What is the purpose of 500 vlogs in 365 days?
Last year I attended an online course called the London Real Business Accelerator. The course had a strong focus on video and its importance for online business. A recurring theme throughout the whole course was to record vlogs. I believe most of you will agree with me that it is a strange and scary feeling to speak into a smart phone and publish it to the whole world forever. One of the tasks the first course week was to record 10 vlogs in 10 days. And on the 5th of November last year I recorded my first vlog. I had just finished an awfully long field day of measurements in the south of Sweden and had gotten into my rental car about to head back home. But I knew that I needed to record that vlog before I go, because it was late in the evening. So, after a LOT of resistance, I grabbed my phone and started talking about the thoughts that were in my head at that moment and published it on Youtube and shared the link on my other platforms. I did not stop at 10 vlogs, I just kept going. Now, a year later I am closing in on 500 vlogs and the friction is all but gone. Here are some of the most important things I have learned.
In the beginning, there were tons of resistance every time I was about to do a vlog. I wrote short scripts, rehearsed, re-recorded, fixed the lighting, worked with audio quality and microphones and I could easily spend a whole hour just to do a five-minute vlog. It was like that for the first three months, until the 7th of February when I was back on the same building site where I recorded my first vlog. The timetable was extremely tight as we were measuring in dwellings with undergoing reconstruction. So, we had builders on site and annoyed tenants who were waiting to get access to their homes. Basically, the perfect conditions NOT to record a vlog. But I went for it and recorded a 59 second video with some advice on how to simplify sound insulation measurements. This was a critical milestone which took three months and about 100 vlogs to achieve. I could even feel it instantly. When you learn how to record video under the worst possible conditions, you can do it anytime, anywhere. After this date, the resistance was reduced to a fraction. I even wrote a whole blog article about it. Nowadays, I even look for situations that are ill adapted to vlog recording when I do my vlogs. Because every time you do something in extreme conditions, the experience gained will simplify your life a lot under normal and good conditions. Maybe I am a masochist? Anyway, it works like a charm and is a powerful mind hack.
Another thing that I used a lot the first six months was an idea document on my phone, where I wrote down some keywords anytime an idea came to me. “Hmm, this would be an interesting vlog topic! Let’s write it down so I don’t forget it, and then record it later”. This document was very helpful to me, because by keeping an idea list I could never end up in a situation where I couldn’t figure out what to do a vlog about. In those cases, I just opened my idea list and grabbed one of them and pressed record. A quite easy way to reduce resistance. As I published content, people commented and provided feedback which drove my thought process and generated many ideas. However, the idea list grew faster than my ability to publish vlogs and soon enough I realized that the time spent writing those ideas down, would be better spent publishing content. My last entry in the idea list was the 23rd of May and I haven’t used it since. Nowadays, as soon as I have the same thought mentioned above, I go like this instead: “Hmm, this would be an interesting vlog topic. Let’s record it.” And minutes later the vlog is online. Two important lessons learned here: 1) I spend a lot less time and 2) The quality and engagement are higher. Talk about win-win! Never think twice. Don’t save it for later. The next logical step is to start live-streaming the vlogs. That is even faster, and it also increases the reach.
But what is the purpose of all these vlogs? It’s not like anyone will watch hundreds of them. Correct, and I don’t expect anyone to do that either. There are two reasons that I keep pumping out videos. The first and most important one is that I want to add value to the world. I know that my experience and knowledge can help others out there who are struggling with the very same problems like me. What better way to achieve this than to get the content out there and see what resonates? And then do more of that. I would guess that less than 5% of the content I produce resonates, so patience is key. The second reason is that I want to hone my skills and become comfortable on camera. And the only way I know of is to be on camera, as often and as much as possible. It is a practical skill, and practical skills need practice. My aim has always been one thousand vlogs. The reason is extremely simple: If you do something one thousand times, it is impossible to not get at least decent at it. That is true in any domain. But be careful, the method works both ways. Bad habits also hone your skills, but in the wrong direction…