Start2star challenge improving my videos and myself part 1

Hello again; As you should know by now my number one or core belief is to do what you can as well as you can today and then do more or do it better tomorrow. I feel that this is the only way to love yourself and still make progress towards your goals and dreams.

My history with videos

And to that end today I want to talk about recording videos. I decided a few years ago that recording videos spotlighting the amusement equipment I am working to sell along with interviews of my clients and visits to sites of local interest would be very helpful to my amusement equipment brokering business.

However, as a blind person I had a lot of things to sort out. I understand that sighted people struggle with this too. But at least no one questions your right to want to do them or tries to tell you that you shouldn’t even make the effort.

I started by buying a video camera. I asked for it for christmas. It turned out that this didn’t really help because to use it meant getting someone else to help me record on it. And back then I was more about doing things on my own.

I still have it and we use it occasionally around the house. I am still hopeful that someday soon I will find the resources to start visiting my clients on location. And when that happens, I plan to get more use out of it.

Shortly after that effort, my friend and mentor Robin Hallett offered to help me figure out how to use skype. She took the time to do several calls with me so I could figure out how to answer a call, how to end one, and most importantly figure out approximately where to set my monitor so that the camera would catch my head in the center of the frame whether I would be sitting up or lying down.

This gave me access to skype. But it also got me thinking about the built in camera that all macs and most all computers now come with. I wondered if I could record some youtube shows on my laptop incorporating video sent in to me by my clients.

I tried this approach and it worked to a point. For some reason I couldn’t get the sound levels high enough so people would be able to hear me when they listened to the videos. I determined that the best solution to this was a headset microphone.

So once again I asked for what I needed for christmas and Santa didn’t disappoint me. I hooked my new headphones up and used them the same night. I had my first video recorded by New Year’s eve meeting a goal I had set myself earlier in the year.

So, I had some videos to work with, and I was ready to record my first show. But I thought what about an intro. You see if you listen to enough videos online you realize most people have a slick intro with music or sound effects and their name company name url etc.

Well, I didn’t know how I was going to create an intro. I didn’t want to put this project off any longer; so I thought how can i solve this problem for now. The answer was to sing.

So with it being Christmas I recorded a holiday message where I sang the opening to the Christmas Song by Nat King Cole. Then I recorded a second video where I told people what my plans were for the youtube show that I would call calliope corner. I just barely beat the ball dropping but I did it!

Always wanting to get better

I have continued to record videos, and I hope I have gotten better at them as i have gone along. And its this idea of always wanting to get better without forgetting who I am or where I started that lead to my participation in a online video challenge.

I recently recorded a video introduction for my coaching website, but I just knew it needed to be so much better. And I know it can. So, I sent the link to people in my coaching groups on face book and asked for their suggestions.

In addition to thoughts on the video itself my friend J. J. Carolan from The Coaches Sanctuary suggested I join a group for making videos run by her friend Holly Gillen.

So, I signed up for the group. And surprise she is in the middle of a 15 day online challenge as a way of promoting a more intense online course she will be conducting next month. And you know me I jumped right in. 🙂

She is calling it the Start 2 Star challenge a mini experience in confidence. You can find it on instagram,face book, and twitter with the hashtag start2star. You can also read the details by going to http://hollygstudios.com/winning There are only a few days left to participate, but the winner will receive a free seat in her class valued at $299.

sign up for her course?

And after meeting Holly and learning more about her, I have taken another first step. I have agreed to be an affiliate for her online course. It runs from Mar 16 through the 30th. She is not currently taking orders. She will open it up for people to purchase starting on Mar 2nd at 08:00 am Eastern time. And enrollment will stay open until Mar 8 at 08:00 AM Eastern or until all the seats are sold. I will be posting more information and links between now and then. If interested, please email me or contact me through any of my social media network pages. You can read more about it and sign up to be notified by going to this link.

In an effort to provide full disclosure I want to remind you that this is an affiliate link. I also want to stress that I would not want anyone to take the course unless they are emotionally ready and financially able to invest the $299 in themselves.

Practice is mandatory

Now we both know I don’t need any help with confidence, but I do believe that making videos is just like writing in one very important respect. Good writers get that way by writing every day. Its only through practice that you stretch your writing muscles and find your true voice. I believe the same thing applies to recording videos. And this challenge has given me an opportunity to turn the camera on every day.

The Challenge

the challenge lasts for fifteen days. Each day you are given a question to answer. You write your answer and post it with a photo or a video. You then post your answer to to Holly’s Instagram page with the hashtag start2star.

You can’t join instagram without having a Iphone or android smart phone; and I don’t have either. After I explained this to Holly, she said that I could enter by posting to the face book group, my fb time line, and my twitter feed.

I thought about asking a friend to sign me up for instagram, but it just isn’t a good fit for me right now. While I would love to fully participate in the contest the way everyone else is, I don’t want it bad enough to join yet another social media network no matter how popular instagram seems to be right now.

I have no doubt that one of my friends would create an account for me if I asked. And I’m blessed to have many such great friends several of whom I trust enough to sign up for such an account on my behalf. If you have an instagram account, and you would like to repost my links on your own account using the start2star tag, that would be very sweet of you.

I missed the first four days, but I made it in for days five through eight of what I’m calling week one. I thought that I would share the questions asked, and links to the videos of my answers. And hopefully you will tell me if you think I am making progress. Opinions, suggestions, and encouragement are all welcome.

As you come to each question there will be two links for each video. The first one will be a place where you can click a button to watch it via an embedded player without leaving my site. The second will be a direct link to the youtube video.

Day 05

If you could grace the cover of any magazine, which would it be?

http://youtu.be/02r4Fg4cToQ

I talked about how I’m one of the few blind people to have achieved the rank of eagle scout and that it would be cool to be featured in an issue of Boys Life.

Day 06

What is something on the top of your bucket list?

http://youtu.be/e0C5J6tbW74

I settled on having one of my videos go viral to the point of being shown as part of the nightly news broadcast.

Day 07

What would you say to yourself from one year ago?

http://youtu.be/DgAgK7BwsWI

My answer was Max you aren’t done yet. I would tell myself no matter how much you have accomplished, and no matter how far you have already come; there is still so much more inside you and much more in store for you.

Day 08

What is one of your hidden talents?

http://youtu.be/HliZnSpF77I

I decided to talk about my singing. I know it isn’t really a hidden talent. BUt I feel like I have only recently embraced it and not everyone knows about it yet.

Lessons learned

Well, for those who have been following me for a while you probably noticed that I am not using my headphones in the last two videos. Don’t ask me how, but I managed to fix the issue with the recording volume level. However, now the volume is too loud. I apologize for that and I am working to correct the problem.

Also, in the first two videos I mistakenly referred to the start 2 star challenge as a 30 day event. I have since learned that it is only fifteen. Still I think the practice is helping me. I plan to participate in other video challenges and take courses in recording better video podcasts in the future.

Bottom line is I feel like I am doing a good job with these videos. The singing was used out of necessity but people seem to like it and several have told me no matter what else I change don’t get rid of the singing. 😀

I am getting better at planning out my videos and writing a script for myself. I still have to memorize it, and that will lead to some mistakes and some on the fly comments from time to time.

I think that is okay. Partly because people don’t seem to like their videos too perfect. And also because if I ramble too much I can always press the delete button and go for take two, take three, take fifteen, etc.

Lets connect on youtube

Over the next week I will continue to answer the challenge questions and post them to my youtube account. If you want to follow along, then please head over to my channel and click subscribe. Be sure and let me know if you also have a channel so I can stop by and check out what you are up to.

Sharing is caring

If you enjoy any of the videos, or if you learned anything from reading this post; then please share this article or the direct links to the videos with your friends, family, and coworkers. You might also mention to them that there are some videos of me just singing on there and that I sound pretty good. 😉

Don’t forget to comment

If you still have time, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section. I will respond to all of them, and I believe in reciprocation such as visiting your blog if you have one, reading at least one post, leaving a comment, and sharing your content. How is that for a reason to share what you are thinking.

Well, that’s it for now. stay tuned for part two next week. Hopefully, I will not only have more videos to share but maybe I will have won Holly’s contest and have more opportunities to learn.

If you have questions, feel free to drop me a line. I’m always happy to hear from my readers. Very little is off limits, and often I get ideas for future posts or future growth from your emails.

I also love meeting new people, making new friends, learning about new places, sharing stories and ideas, etc. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Thanks and take care out there, Max