[1:02]
[1:03] Ian: Hello, welcome to the Confident Live Marketing Podcast. I'm Ian Anderson Gray. I'm very excited because we have Jeff Sieh coming back onto the show to talk about his confidence communication journey. Jeff, if you don't already know, is an international speaker and visual marketing consultant.
[1:21] He hosts the social media news live show and podcast, and he's also headbeard at Manly Pinterest Tips. Jeff has worked with and produced a wide range of content for various companies, including Guy Kawasaki, Kim Garst, Social Media Examiner, and Tailwind. Welcome back, Jeff. How are you doing?
[1:40] Jeff: Doing well, Ian. Thank you again for having me on the show today. I'm so excited to be here with you.
[1:46] Ian: Oh, thank you. I appreciate that because, and it's quite funny that we're talking about confidence communication because I've been all over the place and you've been a Very gracious guest because my cameras decided to switch off, off and on occasionally. I've, my words have, I've stumbled over my words and it's just one of those days, but that's what happens, isn't it?
[2:08] And we keep going.
[2:10] Jeff: Yeah. Yeah. And I totally, I've been there. I have had, I felt like I just posted the other day. we were, I was doing a show and all of a sudden I kept hearing this weird noise and I'm like, what is going on? And geese were on the front of my office, like on the, almost on the front porch. And I'm like, I have, I've been doing this show for three years.
[2:32] I've been in this office for more than 10. I've never had geese. On my frontline, I posted to Instagram because it was so weird, but yeah, there's four geese, wild geese, just walk in and I was like, can you guys, I was asking Connor, my co host, I'm like, can you hear this? And he's yeah, what's going on?
[2:47] I'm like, I geese, geese are in
[2:50] Ian: there you go. Maybe that's the secret to our success, because we don't always, people don't want professional quality all the time. They want a bit of humanity in there. so maybe that's what we need. Or
[3:03] Jeff: we just more geese more instead of more cowbell. It's more
[3:06] Ian: exactly. for, those who didn't hear you last time, and I haven't come across you that, there must be one or two people in the world who haven't heard, come across you, but, tell us a little bit more, about, about you, highlighting your background.
[3:21] just, just a brief introduction before we dig into talking about confidence and communication.
[3:27] Jeff: Yeah, so I have been doing live videos since the google plus days back when they first started rolling out live video Google was the first ones to do it. They beat facebook at the comment tracker all that kind of stuff So i've been doing it for ever since then probably like 15 years or so doing live video.
[3:42] So I started doing that, for clients. I have continued to do it every week. So I have seen or had things fail on me probably more than anybody else. Cause I've been doing this show or producing shows for people, for such a long time. yeah, I don't know if I would call myself confident, but I would call myself like, I've, done it enough that, you never know what's going to happen.
[4:06] Ian: yeah, that's why I call this Confident Live. marketing podcast. It's not about, it's not, I'm not saying that I'm ultra confident, like far from it. It's a journey that we're all on. And it's, trying to focus, like what, is the focus? How do we become more confident?
[4:23] So I know you have a few stories and we've had a few stories today with the tech does not working, but, which is hilarious, but can you go back to a time, maybe towards the beginning of, Your, video content creation, where you struggled particularly with confidence in front of the camera when you, were nervous and I don't know, share some stories.
[4:48] Jeff: So the funny thing is every Friday, cause I do my show on Friday at 10 AM central is I wake up going, Oh, why am I doing this? I stink. I suck at this. Why am I doing this? I'm so bad. So every week I feel nervous and people like freak. They like what you feel nervous. I'm like, yes. Every time before I get on this show, I get nervous.
[5:07] It's just, it's having to, push yourself through the nervous nervousness. I heard somebody say the other day, which I thought was really, good. They said, instead of, having that nervous feeling, try to focus it into excitement. And I guess that's what kind of I do now is I'm instead of taking that.
[5:24] Oh, I stink. Why? Why would anybody want to listen to me? I'm excited to be able to see my audience and the people who show up every week, which is really great. I have a really great community that shows up, but when you first start out, like you don't have that community and maybe your mom and sometimes your mom doesn't even like you.
[5:40] And you gotta, it's hard to do. And I have, I do have a story like for the first time I like got my first really big guest, like way back in the day I had, cashed in all my chips. and, Guy Kawasaki, like I had a knew peg Fitzpatrick, which was his social media manager. And she introduced me to him and he agreed to be on my show.
[6:01] And I'm like, Oh my gosh, this is my first one. I was so nervous. so he's in the green room. I'm in the green room. I'm getting ready to go live. I have, I countdown, I have the countdown timer going and I took a drink and it was like one of these water bottles and I had turned. And then I had come back to, to, to the desk and I hit the edge of the desk, like I went and the whole bottom went and it just fell out ice water into my crotch.
[6:26] So I'm like, hello, welcome to the, and it was my first episode had ice water underpants. And that's how that's kicked off my, like my big first guest career, interviewing people. So what you do then it's you think back to those times and there's probably nothing that can worse. It's going to happen to me than that.
[6:45] So everything else is cake. it's just going to be easy. It's just, it's just gravy. That, I guess that's the story. Things are going to happen. Things are going to, geese will show up at your front door. Power will go out. Your camera will quick working and it's, you're going to freak out the first couple of times it happens.
[7:04] You are, it's just going to freak you out. But then you're like, okay, I lived through that. Nobody left. Nobody gave me really bad comments about it. They laughed along with me. It's going to be okay. Now you want to make sure you want to have processes in place. okay. If my power gets out, maybe I can restart the router and have backup.
[7:21] It'll continue the stream or whatever. That's fine. But just know things that you don't think about, or even are comprehending could happen to you. Like geese on your front step. those things will happen and you just have to learn how to roll with them and it's okay. You're not, it's not, you're not going to lose your life.
[7:39] Life's
[7:41] Ian: Yeah, definitely. I think that is the key to your success. It's, the geese. It's the pouring water into your crotch. It's all those kind of things. And so like you've, heard it here. On this podcast, this is we, do aim to share the top tips and hacks, but seriously,
[7:59] Jeff: Where swim trunks when you first
[8:01] Ian: yeah, exactly. But it is, those moments when things go wrong and then you realize actually it doesn't matter.
[8:10] life just still goes on. We're all, We're all still, we're still here. And I think that was what happened back in, when the world shut down in 2020, we all, we were all there in our, I didn't necessarily go, on zoom and put my pajamas, but a lot of people did.
[8:28] And, the kids were in the background and all that kind of stuff. And people realize, we all have normal lives, people like that. what, you still get nervous today, but I assume that is different to when you first started. has there been any kind of pivotal moments throughout your career that's helped you build your confidence?
[8:51] Because I know you, do public speaking as well, and we've talked about this and you you think it's a great idea when you accept it to speak at an event, and then you get close to the event, you think, Why did I say yes?
[9:03] Jeff: Why did I do? Yeah.
[9:04] Ian: Why did I do
[9:05] Jeff: doing?
[9:06] Ian: And then you do, and then you do it and it goes well and you love it.
[9:09] And yeah, has there been any kind of moments that have, or a decision that you've made that's helped you?
[9:16] Jeff: So my decision I think was, it just happened to be that way. I've always had co hosts. I've always had people and now I've, since then I have done solo shows and I've, if I had where my co hosts couldn't make it or whatever, and it was just me or me and the guests. I just prefer doing shows with people instead of just me talking.
[9:34] Yeah. I just am more comfortable that way. And so I lean into what I'm more comfortable with. And then for my recent show, when I first started social media is live, I had Grace Duffy. We both left social media examiner and started our own show. And, she was awesome. And she helped produce the show, came up with questions, all that kind of thing.
[9:51] And then she moved on to do some stuff, with her, kids are graduating, and all this stuff. So she did that. And so I, I got Connor Brown who, and some other people, I have a traveling cohost, like you were a cohost a couple of times, Ian. so I have people who I can bring in to be that cohost.
[10:09] Cause I just, that's the way. I like to do a show. It makes it easier for me because I'm producing it. I can cut to my co host that gives me time to read ahead in the comments and all that kind of stuff. Look where I am in the show flow, all that stuff. So it just, it works for me now. It may not work for somebody else.
[10:23] It may be too much to do. And maybe they just want to do a solo show. That's fine. Do what you like to do and that you're comfortable with. And do more of it. So that's one of the things I, I lean into. if I have somebody cancel of for example, Connor can't be here this week, he's got parents in town.
[10:39] Okay. Connor can't do it. I'll ask around and see if anybody else of my friend group or my producer group would like to come in and co host with me. If not, it's not a big deal. I can do it myself, but I'm going to, I'm going to make that opportunity available to my friends. Cause a lot of times they like to come in and do that.
[10:54] That's just the way I do it. and the other thing is, I plan out my show. I have every year, every, Friday for, at least 10 years for my show, I have three sections and 10 questions, five sections, five questions for each section. And do we use all those questions? Nope. Do we sometimes not use any of the questions?
[11:15] Yeah, sure. But, I do that because it makes me more confident that I know where the show is going, where I'm planning. And also it, when I send it to my guests, it gives them a feeling like, okay, these people know what they're doing. They've got the show planned out. And I even mentioned we're not, probably not gonna give the questions, but here's what I'm thinking.
[11:33] A lot of times I'll have comments come in from our audience. I'll use those way more, than anything that I have, because I want to make it about what my audience wants. So I'll scrap my questions to bring in their questions. So that's, the kind of the two things that I have done to help me feel prepared and not have that, right before the show, Oh, what, am I going to talk about?
[11:55] what am I going to, though, that, that is gone for me. Cause I don't have, I've already planned out the show. I know where I'm going. I have the way I'm comfortable. And now. The audience is there because I've been doing it for so long. The same people show up. I know Gary is going to be there in the audience.
[12:10] I know Chris is going to be there. I know Ian's going to be there. So I know my people and that makes it makes me want to show up. Cause I'm excited to have a conversation with them.
[12:20] Ian: Yeah, I think the whole thing about preparing and having a process and having a plan is so, important. And actually, this is where I think a little bit of anxiety can help because I know, I've been on some shows where people just, they go, live and they don't even have a plan and it's, a bit of a disaster.
[12:39] I think you, you do need to have something there, even if you don't use much of it. You Sometimes you don't use any of the questions, but you've got something there because again, it depends on the guests that you have. Like some guests, you have to really rely on those questions and sometimes you, won't, but you need to.
[12:58] You need to have something there. That's, really important. So I want to ask you about, let's, let's talk about personality and the importance of, or how that plays a role, because we all have different personalities. How does, would you describe yourself like, introverted, extroverted, shy or bold?
[13:18] And how does that affect the way you turn up on camera?
[13:24] Jeff: that's a tough question. I think that I'm, what do they say at Amblevert? Cause I'm like, I have very, I have a lot of, I have some introverted tendencies, but I love to speak. And I, think I'm pretty good at speaking in public, but you know how a lot of people get their, they get a lot of energy from being around all the people.
[13:43] They have to be around people. that's just the way they are. My son's this way. He just, he loves going out with friends. He's got to be out doing stuff that I, can do that. And I love conferences. I love talking with people and all that stuff. But when I'm done, I need time. Like I need in my office by myself, if it's.
[14:01] Watching Netflix or doing whatever. whatever I need that time to recharge. I enjoy sitting in my room, reading a book. Like I am boring. I'm like toast, like just, so I'm, that's, I think plays into it a little bit. So I've in my processes, worked that in like most after Friday shows, I'm pretty much done for the day.
[14:23] I'll have some tasks that I'll do to, that I don't have to think hard about or be super creative with. Because I feel like I've burnt through all of that in my show in the morning, right? Or if I'm doing a, I love doing, road trips to my speaking events. because there's nothing fun about getting this big butt in a giant tube flying across the sky.
[14:44] It's, there's just nothing fun about it. It's like a big Vienna sausage is stuffed in a tube. But one of the things that I, So I like to drive if I can. So I'm not scared of flying, I just like to drive. And I love road trips because it gives me on the way there, I can think about what I'm going to be speaking about, I can do all that stuff, I can listen to podcasts, and on the way back, I can decompress.
[15:05] And I found that works really well for me. I love driving, I love seeing scenery, I love that windshield time, and so If it makes sense, I love to be able to drive to those conferences. And so I've worked that into my workflow as well.
[15:17] Ian: Yeah. I think. Being aware of our energy levels is absolutely vital. And I think I'm like you that I, if, particularly if I'm going live, we're not doing this live today, but particularly doing it live, I, think that generates more excitement and that interaction that we get with. with our audience.
[15:36] It's amazing. And I still very much advocate, going live or at least, but, what we're doing now is we're, recording this as if we were live, which I think is important. But at the end of it, I often do feel really tired. And so I need to Put that in, I need to be aware of that when, I work with my calendar as well.
[16:00] I do think like understanding ourselves is so, important. So when it comes to before you press that go live button, how do you prepare for your lives or recording a video? Is there anything that kind of, that you do, you've talked about planning. Do you do any kind of warming up? Do you go for a walk?
[16:20] what does, what's the kind of stuff that you do?
[16:22] Jeff: Usually I'm like, I usually, I have a schedule that I do every morning and I try to even on, on live show days to the same thing. And even when I'm traveling is I do prayer and meditation and I read and I get up early enough that I always have time to do that. And I journal a little bit. So I think I have an unbroken streak and I'm really proud of this.
[16:41] that I've written over written in my journal, like 1500 days or 1600 days in a row. it's three years. So it's really real. So I, and it's just a paragraph sometimes, but, I try to do that as well. And I do that's a, a centering thing that I do every morning that helps me get my day off on the right foot.
[17:02] but yeah, the other thing is for my live show days, I have a checklist. Because I've gone before and we, I, I use a Ecamm and they have isolated, isolated tracks, which is really important for me to use for when I'm, repurposing my show because I can just have the guests.
[17:19] I can just have me and it's easy to switch cameras. I have forgotten before, cause I've done like an Amazon video. I've turned off ISO because I didn't need all the camera recordings and I forgot to turn it on. For my live show. And I'm like, and I go and do it and like half of it's gone. So now I have a checklist of things that I make sure that I do beforehand, send out the emails to guests, make sure that they get the restream link.
[17:41] all the different things that come into it. So there is a process checklist that I do every time before the live show. And then I have one. that I get that repurposing thing kicked off right after the show's over. as soon as I'm done, before I get up from my desk, it goes to the script, and it starts doing the trans, the transcribing of the, audio to a script form that I can start used to editing and figure out what I'm gonna do for repurposing.
[18:06] Ian: Awesome stuff. Yeah, that repurposing side of things is, so important. And so is following that checklist. Oh my goodness. I've done, I've yeah, I've forgotten a few things like that in the past. There's one time actually when I was playing around with a 4k video, just playing around and, and then, and then I forgot to switch it off and.
[18:25] Basically, I went live and the whole system crashed because I was trying to go to 4k
[18:30] Jeff: hard drive. Yeah. Yeah.
[18:32] Ian: to too many different places. just before we finish, I'd love to know, have you got any words of encouragement or advice for listeners who maybe, they know they have a message, they want to communicate it to their audience, but there's just something stopping them.
[18:49] They may be, they may think they're quite shy. or they're struggling, that maybe they think they're a complete idiot in front of the camera and they're stumbling over words. What would your advice be to people like that?
[19:02] Jeff: If you're really nervous about going live, then I would practice like I would get what I have and I still have it is a, private Facebook group that I'm, only a member in and maybe one or two people, that I can go test things. Like when I first started producing and doing live shows, I would practice switching the cameras.
[19:19] I would practice that and see how that would look and how to bring up lower thirds. Never go live, like saying, I'm going to test this out, and I'm going to try this new thing. don't do that, please. Cause it won't work. It'll, and you'll be stumbling around and, I, unless your show is about testing new things, don't test new things on your show.
[19:38] the other thing is, is consistency. It's going to suck. It's going to be bad. You are going to be horrible when you first start out. All you want to do is get 1 better for the next time and just continue to do it. Most people quit way before the finish line. I see it all the time.
[19:55] Creators have such a great message and they're starting to resonate with their audience and they, quit. And I'm like, I've been doing for three years and I'm finally getting some traction the way I want. I feel so it takes some time and you, and just be consistent. Most podcasts, it used to be, they would stop after seven episodes.
[20:13] Now people stop after producing content for podcasts after five, I think the, newest reports came out. So if you can go over five podcasts or go live five times, you are better than 90 of your competition. So it takes time, it's consistent, and it's gonna be hard. It's, you're gonna screw up.
[20:32] Just know it from the beginning. You're gonna turn red on camera and say the wrong thing. The other day, I had a lady on as a guest, and I looked right at her and I went, This is the breast thing ever. And I'm like, Oh my gosh. Why did I say that? And I saw Connor looking at me in the thing. And you just, you're going to say the wrong things.
[20:53] It's going to happen. And, you're just gonna have to move forward. But the thing is be consistent, continue to be consistent, get 1 percent better every time, and you will be better than 90 percent of your competition.
[21:05] Ian: That's great advice. Thanks, Jeff. you just, you gotta get started and look at, some of our old stuff.
[21:15] Jeff: Don't look at our old stuff, though. Yeah. Don't look at it.
[21:19] Ian: Don't do that. we're out of time, Jeff. Thank you so much for that. That's, been really useful stuff. Like how can people find out a bit more about you?
[21:26] And I know you've been working on a few things that you can share with us as well.
[21:30] Jeff: Yeah. So the best place to find me is that, the, for the Friday show is we do that every Friday at 10 AM central socialmedianewslive.Com. If you'd like to listen to it, a podcast, just search social media news live. It'll pop right up. the other place is jeffsieh.Com. That's J E F S as in Sam. I E H I before E, especially in C.
[21:50] That's how my mommy told me to say it. Okay. And, got some great stuff there. I just put together a new toolbox of all this stuff, all my gear, the software, AI tools, all that stuff. If you go to jeffsieh.Com/toolbox, you'll be able to get that really, easy. And I also have a descript course.
[22:07] We've talked a little bit about the script and how I do some editing with AI and some stuff. It's a really great, powerful tool. Not the easiest intuitive thing to use. So I put together a course. If you go to jeffsieh.com/descript101, you can find out more about that. And if you use code IAN30, you'll get 30 percent off of whatever the price is, at the time.
[22:27] So make sure you guys check that out. jeffsieh.com/descript101 Oh one promo code. IAN30.
[22:34] Ian: Awesome. thank you, Jeff. It's been great to have you back on the show and I look forward to having you back very soon. Awesome.
[22:42] Jeff: Ian. That's been a lot of fun.
[22:44] Ian: Awesome. that is it for this week. I will be back again next week for another episode of the Confident Live Marketing Show. And until next time, I encourage you to level up your impact, authority, and profits.
[22:55] To the power of confident live video. See you soon!
[22:58] Thanks for listening to the Confident Live Marketing Podcast with Ian Anderson Gray. Make sure you subscribe at iag.me/podcast so you can continue to level up your impact, authority and profits through the power of live video. And until next time, Toodle
