Once the initial wave of enthusiasm wears off, where do you find the motivation to give yourself a kick start? What do you do to make your next video or blog post? Here’s what I do to get myself working again.

Video Blogging – How To Stay Motivated & Find Your Mojo

Making videos is not hard. But, the editing, testing, fine-tuning and uploading takes time. And once it becomes a grind, we tend to lose interest. That’s not just you – that’s all of us.

1. Be realistic — if you can’t make a video every day, try for every week.
2. Baby Steps — Don’t defeat yourself. Start small, work up.
3. Batch Shoot — Don’t do one. Stop. Start. Do another. Stop. Start. Work in batches.
4. Be Consistent — Shoot five videos at the same time and then edit in one go.
5. Batch Edit — Edit in batches. Once you get into a groove, it’s easier to run thru the videos.
6. Storyboard — Bullet point or diagram what you’re going to shot. Don’t wing it. You’ll lose time.
7. Shoot everywhere – Places you find boring, others will find fascinating. Instead of shooting in your office, go outside and shoot it on the street corner. These small details give your video (and you!) a more interesting edge.
8. Get creative – Is there anything more boring that a guy talking into his laptop, sitting at home? You can do better – give it a shot.
9. Rewards – once you’ve completed a nice piece of work, treat yourself to a book you wouldn’t usually buy, maybe too expensive, or some equipment that you’ve always wanted. I want a Canon Monopod 100 for SLR Cameras.
   

How about you?

How do you avoid defeating yourself? What do you do get back in the saddle when you’re going thru a down-phase?

I’ve started to use video to sell (and upsell!) my digital downloads and information products. Like most beginners, I’m making mistakes at every step. But I’ve learnt a few tricks this week,  mostly thanks for Christopher Ming Ryan. Here’s what I learnt.

Video Blogging: Mistakes to Avoid

There are three steps involved in making videos:

1. Planning
2. Recording and
3. Editing

Most of us are good at one, but not so hot at the others. For me, it’s editing. No patience. Want to start the next. But I need to slow down. Here’s why:

• Great videos will significantly increase sales on your site, sales pages, squeeze pages – call them what you will but
• Lousy videos will drive potential customers away, screaming, ‘did you see how bad that was – my god!’

Christopher makes these suggestions:

• Start to like editing. It’s part of the process.
• Play with Camtasia or Premiere. Really take it apart and see what it can do.
• Don’t think of yourself as an Editor;  you’re a Director. See the difference?
• Study the best. Watch Rachel here.
• Invest in high-quality transitions. Watch the TV transitions on Rachel’s vids. Cool or what?
• #1 Mistake to avoid: the most interesting thing in the video is the face. Focus on it.

Watch Seth here. Compelling isn’t it?

‘curiosity’ from Nic Askew on Vimeo.

and watch Rachel. Look at how the transitions work.

Ok, that’s me.

What tips do you have for making better videos?