Getting Over the Fear of Being on Camera with Professional Videographer Frankie Jago

Jeremy Deighan
Hey, everyone, thanks for checking out the podcast. Today, we have Frankie Jago from Get Ahead Media who's going to talk about video, video creation, and how to be more confident on camera, which is something I think all course creators can benefit from. So how are you doing today, Frankie?

Frankie Jago
I'm great. Jeremy, thanks so much for having me here.

Jeremy Deighan
Yeah, definitely. I'm excited to hear your story and excited to hear about how we can help other people who are creating online courses and just creating videos, in general, maybe for their blog, or social media, how we can just really make their videos stand out. And for the introverts among us, I can say that because I'm one of them, how can we be more confident on camera and present ourselves?

But I always like to start at the beginning. I want to hear people's stories and how they got into online business and business in general. So if you would, just take a minute and just let us know a little bit about you and what you were doing before you were doing online videos. And then how did you get into this industry?

Frankie Jago
Sure. Yeah, that's a long story but I'll keep it as short as I possibly can. I hate when people just blabber on about themselves. Basically, I was most recently a journalist before I went into online business, but prior to that, I am an award-winning filmmaker and photographer, and an award-winning journalist as well.

Journalism was meant to be an area that allowed me to use my video skills to communicate with people, but what I found out is that journalism really wasn't my bag. It was just too clickbaity for me; not stories I was passionate about. And so, it was more about, obviously, the organization I was working for, which I think most of us, fine, we work for an organization. It's about them.

And I wanted it to be more about my audience and what it is they needed; people I could help. Like the everyday kind of person, not necessarily big business like I worked in the film industry. I didn't want to make $10,000 projects. I wanted to help a little guy.

So I started my business, probably because I was disenfranchised with what I was doing, but also because I had a little girl. She was about six months at the time. And I wanted to be able to be a mom that stayed and actually saw my daughter grow up.

My parents worked nine to five, and they were weekend parents — you saw them on the weekends. And that's not what I wanted for my life and my daughter. So I started my business. And I guess that's the short version of why that came about.

Jeremy Deighan
So when you decided that you wanted to create your own business, what were you thinking about? What did you decide to go with? And how did you even get into this role of online business?

Frankie Jago
Yeah, thanks. That's a good question to prompt me. It was around the time that MoJo was coming out. Now, MoJo is mobile journalism. So journalists were now expected to do everything themselves: photos, videos, write the story, everything. I didn't want to work with journalists, but it meant that I had a phone and had some understanding of how to create...

I had, obviously, the film side of understanding how to create video, and then I had a bit of a smartphone because that was starting to come out. So I decided that I would create a business teaching, mainly comms and marketing departments, how to create news videos using their phones. And then I branched into people more like me; the solo business owner who didn't have anything else but needed to compete with the big guys.

But initially, it was about the comms and marketing departments in government organizations here in New Zealand. And that's sort of what I wanted to make my business on. So it was in-person. I hadn't actually made an online course until about a year after I started that business.

Jeremy Deighan
Okay, so you were doing live in-person events?

Frankie Jago
Yeah, training workshops. Yeah.

Jeremy Deighan
Okay. How were you getting people to those events?

Frankie Jago
So, this is where it's soul-destroying. I knew nothing about business when I started, honestly. I'd run a sort of wedding company, but not really a business person. It was more of a passion side project, sort of another job. So I tried cold calling, which is just so horrible.

Unless you're a really amazing salesperson like you have this innate ability; it's probably easy for you. But it was really crushing because I just got a lot of nos. I didn't know what I was doing. I was just trying to be personable and let people know about my service, and some people were like, "No!" Slam! And it's really crushing when you're starting out, to have that happen.

The reason I was doing that is because I didn't want to be on camera. So this kind of leads into the whole camera confidence that we'll talk about. I've always had very low self-esteem. It's just how I grew up given experiences I had in my childhood. And I didn't want to be on camera for my business.

But I realized what I was doing was not working. Cold calling and networking events was really just not the thing that was going to work for me. And I was a video instructor that didn't actually have videos, at least of myself online, which sounds stupid when you say it out loud.

So I decided that I had to take a step. I had to put myself out there. I had to be that face with my business and create videos more regularly, even though I didn't want to. And that's actually what got me my first clients. People started commenting on my posts, messaging me on my inbox, and Facebook, or Instagram, or LinkedIn. And that's what got the business going.

Jeremy Deighan
Okay, so you were creating videos and putting them up on multiple social media?

Frankie Jago
Yeah. I started on Facebook and then ventured out into Instagram. And then later YouTube

Jeremy Deighan
On like, say, Facebook, were you in a group, or were you using a page? Or was this just like your personal profile?

Frankie Jago
No. I created a business page and that's what I was using to post my videos. And I probably shared them, from memory, into groups that I was a part of that allowed certain sharing of skills and stuff. Yeah.

Okay. And so, you're sharing these videos and then at the end of them, you're saying, "Hey, I have an in-person event. If you want to come, this is how you can sign up or get there."?

Actually, no. I didn't do any direct promotional videos because I didn't like sales, which is why I sucked on the phone. So more, it was about those tips or putting out a motivational message around video or putting out the latest news about all these Facebook updates.

And that just got people commenting, "Hey, do you run courses?" "Hey, when is your next course?" "Hey, can I meet to talk with you about training some of our staff?" That kind of thing. I never did a direct, like, "I've got a course coming up." I only ever ran courses in-person with the organization at their request. So I never actually did public courses., for the most part, when I started my business.

Jeremy Deighan
Okay, but that gave you the knowledge of how to structure the education and how to put that information together and relay it to people?

Frankie Jago
Yeah.

Jeremy Deighan
Okay. Very good. So you were posting these videos, you're starting to see some traction, and you're seeing like, "Hey, this is kind of working. I'm posting videos and people are reaching out to me." Where do you go from there?

Frankie Jago
From there, I decided that I wanted to take my business into a more online aspect. I still wanted to have the in-person because I do like working in person with people. But I decided, yeah, let's create an online course so we can reach more people and show them what I've been able to do with my business.

My in-person courses were more around the planning, filming, editing, and distribution, but less about the whole marketing package because you can only do so much in two half days with an organization. So, my online course was going to be more about, well, how do you grow your Facebook page? How do you build your email list? How do you sell that digital product?

And so it's grown from there. As I started, it was more about how do you get yourself out there and get fans and followers. And now it's the whole how to use video as a marketing strategy. But it was in 2017 that I created that first online course. And it was around August. And that's where my focus is now.

I still do in-person, but my focus is around the person who's like me using online courses, using my online course to teach them how to create news videos effectively in their marketing.

Jeremy Deighan
Okay, and how did you host that course. Were you using a platform? Or did you just throw it up on your website?

Frankie Jago
Oh, yeah. So I'm a big believer, if you're going to do it, do it right. Like, that's just my mentality. And I knew that online courses wasn't like a side thing. It wasn't like, "Hey, I'm just going to create this and if it works, it does or it doesn't." I was like, "Nope, I'm going to do online courses and that's going to be an area of my business that grows and gives me revenue."

So I went with Kajabi. At the time that I created my course, it was the best platform out there. And so I thought, "Well, it's a big expense, but if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it right. I don't want to start a platform and then move to another platform." So I decided to do it on Kajabi.

Jeremy Deighan
Okay, and are you still using Kajabi now?

Frankie Jago
I am now. I actually used Kajabi only for my courses, to begin with, but now, my entire business is run through Kajabi.

Jeremy Deighan
Yeah, because it's an all-in-one solution. Do you have email and everything through them?

Frankie Jago
Yeah, absolutely. When they started, it was subpar compared to some of the other platforms I was using. I was using Drip and Leadpages so they weren't really up to scratch. But since they've had all these updates, I've moved out of Leadpages. I've moved away from Drip and everything and their email; Leadpages checkouts course, everything is in Kajabi now.

Jeremy Deighan
Okay, awesome. Cool. Yeah, I know a lot of people who are listening to this podcast, one of the main questions that I get often in my group is which platform to go with. So we're talking about the platforms because it helps. I feel like a platform is kind of dependent on a person's needs.

Frankie Jago
Yeah, sure.

Jeremy Deighan
So hearing different platforms and how it helps people; that's awesome. Okay, so you are posting these videos, so you already had a following once you created your online course, correct?

Frankie Jago
I probably had, I don't know, I honestly don't remember exactly, but maybe 200, 300 people on my Facebook page, maybe. And then I had 20 people on my email list because my focus wasn't my email list. And so I didn't really nurture that. And I had not much on YouTube happening whatsoever. YouTube, again, wasn't my focus; my focus was more Facebook.

But I didn't actually have a huge following, to start with, which was scary because you're like, "Oh, can you actually launch a course and not have a following?" And the answer is, yes, if you're listening. You certainly can because I did it. So, yeah, I didn't have a massive following, but I did have something to start with. But actually, I ended up having more cold traffic converted to that course than warm for that first launch.

Jeremy Deighan
Okay, awesome. And that first launch did pretty well, it sounds like, and then gave you the motivation to continue forward?

Frankie Jago
Yeah, I think even if it hadn't done well, I was going to continue with it because I knew it was something that was going to work. It was more about how I messaged it, my messaging around it, or targeting the right people, or that kind of thing. I knew it was going to work, but yes, it did go well.

I am happy to share numbers. I had five people in that first course from a list of 22 that signed up for the webinar and 20 of them showed up for the webinar. So, yeah, I was happy with the results.

I wanted more, obviously because when you're starting a business you're like, "I want to bust into massive tons of money, or massive impact," or whatever it is you're after. But five was a good starting point, and you regardless, I would have kept going.

Jeremy Deighan
If I heard you correctly, you had 22 signups and 20 show up, which is, first of all, amazing because it's hard to get people to actually come and sign up. And then a 25% conversion rate. That's definitely a winning strategy because then it's a numbers game, right? You know that if you get 2,000 people in, 50 people are gonna sign up.

Frankie Jago
Exactly.

Jeremy Deighan
Cool. Okay, awesome. So you get those people in and then, where did it go from there? Did you just strictly focus on them? Was the course built out at this point or were still working on it?

Frankie Jago
No. I had the structure of it. So when I was marketing it, and I'm like, "This is what we're going to be doing. And I will release the module live every week." Some elements were pre-recorded, but most of it was live teaching using Zoom.

And so the students got to show up and ask me questions, which obviously made me a better course creator because I'd be like, "Oh, I didn't think to include that. You know what, I'll include that in another video," or whatever it was. So I built it out with those first students who joined.

Jeremy Deighan
Okay, yeah. And, man, it's so powerful to do that because, like you said, you get that direct feedback, you think of things to add or different ways to say things. You might not ask a question like someone else the way they would ask it.

Frankie Jago
Yeah, absolutely.

Jeremy Deighan
Okay, very cool. So you get people in, you get this first group of people through and start seeing some success. And then what did you do after that? Was it just driving more traffic or doing more videos? How did you grow this course after this initial group of people went through it?

Frankie Jago
So it was about reaching more people, driving more traffic to signup pages, growing my followings on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube. It was kind of all of those angles. Even creating a more efficient video creation process for myself because as I just said, I was on multiple platforms.

So it's about making sure that I'm not spending all my time making videos because I have to run the business and I have a family, and I'm very into surfing. And that kind of comes first sometimes. If you're a surfer, you know exactly what I mean.

So, it was about building it up, but not spending all my time doing that. I had to figure out efficient ways of doing it. What I did most was I probably focused on Facebook and YouTube the most, and then I delved into IGTV and Instagram a little bit more, a bit later down the line.

But it was about creating videos, I'd say consistently, but let's be totally clear. I don't think you need to make a video every single week of your year. I think it's about having strategies, which obviously, someone has already spoken about that. And that's what we're sort of not going into today.

But having a strategy that allows you to create videos for a specific goal, and you only might have videos go out for six or eight weeks for that quarter of your business cycle. It's not that you have to do it every single week, but what you do put out has to be effective.

So it was about me trying to figure out where's the balance in terms of putting content out; not just putting out stuff to have it out there and actually putting out quality. All that went into practice myself, and then obviously, went into my courses. The more I knew, the more I learned, the more I updated my main program with better skills and techniques for the students.

Jeremy Deighan
Nice. And we can talk a minute about some of those strategies. So if someone, say, they had an online course, and they were on YouTube, and they wanted to help promote their course through YouTube, how does one come up with what videos to make? How do you decide on what you're going to have for free on YouTube and what to talk about?

Because you said, it needs to have a reason. You need to have some kind of action that you're using these videos for and not just random things you're talking about. So how do you decide on which videos to create?

Frankie Jago
That's a great question. Yeah, it does entirely depend on your goal. And you've said the goal could be launching your digital product. I teach a series of videos as part of a roadmap. So, one of my steps is your roadmap to that goal that you want.

And it's about thinking, what kind of videos are going to lead your audience on a journey that they feel like they've instilled in themselves enough skill and know-how to do what they want to do, whilst also leaving them...? They can't have everything, basically, in the space of what you're doing a video series or a challenge, or however you're building that relationship with your audience.

I do video series, obviously. Basically, you have to leave them in a gap that takes them from where they are now, feeling that sense of motivation and that skill that they can do it, this is possible for them. But in order for them to get there, it's obviously to join your program.

So it is a series of how-to videos that are positioning you as an authority in a subject. But then you've also got more motivational videos as well that come as part of that series. That's things that delve more into why you're doing business and what it's been able to do for you, and what it can do for your audience.

And showing them what's possible, as opposed to just the how-to content. Yeah, that's good. But that alone will not convert a bigger audience. It's about connecting with them on a deeper level. So it's two videos: motivational, inspirational content, as well as those how-tos working together to build that deep relationship.

Jeremy Deighan
And these videos, when you create them, they're around a central subject that you're trying to hone in on?

Frankie Jago
Yeah. So if your digital product is about video marketing, then you're obviously going to be targeting, like me, for example, with video creation and video marketing, you're going to be talking about elements of that and how it can affect their business, what it can do for their business, what are the key things they need to know.

If you're talking about or have a course called Easy Video Course Creation, which is the same kind of thing. You're talking about, how can you easily create videos for your course? So you'd be centering your topics around that.

And really, you just need to think about, what is it that your audience is focusing on? What is the top of mind for them? You'll see it in groups that you're in. People will be like, "Hey, I don't know how to do this," or "I'm thinking about this." Or like you said before, "What platform is best for making my course?"

Questions are out there. They're in your face, especially if you're on Facebook. And it's about recognizing them when they pop up and incorporating them into your videos.

Jeremy Deighan
Yeah, Facebook is so powerful in that regard, especially when you join communities or create a community of your own because people love asking questions. And that's just research right there for you.

Frankie Jago
Yeah, absolutely.

Jeremy Deighan
I don't know if anyone else does this, but you can create like a list or what is it called on Facebook? It's called a list or a favorites list or something. And I'll create one for each industry or whatever I'm working on. And when those questions pop up, I save them.

I got one that if I'm creating a course on guitar playing, I can go back and look at all my guitar questions that people have asked. And there's a course for you. There's videos for

Frankie Jago
Yeah, you're exactly right. Yep.

Jeremy Deighan
What are some examples of what you said? There's the technical, the how-to videos, those are great on YouTube for search results and things. But then you also said you need to have some of those motivational videos to show people that it can be done, what you're trying to teach them. What would be some good examples of motivational-type videos?

Frankie Jago
Cool. I like to think of them as you standing for something. So I'll give you an example that I did recently. Some people think that you need to spend money on better gear to have better videos for your course or for your video marketing. Like, "Well, now that I've tried on my phone and it doesn't look very good," or whatever your hang-ups are, "I need to buy a DSLR. I'm going to go buy some softboxes," or whatever it is you have on your mind.

Mine would be like you don't need to spend money on gear, or spending money on gear is the last thing you should do in creating videos. And so I'm taking something that I believe in and standing up for it. So I don't think you should be spending money on gear, I think where you should be spending money is where most people are lacking and failing in their business. And that's one of the strategies and the know-how; not on these bits of gear.

So I'll do a video basically talking about that and what you're doing to yourself and your business by thinking that you need to spend money on gear, and not actually focusing on the things that are going to get you the highest results. And often, those videos are laden with B roll, which is known as a supporting video.

So if I say, "I was typing on my computer," I might show a video of me typing on my computer. That's B roll, and some motivational music as well. So it's about creating an all-over-feel from the imagery and music, taking a topic that you believe in, that you're going to stand up for, and explaining to people how it can help them basically.

Jeremy Deighan
Okay, perfect. I think that was a great description and gives me some ideas of some videos that I can create, too.

All right, let's switch it up a little bit. You said in the beginning of this conversation that you suffered a little bit from low self esteem, but it sounds like you don't suffer that anymore? A lot of people that I speak with don't like being on camera, or they have that fear that the camera, they just freeze up.

I even had people ask me, "Can we create a course and not even be on camera?" But for those that do want to be on camera and are kind of fearful, how do you overcome that fear? How do you become more confident on camera?

Frankie Jago
I love how you said I had little... It was a lot, let's be clear. So, for me, when I would appear on camera or in any situation where I was the center of attention, it was too much. I was overwhelmed and I would literally cry.

This is just my defense mechanism. It's not a fun one, but it is what it is. So when I would appear on camera, it was much the same. It was that fear. Generally, it boils down to your fear of judgment of other people: less about your fear of the camera and more about judgment.

But what I did was a series of little tips that I'll share with you through this story. So when I realized I had to appear on camera, I was like, "I have to do it. I have to figure out a way to do it." I set up my tripod and before I knew how to Bluetooth remote and all that kind of stuff, I got my wife to press record, make sure I was in the frame.

And then I made her go to the entire other end of the house and put those big over ear headphones on so that she could hear me. And then I'd be like, "Can you hear me?" And she responds, "Good. Okay." So the first thing was that I had to find a safe space. Now for me, a safe space wasn't just my home. It was like my home with no one around.

And even knowing that she was actually in the background, there was still a bit of fear there. That's the first thing. So find a safe space. Then I delivered my terrible piece on camera where I'm constantly blinking to just try and stop the tears from coming out.

I don't smile very much. I think I did manage a smile in the beginning, but not in the end of my video. That's about the only time I smile. But then once I was done, I couldn't even watch it back. So watching it back, I was so critical of myself that I couldn't even do it.

So I got someone I trusted to watch my videos, which for me, obviously, is my wife because she looks at me through rose-colored glasses. So it would make me feel better. What I noticed is that when she would look at my videos, the most criticism or constructive feedback I would get is, "It would be great if you could smile more."

Now, you can take that on board and you try and think about smiling through your videos. It will actually just come naturally as you get more comfortable. So don't go crazy or don't feel like you have to force a smile because that might look even creepier.

The thing that I noticed is that she would comment and go, "Well, I never knew you could do that with your phone. Wow, that's so cool that you're able to do this." She wasn't focusing on... And she would let me know if she thought that my appearance wasn't amenable to outside audiences. But she never looked at the things that I saw.

That's what I realized. She didn't see, "Oh, you look tired today," or, "Your hair looks..." the things I think about. "Oh, your hair looks stupid. You need to get hair cut," or, "Your voice sounds lame," or whatever these things we tell ourselves. None of that came into the constructive feedback she gave me. It was more about, "Wow, that content is awesome."

Then what you do is you put them out there. When you get a little bit of confidence, you start putting a few videos out there. And when you do start out, what you'll find more often than not is, well, if you don't get any views on the videos, no one's seen them. But that's not so scary.

But when you do start to get comments, often there are comments that are people who genuinely like what you're doing. And they're like, "Wow, thank you so much. This has helped me. I love that you were able to deliver that so clearly, and no one has explained that so clearly before."

There'll be comments like that. And this is the same of all my students that I work with. They've never had trolls. Well, none of them actually had trolls yet, there was no big enough. But once you get big enough, we'll talk about that.

But the first thing is that people will genuinely like your videos. So as they start commenting, two things I want you to do is take a screenshot of those good comments because you are going to need them. I'm going to tell you why in a minute. And the other thing is, I incorporate that into my process.

So I have my safe space, someone else watched it for me, and to show up for people I was trying to help. So being on camera had nothing to do with me. I didn't want to be like a YouTube star and people recognize me. I was showing up for the people I was trying to help. So that's what kept me motivated is having a safe space, getting someone else to give me feedback that I trusted, and to show up for those who really actually needed my stuff.

Now, I do want to touch on this. One day you will have a troll. It's inevitable, I think. I don't think you're ever really 100% prepared for it. But all those screenshots I told you to take of every good positive comment, when you get that troll, you go back and look at all those screenshots.

What you'll notice is that one person that decided that they felt super safe and had a bad day and want to make someone else feel bad, that's one person as opposed to all those other people who you are actually helping And so that helped me start to overcome the troll fear.

And as I got more confident on camera, and in myself, which being a business has allowed me to really grow my self esteem exponentially. Now when I get comments like I'll give me one, it just makes me laugh now. "Sorry, but you look like a guy." And I was like, "Okay. Your perception doesn't offend me." It becomes something you shrug off as you become more self confident.

That's awesome. I think you gave some really great advice on finding a safe space. I never really thought of that myself. I feel like sometimes I just have to fool myself that no one's watching. I just gotta be like, "It's just a piece of electronic."

Jeremy Deighan
And you hit on a good point that I think a lot of people should pay attention to. Unfortunately, you're not going to be a rock star coming out of the gate. But that's also a good thing because, typically in the beginning, there's not a lot of people paying attention, and it gives you a chance to get on camera and try it out. And if you don't do good, it's okay because typically, in the beginning, there's not a lot of people here anyway.

Frankie Jago
Yeah, you're exactly right. Yeah. And you can go back on YouTube and look at my first video, and it's horrible. It's still sitting there. It's a great example for everyone. So as you make more videos, you will become better and you can go back and watch that first video and go, "Holy moly, look at how I started!"

And it will just blow your mind if you do keep at it. It is about just keeping at it and then instilling those safe spaces, which by the way, can be somewhere outside. Like it could be in a forest when no one is... my thing is no one's around. So I could never do it in a crowd.

Now, I can, but don't feel like you'd have to be outside in a park and if someone walks by... Go and find a space where someone doesn't walk by. So find that safe space. Sorry, I'm a big fan of the safe space because you need to feel safe.

Jeremy Deighan
No, no, I think that's awesome. I think that's important for a lot of people because a lot of people want to be on camera. They want to help people. They tell themselves like, "Yeah, I'm doing this for someone else." But when they get in front of the camera and that record button turns red, they just freeze up.

But having that safe space where you know no one's around. It's just you. You can mess up. You can always edit it later on if you need to. I think that is really important. I also wanted to talk on because you had mentioned wanting everything to be perfect.

You mentioned earlier about doing a YouTube video on camera and gear and stuff. And that is something that I fell into. And I almost feel like maybe it's a mechanism for procrastinating from the fear of getting on camera because when I started, I did everything in my power to make it look perfect.

I got the three-point lighting system. I got the color LEDs. I got the best microphones and the DSLRs and the lenses. Nowadays, I do pretty much all my stuff on my phone, and I usually don't even.. Well, I travel now so I can't just travel with a three-point lighting setup. But you find ways around those things.

You use outdoors; you use natural lighting. You realize that your phone is good enough as any other camera. It doesn't have to be over the top. And then I feel like that's very liberating for people because you can shed that perfectionism and really focus on the message. Would you agree with that?

Frankie Jago
Yeah. I too suffered from perfectionism slightly from a different angle because I was a filmmaker and films a perfect. You're making that for a totally different audience. But yeah, it's not about being perfect. And especially the way things have progressed online. It is, I say with a grain of salt, authentic.

You have to be authentic, right? I think you still need to be effective and you have to create videos that actually get results. But it is about being more authentic. And it might be that you mock up a little bit or you don't have the most perfect lighting. As long as people can see you and hear you and your message, like you said, is the key here.

Your message and your delivery in terms of getting it to your audience; they're actually more important than having the best lighting. And honestly, I think having your phone and starting with that makes you a better and faster video maker than having all the other gear.

One, it is quicker having a phone and not a DSLR. But you start to understand what works and what doesn't. Whereas some people go, "I'm going to go buy a gimbal and a and a three-point lighting system," but they have no idea how to use them. And then they spend more time doing that than actually creating the content.

Jeremy Deighan
Yeah, that's me. I need to multiply the F stop by the lens millimeters. I don't know what I'm doing. Just give a phone to shoot and let me just autofocus and I'll be good to go.

Frankie Jago
Yeah, exactly.

Jeremy Deighan
Awesome. Well, that's really cool. Okay, so we talked about being confident on camera. And we talked a little bit about some video strategies. So thinking back to when you first started, and you were still trying to figure this stuff out, right? You want to create a course. You already have a step in the video direction because you had been doing film and video for so long.

But there's so much more to creating a course. There's the outlining, the structuring, getting it in front of other people. So right now there are people listening who haven't created a course or in the beginning stages. Is there any good pieces of advice that you could give to those people who are just trying to get their foot in the door?

Frankie Jago
Great question. Look, my opinion is when I wanted to create a course, again, I said I did Kajabi because I wanted to have the best, in my opinion, option for my course. It's the same when I decided, "Well, do I want to create an online course and actually turn this business into more of an online business? Then I want to know the best way to how to do that."

So I actually bought into a program in order to do that because I want to learn from someone who's been there before, who's done it right so I get the quickest path to doing it. Now, I recognize that is not everyone's mindset. That's kind of how I work in terms of, well, I need to learn Instagram better, then I'll go and buy Alex Tooby's course, or I'll go and buy Brandon Lucero's video course.

I do see a value in, if you want to do something right, to go and spend the money on the person who knows how to do it. For you, it could be anyone. There are so many people out there. You just need to find someone who resonates with you.

But beyond that, there are a lot of elements. You do need to have someone explain the elements to you at least if you can find someone to help you with it. Like Jeremy said, you've got to plan your content. You've got to structure it out.

You've got to create your videos. You've got to find a course platform. You've got to obviously launch it in some way, whether you're doing a video series, a webinar, or a five-day challenge, email marketing, whatever it is. You've got to actually get people in and create it. There are a lot of elements.

It is about getting started, but I think you just need to join a group like where do we find each other, Jeremy? The course creators something around that. What was it called?

Jeremy Deighan
The online course creators group.

Frankie Jago
Find a group that will help you at least outline the structure. And if you're a give-it-a-go type person, then give it a go. And if you fail, give it another go or another go, or join a program that will help you fill in those missing pieces. But it is about making the decision that's right for you.

Either it's you spend the money and get someone to help you figure it all out. Or you try yourself and put the hard yards in alone. But at least having someone who can explain the overall structure because there are a lot of moving parts. It's not impossible by any means to figure it out yourself, but it just might take a little bit longer. So get started now, I guess.

Yeah, I love that. Getting started is the biggest one because a lot of people freeze and don't move and you've got to get going. But having someone, a mentor, a coach, or someone who's been ahead of you and can help you map out where to go, I think is big. And it's something I think that if I could go back in time that I might do differently because I waited way too long.

Jeremy Deighan
When you're starting out, especially like me, I'm bootstrapping. I'm trying to spend as little money as possible and get profits and still work my day job and all these things. It's hard for you to say, "Well, I'm going to go spend money for someone just to give me information."

But in hindsight, knowing what I know now, I'd spend 1000s of dollars on coaches and people who have been able to propel me much further in a much faster time than had I tried to just figure it out myself. So, I totally agree with you.

I think that's a great piece of advice. Not one that people give too often but I think it's really important because we're not really coming up with anything new. I mean, everything that we're teaching has been taught in one form or another. So go find the person who's doing it.

Like you said, it's got to resonate with you. It's got to be someone that you enjoy and you agree with. Go out there and find that person and see if they can help you out.

Frankie Jago
Yeah. I thought I just mentioned a quick... I met with a student of mine. She's a part of my mentorship for creating an online course. And she emailed me. She's like, "I'm behind on my timeline." She was going to launch, I think, early January. "I'm behind my timeline. I can't do this." And you freak out as you do. I had a freakout too when I created my first course.

So all I said to her is, "You've got your plans. So what if you're not going to make the timeline of January whatever date it was?" She had some things come up: a master's degree and a few other elements that were all sort of taking priority. And I get that: things change.

But if you have your plan or you're working with someone, don't just give up. Do a little bit. Just do that one landing page over the course of the next two weeks. You know what I mean? You don't have to condense it all into a week or six weeks, or whatever your timeline is made for yourself.

Just do one little bit each week; half a landing page, or write out a script for a video or whatever it is, so that you're making that progress. Even if it's a bit slower than you're anticipating, you're still putting into action what it is that you want that final result to be.

Jeremy Deighan
Oh, that's awesome. That's amazing advice. Thank you so much for that Frankie.

Frankie Jago
You're welcome

Jeremy Deighan
Where do you see your business going in the future? Where would you like to take your online course and your online business in general?

Frankie Jago
I know you prepped me. You said, "I'm going to ask you this question." And I was like, "Oh, no." So I guess, for the most part, I obviously want to grow and scale. Don't we all as entrepreneurs and business owners want to grow and scale what we're doing, reach more people, make more impact, make more money, and freedom in our lives? And I'm no different from anyone else.

That is entirely what I want to do. But I guess my focus this year is to make my business more sustainable without me being there at every turn. So I think what COVID demonstrated to me is that... we're very lucky here in New Zealand; I want to preface with that. I know a lot of people around the world listening are having a really tough time.

We're very fortunate here in New Zealand with very few cases, touchwood. But during our peak, I have two kids and the kids were both at home. So my working capacity went from about 60 to 70% of my week being working to about 10 to 20%.

I'm the sole income in my family. If I can't work, then we don't make money and we can't live. So this coming year, my focus is to be able to have an element of my business where I'm going to be working on evergreen content more this year that has something coming in regardless of whether or not I'm there. I think it's something really important to think about as a business owner or entrepreneur, that if something was to happen to you, what would happen to your business?

And not something drastic like you can never work again, but say you're out for a couple of weeks because you have an injury that impacts what you do. How's your business going to survive? And I never really thought about it and it just became really clear to me during that lockdown that we had; that it is something that we all should think about is trying to make our business sustainable, or a level of sustainability without having us there at every turn.

Jeremy Deighan
Awesome. Yeah, that's good stuff. I think that's why a lot of us like the online business life. We can create assets; we can create products that we can put online and continue to serve people 24 hours a day. And it's real powerful.

I love asking that question. I tell everyone at the beginning, I usually don't go by a question sheet. But the one question I like asking is that one, and I think it's because most people have never thought about it before. When I ask it, I'm getting some really good truthful answers because it's, "Oh, I haven't thought about that. What do I want to do?"

Frankie Jago
I just finished my business plan. And that was definitely in my plan.

Jeremy Deighan
Good. Well, I'm glad we did this episode after that. Frankie, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today and sharing your insights into video and marketing and camera confidence. I think that you provided a lot of really good information for people to take away. If they wanted to find out more about you, your business, your online courses, where can they do that?

Frankie Jago
I'm going to make sure that Jeremy put some links below because I am in the process of rebranding, but you can find me on all the socials under Get Ahead Media on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. I recently got rid of Twitter so I just have those three.

And then my actual website, this is the rebranding thing, is francescajagotraining.mykajabi.com; a bit of a mouthful, hence, there'll be links below. I'm going to put a link to an easy 10-step iPhone video guide and Android video guide. So depending on what platform you're on, you can actually start creating videos that will look good just using your phone.

Jeremy Deighan
Okay, perfect. Yes, we'll definitely link up your social media profiles, your business, and all that in the show notes and the link to that guide. That's awesome. It sounds like a good cheat sheet. Yeah, thank you for coming on the podcast today. We really appreciate you being here.

Frankie Jago
This has been really great, Jeremy. Thank you so much for having me.