Afraid of Video? Maybe You’re Just Afraid to Be Seen

Welcome to episode 225 of the Business Development Podcast.

And today we're going deep on video in 2025.

The good, the bad, the ugly, the scary.

Stick with us.

You are not going to want to miss this episode.

The great Mark Cuban once said, business happens over years and years.

Value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.

And we couldn't agree.

This is the business of Development Podcast, based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and broadcasting to the world.

You'll get expert business development advice, tips and experiences and you'll hear interviews with business owners, CEOs and business development reps.

You'll get actionable advice on how to grow business brought to you by Capital Business Development, capitalbd.

Ca.

Let's do it.

Welcome to the Business Development Podcast.

And now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.

Hello.

Welcome to episode 225 of the Business Development Podcast.

My gosh, 225 episodes, guys, it still blows my mind that we are over 200 episodes of the Business Development Podcast.

It does not feel that long, but I guess it has been 26 months so far.

It is an honor and a privilege, guys, to be able to do this job, to be able to show up week over week, month over month, year over year.

I was literally in a discovery call this morning with a gentleman from Honduras who had found our show and was applying for a new job and just wanted to thank me immensely for this show.

And honestly, guys, it's a thank you back to each and every one of you because I would not have this show if you guys didn't show up week over week, month over month, year over year to listen to it.

So thank you from the bottom of my heart to all my rock stars out there who are doing business development, who are growing companies, who are using this knowledge to change the world.

It is you.

It is you.

This show is for you and you are making the impact.

And I couldn't be more honored or privileged to be able to do this job, to be able to show up week over week, month over month, year over year.

So from the bottom of my heart, 225 episodes and counting.

Thank you so, so much.

Today we're talking all about video.

Video in 2025, guys, is absolutely powerful.

And it was funny because one of the things that I wanted to commit to as we headed into 2025 was more video.

I recognize the power in video, the ability essentially to create human to human interaction without actually being in person.

It is really powerful, guys.

Not Just in personal branding, business development, getting a message across.

But frankly, in just building trust, in building trust with people, there's nothing more connecting than video.

But funny thing is, I have struggled immensely with video.

Video has been like the bane of my existence as a business developer, as somebody trying to grow my personal brand here in 2025 and beyond.

And, guys, you know, I've struggled with it.

And almost every single person that I've coached with and tried to encourage to do more video, the same things keep coming up over and over and over again.

Today we're going to talk about the power of video.

We're going to talk about the challenges, we're going to talk about things we can do to be more successful with it.

And I hope to leave you guys with some optimism, some hope, and some inspiration to do video as we move into 2025 and beyond.

If 2023 was the year AI and 2024 was the year of personal branding, 2025 will definitely be the year of human centric connection.

The tool that every business developer, founder and executive should be embracing to do this is video, guys.

Video.

Video, video.

It is powerful.

Podcasts are powerful.

Video is powerful.

Any way that you can truly create a connection with people is going to be powerful.

But let's discuss the elephant in the room.

UPF video can feel daunting.

No, let's just call it what it is.

It is daunting and challenging, and nearly everybody that I know struggles with it, including some of the top video producers you guys see on LinkedIn.

I have mentioned from the very beginning that I've struggled with video, and I still face that struggle nearly every single day, guys.

I struggle with video nearly daily.

I keep my Osmo Pocket 3 on my table for those moments that I feel inspired.

Take a video.

And as you guys know, they are few and far between when I'm feeling that inspiration.

Video has been a true struggle for me, guys, for a number of reasons that we're going to get into.

But if you struggle with video, you are not alone.

I've mentioned from the very beginning that I've struggled with video and that I still face that struggle every day.

There's something about video that just feels so incredibly real.

But there lies the benefit to it as well.

It is so, so real.

It's hard to hide your true feelings.

It's really hard to take video and not show exactly how you are feeling in any given day.

It's hard to be inauthentic.

It's hard to fake video, guys.

It's hard to fake your feelings on a video.

Like at the end of the day, video is so freaking revealing.

It's hard to hide your body language, right?

Depending on how you're feeling that depending on, you know, whether you're feeling sick, whether you're feeling happy, whether you're feeling sad.

It's hard to hide your body language on video and it's hard to feel great about it if you're having an off day.

There's just something about video.

It is so friggin real.

It's so friggin real.

And I think we struggle with that.

We struggle with putting ourselves out there in that way.

Me included.

Hands both up, guys.

Like the business development podcast always has had this like feel of disconnect.

Like I'm talking to my computer, I'm talking to my wall.

Even in the interviews, I'm just talking to one other individual.

And whenever I get behind a camera, I recognize that I'm talking to hundreds, if not thousands of people every single time.

And it feels very, very revealing.

It gets every flaw, right?

I'm 36, the wrinkles are coming in.

I'm not as thin as I once was, right?

Like there's, there's just shit that's real.

There's stuff that is just so real about getting behind the video that I struggle with every single time.

But here also lies the reason that it's so friggin powerful.

One, it allows you to position yourself as a thought leader and expert, right?

If you're willing to put yourself out there, share your knowledge with the world, do it in an authentic way.

Convey your positive body language, convey your, your bravery, your expertise, guys.

It gets received that way too.

It's hard to fake, right?

You can't fake video very well.

I know there's a lot of people who say, well, you can edit it, sure, but trust me, when you're doing video, if you are not completely, 100% there, if you haven't done your homework, it is really hard to do a video in an authentic way if you have not done that homework to make sure that you are giving the accurate data in an authentic way, right?

It is really hard to fake video and you can spot it a mile away.

You can spot inauthenticity in a video a mile away.

We can just feel it in the body language, in the tone in the expression.

Video, authentic video is really hard to fake.

Number three, short of an in person connection, it is the best way to establish trust.

It was funny.

I was talking with Colin Harms, one of our sponsors.

A while ago, and we were talking, talking about video because he knows I've struggled with video.

We've had lots of conversations about it.

And I just kind of mentioned to him, like, video second to an in person meeting or like a team's video call is probably the best medium to create trust outside of an in person meeting or a virtual meeting.

And it's funny because video is cool on the, on the aspect that people can watch it at any time of the day.

So literally, video works while you sleep.

It's kind of like an investment if you create a video and you put it out into the world.

It's an investment that builds your credibility, your trust, your authenticity while you are sleeping.

It is really incredible in that way.

And it does it in a way that I think no other medium really can, maybe short of a podcast.

And number four, it is authentic to you.

Nobody but you can create a video in the way that you can if you want to share yourself with the world, if you want to show up in an authentication, authentic way in a way that represents who you are.

Video is pretty much impossible to beat, second to an in person meeting.

Now, guys, I've struggled with video because of my perfectionist tendencies.

There are quite a few edits with this show to get it in the way I want it.

And as I've gotten further and further down this path, as I've learned more about audio production, about video production, about show production, unfortunately all it's meant is I work harder to make sure that I get something that I feel is perfect, that is perfect, that is representing me in a way that I feel like being represented.

And that is not always a good thing.

And it has definitely held me back in the video aspect because I always want to do the best I can in everything I do.

And when it comes to this podcast, I've been doing it for so long that I can do a really incredible edit.

I can put out a really, really incredible show now with the knowledge that I've learned in my production time.

But I have not had that same level of, of skill building in video.

And so that has held me back from putting out a lot more video.

And I have to, like, I have to give a huge nod to my students, to some of the people that I see on LinkedIn who are willing to just put themselves out there and who are learning that experience, you know, the same experience I had in podcasting in video.

And I think it's going to take them really, really far.

And it takes a lot of bravery to do that.

Consistently, week over week, but they are doing it.

And I think it's something that we all have to work harder to embrace as we move forward.

We can't really let that feeling of perfectionism hold us back.

Because it took me two full years of producing this show to get it to the level it's at today.

And if I hadn't to put in that time, if I hadn't have learned along the way, we wouldn't be here.

And that same approach will work for video over time.

And like I said, it's a challenge for me.

It's where I'm at.

You know, podcasting has really been my medium, but as we move forward, I'm trying to embrace video more.

And so I'm going to try, even though I have perfectionist tendencies, to do more video, to put more stuff out there.

And as we're going to see, the statistics show you don't need large videos to make a huge impact.

Every coaching client that I've worked with when it comes to the personal branding side has felt the struggle to put themselves out there.

We are afraid to truly be ourselves.

There's a fear of ridicule, a fear of saying the wrong thing.

And it's easy to get lost in that fear and let it hold us back.

But the cost of not doing so in 2025, guys, is absolutely, absolutely huge.

According to Lupex Digital, 87% of consumers say video quality significantly influences their trust in a brand.

And 82% of individuals have been persuaded to buy a product or service after watching a brand's video content.

Video is absolutely powerful in marketing and brand building of all types, personal and corporate.

According to LifeWire.com short form videos under 90 seconds generate twice the engagement of longer videos.

Twice the engagement, guys.

90 seconds is the number.

It's not a lot.

It's not a lot.

If you can make short, impactful videos that provide value, that are engaging, that are inspiring, people are going to watch them and people are going to follow you for it.

Like there's, it's incredible how powerful video is and it doesn't even have to be that long.

It just has to be a high quality 90 second second video to get massive engagement.

And this makes sense, guys.

This actually makes a lot of sense because millennials and Gen Z are primarily the market, the target market in both leaders.

So the people making buying decisions at this point, but also consumers of digital media.

And so remember, millennials like myself have a 12 second attention span.

You got to rope us in quick, you got to engage Us with high quality video.

With high quality visuals, you know, not a lot of wording.

And Gen Z is even worse.

Gen Z is eight seconds, guys, you got eight seconds.

And I always like to say, because statistics show a goldfish attention span is 9 seconds.

So gen Z has a shorter attention span than a goldfish.

What is this going to mean as we move forward into marketing?

It means that high impact short form content is going to be king.

As we move into 2026 and beyond, we absolutely, absolutely have to start getting good at providing a lot of value in a short period of time.

Using mediums like short form video to make massive impact.

And this doesn't matter whether you're building personal brands or corporate brands.

Either way, short form, high impact video is going to be beneficial for you.

According to G2.com 52% of marketers identified video as a tool to build trust between a brand and its customers.

Like I said before, guys, video is absolutely powerful in building trust.

Aside from a virtual or in person meeting, video content is probably the best way to build trust with your target audience and customers.

Moving forward in 2025, 2026 and beyond.

Now, this doesn't have to be complicated.

It just has to be valuable.

Every piece of video content you put out to the world should provide value, should provide something that is valuable to the viewer.

The stats don't lie.

Video is not just good, it builds trust while you sleep for both your personal and corporate brands.

Okay, so we know it's valuable.

How do we incorporate it?

Number one, you do not need the best camera to be successful.

Let me start by saying you do not need the best camera to be successful.

I've used my phone, I have a DJI Osmo Pocket 3.

I would highly, highly recommend if you have budget for a camera, it's an awesome little camera.

You can put it on your desk, it has like every feature you could imagine and you can take it with you everywhere you go.

It's a really cool little camera, but you don't need that.

You actually already have probably an incredible camera in your pocket.

Almost every smartphone to date has incredibly high image resolution, can shoot 4K high quality video.

Just start at the end of the day.

You don't have to have the best camera to be successful.

If you have a budget for a great camera, great.

But if not, use the supercomputer you carry around in your pocket and you will do just fine to remember that you are an expert at something.

Okay?

I've talked with so many people who are like, well what would I.

What would I shoot video on?

Shoot video on anything you want, anything you're passionate about, anything that you could imagine.

If you're an expert in your field and you want to start sharing that knowledge with the world, helping the next generation of people in your field.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Not only do I think you should do this, I genuinely think that you are.

You have an obligation to help the next generation.

A big part of why I started the business development podcast and even ended up down this path, guys, I never saw this path coming at all.

But what I recognized on was that.

But what I recognized early on was that there was nothing for business developers.

And I had a large body of knowledge from my experience in the field that I could share with the world.

And when I started this show, guys, I had zero experience in audio, video or anything.

Nothing.

I had never set up a microphone.

I had never set up, you know, an audio interface or used audio editing software.

It was all learned along the way with the goal of educating and inspiring the next generation of business developers so that they didn't have to go through what I went through, which was having to learn everything from the ground up without help.

Figure out what you can offer to the world, what you can offer to the next generation of people in your field from your experience.

But once again, don't feel limited to this.

Don't feel limited to only things that you work with.

A great example of this is Authentic Hustle.

You guys may or may not know that on LinkedIn, we have started doing a weekly live show called Authentic Hustle.

I did this because it gave me a medium to speak about things outside of business, to speak about anything that I wanted with regards to life, family, business, politics, whatever.

It was kind of just like an option to talk about anything I wanted, which is also a lot of fun.

And so for you, figure out what that is for you.

If you want to talk about something that you're passionate about, whether it be sports, whether it be your favorite hobby, whether it be whatever, whatever you want, cooking, camping, hiking, whatever, just get out there.

If you have knowledge and experience in something, share that knowledge with the world.

Educate and inspire the next generation of people who also enjoy that hobby, who also need to learn those skills.

And you will be providing value and people will thank you and appreciate you for it.

Don't overthink it, guys.

Don't overthink it.

Just focus on adding value with every piece of content you make and you will be on the right path.

Number three, you will make mistakes.

Yes, you will make a lot of mistakes.

Don't sweat it.

Keep going, guys.

I make mistakes all the time.

All the time.

On my live shows, on this show, on, you know, all my interviews.

Like, you know, I'm human.

I'm human.

I have bad days.

I have plenty of bad days.

I have mushmouth.

I get sick.

There's lots of situations where, holy crap, I didn't want to do it that day.

But you know what?

I showed up and did it anyway.

But just understand that you will make a lot of mistakes, and you can't sweat it.

You can't sweat it, okay?

It's part of the process.

It's part of the learning process.

It's part of the creativity process.

I speak better now than I probably ever have, period.

From lots and lots of practice, guys.

From like 180 some hours of doing podcasts, I've gotten much better at speaking.

But that doesn't mean that I still don't make a ton of mistakes.

Here's the thing, especially when you're creating something like a podcast, you can always edit those mistakes out.

And using incredible tools like descript for video editing, you can edit those mistakes out.

So don't worry about it.

Just make the mistake and keep on going.

You can always fix it later.

You can always fix it later.

Don't worry about it.

Don't let that slow you down.

Just keep on trucking.

And here's the thing.

Not every piece of content you create is going to be the best piece of content you ever did.

Right?

There's plenty of shows that I've done along the way where I didn't feel super great about the show, where I thought, oh, man, like, I messed up on that, or I could have done so much better.

And in the beginning of the show, guys, I used to go back and edit the bejesus out of it to try to fix it.

Cause I had a lot of issues with my initial recording software.

But point is, over time, you learn to just accept that there's going to be some mistakes.

And you know what's kind of cool?

You're human.

And it just shows that you're human.

Like, at the end of the day, mistakes are inherently human.

And if you want to connect authentically, a mistake here and there isn't going to hurt you.

Number four, find ways to push your boundaries.

Okay, guys.

I still struggle to do video all the time, and I struggled to do video a lot this year.

And so I decided to challenge myself.

Right?

We talked about it a second ago.

I've been doing a weekly live show on LinkedIn called Authentic Hustle.

I don't know how long we'll do it.

I hope for a long time.

But it was a challenge to myself because I'd been struggling so much with video and I wanted to have more video content out there that I got a couple buddies together, Colin Harms and Vijay Swami Nathan, and we started doing a weekly live show.

And it's been a lot of fun.

But, yeah, I have to face all of my challenges with that because it is unedited, it is unscripted.

So we are showing up every single week in, like, the most authentic way possible to have a conversation about any topic we want for the most part.

And it's a lot of fun, but it also is this place where I can't hide.

And it's a challenge for myself to get better with video.

Ask yourself what you could be doing this year.

2025, 2026 and beyond, to face your video fears, because I'm facing mine in that way.

Figure out what you can do to continue to face your fears.

And number five, give yourself grace.

Okay?

Give yourself grace.

Video is challenging.

I'm not going to bullshit, I'm not going to lie and say that.

Oh, it's super, super easy.

And you just need practice.

Yeah, everything gets easier with practice.

We know this.

But it is challenging.

Video is challenging.

It's a learning, learned skill and it's going to take you time to perfect it.

But understand, just like any challenging skill or anything you've ever learned, you had to face your fear.

You had to step up.

You had to put yourself in that super uncomfortable situation over and over and over again in order to embrace it, in order to truly get good at it.

There's going to be no way for you to get great at doing video if you refuse to never hit the record record button on your camera.

So even if you don't release this video to the world, start practicing, start recording yourself at home.

And I think, you know, after five to 10 videos, you might find one that you're willing to release to the world and just keep doing it consistently over and over and over again.

Look, the secret success in business development, in podcasting, in nearly anything that you take on or endeavor to be great at in your life is consistency.

If you dedicate two videos a week, you will be great, incredible at videos by the end of the year.

It's consistency over time that breeds success.

So just make that commitment.

Make that commitment.

You only need to commit to one to two videos a week in order to truly make a Massive, massive impact over the course of a year.

I encourage each and every one of you today to take that leap, take that risk, put yourself out there, share that expertise with the world.

I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the outcome.

And I get it.

I get it more than almost anybody.

I think video feels super uncomfortable.

No, it is uncomfortable.

It exposes us.

It forces us to show up without a filter.

And that can be terrifying.

But that is also the point.

We grow in the challenge.

We grow by facing our fears in a world flooded with noise.

Realness wins.

People don't connect with perfection.

They connect with people, with stories, with expression.

People connect with voices that sound like their own.

You might feel awkward at first.

You might fumble your words or hate how you look on screen.

But every time you show up, you're building something more valuable than polish.

You're building trust.

And in business, just as in life, trust is everything.

So embrace the awkward.

Push through the fear.

Because the uncomfortable thing you're avoiding, that is exactly what sets you apart.

Start messy, start scared.

Just start.

The future belongs to those willing to be seen.

Wow.

Yeah, that was a tough one.

Guys.

I struggle with video.

You know, that video has just been something that, my gosh, I.

I faced it head on and I struggle with it all the time and.

But I make the commitment that I'm going to continue to push my boundaries.

I'm going to continue to try.

And one day soon, you too will see me on video in a very different way.

We haven't done a show update in a while, so let's just get into it.

We're sitting at 26 months of the business development podcast.

We're sitting at 3,684 followers on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Our LinkedIn is growing rapidly.

We're at 2,905 followers on LinkedIn.

We have 187 hours of content, guys.

That is 7.8 full days of listening.

Wow, that's a little bit mind blowing because it's probably something like 40 full days by the time you factor in production.

It's a bit much.

All right, guys, if you are looking for a way to help this show, honestly, tell a friend or family member.

If each and every one of you tells two to three people, our show is going to grow massively.

So I have a task for each and every one of you today.

Share one of your favorite business development podcast episodes with two or three people.

Help us to grow the rockstar family that we have here on this show.

We cannot do it without you.

Thank you so so much for your support.

Please do reach out if you are interested in business development coaching.

My Business Development Mastery program is excellent.

It's great for founders, business owners of all types and of course my business development rock stars out there.

And last but not least, thank you so so much for your support of the Business Development Podcast.

Like I said, 225 episodes could not have made it this far without the support of not only our listeners, but our incredible sponsors as well.

Please do make sure that you check out our advertisers websites.

It really does help us to continue to keep them happy and engaged on this show.

Shoutouts this week Gary Noseworthy, Yanhanat, Colin Harms, Vijayan Swaminathan, Irwin Jack, Oliver Ramirez, Nathan Plum, Sherry Allen, Lauren Graff, Eric Portillo, Deborah Tuzing, Wine, Mike Mack, Kalea Carrington, Cruz Gamboa, Alinette Cassiano, isa Montague, Tyra McDonald, Brian Horn, Zale Moransky, Ross Huart, Connor Nichols and Rudy Zacharias.

Until next time, you've been listening to the Business Development Podcast and we will catch you on the flip side.

This has been the Business Development Podcast with Kelly Kennedy.

Kelly has 15 years in sales and business development experience within the Alberta oil and gas industry and founded his own business development firm in 2020.

His passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation and business development.

The show is brought to you by Capital Business Development, your business development specialists.

For more we invite you to the website at www.capitalbd.ca.

see you next time on the Business Development Podcast.