0:00

It got me thinking of a lot of my clients

0:02

. They will literally say I am too

0:04

old . Like people will think I'm too old

0:07

. Or my accent I have

0:09

a really strong accent , like I can't create video

0:11

content in my accent or

0:14

often what you mentioned , mike , of people not

0:16

seeing how they want

0:18

to show up , so they're like then this is just not

0:20

for me , this is only for a select amount

0:22

of people , and I think that almost shows how it's

0:24

even more important for us to show up exactly

0:27

as we are , because there's probably someone looking

0:29

for someone like us on the other

0:31

side of it .

0:39

Welcome back to Waves powered by Arcade

0:41

, a show for marketers , creators and entrepreneurs

0:44

who want to stop chasing the tide and start making

0:46

waves online . We're your hosts

0:48

, mike and Mitzi , and today we're joined by content

0:51

marketing expert , natasha Peer .

0:53

Natasha is the host of the Shine

0:55

Online podcast , part of the HubSpot

0:57

podcast network , and is a video

1:00

marketing coach for small businesses . Through

1:02

her signature group programs and

1:04

educational content , natasha helps

1:06

you build your brand with a confident video

1:08

marketing strategy that ultimately grows

1:10

your business , community and impact

1:13

simultaneously . We're so

1:15

excited to have you on the show . Welcome , natasha

1:17

.

1:18

Yes , thanks so much for having me . I don't know if I

1:20

mentioned it to either of you , but I've been a long-time

1:22

listener of the show , so this is such a treat for

1:24

me .

1:25

Thank you so sweet . I have been a long-time

1:27

listener of the show too , so this is a treat for

1:29

me .

1:31

Yeah , I'm honestly trying to remember when we

1:33

first discovered your show . I want

1:35

to say was it through Mitzi

1:37

? Do you remember ? Was it through Taylor Loran or someone

1:39

like that ?

1:40

Later maybe , yeah it might have been

1:42

in later . Like , I think that they

1:44

were like highlighting podcasts to listen

1:47

to , and I think that was at least

1:49

when I discovered your podcast

1:52

and , yeah , it's been so

1:54

good , especially as , like , I've been

1:56

trying to do more video content

1:58

and I just feel like you're such a

2:00

pro at that and just even like

2:02

the mindset behind creating videos , so

2:04

I'm so excited to talk to you about that

2:06

. Yeah , we're gonna dive right on in .

2:09

Yeah , well , before we dive on in , I was gonna

2:11

say I had an absolute blast talking about threads

2:13

with you on the Thinkific webinar

2:15

a few weeks ago and I have to ask

2:17

are you still using threads

2:19

?

2:20

Yeah , such a great question In this

2:22

current moment . No , I am not currently

2:24

using threads , but I'm sure we'll talk about , like , sustainable

2:27

content , content burnout

2:30

, like how to actually not get overwhelmed

2:32

, like I'm sure that'll be a theme today . But

2:34

, transparently , for the season that I'm in , I

2:36

had to focus on my non-negotiables , and

2:39

threads is the new one , so it definitely

2:41

didn't fall under non-negotiables , but definitely

2:44

plan on , you know , picking it back up

2:46

. Being back on the app , I'm sure it's

2:48

gonna be a long game . But

2:51

, long story short , taking a little threads break .

2:53

Yeah , I haven't been as intentional

2:55

about it , but I also just haven't been as

2:57

active . I feel like and

3:00

that's probably the story for a lot of people I feel like

3:02

, just as they're working through

3:04

this like beta version of the app , but

3:06

even giving it a little bit of time probably

3:09

isn't the worst thing , because they're just gonna have better features

3:11

and people are gonna get more active

3:13

again as they start to see more of their actual friends

3:16

and stuff like that , definitely . Yeah

3:18

, we wanna get into video and you don't

3:21

just do video , you're literally doing it

3:23

all online , including podcasting , video

3:25

, marketing , coaching , speaking , educating

3:28

. So we wanna just talk

3:30

about how you landed in the content creation space

3:32

in the first place and , even more specifically

3:35

, how did you initially choose your

3:37

niche ?

3:37

Yeah , definitely so . When I

3:39

started my business , it was actually as

3:42

a social media management business , so

3:44

I kind of started doing a little bit under

3:46

the sun , because I started my business while I was

3:48

in college . So I was like , let me take all the

3:51

skills I know and do digital marketing

3:53

as a whole , and then eventually I landed

3:55

on social media . And then eventually I landed on

3:57

Instagram . And then Instagram naturally

3:59

became Stories , igtv , reels

4:01

, lives and I just fell

4:03

in love with video for storytelling and

4:06

so while I was doing it behind

4:08

the scenes for a lot of my clients , initially

4:10

I was like I'll just be behind the scenes , like I

4:12

won't even start my own Instagram account , I don't

4:14

need to be creating content . But

4:17

then eventually I started slowly

4:20

showing up on my platforms

4:22

and I started talking about

4:24

the things that I was going through with my clients about

4:26

batching and about them being nervous to be in

4:28

video and all those different elements

4:30

. And so it's funny when I look

4:32

at like my little story archives and I look

4:34

back years ago of what I was creating

4:36

my first videos about is I was like

4:39

slowly building my niche

4:41

of video content and my approach

4:43

to video , like I talk

4:45

a lot about like low-lift video content and creating

4:47

like B-roll footage , and that was something I was doing

4:49

ages ago , before Reels were even a thing

4:52

. So I think it's really cool to look

4:54

at your journey of like what you've been able to

4:56

do in your career . Even

4:58

if my career wasn't very long , right , I

5:00

was right out of college . I didn't have a lot of experience

5:03

, but from the experience I did have

5:05

and like experimenting and just sharing when I

5:07

was interested in it actually doesn't look

5:09

too different from what I'm doing now , even

5:12

though I'm no longer doing social media management

5:14

and now have my hands I'm like a lot of different

5:16

types of content buckets . So it's been really fun

5:18

to let my brand evolve in that

5:20

way but still stay true to my roots .

5:22

Yeah , and I love that because I think

5:24

a lot of people get so busy

5:27

and focused and there's nothing

5:29

wrong with focused but they get so busy doing their actual

5:31

work that they forget to kind of like stop

5:33

and share some of it or kind of like just

5:36

be open to talking about it . I

5:38

think one thing I love about you is , like if

5:41

I've been following you for a while and just seeing

5:43

that you like share so much of what

5:45

you're doing and building and growing and it's

5:48

also fun to like be along for the

5:50

ride with you but

5:52

a lot of people kind of get hung up

5:54

and there's a lot of reasons why they

5:56

get hung up , which I know we'll get into , but

5:58

it's just so cool that you like stopped

6:00

to also share some of that from the beginning

6:03

. So it's just a nice natural evolution for

6:05

you in terms of like the work you're doing now

6:07

.

6:07

Definitely yeah , and it wasn't easy

6:09

to at first . I think it's really easy for people

6:11

that are doing the creating for others to

6:14

not actually want to be in the content

6:16

, but I think that it allowed

6:19

me to eventually create

6:21

my own brand outside of the offer

6:23

that I had . It allowed me to , like

6:25

, very seamlessly , transition out

6:27

of social media management and start like working

6:29

with brands and start speaking and start like creating

6:31

all this different type of content . So

6:34

I think , like for anyone that's listening and they're like

6:36

I don't wanna be in the content

6:38

, I know that's something I wish I would have heard

6:40

of like , wow , when I'm able to show up in

6:42

that way , it really unlocks so many opportunities

6:44

for you Totally .

6:46

Awesome . Well , I'm so excited because we're going to talk about five

6:49

mindset blocks that people have

6:51

when it comes to creating video content

6:53

. I feel like this is gonna be like therapy

6:55

for me , because I really want to do more video

6:58

content , but some of these like mind

7:00

blocks really just like it's so hard to

7:02

get over them . So I'm so excited to learn from

7:04

you when it comes to these mindset

7:06

blocks . So we're gonna dive into the first

7:08

one , and that is perfectionism

7:10

, which I definitely struggle with . I'm

7:13

sure so many creators struggle with it . Can

7:15

you talk us through what your experience

7:17

has been like dealing with perfectionism

7:19

or any tips that you use

7:21

to help clients with that ?

7:23

Yes , definitely , and I think this is one of

7:25

the biggest video blocks . And

7:27

the reason why we're talking about mindset is

7:29

it's so easy to talk a lot about strategy

7:32

and we'll touch on strategy but what I find

7:34

with so many business owners and I've worked

7:36

with so many different types that

7:38

like 20% of the problem

7:40

is actually like strategy

7:43

, but the other 80% is their

7:45

mindset and how they're approaching it . And

7:47

when it comes to perfectionism , there's really

7:50

three different types of ways that it shows up

7:52

. There's the appearance perfectionism

7:54

of my office or my home is

7:56

a mess , or I'm not really done up today

7:59

, or I look really tired , or I

8:01

haven't done my hair right , like the list

8:03

can go on and on or even just being insecure

8:06

about our appearance . And

8:08

then it can also be like the performance of

8:10

our content , like oh , if it didn't

8:12

go well , or if I didn't get engagement

8:14

, or all these things didn't happen from just

8:17

one piece of content , then

8:19

it wasn't perfect , it wasn't worth posting

8:21

. I want to archive it , right , like I think we've all

8:23

done that before . And then there's like

8:25

the actual content of like it's not

8:28

perfectly edited , or I didn't get the lip sync

8:30

right , or I didn't say something perfect

8:32

to camera or whatever

8:34

, like the lighting wasn't great , we

8:36

can like , nitpick our content and ourselves

8:39

and our content and all

8:41

from the best intention of we are creating

8:43

brands as creators , as business owners

8:45

, and we want to represent our best selves . Right

8:47

, we want to create content that's worth people's

8:49

time and that's really where this idea of

8:51

perfectionism comes from . But

8:53

I think what really helped me is

8:56

realizing that perfectionism doesn't

8:58

actually help us create better video content

9:00

. Right , like perfectionism is actually

9:03

the block that's in between us

9:05

. Just like actually showing up consistently

9:07

and actually just posting the story

9:09

, no matter what the lighting looks like and no

9:11

matter what our background looks like . And

9:14

when I actually think about imperfect

9:16

content , is that's

9:18

the type of content that connects us with

9:21

people . Like we're , at the end of the day , not

9:23

trying to connect with brands , we're trying to connect

9:25

with other people on this other

9:27

side of these social media apps

9:29

, and so when I'm showing up exactly

9:32

as I am , people

9:34

are able to like connect with those things and

9:36

build relationships . And

9:38

I think , like through all the things

9:40

we've gone through over the past three years and gone

9:42

through it literally on social media , it's shown

9:44

that people weren't looking for perfectionism

9:46

, they were just looking for real people

9:48

to connect with , and I think that's

9:51

really where the authenticity comes in , right

9:53

Of like show up authentically . But

9:55

I really think it means like just show up exactly

9:58

as you are , real imperfect

10:00

, knowing that you can still get results

10:03

, you can still build community , you can still get

10:05

growth . On the other side of that , and

10:07

from my own personal experience I remember

10:09

because I started my business so young

10:12

, I had just so many

10:14

thoughts If I wanted to look older and

10:16

look like there were more people and part of my business

10:18

, and like I literally felt like I had to put

10:20

a button down shirt on when I was going

10:22

on . Stories Like this is like a true story

10:25

. I was like I'm pulling out the button down shirt

10:27

every time I was on stories . And , of course , there's nothing wrong

10:29

with button down shirts . But now

10:31

if you look at my content , like I'm in my match

10:33

, I'm in my comfy home clothes , like I'm

10:35

walking around in my garden , like I'm

10:37

just being fully me , without feeling like

10:40

I need to perform or look

10:42

a certain way to do that . So this

10:44

block is a really , really tough one

10:46

, but getting through it really can help you

10:48

just like start being more consistent with your content

10:51

.

10:51

Yeah , that hit hard .

10:53

Seriously and , natasha

10:56

, I wasn't following you at the beginning

10:58

because I didn't know about you yet but

11:00

even from how you were describing

11:03

how you got started and found your niche

11:05

, and like the process you went through , plus

11:08

the way you've described this , I

11:10

just feel like everything that you do is

11:12

so true I don't know how else to say it and

11:15

I feel like that is really the best way

11:17

to create consistency

11:20

and like sustainability is like if you're

11:22

being actually who you are and showing

11:24

up in the clothes you would actually be wearing

11:26

and just talking the way that you would actually

11:29

be talking and not wearing so much

11:31

about polish and just taking people along

11:33

for the ride . Like that's the kind of content

11:35

One people actually like and engage

11:37

with and it's obvious with the way that you've grown

11:39

. But two , it allows

11:42

you to just feel more comfortable approaching

11:44

that next video or whatever it

11:46

is , because you feel

11:48

like you can just be honest . So that's

11:51

inspiring for me , because I think Mitzi

11:53

does way more video content than I do and

11:55

I've just kind of avoided it at all costs

11:57

. Well , not at all costs , I participate

11:59

in some , but it's

12:02

what's kept me from doing more video for myself

12:04

and my own content , just because I

12:07

also just feel like there aren't as many guys creating

12:09

content and I don't really have a

12:11

lot of examples of like men

12:14

that I like their

12:16

content , that I would want to emulate elements of

12:18

it , and so it really kind of feels like this

12:20

no man's land of defining

12:23

it for myself . So this is a good

12:25

reminder for me that I can literally just be me and

12:28

doesn't have to look a certain way or

12:30

sound a certain way , but whatever

12:32

comes easiest and most natural , and I think that's probably

12:34

what a lot of people need to hear .

13:09

Totally .

13:10

And I love how you shared that . Personally

13:12

, I'm sorry to interrupt a little bit , but

13:14

it got me thinking of a lot

13:16

of my clients . They will literally say

13:19

I am too old . People will

13:21

think I'm too old . My

13:23

accent I have a really strong accent

13:25

. I can't create video content in my accent

13:27

or often what you mentioned

13:30

, mike , of people not seeing how

13:32

they want to show up , so they're like

13:34

then this is just not for me , this is only for

13:37

a select amount of people , and I think that

13:39

almost shows how it's even more important

13:41

for us to show up exactly as we are , because there's

13:43

probably someone looking for someone

13:45

like us on the other side of it .

13:47

Yeah , that's so true .

13:48

Yeah , and I think what you said about perfectionism

13:51

actually holds you back from

13:53

creating content . For me , when

13:56

I think about perfectionism and it's not

13:59

wanting to post something that isn't

14:01

exactly what I want it

14:03

to look like in my head , and

14:05

I almost , like in my head , romanticize

14:08

that because I'm like my standards are so

14:10

high , but

14:12

it means that I'm not posting . It

14:15

means that I'm not working that muscle

14:17

and I'm holding back and I'm not getting

14:19

to that level of quality

14:21

or storytelling . It's

14:24

even further away from me because I'm not trying

14:26

to get there . So I think that was

14:28

a really good unblock for me .

14:30

So thank you for that , yeah , when

14:32

you said that perfectionism doesn't actually make it better , it

14:34

just makes it take long longer , like

14:36

that was a mic drop moment , oh man

14:38

.

14:38

Yeah , so good .

14:39

The other one we wanted to talk about was overwhelm , and

14:41

we see this a lot with clients I'm

14:44

sure you do , in the way that

14:46

you deliver your service . So we want to

14:48

know , similar to perfectionism , how do

14:50

you coach people through when they feel

14:52

overwhelmed with what they're trying to accomplish

14:55

?

14:55

Yeah , and I think overwhelm can encompass

14:57

so many things . I mean , that's what makes it overwhelming

14:59

right . There's the algorithms

15:02

, there's the hashtags how often am I

15:04

supposed to be posting ? What is my grid supposed

15:06

to look like ? Do I have enough time

15:08

? There's also this really deeply

15:11

rooted assumption I don't know where we all got it from

15:13

Of like video has to

15:15

be hard and draining and expensive

15:18

and take a lot of my time and resources

15:20

, or also just like

15:22

feeling like I need to know what's trending

15:24

and what's hot right now and what's going

15:26

to help me go viral right . I feel

15:28

like when we put all of that together

15:30

, that is what makes us all overwhelmed

15:33

, and rightfully so , because when

15:35

we're trying to perfectly balance everything

15:37

, we can be obsessed with figuring

15:40

out what's the right formula , what's

15:42

the right way to do things . And

15:44

, as someone who has been a strategist I've been

15:47

a coach , I've also done the social media manager

15:49

that been behind the scenes , seeing out like what actually

15:51

works and what's you know , trying all the things

15:53

. And it's not saying those things don't work

15:55

, but in the grand scheme of things

15:57

, they really don't matter , especially

16:00

if they're preventing us from actually

16:02

creating content on a consistent

16:04

basis for our communities and

16:06

for our audiences . And

16:08

what I found , the shift that helped me

16:10

because I used to be obsessed with like what was the

16:13

latest feature ? Or like okay , I need to

16:15

post this trend right away when it's happening or

16:17

I need to try to be posting every day right

16:19

Of realizing that when we

16:21

obsess over those little things , that

16:23

that doesn't help us actually create

16:25

content sustainably . What

16:28

actually helps us create content sustainably

16:30

which I feel like we've already kind of touched on is like creating

16:33

content that you actually enjoy , that you

16:35

like creating . Creating content that you don't have to

16:37

perform to do , like you can just put

16:39

your phone up and like create the content

16:41

. And also doing what you can maintain

16:44

, of being honest with our capacities right , there

16:46

are people that are side hustlers , our

16:48

parents are , like have whole careers

16:51

and businesses . Right , we all

16:53

have something we can just like show like

16:55

proof of that . It's taking our time and energy

16:57

and capacity where we can't just like tinker on

16:59

our phones all day , right . But

17:02

I think it's really important to understand that

17:04

when we focus on what we like , what

17:06

we actually can maintain , what will

17:08

get us closer to our goals and what also just leans

17:11

into our own unique strengths and

17:13

what gets us excited about social

17:15

media . Those are actually the factors

17:17

that matter , not if you put hashtags

17:20

in the comments or in your actual

17:22

post or not , if you like , posted

17:24

every day three reels and

17:26

four story slides and go

17:29

live every month , right . So

17:31

I think when we realize that all those things

17:34

don't matter , we can kind of create our own

17:36

cadence and flow and that's

17:38

what really allows us to maintain

17:40

social media long term , right , like I kind

17:42

of already mentioned at the beginning , like I'm not on threads

17:44

and because when I think about my sustainable

17:47

posting plan right now , I

17:49

know what my non-negotiables are of

17:51

, like I know I'm going to be on my stories , I'm

17:54

going to be on my podcast , I'm going

17:56

to be posting maybe once to my feet a week and

17:59

that might not sound like a lot of content , right , because

18:01

we hear we have to be posting multiple times a day

18:03

in this crazy amount of content . But

18:05

that's what I can sustain long

18:07

term . So I'm not constantly

18:10

burning out and then neglecting my audience

18:12

and then not knowing how to get back into the squeeing

18:14

of things . And we've all been in that cycle of like

18:16

you post a lot and then you ghost , and

18:18

then you're like how do I get back into it

18:20

? So I feel like that shift has been really

18:23

freeing for me and definitely for a lot

18:25

of the people in my community as well .

18:27

Yeah , that's so good . I wanted

18:29

to ask the overwhelm question because I had a

18:31

follow up that really speaks

18:33

to my experience creating content so

18:35

far . Like I said , I don't do a lot of video yet

18:38

but I do a lot of written content

18:40

because that's just easier for me , but

18:42

it can still feel overwhelming . More on the

18:45

side of like doing the research around

18:47

the content that you're sharing , and I wanted to

18:49

ask you that question whether it's for video or

18:51

written or whatever context , what

18:54

does the like research or like rep

18:56

process look like for you when you're

18:59

getting ready to post on a specific

19:01

topic or share something educational

19:03

or more like thought leadership ?

19:05

Yeah , that's a great question . So I

19:07

love to kind of start with an idea

19:10

of just like brainstorming what the idea

19:12

is , what I have to bring to the table

19:14

, like what do I want to cover , and

19:16

then from there I kind of like to map it out into

19:19

like a rough outline , because I think from

19:21

an outline it can become literally

19:23

any type of content . And

19:25

so from there , that's where I like

19:27

to get the bits and pieces of research

19:29

or information or even

19:31

referencing . Like I know I want to add this type of

19:34

footage in the mix , or I want to add this visual

19:36

, or I want to reference this , or I want to get all

19:38

those different types of elements . So I find starting

19:41

with an overwhelm , versus like having

19:43

to fully create the entire thing

19:46

with all those details , is

19:48

what helps it kind of be a little less overwhelming

19:50

for me . And something else that I think

19:53

has been really helpful is giving myself

19:55

space to actually like create

19:57

of having space to get into

20:00

the flow state and like have fun

20:02

with the tasks that we all know just come so

20:04

easy to us and like we can just like jam

20:06

out , which everyone's different right . Some

20:08

people might love writing , some people might love

20:11

. Editing is my favorite thing , and people are like

20:13

you are crazy , I could not hate

20:15

editing . That's my favorite part about the process

20:17

, right , so we're all different . But then there's

20:19

also like those sprint tasks right Of

20:21

like the things you have to do to create the content

20:24

that we don't like doing . So

20:26

for me , I like to try to

20:28

give myself the space to sprint

20:30

it out in an environment that I know

20:32

I'm most productive . So , like I

20:35

know I'm not productive in the afternoons

20:37

and evenings , so I love cranking

20:39

those types of things out first thing in my day

20:41

and like blocking off focus time for

20:43

that . So I know I kind of got into like more productivity

20:46

. But those are some things that have been really helpful

20:48

for me .

20:49

Yeah , definitely , I could see that I've still

20:51

I feel like I've been experimenting , trying to figure

20:53

out what works , and I could definitely see having

20:55

that space that's uninterrupted

20:58

in a creative environment to just

21:00

like push it all out as much

21:02

as possible , and even having a bit of a time limit

21:04

. Even though you're creating space still have

21:06

like make sure it's finite . You know

21:08

, I feel like that is definitely

21:10

beneficial for me , knowing that I got a . I

21:13

can't just do endless amounts of research , and

21:16

I think this probably translates to the next point

21:18

, which is imposter syndrome . But I

21:21

think a lot of the times it's out of this fear that someone's

21:23

going to poke a hole in , like my point of view

21:25

on a specific topic , and I'm going to look like , look

21:27

kind of silly or something like that . But but

21:29

how to talk to us about imposter syndrome ? It's

21:32

obviously something that literally everyone

21:34

can relate to if they're doing anything outside

21:37

of their comfort zone . But how do you

21:39

see it when it comes specifically to video content

21:41

?

21:41

Yes , definitely , and I think it actually intertwines

21:45

a lot with perfectionism

21:47

. But really , what imposter

21:49

syndrome and how does it look when it comes to our

21:51

video content ? Things I commonly hear that might

21:54

resonate with people . Listening is like video

21:56

just feels cringy , right , like you just

21:58

like feel like being in video , creating

22:00

video content like the ultimate cringe

22:02

factor . There's also the

22:05

thought of like I have nothing of value to share

22:07

, right Like our social media platforms

22:09

are so saturated , what do I have to add

22:11

? What do I have to share ? There's

22:14

also the thought from businesses of like I don't want

22:16

to sell too much , I don't want to create , like take

22:18

up too much space , I don't want to bore people

22:20

, I don't want to be or rub people the wrong

22:22

way . Right , that can go in a lot of different ways

22:25

, but I think , at the end of the

22:27

day , is that we have to trust ourselves

22:29

as experts , and something that a mentor

22:31

told me once that's always stuck with me as like if

22:33

you know something more than someone

22:35

else , then it's worth sharing . And

22:38

so I think when we can take that approach of

22:40

content is like not every piece of content

22:42

needs to be groundbreaking . Honestly

22:44

, our best pieces of content can be so

22:47

simple yet be really , really

22:49

effective . And also

22:52

, mike , you kind of mentioned this with kind

22:54

of introducing us to imposter syndrome

22:56

of realizing that when something's

22:58

new , it's always going

23:00

to be harder . You're probably

23:03

not good at video because you didn't

23:05

go to video class . I

23:07

really think that there's like this Everyone thinks there's

23:09

a secret video class that Instagram

23:11

like held like behind

23:13

the scenes , only a few people were invited and

23:16

like everyone got a class on

23:18

how to create video content and that everyone

23:20

else was just like missed out and doesn't know

23:22

something and that everyone was just in the loop . But it's

23:24

like none of us know what we're

23:27

doing and we didn't know what we were doing until

23:29

we started creating things . And

23:31

once you start doing it , that's when things

23:33

you start to learn from it , you can improve

23:36

from it , you can actually start to add

23:38

things or remove things and also just

23:40

build your confidence , because the first

23:42

time you go live , it's going

23:44

to be the most terrifying thing ever . You're going to black

23:46

out , you're going to like get really sweaty . You're probably

23:48

not going to save it , but , like once you

23:50

do it a hundred times , it's going to

23:52

feel a lot different because you're you're

23:55

practicing something new and it's normal

23:57

when you're experiencing growth to kind

23:59

of get those growth pains Right . But

24:02

I also just think it's a lot of like

24:04

healing , like I know Missy already said , like this

24:06

is like kind of like therapy and it really is

24:08

, because it goes really deep in like society

24:10

and things we believe about ourselves

24:13

really come up when we're like on video

24:15

of like this has to be absolutely

24:18

perfect or my best piece of content

24:20

, or it has to be totally different than

24:22

someone else . Like we put so much pressure

24:24

on one piece of content but

24:26

it's just one piece of content that's going to add

24:28

to all the content you're going

24:31

to create and evolve with over

24:33

a period of time . So I

24:35

really feel like that has been a few things

24:37

that have really helped shift for me of

24:40

I can take up space , I can be

24:42

myself and not everything I

24:44

create has to be totally groundbreaking to

24:46

be really helpful for people .

24:47

Yeah , I love that I love

24:49

that you don't have to feel like you're

24:52

you could write the New York Times bestselling book on

24:54

this certain topic in order to like show

24:56

up on video . It's like if you're

24:58

even just like one or two steps in front

25:00

of someone that could help you . So

25:03

, at least for me , I try to think of that person

25:06

like who is that person that and where are they at or what are they

25:08

struggling with them ? What can I support

25:10

them with ? But it

25:12

kind of makes me think

25:14

about like the kind of content we are

25:16

posting , and I think that's another kind of like

25:18

blocker people have is they don't know

25:21

what to post or how it fits

25:23

in their broader content strategy . I

25:25

know for me I've like go back

25:27

and forth and like suddenly really focus

25:29

on posting stuff around business and helping

25:31

businesses or agency owners , and then sometimes

25:33

I just want to post like a get ready with me , you know , and

25:36

sometimes I talk about business and sometimes I don't . So

25:39

I wonder if you can give us some

25:41

advice or recommendations on how

25:44

creators or brands can

25:46

get past that on not knowing

25:48

what to post or how to fit it into

25:50

a content strategy .

25:51

Yes , oh , such a great question , and

25:55

what I found is the most helpful for

25:57

this is content pillars , and

25:59

I know that there's a lot of different approaches to content

26:02

pillars and we could probably

26:04

do an entire podcast episode about it . I

26:06

have done a podcast episode about it over

26:08

on my show , but what I

26:10

found is actually approaching it less

26:12

of like I have tons and tons of pillars like

26:15

over 10 pillars , right Like all these different

26:17

things we can talk about , and there's like the other side

26:19

of the spectrum of like I have to niche

26:21

down and only talk about video content

26:23

for the rest of my life , which , honestly , would

26:25

be very boring for me and everyone in

26:28

my community . And instead of

26:30

those extremes , finding somewhere in the middle

26:32

, I found five is the sweet spot , and

26:34

so , with five content pillars , what you're

26:36

able to do is you're able to have a few pillars

26:39

that are related to what you're

26:41

doing , right . What is your specific

26:43

thing you want to create the most content about , as

26:45

a creator or as a business ? What

26:47

are your offer offers related to ? Are your

26:49

expertise or your industry right

26:51

? Those are going to be the obvious ones that come

26:53

about , but then I also like to have

26:56

things that are just related to what you do , right

26:58

? So I'm a video coach for businesses

27:00

, so I'm going to talk about what

27:02

it's like to create content as

27:04

a business , how I run my business , how

27:06

I sell my offers , what it's like behind

27:09

the scenes . But then I also like to have

27:11

kind of like a personal pillar where

27:13

you can kind of like change and

27:15

evolve with it . I think when we think pillar , it's like

27:17

the stone structure that never changes . But

27:20

actually I think that our pillars should constantly

27:22

be evolving as our interests and

27:24

our own personal selves evolve

27:27

. And when we're able to map out five

27:29

content pillars , that kind of mesh like

27:31

okay , this is our brand and our industry

27:34

, and like what we're an expert at , what we're actually

27:36

maybe selling or offering on

27:38

social media , then we have like those related

27:40

things that are kind of like when we think about

27:42

the person we're creating content about

27:45

or the main things we're creating content

27:47

about , what are those through threads that kind of are

27:49

related . And then we have

27:51

like those personal elements that we don't need to share

27:53

everything , because I actually think social

27:55

media boundaries are so important on

27:57

not how often we're on the apps , but what

27:59

we actually share . You don't have to share your entire personal

28:01

lives , to create content , even

28:04

as a lifestyle influencer . And

28:06

so what I found is , when we create

28:08

a balanced content pillars strategy

28:11

, we're able to give ourselves permission that

28:13

, like I can post about this interest but

28:15

also post about my business , but also

28:18

talk about the brand that I really love and also

28:20

talk about behind the scenes of running my company

28:22

right , so all of those things can dance

28:25

, because that's what makes it interesting and

28:27

that's what makes us interested about what

28:29

we're posting about . So I

28:31

found that approach has really , really helped me

28:33

find a little bit more balance and get really clear

28:35

on what I'm actually posting .

28:38

I love that because I think boundaries

28:41

also give you permission to play

28:43

within them . I'm curious

28:46

when it comes to there's a lot of conversations

28:48

around niches and what's your niche

28:50

? I think maybe sometimes see that

28:52

as they can't go away from

28:54

that . Like you said , it would be really boring

28:57

and really hard to be consistent if you only talked

28:59

about one thing . If we're approaching

29:01

it with different content , pillars and maybe

29:03

five , how would

29:05

you define the niche , Like

29:09

that thread that sits between all of them , or

29:11

are you balancing

29:13

? Are you making one take up more

29:15

content than the others to help

29:17

you round out that niche ?

29:19

Yeah , that's such a great question . When

29:22

I think about the five pillars , I actually think

29:24

that we're not going to always be equally posting

29:26

about all of them at the same time , and actually some

29:28

platforms you might be posting more

29:30

about some things . For example , your personal

29:33

pillar might only be on your stories or

29:35

mainly in your stories . Maybe

29:38

, if you have a really educational podcast , maybe

29:40

one or two of your pillars might be on your podcast

29:42

, but maybe not . The other ones are going to be represented

29:45

. So I think , instead of trying to

29:47

find perfect balance in

29:49

how we're representing our pillars , allow

29:52

them to support each other and

29:54

dance with each other . But when it

29:56

comes to your niche , this is

29:58

what you're an expert at , what you're an authority at , what

30:01

you want to be known for and what , when people

30:03

are going to see most of your content , what they're going to see

30:05

, and that is probably going to take up one

30:08

to three of your pillars . So

30:10

it's definitely going to be a predominant part of

30:12

your content , but it's not going to be the only

30:15

thing you're creating content about . And

30:17

also on that topic , I like

30:19

to go a little bit deeper . Instead of just one

30:21

of my pillars being video content

30:24

, I like to have more specific of like

30:26

video marketing strategies for small

30:28

businesses , or I like to have like

30:30

easy tips for creating

30:32

video content right . So those

30:34

things are similar but definitely

30:37

different . So it allows me to get a lot

30:39

more specific , which then allows me

30:41

to create my own niche and what I'm talking about

30:43

. So that's kind of the approach I like to go with . I

30:45

love it , that's super helpful .

30:47

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30:49

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30:51

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32:13

Can we talk about platforms next ? I

32:16

feel like yes . For

32:18

us , one of the biggest mindset shifts we

32:20

try to help clients with is understanding that

32:22

less can sometimes be more . You don't necessarily

32:24

have to be everywhere all at once and

32:26

all things to all people , especially as

32:28

a brand . Do you see many

32:30

people like business owners or brands

32:33

, or even just creators , struggling

32:35

to figure out where and when to post their content

32:37

and , if so , how do you help them work

32:40

through it ?

32:40

Absolutely , I think , to what you

32:42

were saying , especially with the

32:44

big rise of TikTok and just

32:47

how social media has just been shifting

32:49

and changing , that we often

32:51

feel like , if we're not on all the platforms

32:53

, that we're missing out and that some are

32:55

just better than others . But

32:58

I honestly think that there isn't one

33:00

right social media platform to

33:02

be on , and all of them isn't the

33:04

answer to which , but

33:06

really just picking one platform

33:09

and getting consistent from there . I

33:11

think it's really important to have a signature

33:13

platform of . That's a part of your non-negotiables

33:16

. To help with the overwhelm that we already talked about

33:18

of this is my platform

33:21

. This is the one you should know the best

33:23

they'll let you like the best . Maybe you're already consuming

33:26

content on the one that you

33:28

know your specific people are

33:30

on , that you're trying to reach , and

33:33

just focus on getting that one right

33:35

first , pour all of your

33:37

energy into that one platform

33:39

and once you figure out the content

33:41

you want to create and maybe you get a little organized

33:43

with your systems and you're starting to see results with

33:45

the content you're creating on that platform

33:47

, then you can add on another platform

33:49

and then you can add on another platform and eventually

33:51

you might reach a point where you're like I

33:54

only need two , I only need three , and

33:56

you can be really happy with the

33:58

setup that you have . So

34:00

that's kind of my personal approach is

34:02

that , like it's very easy to feel the pressure

34:04

of being on all the platforms , but

34:07

even if you had , like a full time social

34:09

media team , it might not even be physically

34:11

possible , right , like it's

34:13

just a lot to manage . So

34:16

that would kind of be my approach and how I've approached

34:18

slowly adding on platform by platform

34:20

.

34:20

For me , yeah , I was going to . I'm glad that

34:23

you brought up the non-negotiables , because I know you brought it up

34:25

earlier in our conversation and I was curious

34:27

like can you walk us through what

34:29

those are and how you've defined them for you

34:31

?

34:31

Yeah , absolutely , and I think

34:33

the non-negotiables should be like what are the

34:35

easiest things you can do when

34:38

life happens , when business happens

34:40

, and what our priorities are just shifting and

34:42

sometimes we need to focus on other things . Or

34:45

even when you're like wanting to take a vacation

34:47

or like take off for the holidays , right , like

34:50

we don't have to constantly be on social media

34:53

. So , personally , for me , I know Instagram

34:55

is my main platform and keeping

34:57

a regular cadence on my podcast , like

34:59

those are my main ones , that

35:01

if I'm doing anything else , it's those

35:03

main things and for me I know it's

35:05

stories . Stories is the thing that's easiest for

35:07

me , it's fun , it takes me the least amount

35:09

of time to create . And then I like to

35:12

just kind of lean into easier types

35:14

of video content , like using B-roll

35:16

footage or what I like to call stock content

35:18

and just creating really easy videos

35:20

where I don't need to film it , I don't need to create anything

35:23

new , but I can add text , I can add

35:25

that footage and I can still be posting

35:27

in a regular way

35:29

but also repurposing . That's also part

35:31

of my non-negotiable like formula

35:33

. I guess you could say I've just like taking content

35:35

I've already created and how can I give it new life

35:38

and refresh in it . So that's personally

35:40

what works for me of like , when

35:42

I don't want to do the social media thing , which

35:44

happens , I just lean into things that feel

35:46

the easiest .

35:47

Yeah , starting with what's easy and that feels natural

35:50

is a great step , cause I think we can all be

35:52

so distracted by this shiny new thing and

35:54

like there's this pressure , especially if you're a creator

35:56

or work in social media , to just be like

35:58

first to adopt something new and

36:00

kind of like move all your attention there , and

36:03

there's , for sure , value in that , but

36:05

it's so , it's like , not sustainable . So

36:07

I love that . I'm

36:10

curious where do you see short

36:12

form video going in the future ?

36:15

Oh , such a good question . I

36:17

feel like , with the rise

36:20

and just hyper fixation with AI

36:22

, that it's just going to be an

36:24

absolute requirement that if you're using

36:26

video , you need to be in

36:28

your video content Like

36:31

be you talking , sharing

36:33

your ideas . I know we are . We've talked about like

36:35

, being yourself , being real , like all

36:38

of those types of things I think are so essential

36:40

. Because there's going to be a point which

36:42

I know is already happening of like people

36:44

, can AI people and

36:46

videos right , and

36:48

the more and more that gets advanced , that

36:51

like can actually be kind of a bad

36:53

turn for video . So I

36:55

think it really requires you to

36:57

not go the easy way

37:00

out when it comes to video . Like that

37:02

little bit of time and effort and energy that

37:04

goes into creating video content

37:06

only you can create that a

37:08

robot can never replicate is

37:10

what is going to help people stand out and really

37:12

differentiate themselves .

37:14

Yeah , I love that you mentioned AI . We have an episode

37:16

about AI that's coming out next

37:18

week , which will be live by the time this

37:20

episode goes out . But basically

37:23

it was like if you're

37:25

going to be in marketing and you're not

37:27

using some AI to support

37:30

you with your content

37:32

, then that will be hard

37:34

for you to keep up , but it's never going to replace

37:36

you and I think , even as technology

37:38

evolves and even if we get

37:41

close to making , like AI

37:43

, people look so realistic , it's

37:45

not going to replace you and your unique

37:47

, you know , being that comes through

37:50

through video . So I'm

37:52

really glad that you said that . Okay , we're

37:54

going to talk about long form .

37:56

As someone who's also in

37:58

the long form space . We talked a lot today

38:00

about short form video and just short form

38:02

content in general , but we alluded

38:04

at the beginning to your podcast and

38:07

you've published over 100 episodes , which , respect

38:10

. We haven't got there yet , but what motivates

38:12

you to keep going with it ? What's your experience

38:15

been , and would you recommend podcasting

38:17

or other types of long form to other

38:19

people listening ?

38:20

Yeah , definitely I love

38:22

podcasting and YouTube . I think they're

38:24

just totally different than other

38:27

social media platforms of like YouTube

38:29

, you get like that discoverability , and

38:31

then podcasting is like social

38:33

media , but not actually social media

38:36

at all , and there's the audio element and I

38:38

just think they're so great . And the

38:40

two things that have really helped me

38:42

and I think the first might be kind of like

38:44

an unpopular take , but

38:47

when I started my podcast for the first

38:49

few years I was only doing every

38:51

other week , Like I was never doing

38:53

weekly , and also

38:55

for YouTube , same thing every other

38:57

week . I never really got to weekly still

38:59

to this day , and I feel

39:01

like that really helped me understand

39:04

this is my capacity on how much long

39:06

form content I can create and I'm not

39:08

trying to push past that boundary . And

39:11

so I think when you're starting something new

39:13

, there's often this pressure of like you have to crank

39:15

out as much content as possible

39:18

for it to be worth your time . But instead

39:20

I really focused on how can I be very

39:22

consistent at this platform ? So in

39:25

three , four years I'm still on it , right

39:27

? So that was really really helpful

39:29

for me . And the other thing is just be

39:32

really thoughtful with how I'm repurposing and

39:34

reusing things . So what I've been

39:36

doing is I will take something like

39:38

a podcast episode and turn it into a YouTube

39:41

video , or I will take a YouTube video and turn

39:43

it into short form content or emails

39:45

. So , even though all of my platforms

39:47

that you're on , you're going to get a different content experience

39:50

, like I'm not literally copying and pasting everything

39:52

. I'm taking that long form

39:54

content right , which is like chunky , there's

39:56

like a lot of things in it and I'm like turning

39:59

into other content . So those two things

40:01

have made long form really work really well

40:03

for my content strategy for the long haul

40:05

.

40:05

One question we'd like to ask every guest

40:07

and I'm really excited to hear your answer is

40:10

, in your opinion , who right now is

40:12

making waves and why ?

40:14

Oh , this is so good . I

40:16

think it's just top of mind because I'm reading

40:19

her book . But Berna

40:21

Annat she's kind of like

40:23

a financial hype woman that's what she calls

40:25

herself and I've

40:27

been following her on social media for so

40:29

long . I've just like an amazing resource

40:32

for financial resources

40:35

and help specifically

40:37

for like people of color and underrepresented

40:39

communities in the financial space

40:41

, and I've been loving

40:43

her book because I literally

40:45

can like hear her yelling at me

40:48

in the book , because I've been

40:50

following her with her content so much

40:52

, and so I think that's such a great example

40:54

of someone who's making waves of like , someone

40:57

who's like just started on social media

40:59

creating this like really fun

41:01

and spunky content around

41:04

. This is my financial journey of like

41:06

trying to not be broke and be debt free

41:08

, and now for it to be like in a

41:10

book where I'm able to like experience

41:12

her brand in a totally different way but

41:14

still feel like , oh , that's the same person that

41:16

I see a reel from . I think

41:18

has been really , really cool to see

41:20

like creators now

41:22

entering this like author TV

41:25

show role . I think is just so

41:27

inspiring and very telling

41:30

to what's going to be the future

41:32

for creators as well .

41:33

It's so cool . I'm definitely going to look her up . She

41:35

sounds awesome .

41:37

Can you say her name one more time , sorry ?

41:39

Berna Annatt .

41:40

Awesome . We're going to make sure that's in the show notes too .

41:42

And then the final question we have for you is

41:45

how can listeners connect with you ? Let's plug your

41:47

podcast , your social , all of it .

41:49

Yeah , absolutely , so you can

41:51

listen to the Shine Online podcast wherever you're

41:53

listening to this podcast . A

41:55

really great place to start is my Back to

41:57

Basic series , where I talked about things

41:59

like posting plan content , pillars

42:02

, a few of the things that we've touched on here

42:04

and , of course

42:06

, on social media at Shine with Natasha , wherever

42:08

you're doing the social things . And

42:11

then a really great free resource that might help you

42:13

if you're just wanting to create more video content is

42:15

my free video confidence challenge

42:18

. It shows you how I source

42:20

my B-roll footage and how I use it in

42:22

creative ways , so definitely check that

42:24

out as well .

42:25

This has been such a great conversation , natasha , thank

42:27

you for really just unpacking

42:29

the fullness

42:31

of your experience and all the value

42:33

that you bring to your clients . We're

42:35

going to have to do this again sometime .

42:37

Yeah , so fun to have you . Thanks for being on . Yes

42:39

, definitely , thanks so much .

42:41

Hey everyone , Thanks for tuning in to Waves . If

42:44

you enjoyed this episode , you can hit subscribe

42:46

and leave us a five star review . Don't

42:48

forget to follow along on social at Hello

42:50

Arcade and we'll see you next time .