I would say that’s one piece of equipment that you should focus on getting.
Amy Vaughan:
I love it. Great piece of advice. And our heart cast media friends here in Molly and Matt would definitely agree. Alright, your go-to confidence booster before hitting a record.
Deborah Mitchell:
Oh, my go-to confidence booster. Like I said earlier, I know what I’m talking about. Yeah. I’m an expert. I know. I know this inside out. And don’t be afraid to say you don’t know the answer.
Amy Vaughan:
Yes.
Deborah Mitchell:
Don’t try and fluff it. Don’t try and pretend. If you don’t know an answer, just say you don’t know it. Or you can get back to whoever’s asking the question. But yeah, don’t take it.
Amy Vaughan:
Pretending is exhausting, isn’t it?
Deborah Mitchell:
If you’re the expert, can we just not? I’m an expert. I know. I know what I’m calling.
Amy Vaughan:
Oh, I love it. Yeah. You know what? And that’s definitely something to step in with, but when you don’t, gosh, let’s not even pretend why I love it. It’s authenticity, vulnerability, all the things we need right now in life. All right. One video myth you wish that you could delete for?
Deborah Mitchell:
Oh, that’s a good one. We talked about being perfect, but that you have to be on all the platforms, but I think people get overwhelmed. I think they feel as though, oh, I can’t post everywhere and you don’t need to post everywhere. Choose the two platforms where you think your target audience resides and focus on posting it.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah, that’s great. A hundred percent, absolutely. Don’t exhaust yourself trying to be everywhere and everything to
Deborah Mitchell:
Everyone. Exactly. You can’t please everyone. And I’d say have a YouTube channel. The other thing is, I have a YouTube channel.
Amy Vaughan:
YouTube channel, yeah. If you’re doing a video, you have to be on there. That one, link it or not. All right. We’ve got one more question. Currently I’m selling for a video production studio that’s super tiny, but I don’t own it. Do you have any tips as someone who is the face of a brand but isn’t the owner, sometimes I feel like I’m putting too much of my personality into the company and I’m afraid of feeling inauthentic.
Deborah Mitchell:
Oh, that’s a good question.
Amy Vaughan:
That’s an interesting spot to be in.
Deborah Mitchell:
Yeah. He or she is working for a company and they’re using their personality to build the brand’s company. So the question is,
Amy Vaughan:
And so she’s selling, so how do you have any tips for, do you have any tips for someone who is the face of a brand? So it sounds like she’s actually, herself is the part of the brand that she is selling who isn’t the owner,
Deborah Mitchell:
But she still wants to sell the product.
Amy Vaughan:
Yep. She says, sometimes I feel like I’m putting too much of my personality into the company and I’m afraid of feeling inauthentic. I,
Deborah Mitchell:
That’s good, I’m going to have to think about that one. What do you think?
Amy Vaughan:
I think my question would be why is it the owner, the personality that’s being put forward into the brand versus the person who’s doing the selling? Because ultimately, if you’re a small, independent business, usually we’re buying from, like you said, people we know and trust. And then again, so as the person who is doing the selling, that’s hard. So it sounds like the owner isn’t really the front kind of person. Person. The owner’s comfortable
Deborah Mitchell:
Being on camera and using, this person is a better person on camera. So is there a way to,
Amy Vaughan:
She answered my question. She said LL. Great question. He likes being behind the scenes and trusting his team to run things. So I think if that’s the case, I would also then say, use your personality to build the relationships and do the selling, but make sure the brand is well defined so that you are not having to make the extra emotional effort and putting your personality into play where there is a lack of brand. It sounds like there’s a lack of branding,
Deborah Mitchell:
But there must be something about her personality that is she wouldn’t have been chosen,
Amy Vaughan:
Which, I mean, you could work into the brand.
Deborah Mitchell:
That’s what I’m thinking. You could work into the brand. There’s something about the personality that the owner likes or feels
Amy Vaughan:
That’s working.
Deborah Mitchell:
Yeah, that’s working. So you must be good at it. Yeah, so I think you should look at that too. What is it? How you can better define the brand so that you feel better about what you’re doing, but it’s obvious that you have some type of talent. That’s why you’re there. Yeah.
Amy Vaughan:
No, exactly. It sounds like they’re lucky to have her, and it is that thing of, what was I getting ready to say? It was like a brand. Oh, shit. It was a good one too. It was something along the lines of, oh, brand should be a sales enablement tool. Sales should not be enabling brands. That’s a little backwards. You should make sure that the brand is there and well-defined to enable how you sell. It shouldn’t be about the sales, your personality should be enabling. The sales should not be enabling the brand. You need to accept the brand first, because what’s going to happen is as a business, if you’re ever going to scale or grow, or if you leave or something happens and you’re not there anymore, where does the selling happen and how does the selling happen? That’s why the brand has to come and be there first as a tool for sales enablement, not sales enabling the brand, because then you’re setting up a volatile situation for your business, and this is more advice for your boss than you, honestly.
Deborah Mitchell:
Yeah. That is her boss. And I dunno, say have that conversation with her boss, but
Amy Vaughan:
Right. Well, it says that he trusts them to run things. I think it would be fair for you, Melanie, to go back and say, listen, I am putting a lot of myself into the selling, and it’s feeling like it’s taking the place of your brand. I want your brand to be known and established so that people have trust in you and what you provide and do as a company versus just me, because I always have that whole, if I get hit by a bus tomorrow theory, it’s like if I’m gone tomorrow, God forbid, whatever that might be, I never wanted to ever, and this is just being overly responsible on my part, but I never wanted to leave any company I worked for in the lurch. I wanted to make sure that my process, my communications were documented in a place that made it so that if there was a transition that needed to happen, it could happen. But yeah. Did you
Deborah Mitchell:
Like that? Okay, Melanie, I hope that works for you.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah, I hope that helps. Did she put it with a little heart?
Deborah Mitchell:
Okay,
Amy Vaughan:
Fantastic. Yeah, no, great question. I love it. And again, when you ask those questions, what’s that, hun?
Deborah Mitchell:
That was a good one. No, that was a great question.
Amy Vaughan:
And people, when you ask a question, there’s other people that are sitting here listening that might be in a similar situation, either now in the past or in the future, and you just help them out by asking a really great question. So thank you so much for bringing it to us. Alright, friends, I think, let’s see. Yep, that’s it. We got to the last myth busting question de, thank you so much for giving all of these amazing,
Deborah Mitchell:
So much fun, great conversation.
Amy Vaughan:
Yeah, very powerful insights, all about turning visibility and strategy into a strategic advantage. And hopefully it has encouraged you all to just even just like I said, 5%, just a little bit more. Just let yourself be visible a little bit more. We absolutely need you for all of you to step into your video power and Debra, I want people to know where they can connect with you?
Deborah Mitchell:
Where can they find you? Debra Mitchell media and associates.com. Go to the website. You can find me there or on LinkedIn. Debra. Debbie, I go by Mitchell. Debra, Debbie Mitchell, Debbie.
Amy Vaughan:
All right, Debbie, and to our digital community together. Remember that showing up on video isn’t just about being seen, it’s about claiming your space and sharing your expertise with intention. As Debbie shared with us earlier. If you’re ready to harness that power of visibility alongside some other women in digital, be sure to join us. Learn more about the organization together on digital.com. Until next time, friends, thank you so much for showing up and being here with us today and for listening. Until next time, keep asking, keep giving and keep growing. We hope to see you soon. Bye everybody.
