AR385 From Mexico, joined Nov 2003, 3954 posts, RR: 29 Posted (3 months 3 weeks 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 1211 times:
I have this business I started a few months ago, exclusively as a hobby (I won´t go into details as I don´t want to appear to be promoting anything) But, against all expectations, it grew and grew and now I can´t cope with demand. And it´s actually paying some bills.
A local cable channel heard about it and they called and said they wanted to come and look at the business and interview me as how I started it, where I got the idea, etc.
They came a few days ago and did an hour long interview. It was stressfull and sort of embarrasing. I´m shy by nature, I´ve never been in front of a camera and self promotion is not my thing but at the same time it felt satistfying. I hope I did a good job.
The thing is that now they want to invite me and do a live Q&A show and I´m terrified of that, frankly. The sole thought of it makes me phisically ill.
Any pointers? I will never be the next Bill Gates but It´s really going to be good for my business and my sales, I´m just irrationally afraid of it. It´s not National TV, but locally it´s an important channel with a big local audience. I´m still scared shitless though.
SHAQ From Panama, joined Jun 2007, 238 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (3 months 3 weeks 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 1195 times:
Try to be natural.
I'll give you another tip. When you are talking to the general public through the camera, see the cameras you would see someone's eyes when you are talking to them!
Good luck my friend.
Revelation From United States of America, joined Feb 2005, 8076 posts, RR: 13 Reply 2, posted (3 months 3 weeks 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 1085 times:
I suspect that your natural talents got you to this point in life, and so you should trust in your natural talents and try not to worry over this. Relax, and focus on the good you'll be doing for others who are interested in your approach to business.
YOWZA From Canada, joined Jul 2005, 4704 posts, RR: 22 Reply 4, posted (3 months 3 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 978 times:
Quoting AR385 (Thread starter): The thing is that now they want to invite me and do a live Q&A show and I´m terrified of that, frankly. The sole thought of it makes me phisically ill.
This product/service is your baby. You know it better than anyone, you'll be fine. Take your time so as not to promise things that don't exist an you'll knock it out of the park.
canoecarrier From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 2265 posts, RR: 11 Reply 5, posted (3 months 3 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 970 times:
Quoting AR385 (Thread starter): A local cable channel heard about it and they called and said they wanted to come and look at the business and interview me as how I started it, where I got the idea, etc.
As YOWZA says.
Quoting YOWZA (Reply 4): This product/service is your baby. You know it better than anyone, you'll be fine. Take your time so as not to promise things that don't exist an you'll knock it out of the park.
Remember that you know this much better than 99.9% of the people that are watching. It's your responsibility to educate them on a topic/product you know as well as anyone. This should be right in your wheelhouse. Imagine you're at a bar or friends house explaining what you do to someone, I bet you've done that before already. I'm sure you're passionate about it.
Dreadnought From United States of America, joined Feb 2008, 6457 posts, RR: 36 Reply 6, posted (3 months 3 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 927 times:
Quoting AR385 (Thread starter): Any pointers? I will never be the next Bill Gates but It´s really going to be good for my business and my sales, I´m just irrationally afraid of it. It´s not National TV, but locally it´s an important channel with a big local audience. I´m still scared shitless though.
Down a bottle of scotch right before the interview.
Quoting Revelation (Reply 2): I suspect that your natural talents got you to this point in life, and so you should trust in your natural talents and try not to worry over this. Relax, and focus on the good you'll be doing for others who are interested in your approach to business.
Yes.
I am Descartes of Borg. I assimilate, therefore I am
Type-Rated From United States of America, joined Sep 1999, 3664 posts, RR: 23 Reply 7, posted (3 months 2 weeks 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 771 times:
As a former television director, I can give you some advice.
Sit upright and still if you are seated, feet flat on the ground. If you are standing keep hands down by your side.
Don't fidget or play with your hair, clothing or nose, even if it does itch.
Keep your eyes on the person interviewing you, not the camera. Pay attention even if you are bored by it all.
Talk in sound bites. Answer the questions the interviewer asks without including ex-strenuous information.
Don't wear brightly colored clothing. Semi-casual business attire will do.
Remember, when this plays on television potential customers will be viewing it. View this as a potential advertisement for your goods and services.
Fly North Central Airlines..The route of the Northliners!
planeguy727 From United States of America, joined Mar 2007, 874 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (3 months 2 weeks 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 732 times:
I've done a number of these...in addition to the great advice already given:
1) less is more - don't go on and on about things
2) always pause before you start speaking - it let's the extra unnecessary words escape unspoken
3) pretend the camera is not there - if you can block that out you will relax
4) a deep breath is great to help relax and be calm
5) have some fun with it - as others noted, you are the expert
AR385 From Mexico, joined Nov 2003, 3954 posts, RR: 29 Reply 10, posted (3 months 2 weeks 6 days 4 hours ago) and read 646 times:
Quoting SHAQ (Reply 1): Try to be natural.
I'll give you another tip. When you are talking to the general public through the camera, see the cameras you would see someone's eyes when you are talking to them!
Good luck my friend.
Quoting Revelation (Reply 2): I suspect that your natural talents got you to this point in life, and so you should trust in your natural talents and try not to worry over this. Relax, and focus on the good you'll be doing for others who are interested in your approach to business.
I send you my best wishes!
Thank you very much. I really appreciate your well wishing, Revelation and your good luck wish, SHAQ
Quoting Ken777 (Reply 3): Rule One: Make sure your zipper is pulled up.
Rule Two: Be yourself. Bill Gates ain't that great on TV.
Rule Three: Be sure to tape it so you'll have it to show the grandkids some day.
Congrats!
Thank you. I am actually obsessed with my zipper. Always fiddling with it to see if it´s pulled up. So that won´t be a problem. Your third point is excellent. I had not thought about it but thanks to you, I´ll be sure to tape it or ask the Producer for a copy.
Quoting YOWZA (Reply 4): This product/service is your baby. You know it better than anyone, you'll be fine.
Quoting canoecarrier (Reply 5): Remember that you know this much better than 99.9% of the people that are watching. It's your responsibility to educate them on a topic/product you know as well as anyone.
YOWZA and canoecarrier. You make excellent points and they are truly appreciated. I never thought about the interview serving to educate others, but it´s so true. And hopefully more people will get the courage to go into business by themselves. I know it took a lot of courage for me to do so.
Quoting canoecarrier (Reply 5): This should be right in your wheelhouse. Imagine you're at a bar or friends house explaining what you do to someone, I bet you've done that before already. I'm sure you're passionate about it.
True. And I´ve done that many times. I´m sure it will help thinking that way if I get too stressed.
Quoting Dreadnought (Reply 6): Down a bottle of scotch right before the interview.
As excellent an idea as that seems, I´d rather avoid it. A couple of stiff drinks might help, but a whole bottle of Scotch will make me talk about everything else but what I really want to. The viewers might get answers not to their liking and there´s a big chance my lunch/dinner might make an appearance at some point.
Quoting Type-Rated (Reply 7): As a former television director, I can give you some advice.
Quoting planeguy727 (Reply 8): I've done a number of these...in addition to the great advice already given:
Excellent, excellent advice, thank you very much.
Quoting Airstud (Reply 9): Well what is it? (See, now you will look merely like you are answering Airstud's question rather than promoting stuff.)
(And, do you need a Vice President for U.S. Midwestern Region! )
A few years ago I heard the story of, let´s call him "Fred". Fred was a poor shoemaker and shoe repair guy from a poor part of the city but he made a decent living. Thanks to NAFTA, and piracy, very cheap shoe imports from China pretty much wiped him out of business. But, he had a neighbor. A stripper.
At that time, Strip joints were booming in MTY, from the very luxurious ones to the "I´ll dance with you for a token" ones. This stripper neighbor needed special boots for her show and gave Fred a picture she saw in a trade magazine (yes, there are trade magazines for that) and asked Fred if he could do a similar design and voila. A couple weeks later the stripper had her boots and Fred´s business started booming as every stripper in town came to Fred for her boots, special shoes or whatever exotic footwear they needed for their job. Later, a couple of big, Strip Clubs retained him as their footwear designer and producer.
Since most employees in Mexico work on small or medium sized businesses, I had this idea of starting a consulting business that would do consulting on management, finance, marketing, law, operations, strategy or whatever else, but tailored to these type of businesses. I could only imagine if Fred had had the expertise of Mckinsey, Bain, BCG (questionable as that expertise may be on occassion) when he was losing his shirt. He was lucky. Many other businesses were not.
So, having a BA in Economics, an MBA and a few years experience in business (the job that appears in my profile is what I do as a volunteer) I hired three kids fresh out of college (that means cheap labor and sorry if that offends anyone) one with a BA in Marketing, another in Industrial Engineering and a Lawyer. I do the Finance and Strategy part of the consulting and whatever else requires an "adult" The trick is that I only take small businesses (mostly family owned ones) and medium sized businesses as clients and we try to get them to make more money. By finding new markets for them, streamlining their operations, teaching them better management, instilling in them the importance of planning and strategy and whatever else is needed for them to increase their profits while minimizing their expenditures.
And yes, as I said on my opening post, it´s grown and grown and I have a wating list of clients. Heck, I haven´t even named the thing. Word of mouth is amazing.
I will be sure to remember you Airstud, if I ever expand enough to need someone to run operations in your neck of the woods.
geezer From United States of America, joined Aug 2010, 715 posts, RR: 1 Reply 11, posted (3 months 2 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 625 times:
AR385;
My only advice.............read everything TypeRated and planeguy said about 10 times, and commit it to memory; you can't do any better than that. And good luck ! (and forget the alcohol) (if you want a drink, do it AFTER the show)
HAWK21M From India, joined Jan 2001, 30162 posts, RR: 61 Reply 12, posted (3 months 2 weeks 5 days 3 hours ago) and read 529 times:
Quoting AR385 (Thread starter): Any pointers? I will never be the next Bill Gates but It´s really going to be good for my business and my sales, I´m just irrationally afraid of it. It´s not National TV, but locally it´s an important channel with a big local audience. I´m still scared shitless though.
Congrats.......Remember dont think too much.talk as if you are at home or in your comfort zone & look beyond the Audience as you speak & NOT at their faces if you get the opportunity to
Type-Rated From United States of America, joined Sep 1999, 3664 posts, RR: 23 Reply 13, posted (3 months 2 weeks 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 469 times:
And one addition. Don't wear a shirt with a pattern to it. Things like stripes and small plaids make the cameras go wonky.
You can then get a herringbone effect on your clothing. A nice white or pale blue shirt will do nicely. BTW, if this is being filmed in HD, wear a pale blue shirt. For some reason, blue always looks best on HDTV.
Fly North Central Airlines..The route of the Northliners!
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