1. Always check your links
Don't assume that the link you have typed in the correct one, and don't assume that it is actually working. Glitches and tech issues can make links that worked yesterday, not work today.
So when you are sharing a link online, always copy what you have typed and check it in the browser to make sure it is working and that it is the correct link.
2. Put your phone on flight mode when you are using it to record.
An incoming phone call can totally throw you off your game when you are recording so make sure it doesn't happen.
Even if you're not doing a Live, that incoming call will break your concentration and your energy level, so don't let it happen.
If you have access to your WiFi, you can even do Live videos with your phone on flight mode.
3. Light reflecting off your glasses
This can be quite off-putting when you are using a ring light. That glowing donut of light shining in your glasses and draw your listeners attention away from you.
Tilting your glasses down a little can change the angle of the lens to the angle of the camera enough that the reflection is not visible in the video. Or, you can do what I did, and just get contacts so you don't have to worry about mucking around.
4. Give the dog a bone
I mean this quite literally. :-)))
If you have furkids that are prone to barking sometimes, and you know you have to get a video recorded, give them a bone, and then watch where they go to chew it.
I once had to re-film an entire afternoon videos because my little pup had decided to chew her bone in the far back corner of my video view field of view. I didn't see it till I was editing, when I realised everybody would be looking at her (she's far cuter than me 😉 ).
5. Clear the background
Not so important in a Facebook Live, where the audience expect us to be a little more relaxed and natural, but if you are shooting a more professional video like a sales video, or a webinar, clear the background of anything distracting that will pull your viewers' eye away from you.
6. Make sure your microphone is plugged in a working
I once had to re-record a webinar because I had plugged the wrong part of my Rode Bluetooth microphone into the camera. 1.5 hours of video with zero sound.
7. Make sure that your camera is fully charged
Obviously, not so important for a 5-minute video, but if you are recording something longer, do yourself a favor and charge that battery first.
After I had recorded that webinar with no sound, my battery ran out halfway through the next take. Cue hysterical screaming!!!
8. Don't think you have to remember the whole thing
Long sales videos can take hours to memorise and then even longer to record. If you get very good at staying still, you can freeze, let your eyes cut to your script, look back at the camera and keep going and then edit out the bits between.
The trick is to start the next bit as you are about to blink, and to make sure your hands don't start moving again until you start talking.
9. Thinking it has to be perfect
Perfection is an illusion, we all logically know that. And yet, we let our need to be perfect stop us from doing what we need to.
In reality, we let our discomfort choose the excuse of Perfection as a reason for why we don't need to do what we know we need to.
Tomorrow, next week, next month. Each time we put something off because we are not perfect, means our dreams are even further from happening.
You need to get a certain amount of energy and momentum going to have success in an online business. Perfection will steal that away from you.
Perfection is for scared people…
Don't be a scared person, be a successful one.
10. Letting the Universe get in the way
There are a million things we can be doing other than what we should be. You can procrastinate a whole day away, being incredibly busy while you fail to get done the one thing that would drive your business forward.
We use these other things as excuses when in reality it was a choice to let them interfere.
Guard your time, guard your dreams, and don't let the universe, or anybody else, stop you.
Hope that this article will help you to not make these same rookie mistakes that I have over the years.
In Your Corner
Donna
