“You have a unique personality, a unique message, and a point of view, all you need is a way to bring it to your content.” – ALEX SHERIDAN
S2-EP022 – In this episode, our guest, Alex Sheridan, the founder and CEO of Impaxs Marketing, shares valuable insights into the world of short-form vertical videos. Alex discusses the power of leveraging one video across multiple platforms, such as TikTok, Instagram, YouTube shorts, and LinkedIn, while emphasizing the importance of understanding each platform’s nuances. He highlights the potential reach and success that can be achieved by creating engaging content with strong hooks and compelling messages. Alex also opens up about his personal experiences and fears as a content creator, shedding light on the importance of authenticity and taking calculated risks.
Highlights from this episode:
[04:32] Consistency is the key to success
[08:02] Social selling through edutainment
[15:29] Importance of video creation system and process
[18:39] Freedom through batch processing
[24:18] Building a community
[28:35] Telling a compelling story
[32:27] Overcoming fears
[33:35] Understanding the core values before creating an appealing video content
[40:00] Rap battle getting new heights
Connect with Alex:
A little bit about Alex:
Alex is the Founder and CEO of Impaxs Marketing. He was profoundly interested in being an Entrepreneur and decided to try engagement through video content creation. He has been actively working in B2B sales but had always envisioned starting his own company.
Today he is successfully running his own company and catching the attention of thousands of professionals on social media through his video content creation. Being a father of 2 daughters, Alex talks about how he wants freedom in his business so that he can live the life he has always wanted without compromising on his relationships.
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Transcription:
Alex Sheridan
I’m a Video Experts. I post like one video a week. And I’m like, you don’t even understand video today and 2023 of your posting one video a week. And that’s all you do, like you have no system or process or automation or strategy to produce the quality or the quantity of videos that you need to produce for it to actually make an impact.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
Welcome to the Spicy Chai Podcast. I’m Mahrukh Imtiaz, I host this podcast and still work a successful and fulfilling nine-to-five My guests are content creators just a bit ahead of you, you will hear about their struggles and when learn from their mistakes so that you can avoid making them so grab a cup of Spicy Chai. And let’s get started.
Today I have the founder and CEO of Impaxs Marketing, a creative agency that helps build companies to trust and attract their dream clients through video content. Now I know what you all are thinking video. I mean, that might not even be for me. But hear me out. This man has over 31,000 followers on LinkedIn. He’s doing great on Tik Tok and YouTube as well with over 15,000 on each of the platforms. So I’m super excited to have you on today. Welcome to the show, Alex.
Alex Sheridan
Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
Awesome. Well, let’s start off with saying, Okay, well, what made you start with this route of content creation? Like, let’s not even start with the video content part? What made you say Okay, today, or I think this is the path for me, what’s your story.
Alex Sheridan
So here’s how it went down. So 2019, I’m going to start I’m going to simplify a longer story make it short. In 2019, I decided that I want to give entrepreneurship a shot, right, I was a b2b salesperson for 10 years, I was cold calling I was email and I was knocking on doors. And I had some success in that career. But I wanted to start my own company, I thought it was going to be a sales consulting company, because that’s what I knew. And that’s what I could teach other companies how to do. Then I started posting content on Instagram first, and then I quickly got on LinkedIn and made the pivot to go all in on LinkedIn. Because I figured, hey, instead of just cold calling, I’m tired of constantly cold calling, I’d like for to get some exposure on social media and see if this thing actually works. I was skeptical at the beginning, right. And so I started posting content. And then I again, I quickly moved to LinkedIn, because I feel like that was the platform of the future. And thankfully, it turned out that way. And I started posting probably late 2019. And after a couple of months of posting content, a lot of videos, in early 2020, I started to notice that wait a second, my customers are actually coming to me in this is interesting. And I go start thinking about the way they’re buying now. And they want to do more research and they want to consume content, they want pricing, and they want this, they want that they want to be educated by time they buy. And I realized that my cold calling tactics were the complete opposite of how they wanted to buy. So I kind of made this shift in my business. And I’m like, I’m going to help people grow their business increase revenue, but I’m not going to do it through the cold calling and emailing strategies, I’m going to do it through creating content and social selling. And being on LinkedIn. I started with one client in 2020, February 2020, I won my first client and that new business. Six months later, the business took off, I’m putting in my two weeks notice. And I’ve been doing on this business ever since
Mahrukh Imtiaz
I love that story so much because it kind of was just like an idea that popped in you were like, You know what, I’m gonna try something new out. Now, a lot of people are on the same route where you know, they’re like, You know what I need to create content I need to get on LinkedIn. What do you think, are the factors that made you successful on LinkedIn versus others that kind of try and normally get that momentum?
Alex Sheridan
One of the biggest reasons that I was able to be successful and find success on LinkedIn is because I was willing to put myself out there, more than just about anyone else. So what most people did is I saw people just stay in a box, they created one type of content. And that’s all they did it over and over and over and over again, whether that was text posts, whether that was pictures, whether it was maybe some video, for me, I didn’t care about failing, I didn’t care that I look stupid that someone called one of my educational skit videos, blasphemy. When I first started, I first started putting them out, like I did get some, you know, negative comments, it didn’t perform right away. But for me, I was willing to think outside the box put out content that was to me, but also that I thought was unique and different from what everyone else was doing. The other side of the reason that I’ve found success on LinkedIn, and I think this is one of the biggest factors that that that determines, if creators are successful or not with video, is are you willing to stay consistent over long periods of time as you put yourself out there, right? So you can’t get into the game and go, I’m gonna just you know, do it for three months or four months and hopefully something miraculous happens. You can get results in short periods of time. Sure, but I stayed consistent. Once I decided I was going to do video and put myself out there and bring my unique personality to the to the LinkedIn feeds. I made a commitment. I said I’m committed not interested. There’s a big difference. And I’ve been consistent every single week showing us showing up with video content And since I made that commitment in early 2020,
Mahrukh Imtiaz
Right? And before when before your business took off, you were doing this with your nine to five. So how did you manage that? What did your routine look like at that point in time?
Alex Sheridan
Yeah, it was crazy. I mean, trying to manage a side hustle with a full time job. And then I’m a dad of two daughters. So over the place, I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I mean, I pretty much I worked six months straight without taking a day off. I mean, it was it was extreme. Now that’s, I say that because I know that I want everyone to do that, or that I think everyone needs to do that.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
Here like this is not is, you know, that’s the thing. It’s definitely
Alex Sheridan
Not easy. And for me, like, the way I My personality is, is I’m very obsessive. When I get into something like, I’m addicted to it. I’m all in 100% in or I’m nothing. And so for me, that’s what I did this. And so I was, yeah, so what happens is, you’ll notice if you have a side hustle that you’re very serious about, I’m not talking about like, Oh, it’s a side hustle, I make some money, it’s cool. But I really have a really important career. That’s number one. I’m talking about if you have a side hustle, and you want to turn it into a full time opportunity for yourself, and that’s your dream. What you’ll notice after a few months, for me, it’s just a couple months, you only have room for one of those, one of those dreams have the die. And I was like, it’s definitely not going to be the one that I was starting to build up and get momentum with. And it’s definitely not going to be the one that was calling to me in my heart and soul that I really wanted to do. So as I started growing, as I started growing, my side hustle my LinkedIn video business, it went like this. And it was right when COVID happened to so everyone’s like, Oh, crap, we gotta get online, we gotta use LinkedIn video, this business impacts take, start taking off, off in my career starts going like this. And so and I was even having meetings with my managers that I was never having. I was never talking to him about this before. But it was like my activity would slow down and drop. And I was like a high activity dude, I was like a constant producer, right. So that started the drop the this has started to take off. And then eventually I had to make a decision. I was like, I want to be fair to my company, because they’re a good company, they gave a lot to me, I gave a lot to them. And I didn’t want to hold them back by being in a job that I feel like I wasn’t doing justice or giving my 100%. So in July 2020, I put in my notice, and then was able to go full time into business. But it was yeah, it was crazy.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
That that is and like took a lot of like courage and bravery at that time too. Because you know, things with business could go anyway. But what I want to ask is, what’s your video content? The first business you ever did? Or did you try to get into the entrepreneurship world before? And then you were like, oh, no, it’s not really working. And let’s get back into the b2b sales job.
Alex Sheridan
No, that was my first real taste of entrepreneurship. I mean, you know, when I started again, I had that sales consulting, that was the idea of the first business. But this was the first real business where I had customers and revenue. And this was my first like, real commitment into entrepreneurship. And it’s been a hell of a ride so far
Mahrukh Imtiaz
It seems like it and like, it’s like, it’s pretty obvious with your growth. It’s just consistent. It’s that the audience that comments and engagement, I see that on LinkedIn all the time. And you said something very interesting there. You said, when you started creating video, you were trying to think outside the box, you were not just trying to do the same thing again and again, and just, you know, hope it works. What was that out of the box thinking for you? Like at that point? Was it just that I’m going to show up on video every day and make something up? Or I’m going to make sure my scripts are different? Or that I’m going to make sure my inspiration is different? Could you dig deeper, a little bit what that looked like?
Alex Sheridan
Yeah, I think for me, it was edutainment. And I was like, How can I? How can you expedite your results on social media? How can you get the fastest results on social media with content? And the answer truly is edutainment. It really is. And it doesn’t mean that you got to be the skip person, or you got to do some crazy personalities or be out of this world. It means how can you create meaningful content that actually educates an audience or inspires them or shifts their perspective or teaches them something, whatever it might be, but then also on the other side, you’ve got this entertainment aspect, where people are consuming it, and they’re going, I can’t see how this ends. This is this is really entertaining, like I’m glued to the screen, almost like a good Netflix show would or a good movie would, right? So I started combining the two and I would just make, I would just try a bunch of different stuff. Some of them were skipped. Some of them were the way I said the first sentence was kind of different, or I changed my environment, or I’d use a green screen or whatever I thought would potentially give me an edge over everyone else. And it worked. It really worked. And then we start dealing with clients and it worked for them. And I think again, going back to that point, like, you have to be willing to try different things because you’re you have a unique personality. And you have a unique message and point of view and perspective. And you have to find a way to tap into that. And then bring it into the feeds, bring it into your content. And most people just stayed in a box. And it was like this is all my to do. And I’m scared to do anything else. And what if I try this new video and it fails. And a lot of mine did fail in the beginning and I still have failures. But I’m still like, look, I’m in the process of learning and getting better and testing and trying and a lot of ways I’m the guinea pig for my clients. I know what works because I live this stuff, right? Like I’m the one out here making mistakes, getting wins, seeing what’s working, seeing what’s not working. And so I think that’s the that’s the testament of a great Creator and someone that’s a practitioner that actually lives it themselves.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
I think that’s gold. What you just said right there. I think it’s just someone who actually does what they’re kind of going about growing their business on to because there’s so many people out there that would say, you know, I can help you do this and that, and then I’m just like, well, what have you done this already? No, I haven’t, yes, help you. And I’m just like, a how though, like, you know, you’ve never done it yourself, you have no idea what it feels like to be that person, you know, who again, had those failures and all that have that hate? Or those trolls or you know, worse than trolls? Crickets? When you get no, like, comments in it, or like, you know, and nobody even thinks about that. So,
Alex Sheridan
Yes, yeah, I mean, I get crack up, because I see people that talk about like, I’m a Video Experts. Yeah, I post like one video a week. And I’m like, you don’t even understand video today. And 2023 If you’re posting one video a week, and that’s all you do, like you have no system or process or automation or strategy to produce the quality or the quantity of videos that you need to produce for it to actually make an impact. So it’s like, when you’re, when you’re buying something, whether it’s social media services, or whatever it is, you definitely should look at the people that are selling you the services and look at their stuff. And the other red flag for me is I had someone talk to me about like LinkedIn automation services, and we’re going to do all your LinkedIn for free or all your LinkedIn are going, it’s not for free, but we’re gonna do all your LinkedIn for you. And you can sit back and get all the results you want. And I’m like, let me check out this person’s page and the person’s profile. They had like no recommendations. The last recommendation was in 2021. And I’m thinking like, alright, so you have no recommendations, no video testimonials, no one’s Do you have no client success stories. Like, to me, that’s, that’s a red flag. Thank You gotta do your research.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
Absolutely. That’s spot on. And it’s like, it’s the amount of times when I like I don’t know, if you’ve gotten these DMS to on LinkedIn, where they’ll literally sell you what you’re actually doing, like, Hey, you want better videos, and you’re like, you do not see that I’m actually a video coach myself. I get that all the time. Like, Hey, do you want us to help with you with your podcast? And I’m like, no, because you don’t have one and B, I do the same thing.
Alex Sheridan
They’re like, that’s just spam. It says, Yeah, your automation is terrible. It’s terrible. I mean, LinkedIn is cracking down on
Mahrukh Imtiaz
It kind of it kind of goes back to your first point, though, right? Like, rather than doing that copy, paste, you can show up way better through content through video, where you don’t have to like copy paste the same stupid message to the masses, you can actually create a video that speaks to your client, or that could have that impact, or you know, for some people that could be written. I also personally love video, you know, where they can see your personality, they can see how you speak. And also they can find out if that’s the kind of coach that they want to work with as well. Sometimes it’s right wing, that fit is so important. I mean, I’m pretty sure there’s so many people that do what you do, but your clients like you because of all the other things you bring to the table, not just your video expertise.
Alex Sheridan
Right? Yeah, it’s funny. I mean, everyone’s looking for like the quick fix, like, you get results overnight. Like and there is no such overnight success thing. Everyone knows that in business. But for some reason, when it comes to LinkedIn or content, they think there is a magic bullet. Like, oh, I can just turn on a button and then leads start coming in. It’s like, No, you actually have to work like you’re not Gary Vee. So stop being in the clouds, like you’re running some 100 million or $20 million company, and you have no time to create content, you’re no time to engage or, you know, be a part of the process. Guess what Gary Vee did his first few years he was in the weeds? Absolutely. All of the content, I’m sure it’s someone helping film and stuff like that. But he was in the business talk
Mahrukh Imtiaz
All the time. He’s like, I was tweeting like till Yes. 3am every one that would tweet me. So I was like, wow, yes, yes,
Alex Sheridan
I just don’t, I don’t understand the mindset of like these entrepreneurs, where it’s like, if you don’t have a massive company, and you’re like, Ah, I’m too good to be in the weeds, it’s like, your business is gonna fail. And like, you’re gonna hire a bunch of stuff, you’re gonna like build a bunch of stuff. And it’s all going to come crumbling down, because you didn’t actually put in the work to understand it? And what would work and what what didn’t work and what hires you need to make and building out the processes. And so it’s like, whether it’s content or entrepreneurship, I just think the value of you being a practitioner and operator and in the weeds type person and actually learning. I think that’s one of the keys of success.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
Absolutely. It’s, it reminds me of people who kind of come in and they’re like, you know, what, this team that I hired isn’t really working well for me. And I’m like, Oh, why is that? Oh, you know, they’re creating videos, or they’re doing content, but it’s not really getting any engagement. I’m like, Well, did you give them any direction? Do you know what you want? What is your knees objective? What are you planning on getting out of this? Do you have a funnel? Yes, no, not really. I thought they would do it for me. And I’m like, they’re not magicians. You know, you still wolves as like even people that come to appreciate your clients. You still want them to be involved in the process even though you’re the Export they it’s still there. Right? So,
Alex Sheridan
Yeah. So what are you doing with all your time? It’s like, if you don’t have a massive business, like, what are you doing with your time because like, I still do a lot of stuff. And we have a good amount of clients, and we have people on our team and like, we have lots of things going on. I’m a dad, I’m busy. Like, it’s like, you find the time for the most important things. And some of these business owners are just like, oh, I don’t want to do anything. Like, that’s not how business works. That’s not how growing a business works, or even
Mahrukh Imtiaz
Like growing your following same thing, right? Yeah, same thing, make time. And even like, like, like you said, the, the out of the box thinking and making sure you kind of bringing yourself even that takes time and practice to being able to dedicate your time and being like, Alright, today, I’m going to do something different. And that’s okay, if it fails, but I’m going to dedicate some time to try something different. And that’s that. And there’s something interesting, you said, you’re like, you know, the systems and all of that need to be in place. So when you first started, what was your video creation system, like, like, just as like the beginner Alex still working, and then trying to pump out these videos for the six months that he didn’t take a day off? What was your system? Like? What was your process like then? And how has it changed?
Alex Sheridan
Well, it was very disorganized back then. Right. So like, I created content, it was like, it’d be the night before I’m posting and I’m up until midnight, like trying to finish a video, I guess it was super inefficient. In the beginning, I was editing all my own videos. Now I have people say a team that does that. But it was just all over the place. There was no actual structure, there was no process, there was no, you know, you have to have a way where ideas come in. And then they come out one side of the process or the system. And then they come out the other side is ready to be posted content. And there’s a lot that happens in the middle of that we can go into that. But one of the toughest parts about creating content and having it actually work is staying consistent. That’s the hardest part about creating content staying consistent. Now, the way to fix that is actually quite simple. You create a process in the system. And you follow that workflow and you automate things like for example, I can take my raw video, dump it into G Drive, and it automatically creates a card in Trello. And the editor knows to go and pick that up. And when they’re done, they move it over and I just move the card a half a second is all it takes me and it goes into and moves that card into a new folder or category. And that video automatically populates into my G drive where I want it to go. So you also need to have things like a content idea bank, where you’ve got a list of ideas. And so by time you’re ready to shoot and hopefully your batch recording, if you’re creating content from scratch or recording five to 10 videos at a time, maybe once a week, twice a week could even be once a month, like just block the time out. That’s all you have to do. So it’s not the time it’s really not the time that people don’t have a strategy. And they don’t have a system and a process that they can work every single day every single week. And so it feels so overwhelming. Like I don’t have the ideas. I don’t know how to shoot it. I don’t know this, I don’t it’s taken too much time. I’m a business owner. I’m like, I get it. So am I like I have a team. I’ve it’s like, I’m a dad, I have lots of things going on too. But the systems and processes, that’s the key to staying successful with content.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
I love that. And the one thing that you mentioned there was batch processing. And there’s so much debate there like, you know, some people are like, No, I can’t do it. I have to be on the fly. That’s when I get my creative ideas. And like people like me who kind of live by the batch processing. What do you think makes the two different? With the mindsets? Like because there are people who are I mean, I mean, I have one of my friends who does that on the wing fly tick tock creator does really well on tick tock but does not believe in batch processing. What would you say to those people?
Alex Sheridan
I mean, first of all, I would say if it’s working really well for you over a period of you know, six to 12 months and you’ve tested it out. And this is just how you roll and you want to do that. Cool. I would challenge you to like how much are you posting? Is it going to other platforms? Like are creating?
Mahrukh Imtiaz
Yeah, TikTok and Instagram.
Alex Sheridan
Right. So probably reposting the, I would say yeah, you’re losing opportunity for distribution. If you’re creating in an app, right, right on the fly. What about days when you’re not you’re it’s just not coming to you or you’re busy or you took a vacation, you’re gonna make content on your vacation. I mean, you can, but I’m saying I want freedom in my day. And in my life in batch recording content gives me freedom. The other thing that I’ll mention here, too, that’s really important if you want freedom and you want to create more content and less time is repurposing. Yeah, so I’m going to take we’ll take this podcast here and we’ll chop it up and this will be eight to 10 clips or whatever it might be like, This is how you create more content in less time again, it goes back to the systems and processes not only batch recordings strategically, once twice a month, whatever it is, but also repurposing just recording calls like this and interviews and guest appearances and whatever you’re on. And then having again a system where you take raw video boop, it goes in and it comes out ready to be posted. So I think you know, if you want to record on the fly, I think if you’re posting high volume, a lot of content very consistently over a course of years. It’s your one of a kind if that works for you over the
Mahrukh Imtiaz
Years, they’re very rare right exactly my brain And it’s like, Yeah, completely adding to that. And it’s like, you know, for me, I was like, at the beginning, when I started batch processing, it was tiring and exhausting, because my brain wasn’t used to it like, I mean, now I can do four or five podcasts in a row when I first started to would exhaust me. So it’s also putting it out there that you’re not going to just go from doing one video and then batch processing 20, just let yourself know. And maybe this month, I can try doing five at a time, and then build that muscle because I do believe it’s a muscle as well, that needs to be kind of worked to in practice, but people when they hear batch processing, they’re like, I can’t do 20 videos. I’m like, nobody’s telling you to 20 Maybe try five, you know, just exactly. Small steps.
Alex Sheridan
I’m gonna Yeah, I mean, I think three to five is a great place to start, right. And here’s the thing when you batch record videos, this is the key. This is why most people get messed up. They, they either don’t have anything in the for their prep. So they come into it with an idea. And they’re like, Okay, how should I frame this hook? Or what should I missed a part, and then they recorded videos, and they don’t even use them because they didn’t turn out good, because they didn’t prepare, or they go the complete opposite. And they script out the entire video, which is not to say you can’t do that. But to me, that’s too much. And then you’re trying to perfection, you know, you’re in perfection land trying to read every word perfectly, or you sound like a robot. To me, my hack is this, I come into each recording session, when I’m making video, some batch recording, I come in with a hook. So I know the first sentence I’m going to say because I gotta be really intentional with that, if I’m not intentional with that people are going to scroll past the video and doesn’t matter what I say next. The second thing I have underneath the hook is I just have three bullet points or bullet points, whatever it is addressing the main key topics that I want to get out of the video so that I don’t finish recording, which I have done many, many times throughout my career. And I’ve gone on missed a critical component like and without saying that this video is not going to make sense. Or man that was one of the most valuable parts. How can I miss that. So those bullet points just keep you on track. And if you’re a subject matter expert in your field, which most people are, you should be able to riff if someone gives you a point or a question, you should be able to kind of riff. And so that’s my key to making, you know, to batch recording video content better.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
I love that because it just goes back to preparation. Batch recording isn’t just showing up recording and just being like, I’m just gonna go it’s like there is some preparation that goes into it. But like we’ve said earlier, it’s one of those things where if you put in the time and in the on the day of it’s going to be a lot of time, but for the whole month or for the whole week for the whole contents. I’ve done three months worth of podcasts in literally two days. And you’re kind of good, good to go. Right? So it’s just back to back to back. And then it works really well. Because you know, you’re kind of in that zone, your brains working and everything’s just kind of flying. I love that. And so you mentioned Gary Vee a few times like him hustling a bit. And you know him being in the weeds. And one thing Gary Vee always talks about is you can’t like we talked about repurposing, and this is why I’m bringing it up, you can’t just repurpose content that doesn’t make sense for the platform. He’s like, you have to make sure that the content is native to the platform in some way or the other. So for someone who’s like telling people to repurpose their video, how would you say they can tackle about that like knowing okay, you do the same thing you repurpose it for YouTube or Tik Tok. So what is your process there to making sure that it is still native to the platform and it still applies to the platform?
Alex Sheridan
Well, the good news is that you can now take one video if it’s a vertical video, short form video and you can post it on all different platforms, right? It wasn’t like that before right? And when Gary Vee helped us the same video on Tiktok and Instagram and Facebook for like don’t let him confuse you with that right he may change the the copy a little bit right or something like that. But you’ll see a lot of the same videos right because here’s the thing. Yeah, it works. It’s short form vertical video. So like I think people get they overthink it sometimes where they’re like, oh my gosh, this is tick tock and this is Instagram reels and, and look depending on you don’t want to create in the app, I would not recommend creating a tick tock and then having the watermark and then repost it on Instagram you need to create off platform and then just edit and post produced and then distribute to the different platforms. But I post the same videos most days that I do on LinkedIn, tick tock YouTube shorts, Instagram, girls Hello, I’m not surprised because it’s just the reach is terrible. But my point is like you can post on multiple different platforms and have it and find success for me it’s LinkedIn and Tik Tok are like my to go twos, I’ve had post blow up and do a quarter million views and leads and all types of stuff. And same thing on LinkedIn, of course. And it’s the exact same video. Now here’s what I would say to that, the flip side of that, whatever platform you’re on, you typically have to show up and you typically have to understand the platform and you have to spend some time there building a little bit of a community right? So it’s still going to it’s not like you’re going to like the same video so it’d be successful for me, I can’t just go to Facebook reels and expect my first 10 videos to like generate 20,000 followers, like I’m probably gonna have to spend time and understand the nuances of the plot. form because maybe I do change the copy a little bit, or like a good example is to today. Yesterday I posted a video on LinkedIn. I posted the same video on Tiktok. It was a podcast interview from our podcast humans and AI. And I just took off the first like five seconds and then added the same video to Tik Tok. So sometimes there is a little bit of a nuance that you might need to adjust. But I would say like for the most part, if you’re creating short form vertical video, that’s really good content, and it has a strong hook, good to good delivery good message, you probably can post that same content on LinkedIn, tick tock YouTube shorts, Instagram reels. And depending on you know, if it’s good content, you’re you have a likelihood of being successful.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
I love that. And I think I liked that you really brought up the short firm, because that’s kind of really growing and a lot of and it’s easy. It’s an easy entry market to write. There’s low barriers, actually no barriers, anyone can pick up the phone and create that short form. You don’t have to now have a fully produced long form video, but I just wanted to ask you as video content expert, where does short form come in? Today in the content creation world as a solopreneur, or business owner versus the long form content? Where does the long form content have its place?
Alex Sheridan
So I think long form is better than ever, right now, long form content. Because people are still consuming content at length, right? Like people like oh, the attention spans and short form content. And yeah, these platforms obviously blew up like Tik Tok Instagram reels, even LinkedIn, it’s gotten a lot of short form video on now. But people are still consuming podcasts. Now more than ever, they’re still consuming Netflix and Amazon Prime and HBO, Max and Disney plus, like people are sitting down and consuming long form videos. The challenge with that is it has to be really good. And there’s more intent. There’s more intent. If I’m sitting down to watch, I will not just scroll somewhere and then probably listened to a random message for 1520 minutes no way in hell, and neither would you, right? Nobody would. But if it’s like, oh, Joe Rogan’s podcast or somebody else’s podcast that’s like, right, yeah, and Ferriss, or the diary of a CEO, that’s a great podcast, if it’s, if it’s something that you know, and or you recognize the guest, or it’s a subject you’re interested in, well, then you’ll give it the time, right. And I think for if you’re smart, you’re taking the the long form, and you’re breaking it down into short form. So the short form kind of plays into the long form, and the long form plays into the short form. Now, to go with this, I would say that I do recommend, because we’re in such a short form world, that you need to create short form videos that are standalone videos, that are one off creations, and that’s where you get into the batch recording, which can save you time on doing that. But I think if all you’re doing is repurposing content, you’re missing an opportunity to one build your skills as a video creator, but to you’re able to just dial in your message like and you’re able to get creative, right? Like I can do creative things that I can’t do in a repurposed clip, like that’s just these are great. I’ll repurpose like, this is all good stuff. But I want that laser accuracy that I get with creating something from scratch. So I think doing both and on LinkedIn, it’s like picture post are amazing. I did a picture post of a client success for a Monday, it did. I booked me six meetings, and I had 80,000 views on the actual post. And I looked at the target demographics. And I think over 2000 were founders over another 2000 Almost were CEOs. So it’s not like I’m speaking to ran. And that’s why I had six booked calls. And I just want a client and one of the clients just signed up today. It’s Thursday, that post was on Monday. So that’s the power of LinkedIn like you can win clients on there are you but you gotta get you got to be posting the right type of content. And you have to think as a creator creating original content, but then also repurposing the content that you’re getting from these events and podcasts and whatnot. I love that. That was a that was a that was a picture post, by the way, like a very Yeah, it was me on one side, the client on the other side. But here’s the thing most people don’t understand about like, posting those picture posts is that I told a compelling story. And it was my client being the hero of the story, his company got acquired in a multimillion dollar deal. And what the owner of the company said the owner of the company, the CEO of the company, that acquired business said I saw every single one of your LinkedIn videos like that is powerful stuff, right? So these business exec CEOs are there lurking on LinkedIn even though you don’t see him, but telling stories, whether it’s pictures text video, if you can tell compelling stories, hook the audience in in the first line and deliver something amazing that’s going to make them want to stay you’re gonna win.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
I love that. Absolutely right with the storytelling it’s a skill and, and the best part about is when you do start creating videos, you kind of build that skill because you kind of have to have that hook you have to tell the story. You can’t just be like a it’s kind of really cool. When you start a skill set, you actually build another and you’re not understanding how you’re actually elevating your skills as a human. Whether you are a business person whether you are just a creator, whether you’re a nine to fiver Even for those, like more promotions come to those people who are better on video, you’re on Zoom calls all day. So it’s just small things that you think you’re doing on the side or as a side hustle that are actually really having a ripple effect in all of your life. I do want to get into asking you about your fears. When you started, you know, you seem to have like a b2b sales background. People say salespeople have a very thick skin. So I’m pretty sure that worked in your favor a little bit. But what were some of the fears that you had when you started creating the video content or when you started your business?
Alex Sheridan
So my fear, I mean, I’ll be honest, like when I first started creating video content, it was actually on YouTube. And it was 2015 16, something like that. It was way before I got serious about LinkedIn. Right? But what I did is I created about 10 to 12 videos, and then I was never like uncomfortable getting on camera. I will say that, like I would just just me, right. I know some people do. But it’s just for me, I was like, cool, like, turn on the camera, let’s roll. And I think that’s just my personality. But I made 10 to 12 videos on YouTube, and then quit. And I quit because I didn’t have a strategy. And while I was doing, I sent some of the videos out to prospects and clients hoping to convert. So I talked about things that were interesting to them, excuse me that were relevant to them. I would send it in an email, I would post it on YouTube. And then I get responses back. I remember one guy was like, Please take me off your list. And I was like, You’re not on a list. But I will definitely never send these to you again. I just got things like that. And I had some people that said, hey, I really like these videos. Keep going. But then I get like I got a little bit made fun of for that corporate. They’re like, Oh, Alex is making these YouTube videos. Who’s laughing now? Full?
Mahrukh Imtiaz
Yeah. Same things. Yes.
Alex Sheridan
Yeah. So that was my that was my honest start, like and I quit. And then it was years later when I got back. And I was like this time. I’m going all in man. Like I’m focused. I’m committed. I want to turn this into a business. And I never looked back that was 2019 on LinkedIn. And you know, it’s been a wild ride ever since. But, but there No, there wasn’t really a hesitation for me to get on video. Although Yeah, creating the unique style of videos that I was doing on LinkedIn early on, like the wolf of LinkedIn, so that the Wolf of Wall Street, and I would do these crazy skit videos that like no one else was really doing. And so like putting sometimes when I’d hit post, I’d be like, Oh, how’s this gonna go? I don’t know how this is gonna land. You know, we’ll, we’ll see about this. And sometimes ask myself, did I Alex, are you going a little too far here with this? Like, I remember doing my first sales versus marketing rap battle. And I was like, Man, I mean, like a Daigo T as the announcer like yo sales versus marketing. And I’m like, this is going on LinkedIn. I’m like, am I going too far out. And then people loved it. And they gave me the feedback blew up. And people were like, You should do more of these. And so I think like, Yeah, I mean, one of the keys to my success on LinkedIn, and with content in general, is just my willingness to put myself out there, not be afraid to fail, not be afraid to have a post do terrible, and bomb, because I’m just gonna take it, it’s gonna make me stronger. I’m gonna learn from it, I’m gonna come back better than ever. And that will be a lesson.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
I love it. I love it so much. And with that, I would say what are some fears that are coming up for you now? Now you’re like a successful business owner, you have this huge following and community on LinkedIn, you have a team of 20? What are some fears that come to Alex right now? Because I, I’m sure they’ll be different 10 years from now,
Alex Sheridan
When it comes to business or, or content creation?
Mahrukh Imtiaz
Let’s do content creation when it comes to video content. If there’s none, then we can move business.
Alex Sheridan
I don’t know if I really have any fear. I mean, I would say there’s probably sometimes there’s certain things that I want to test and try. But even for myself, I’m willing to try a lot of different things, right. But there’s certain things I’m like, no, no, is this is this gonna work? You know, and I think when you’ve built up a reputation of performance and a certain standard of videos, now you’re fit now that the concern is different. It’s like, I’m used to performing at this level, if I put out something here, I don’t want to, you know, I don’t want to I don’t want to fail, right? So I think for me, most of the time, I look past that. And I go back to my core values. And I go back to why I’m posting and I go, Is this a good message? Is it true to me? Like, am I really feeling this? Like, is this real? Do I need to post this? Do people need to hear this message? Is it gonna resonate with my target audience? Is it something that’s authentic to me? And if I go in back and answer those questions, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Then I’m gonna go ahead and post it and just I always, I’m a big believer in, you put in max effort, 100% effort, and then you surrender the outcome.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
I love that. And it read that resonates with me so much, because I remember like, also doing my podcast and then you know, getting the downloads and getting those DMS and all of that and then I think around 30 episodes in there was this part of me that wanted to stick with what’s successful. What’s working? Yeah, oh, well, I know this, this format works. So why should I change it up? And I don’t want to like, you know, try something new when people are disappointed because now there’s actually a lot of people listening. A lot of people messaging me a lot of clients coming through that channel. And it was it wasn’t that moment that I was like, Wait, the only reason I got this far was because I was always willing to try different things even when like even the rapid fire segment they’ll come that’s another episode part. It came through like, four weeks earlier, I was like, I’ll just do this. And let’s see how this works. Let’s see what happens. And that’s it. And then I’ve just been trying it. I’ve been loving it, and people have been loving it. So just one of those things about being a creator, it’s always a good reminder to be like, don’t be scared to keep pivoting, even when something is working. Well. I think that’s where you kind of get stuck because you’re like, oh, now I’m in a place where I can’t really screw up. No, you still can. And it’s okay. Because you’re human. So I think that’s yes. Super helpful. Just for anything listening. Yeah. And I think
Alex Sheridan
The more you put out content, the less worried you are have it failing or flopping like the more I started putting out, I’m like, No, I got volume behind me. Like, if when I was posting two or three times a week, and if you’re posting two to three times a week right now, and you’re listening to this, if one post doesn’t do well, it’s like 33%, or 40%, whatever it is, of your entire week strategy. If you’re posting you know, on multiple platforms, every single day one video doesn’t do well, well, there’s 10, or 15 other ones. So it’s like, Whatever you keep rolling up, you know, it’s like being on a basketball court. And then you’re like, I’m gonna take two shots, this game, it’s like, alright, well, you better make one of those at least, right? But if I’m, if I’m gonna take 15 or 21st, couple don’t go in. I’m like, Cool, man, I got 80 more shots. It’s all good. So you got to bet on yourself. You got to be willing to take the shots. Because if you don’t take the shots, you’re never going to be able to get in the rhythm of making good shots or making good concepts.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
I love that so much. And I think that’s the important piece is like you’re right when you’re like reading 15 pieces of content a week on only a single platform. And then that goes that repurposing on different platforms. One or three to four or five videos failing you don’t care because you’re like, oh, okay, cool. Let’s move on next week. It is different strategy. We’ll try something else. Yeah, totally spot on. And honestly, this conversation has been so much gold. Because you’ve talked about video creation. You’ve talked about being thinking outside the box. We’ve talked about repurposing we talked about short form content and long form content. So anyone listening that’s actually thinking of getting into video or you know, have your have had your videos bomb? Definitely, this is something that you would want to just take notes on to and re listen to it if you want to, you know and share it. And before I get into my final question, Where can everyone today find you online Alex?
Alex Sheridan
LinkedIn is the best place so I’m most active there I would say Tik Tok will probably be second but LinkedIn, Alex B Sheridan, same with Tik Tok. Same with Instagram, YouTube, We do have a podcast called Humans and AI. If you’re interested in AI, and how it’s impacting content creation and business, you definitely want to check it out. And then we’ve got our website impaxs.com. IMPAXS Got our pricing services, more content, all kinds of stuff on there.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
Love it. Definitely. If video is your jam, definitely check impacts out. And our final question for this episode would be what is one piece of advice that you would want to give to Alex in 2019? As he’s posting these videos, and not taking a day off and getting into this a huge business creative agency piece of his life?
Alex Sheridan
Good question. When I would tell Alex of 2019 I would say hey, man, first of all, I’d probably just give you a head nod and be like, keep going brother, because you’re onto something with this whole video LinkedIn thing, this, I would be like, keep vote don’t don’t be scared of trying to pull yourself out of the box, though. Because you’ve got a good little thing that’s working more, test and try more, don’t be afraid to just do that one thing that’s working for you do more. And then the biggest life thing I would say to myself in 2019 is like, build your life, and then have your business kind of fit around your life, not build a business and hope to fit your life around that. Because that’s kind of what I did. And then I find myself, you know, two years later, three years later being like, let’s have a life do I really want like, yeah, I’ve got this business. And, you know, I’m financially free now. And things like that. And we built a good company and stuff. And we’re just getting started in a lot of ways. But I didn’t really focus enough on the life that I wanted to live, I focused on building this business up, and then hoping I could fit some type of life around it, or that the business building up would fix all my life problems, or, you know, make my life so much better in every single aspect. And it has made it better in a lot of aspects. But I think get clear on what you want out of your life. And what is your mission and who do you want to be surrounded with. And for me, it’s fulfillment in relationships. Those are the two big pillars for me. And once I started getting clear on that, and it’s still a work in progress, still a work in progress. For me, everything else lines up, like everything else fits in with those two things and those core pillars. So I would I would say Hey, keep hustling, keep doing your thing. Like you’re you’re gonna you’re on it right but just remember, like, focus, think about your life to not just your business.
Mahrukh Imtiaz
I love that so much. I think the first piece where you said you know, just feel free to keep experimenting, this goes out for everyone, right? Do not be scared to just experiment and try different styles of videos and bring more of your personality in them. And like I said, there will be times when you will think Oh, have I gone too far? CES two cringy even for me or my gosh, good. My friends be embarrassed about this. Well, yes, probably. But that’s when you get the most creativity genius. I feel like that’s the word I use. Like, I feel like my genius comes out when I’m willing to just be a bit weird and big round my whole self and like, what can I do? What do I want to do? And then the example of the rap battle was spot on like it was so you, and you didn’t know if it was gonna hit or miss and it could have been a big flop. And that’s okay. But it did. It did work. And then you were able to do more of those. I love that. So yeah, thank you so much for being here today. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom. For everyone listening. Give Alex a shout out if you’ve been inspired by anything he said today. Find him on LinkedIn.
And till next time, you got this beautiful!
Well beautiful it is my hope that this podcast inspired you to create your own podcast. Remember, you don’t have to quit your nine to five to do it. And if you found value in this podcast, you’re gonna love my free training video on how you can get started today. DM me the word if Spicy Chai on LinkedIn and I’ll send it over to you until then lots of love from your favorite, you got this beautiful!
