Visually impaired/blind and not confident in sales videos...

Practice. Just that. Keep practising and you will grow in confidence til you get to the point where you can just talk and don't need to use slides as reminders.

I commend your efforts, but outsourcing is probably the best choice for you. Fiverr can probably be an asset to you.

EDIT: Before you go thinking that I am being insensitive, read my response below.

I agree w/ rosetrees and Brian - You should keep practicing. It doesn't cost you anything (other than time) to make several cuts. But in the mean time, you can get some really great sounding voices over at fiverr for really cheap.

Great advice here. Just use the PDR formula. Practice, Drill and rehearse. Don't worry so much about trying to sound like a T.V commercial. Talk on your videos like you would talk to someone if they were sitting next to you. Be yourself, be real.

You can use the vision challenge you have to be an inspiration to others. Do that and Success WILL FIND YOU....

Outsource the video production.

Hi Jay,

You've gotten some excellent advice here all of which is right on track.

I'd also like to add that I checked out your SP/Video for the WP product and here's what I think.....

YOU are you're own best USP - leverage that to your benefit!

Now, I'm not at all suggesting that you hide behind or stand in front of (or on) your impairment, or try to gain "sympathy" from others for your own financial gain. And I know this is the first time we've "met" (so I hope I'm not being too blunt), but I would venture to say based on what I can tell about you so far you're not that kind of person - or you wouldn't be an entrepreneur taking the initiative and action to build a business.

So with that clear....

My suggestion is JUST BE YOU. Your impairment is part of who you are - whether you think of it as a blessing or a curse - it's one of the things that makes you unique AND it can (and should) be used to your benefit and the benefit of others - as a tool to connect with, inspire and help.

So I would suggest that you put your picture on the site and make it "Jason Baker's Wordpress For Beginners" OR "Jason Baker Presents: Wordpress For Beginners"

I'd put the same picture in the opening screen of the video and introduce yourself right up front (without reading - memorize it or wing it - but BE YOU) AND I would go right into something like this....

"Hi, my name's Jason Baker and I'm a 30 year old Entrepreneur that helps people overcome challenges. Today, I'm going to talk to you about Wordpress challenges and tell you about my new WP training program - WP for beginners - which simplifies WP to the point that even a blind man can use it. How do I know? Because I'm visually impaired - legally blind in fact - and the program I'm about to share with you today includes the exact methods and techniques I use to overcome my own WP challenges.

Now, I also got to tell you that this presentation is just a few minutes long, but to get through it I follow a script - so if you hear me pause, hesitate or lose my place just bear with me. OR - if you can't wait anymore and are ready to get right to it, you can click the button below this video and read about what I'm getting ready to share with you.

That said, let's get started.....

Then continue w/the presentation


Also, under the video I would have a button they could push that would reveal the text of your presentation (if you tell them it's going to be there, it needs to be). There's a plugin for that - I'm not sure what it is but I've got a friend that uses it.

At the same time, there may be situations when you do want to outsource the voice over - it's going to depend on how you want to position the product and who the market is....and in some cases you may want to do both (the "Jason Baker Presents:" and an unbranded with outsourced voice.

Test it and see. I would bet more people by from you - people like transparency and do business with people they know, like and trust. Simply being an entrepreneur, creating a product and website and offering solutions PROVES to your audience that you overcome challenges - and if you can do all that....who could possibly be better to help them with their WP challenges?


And that a $3 will get you a cup of coffee

Hope that helps. Feel free to be in touch if I can help.

To Your Success!
Mark

I hope my initial response wasn't interpreted as being contradictory to the idea of outsourcing or meant to imply everyone should become an expert at everything. I agree with @E. Brian Rose that - from a business and best utilization of time perspective, it does make sense to outsource videos (not just for Jason, but for most people).

I've built a number of offline businesses in my lifetime and have realized some tremendous successes (I've also had my share of significant learning experiences and started over more than once) and I'll be the first one to admit that most of my successes came by leveraging the talents of others and surrounding myself with people who were smarter than and better at certain things than I was.

Entrepreneurs (most successful ones anyway) increase their effectiveness and leverage their time by delegating, and they enhance (and protect) their business and interests by bringing in experts to help achieve certain objectives.

But it's frustrating...

Too many entrepreneurs and small business owners today don't do that - and end up being "owned" by their business (I know - been there & done that). Many feel like they have to do everything themselves if it's going to be done right - which is a shame because not only do they become "slaves" to their business, but it severely limits their potential by locking them into never being able to grow beyond what they can get done themselves....and there are only so many hours in a day. The good news today is that with technology - there are ways to leverage one's self that weren't available 15-20 years ago.

But I digress severely....

So yes, outsourcing the videos is probably the best option (from a business standpoint).

I just think in this particular situation - in what is a very competitive market - Jason would be well served by developing his identity and turning his "impairment" into an asset he can use to connect with and serve a greater audience who will benefit from his message, products and services (from a marketing standpoint).

And I agree with @Jill Carpenter....

I watched the video and he does have the script virtually written out verbatim as he "reads" it. I also think that reducing it to bullet points and outline form is a great idea should he decide to continue doing videos himself. Doing so will let his personality/identity come through more naturally - and then if he still isn't happy with the results or it's requiring too much time....outsource it!

Ultimately I think BOTH ways would work for Jason. He just needs to decide what he enjoys the most, is the most productive at and that creates the most value for his business - then do that and outsource the rest (an approach I should implement myself a bit more than I do these days).

Be Well Everybody!
Mark

I agree with outsourcing if you have the funds. There are plenty of good people that can do this for you on Fiverr!

Hi Jay,

I see some great advice above, and thought I'd chime in with a technique that helped me.

Basically, I separate the tasks of creating the audio and video, then assemble them in a video editor.

First, using Audacity (it's a free audio recording/editing tool) I record what I want to say. Typically, I would document exactly what I want to say, then print it out or, use teleprompter software (also free) to scroll the text in a large font on my screen while I'm recording the audio. The cool thing about Audacity is that you can remove all the "uuums", and "ahhhs" from your audio once your done recording. This means that if you completely butcher a sentence while recording and you're thinking you'll have to start over... no you dont! Just keep recording and simply repeat what you meant to say. You can easily delete the butchered material out of the recording before you save it as a .wav audio file.

Now, if you were using powerpoint for your video presentation of bullet points (as suggested above), simply do a "save as" to "other formats" and select .jpg or .png. This will export each slide to a separate image file.

At this point you can simply load the audio file into MS Movie Maker (or video editor of choice) and for the video add the images you exported from powerpoint. You then stretch the images on the timeline to transition in sync with your audio.

Obviously, this process takes a little longer than just recording the whole thing at once. But, once you've done it a few times it goes very quickly.

-Karl

Honestly the best thing to do is just practice reading your script, beyond that, video marketing just isn't for some people. You may want to consider having it outsourced if that's an option for you.

Mark makes a great point about why you should outsource - get comfortable with outsourcing those things you don't do well or don't enjoy doing. Then you can focus on leveraging your strengths as well as get more done.

If outsourcing isn't an option yet (which, it's not too expensive to get a video on Fiverr as a few people pointed out) then perhaps expand what you're thinking of for your video. It doesn't have to be you in front of the camera giving your pitch. You could do a really nice PowerPoint & then record your voice over as you explain the value of your product. Or instead of a pitch, you could record a demo showing how to use/benefit from the product.

Thank you all! Greatly appreciated. I like what I have read here and plan to put it into PDR. HAHA! Any way. Greatly appreciated. Considering I have received such great response to this PM me and will send you all a copy of the product. Let me know what you think as I want to redo the sales video and launch it as a wso...

Am truly honored to have you all as associates.

Jason

I just got a copy of Jason's product and I thought it was excellent work! And to be honest, after watching the tutorial, and seeing your sales page, I like the idea of you doing your own videos as well. In many cases a professionally made video would work out well, but I don't think it would fit right in this case.

I love the entire background story, and the fact that you were able to produce quality work despite the challenging path. And I don't think that a professionally made video could capture it quite the same - Unless of course you made a professional video, and added your story and voice to it somewhere.

But I must say that I thought the work was quality work, but knowing the background made it seem even more valuable of a product to me. Also - make sure that you build a list. Because I want to be on it for your next product, and I refuse to take another one for free.

ps - E Brian Rose has some great tips on list building.