It’s All About Overcoming

After I guest-taught a virtual workshop on de-cluttering your website for students in Alice Crider’s Author Access Masterclass, an attendee emailed me:

“So much good info. I wish it could have been longer… you look great on webcam. You should be in the movies!”

I laughed out loud at the webcam/movies comment, because being on live video is one of my least favorite things. When I explained that, she replied:

“I can so relate. Just hate to be on camera. At. All. Don’t want my picture up there. Don’t want to be on the webcam. The first week we met online [in the Author Access Masterclass] I ‘muted’ my picture & hung out with audio only. But I knew that the next week, I’d have to BE there. Now that I have a few weeks under my belt, I’m getting over myself a little. So many things I’m overcoming…”

Overcoming. Such an appropriate word!

My friend, Kathi Lipp, calls it “being 40% brave.”

Not 100% brave. Not even 50%. Forty percent.

This magnet is on my fridge as a reminder:

When you think about applying for a job or launching a product or pitching a proposal or doing your first Facebook Live, you don’t have to have it 100% together.

But 40%? Most of us can do that. Particularly if we approach the challenge with this attitude:

I don’t know everything. I don’t even know half of what I want to know. But I’m willing to listen and learn. I’m eager to learn! I’m confident that I will reach mastery. But first, I have to try.

Deciding to be 40% brave leads to trying.

And trying leads to overcoming the fears and doubts that threaten to overwhelm us.

During the past year, I’ve moved from 40% brave to 80%(ish) brave in my video proficiency.

I launched my first signature video training program, “Your Website Budget Blueprint.”

Along the way, I learned how to use a bunch of tools I’d never before touched. I bought a good-quality webcam (Logitech HD Pro C920) and microphone (Audio Technica ATR 2100).

For recording and editing video training sessions, I bought Camtasia. I needed a place to safely house the videos so students enrolled in the course could access them, so I got a Vimeo Plus membership.

I added a “Courses” section to my website, where people can enroll and log in to a course.

I needed a way to promote my courses, so I signed up for Webinar Ninja.

Next, I decided to offer free mini trainings called “Coffee Klatches” (in keeping with the Blogging Bistro brand). I wanted those to be live video conference calls, so I signed up for Zoom.

I integrated Zoom with Acuity Scheduling, which allows people to self-schedule workshops and coaching sessions with me. (I love both Zoom and Acuity, by the way.)

Free Video Coaching Sessions

For the past few months, I’ve been working to become more than 80% brave. I’ve been teaching free live coaching sessions, “De-Clutter Your Website’s HOME Page.”

Each session is limited to five attendees, and we spend 1.5 hours evaluating each other’s Home pages from head-to-toe.

Katherine Scott Jones, who attended a recent Coffee Klatch, said,

Another attendee, Amy Connell, wrote:

Hitting my stride

Now that I’ve been doing video coaching consistently for several months, I feel as if I’m hitting my stride. I’ve been a teacher for several decades, but most of my teaching has been in person. Teaching online, even though we’re face-to-face on video, has a different feel. But – surprise! – it’s a good feel.

Small group instruction and one-to-one coaching have always been my favorite ways to teach, and video conferencing is an ideal format for chatting with people I’d never have the opportunity to meet in person.

Are you willing to be 40% brave?

I invite you to join an upcoming virtual Coffee Klatch, where together, we’ll focus on de-cluttering our websites’ HOME pages.

You may be squeamish about showing your face on a webcam. If that’s the case, you can turn off the video of your face and participate via audio. As long as you can see MY screen (where we’ll look at each other’s Home pages), you’ll be fine.

But I hope you will decide to show your face. The conversations we’ve had as we’ve examined each other’s websites has been so helpful. The ability to see each other as we chat deepens our learning and our connection.

I offer “De-Clutter Your Website’s Home Page” monthly. Click here to view the upcoming Coffee Klatches and sign up for a session that fits your schedule.

It’s all about overcoming.

Overcoming a cluttered website. Overcoming qualms about live video. Overcoming tech challenges.

Together, we can do this.

 

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Contributer : Blogging Bistro