Welcome to the first episode of She Learns Video. While the YouTube channel has been going for awhile now, I am so thrilled to be offering new content in podcast format.
In this first episode I want to share with you a bit about my journey into video and why I feel it is so important for business owners to embrace. Scroll down to see the full show notes along with link to resources mentioned in the episode!
Links:
Website and 30 Reels in 30 Minutes Planner: www.shelearnsvideo.com
YouTube: www.youtube.com/shelearnsvideo
Links:
Full Transcript:
Hey everyone, and welcome to the first episode of She Learns Video, the podcast. While the YouTube channel has been going for a while, I am so thrilled to finally be offering new content and doing it in this fun podcast format. In this first episode, I want to share with you a bit about my journey into video and why I feel like video is so important for business owners to embrace and how I think it can be a really, really powerful tool to help grow and expand your business. Honestly, when I went back to think about this journey and how I originally got started with video, I went to the beginning of my business. But I think for me, my love and my passion for video really come from a few experiences in my life that took place before I ever picked up a camera and started shooting photography, let alone video.
The first was the fact that my husband and I don’t have a wedding video, and initially you may think, well, she probably just didn’t book a wedding videographer. It was 10 years ago. Wedding films weren’t anything close to what they are today, but that assumption would be wrong. See, we did book a wedding videographer and our photographer had recently started offering video services.
We had seen his work at some previous weddings of our friends that we had attended, and we knew that video was something that we definitely wanted to add into our package. We paid for it got everything squared away. Met up with him was all good, and then we just kind of sat back and enjoyed our wedding day.
A few months later, after our wedding, we received all of our images back and absolutely loved them. They’re beautiful still. They’re some of my favorite photos that we have and afterwards we asked him, you know, how long will it be before we’re able to see the completed video? And then crickets.
Nothing, absolutely nothing. We didn’t hear back from him for a few weeks, and once we did, the person who we hired let us know that he had lost the footage. Obviously we were devastated and we [00:02:00] asked, you know, how could that possibly happen? He. He mentioned he had lost a hard drive, which really knowing what I know now I feel that maybe he didn’t even shoot the video.
He got focused on the photo and just kind of forgot that we had added video onto the package. So I’m not 100% sure what happened on his end. And obviously, you know, we’re very sad about it, but also happy that we do have the photographs.
But it made me come to realize just how important video is and how much you miss out on when it’s gone or when moments aren’t captured on video. Moments aren’t captured for your business. I feel like there are so many valuable moments that come through the video medium. So that was kind of the first thing.
Second, I had the opportunity to work on a really fun video project when I worked at an Atlanta area Children’s Hospital prior to moving back to Indianapolis.
Each year, my team would create a video that served as kind of the anchor content for our journey around the country. We would actually travel to business meetings [00:03:00] all over the United States to raise funds for pediatric cancer research. So much time and talent went into crafting this video to tell a really great story and share that battle that so many patients were facing. Once the film was ready and we traveled all around the country sharing these stories, we would, you know, obviously have information with data and details about the cancer center.
But I tell you, it wasn’t until we played that video. That you could really see the impact that the message was having. And obviously these people are then willing to donate so much more money because they’re connected to the story and they’re able to see these kids playing at the cancer center and interacting with their doctors, and they get to hear the voices of their families telling these stories.
You know, some of them have remarkable happy endings and others ended quite sad. So it was one of those things that just really helped me to realize. The impact that the stories you tell on [00:04:00] video can have in a way that just photos alone cannot. So that was the second real lesson I feel like I learned in video prior to ever starting my business.
After I left Atlanta, I moved back to Indianapolis where I was born and raised, and I started my photography business. And I quickly realized there are so many talented photographers in my area, and you may feel the same about the area that you’re in, or maybe you’re a business owner, you’re not a photographer, and you just feel like your market is really saturated, or perhaps you’re looking for that way to kind of stand out within your community. For me in business, I really sat back and said, you know, what is going to set me apart? What’s going to make me different? There were new photographers popping up, I felt like every day in my area. So I had to do something that was going to allow me to be successful and set my business ahead and apart from these other businesses that were in my area.
And for me, that is when it all kind of clicked together. That [00:05:00] video was the answer. I had had these experiences in my past that had really shown me how important video is, and I actually remember the exact place I was when I decided. To add video to my business and to really, really double down on what video could do to help me expand my photography business To me, it’s so funny how you have those moments in your entrepreneurial journey where you just have such a vivid memory of exactly where you were and what was happening.
And for me, I knew in that moment that video was the path forward, and I really haven’t forgotten it since.
Shortly after jumping into the video space, I quickly saw just how dominated the video industry was by men. All of the photographers I knew were women, but I saw very few women actually taking the plunge on the video side, and even fewer who were providing mentorship or guidance and education as a female entrepreneur.
You know, YouTube is, was very dominated mostly by male videographers. Some of not all, but some of who are kind of over-complicating videography and just making it very tech heavy with lots of, you know, numbers and gear. And while that’s all part of video, I feel like this can be done in a much more approachable, easy way that you can start implementing this in your business right away.
When I started, I wanted to find a community of female videographers and business owners who enjoyed marketing their businesses with video, and I wanted simple tips to help improve my videos
and guidance on what gear I actually needed. You know, what did I not need to spend money on right away and what did I need to invest in? And kind of knowing the difference because I feel like so early on, you can spend so much money when you are starting out with photography or as any type of business owner, and you just need to know what is actually important for you to have.
So after looking for this resource and coming up pretty empty on my own, I’ve kind of taken it on myself and taken this adventure of creating this community that I’m hoping to [00:07:00] share with so many of you in. She Learns video.
So that’s a little about me and why I got into this business. I really want this podcast to be collaborative and I have some fabulous guests lined up, but I want you to know that I am so passionate about bringing relatable, actionable, simple video strategies to you. And your business, and I want to be someone you can trust and someone you can count on in this industry.
You can also come over and say hi on Instagram as I spend way too much time over there. I’d love to connect. I’m at Kelli White Photography. It’s Kelli with an I and we have a Facebook group for She Learns video. If you go to shelearnsvideo.com. You can find out more over there.
Okay, so that’s enough about me. But before we end the episode, I want to leave you with some things to consider. If you are new to video or maybe you are considering getting started with video, I want you to think about where your business could be in a few weeks, months, and years if you really invest to learning more about the video space. As I mentioned earlier, video is so incredibly valuable and it truly has the ability to share your story in a way that photos and words alone can’t always do. Video is the sole reason that I am still running a successful, profitable business, and I want nothing more than for that to be your story as well.
So go get started today. As a bonus, I actually have a 30 reels in 30 minutes planner that you can grab for free over on she learns video.com. And that will help you to create some fun short form video content that you can start sharing right away.
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