8 Ways You Can Be More Confident on Camera

This feels super awkward, and I'm even just walking in my neighborhood and there's not a lot of people out, but this does not come natural to me. So many of you struggle with finding your confidence on camera, and I totally get you. Just know that you aren't alone. If you want to start creating videos for your business or you just want to start a YouTube channel to share your story, I'm going to share with you some of the things that I did to build my camera confidence that I hope will help you, too. Hi there and welcome back. My name is Trena, and on this channel, I'm here to help creative entrepreneurs just like you learn how to use YouTube the right way to grow your business. Can I just tell you how excited I am to talk about camera confidence today? I'm so excited. I love it when I can help you take a step closer to reaching your goals. And so many of you have told me that 2019 is the year you are going to start a YouTube channel, but, ugh, it's just so scary and it comes from such a vulnerable place when you decide to put a video out there. So in this video, we're going to talk about the steps you can take to start building your confidence on camera so you can be proud when you publish that video. But before we jump into the things that you can do to get better on camera, don't forget to hit subscribe to this channel, because here's a little secret you may not know. Just because you see some of us on camera does not mean we started out this way. Most of us aren't naturals, and it's taken us a while to get to this point where we can talk to a camera freely and feel okay when we hit publish. You can go back to some of my oldest videos on this channel and on my mom channel to see how cringe worthy my first videos were. I was not this confident. And you can absolutely do that to some of your other favorite youtubers as well. You can look at their first videos and see it's taken them time to grow and get more confident on camera. All right, so let's jump into the eight things you can do to build that camera confidence. The first thing you want to do is pick a topic you're comfortable with. Okay, so whether it's your business niche. So if you're a Pinterest strategist or you're a virtual assistant, what are you really confident talking about? For me, I'm confident talking about YouTube strategy, because I do this day in and Day out every day of the week, right? So I know I can jump on here and share with you guys easy tips and strategies to grow a YouTube channel. So what are some things that you can talk about that you are confident about? I don't want you to come out of the gate talking about the topic just because you think it's going to do well on YouTube. I want you to build your confidence first by talking about the things you know like the back of your hand. The second step to build your confidence on camera is to prepare the video in advance. You have got to know what you're going to talk about because when you hit record and you look at that red button, you can freeze up. And so that's why I always suggest that you script out your videos. Now, you don't have to script word for word, but just have a path that you need to stay on so that you know what you need to talk about next. Not only is this going to give you confidence on camera, but, but it's going to help you save time filming your videos and save time editing your video. Because we're all looking to save time when we're creating video content. Am I right? The next thing I want you to do is to think about who you are talking to speaking into this camera. Right now. Just looking at this lens is kind of cold and you're not getting any reaction and it can be quite overwhelming. But I want to think about that person that's on the other side watching your video. How are you helping them think about what advice or what tutorial or how to that you are sharing that's going to change their lives or make a process a lot easier. So for me, as I'm talking into this cold, blank camera lens, I'm thinking about you on the other end who really, really wants to get on YouTube but absolutely hates the way they look on camera or they just don't have the confidence. So start to think about that person. Whether you put a picture up or whether you draw a picture, however you want to envision who you're speaking to, that's, that's really going to help you draw on your confidence. The next thing is a big one and it's be yourself. I know you want to create this professional Persona on YouTube, but I'm telling you, if you try to be too perfect, nobody is going to connect with you. People want to connect with authentic people and they don't want this perfect robot. They want to see is that somebody that I could sit down and have coffee with? Does A person talk with their hands like they do when I. When I first started on YouTube, I tried to be perfect and read my script perfect and my videos just fell flat. So when I was able to open up and just be more me, talk with my hands, make these facial expressions, I was able to connect with you more and I felt more confident on YouTube. So basically, I want you to let your freak flag fly. The next thing is practice. Practice anywhere you can, whether you do these videos over and over. I love practicing on Instagram stories because Those disappear in 24 hours. You can practice on Facebook Lives and then turn them off later. But the more you get on video, the easier it's going to be and the more confident you're going to be. Like I said, if you look back at my first videos, they're pretty cringey. But I did it over and over and over again till I built up confidence and I built up this routine where I'm more comfortable on camera. Now the next thing I want you to do is just smile and be passionate about what you're talking about. If you. If you just smile on camera, you can see how much more comfortable you look and it makes you internally feel more confident when you're smiling. And people can really tell if you're passionate about a topic. So that's why back at the first tip that I had was to pick something you know about that's probably what you're passionate about. And it's going to make it so much easier for you to talk on camera. When you are smiling and you're passionate about what you're talking about, the next thing is to imitate. So who are your favorite people you are watching on YouTube and imitate? The way they are creating videos, Whether they are opening their videos a certain way or they're asking you to subscribe a certain way, or that's the format of the video. Imitate it. That's the best way you can start practicing. The more you imitate it, the more you're going to start weaving in your own personality into those videos. But to get started, pick a style to imitate, and it's totally okay. As you do it more and more, you're going to take that style and, and make it yours. And you're gonna be much more confident on camera because you have this formula to follow. This is a big one that you have got to let sink in. And it is let go. This is a mindset thing. You may watch your videos back and think that that video is absolutely terrible. The lighting, the way you stuttered over your words, the way you look, the way you sound. But the thing is, you end up being your own biggest crazy critic. You want to think about that person you're going to help by publishing that video. And that person, nine times out of 10, is not going to pick out all these little teeny tiny things that you're criticizing yourself about. So I want you to get into the mindset that you are awesome and your videos are going to help somebody. Don't think about all the little things that you've done wrong. Heck, I've posted videos where I've had lipstick on my teeth because you know what? I didn't want to reshoot that video and nobody even said anything about it. So if you want to continue to learn more about how to use YouTube in your business strategy, make sure you watch that video on your screen right now because I've got loads of advice and strategies for you to start taking action on. Don't forget to subscribe and I will see you in the next video. Bye.