Could Live Streaming Help Pivot to a New Reality - 'Shorty EP#074

G', day, guys. It's dan here. Tuesday 24th March, week 13 of the year.

Dropping in today. Now, I'm going to keep this quite short today because I have just getting over a stinking cold. I have checked. I don't have coronavirus, which I'm grateful for, but obviously there's a lot going on just now and many places around the world are in lockdown, which is, you know, sensible. I think we want to try and slow this thing down. I hope you're all practicing social distancing. I've been kind of alarmed to see how people in, where I live here in Queensland popped out in the van the other day and, yeah, just like, you know, blatantly ignoring it. So I hope that. I hope that people start to kind of pay attention to that because it's really important. Anyway, back to the podcast. We just wanted to kind of share with you. First of all, I hope you're okay. I'm sure this must be a challenging time for many of you. Most of the video industry has had to shut down, but not all. I've got to say that paying a special tribute, if you like, to my video business accelerator members who are just absolutely pulling together in the community, sharing with each other stuff that's working, what's not. And, and most of them are actually in pretty good shape because we really sort of, you know, foster a sense of, you know, being organized, being always. We talk about, you know, having a slush fund, having an emergency fund. Well, this is that emergency. But more than that is the speed at which people are responding and coming up with new ways to communicate what we do. I really, truly believe that as video producers, we have an absolute obligation to pivot our businesses and help people who are literally shitting a brick. There's a new paradigm in place. You know, forget what happened a month ago. We'll never go back the way the life was. And I think that's probably going to be a good thing. I'm hoping it'll bring us closer together and make us more compassionate, care for each other a little bit more. You know, something is slowing us down. This, this virus is doing that. So let's, let's look at it for what it is, which is an opportunity to pivot and, and look at new ways of doing business, because I really believe that it won't last forever. You know, I said this multiple times. You know, we are going through a very challenging period, but as a civilization, we are very resilient and very resourceful. And so this morning we actually held a special webinar for our members where one of our members, actually, he runs a live Stream, an events company in New Jersey, shared how to do it. And one of the things I'm most proud of about my community is, or our community is that, you know, he was so willing to share everything that he did, how he did it, what gear you need, what he charges, how to go out and get clients, and how to negotiate. So thanks, Tony, for that. That was absolutely exceptional. And actually, just afterwards, Tony, I were chatting, and we might actually, if there's enough interest.

Put together an online program that will help video production companies out there who are struggling. And one of the things that I really strongly believe in and that my business mentors and I have been discussing is this is actually an incredible opportunity. During any crisis, there's always a boom afterwards. So I want you to focus on not what you don't have at the minute, but actually what can you control, what can you influence, what could you be doing? You know, now is the time for study. Now is the time to get your marketing plan in place. Now is the time to start, you know, getting all those things that you never had time to do done. And I'm not talking about, you know, polishing your gear and doing a new reel. I'm talking about business things. You know, how can you make yourself more robust for the future? Because this will recover, folks. Let me be very clear. This will recover. It will be a different playing field, and there are going to be some casualties along the way. But if you use this time constructively, you will find yourself being ready for when things change. And livestreaming is an opportunity that I certainly see being a very, very prime opportunity when things start to recover. And even at the moment, Tony was sharing some things about how you can just, you know, skin up, zoom, and do some things at the back end in terms of moderating, helping clients. And so it was really powerful. But.

Excuse me. You know, more than anything, I want you to just be staying focused. So, couple little tips, and this may not be a popular thing, but, you know, go easy on the booze. You know, don't find yourself. Try and avoid getting home and hitting the bottle.

This is said without any judgment, but it's. It's like alcohol is a depressant. And when things get tough, sometimes we hit, you know, the drink a little bit, and what it will do is it'll make you feel good for a while, and then it'll make you feel really bad. And the next day you'll Feel depressed and anxiety and anxiety will creep in. And if you want to learn more about this, you know, go and check out the podcast I did about how I gave up drinking for six months. I come to you from a place of service saying this is a really positive time to be knocking back things like that. You have to stay really focused on what you can control and what you can influence. And I know that a lot of the UK is on lockdown, a lot of the US is on lockdown, New Zealand's on lockdown, Australia's still fucking about. I don't know what they're doing, but we should be on lockdown as well because we need to just control the spread of this virus right now. And sitting at home for a couple of weeks or four weeks, it's not the worst thing in the world. We have Internet, we have television, we have computers, we have our brains, we have audible, we have books, we can read. Think of this as a self enforced period of learning. Imagine you had to reinvent your business in the next month, which is what many of you are going to have to do. Let's not make two ones about it, but you know, it is what it is, it just is. It's not good, it's not bad, it's not positive, it's not negative, it just is. And so it's really important to keep perspective. You know, I pray that you're healthy, but let's assume you're healthy. Like, you know, there's still food to eat, we have a roof over our head, let's crack this, let's dominate and actually figure out ways to come back stronger. Because that's what this is. This is an opportunity to come back stronger. And actually on Thursday I'll be releasing an episode I did with Yana Martins, which we caught up on Sunday. And Yana, as a psychologist, was sharing some really big insights on how to keep your mind set on the right side of positive. And we recorded a podcast with her on Sunday. Now the recording is not amazing because we just did it last minute and it's over the kind of phone, but some great, great tips there. And Yana's just slipped into our mastermind group to help the guys out there with support as well. So yeah, look guys, you know, if you are, if you're struggling, then you need to reach out for support somewhere, make sure you ask for help. And if you're struggling with anything specifically, you know, drop me a message on LinkedIn and I'll point in direction to somebody who might be able to Help you. And just also, if you haven't yet gone and watched my webinar that I did, the emergency webinar on how to combat the economic effects of what's happening, if you go to the website@denleny.com the homepage, I've changed the homepage. It's there on a replay. We're going to have that on replay till 31st March. So make sure you go and watch that. It's full of ideas, concepts and examples of how you can combat this and actually make money from home without shooting anything.

It's, it's available till the 31st, another week or so. So make sure you go and check that out. And. Yeah, look, guys, you know this, these are unusual times, but I know you made a strong stuff. I know you'll get through this. If you want some support and you feel like you want to reach out, have a chat, then connect with me on LinkedIn and by all means do that. I'm here to support and help you. Obviously, my first layer of support goes to all my clients. We're in the group where we're looking after them very, very closely, constantly monitoring the situation. And as I said before, you know, those guys are just like smashing it. You know, they're winning jobs, they're going out and doing stuff where they can within the realms of restrictions are involved, but they're pivoting and offering their clients solutions. So I want to leave you with this. I want you to reach out to all of your clients and call them. Not just like, send them an email, call them and just ask them this question. How are you? How can I support you? How are you being impacted by this? How can I support you? What can I do? Can I jump on a call with you? Can I just brainstorm ideas with you to help you get through this? That, that will go a very long way with your clients, folks. So, you know, and similarly, if you're struggling, reach out. Let me see what I can do to help you. Talk to you again on Thursday.

You've been listening to the how to Scale a Video Business podcast with me, your host, Dan Lenny. If you're a video business owner who's hit a ceiling and we benefit from mentorship, support and coaching, then check out how you can work with me over@denlenny.com don't forget to subscribe and rate the show over on itunes. And we'd really appreciate you taking a few minutes to leave a review. And don't forget to share if you feel you've gotten value from this episode and you think it would be useful for other filmmakers, you know, if you. And please do me a massive favor and share it on social media and in groups that you might be in. See you next week.