Category: VideoCategory: Video

Finding your people can happen anywhere. On Monday’s very spontaneous Substack Live, people were chatting with each another, learning what they do, and subscribing to each other.

Somehow in the chaos of a live chat room, people connected. Some people found their people.

So please don’t leave that to the machines, desperately pleading “oh algorithm, please deliver me my audience!”

You’ve got taste and style. You can find people in the chat, in the comments, in line at the coffee shop. See what your favorite authors like on Substack Notes. Who are the 11 people Austin Kleon subscribes to? Have you looked up some of the artists that people mention on your favorite podcasts?

Here’s some of the things I attempted to answer during the Live:

• Should I make my Substack free and build community somewhere else?
• Was there a time you felt you were writing into a void?
• How often do you do lives, and why do them?
• How do you feel about Substack Notes?
• How do I find my people without sounding like a coach, and what do I talk about besides “come to this”?
• What’s Metal Bandcamp Gift Club?
• Should I be on YouTube?

If appearing on camera freaks you out, take inspiration from this video “how we shoot brand photography for AG1” from FLOWERS.

Now, yes of course, making a video like this takes some work. The editing! The text! Not to mention the super amazing footage featured throughout. But, friends – that wasn’t their first time making a video.

We all start somewhere.

A friend wanted to know how I made coffee, so I shot some footage, edited it together (I use ScreenFlow), added some of my own background music and narration, and that’s it. I’m not uploading it to YouTube, or featuring it on my website, but I made a video. It did the job.

This wasn’t my first video. I’ve been making videos for many years, with various projects, but nothing consistent in recent years.

So try making a video for one person, as the stakes are much lower. You’ve got ideas, concepts, lessons to teach, and putting them out into the world as video will probably make the world a better place, or at least help a friend make a good cup of coffee.

Join our upcoming Zoom calls talking about this, titled “WHY HAVEN’T YOU STARTED THE THING YET?” We’ll talk about what’s holding us back, face the fears, and maybe come away with a new found determination to finally start the thing you’ve been talking about starting.

Thursday, July 9 from 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT – REGISTER → https://luma.com/eyar9u7n
Monday, July 13 from 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM EDT- REGISTER → https://luma.com/c1166375

I got to do a Substack Live with Julie Laufer (she interviewed me on her Be Cringe Podcast here), and we covered the NY Knicks, finding work, being in alignment, and more.

THREE BIG IDEAS

Trust is a credential. Julie landed a social media strategy client, not because that’s their background, but because of the trust that the client had in them. Build trust, build relationships, and see where that takes you!

Being a generalist can be an asset. There’s a role for the generalist, the problem-solver, the hard-working Josh Hart of the New York Knicks position, but most places / teams are hesitant to hire since it’s so non-quantifiable. It’s easier to hire someone who has done a certain role for a decade rather than the person that can pull together a team.

Alignment feels GOOD. Find bits and pieces where you can squeeze in moments of alignment throughout your day, and then do that over and over again over many weeks, months, and years.

TWO ACTIONS:

Stop waiting for the perfect positioning! Pull together what you can, do what you have to do, and stop waiting for the perfect moment, the perfect alignment of everything that comes together, to start doing the thing that you want to do. Stop waiting!

Trust your gut! The “right” choice is tempting, and lets you off the hook. But picking the path with more risk just might be the thing that’ll get you where you need to be.

ONE QUOTE:

“It’s like, well, I’m supposed to want a job,” said Julie. “I’m supposed to want health insurance. Like, I have a three-year-old. Yeah, yeah. Like, so, it’s hard to make those opposite choices. But I find comfort in the fact that they feel so right.”

Be sure to subscribe to Julie’s This Might Be Cringe newsletter!

In this conversation via Substack Live with Dr. Zeest Khan, we talk about leaving social media, building community that actually matters, and why chasing joy beats the heck out of chasing metrics.

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This morning Cara Alwill and I had a lovely chat on Substack Live, and we covered so many wonderful topics:

Sending the email (don’t wait on algorithms): take matters into your own hands are start reaching out to other creative people, and maybe send more newsletters!

“If people are unsubscribing from you, it means you have a point of view.” — Cara Alwill

Scrappy vs. polished: the world has enough “optimized” text, it’s time to go feral.

Building your own team before anyone hands you one: start working with people in the early stages so you can sniff out the creeps later on.

You are the lead magnet: Forget the niche, you are the reason someone reads.

Just do the thing: Stop announcing, stop planning every little move, and start making.

“There’s a fine line between inspiration and procrastination.” — Cara Alwill