In this short instructional video, Evan Carmichael answers a viewer’s question about how a life‑insurance agent should use a 30‑second promotional video. He argues that the single most effective strategy is to tell an authentic personal story rather than pitch a product. By sharing why the agent started the business, what they love about it, and what they hope to achieve, the viewer creates a relatable, trustworthy impression that stands out in a highly commoditized industry. Carmichael illustrates his point with a spontaneous 30‑second sample script that highlights his own entrepreneurial journey and mission to help others. He then provides practical production tips: write a brief outline, rehearse repeatedly, but discard the exact script during filming; focus on speaking naturally to the imagined customer; and manage camera nerves by ignoring the crew and visualizing the audience. The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to like, comment, and suggest future topics.
Chapters
Tell your story. If you only have one shot to make an impression on a new potential client, the best thing you can do is not pitch them, but tell your story. Because it's authentic, because they'll listen to it, because it's real, and because it's something that nobody else is doing. I got a question today from, uh, one of my readers Rajee, hope I pronounced that properly, who's a life insurance agent, and he has a great opportunity ahead of him. A company came to him and basically he won a chance to do a 30-second video that they're gonna shoot and produce for him, and he wrote in to say, "What should I talk about in this video?" My best advice for you for that 30-second clip, your one chance to make an impression and have a professional image out there, is to tell your story. Don't pitch some insurance product. Don't go on about the benefits of using life insurance. You have one chance to make a lasting impression, and it's gonna come from telling your story. When you tell your story, people relate to you more. They like you, they know you, they trust you, they want to learn more about you. They feel like, this is somebody who I can relate to. And when people can relate to you, they're more likely to buy whatever product or service it is that you're selling. Don't lead with the product, lead with yourself. Especially when you're in a hugely competitive industry. Listen, in life insurance, there's nothing that you're selling that I can't get from somebody else. That's the nature of the beast. You're in a heavily commoditized business, and the best way to stand out, the only way you're gonna stand out, is throwing more of yourself into your business. Why did you start this company? What are you trying to accomplish? Why do you love this? What excites you about this company? Let that shine through. If you're excited and you're passionate and you're honest and you're real, people will be drawn to you and they'll want to work with you. If I was gonna do something, if I had a quick pitch, I might do something like this: Hi, I'm Evan Carmichael. I believe in entrepreneurs. I had my first company when I was 19 years old. I was all excited to start this business up and soon discovered it was way harder than I thought it was going to be. And I thought about shutting down almost every day. I was making $300 a month and couldn't survive and had to tell my friends that I couldn't go out to dinner with them, mostly because I couldn't afford it. I made it through. I was one of the lucky ones. 80% of businesses fail, but I made it through, and now I teach entrepreneurs how to do it. I'd love to help you. If you want to do something different in this world, if you want to start a business not just because you're trying to make a lot of money, but because you see a different future and you want to have an impact, then I want to help you, and I look forward to hearing from you. Something like that, okay? That was just spur of the moment. I don't know if that was 30 seconds, however long it was, but with some practice You can make it amazing. Tap into your story, why you started this, what you hope to accomplish. Make it real, make it authentic, and people will be drawn to you. Now, this is really hard for anybody who's first doing video. It's super, super hard. I remember my first videos were terrible. You go back on my YouTube channel, you'll see how bad they were. It's really nerve-wracking, and the best advice I can give you is really prepare in advance. So don't memorize a script, 'cause that never works. You'll be looking into the camera like this, and then trying to look off to the side, or trying to read something that's just above the camera. It makes it look like you're not actually reading. You could tell. Practice your pitch, have something written down, practice it over and over and over and over again, but when it comes time to actually delivering it, get rid of the actual script. Stop trying to memorize. Go with what feels right. And try to ignore the people who are in the room filming you, because it is nerve-wracking just talking into a camera. And try to imagine your customer, your potential customer, in front of you and the message that you want to get out to them. You want to touch them in this 30-second opportunity. So practice, practice, practice. Hope you guys enjoyed this video. If you do like it, please give it a thumbs up below. It always makes me want to do more for you. And I want to hear what you have to think. Please leave a comment below if you agreed with my opinion here, or if you have a question for your company, leave it below and I'll make a video response. Thank you so much, and I'll see you soon.
