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Mastering Your First Livestream (Without Losing Your Mind)
16 Plays1 month ago
Nervous about hitting “Go Live” for the first—or even the fiftieth—time? You’re not alone, and you don’t have to stay stuck in anxiety mode. In this episode, I’ll break down the realistic first steps to feeling (and looking) more confident on camera, show you what to focus on (even if your tech isn’t fancy), and share my favorite framework for keeping livestreams simple, structured, and truly engaging.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The real reason livestream nerves show up (and how to manage the “what if I mess up?” spiral)
- My 3 R’s for building camera confidence, even if you overthink everything
- The basic gear and setup you ACTUALLY need to start—plus what’s a waste of money at the beginning
- How to pick the best platform, so you’re not showing up where you don’t belong
- My HEART framework for planning any livestream—so you stay on track, connect with your people, and never blank out on what to say next
- The one mindset shift that’ll help you get comfortable sharing your message, imperfect lighting and all
Ready to stop looping through self-doubt and finally claim your space on camera? Grab your notepad—this one’s packed with honest, practical strategies to get you (and your business) moving!
Mentioned in this episode: → Take the “Discover Your Live Vibe” quiz: https://streamlikeaboss.tv/quiz
→ Get support inside Stream Bosses Academy coworking: https://streamlikeaboss.tv/academy
→ Subscribe on YouTube for weekly tips: https://youtube.com/@tanyasmith
→ Get podcast updates + livestream tips: https://streamlikeaboss.substack.com
Timestamps:
00:00 – Welcome and why I’m “rusty” this year
06:50 – Why livestream anxiety is normal—and why you should go live anyway
10:13 – My Toastmasters story (& what public speaking taught me about video nerves)
15:04 – The 3 R’s of Camera Confidence: Recognize, Reframe, Rehearse
24:59 – What to buy (and what not to) for your tech setup
37:33 – Picking a platform that fits your business (and personality)
41:01 – My HEART framework for structuring content that connects
49:09 – The REAL “next step” your audience wants from you
If you’re done letting fear run your livestreams (or keep you from starting), this is your permission slip to take imperfect action—because your audience needs more of YOU, not more excuses.
Recommended
Transcript
Getting Started with Live Streaming
00:00:21
Speaker
Alrighty, folks. So look, here's what we're going to be talking about. Today's topic is how to get started with your first live stream. So mastering your live streams. And really, even if this is not your first, if this is your 10th, this is your third, if this is your 50th, if this is your five hundred However, whatever number it is for you, what I want to do is hopefully share some nuggets with you that will be helpful.
00:00:47
Speaker
um It will be a especially helpful for those of you who are brand new to live streaming. I want to acknowledge and say hello to some folks. And I also probably need to fix my comment space here. So I'm going to see if we can pull you up real quick.
00:01:01
Speaker
See if we can see some um folks and say hello. um might not have done this properly, but I'm going to pull my folks in here. There's Miss Talk Virtual. I see you. Erica Bates in the house. What's up?
00:01:15
Speaker
There's my friend Debbie. I cannot wait to see you. I'm really excited about you, OG. Chris Stone, of course, the master himself. So you don't even need me for this. You need to be teaching the class.
00:01:29
Speaker
Same thing with Learn Live Streaming with John Lacey. Happy New Year. I feel like it's been forever. Let me see who else. um I love repurposing. I know it's my favorite.
00:01:40
Speaker
It's one of my favorite things to do because it really is about being efficient. Right. Livestream to Limitless. Happy 2025. There's my friend James Hicks in the house.
00:01:51
Speaker
Look, we got some heavy hitters in here. So I might be just like talking to the people who already know this stuff. But what we are going to talk about is we're talking about the topic of mastering your first live stream. So let me say hello as well to Arthur Keith, who happens to be family. So good to see you, too.
00:02:13
Speaker
You learn from me every session. Look, I learn from you, too. I learn from you in the comments as well.
Mastering the Live Streaming Mindset
00:02:19
Speaker
Let's dive into this whole thing. And what I want to talk about initially is going to be the concept of three things. OK.
00:02:28
Speaker
So we're going break this thing and down into three topics. The first being mindset and preparation. Okay. So when you're mastering and you're showing your, and I'm saying mastering, but I'm going I'm going to give you a secret.
00:02:42
Speaker
You're not going to master this at the very start. Like it's a journey. Okay. So I've been doing this thing now for a few years and I'm still learning each and every time I get on camera.
00:02:54
Speaker
That's truth. Okay. I mean, it's just facts, 100. So when I say mastering, of course, that's great for SEO and all of that stuff. But don't ever feel like you have to stop learning. You're never going to be done with learning because there's so many changes as it relates to technology and the pace and the speed of things that are happening right now.
00:03:15
Speaker
um Culturally, technology wise, you name it. There's so much happening. You're never, ever going to know everything. And that's OK.
00:03:26
Speaker
The process is fun. The process of learning is fun. And I hope that you'll see that. So mindset and preparation is part one. Part two is going to be technical setup. So we're not going to do a super deep dive, but I do want to get you started, especially if you're just starting out.
00:03:41
Speaker
I want to make sure I share some things with you. um And then number three is content structure. And I'm also going to give you a couple of acronyms to make things easy to remember, because that's me, especially in my maturing age.
00:03:55
Speaker
There are certain times I don't remember things. And so I literally have always honestly used acronyms. But I'm going to give you a couple of my acronyms. um Actually, one of my acronyms called HEART. I'm going to teach you that.
00:04:09
Speaker
And then I'm also going to talk about the three R's of camera confidence. Okay. As a matter of fact, let's start
Building Camera Confidence
00:04:15
Speaker
with this. Let's start with overcoming camera anxiety. And then if you do have questions, if there's anything at all that you want to know about while you're here with me related to video,
00:04:28
Speaker
Pop that into the comments because I'll go back and I'll scan. OK, I want to make sure to do that. I see Natalie said it's time to master your live stream. I know it.
00:04:38
Speaker
Right.
00:04:41
Speaker
All right. Let's dive into point one. And point one is mindset and preparation. Now, how many of you know that everything we do,
00:04:53
Speaker
If you're going to win or lose, if you're going to succeed or fail, it starts right here. Like literally everything we do is it starts first with your mindset.
00:05:06
Speaker
It's what are you thinking about the situation? How are you positioning yourself to think and to perceive a situation? How are you responding and reacting to a situation? And so I want you to remember the very first time you ever had to speak in public. And some of you may, it's probably rare, but there may be a few of you that never, ever had to speak in public.
00:05:31
Speaker
But I will never forget, i was in Toastmasters, of all things, and i was in i was in my um i was in my corporate job. Yeah, I was in my corporate job, and they required us, especially for those of us who were in the leadership development program, to be in Toastmasters so that we could learn how to present and to speak, right?
00:05:54
Speaker
And I will never forget how frustrated I felt, right? And how scared I was. And it's not even like I didn't know the people. The people, i knew them. And this is a slightly different thing because you're not going to know everybody who's watching you right on your live stream.
00:06:12
Speaker
But I knew the people in the room. Because I worked with them. I'd seen them in the halls. I'd, you know, maybe even lunch with one or two of them. But I still was so nervous.
00:06:24
Speaker
And I will never forget just how much of a strain. It was a stress to go into that room every week when we'd have meetings to learn.
00:06:35
Speaker
It was stressful. But guess what? The more I pushed through, the better I did. Yes, I made really horrible mistakes and they were counted they were critiqued and people were giving me feedback.
00:06:55
Speaker
And mostly in a loving way, although there was some that were just downright, like, bad.
00:07:03
Speaker
And I never honestly felt like I was a speaker, per se from doing those activities. But I always felt like it did some good to help me to come out of my shell. And I am an introvert, but I'm not shy. But it helped me to come out of my shell and to do something that I otherwise would not have done.
00:07:22
Speaker
So I'm saying this to say, when you think about that situation where you were kind of put on display or you put yourself out there to speak in front of other people, yes, that nervous energy, those racing thoughts, all of those things could potentially come up for you in this space.
00:07:41
Speaker
So I'm being honest with you. They could come up for you. There are other reasons why certain people have I guess, weariness around showing up on camera.
00:07:53
Speaker
You're worried about potentially like, what are people going to say about you? What are people going to say about your appearance? What are people going to say about what you're saying? Right. Or maybe you just simply are nervous because you don't know what to say.
00:08:10
Speaker
So I want to give you a way to transform that negative energy into some authentic connection on camera. Okay. There's three R's of camera confidence that I want to teach you tonight.
00:08:26
Speaker
And before I even get there, I'm going to tell you this. Sometimes I'm not going to say sometimes, oftentimes, a lot of times I still get nervous. Okay.
00:08:38
Speaker
I still get a little anxious. I still worry a little bit about what is someone going to think? Shouldn't I be further along in this space? Shouldn't I have fancy things flying all across the screen? and And I do pretty well. Okay, now, but if you went back to look at my YouTube channel and you looked at a lot of my older videos, they weren't great.
00:09:01
Speaker
I mean, they were downright pitiful, to be honest with you. You could barely hear me. You probably couldn't see me because I was in the dark in some of them. But ultimately, it was all about continuing to do the thing that still made me nervous, that still made me frustrated, that still made me because I knew that there was something on the other side. I knew that there was a message that needed to be shared.
00:09:27
Speaker
And so when I talk to people about finding your voice with video, what I think that video can do for you so well is it allows people to really get to know you on a transparent human level. And right now, this is such a time.
00:09:44
Speaker
You were made for this time to be able to reach people with a deeper connection, a more authentic way of them seeing your facial expressions, seeing your hand movements. I know I tend to move my hands some.
00:09:57
Speaker
um Hearing your voice. Like they're getting all these different three dimensional versions of you because of video. I don't think it's just because of the numbers and the metrics. I literally think because people are craving human interaction right now, this is a perfect time for you to put yourself and your message into a video space.
00:10:20
Speaker
So let's talk about those three R's.
Engaging Your Audience
00:10:23
Speaker
And yes, is I'm glad you came by 24 hour boss. Thank you. i love it. I love it. And I see this comment. I want to pop up here too.
00:10:33
Speaker
John says, I used to worry about what people thought about me, but then I realized nobody noticed it.
00:10:40
Speaker
And maybe they do, but that shouldn't shut you down because there are people that need to hear you. There are people that need to see you. There are people who are counting on you to actually speak up. So let me share these three R's of confidence with you.
00:10:56
Speaker
So the first one is recognize. Recognize. recognize that you have the thoughts, that you have the um fears, that you have the feelings, recognize it, be aware of it, understand that, okay, i see what this is. I know what it is. I acknowledge that I'm feeling these things.
00:11:18
Speaker
Okay. Acknowledge that. So R is for recognize. The the second R is reframe.
00:11:29
Speaker
Reframe by viewing this. And let me tell you one of the biggest things that changed my entire trajectory of being on camera. See, at first I thought that it was about me
00:11:43
Speaker
First, I thought, OK, me being on camera is all about me. and so I need to be perfect. I need to have all these things done. I need to look, feel, talk. All these things need to be just flying in the right order in order for me to do this.
00:11:57
Speaker
But when you reframe and you see that this live stream thing that we're doing right now is simply conversation, it's conversation with another person.
00:12:08
Speaker
When I recognized that it wasn't about me talking to 10,000 people, but it was about me talking to that one person that needed to hear what I had to say, made things so different.
00:12:22
Speaker
It felt like a load lifted off my shoulder. Like, wow, okay, I don't have to worry about, oh my God, what if there's 150 people? What if I just thought about that one person who could learn from what I had to share?
00:12:38
Speaker
who could learn from my own personal experiences, who could learn from the stories of the people that I've served in the past and people that I'm serving right now as clients. What if that one person heard that one thing that transforms the rest of their business life, that changed their family's life and their position in the world?
00:13:00
Speaker
What if that one thing that you said on that video, on that live stream was the game changer for them? And so when I reframed, when I use that second R that made all the difference.
00:13:14
Speaker
So the first one, let me pull those up again. The first one is to recognize and acknowledge your feelings and be aware and just know them for what they are.
00:13:26
Speaker
It's just fear.
00:13:29
Speaker
It might be insecurities. It could be any number of things. And everyone, every single human being in the whole entire planet faces that at some point, even if they don't look like they do.
00:13:45
Speaker
Reframe by restating and viewing the situation differently. And then the last one is to rehearse. You can't rehearse if you're just sitting there and ignoring and deciding, I'm not going to go live today because, you know, all of the stars aren't lined up or all of the lights aren't green. Look, so I always talk about this. i always talk about the fact that there are people.
00:14:12
Speaker
If you talk to them, you can just imagine this, that they're planning a trip. So right now I'm in Dallas in the snowpocalypse.
00:14:21
Speaker
So we are snowed and iced in. I was hoping the electricity would stay on Thank goodness. Thank God. Yes, that it stayed on. But let's say I'm planning a trip, which I actually am planning the trip to go, you know, to speak.
00:14:36
Speaker
And so what if... I said, I can't go to the airport until all the lights are green so I can have a straight shot. What if I told myself that I would never, ever leave the house?
00:14:50
Speaker
I would never make it to the destination. And that's sometimes what we do when it comes to the rehearse part. We say, no, I need to make sure it's perfect before I can get on camera. So let me go ahead and do this off in a corner by myself.
00:15:05
Speaker
which is okay to start. But at some point, you got to put yourself out there in front of people so you can get the real feedback, so you can really feel what it means to be on camera and to be live.
00:15:20
Speaker
Because if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, did it really fall? If you go live, nobody sees it.
00:15:32
Speaker
What was the point? So I do. I encourage you, if you're new to this, to start out by practicing and rehearsing on your own. And you can absolutely do that. As a matter of fact, an easy way to do this in Facebook, for instance, is to choose go to go live in your personal profile and change the audience to only me.
00:15:56
Speaker
And that will allow only you to see the the result, okay, of the live stream. Only you. And if you want to change the audience afterwards and give certain people access to be able to give you critique, you can do that.
00:16:11
Speaker
But at some point, you got to pull off the training wheels and you got to ride the bike, okay? Okay. So recognize, reframe, and rehearse.
00:16:23
Speaker
So I'm going to check in and I'm going to see some folks. Ah, I see some some laughter in there. Thank you. Feel the meh and do it anyway. Exactly, exactly.
00:16:36
Speaker
Let me see. Thank you, Natalie, for reposting those two in the comments. I appreciate it. Vanice, Vanice Johnson in the house. What's up? Over preparing is one of my favorite forms of procrastination. I know I'm going to tell you about one of mine in just a second. It's so hilarious.
00:16:56
Speaker
um Learning by doing is the best way to get feedback. That is absolutely right. I totally believe that. So our point number one is really about overcoming.
00:17:08
Speaker
some of the mindset issues. I have a couple of other things I want to talk about in the mindset and preparation segment. So, so let's dive into that. But first the three R's. So recognize what you're feeling, reframe how you're thinking, rehearse.
00:17:24
Speaker
Now, one thing when it comes to the reframing thing, one thing I want you to think about, there's a concept that is called the fixed versus the growth mindset.
00:17:38
Speaker
A fixed mindset is where you say, you know, it is what it is. This is who I am. I've learned these things and this is just who I'm going to be.
00:17:48
Speaker
Or I'm a failure and i just can't see myself moving any further than this. I'll never be able to do this whole live streaming thing. So I'm out.
00:18:00
Speaker
The growth mindset person says, i can learn. Oh, I messed that up. I can fix that. Oh, I was on mute, which was my issue.
00:18:14
Speaker
One of my early, actually, I've done this multiple times throughout my live streaming career, y'all. It's hilarious. But I've had times where I have gone, I was completely mute and silent.
00:18:25
Speaker
And I'm just talking like I'm talking with you right now and thinking that I'm just like, it's the best presentation ever. And the people on the other side are like, we can't hear you.
00:18:36
Speaker
And here's the challenge with that is that because you don't really have another person that's like in your space, if you're not doing interviews, I had people trying to text and
00:18:50
Speaker
It was the nuttiest thing. Now I could have had a breakdown. I could have been like, oh my God, I'm never, never putting myself out there again, ever. Oh, you know, the drama.
00:19:01
Speaker
But instead, I laughed. I turned the speaker on and I laughed. And I've learned to laugh over the years. Initially, I wasn't laughing. It wasn't funny because I thought, oh, my God, I just embarrassed myself in front of these people.
00:19:14
Speaker
Will they ever come back? Maybe some won't.
00:19:19
Speaker
But you're human. So just know that you're going to make mistakes and there will be times where things won't go right. I know um I think it's John, John Lacey and a few other people say live happens.
00:19:32
Speaker
Right. It's just like life happens, live happens. So there are going to be things that will go wrong. But the more you rehearse, which was that number three, the more competence you build up in this field of live streaming, just like with anything else, the more confident you become.
00:19:51
Speaker
But you got to build your competence muscle. You got to do it in order for you to get better at doing this thing, just like with anything else.
00:20:02
Speaker
OK, so I am going to. Hey, I see some folks in the chat. I see some stream bosses in here. What's that? Take those training wheels off, Michelle said.
00:20:15
Speaker
All right. Let's finish up on the mindset and preparation thing. The other thing, the last thing I want to tell you about in that space is this. Set realistic expectations.
00:20:27
Speaker
So when we're talking about mindset and preparation, I could go into a whole bunch of other things, but I'll save them for some future lives. Right. But the number one thing I want you to address with yourself is that.
00:20:39
Speaker
It's not about perfection. It's about you being present.
00:20:45
Speaker
It's not perfection. It's you being present, meaning that you show up.
00:20:51
Speaker
Present in the moment. present in the the space, in the window of time that you're in, I could have easily said, as a matter of fact, I did say this a couple of hours ago, I really just don't feel it right now.
00:21:07
Speaker
I really just don't feel it right now. And you hear yourself saying that. And so I went into those three R's and I was like, nope, I'm committed to doing this. This is my first live stream of 2025 and I'm coming out the gate doing it, doing this thing, right?
00:21:25
Speaker
And I said that to myself to replace that original thinking until I was hyped and ready to go. And if you need hype music, if you need, and that's what I did at the beginning of this, I put my hype music on because at first I wasn't even going to do a countdown timer, but I thought, no, I'm putting it on because that gets me jazzed up.
00:21:45
Speaker
I'm putting on my favorite, you know, rose scented candle or my, my Froot Loops candle. For those of you who know, I love that scent. For some reason, out it's it reminds me of being at my grandma's house way back in the day.
00:22:01
Speaker
um But the realistic expectations. So making sure that you have the understanding that you're not going to be perfect, but you do need to be present. And if that's all you can provide, if that's all you can do is to show up, then that's enough.
00:22:18
Speaker
And the rest is icing on the cake. So that's your mindset. As a new like live streamer, as someone who's been doing this for a while, if you're somewhere in the middle, it doesn't matter where you are, you're going to always have to work on your mind because that is where you succeed or where you fail.
00:22:42
Speaker
If any of that resonated with you, if you got any nuggets from the first point that I just shared, I want you to put a fire emoji into the chat. And I'm watching for questions, too. So if anyone has questions, feel free to share.
00:22:57
Speaker
OK. All right. Before we move into segment two and we talk about technical setup, I'm going to pop up a few comments that I see here. Let's see what we got.
00:23:09
Speaker
ah Hey, hey, hey, I'm learning, learn live streaming with John Lacey. I spent a week preparing, had no audience, but figured I'd do it for the replay. Muted, of course.
00:23:21
Speaker
know. Did it again an hour later and was better and people showed up. Yes, don't give up. Do not give up on the first try. Absolutely. It is not about perfection. It is about being present.
00:23:34
Speaker
Thank you for the fire emojis, y'all. I need those fire emojis. That helps keep me going. I love it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
00:23:46
Speaker
All right. So let's go into point two. So here's point two, technical setup.
Essential Equipment for Streaming
00:23:52
Speaker
So you need the mindset and the prep. You also need to be able to set up technically. Like you you do need to get to know equipment. You do need to understand gear or maybe you don't.
00:24:06
Speaker
Here's the thing. What you're going to have to do is to make some decisions about a few things. Now, I'm of the mindset that I can always do one of three things. So with every task, and I've always done things this way because I'm very structured and systematic, but not everybody is.
00:24:23
Speaker
But I'm going to give you my tip. My tip is every task you look at, you can say, I'm going to put it into one of three buckets or maybe multiple buckets, but act, assign, or automate.
00:24:37
Speaker
So there are going to be times when you are going to want to act. You're the person who is taking the action because you have everything you need to act. There are going to be times you're going to want to automate, which I do a lot with a lot of different platforms and tools, which I also love to review.
00:24:55
Speaker
And then you're also going to assign and outsource. So there are going to be certain tasks that you can outsource and assign. So when it comes to your gear, your technical setup, your live stream production, there's some decisions that you get to make. You get to make a decision about which parts of that flow, that whole process, you will be doing and what you want to assign or outsource to someone else.
00:25:21
Speaker
So there is a rise um of people who are in the remote live production space. Ever since, especially out after 2020, when we all were home, there have been a lot more people who have started to learn and understand the skill of remote live production. So I literally can produce your show from my house here in Dallas, even if you're in Canada, right?
00:25:49
Speaker
So you can outsource some of this stuff. But here's my tip in regards to the whole technical setup. I'm going to share with you some of the things that you need to know because you still need to, as the manager of your business, as the owner of your space, you still need to understand at least enough of what needs to be done.
00:26:09
Speaker
So that when you are paying someone else to do certain things, you know that you're on target. Like you're not being snowed over. Nobody's overcharging you to do certain things.
00:26:21
Speaker
Right. So you need to at least understand the mechanics behind the setup. So what I would share with you in regards to setup, I'm going to keep it real light because we'll do some future videos this year, of course.
00:26:32
Speaker
And we have some challenges coming up, which I'll tell you about where you can go deeper, right? But ultimately, what you need to make a decision about is what's essential and what is optional.
00:26:45
Speaker
The essentials are mainly going to be that you need to have some type of camera. Right. So you need a webcam. You need some way to maybe not maybe it's not a webcam.
00:26:56
Speaker
I'll talk about that in a second. But you need a camera. You need a way to collect your audio, your sound. So you need audio, microphone of some type.
00:27:09
Speaker
And then you need lighting. Those are really the essentials. And there's a lot of other extras. um Another thing you do need that I do think is essential that I need to say is is internet connection. Okay.
00:27:23
Speaker
um One thing that frustrates some people when they start out is they're like, you told me that I could do this and I just needed to use what I have. But when I tried to start it, it just buffered and it never went through and it looked really crappy, you know, so they'll say those things.
00:27:39
Speaker
So definitely investing in a strong internet connection is going to be important. And I won't, again, get too technical with that, but I will say that I am so centered around making sure I have those essential things that I even have a go kit.
00:27:54
Speaker
I just worked with my signature stream accelerator members on this, putting together a mobile go kit so that just in case they need to go live stream and they're traveling because they, the ones that were in that group, actually are travelers.
00:28:09
Speaker
I wanted them to be able to have a portable system and means of being able to go live wherever they are. Now, I don't do that all the time because I don't travel that often, but I know what to take.
00:28:20
Speaker
So when I do travel next week, for instance, I will be taking certain things in my kit. And one of the things that I have is a mobile or portable Wi-Fi system. So I have a Wi-Fi, as they call them.
00:28:32
Speaker
um The one I'm using is called Solus, but there's a ton of other ones out there, and you can probably contact your your telephone service provider, so your mobile phone service provider, and find out if there's a specific one they recommend that works with your service.
00:28:48
Speaker
Or you can get one like Solus. um Another one that one of my members talked about is Sapphire, but 5G or 4G
00:28:58
Speaker
Won't get into the technicals on that because I know we could go all day on it, but I will say, so having those things and having some form of Internet. So if you're at home and you're in a stable space like I am, I'm always wired.
00:29:12
Speaker
I'm connected to the router directly. So not Wi-Fi, but I'm connected with phone. Ethernet from the laptop for my Mac to the router directly so I'm hardwired is what they call it and if you can do that that's absolutely the best way now there's going be scenarios where you can't do that and before early on I didn't have any knowledge about that nor could I do that because of the arrangements in our house
00:29:45
Speaker
But when you think about essentials, lighting, camera, microphone, and then a source for internet, stable internet connection, those are going to be really critical things in order for you to go live and for it to be, you know, it to go well.
00:30:03
Speaker
If you don't have one of those parts, just think of it as though those are the stands or the legs on a chair. If you don't have one of those, you're going to end up wobbling.
00:30:16
Speaker
Now, I do love to tell you if you are a new person to streaming, don't go out and buy thousands of dollars of gear. You don't have to have all this fancy stuff.
00:30:27
Speaker
You don't need this. What you do need is to start with what you have. Yes. And then build on it as you begin to recognize that you are going to do more consistent live streams.
00:30:42
Speaker
And if you make a decision that you're not, you're not out of a bunch of money. So be conscientious and be responsible about that because I know you can watch videos all day long on YouTube about, oh, go get this gear. It's only $2,500 or how about this? It's $10,000. It's this.
00:30:59
Speaker
Don't start wasting and spending money on things that you may not even ever need. Start with the essentials.
00:31:08
Speaker
That's my talk on that. Yeah, the go kit. The go kit is key. and Learn live streaming with John Lacey. We're always so on the same page. It's so funny that you said that.
00:31:20
Speaker
I didn't even see it. You said a decent Internet connection. Yeah, you have to have that. Yeah, the go kit is really um helpful if you're someone who's doing things on the go and your smartphone can actually operate.
00:31:33
Speaker
As your camera, um I also have something called a DJI Pocket 3. I'll have to do a video on that. But um the folks that are in my signature stream, Accelerator, we talked about that. And most of them, they picked up the Pocket 3 because it's so portable.
00:31:52
Speaker
ah usually have it on my desk, but it's being packed. um It's so portable and easy to carry around. And then you don't have to worry about potentially dropping your phone and all of that other stuff. So it gives you a lot of options and some flexibility with movement.
00:32:06
Speaker
And it also follows you as you go. Anyway, if you've got questions about equipment or gear, feel free to drop them in and I can answer what I can tonight. And if not, we're going to go ahead and move on to the next um part.
00:32:22
Speaker
And I will definitely do some more deeper dive of gear conversations in the future. we're going to have some special guests on as well in regards to that. Because I got a lot of friends that are way more savvy at gear than I am. So I would love for you to talk to them.
00:32:40
Speaker
Okay. um Platform selection and setup.
Choosing the Right Platform
00:32:44
Speaker
Yeah. So as part of your setup, the other thing, the second thing and last thing that I'll share is that you need to think about couple of things. You need to think about where you want to go live.
00:32:58
Speaker
So Facebook.
00:33:02
Speaker
Facebook is probably the easiest place to get started because it has a little bit of a lower barrier of entry. So depending on the number of followers you have and all of that stuff and whether or not you're doing a group or your personal profile or a business page,
00:33:18
Speaker
You have to decide where you want to start and then that will determine the directions that you need to follow in order to get set up YouTube live. um Does have certain minimum requirements and criteria first and then also LinkedIn live.
00:33:35
Speaker
LinkedIn live. And there are others, Instagram, TikTok live, TikTok, you need to have a certain number of followers. So most of them, if not all of them have some form of a criteria or a level that you need to reach in terms of your followers, how long you've been on the platform. There's certain things that they have in place for safety and precaution reasons to make sure you're a real person.
00:33:59
Speaker
But once you meet those criteria, you're able to be in those spaces. So what are you looking for? You're looking for when it talk when it comes to your platform, where are your people involved?
00:34:11
Speaker
Who do you want to talk to? And we didn't even get into that part of strategy, right? We didn't even talk it about business strategy from the beginning, which means that you know who you serve, you know what you're the expert at and how you want to position yourself.
00:34:27
Speaker
And then you also know what your message is about how you're differentiating yourself. If you know those things, then that will help to determine and define the best platform for you to be on.
00:34:40
Speaker
So that's a decision that each of you will make. And it may be different than what someone else says. OK, it's all you. Because if you're trying to go live and do have conversations with people on camera in a space that you don't feel comfortable or where you feel that it's just not your happy place, you're forcing it.
00:35:03
Speaker
And what will happen is you'll find yourself showing up in a way that it feels more like a stressor than it does a relief. Right.
00:35:14
Speaker
When I get on camera and I come and I talk to you wherever you are on the platforms that I've chosen, it's because I've chosen to be here with you. And I know you're here.
00:35:27
Speaker
And if it's a space that I don't feel comfortable with, if it's a space where I feel that there are things that are taking place that I'm not, that they're not aligned with my values, I probably won't be there anymore.
00:35:39
Speaker
You get to make those decisions. So remember that. Never let anyone else kind of handcuff you to a certain space because they're telling you, hey, if you're here, it's going to do X. Nobody can ever promise that.
00:35:52
Speaker
Be in a place where you feel joy and where you feel connected and where your energy level is where it needs to be.
00:36:00
Speaker
Just sharing this from experience because I've been in the opposite situation. Okay. Okay. If anything stood out to you so far about what we've shared and there's a mental note you want to make out loud, feel free to pop it in the chat.
00:36:19
Speaker
If there's any message point that I've shared so far, pop that in the chat. Okay. I'm ready to give you my heart framework. You ready?
00:36:31
Speaker
Okay.
Structuring Content with the HEART Framework
00:36:32
Speaker
So here's point number three. And this is content structure. So the first thing we talked about, of course, was mindset and preparation. Then we talked about technical setup. And now we're going into content structure. And this is going to close us out.
00:36:47
Speaker
So content structure, there's a simple framework that will help you to really figure out how to actually organize your content for your live streams. And I'm going to call it the heart framework. You ready? Okay.
00:37:02
Speaker
Look, if you're ready, put a heart in the comments.
00:37:08
Speaker
Let's pop it up. And if you have questions, remember to ask. OK, here's the heart framework. So your hook. Is where you begin. Your hook is going to help people to know what you're even talking about. It's like a simple introduction to what your topic is going to be about. So when you're delivering really any type of content these days, because people's attention spans are so short,
00:37:38
Speaker
you want to start with the hook. And so a hook may be, hey, have you ever struggled with going live? Have you been thinking about doing this for the last year and you think today is your day, but somehow you just can't move?
00:37:53
Speaker
Well, tonight we're going to talk about blah, blah, blah. So that would have been something similar to a hook that I would use for this particular video we're doing right now. Right. Ask questions.
00:38:04
Speaker
um Make a practical statement. Use statistics. Hey, did you know that every the attention span of a goldfish is longer than a human these days?
00:38:16
Speaker
Attention span of a goldfish is eight seconds and that's longer than human being. So, I mean, something like that that will get attention, that will get people thinking, that will get people talking, that will get people staying.
00:38:32
Speaker
You start with the hook.
00:38:36
Speaker
Next, engage. So one of the things that I am really. i i wasn't always as conscientious about this, to be honest, but have learned and I'm continuing to learn how to do this. Engagement is so important.
00:38:52
Speaker
It's really the heart. It's the lifeblood of your live streams, because otherwise you're just kind of talking to yourself. which you could just be doing a video on demand if that's happening.
00:39:05
Speaker
So I love live streams and then I get to engage with you in the chat. And if you ask questions, I can answer them. I love to answer questions. And if you, you know, or if something's resonating with you, I can ask you to put a heart or a fire emoji, right?
00:39:20
Speaker
Or thumbs up or wave, you know, all those things I can, I can share with you. um that I acknowledge you as a new person to the show by asking you to type in hashtag newbie or asking you to type in hashtag OG. These are things that are part of intentional engagement strategy.
00:39:38
Speaker
So when I go live, when you go live, I think of what can I do to engage? So even as I was building out the automated system, the bots that I've created for different parts of the live stream framework,
00:39:53
Speaker
One of the things I made sure to do is to build in, hey, I need this assistant to help people to come up with engagement strategies that are best suited for their target audience.
00:40:07
Speaker
Because engagement really is what makes the entire thing go. So ask questions that resonate. And we're going to do a deeper dive on that one, too, because I was going to say something else, but I i won't prolong that.
00:40:22
Speaker
OK. Hook, engage, advance. So advancing is sharing your main teaching point or points. Now, I'm going to say that this whole heart framework can actually work in a couple of different ways. It can work for you if you're doing a longer live stream like I'm doing now, or even if, think about this, if you're doing a really short, quick hitter video.
00:40:49
Speaker
So you're doing like reels or something. Works for that too. You still need a hook. You still need to engage with people. Even if it's not necessarily live, you still need to advance and share your main teaching point or points. Now, typically for me, I'm going to go somewhere between three and five.
00:41:09
Speaker
That's my, my happy place when it comes to doing these. ah Oh, Hmm. Something just happened there. Let's see what happened.
00:41:21
Speaker
I just lost my camera. So let me do a backup real quick here. Hold on for a second. We're going to switch over. We're going to move things because I think you can still hear me, but you cannot see me and I'm not sure why. All right. I'm switching cameras and we're going to switch it right now.
00:41:40
Speaker
Okay. Well, not sure what happened. I'll work on that later. But look at this backup. Okay. You need a backup plan too. Okay. So here's what we're going to do. We'll finish up heart and then I will figure out what just happened there. Okay.
00:41:58
Speaker
Let me pull it back up for you.
00:42:03
Speaker
Hook, engage, advance, which means that you're a teaching, you're going through with the teaching points. And so those teaching points that you have would be the things that I'm talking about right now. So we're doing the three teaching points, right?
00:42:19
Speaker
Yes, I'm here, Natalie. I don't know what happened. One of my my camera just went off my DSLR for some reason. So I'll fix that in a minute. um Respond is where we are.
00:42:31
Speaker
OK, so responding. This is so important. Do not forget this. Look, I i learned this a little late in the game, but and I get it now.
00:42:43
Speaker
Look, people want to know that you acknowledge them. So when you're responding, it's not just about acknowledging them through their name and through, um the hellos.
00:42:58
Speaker
It's also taking a quick second to think about how you're responding to them, not just giving them some type of canned answer response, but even after your live stream show, you're going to go back to wherever the platform was that you recorded. So maybe it was YouTube, maybe it was Facebook, maybe it was LinkedIn, but you're going to go back and you're going to double check And see, did I have comments? Did somebody ask a question? Is there a way that I need to respond?
00:43:27
Speaker
And you're going to acknowledge that they came and they took the time to consume your content. The more you do that, the more likely you will be to.
00:43:39
Speaker
Really attract loyal followers, people who will come back and who will hang out with you and spend time with you. Right on your future streams.
00:43:49
Speaker
So response is so to me, it's so critical. It really is. Responding even after the show. Absolutely. So you can do this.
00:44:01
Speaker
We're doing it right now. Like I'm responding to you. in this moment. on camera, but I also recognize that there will be people that will watch the replay.
00:44:15
Speaker
Therefore, i need to have a plan in place to make sure I go back and I respond. And then finally, Finally, the transform is the call to action.
00:44:27
Speaker
So transform is really where you have an opportunity to change people's life, to give them extended access to you in a different way.
00:44:38
Speaker
Right. It is. It is critical for you not just simply to leave people hanging. One of the things that I learned and I'm going to address, I see a couple of people that have commented.
00:44:49
Speaker
um But one of the things that I've learned from folks like you. Is that. They're looking for people are looking for a way to continue to have the conversation even after the video.
00:45:04
Speaker
So in order for you to do that, you really need to give them access. And so you need to let them know what's the next step. I'll never forget when a person said to me, you know, I just, it was nice that you had all this great content, but I really didn't know what I was supposed to do next.
00:45:21
Speaker
I actually had a guy say that to me um a couple maybe probably about six months ago, six months ago, I was at an event and he said, yeah, I love your content. I just don't know what I'm supposed to do next.
00:45:35
Speaker
So that requires you as a business owner in particular to think about what are the services, what's the natural customer journey or path that people will take with me if they know these things.
00:45:48
Speaker
So for me, to give you an an example, I'm going to give you a real life, real time example right in this moment. I'm teaching this comment or not this comment, this content tonight that's talking about mastering your first live stream because I'm about to kick off a series of challenges that are going to be taking place every month in 2025.
00:46:09
Speaker
The first challenge I have to start with the basics first. And the first one is launching your live stream, your your first live stream or launching your live stream in three days. And so we're doing that at the end of this month. I believe it's Monday, the 27th.
00:46:24
Speaker
And as of tomorrow, I'm going to start sending out content and information about that. So the first challenge is called the live stream launch pad challenge.
00:46:34
Speaker
And there's a series of three different challenges that fit within that space. So if you're not already on my list, make sure you do go and subscribe if you are interested.
00:46:46
Speaker
I want interested parties only. This year and last year, too, I said, i don't want to try to convince people that they need video. I want to work with the people who already know that they they need it. They want it.
00:46:59
Speaker
They just need to know how to do it. because I'm here for you. So go to stream like a boss dot TV slash subscribe so that you're on my email list.
00:47:11
Speaker
If you do want to get access to that. Now, I did tell my friend at Stampede Social, Jeff, that I was going to test this out. So if you put the word start in YouTube,
00:47:25
Speaker
I think it might send you a link. I don't know. It may send you a link to my subscription page, but try putting the word start and we'll see if it works so I can report back to him that I did my homework.
00:47:39
Speaker
OK, let me pop up some comments because we are have. Wrapped the majority of our content here. And I hope that it was helpful to you. I'm so sorry about the camera going out. I'm not sure what happened there, but I have my backup camera. One of my backups is on.
00:47:56
Speaker
Let me do this. I'm going to pop up comments. um Yeah, it and it probably is the snow. it it probably is the stupid snow and ice.
00:48:10
Speaker
Yes, because I was dreading that a little bit, thinking it might end up impacting the live stream. So, yeah. Yep.
00:48:20
Speaker
Chocolate quilts is not, we don't have the fire here because because I'm not in the California area. I do want to say i am definitely praying for those folks who are impacted and hopefully things will get better because, you know, our weather is going to be better. We're going to get warmer within a week, but this fire has really taken lives and it's taken property and it's sad.
00:48:44
Speaker
Yes, transform is the call to action. John Lacey said i connect those dots. Okay, y'all, I'm going to see if the start worked.
00:48:55
Speaker
I will be checking in with you. I see a few of you have popped that in. So we'll see how that goes. Okay, let me do my quick little recap. And we'll take us home on this. um Tonight we talked about mastering your first live stream. Like how do you actually put things together such that you are going live and you're feeling good about it and everything is working.
00:49:19
Speaker
Oh, I'm so sad. ah see your note, John, that your former co-host had to evacuate his home. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Hopefully he'll be he'll be all right and his family will be all right.
00:49:33
Speaker
Um, let's do our recap. And that will take us out for the rest of this week. And next week, I am probably going to pre-record a video for you because I'll be traveling and I'll be speaking at PodFest.
00:49:48
Speaker
So I want to make sure that you do have some content and I don't leave you hanging. um What we'll be doing, I don't have the topic in front of me right now, but I do have everything mapped out. So we'll get you some goodies for next week.
00:50:04
Speaker
The other thing I'll mention to you is if you do subscribe, one of the things that I'm starting to do now with my email is my email community gets the bonuses. So you'll get a copy or you'll get a link back to the replay for this YouTube video, but you'll also get some other goodies, including a nice handy little checklist and mind map that you can use to help you to implement on what we talked about tonight.
00:50:32
Speaker
So make sure you subscribe. Okay.
Key Takeaways and Encouragement
00:50:36
Speaker
Yes. Chocolate quilts. I will definitely be praying for your family there as well in California. Yeah. ah So much going on right now, y'all.
00:50:46
Speaker
It's going to be an interesting year. So just hang on to your hats. Make sure if you whatever it is that keeps you sane and that keeps you feeling like you're on purpose, stay connected to that. Stay connected and to the people that you love and to the resources that will help you to get through.
00:51:03
Speaker
Please do that. OK, recap. Let's do it. Point number one Here's what we talked about. We talked about mindset and preparation. We talked about making sure that we are in the proper mindset to be able to be on camera and to do what needs to be done. And sometimes that is simply acknowledging these three R's that we're recognizing where we are and how we're feeling, that we're reframing any negative thoughts into positive thoughts and That we're rehearsing and that we're that reframing, by the way, we talked about growth mindset, too. We talked about the fact that instead of having a fixed mindset where we can't learn and we can't change, we have a growth mindset where we're constantly learning, constantly changing changing and also adding new skills and abilities to our plate.
00:51:54
Speaker
Right. We have to do that. um Rehearsing. Can't forget that. The more you do this thing, the easier it will get, the better you will be on camera.
00:52:06
Speaker
And then we talked about point number two, which is technical setup. And I shared a few little goodies about technical setup without going too deep to where you had smoke coming out of your ears.
00:52:16
Speaker
But we talked about some of the basics, the four legs of the chair, um your camera, your lighting, your microphone, and then also having a strong internet connection, or at least a stable internet connection.
00:52:32
Speaker
And then on point three, we talked about content structure, and I shared my heart framework with you. And the heart framework is this. Hook, engage, advance, respond, and transform.
00:52:45
Speaker
The transform is the call to action. That's the part that a lot of times people forget. They may do everything else, but they have nowhere to send people afterwards. So make sure that you have given people a next step because if they want to, they will follow.
00:53:01
Speaker
It's not about you feeling like you're being overly salesy or any of that stuff. It literally is about you being accountable, not only to yourself and your business, but also to the person on the other side that is paying attention and consuming that content.
00:53:15
Speaker
You're making sure that they have a path forward with you, especially if they want that. You're giving them that option. All righty, folks. That's what I have for this evening. It has been my pleasure to serve you in this way.
00:53:31
Speaker
um Please stay safe. If I need to, because I usually like to have really high quality video when I do the clips. If I need to, I'll re-record a portion of this for you for later.
00:53:44
Speaker
But I'm just glad that you and I got a chance to hang out and that the electricity, the light stayed on. So and just pray for us that we keep our heat and all of that stuff tonight because it's supposed to really drop.
00:53:57
Speaker
be And I'm also definitely keeping in my thoughts and my prayers those folks who are impacted by the wildfires because that's a big deal. And I hope that everyone remains safe and sound wherever you are, no matter what the weather, no matter what the conditions are around you.
00:54:15
Speaker
Okay. Alrighty, folks, I will see you next time in the stream.