when the visuals of your brand are quite established.
Liz:I think it makes it easier to make decorating decisions in your space
Liz:means that your videos look on brand and that just really helps build
Liz:up that trust and it helps people recognize your brand really quickly.
Liz:I think one of the things that I struggle with, especially in the design industry,
Liz:is there's like a lot of, maybe now become visual cliches, so I've noticed that a
Liz:lot of designers will have a really dark studio and they'll use colored lights
Liz:to get in their sort of brand color
Liz:Sometimes we look at what other people are doing and think, I don't
Liz:have the right setup, this isn't gonna be slick enough, but actually,
Liz:psychologically, people respond better if you don't have all of that.
Liz:Welcome to the Confident Live Marketing Podcast with Ian Anderson Gray.
Liz:Helping you level up your impact, authority, and profits through
Liz:the power of confident live video.
Liz:Optimize your mindset and communication.
Liz:And increase your confidence in front of the camera.
Liz:Get confident with the tech and gear.
Liz:And get confident with the content and marketing.
Liz:Together, we can go live!
Ian:Hello and welcome to episode 225 of the confident live marketing podcast.
Ian:Wow.
Ian:it's exciting today because we're going behind the scenes
Ian:with another special guest.
Ian:And my guest today is the fabulous Liz Mosley, who is a graphic designer
Ian:with over 15 years experience and now specializes in creating.
Ian:Creative branding and websites for small business owners.
Ian:She also hosts a podcast called building your brand and teaches
Ian:courses showing people how to create their own branding and gifts if they
Ian:don't have the budget to outsource it.
Ian:Her goal for her clients and students is for them to come away with branding that
Ian:they love that helps them feel so proud and confident promoting their businesses
Ian:and showing what they do in the world.
Ian:Welcome to the show, Liz.
Ian:How are you doing?
Liz:Good, thanks.
Liz:Thanks for having me.
Ian:It's been great.
Ian:Great to have you.
Ian:We've not known each other for that long.
Ian:Actually.
Ian:we, I'm trying to think how we've, we, met in person at Adobe max.
Ian:I think that was the first time.
Liz:Yeah.
Ian:and,
Liz:We've met each other twice since getting to know each other,
Liz:which was like about five months ago.
Ian:I know.
Ian:And then, it was a tummy con.
Ian:Wasn't it?
Ian:I think.
Ian:Yeah.
Ian:so yeah, so we're both, Adobe, your Adobe ambassadors or Adobe express ambassador.
Ian:Tell us a little bit more about what you do with Adobe.
Ian:Cause I know you do a lot of stuff.
Ian:Yeah.
Liz:I'm an Adobe Express ambassador as well, but I also have been roped
Liz:into doing all sorts of other things with them, which has been really fun.
Liz:I've done, Some live streaming for them on Adobe Live.
Liz:I've, spoken at Adobe Max for part of their virtual
Liz:conference a couple of times.
Liz:I create content for them outside of the Express Ambassadorship as well.
Liz:So yeah, a bunch of different things.
Liz:I also do training for them.
Liz:teaching their clients how to use Adobe Express as well.
Ian:Awesome.
Ian:I love the way you say roped in.
Ian:I'm sure
Liz:I know, roped in.
Liz:it's really fun because basically they, people like recommend
Liz:me to different teams and then I get drawn into other areas.
Liz:So yeah, roped in probably isn't the right word, but it feels like I get drawn in
Ian:drawn in.
Ian:Yeah, that.
Liz:Yeah.
Ian:Yeah.
Ian:And it's been similar.
Ian:It's similar with me.
Ian:I think I've, it's been really interesting to, to work on a few,
Ian:kind of projects and stuff like that.
Ian:So you've done a lot of live, a lot of stuff.
Ian:You do stuff with Adobe.
Ian:You do stuff yourself.
Ian:You've got your own podcast.
Ian:tell us a little bit more about your, we know a little bit about your background
Ian:because we talked about your, I gave you a bio, but what makes your studio
Ian:setup unique in terms of what you do as a designer and all the other stuff that you
Ian:do for Adobe and also for your business?
Liz:Oh, what makes my studio setup unique?
Liz:I don't think anything in particular.
Liz:I feel like I've had to, I've been very slowly improving it as we go.
Liz:So when I first started live streaming for Adobe, I was actually, I still
Liz:had a desk set up in my bedroom, which wasn't the most professional look, but
Liz:they were like really chilled about it.
Liz:But I was like, here's my bed in the background.
Liz:But yeah, basically converted like a box room in our house into a
Liz:office or studio And then I've just slowly been adding Things to it.
Liz:So like for example, the lighting wasn't great because there's a window behind me.
Liz:So then I've got some lights I always had the microphone because
Liz:I was like doing the podcast.
Liz:So I guess as I've needed to improve things I've invested In little bits
Liz:here and there, which has been good because it means I've spread out the
Liz:cost over the last couple of years.
Ian:I think that's, I think that's such a good answer because there's a couple of
Ian:things that I want to go back to on that.
Ian:And the first thing is like.
Ian:When you first started doing live streams with Adobe, like Adobe is
Ian:it's a big name and you probably felt quite a bit of pressure.
Ian:I'm assuming like this is Adobe.
Ian:I'm doing live streaming, like my, I need to have the top mega
Ian:professional kit, like background and but they were chilled out about it.
Ian:And I, and the thing often, I don't know about you, but for
Ian:me, I've, the, a lot of my.
Ian:Concerns for having professional setup is all been in my head.
Ian:I've not always needed that.
Ian:I think it helps with the, obviously the production value, but it
Ian:doesn't matter so much, does it?
Ian:and then the second thing is, I think you're so right that for most of us,
Ian:unless you are totally committed right from the start, you know that Your video
Ian:live video podcasting is absolutely paramount to your business success And
Ian:you've got the money right at the start fine invest ten thousand twenty thousand
Ian:pounds or dollars into it but for most of us like It's a case of bootstrapping
Ian:your live your studio, isn't it over time and investing in the gear and
Ian:quite often We're going to buy gear that isn't that great to begin with.
Ian:It takes time, doesn't it?
Ian:So yeah, any thoughts on that?
Liz:Yeah, definitely.
Liz:And I think that's it.
Liz:Like, when I started live streaming with Adobe, actually, that was the first
Liz:time I'd done any live streaming before.
Liz:And so I didn't know how long it was gonna last.
Liz:I ended up actually doing it for a year and I had a weekly show.
Liz:And so I did do, I think I did like well over 50 live streams.
Liz:and yeah.
Liz:But, yeah, I feel like it wouldn't have made sense, and I wasn't really
Liz:in a position that I could invest in everything, right there at the beginning.
Liz:yeah, it was a case of doing it bit by bit, and I think you're so right
Liz:as well, actually, about not always getting, Like the right thing or the
Liz:best thing right from the beginning.
Liz:So for example, Like I had a light that sort of suckered onto the top of my
Liz:computer and it worked okay for a bit, but it, it was very, yeah, it wasn't great
Liz:and now I've invested in the like, Elgato lights and those are like much bigger and
Liz:much better and I think It's there's an element of upgrading as well as you like
Liz:improve and grow and I guess as you said as I proved Myself that this is something
Liz:that i'm gonna keep doing and so it's worth investing in because it was exactly
Liz:the same with my podcast I started it.
Liz:I did a season of 12 episodes just to see If it was something that
Liz:I wanted to do, if I enjoyed it.
Liz:At the beginning, I wasn't recording video.
Liz:I was just recording audio.
Liz:like the sort of needs have changed over time.
Liz:And now that I've committed to it for three years, like it feels a lot
Liz:more worthwhile investing in that tech, because I know that I'm going
Liz:to get plenty of use out of it.
Ian:That makes total sense.
Ian:Yeah.
Ian:And three years, that's a long time because most podcasters, they, I
Ian:don't know what the stats are on this, but it's like the, something
Ian:like the 10th they give up.
Ian:And so if you've been doing this for three years, I think that's a
Ian:pretty good indicator that you're
Liz:yeah, I'm committed.
Liz:yeah, totally.
Ian:which is great.
Ian:So let's dive into your studio.
Ian:And the first one that I always like to, Ask about is audio and microphones.
Ian:Cause I don't know what you, so this is interesting.
Ian:Obviously you're a designer and visuals is a huge amount of what you do.
Ian:But, would you agree like audio is pretty important?
Ian:Like I would say it's the most important if your audio doesn't sound great, then
Ian:it's not, and particularly for podcasting.
Ian:So tell us about your microphone and audio setup and why you
Ian:invested in that particular setup.
Liz:I've got a blue Yeti microphone.
Liz:And interestingly, someone asked me the other day if I would recommend it.
Liz:And I would say that I'm happy with it, and I'm happy with the quality.
Liz:But, I'm not, obsessed with it, if that makes sense.
Liz:So I would totally be open.
Liz:If I had my time again, I think I would consider other brands.
Liz:I think at the beginning, Blue Yeti is one of those ones where people
Liz:really like the aesthetic look of it.
Liz:You can get it in different colors.
Liz:you can usually find a version of a Blue Yeti that sort of,
Liz:fits with your aesthetics.
Liz:I just went for a brand, a black one, so it didn't really do that for me.
Liz:But, I think I just saw loads of people using it, and That's why I got it.
Liz:So I didn't really, I knew it was a decent microphone, but I didn't really do that
Liz:much research into what was out there.
Liz:So yeah, I think potentially down the line, I would upgrade.
Liz:I do agree with you.
Liz:I think the audio is really important, but I also think I, and you might
Liz:disagree with me on this, but I also don't think it has to be totally perfect.
Liz:I think, people who are listening There's a certain amount that they're forgiving
Liz:of, I think often you can have like audio issues that are really annoying
Liz:and it will completely put people off listening, but I think there's, yeah.
Liz:I don't think it has to be totally perfect is what I'm
Ian:No, I wouldn't disagree with that at all.
Ian:Like I, so I suppose.
Ian:I think if you're not, if you're, for example, if you're using a laptop
Ian:microphone, that's not going to be great.
Ian:And you're probably going to get a lot of, echo and reverb and,
Ian:fan noises from your computer.
Ian:That's not great, but you don't have to spend hundreds
Ian:of pounds or dollars on this.
Ian:you can, the blue Yeti isn't particularly cheap.
Ian:It's about a hundred.
Ian:It's about the hundred range, I think, isn't it?
Ian:But, you can get even cheaper microphone line that the one I really like is
Ian:the Samsung QTU, which is about.
Ian:60 pounds 60 dollars and it's really good.
Ian:so I agree with you I think just start off with something simple
Ian:But just if you go for a dynamic microphone, that's going to be much
Ian:better than your laptop microphone.
Ian:So you've already upgraded and it's funny You obviously seem a little bit.
Ian:I don't know apologetic about the the blue yeti
Ian:I started off with that and I got to the same point when I think
Ian:there are a lot of people out there that are almost quite judgmental,
Liz:Yeah.
Ian:you've got the blue Yeti.
Ian:Oh, and you know what?
Ian:I think the blue Yeti is a really good microphone.
Ian:It's really
Liz:solid.
Liz:Yeah.
Liz:It's solid.
Liz:And it's served me really well, but yeah, I think maybe that's it.
Liz:Is that I've, as I've moved more into podcasting and live streaming
Liz:circles, I've started to experience the snobbery of Blue Yeti.
Liz:so now I'm a bit like, Oh, I know it's not necessarily the best one.
Ian:Yeah, it is funny, but I think the snobbery probably comes from the fact
Ian:that the Blue Yeti is often used badly.
Ian:Like I can definitely tell that Yeti correctly.
Ian:You've got it close to you.
Ian:A lot of people use the Blue Yeti and it's like halfway down the garden, it's
Ian:because they want it out of shot, which I get from an aesthetics point of view.
Ian:but you're not going to get the best quality.
Ian:and the other thing about the Blue Yeti, which is great is it's USB.
Ian:So you just plug it into your computer.
Ian:You don't have to worry about any other technical stuff.
Ian:So that's
Liz:yeah.
Ian:Cool.
Ian:So I'm interested in your camera setup because like you've got
Ian:your current camera setup.
Ian:And just before we, I pressed record, you were talking about what you're thinking of
Ian:getting actually fairly soon, apparently.
Ian:So tell us more about your current setup and what you're
Ian:thinking of doing in the future.
Liz:So my current setup I feel embarrassed about as well,
Liz:but I'm basically just using the camera on my computer.
Liz:So I've got an iMac.
Liz:yeah.
Liz:I like, one of those I never know the right names.
Liz:like a big iMac desktop.
Liz:it's like one of those 27 inch ones.
Liz:It's a really good computer.
Liz:Really nice.
Liz:I think, the camera is good enough.
Liz:And it, it has served me for the last few years, but I think
Liz:the same with everything else.
Liz:Now that I've proved to myself that I'm committed to the podcasting, live
Liz:streaming, all that sort of thing, I think it is really time to invest in, an
Liz:external camera, not the computer camera.
Liz:So I've decided that I'm going to get the Sony ZV 10.
Liz:Is that?
Liz:I've got already.
Liz:Yeah.
Liz:Yeah.
Ian:they need to, do you know what, they need to come up with some more snazzy
Ian:names because it's really confusing.
Ian:It's the, I think it's the ZVE10, but I always get that wrong.
Ian:And of course, if you're, and if you're American, of course, it's the ZVE10.
Ian:so
Liz:Yeah.
Liz:Yeah.
Liz:So I'm planning to buy that.
Liz:it's basically all sitting in my cart online and I just need to press
Liz:send because obviously that is a bit more of a, like a bit of a bigger
Liz:investment, but I've got the lens in there and then I've got like a stand
Liz:that will clamp onto the computer.
Liz:so it's all there ready to go.
Liz:So basically after this I just need to press order and actually do it.
Ian:do you know what, thank you for coming on because if that was
Ian:me, I'd be like so eager to get it.
Ian:Oh no, I've got this interview I have to do.
Ian:I just want to
Liz:Oh no.
Liz:No, I'm like stalling because I'm like, oh, it's a lot of money.
Liz:So I, yeah, I need to just do it.
Liz:I think it's one of those ones where, like it feels like a big chunk of money
Liz:will come out of my account, but I really know that it's like worth the investment.
Liz:And it feels like definitely the next thing to level up and invest in for sure.
Ian:yeah, definitely.
Ian:And yeah, so that's actually the camera and lens that I've got as
Ian:well, and presumably with that, so the thing about that is you can't plug
Ian:it directly into your computer, you need to get Something like, the one
Ian:that people tend to recommend, the one I've got is the Elgato Cam Link 4K.
Ian:It'd be great if, Elgato sponsored this podcast, the amount of
Liz:Yeah, I know we've mentioned this So, often.
Ian:so yeah, that converts the HDMI output of your camera into, signal
Ian:that your computer can use that you so you can use it as a webcam.
Ian:so yeah, so I think, you've got all that set up.
Ian:That's going to come very soon and yeah, we'll have to see what things look like.
Ian:It's going to be
Liz:and thanks to you, I'm probably going to put the teleprompter
Liz:in there as well, so I'll go and add that to my car afterwards.
Liz:It's getting more and more expensive as the day goes
Ian:I know it's not good.
Ian:it's, it is good.
Ian:It is good.
Ian:So that's your camera set up.
Ian:the next thing, so this, the next question is the area that I personally
Ian:really struggled with cameras.
Ian:It can be quite complicated, I think, but it doesn't have to be.
Ian:But the thing I find a bit more complicated, because we're now
Ian:veering into the art and science, type of thing and aesthetics.
Ian:I'm interested to hear from you about this, because obviously you're
Ian:a designer and you're very visual.
Ian:How have you got on with lighting?
Ian:What's your lighting setup?
Ian:And how has that, how have you set that up to create the right mood and the right
Ian:kind of, the way it looks, on camera?
Ian:So tell us a bit more about that.
Liz:Oh, see, I don't think I'm that good at that either.
Liz:So basically I When I had my desk in my room as I talked about before I
Liz:was right in front of a big window And that actually worked, served me really
Liz:well And the light was really good.
Liz:Apart from I did some nighttime live streams I'm not joking.
Liz:Like it was the first one I ever did for Adobe was in the evening
Liz:and it was Like two hours long.
Liz:It started when it was light outside and by the end of the
Liz:stream, it was like pitch black.
Liz:And basically I just got like everything just got darker and darker.
Liz:so I didn't have a great setup then but i've now invested in two Elgato
Liz:lights because I don't I so i'm in a very small box room and I don't have
Liz:space For big lights behind the desk so they sit on the desk on either
Liz:side, and I'm really pleased with them, and they've worked really well.
Liz:I think, ultimately, I am doing the best that I can with the space
Liz:that I've got, which is small.
Liz:and so I think, aesthetically, things aren't quite where I'd like them to be.
Liz:the dream would be to have a slightly bigger space, where I
Liz:can have, quite a lot of space.
Liz:set up behind the desk.
Liz:But for now, I'm just working with what I've got.
Liz:And it keeps getting, it gradually keeps getting better
Liz:and better, but quite slowly.
Ian:I think this is, I'm not a kind of jealous person, but when I have
Ian:some of my American friends on the show, they always seem to have a
Ian:lot more space than us in the UK.
Ian:so I think that's part of it, but I think we can still make
Ian:do with a fairly small space.
Ian:my, my space is pretty small.
Ian:It's a box room as well.
Ian:but it's I think what's really important and it sounds like you've got this is
Ian:you at least have a dedicated space.
Ian:So this is for your content creation on your work, which is I think
Ian:really makes a big difference.
Ian:So lighting.
Ian:Now let's get onto your computer.
Ian:So you mentioned you've got an iMac.
Ian:So I'm just interested in terms of your podcasts, your videos, presumably
Ian:you use your phone quite a lot in some of that creation as well.
Ian:So tell us a bit more about your computers and devices that you
Ian:use and any kind of special stuff that you've got going on there.
Liz:Yeah.
Liz:So I guess for the podcast, I do just use, like we're doing now, I use the
Liz:camera on the computer, but for my content, and I know that I could.
Liz:I could set this up to do it for the podcast as well, but for my content
Liz:I do use my phone a lot and actually i've got an iphone 14 and the camera
Liz:is so impressive and I'm, definitely like a believer in starting with
Liz:what you've got and not, my, no, deep down what I want to do is spend
Liz:all the money and get all the gear.
Liz:my husband always makes fun of me because I am like, a walking, the walking epitome
Liz:of like, all the gear and no idea.
Liz:So if I could, I would like, start a new hobby or start a new
Liz:interest and I would just do it.
Liz:Bile, but obviously there's like limitations and I can't do that So i'm
Liz:definitely like trying to be that person who starts with what they got they've
Liz:got and like i've recorded quite a few like youtube videos just using the Camera
Liz:on my phone all of my courses like the videos i've created from that I've done
Liz:with my phone and as I said, I am gonna invest in a camera now because I'm just
Liz:creating so much more video content.
Liz:It absolutely makes sense.
Liz:But yeah, I've been really impressed with what I've been able to do with my phone.
Liz:And I've, I've recorded content for brands and collaborations, like I've
Liz:created so many, reels and TikTok videos for Adobe using my phone
Liz:and it's served me really well.
Ian:I think it's a bit like the matrix when the, Neo wants to fly a
Ian:helicopter and he just downloads the program to, to fly the helicopter.
Ian:And I think sometimes we can feel like that with.
Ian:gear, like we just buy the gear and that's going to fix all our problems.
Ian:we're suddenly going to be able to be an amazing podcaster,
Ian:an amazing live streamer, just because we've invested in that.
Ian:We've downloaded the program.
Ian:but it's not, it's never as simple as that, unfortunately.
Ian:software.
Ian:So we've had a chat about software, haven't we?
Ian:So about, different software that you use.
Ian:So I'm just trying to say like for your podcasting, for your
Ian:video, what kind of software do you use in your content creation?
Liz:For my podcast, I use Riverside.
Liz:So I recently moved over to Riverside and I'm really enjoying using it.
Liz:I, so when I, was doing a lives with Adobe, like they did all the
Liz:production, so I didn't need to have any software for the live streaming.
Liz:Like I'd have a.
Liz:I don't know what you'd call him, like a live producer, I guess he was, so
Liz:a guy in my ear who's telling me what to do and he's managing everything.
Liz:So I literally just had to do the live, perform basically and
Liz:he was doing all the tech stuff.
Liz:But now I'm not doing that and we actually had a chat about this.
Liz:I'm gonna start live streaming myself and I'm gonna use Ecamm for that.
Liz:and then what else do I use?
Liz:I guess in terms of like video editing and stuff like that, I tend to use
Liz:Premiere Pro mainly, which I love.
Liz:I really enjoy using that.
Liz:If it's like very light editing, I'll use an app or Adobe Express as well.
Liz:So it depends what I need.
Liz:Like sometimes I just I do quite a lot of tutorials actually that are screen
Liz:recorded and I use loom for that.
Liz:So yeah, there's all sorts of different things that I bring
Liz:together to piece my content together.
Ian:No, that sounds cool.
Ian:Yeah.
Ian:And so a lot of people don't realize that Adobe Express can do a lot of
Ian:editing as well as we know, particularly if it's for the short form side
Ian:of things, which is really cool.
Ian:So definitely check that out.
Ian:I want to move on to your workspace and how you've personalized it.
Ian:And I, and again, We're all on a journey, so I'm sure, like me, and
Ian:you've already mentioned this, that there are frustrations, there are
Ian:things that are not quite there yet.
Ian:you've talked about you would like to have a bigger space, but how have you,
Ian:right now, how have you made your space somewhere that is a place that is uniquely
Ian:yours to help with two things, really, to foster that creativity in your day
Ian:to day work, but also Productivity.
Liz:Yeah, so I would say, and again, this is like evolved slowly over
Liz:time, I've tried to make decorating decisions that feel on brand for me.
Liz:So for example, you can't say, see it, but in front of me, there's a big green wall.
Liz:So I tend to record content with, like in this corner.
Liz:So there's like a green wall and a white wall.
Liz:And then I've got cool things, stuck up.
Liz:and I've got a bookshelf that's got all my design, books on.
Liz:So because I don't have a small, a big space, what I've done is I've curated
Liz:corners so that then, like thinking about, The angles that I would use to
Liz:film so like the window's facing me.
Liz:So then I've got light from there i'm not like totally happy with my background
Liz:at the moment, but again, it's just Making the best I can with the space
Liz:that i've got at the moment like the ultimate goal I think and i'm not sure
Liz:this will work But I should try it would be to have the desk switched around
Liz:and have the green wall behind me But yeah, I need to play around a bit more.
Liz:But yeah, I think when you know when the visuals of your
Liz:brand are quite established.
Liz:I think it makes it easier to make almost like decorating decisions in
Liz:your space means that your videos look on brand and that just really helps
Liz:build up that trust and it helps people recognize your brand like really quickly.
Liz:so yeah, I think those are the sort of like little things that I've done.
Liz:Again, there's still so much more that I want to do and I feel like
Liz:I've had to, compromise and just, do what I can with the space that I've
Liz:got and the budget that I've got.
Liz:But just some simple things like painting a wall green has made a big difference.
Ian:Yeah, that's all I wanted to ask you a little bit more about that.
Ian:So quite often what I asked my guests on this in this season about studio
Ian:set up is what is their dream set up?
Ian:Or what would you invest in?
Ian:But I want to make it slightly different for you because
Ian:obviously, you're a designer.
Ian:And so you've you tend to think about things in a ball.
Ian:designery way.
Ian:how would you, in terms of the look and feel of your, your camera set up
Ian:and the look and feel, your background, the lighting, how would you, thinking
Ian:about, no, there's no budget here, sorry, there's, sorry, there is a
Ian:budget here, to invest in and the next stage for you, what would that be?
Ian:how would you, How, change what you've currently got to have a more memorable
Ian:brands than you've currently got.
Ian:what would you think?
Liz:Oh, that's such a good question.
Liz:I think, I think one of the things that I struggle with, so I guess I,
Liz:something that I've considered is getting a studio outside of the home.
Liz:And I like the idea of that in terms of had it having a dedicated studio.
Liz:space to work, like to record content.
Liz:But I actually really love working from home.
Liz:So I think I would probably have to like still live it myself.
Liz:I'd still have the space issue, but I think what I would do is yeah, move the
Liz:room around, have the green wall behind me and then really curate that wall.
Liz:I think.
Liz:I think it's about adding personality and showing, having elements
Liz:that help people get to know you.
Liz:And your unique personality, and I think you can do that,
Liz:with the prints that you choose.
Liz:So I've got an Aaron Draplin print, who's like a very well known designer up here.
Liz:yeah, I think you can bring those things in and I've seen lots of
Liz:people do it in really brilliant ways where their setups all look really
Liz:different, but it really shows their personality and what their brand is like.
Liz:And so I think it's, yeah, it's about curating that sort of
Liz:like aesthetic of your brand.
Liz:I think one of the things that I struggle with, especially in the sort of like
Liz:design industry, is there's like a lot of, I guess what of, maybe now become
Liz:visual cliches, where, so I've noticed that a lot of designers will have a
Liz:really dark, studio and they'll use like colored lights to get in their sort of
Liz:brand color and it's really effective and it works really well, but I don't think
Liz:it's really like my vibe or aesthetic, but I find myself getting sucked into it
Liz:because I see everybody else doing it.
Liz:I'm like, oh, maybe I just need to like make it all really dark and have, like
Liz:one of those long stick lights that's like putting out this green glow.
Liz:But yeah, that's not really, that's not really the vibe I want to go to.
Liz:Another one that a lot of designs do, and this is like no shade on them because
Liz:the aesthetics are perfect for them, but like another one is they, quite a lot of
Liz:them have neon signs in their background.
Liz:And so then I feel myself getting sucked in and I'm like,
Liz:oh, I need to have a neon sign.
Liz:am I really a designer content creator unless I've got a
Liz:neon sign in the background?
Liz:But again, I have to remind myself that's not really my aesthetic, Like I need to
Liz:find my own way and I think sometimes we can't see what everybody else is
Liz:doing and get sucked Into that so I think yeah I'm in the process of trying
Liz:to curate a space that reflects me and isn't just what everyone else is doing
Ian:I love that curator space.
Ian:That's, I think that's a good nugget that, that we can think about.
Ian:And.
Ian:I think you're so right.
Ian:we, I feel the same thing.
Ian:Like I get sucked in.
Ian:I think, Oh, like maybe if I had this dark background with the, the led and neon
Ian:lights, that would solve all my problems.
Ian:And it made me look really cool.
Ian:But I think one thing that I've been thinking a lot about is.
Ian:I want to be so it depends on your brand and like the kind of clients
Ian:that you work with, but one of the big words, but big things for
Ian:me is I want to be approachable.
Ian:And I've found sometimes that the more professional your background
Ian:is and your setup that can actually almost put up a bit of a barrier.
Ian:and I've had to work at that because I spend a lot of time, recommending
Ian:gear and setups and things like that.
Ian:But I found that.
Ian:when I started talking about more kind of high tech setups, it was actually a
Ian:barrier to people working with me because they thought, Oh, I could never do that.
Ian:And the point is I can help you do that.
Ian:that's what I was trying to say.
Ian:But, so I think there's a balance and assume that's the same with you.
Ian:You want to be approachable.
Ian:You want people, you want to say, look, I'm.
Ian:I'm a person you can work with and if there's all the, if you almost look too
Ian:professional, that can be a barrier.
Ian:I don't know what you think about that.
Liz:I think you're totally spot on and I've got some
Liz:interesting insight into this.
Liz:So my husband is actually like an online education sort of expert.
Liz:Like his whole thing is advising people about online courses.
Liz:And I remember when I created my courses, he gave me this really
Liz:interesting bit of information, which was that actually, Students respond
Liz:better if your recording setup isn't super, super slick and polished.
Liz:If it's a bit more, yeah, I guess like you say, approachable, friendly, I want
Liz:to say a bit more lo fi, so it's still good, like the audio is still good,
Liz:the video's clear, the lighting's good.
Liz:but it, it doesn't have to be this like super slick in a studio
Liz:with a professional videographer, it doesn't have to be that.
Liz:Actually people respond better when it's not.
Liz:And him telling me that was so helpful because I realized, and I think
Liz:this comes back to Branding so well, when you're clear on what your brand
Liz:values are and how you want people to feel when they work with you.
Liz:for some people, they're, they're trying to attract massive corporate
Liz:companies and that slickness is going to be really important.
Liz:But for me, I'm working with small businesses.
Liz:I want to come across, I, not in a fake way, but I want to come across friendly
Liz:and approachable and I want them to, yeah, Feel like not feel overwhelmed like
Liz:I think exactly like you described and so I think you know that this has been
Liz:talked about a lot on Instagram as well like one of the biggest sort of like
Liz:content creators on Instagram basically came Out and said that he thought the
Liz:time of really slick well edited videos is over and actually What people are
Liz:looking for now is more authentic, scrappy, I don't know if that's the
Liz:right word to use, but more scrappy content, where it's not as polished.
Liz:And I think sometimes we look at what other people are doing and think, oh,
Liz:what, I don't have the right setup, this isn't gonna be slick enough, but
Liz:actually, psychologically, people respond better if you don't have all of that.
Liz:And yeah, I think that's a, I think that's really interesting to think about.
Liz:I love, I love considering that and I think, a part of my setup is more
Liz:based on, what I've got available and the budget, but it's always
Liz:encouraging to be reminded that actually you can do, create content
Liz:and do really effective work without it being this, like huge production.
Liz:Yeah.
Ian:Yeah.
Ian:And I would agree.
Ian:I'm not a massive Instagram person, but I find that thing that puts me off
Ian:Instagram is the overly slickness quality.
Ian:Like I prefer the raw stuff.
Ian:I quite like stories when they're just basic stories, just
Ian:people talking to the camera.
Ian:I prefer that.
Ian:And yeah, I think what I've realized, what I want to invest in my studio
Ian:setup is actually, I want to get rid of barriers that, That I want to remove
Ian:any friction in the creation of content.
Ian:So I want to just plug a switch, put a switch on and I can create my
Ian:podcast on my video straight away.
Ian:there's no friction because it's already difficult enough.
Ian:So sometimes to get motivated, to create that content.
Ian:So like having my microphone here, my camera all ready to go.
Ian:That's I think a good way to invest, but it doesn't have to necessarily be like
Ian:make a professional other than that.
Ian:I'm just aware of time, with this has been such an interesting
Ian:conversation, but, we've actually, actually a little bit longer than we
Ian:normally do, which is absolutely cool.
Ian:Cause we've had some really good, interesting conversations,
Ian:but I do want to get onto the.
Ian:the famous quickfire round, which I know you're looking forward to.
Ian:So I'm going to ask you a series of questions, you need to answer
Ian:them as quickly as possible.
Ian:So no pressure.
Ian:Let's do it now.
Ian:So the question number one, Is microphone in or out of shot?
Liz:In.
Liz:I like it in.
Ian:Awesome.
Ian:okay.
Ian:Acoustic panels.
Ian:Are these an aesthetic choice or acoustic essential?
Liz:Oh, I feel like they're probably an acoustic essential, but I don't
Liz:have them, and I feel like quite often they're an aesthetic choice.
Ian:Okay, I don't think you need them.
Ian:Teleprompter, yes or no?
Ian:Webcam or fancy camera?
Liz:in an ideal world, fancy camera, but I currently have a webcam.
Ian:Okay, to create content sitting or standing.
Liz:Sitting.
Ian:Ring lights, good or bad?
Liz:Oh, I think they're good in some situations, but I'm not a massive fan.
Ian:One big monitor or dual monitors, or even triple?
Liz:Oh, the dream would be dual, but I currently have one big one.
Ian:Green screen or natural background?
Liz:Natural background.
Ian:What's best, going solo or with guests?
Liz:With guests.
Liz:I love chatting to people.
Ian:Awesome, you've got nine there, that's pretty good.
Ian:It's difficult though, isn't it?
Ian:Because you want to say, Yeah, but
Liz:Qualify!
Liz:I know, yeah, I wanted to give a little explanation with all of my decisions.
Ian:We're just worried about getting judged, for saying things like,
Liz:I know, yeah.
Ian:like ring lights, like I personally don't like them, but
Ian:I'm also like completely aware that for some people they're perfect.
Ian:So just because I don't like them doesn't mean that, so there we go.
Ian:Anyway, thank you so much, Liz.
Ian:It's been great to have you on the show.
Ian:You are back in the next season talking about confidence and communication.
Ian:Really excited about having you back then, but, We are almost out of time.
Ian:tell people how they can find out more about you, connect with you and
Ian:what are you currently working on?
Liz:Yeah, sure.
Liz:you can find out more about me on my website, which is lizmosley.
Liz:net.
Liz:And I also have a new website for my podcast, which I'm very excited
Liz:about, which is buildingyourbrand.
Liz:net.
Liz:and the main place I hang out online is Instagram and my
Liz:handle is at lizmmosley there.
Liz:So yeah, if you want to find me, that's the best place to go.
Liz:Oh, and what am I working on now?
Liz:Oh, I'm always working on the podcast.
Liz:So there's like weekly episodes that come out with that, where I interview
Liz:people about branding and marketing.
Liz:I guess the other work is more behind the scenes.
Liz:So doing lots of branding projects for clients, doing some content
Liz:creation for clients as well.
Liz:but yeah, I guess the podcast is the main place where you can
Liz:see regular content from me.
Ian:Yeah.
Ian:And it is a really cool website.
Ian:You need to check that out.
Ian:All of those links will be in the show notes.
Ian:and, let me just, I can't even remember what we're on now.
Ian:Yeah.
Ian:IAG.
Ian:me forward slash 225.
Ian:That's where they'll all be.
Ian:Thanks so much, Liz.
Ian:It's been great to have you on.
Liz:you.
Ian:we are out of time.
Ian:do check out the podcast, website.
Ian:Iag.
Ian:me forward slash podcast, where you can connect with us and you
Ian:can subscribe and listen in all your favorite podcasting apps.
Ian:And of course we're on YouTube as well.
Ian:yeah, that's it from me.
Ian:And until next time I encourage you to level up your impact authority and profits
Ian:to the power of confident live video.
Ian:See you soon.
Ian:Bye.
Ian:Thanks for listening to the Confident Live Marketing Podcast with Ian Anderson Gray.
Ian:Make sure you subscribe at iag.me/podcast so you can continue to level up
Ian:your impact, authority and profits through the power of live video.
Ian:And until next time, Toodle