Three Videos Every Business Needs

Now there are 3 kinds of video that you need to have when you are going to be running your business and marketing your business. But luckily today my guest is going to tell you what those 3 are, but not before I tell you that Josh and I had a little bit of fun on LinkedIn because I promoted the fact that he was coming on the show today and he's sent up on LinkedIn, it says there's a leading member of the ugly mug coalition. I need all the help I can get, and the simple act of reducing the shine makes a big difference under the studio light. So you've actually got a picture of him on LinkedIn holding a, a packet of oil control film. This is how much attention this man pays to production when he's making films for people. Josh Shade, joining us from Bealeton in Virginia. Welcome to the show.

Thank you. It is an absolute honor to be here.

Well, Josh, look, I'm not joking apart. You did put it up that you're coming on the show, and I thought it's fantastic because it shows that you care enough about coming on the show. And anyone that's going to watch this on the YouTube at Jim A. James will see Josh has got the lighting set up. He's got a microphone with his company Left, uh, Left Pie, um, on the microphone as a label. Looks like one of these TV anchors.

So Josh runs a company that is in video production, which is why I'm excited to have him here because it's such a hot topic.

Now, Josh, we're going to talk a bit about why content isn't just content, right? And why most of us could be making some, some content that's actually damaging our reputation and what the solution to that could be. So Josh, tell us a little bit about you first, and then we're going to dive into the 3 kinds of video that people need, but also the mistakes that we're making that may be undermining all the good that we think we're doing.

Sure. Uh, Look, I am, uh, I am someone who was a very insecure individual and who lived my life behind the scenes. And my whole goal my entire life was to shine a spotlight on other people, mainly because I didn't want the spotlight to be shown on me. Uh, and I stumbled into this world of marketing and video, and it has been an absolute blast, uh, to the point where I've, uh, conquered some of those insecurities, and I'm even appearing on prestigious podcasts now. Um, but it's one of the things that I feel is, uh, the coolest part about living in the time that we're living is that we have tools at our hand. We have people willing to give us knowledge and we can create the exact image of ourselves to share with the world. Like, that's incredible. We don't realize that less than 20 years ago, video production of a certain quality and a certain caliber was not accessible to us as human beings, as normal human beings. Like, the phones and the microphones and the lights would cost $70,000, $80,000, $90,000 apiece, and no one really has that chunk of change around.. But now, as I said, video has been democratized. And if you're a business and you're not using video to transform your entire operation, I think you're missing an absolutely huge, huge, just opportunity. And you're leaving some dollars on the table. And I don't know of any business owner that wants to leave dollars on the table.

No, especially at this day and age, you don't want to leave dollars or Bitcoin or crypto anywhere.

But I think you're absolutely right, Josh, that really even just the last decade has seen the accessibility of not only content creation, because I think that's become cheaper ever since, frankly, the iPhone has had the camera, but it's now the distribution has become easier because video through platforms like Riverside, through YouTube, through the Spotify with video— the content creation is one thing, but now distribution, uh, and embedding of video has, I think, managed to get it to be not just something you want to have on your own website, but something you use to promote outbound marketing as well as inbound marketing.

You said, Josh, here on your website that you have, uh, which is lftphi.com, um, and Josh can tell us the story about why he's given it a name that certainly I pronounced incorrectly.

You said you'd rather watch a video. Why, why is that, Josh? Why do you think people would rather watch a video?

So I've come across a couple of studies that are talking about how the way that we interact with knowledge now is changing. It was a New Zealand, I believe, based study that said that over 55% of people searching online are using platforms like TikTok and YouTube over traditional search engines like Google or Yahoo or any of the other ones that are around the world. And It clicked in my brain that it's that people aren't looking for information. People are looking for someone to tell them the information and to take the journey alongside with them as they overcome the struggles that they're facing. You know, the information that they're looking for. Personality is so, so, so important now. And that's why you'd rather watch video. From a business standpoint, even too, there's something much more personal and less cold about a video, especially if it's done with the right personality on screen. So yeah, that's why I, I believe that, yeah, you'd rather watch a video. I mean, we could do this podcast and we could just put out transcript, right? And sure, the content is the same. It's still searchable on all the search engines, all this stuff. But all that content and context and nuance and personality that you put into your presentation that hopefully I can communicate just by being on screen matters. So yeah, that's why people would rather watch video.

Yeah, Josh, I love that.

And this idea that, you know, people are looking for a companion on that journey, and especially as more and more people are feeling isolated when they're working from home and teams are getting to be more and more temporary, aren't there, as companies are sort of building Scrum teams and then they're coming, finishing a project and they're moving away again from each other. So I love that idea that people are looking for a companion on that journey.

Hopefully it'll be a human, not necessarily just an AI companion, but I guess that's coming too.

But Josh, that's maybe another topic we could talk about a little bit later. But what I would like to just talk to you about is this idea that there are 3 videos that you say that everybody needs to have.

I can't have you on here without asking you, what are those 3?

Sure. So it's quite simply this. It's your how, your what, and your why. How do you do what you do? Why do you do what you do? And most importantly, what do you do and why you're better than everyone else at it? And those 3 videos are absolutely essential. Absolutely essential. None of them have to be any more than 2 minutes. You can capture everything in those 2 minutes. And if you do them right and you do them with the right level of production that accurately portrays your business, you can use them almost forever. The ROI on a higher production video like one of those is much more than just a behind-the-scenes thing that you've captured and you've thrown up on your socials.

Josh, I'm going to ask you, can you dive into each one of those separately and give us, if you like, the the framework or the, the 10-scene layout? If it's 2 minutes at, you know, 28 frames a second, um, you know, you don't need that many, right? But do you want to just give us each of those videos as if you like a template? What should people include in each of the 3, or is it just one video with all 3 of them in it?

It sounds like you're saying there should be separate videos Yeah, they absolutely should be separate videos. Um, for the reason is that our attention spans are so much shorter and you can, uh, almost micro-target your ideal clients with shorter videos. And if you talk about, uh, going in depth into what those videos are, let's talk about the how. The how, you're going to open the scenes on, you know, explaining the problem that you are, that prompted you, explaining, excuse me. If we're talking about the how, you're gonna talk about how the problem that you had was, inspires you to make a solution. And then you're going to show the solution in steps. And then you're also going to Sorry, man, I got to be honest with you, uh, you kind of caught me off guard with this one. I wasn't prepared.

Oh, um, well, that's all right. Uh, welcome, welcome to my world, mate. That's, that's the trouble, Josh, with, uh— so you've got— but that's okay. So you've got the how is, is the, um, or how I came to this this place where I want to provide this solution, right, for the, for the audience.

Is that right?

Right. So the how is the actual nuts and bolts of how you address your ideal client's problems, right? This is where you're going to show some of your behind-the-scenes stuff. This is where you're going to show the actual product that you produce or the actual solution that you have. You're going to, it's not gonna be a full demo or tutorial, but it's gonna be a highlight reel of the capabilities that you can offer. The what is very similar. It focuses on what exactly that you do, but it's very narrow targeted to your problems. This is 2 or 3 of the main problems that you solve for your ideal clients. That's the what. And then finally is the— excuse me, sorry about that. And then finally is kind of like the whole why you're in business and your backstory, right? Why you do what you do and why you're better at it than everybody else. Those are kind of the basic outlines. And you ask kind of like for a template, a script of whatever it would be on it. That's going to change so much. It's going to change based on the personality of your company. It's going to change based on your, the types of offerings. It's going to change really based on the audience that you're going for. If I'm in financial services, I'm going to make a completely different video than I'm going to if I'm making energy drinks. So there's really no one type of template that everything should have. It's all really gonna be based on the client.

Okay.

And then I'm gonna ask you then, Josh, you talked about content and production and are they not one in the same thing? Because many people can now create content, but from what I hear from you, you're saying, well, you know, there are production values to be involved. So just take us through what's the difference, because most of us are filming and, as you say, spending a lot of time doing it but without much expertise or training or direction. So what's the difference?

Sure, uh, look, content has become a catch-all for anything that is thrown on the internet, on a social media feed, uh, in its I think content should have a little bit better of a place in, in the marketing mix for sure. But content is something that I feel the bar is very low for entry. And if you are not creating content at the bare minimum, you're missing huge opportunities to connect with your audience. Where production comes in, it's a higher level of detail, thought, planning, and execution that is meant to deliver a completely different type of message. Where content to me is about attracting eyeballs, production is about getting to a very particular outcome. Production from turning a person from converting into a— from a client or from a prospect to a client, from a trainee if it's an internal production, from a trainee into a full-blown employee, to creating something that to creating a, a very specific outcome for what you're looking for. Where content is, hey, look at me, look at me, look at me. Production is, let me move you from point A to point B very specifically. And it takes a lot of high-end work to get that feeling across outside of just the on-screen talent.

Very interesting, Josh. So Would it be fair to say that really sort of content is to some degree just what we produce, but if it's got production values, there's an intent behind it that is structured throughout the narrative.

And what about the kind of elements when you do production to get people from, you say, from a trainee to a full employee? What elements would you at Leffify be putting into that video to make sure that it accomplishes the intent and creates impact?

So classically, it's going to be camera, lighting, sound, motion graphics. Based off of a well-defined script and then shot under very controlled circumstances or situations, right? A production is usually controlled. You've got control over your lights, your levels, the makeup artist, all of those things because there is, you're expecting a higher return on investment on that than you are hitting the record button on your camera, on your microphone. So the elements that you put in there is really mostly stuff that happens off camera. You are doing all of the prep work to create a narrative that moves people from point A to point B, and you are reshooting and recapturing. And, you know, the, the production gets much bigger and much more complex. Because of that.

Josh, I think you've also kindly articulated the difference there.

And one of the standout points you made there for me is that the work takes place off camera, right?

And I think that with content, we're all busy thinking about, you know, clicking the record button on our phones and going, okay, I just need to do the graphics after I've done the filming. I would be fair to say that really production and where you come in, you, Josh Shade, and your team, is to think about what happens before the button gets pressed.

Absolutely. You know, for instance, if you're creating content, you really don't care what angle of the sun is going to be coming in through the window. When we're on a production, we're on set, we've got apps on our phones to track the movement of the sun because as the movement of the sun goes across the screen, it changes the lighting on the face of our clients that are on there. That's a different level of being particular that isn't demanded from content, but is demanded from high-end production.

Josh, and I'm smiling for anyone that is watching the video, they'll see me smiling because I've spent hours trying to get my lighting right. And because I find in the morning when I record, the lights on the other side of the house and doesn't come through. And then by the afternoon, my afternoon interviews, the setup has to be almost entirely different with the lighting.

And so I'm absolutely with you on that. And that's actually the challenge of video, of course, is that you have to think about the context, the lighting, not just the sound, right?

So it is a multisensory and therefore multidimensional and requires that level of work that Josh, you put into the production.

So that's wonderful to think about it in that way, that we need to have intent and that needs to translate into some logistics and possibly some apps, uh, as well before the filming starts.

Josh, what can you recommend for those of us that maybe don't have a, a large budget, um, and most of us are creating content at speed and at home or in the office. For the amateur creators like me, what do you recommend we do to make sure that our production values set us above, if you like, the low level that can actually damage our reputation?

Yeah, you know, it's really interesting you use the term damage your reputation on lower levels. There's something about high-end production or even next level production from whatever the level that you are now going to the next level that shows that you care enough about your audience to put the work in. And two, that you have this different level of trust that you gain because you've put that work in. So yeah, I like how you put the, you know, sometimes lower level content can damage us. To your point, if Let me just say, I was talking to you and you were one of my clients. The first thing that I would tell you to do with your trouble with the lighting that you have is buy blackout curtains and keep your room completely blacked out and dark as much as possible, because the sun you cannot control. You can't, but you can control where you put a light. You can control your background. You control all of those things. So The first step, any amateur person wanting to take that next step in production, is learning what you can control and how to keep control of the variables. How do you reduce echoing in your room if you're talking about audio, reducing outside light and outside distractions by blocking off areas? And then look, You can get, you can invest, uh, $60 to $80 US dollars. I know there's international shows, so I want to put in there, there's US dollars, $60 to $80 US dollars in a couple of small lights that will do wonders for you. Um, and it's just a matter of getting online, asking the right people who know what they're doing questions, like reaching out to me, asking me questions. Hey, what should I get here? I'm trying to accomplish this, because every person is going to approach content production or video production in a different way. And you've got to be able— my job is to be able to be flexible enough to say, for you, it would be this. For you, it would be this. So reach out to someone. Don't think you can just figure it out all on your own. That's probably the number one step is find a creator that you like, connect with them. How do you do what you do? And then move on from there. And then secondly, be prepared to find ways to control your variables.

Okay, that's really good advice that you need to say control your variables, and that doesn't cost anything actually, although the blackout curtains might cost you a penny or two or a dollar or two, depending on where you are.

Well, if you have a blanket laying around and you can tack a blanket up over your windows to cut down on the light, You've already invested in the blanket. Find, you know, just a way to keep it up there and do that. There's a lot of simple ways and a lot of simple hacks to get around and control your variables. Not everything is going to have to cost you a lot of money.

And I think to your point, Josh, you're always amazed when you look at a creator's studio.

It can look beautiful from behind, but because you're only seeing that 16:9 letterbox, actually The rest of the room, uh, could be carnage, frankly, but you— it's what you see in front of the camera that matters.

Yeah, I, I would not want to give you a panoramic view of everything that is around me right now, Josh.

I wouldn't ask you. There's some people only listening, not watching, um, so they could just imagine you in, uh, in a nice big, you know, uh, leafy suburb in Virginia there, which is obviously where you are, in a nice mansion of some kind, an antebellum mention. Um, Josh Shade, with the kind of business that you've been building, um, love to just move on to you as an entrepreneur, if that's okay. How have you been building the brand?

And help me, because I have, I'm sure, said the wrong name.

It's, it's Left Phi, right?

Um, Left Phi.

Left Phi. There you go. I told you I'd be spelling it wrong. It's, it's Phi as in like P-H-I. So you've got the, the, um, Greek, I guess that is, isn't it?

How have you been getting your business noticed?

You know, it's going to sound really simple and some people might roll their eyes, but it's your network. For me, it's always the network. I have dedicated— I've kind of dropped a lot of my other social channels to look directly and work directly on LinkedIn. And then tapping into the people that I already know to help me find people that they know. Um, it's the most cost-effective way. Uh, and it is, I don't know, for me, the most powerful way. Like I've, I've been able to work with some of the largest, uh, industries and companies on this globe. And it wasn't because I had contacts in them directly. It's because I had friends of friends of friends. That got me in the door and then executed on them. So it's the network. I can't, you know, I can't say it's anything. I don't have any magic secret sauce. I don't have anything to, you know, any, you know, secrets that hacks or any of that. It's just who you know and creating more connections with people.

But Josh, that's what this show is about, right? It's about talking to people like you who are building businesses and keeping the cash coming in without a large budget and without this perception that there might be one magic solution. You know, everybody's got different ways of doing it. They're all equally valid. And one of the points of this show is to give people reassurance that what they're doing is, is fine. And other people may have different ways, but there, there isn't a universal solution to getting noticed that is applicable to everybody's business. For everybody's stage of business, right?

We're all, we're all different.

It is interesting that you're focusing in on LinkedIn. So have you, if you like, moved away from Facebook, uh, Instagram, TikTok, especially with your background in video? I'm interested that you've lent into LinkedIn.

Well, I've, I've moved into LinkedIn because that's where the businesses are. I'm a very business-focused a production house. Uh, you know, I— videographers, if you do a search for videographers, you've got wedding videographers, you've got birthday and event videographers, you've got all types of different things. I'm super business focused. So LinkedIn is where my crowd is, and I'm happy that LinkedIn is pushing video content as hard as it is. Uh, it is It's kind of like a finally type of moment for us video creators out here because our audience is on LinkedIn and now they're getting fed our work. So yeah, that's, that's why I'm at LinkedIn. YouTube is something I'm looking at a little bit in the future to get a little bit more long-form stuff. I'm a kind of a big believer in the short-form push, but I do see long-form content being massively important too. But right now I'm riding the LinkedIn wave and I'm investing most of my time in there. And if you're B2B, I think that's the place you need to be.

Okay, that sounds good. If you're in B2B, LinkedIn's the place to be. You heard it here first from Josh Shade.

There you go. I think that'll be our snippet.

Josh, if there's, if you like, a number one tip that you would give my fellow unnoticed entrepreneurs, as an entrepreneur yourself, what would it be?

Don't be, don't, don't be too scared to start creating video. Don't let it overwhelm you. Uh, don't think that you're going to be this amazing thing from day one, but that doesn't matter. Just start it. If I may, let me, if I may share, videos changed my life. I was, I was fired from a job and I started making some video content on the side and I was laid off for like 18 months and finally got an interview and the lady and the hiring manager said to me, yeah, we saw some of your videos online and we liked your personality and we liked you know, who you were. This wasn't even related to the job I was getting, but just the fact that I had videos online and they got to know me before they even needed to work with me was a sign that this video thing is important. So to all the entrepreneurs out there, get comfortable on camera. Just start, just do it. It will pay you dividends down the line.

Josh, I love that. Thank you so much. And as someone who is experimenting and trying to grow through video myself. I also really appreciate your encouragement that I may actually get better, which is reassuring. I can only go up. I can only get better from where I'm sitting right now. So that's great. Thank you for the encouragement. Josh Shae, if people want to find out more about you and LeFi, where can they do that?

Sure. Best place to find me is on LinkedIn. I've kind of already given that away. I'm there multiple hours a day. Love responding to DMs, love responding to comments. Uh, you can check out our website and find out a little bit about the production services that we offer to businesses. Um, uh, lftphi.com, lftphi.com, and, uh, stop by, see us, see what we're doing, see what we're up to, see how we can help you out, transform your business through the power of video.

The way you said that, it's almost like you said that before.

Josh, thank you for coming on the show.

Thank you so much.

You've been listening to Josh Shade, and by the way, his surname is spelled S-C-H-A-I-D-T. It sounds like a sort of a word scramble game, um, but it's pronounced Shade. So that's how you can find him, but also I'll put his details in the show notes as always. Thank you for joining me, Jim James, your host of The Unnoticed Entrepreneur, today Big takeaway, of course, from Josh. One is that not all content is created equal. Number two, that we need to think about what we do before we hit record in order to create good quality content that doesn't damage our reputation. And the third is that don't let those first two put you off starting because you do need to create video because ultimately that's where people are leading to watching rather than just trying to read. People want to see who you are before they do business with you, so video is going to be essential. My name is Jim James. You can listen to this, hopefully, but also you can see us on YouTube. Thank you so much for joining me, and until we meet again, I just encourage you to keep on communicating.