The Best Camera for Coaches to Start Creating Content (You Already Have It)

Do you have an Amazon wishlist that has a bunch of gear that you're going to buy? Do you find yourself watching videos on what's the best camera? Well, that feels productive, don't it? But it's a waste of your time because you already have enough gear to create content today. In fact, you might even be using your content creation gear to watch this video. And I get it. I really do. I wasted 827 days doing the same thing. Before I created my first piece of content. And I learned that the best gear in the world means nothing if you're not ready to press record. So in this video, I'm gonna show you exactly what gear you actually need. And I promise you, you already have it. If your Amazon wishlist has the best mic, tripod, camera, and lighting, and you're waiting for Prime Day to come so these items can be on sale, Michael Jackson said it best, you are not alone, and I get it. Listen, if you're going to create content, you want to be all in. You don't want to look like no amateur for the public to judge. Maybe you even bought gear, but it didn't produce the perfect quality in your practice videos. So you decide, you know what, I'm gonna get some better gear before I post anything. That's why you have videos on the best gear to buy in your watch later tab on YouTube. And the deeper you go into research, the more confusing it gets. Because every creator, they have different opinions. And now you're more lost than when you started. Not to mention, every day you educate yourself on the perfect gear setup, someone is missing out on your solution to their problem. Someone is denied of becoming the person who they can be because you don't feel like you're ready. And I know exactly how this feels because I lived like this. During my pre-content creation days, my YouTube homepage was flooded with tech review videos because I didn't want to have sloppy videos. But I was going to college full-time, so I didn't have the money to splurge on a 4K camera. So I watched every budget gear video that I could find. And whatever they recommended, I bought, and I felt more motivated to create content. When the gear arrived, I would shoot practice videos and review them. But something, something just felt off every time. My videos, they didn't come out with the media production quality that I wanted. So I, I never posted those videos. I left them in the vault for no one to find and see, and I would just practice editing them. During COVID my uncle, he would actually come with me to my college campus and we would go out there and we would shoot some videos. But during the shoots, the angle was always terrible with the tripod. The mic I had attached to my phone, it was always in the shot. And my uncle always filmed. He just always managed to film in a way where the sun was in my eyes and I couldn't see. It felt like Murphy's Law every time we filmed. And when I would review those videos, I thought to myself, you know what, ain't nobody gonna ever see these videos and know that they exist. And what's funny is that my uncle, he would call me because he was always my biggest supporter. He was, he was the only family member who I told that I was going to create content. And he would call me, he would ask me, hey man, when we gonna go back out to your college and film some more videos? And I would say, you know what, ah, ah, You know what? We're going to do that next week. I got to— I got to get a new tripod. All of a sudden I started stuttering because I started lying. But next week turned into next month and next month turned into next year. And my YouTube channel still didn't have a video uploaded. But one day I realized I'm spending all this money on equipment and I still wasn't satisfied. I was recording at the school because I like the scenery. But I still wasn't satisfied. I was adding all this equipment to my cart and asking my family members to buy for me on my birthday, and I still wasn't satisfied. Now, at the time, I watched a lot of Think Media content at the time, and Sean Cannell, he will always start the video out by saying, you got to just press record. On top of that, he would insert the clip of his very first video, and it was not high quality, as it is today. And I thought to myself, if he could show up and perfect like that, maybe I could too. So I said, you know what, I'm gonna make this simple. I started recording in a small space with a basic background. All I had was a picture of chess pieces on the wall, and I would film on my iPhone 11. I didn't even have the latest iPhone at that time. I think it was 13, and I had a cheap lavalier mic hooked to it. I didn't have any studio light, so I had to use a second phone as a light source. And because I only had cheap tripods, I had to place that light source on top of 3 paint cans so it could be higher than the phone that I was filming with. If you look at those earliest videos and you see the shadows in them, that's because I got tired of moving those paint cans around to eliminate those shadows. But that's exactly what I needed to do to finally show up on camera. And if I had waited for the perfect setup, you would have never seen this video because I would have never shown up at all. And neither will you. Here's what nobody tells you about the gear obsession. When you obsess over gear, you numb yourself from the potential pain of showing up in a way that people will judge you. And when you buy gear, you think you're buying confidence to avoid that pain, but you're avoiding what creates that confidence. The only reason you believe you need this gear is that it feels like the makeup that hides your imperfections. It's the makeup that makes you look better than you think you are. And if people can't see your imperfections, how can they judge you? The gear isn't about— it's not about quality. It's about protection. The gear feels like it's going to make you feel confident when you show up. But confidence isn't created in that 4K Sony camera. It's not created in that DJI mic that I'm using to record right now. It's created by taking action. It's created when you're willing to show up imperfect, uncomfortable, and raw. So you got to take action, because if you don't, you'll feel like the hidden gem that nobody wants. You'll feel like the best-kept secret that nobody talks about. You'll even feel like a liar. For saying that you were going to create content but failing to do so. Here's what I discovered when I stopped hiding behind my gear obsession and I just, I just pressed record. I didn't have a following and I wasn't popular, so no one was going to watch my early videos to judge me. The YouTube algorithm didn't know me well enough to know to promote my videos, to know that they were valuable for others to see and consume. I was worried about an outcome that had no chance of happening because I was invisible to the algorithm. So if I get all my worst producing videos out now and I show up consistently, people will find me on my better produced videos and appreciate the value that I share. My first setup was an iPhone 11, a $30 lavalier mic, and two cheap tripods, which one I had to level on top of three paint cans. And I've been fortunate to record over 600 videos with confidence that grew like an oak tree. You've been looking for gear to give you permission to create content, but you don't need it. Your phone records in HD, and the built-in mic is more than enough to capture sound. The sun could be your natural light, so hold your phone up and speak in front of it, or find you 3 paint cans to let let it stand on so it can shine that light on you. The point is, use what you have because it's more than enough. If you don't know what to film, I've got you. I don't want that excuse to be a crutch that you're relying on anymore. And you need reps to have confidence on camera. And that's why I've put together a guide called Your First 3 Videos. With these 3 videos, The purpose isn't to be perfect. It isn't to make them the best. The purpose is to force yourself to be uncomfortable because that's when confidence grows. If you do it messy and ugly and you're consistent with showing up, eventually you will show up naturally. I even added a one-take checklist in this guide, which includes hook them fast, Talk to one person. Keep everything simple. Record your videos in one take and no restarting. Now, why is that important? You aren't here to be perfect. You are here to be present. And that's why I included all of that in your production requirements. So check out the first link that's in the description. I wasted 827 days obsessing over gear that I didn't need or couldn't afford.. And it, it wasn't going to make a difference in just starting. I don't know how many days you've wasted, but what you have to say and the value that you can offer is way more important than the gear that's on your Amazon, on your Amazon wishlist. What you have is more than enough right now. And if you start now, you will feel the relief of finally having the courage to show up. You will realize that what you feared didn't come true. So go download the guide, record your first video, and build on that, because that's how you become confident on camera. The people who need you aren't waiting for you to buy that camera that's available on Black Friday or Prime Day. They're waiting on your solution to their problem. If you're ready to take control of your life and develop that confidence that you've always been waiting for, then these two videos will help with that.