Produced By - From Broke to LinkedIn Video King: How an Ungeneric Approach Changed Everything | #86: Louis Butterfield

Episode Date: January 20, 2025

Louis Butterfield is a LinkedIn Video King and the creative mind behind Awesome Business Videos. Known for making “ungeneric videos for ungeneric brands,” Louis is on a mission to eliminate dull content and help businesses stand out. He’s also growing one of LinkedIn’s most engaging video communities, where he shares insights and features some of the platform’s smartest creators to help others craft better, more impactful videos — no fluff, just real value. In this episode, hear how Louis went from a quarter-life crisis to becoming one of LinkedIn’s most recognised video voices. He shares practical tips on creating content that cuts through the noise, all while having a blast doing what you love. If you’re looking to spark creativity and learn how to turn your passion into impactful videos, you won’t want to miss this one!  Connect with Louis: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-the-butterfield/⁠ ⁠https://linkedvideo.carrd.co/⁠ Connect with Tommen: LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasloucky/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/thisistommen/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/TomasLoucky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Podcast: Links: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/produced_by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Support: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/ProducedByPodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Produced (email newsletter): ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://producednewsletter.substack.com/ More: Trailblazed (marketing agency): ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://trailblazed.digital/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  EpiXtory (podcasting agency): https://www.epixtory.digital/ Produced (LinkedIn newsletter): ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7092551882589528065⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Produced By with Tommen is your weekly dose of inspiration where ambition meets creativity. Join us as we dive into the journeys of content creators, entrepreneurs, and other remarkable individuals who break barriers and redefine success. Each episode shares unique stories, challenges, and triumphs. From heartfelt struggles to incredible successes, these conversations will motivate you to push beyond your limits and chase your own dreams. Whether you're on a creative path or just love great stories, tune in and become part of a community that constantly strives to push the boundaries. Sit back, relax and enjoy. Connect with Tomas:X: https://x.com/TomasLoucky⁠⁠⁠Stan: https://stan.store/TommenLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasloucky/⁠⁠Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisistommen/⁠⁠Unproduced:Newsletter: https://unproduced.substack.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unproducednotesSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033Ddo8ibDlLYoaP7FFLIWMore:Links: https://linktr.ee/produced_by⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://producednewsletter.substack.com/⁠The Podcast Club: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/25420030/Tools & gear that support the show:Metricool: https://f.mtr.cool/HRJBZKRiverside: https://riverside.sjv.io/vDnDodFavikon: https://www.favikon.com?fpr=tommenRa Optics: https://ra-optics.myshopify.com/discount/TOMMEN?rfsn=8803777.591d19JamX: https://jamx.ai/podcasters-offer?ref_id=e02d48af-ef66-4e76-b804-c2e8d282a8bfSome links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. If you find them useful, using these links helps keep the podcast running. Thank you!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

But I also think that in a world where everybody's doing the same thing, the only thing that differentiates you is how you uniquely see the world, right? So for me, I've always taken the path of like, can I bring some kind of artistry to this? So that the message that I craft, while still delivering value, is showing the magnificence of whoever it is that I'm making videos for, right? I think I'm a bit of an artist deep down. And so even now when I'm working with editors and stuff, I'm kind of like picky. You can't say you make ungeneric videos and then go make a generic video, right?

That's totally against the rules. And so that's just my personal view on it. I think even if it's not right now, if you keep making something that is uniquely you and you get better and better and better at it, eventually people will take notice. That was what I believed, even when I was broke. So people will notice this if I keep doing this. And it works. Before we dive into today's episode, please hit that subscribe button.

Your support helps us grow and inspire more people on their journeys. Thank you. Hello, Louis. Thank you for joining us today and welcome to the show. Hello, Thomas. Thank you for having me on the show. Louis, probably unexpected question to start with, but have you got any jokes for us to start with?

Oh, man, you did. I literally You did it You freaking did it Honestly man All the jokes I've been hearing In the last little while Have been like way too offensive

To say on here So I'm going to say no I literally asked this on a post That the only response I got back was meta Like just somebody making fun of Facebook And that was it So that's all I got No worries

maybe for the next time. But I wanted to start with, if you can tell us more about your childhood, what was young Lewis like, you know, what were your interests, your aspirations, and a bit more about yourself? Aw, that's a really sweet question to start off with. Thank you. Yeah, I mean, as a kid, I'm a younger brother. I have one older brother.

And I grew up in a really musical family. So my dad was a band teacher. My mom's a singer. And I always, I grew up going to their shows. My dad is a conductor of the community band and spent a lot of time listening to jazz music, like a lot of jazz music. And basically like soaking that in. So I wanted to be a musician pretty early on. Like I learned how to play saxophone when I was like eight years old. And then I learned how to play trumpet when I was like 10. And then guitar when I was 13. And then guitar when I was 13. and then I became a singer and that's what I went to college for and so music has always been like a huge part of my life and I was in a band that's how I met Jenna my wife

yeah you've been always creative person yeah I mean I guess so yeah it's it's just been part of my upbringing was just like you know don't be afraid to express yourself like cry if you want to cry like make something based on how you feel like even when I was playing music I never wanted to do covers ever I was always writing my own songs and stuff and that's just how I've been for for a long time and I was I mean I was into other shit kids are into all kinds of stuff right like I was into sports and all the kind of stuff too but music was like really my main stay my main focus yeah but I guess then obvious question but why haven't you continued in this career yeah totally so I

I'll just spill the beans. So I was in a band and we were touring. We lived in Montreal in Canada. It's in Quebec. It's a great city. And basically... Shout out to Jeff. Jeff is another podcaster.

I did episode with him. I hope he's listening. What up, Jeff. Yo, Jeff. So I was living in Montreal with my bandmates. And they're all great guys. fantastic musicians. But I was also living a pretty debauchous lifestyle.

So, like, sex drugs and rock and roll kind of thing. And, like, one day, like, I woke up and I was just, like, covered in my own vomit. And I realized that I had to, like, change my life, pretty much. Like, I had to do something. And this was a long time ago. This was, like, 10 years ago now. And so I just realized I had to change my life. I had to do something different.

Like, I just basically, I realized I was. unhappy essentially because like if you're doing this all the time like oh it's something's wrong so I got really into meditation um and mindfulness and I started just meditating all the time and it kind of brought me to some realizations and I had to kind of go inward so I left the music world because I kind of I realized I had to just like distance myself from it for a bit in order to find what was healthy for me and I think now if I went back to it I'd be a lot more healthy about it and it's not just about the party lifestyle but at the time that's the reason why i left it and to be honest i just haven't gone back to it because now my focus is on like

okay well i want to have a family and i want to be able to afford a home and stuff and unfortunately being a musician isn't exactly the best way to do that so it's just not a main focus right now that's really interesting i wasn't expecting that i'm glad i had that question And I assume that that might be situation that maybe many people find themselves in. So have you got any advice for someone to make such a big career change? Maybe what helped you? Whether it's, I don't know, any resources that helped you or I don't know, something else? Yeah, totally, man.

Totally. So I've had so many career changes. So like, you know, I was a musician, then I was like a farmer for a long. I was an organic farmer. then I was a voice actor for a little bit and now I'm doing what I'm doing yeah right and there's some other things in there too I was a salesperson all this stuff

and I'd say the best piece of advice that I've ever got on this is from Jordan Peterson he's controversial say what you like about him some people love him some people hate him but I love this piece of advice from him which was like movement is better than stagnation

like if you don't know what direction to go go in, just pick any direction and go. And then you will be able to correct your course as you move. And that's better than just staying still and not doing anything because then you're not getting anywhere, right? And so I've really abided by that for the last two, three years. This is just like, I was a farmer. I didn't know what to do. I knew I would never be able to afford a home and family. I wasn't sure what I was going to do. So I said, screw it. I'll just pick a direction. and so I just was try voice acting.

It turns out that wasn't a thing, but every experience led to something better, right? And so, like, if you don't know the direction, if you don't know what you want to do, just pick any direction. Like, sitting on your ass, eating fruit loops and playing video games is literally the worst thing you can do. Like, anything is better than that. Yeah. So just go do something. I can completely agree. Because obviously, if you don't do anything, nothing is going to be.

to change, right? And if you do at least something, you will find out, okay, this is not the correct way. I can try something else. At the same time, it may be the right one. So that was a great piece of advice. That's exactly it, man. Like everything, it's not like, it's not like a wrong decision. It's just like you learn something about yourself in doing anything, right? And so it's great because it totally removes any kind of like victim mindset or like any kind of fear of like messing up. can just be taken in this different perspective. It's all about how you see it, right? So I really try to approach life like that.

And out of curiosity, just, as you mentioned, Jordan, are one of those people that love him or the other one that hate him or something in between? Yeah, for sure. I, you know, I don't know too, too much about Jordan Peterson, but from what I have heard, I really like, I think he's a really good marketer. anybody who can drum up that much attention for themselves and get that much controversy going is a good marketer and I think he does what he does based on what he thinks is right and he's really good at getting people to notice him

so I can't knock him for that you know do I agree with all his viewpoints not necessarily but I like his overall message, which is just like, you know, become a better version of yourself. And I think he's actually helped a ton of especially like young men, like teenage boys, especially, to just like want to be better, you know, like don't go out drinking with your friends. Like try learning something instead. Like if he, anybody you can inspire that in people, that's like a win in my books. So I like the guy personally. Yeah, I like the opinion you shared.

I agree because you often see like motivational videos, whether it's on YouTube or somewhere else. And, you know, you can have some sport athletes and people like that. But then there is Jordan speaking about some life wisdom and it hits hard. So I believe that he influenced people. The dude is so smart, man. Like, he's so smart. And the crazy part is he grew up in a part of Canada. It's like Northern Alberta, like super, super, super Northern Alberta.

Close to where actually I spent some time growing up too. And I can tell you, up there, it's like farms and oil. And that's like all the rents. It's like wheat farms and oil rigs. And like somehow we got this like brilliant scholar dude from like the middle of nowhere, northern Alberta. It blows my mind. Yeah. Because I remember, I think it was a clip on YouTube where he speaks with some students at university before he became viral.

And I think that clip got so many views that since then he got so viral and he basically stopped teaching and became like author and speaker and stuff like that. So for many people who don't know him out, I recommend to check him out because his books might be quite impactful as well. Yep, for the right person, for sure. And before you mentioned that you were voice actor, it's something that I noticed on your LinkedIn, actually. And I was curious to ask you about it because it's quite unexpected. Can you tell us more about this one? And what was it like? Yeah, being a voice actor, I mean, I wasn't a pro voice actor by any means.

Keep that in mind, right? I was still a very beginner. But, yeah, I moved to the city, become a voice actor. And what was it like? a lot of time just honing my craft in front of a microphone in a closet.

Like, the voice acting is the part they don't tell you about, especially when you're starting out, you're not going to have the fancy studio. You're not going to have the jobs on, you know, you're not going to be the voice of the Lion King.

You're going to be in your closet doing probably free work or very underpaid work for a while. And so my experience with it was like, yeah, you spend like eight to 12 hours in your closet in a microphone, just practicing how to sound authentic while reading a script, basically. And that's, what are some examples of work that you did? Was it like a movies or ads or something else? It was some ads, just some ads, some little ads, some little YouTube videos, that kind of stuff. Nothing big, nothing big at all.

I did a lot of work with, like, there's this voice actor, shout out to Matt Calrick, who's watching this, but he kind of took me under his wing when I moved to Victoria as a city. And basically, I just, he, I became his assistant, his executive assistant, so I was able to learn from him what he does. And this dude, he's the voice on trailers and stuff like that. Like, he gets huge jobs, right? Like massive, massive jobs. He was the voice for, like, TD Bank, which is a big bank. here in Canada. So I got to learn a lot from him, but I never got to the level that he was at. I was always just like in my closet doing underpaid crappy jobs that you're never going to

hear about essentially. But, but, but, but, but I did learn a lot from the experience. And I think a lot of my ability to be comfortable on camera comes from that because voice acting is acting. And in fact, in some ways it's even harder because you're by yourself. You don't have another person to like feed off of. And so you have to come up with all that energy yourself. And so to do that and sound natural, whatever natural sounds like for that script is extremely challenging. And so that experience being a voice actor is partially one of the things I think is really,

really helped me to grow so fast on LinkedIn. It's just my ability to understand how to take a score. and not sound like a robot while reading it, basically. Yeah, I mean, it's really smart because sometimes you never know when that experience that you learned before might be helpful in your future career. That's it, man. Just move, pick a direction. I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one who can say that you on the camera, you know,

seem like perfect job, like someone who was born to speak on a camera. Do it just amazing job? thanks dude that's awesome thank you and why did you actually stop that career of voice acting to me it sounds quite cool but why didn't you continue I hope it's not because of getting underpaid and being lonely in the closet

well part of it I woke up with my own vomit no um so uh so let me think let me think back okay so this was two and a half years ago essentially I was looking at what I was doing which was spending a ton of time in a closet

by myself and I'm a natural extrovert I like stuff like this if it was out of context it would sound really funny yeah I know right I always tell people that and they're like screw you so I

basically just spent a lot of time speaking into a microphone in a closet, in a dark closet, by myself. And I'm an extrovert. I like being around people. I like interacting. I like getting out of the house. And I just found I was spending like all day in my house by myself in a closet.

I know Jenna. Jenna would check in on me, but like that was pretty much it. And so, yeah. Like I was. It makes sense to be honest. Yeah, yeah. I was starting to resent it, basically. and I just realized, like, this isn't for me, you know?

Like, I'm not the kind of guy who can just, like, be alone for long periods of time. I like getting out. And so, to be honest, man, it was really, really disorienting. Like, being, I'm the kind of person I really like having a direction with my life. I like choosing direction and moving with it. I don't know if you can tell, but I've already said that, like, five times in this podcast already. And so when my voice acting, when I kind of realized, I realized I didn't like it, my whole world came crumbling down. I actually got really depressed

there for a while, like really depressed. And I had to like basically, I had to move back in with my mother-in-law at that time because I was doing the voice acting, realized I didn't like it, realized I had no idea what I wanted to do, realized I was paying way too much rent in the city, the Victoria is pretty expensive city. And I was like, I don't know what, what I was. want or who I am or what's going on in my life. I like, I'm a failure, all this shit. So let's go back and move in with family to just like find out what we want to do. I mean, yeah, me and Jenna, we kind of work as a team.

So when I say we, I mean me and Jenna. And it was there. Yeah, basically there we started a social media management agency. which also crashed and failed and sucked. Because we didn't know what the hell we were doing and we basically just weren't good at it, essentially. And is that then how it kind of evolved into what you do now? Yeah, exactly. So what ended up happening was I was watching.

I needed to make some videos to promote my voiceover services, like before I left voiceover. and I'd made the videos, and they're just simple little things, right? They weren't that good. In fact, they sucked a lot. I'm sure just underestimated yourself. Yeah, I mean, I don't know, maybe. To my eye, they sucked, but whatever. But I realized I love making these things more than I love doing the voiceover itself.

And so that was kind of where the seed was planted was like, oh, I like getting out into the city and like bringing a camera and, you know, getting some cool shots and seeing what you can do with it. Like, to me, it just really works. And so when we started the social media management agency, part of that was a little bit of video. You know, I'd made some skits for some friends, that kind of stuff. And then we just came to a point where we're like, you know, we kind of suck at social media. And this was a couple years ago. So, you know, we did. We genuinely did.

Like, we kind of suck at doing social media. Why don't we just, like, focus on what you do the best? Yeah. let's just do video because I like it. Jenna likes it. Why don't we just do that? And so that's what we did. We just started filming businesses and making these sort of high-end videos for them.

And it was really fun. I really like it. Yeah. And it's just like you're doing it really well. Yeah, totally. And it just got, it's, it was a natural fit. I think you can say. Like my musical background.

combined with my voice like an experience for example yeah ability to see stuff you know creative sort of mind it just worked really really well for who i am and again wouldn't have ever seen that had i not just like messed up a bunch of times and then eventually got to that place right so it was a fluke i i did not expect to land in video at all but but i think it's good what we just discussed in the we dived a bit deeper into it because you know you tried some stuff you found out that you don't enjoy it it's not working but you haven't given up and now it seems like you found what you're good at maybe best at you enjoy it and it's like a new direction so it's like i know it sounds cliche but don't give up if you feel like that you don't enjoy what you do because you can still keep

searching and find it totally no i think the thing that separates successful people from the rest of a schmucks is their ability to be persistent for a long period of time. They just, it's not about being the first there, it's about being the last standing. So just like you got to eat shit sandwiches and just keep doing it for years and then eventually you'll stop. And I can imagine that when you started, there must have been competition like a lot of videographers already and companies and agencies. So back then, did you know what is it that makes you stand out or like what made you just different from others? Yeah. Yeah. And in the beginning you mean?

Yeah, because like, you know, I feel like there are always this type of services. So it might be challenging to find clients. So like what was your edge? Yeah. Right. Good question. So yes, there is a lot of competition. course, for videographers, especially. So I'd taken some courses to help us understand more the business side on how to, like, create value with video and understand the value that video brings to the table. So I'd never started a lot of videographers, when they start out,

they start by selling, like, $500 wedding videos, and then they spend, like, you know, 80 hours making this video and get, like, $50. You know, it's terrible. It's a terrible return on investment. many times. Yeah, totally. So I never did that. I just, I saw that trap from the beginning. I don't know, man. I'd say like the thing that was my edge was my ability to take information from one source, be that like Instagram or YouTube, whatever it is, and apply it to another realm.

And so even when I was making corporate videos, you can check them out at awesome business videos.ca. I was taking inspiration from Instagram Reels and applying it to corporate videos. And so that just naturally came off different because a lot of videographers, when they make corporate video, the way they get inspired is they watch other corporate videographers. which is like in my mind the last thing you want to do because you just look like everybody else and so this is my whole thing with with LinkedIn too is like to make better LinkedIn content you don't peruse LinkedIn all the time go watch some other stuff and try to like bring that into LinkedIn and that's going to be what makes it different right so at the beginning yeah like taking sources from other places putting them into a new realm and then um

I mean, the first, I'll tell you the story, the first video we sold was this like spotlight video we made. And this was about a year ago. And with this spotlight video, essentially what we did is we made like a compilation video of I think it was like six businesses in our area. And then, you know, made a little like spotlight on them who they are and what they do, that kind of stuff. and then put them all together into one long video to basically advertise all these businesses to get people to shop at their place in the winter. And it did great, you know, and we sold that for, I think overall it was just over $4,000 for our first video, which is really, really good for our first video for a videographer,

right? And it's what made me realize, like, oh, there's actually money in this. Like, we can actually, for the first time in my creative life, I can actually get paid to be creative. So that's kind of what kept us going. Yeah. And I've seen, of course, I did some research. I checked your website or some of your videos and work. And I really like the creativity. You know, I don't know. For example, you've got this beautiful moving elements on your website, pretty cool edits on your like an introduction video of your website. So I like just when it stands out, when it's different and when it, you know, if I put myself into the shoes of customer,

or a client that I'm like, okay, these are the guys I want to work with. Dude, Thomas, that's totally it, man. And it's funny because there's a big school, there's different schools of thought when it comes to videography and video production in general. And some people believe that, like, and power to them, a lot of these guys are my teachers, they believe, like, it's not about creating something unique

or that looks good necessarily. it's more about just like delivering a message and it doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to like deliver that message and show the value. And I think there's a time and a place for that for sure. But I also think that in a world where everybody's doing the same thing, the only thing that differentiates you is how you uniquely see the world. Right. And so for me, I've always taken the path of like,

can I bring some kind of artistry to this so that the message that I craft while still delivering value is showing the magnificence of whoever it is that I'm making videos for, right? for me I think I'm a bit of an artist deep down and so even now when I'm working with editors and stuff I'm kind of like picky you can't say you make ungeneric videos and then go make a generic video

right? Totally against the rules and so that's just my personal view on it like I think people even if it's not right now if you keep making something that is uniquely you and you get better and better and better

at it, eventually people will take notice. That was what I believed, even when I was broke. So, like, people will notice this if I keep doing this. And it worked. Yeah. And I think we can, of course, also, also example that it works in action from your presence on LinkedIn, because obviously that's something that we have to discuss. I don't know. I might have missed you before, but I feel like that you suddenly appeared on LinkedIn. I've never seen you before. suddenly there is this guy and he goes viral like nothing. With the sick beard, just like, yeah. Where he's hiding his pen.

But, you know, when it comes to LinkedIn, I've been wondering if you showed up and applied what you just said or if you had, if you've been like preparing in the background, like, oh, this is going to be my launch on LinkedIn and I'm going to get a viral soon or. What does it likely start it? Yeah, no, there was no plan to be totally honest with you. I got really lucky.

So basically, if you look at, you've probably, I don't know, you might have looked at our old videos where I'm wearing like a wig and I'm like doing these skits. And they didn't do that well, right? I think I got like 20 likes, a few comments. One of them is my mom. You know, that kind of stuff. And I had this conversation with a friend, Zach Luis Seis,

shout out to Zach. We were talking and I was like, yo man, like, I'm wondering like if I should, like, I need to get clients. I need to get more clients. I'm thinking of making something on LinkedIn. I don't really know what I want to do. I don't really have an offer. But like, what do you think? And he's like,

oh man, you should make a building in public video. Like, really? You think people would want that? Like, I'm kind of nervous that I'd make people feel weird by showing numbers and that kind of stuff. And he's like, no, man, just do it. Like, people love that stuff. Okay, sure. And so two days later, I made the first building in public video, and it got like 70 likes. And I'm like, oh, that's interesting.

People really enjoy it when I just, even if I'm not a pro, because that was always the fear is that on LinkedIn, you have to be a pro at something in order to show your professional expertise in order for people to buy from you. So that was always the fear at the beginning. It's like, I have no authority. I have no social proof. I have no way of demonstrating that people should buy from me. And I think that's the fear that all newbies go through. And my way around that was just like, okay, well, I'm just going to show what I am doing then. And to show, be honest about where I am in that process.

And so if you watch that first week, like, I'm talking about shit like, I got five new followers from commenting on Daniel Cornblum's post. And it's like, who gives a shit? But people did give a shit because it did like four times better than any video I'd posted, you know, or whatever. I mean, on average, right? Yeah. And so that was a lightball moment for me, like, okay, we're onto something here. Let's do more building in public videos.

And then I was a huge fan of Matt Lakeyev. I still am. That guy is just so good. And he makes lead magnets like there's no tomorrow. And I was like, well, that's a good idea. Maybe I should make a lead magnet to try to attract more leads to what we do, right? So I made this lead magnet for Lara Costa, just breaking down all her videos.

I think this was in week three, or even week two. And I showed her, I showed it to her. Like I sent her an email. I was like, hey, Laura, I made this thing for you. You know, thank you so much for being an inspiration. And she saw it, and she just loved it. And she offered to have a call, which was something I did not expect, right? Oh, I was going to say it's really nice that she replied,

because I couldn't imagine how many messages she must receive. Dude, that's exactly it. Like, she gets like probably hundreds of messages a day, like legitimately. And so, no, it's very flattering. And, you know, like, she's awesome. I love Laura. She's so sweet. But without her saying yes and offering to help, I would still be nobody, right?

And so there's an element there of like, I was just really lucky that Laura liked what I made. And then after Laura, like once I posted those videos with Lara you know I think it was Nile Ratcliffe that saw it and he was like man this is hilarious I'm like oh dude do you want to talk and he's like yeah sure and then Yasmin Aaliche saw it and he was like I like this I'm like oh do you want to talk yeah sure and so I've just

done that over and over now with like 18 different amazing smart creative big follower count people and that just has built such a super superb network that like, yes, the content is important and the creativity and the originality is super important, but like without the network to see it, like, you know, it's useless, right? Yeah. And so there was never any like master plan for how we were going to do it.

I just looked at what was like the highest leverage thing you can do. And on LinkedIn, that's targeted networking. And I actually got that from Laura herself. Like I literally, after watching all her videos, she had a video on targeted networking where she's like, she's talking about her editor, D-WAS. And she was like, D-WS reached out to me with this kind of video. And I was so impressed that I like hired him as an editor. And I was like, I'm going to do exactly what D-WAS did. And so I did exactly what D-WAS did.

And it worked. And I'm like, holy shit, this stuff works. So if you're at the beginning of your journey and you don't know how to do it and you don't know like your plan for starting on LinkedIn, Just be honest. Like show, literally just show what you're doing. Be honest about that experience. And keep in mind how it relates to the people that are watching the video, right?

Like they want, you know, you want them to feel something. Pull their heartstrings. Make them laugh. Give them phomo. Right? Show the numbers.

Be honest. And that attracts people to your cause. And you don't have to be an expert necessarily, but you do have to be honest. Like, be honest. Show, like, don't lie. Just be honest. Yeah, and don't...

I mean, this is going to sound... I talked about it in previous episodes with someone else as well, but be authentic. I feel like that's something that everyone talks about, but then still you see loads of, I don't know, AI comments and this stuff, and it just makes me sick in that, you know, regular yet.

As you said, just, I would say, find your unique edge, be authentic and have fun. because, you know, like, obviously you keep showing up regularly, like every day it may feel like a chore or like a work, but if there is something that you look forward to, like, I don't know, leave a silly comment or have fun with someone. It makes it different.

Yeah, man, absolutely. Like, you know, you're going to, odds are your first videos or first posts or whatever they are, they're not going to be that good, you know? And that's okay, right? Like, it doesn't have to be about what other people think at the beginning. You can just be about you getting your reps in and practicing. And as long as you keep it in that way of like, I'm just having fun, I'm doing this because I enjoy doing this.

I'm doing this because I know content is a really valuable thing because it's going to help my business, so I'm willing to suck. Then that's okay, right? And then you'll just get better and better and better and find your voice more and more and more, the more you do it. It'll take time. Are you looking to elevate your online presents? Check out Trailblazed, our digital marketing agency.

Whether it's standing out on social media, crafting a stunning new website or developing impact visuals, Trailblazed has got your back. Visit Trailblaest.digital and reach your online potentials a day. And I like what you mentioned before about Lara, which is something I didn't know, but it's really nice when like bigger creators are supportive or even reply or something like that because sometimes you don't know how much it can influence someone or how impactful it can be just you know like let's say silly reply or a bit of help to someone and it can make such a big difference so i would encourage others to do the same because you never know yeah absolutely man

that's something i learned again from her like after like we you know, we're still in contact and like, you know, I was going through a rough time. Just sort of like dealing with all the growth and like how do I, you know, all of a sudden getting all these messages and stuff and like kind of getting overwhelmed with it, to be honest with you. I have to say that I don't want to sound like someone viral or something, but I feel like I can relate to it later. Yeah, totally, right? It's like, whoa, I get all these. It's like all of a sudden people. care and then and then people are like tagging you and posts and stuff to like and you know it's like it's kind of overwhelming like tons of notifications and so I mess with her and I was like hey like how do you deal with this you know like how do you somebody with 200 plus thousand followers deal with this

and she's like I just come back to gratitude like it's not noise none of this because I was calling it noise it's like how do you deal with all the noise and she's like it's not noise that's disrespectful like it's it's about being grateful for that these people are taking their precious valuable life and time and being willing to focus it on you and what you're doing. That's something to be grateful for. And so always just ground and ground. Like it's energy coming towards you. And you can be grateful for that energy coming towards you.

And that was a huge eye-opening moment for me when she said that. And I was like, okay, I'm just going to apply this from now on. And it's done wonders. And I think with big creators, dude, like the thing that I've noticed after talking with a bunch of them, is that they're a really chill people and be um they have a really really really good attitude otherwise they wouldn't be where they are yeah either they're super persistent or they're really grateful uh often they're super humble and they're just really they really care about the people that they interact with this is my be my experience anyways and

And I think that caring is a part of the thing that got them to where they are. Because they were able to demonstrate that they care, which made people care about them. And so, which made them grow faster. So it's, it's not about like being the biggest followers or, you know, whatever. But it is about caring a lot about the people who talk to you and showing that care by DMing them, engaging with their comments, engaging with their posts. Like that is the thing that made that community that built their huge audiences. I'm really glad that I asked you this question and we discussed it because that's something that I've been thinking a lot lately as well. Sometimes it feels a bit overwhelming, but I don't want to come across as someone who doesn't care or who's, I don't know, you know, like egoistic so I don't reply.

But then if you reply to everything, you don't have time for anything else. So I'm not to hear that from someone else because that's been on my mind too. It's a real thing, man. Yeah. Like I'm not, I don't have a huge account by any means, but it's, you know, just dealing with learning how to show people that you care while still valuing your time and actually doing the thing that's going to help the world the most, right? Which is like getting your offer out there, doing what you do for a living. You run a podcast company. Like, you know, you got to spend time with that, right?

Like, you actually have to, you have to do that. Otherwise, you'll be broke. And then you won't be able to talk to anybody on LinkedIn, right? Yeah. So it's about like, like, you're not, you don't owe anybody anything. You don't owe people a response necessarily. So sometimes you just can't respond. Like, even when you invited me to this podcast, I don't think I responded for like,

I don't even know what it was, like seven days or something like that. And then I look like, oh, shit, Thomas, okay, I'll like message in fact. Like, you don't owe anybody anything. And at the same time, like, especially when you're first starting out, at least this is Laura's advice, was like, it's good to try to make an effort because, you know, you're still building your community at this point, right? When you're at the size that, like, we're at, right? Yeah. And I would say also you never know because, for example, like when I texted, you never know if, if you are busy, if you were not interested. or if you forgot or something like that.

So it's like, don't judge because you never know the whole story. I think that's also something important to keep in mind. Totally, man. Yeah. Like follow up or, you know, if they didn't give a response, it doesn't mean they don't like you. It's just, you know. I would say not take it personally.

Yeah. And to Outpakeress, when you started on LinkedIn, why haven't you started on other platform? Or maybe you did, but why are you focusing on primary on LinkedIn? Yeah, a couple reasons. One, that's what the biggest creators do often. So they'll start deep on one and then branch out to many. And it's because I only have so much time in the day, right?

I think for me, my whole goal wasn't just to build follower account. It's to build community. because if I have 100 engaged members, that's better than having 100,000 meh people, right? And so I realize that in order to build community, it takes more time than just posting. There's a lot of engaging, there's a lot of commenting, there's a lot of DMing, a lot of podcasting, all this stuff. And so that's one reason. It just takes a lot of time to do what I want to do, which is build community. The second reason is that LinkedIn is where my ideal client hangs out, right?

Like social media is a marketing channel. And so, you know, that's rule number one is like, find which channels your audience is hanging out. If you're like direct a consumer, maybe you want to be on TikTok, right? If you're like beauty brand, maybe you want to be on Instagram. But if you are a B2B video company, odds are you want to be on LinkedIn, right? And so I just picked LinkedIn. And it just happened to be that LinkedIn was launching its video feature. So fluked out with that.

Perfect timing. Perfect timing. But also I saw like with any kind of social media, like it's good to pay attention to arbitrage when it comes to social media. So what platforms aren't getting the love right now, but we'll be getting the love soon. And that's like that with anything. like that with crypto with crypto right now it's blowing up don't buy crypto right now trying to buy crypto was two years ago you don't buy right now if you buy right now you're fueling the wails

pockets like you were just whale meat at this point if you buy right now and it's the same thing with social media like yeah i could hop on the ticto train yeah i could hop on the instagram reals train i could hop on the youtube game but the fact is there's like millions of not billions of users on these platforms yeah are all heavily competing for the same eyeballs and on LinkedIn there's like nobody doing video like nobody right now

we're going to look back on this conversation like three years laugh but like right now there's hardly anybody doing it and so that is an incredible arbitrage if you think about it's crazy actually the fact that that aren't that many people I know it's wild like I think there's like a billion users

only 340 million of them actively post and then there's like Like, even less of them post monthly. Like, it's like such a tiny amount of people on LinkedIn. And then even less of those people use video. And even less of those people who use video actually know how to make video interesting and fun and valuable and education. Right. So it's like a very, very, very small pool, which meant there's a incredible opportunity to do what I do.

Like, if I was to pick any other channel to go on, I would pick Twitter right now. I'd pick X. because everyone's like, you know, bah humbuging X right now because Elon Musk and this and that. But like, dude, that's the time to get in, right? That's the time to get in and establish your authority because it's not going to be like that forever. Like, they're going to find a way to make it blow up. And then when it does, video is going to be a thing there, right? So if I wasn't on LinkedIn, I would be on X.

That's just like where the opportunity is. Yeah. And I like what you said before about LinkedIn that, although it's such a big established platform with so many users, it feels like there is like a smaller community of people that you almost know

not everyone, but the majority of people who like post regularly because you engage, you see them in your feed. So although there are so many people, it feels like that there's like this smaller group of people and you kind of know each other. Totally, man. Yeah, it's a small world on LinkedIn. Like all the

more reason to like be honest and be a good person because if you're not going to do that then people will find out pretty quickly because people speak of course yeah exactly exactly like it's a small world man it's a small world linkedin's even a smaller world so yeah and when it comes to your content creation specifically like the videos have you got any inspirations such as any creators companies are people that you follow and you like? Yeah, I mean, I watch a lot of YouTube for my inspiration. So I really like Casey Nystad.

I really like Ryan Trahan. Those two guys alone have inspired me so, so much. I love this guy named Carter Vale. He's like a musician, comedic musician. He's the guy, I don't know if you've heard that song, Dirtman. Put a little dirt on my pillow for the Dirtman. In-K. No, okay, anyways. So he's great.

And he makes these kind of joke videos being a cowboy, and they're kind of fucked up and stuff, but they're hilarious. I won't check them out. Yeah, dude, he's awesome. Carter Vale. And so these three guys are pretty much from not working or whatever. I'm probably watching one of these three guys most of the time, because I just think they're funny or interesting or good storytellers,

or they just know how to do it. I also really, really like Kane Calloway. That's it. Kane Calloway. He's on YouTube. He sends the blueprint newsletter, right? Dude, that guy is like one of the best content creators in the world. Like, incredible, incredible storyteller.

Fantastic YouTube channel. Incredible LinkedIn. Just like, he's a huge inspiration too. So, yeah, Kane, Carter, Casey, and Ryan, those four people I love. And then other people I like genuinely love their content. I'm a huge fan of Aidan Brannigan. Like, he's a friend now. I just made a video about him today.

Like we did a podcast together and stuff. But like, that dude is so funny. And he's so good at being original in his content that he really, really inspires me as well. And then if I'm not like doing that, usually I'm watching like, like skits, like random skits on Instagram Reels or even Facebook. Facebook's got some good stuff sometimes. But oftentimes I'm watching like comedians. Who's that other guy too that did the, when your name is Kyle?

Trevor Wallace. Trevor Wallace. He's hilarious. I need to do my homework. I have no idea. Oh, dude, he's so funny. He's got this skit called When Your Name is Kyle. And it's just so funny.

this angry, like, listening to New Metal, like, pounding monsters back and, like, smashing things is hilarious. So I'm watching a ton of comedians most of the time and then just taking what they do and combining it with, like, I don't know, that's where I get my inspiration from. And then for me, too, actually, man,

one thing that a lot of people don't realize when making video is that the music is equally as important as the visual. and I think a lot of people miss that. A lot of editors miss that too. Where it's like the music is the thing that's going to drive the feeling of whatever it is that you're watching. And so I get a lot of inspiration from the music that I listen to. And I listen to a lot of like synth wave music.

You can probably tell from all my 80s music that I put in my videos. But I listen to a ton of synth wave music right now. I've been listening to some refused lately. I don't know if you listen to refused, but they're awesome. Listening to a lot of classical music, too. I really like Chopin. So I get a lot of inspiration from music as well, and that really helps me to see things in a way.

I think there is no surprise with your music background that you can appreciate how important aspect it is. It's huge, man. It's huge. Like, if you, like, even if you watch the videos on my website there, like, I always do my best to add, like, music that has feeling and has rhythm and keeps motion in the video, even in a corporate video. Because most of the time, when people are making corporate video, it's got that music that goes, de, do, do, do, do, do, de, welcome to a new dawn, a new day. Welcome to your future, you know.

We hear care about safety and our employees and all this shit. And it's like cheesy as shit. And in music is a huge part of that cheesiness. So just by switching up to the music, you can switch up. Shit, you can create a whole brand around the music that you make. Yeah. Listen to my videos. Yeah, exactly.

It's like there's no music like that on LinkedIn. the music that I put in my videos, right? The reason for that is because I like it, but it also, it's a differentiating factor. So if you can go find music that you like and stick it in your video and make it make sense, that's already going to differentiate you from like 90% of other people.

So do not sleep on music. It's a huge one. Yeah, it's a great point. And something I think I underestimate as well. And with your work, with your videos, I'm curious, what are your plans like for the future? Do you think that you continue,

with videos or would you have like any plans even to try maybe short films or something like that? I like social media, to be honest with you. I like the, I think for me, I've always been interested in making art that has a usefulness to it. So if you look at like a woodworker, they can make a table and the table can be beautiful, but you can also eat off the table, right? And so they're making useful art, right? And for me, that's something I always struggled with with voiceover or with music,

is that as beautiful as it can be, it doesn't have like a pragmatic use all the time, but video does. And so, especially social media video. And so I love making videos for businesses for this exact reason, which is it helps them to make. money. It helps them. It puts bread on the table, right? And for me, that is super, super, super rewarding. Like, that's always been something that I really want to do. And so for the future, basically what we're

doing is we're taking what we know about video and what we know about LinkedIn and packaging it up into this cohort that we're going to be launching in January and basically, you know, bringing people through so that they can learn the skills to make these awesome videos on their own too, right? Yeah. there's that. And then, yeah, for folks who actually need, like, more help one-on-one, I'm just going to be, again, doing what I do. I've already have, I'm working with a couple people like this right now already, but, like, you know, being able to do the scripting for the social media video,

the editing, the content strategy for it, to be able to, like, essentially craft LinkedIn video content strategy. For me, that's super rewarding because, like, even if your first video sucks, even if you're second, your third, fourth, fifth, six, seven, eight, ninth, tenth video suck. You can still nail it on the 11th video because social media video is iterative, right? You can get better and better and better each time. And I love that process.

To me, that's super rewarding. And it doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to, like, you don't have to, like, do fancy color grading. You don't have to, like, bring in fancy lights or anything like that. Like, it's about communicating a feeling. and with social media that there's just so much opportunity to do that and for me it's like the most rewarding kind of video

and I just want to keep doing that yeah no those are valid points and I like it I like the passion the motivation behind it and it's not just for the sake of money but purpose you enjoy it and if you help the others would you want?

Yeah dude that's exactly it it's like art is fantastic but art that can feed people or art that can, you know, like have a practical use case in real world, that's where my passion lies. Yeah. And can you tell us from your experience, from your work experience, is there any project or any clients that you worked with and for some reason it's worth mentioning, such as something

that was funny or challenging or unexpected or just, uh, Like, client that I've worked with? Yeah, or some cool project that you can tell us about. Oh, man. Well, most of the things I would talk about people just wouldn't. They're just like small businesses around here. I mean, two things. Not that it's like super relevant to listeners or anything like that,

but one video I got to make like a video for like a go-kart facility. So they're training like F1 drivers. And so I got to like ride around in carts and like with a camera and like on a racetrack racing people going by me and stuff like that. That was awesome. Totally not useful to the listeners, but that was very cool. I'd say the second thing. Like I'm working with Aiden right now. Like Aiden Branden.

Like he is one of our clients. We are working with him right now. And the dude is fantastic. Like I think being able to work with people who I perceive are like 10 steps ahead of. me or even more and being able to see how they see content, especially with him, that's the most inspiring to me, I would say. Like just being able to work with clients who inspire you and change your way of creating content, to me, that's where the money is at.

And I haven't had a whole lot of that, to be honest with you. I've worked with a lot of people, but I haven't had a lot of people that, like, know more about content than I do. And so when I work with Aden, it's like, I don't know. It inspires me every day to get better and better. I understand that. I think I wish there are more clients like that when it's not just about sake of money. Of course, we need to pay our bills, which is important.

But if there is something more like you just said, I think it's kind of perfect client. Yeah, man. And that's what I'm going for now, too, is like, you know, being. I'm trying to find more and more like who, like the personalities I want to work with, the people I want to work with who really gel with what we're doing. Because I realize what we're doing isn't for everybody. A lot of people need something a lot simpler. Like what Danny Devakio is doing, for example.

Like, you know, he simplifies your video process. You sit down for half an hour, you film all these videos, you get videos for a month. And that's what he does. And it works. It works great, especially for folks who come from more corporate background. They're super busy. They don't want to take time to make content. they just like want somebody to do it for them in a short amount of time as possible.

But I realized that's not me. And I actually like helping people who want to learn more about the content process, who already value making content and just want to make their content better so that they can attract more clients with it. That's that's my goal. And that's not for everybody. And so more and more I'm trying to like find out who that is. right and I don't know I think that should be the goal with every business right like

only work with people who you want to work with don't work with people because they make you money like otherwise you'll just be resentful I agree yeah I understand it's not always possible but I wish that people tried or to certain extent they managed yeah yeah yeah bro unfortunately Louis as we will be approaching the end soon Look at that. Okay. It flew like nothing, but do you want to promote your services, what you do? I think it's obvious from the conversation, but sum it up and where people can find you.

Yeah, so you can send me your social insurance number and your credit card information at awesome business. So I have, we're launching a LinkedIn video cohort. We don't have an awesome name for it yet, but name coming. but basically we're... Shouldn't be related to awesome, since your company is awesome? I know. Something awesome or ungeneric or something like that. I'm not sure.

We'll figure it out. But it's a LinkedIn video cohort basically for founders who love making content or know the value of content, but just want to make their video content on LinkedIn actually work. So we've had tons of success over the last three months just doing this and we realize that a lot of people can learn from what we're doing. So that's going to be our primary way of helping people. And of course, if people want to work one-on-one with us,

we do to have a limited amount of one-on-one space available as well. You can just check out my LinkedIn profile, and all the links will be available there. Yeah. And then before we finish, Luis, have you got any final message or something that you would like to share and I haven't asked you and should have asked you?

Yeah. Follow Thomas for all your... podcasting needs. This man's the man. Honestly, man, it's appreciated. I'd say, like, you know, for anybody who's listening to this, like, don't be afraid to punch above your weight class. You know, like, you've got to,

if you're going to do anything incredible with your life, you have to punch above your weight class. You have to do something and silence that inner critic while doing it. Because otherwise you won't get anywhere. So really do Just reach for it. You know, go for it. It sounds cheesy, but like, feel the fear, do it anyways.

That's what the greats do, and you can do it too. It made some cheesy, but it's true. So it's important to say it, and it's so true. Yeah. And, Luis, then, before I finish, I have one final question. Okay. What's your secret formula for your awesome birth? I'm slightly jealous.

I think I'm not the only one. And it looks awesome. And as we could see in some videos, it's also quite practical. It's perfect, perfect branding tool. Step one, drink too much milk as a child and get all the cow hormones inside of you. Step two, eat nothing but steak and watch nothing but UFC. I don't know, just be hairy as shit. Like it doesn't stop with the face.

It goes all the way down, right? just a few hours. Get born with meanderthal jeans and you will have a wonderful, wonderful beard. No, I mean, I think it looks really cool. It wasn't really good. Thank you. Thank you.

But, Louis, want to say a huge thank you. It went so fast so we can definitely do sequel in the future. I hope you keep rocking. on LinkedIn, love your work. I'm so happy that we had a chat and I could meet you at least virtually. So keep doing great work and thank you so much for joining.

Likewise, thank you so much, Thomas. It's awesome meeting you this way, dude. Really, really stoked. Thank you. Appreciate it and wish you all the best. Thanks for listening to Produce by with Tomer. Check out show notes for all the links and don't forget to like, subscribe and leave your feedback.

Speak soon.