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28 vid tutorials, 3 months work. Spanked Grrrr...

by Marcus Rockey
29 replies
Rich Shefren has been banging on about creating products that stand the test of time.

Frank Kern talks about a high quality product as being the number one contributor to wealth.

I can see the truth in this too with 3 months of work creating video tutorials and not creating the product prospects want. That's not to say the content is poor but more about how I teach it and sound quality.

It's a school boy error to create hours of video tutorial work BEFORE getting it reviewed by ''go to guys and gals''. But it was actually a close friend that told it to me straight - ''you just sound off in all those videos you've created''.

God dam I thought it sounded good, I thought others would love it...

Turns out I sounded like Gollum on benzos...

I got stuck in my own head believing my own lies and forgetting the number one rule - will prospects and customers love it?

It hurts. I've burned the candle at both ends on this new product series, being told it ain't right and you need to do it again was like salt in the wound.

With a crushed ego and my tail between my legs I've spent most of Christmas brooding over my mistakes.

During that time it occurred to me that I might have been let off the hook. I could have released the product, spent money, and given myself a bad name that would be hard to shake.

Why didn't I get things checked out sooner? Well sometimes I think I know best and I forget that IM can be a little isolating. The mistake stems from being one degree off course every day and ninety days of that I'm going in the wrong direction.


My point is that despite all the effort, time and resources I've poured into the product it's irrelevant if the product isn't of the best quality it can be. That before it leaves the fingertips for launch it has to be spot on.

So with lessons learned I restart on Monday morning.

Do I want to restart?
No...
I hate beginnings.

The other culprit?

Apart from me?

The $40 head set. I had great pleasure in cremating it into hundreds and thousands. I hate Samsung!

Anyone else made such a colossal mistake like mine?
#grrrr #months #spanked #tutorials #vid #work
  • Profile picture of the author Doppelbock
    I don't think it's such a mistake.

    In the engineering industry we have a saying, 'It's not a mistake until you cut it."

    Like you said, you have not released it, thus the mistake has been prevented.

    All this time you used moping could have been used to start winning.

    It sucks balls because you put in that much time and effort, but you already have your outline, the entire skeleton, the only thing that remains is rewording, otherwise, by the sounds of it, you have a solid product.

    Go get that paycheck man, live and learn.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kal Sallam
    Wow, that's a lot of work to be thrown away like that.

    Have you considered someone to do a professional voice over for those videos?

    That's what I would start off doing.
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    • Profile picture of the author Joshua Lowenthal
      I think one of the hardest parts to this whole industry in knowing where you fit in. Some people have the dream to do it all 100% A-Z and 0-9 without realizing that they are draining 100% of their energy developing an idea that only 30% of that energy will do any good with. In other words, why run yourself down faster doing all of it when you really are only good at the planning and research phase, and your media skills are lacking. The bad rep you get from bad media will destroy your great product. Why do that when for a few dollars in investment you can grab someone else's strong talents and combine it with your great idea to make a GREAT PRODUCT.

      I think you're now seeing things in that light and now is a time of true growing for you and your success. Just keep moving onward!
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  • Profile picture of the author Ken Leatherman
    Stop whining and get to winning. Blaming it on Samsung is not the answer either. You may well have a voice that sounds terrible regardless of the headset/mic you use.

    If that is the case as said above, think about getting a 'professional voice over' for your project.

    Ken


    The Old Geezer
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    Open the video in a video editor that will let you separate the sound track from the video track. Open the sound track in Audacity (free) or some other audio editor and see if you can enhance the audio. You can do all kinds of things these days to enhance audio.

    Keep track of each change, and the order yoiu make them, that actually makes you sound better. If you are able to make the audio acceptable, you can repeat the steps for each video and replace the sound tracks in them. Once you discover the right combination you should be able to upgrade each video fairly quickly (as quickly as your video software renders the video anyway).
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  • Profile picture of the author bwh1
    Did you already try to fix the audio using Audacity?

    Maybe you can improve the audio over such a software. Another thing would be hiring a voice over to make new audios and replace yours with those.

    The videos in total are not lost, only some of your time and the extra money you need to fix the problem.

    G.

    P.S. is that friend your ONLY feedback? Maybe you post a little example to hear the problem?
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  • Profile picture of the author Tim Franklin
    Yes, I once recorded a screen video and when I checked it over found that the Audio was completely missing, (I had to start all over again) but you can fix audio if its within a certain frequency, using the right kind of software you can separate the sound track from the Video, enhance the audio and then put them back together again.
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  • Profile picture of the author Auctiondebteliminator
    Don't throw them away!

    Get them transcribed - then hire some voice-over work - as has been suggested before.

    Make them very professional and WHAM.....great product.
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  • Profile picture of the author petelta
    You should release the damn product right now and start updating it. Just rerecord your voice with a better mic this time if that's the only problem and start replacing each video one at a time.

    You won't make a bad name for yourself because you have no name yet. You aren't going to be famous after your first product launch and you aren't going to be shunned either.

    What if all the buyers don't care about how you sound, and they love your content? People don't buy to hear a pretty voice and as long as you don't act like your some guru videographer, most people won't care.

    I've used this line a bunch today, but as Chris Winters says "Massive Amounts of Imperfect Action"... while you sulked during the christmas break, you could of had it rerecorded. If you don't want to rerecord the vids, then release it anyways and start on your next product.

    Travis
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  • Profile picture of the author helisell
    In every adversity there is the seed of an equal or greater opportunity.

    It was just a lesson that's all. How are you going to know what is a great product without producing a bummer every now and then.

    One thing though. Engage with your potential customers. Show them a bit of what you've done, get their opinion. Ask them what they would really want from a product like yours. Get THEM to design the product then YOU make it.

    That is probably the biggest lesson you have just been taught. Nature didn't want your product out there and is hoping that you'll look on the lesson positively and do something great as a result.

    Get on with it.
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  • Profile picture of the author tagalog
    I know the feeling of having completed work and then found it had to be done again for a number of reasons. As I like challenge, I find starting over as extremely boring as I have already met the challenge (or so I thought:-). And, and this is the biggie, I am my own worst critic. No matter what I write, I can find masses of things to change when I read it back later and from what I have heard, that is normal.

    My advice is simple. Put ego to one side and start all over again and for certain the finished product will be the best you have done and the satisfaction will be more pleasurable than you have ever experienced.

    And, I admire your honesty.

    Robert
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  • Profile picture of the author Marcus Rockey
    Some of the audio's can be retrieved and improved but I'm in for a restart.

    I should get the work redone and improved ten fold within three weeks. It's a mock run now.

    I will leverage the content in other ways. Transcription is great and broken down into blog posts, auto responder series etc.

    I've got the heads up on the content itself. My list opted for the product and I'm sure of the value it provides.

    Maybe you're right about releasing it now. It just doesn't sit right with me. Maybe it's a mistake but right now I don't wanna let it go.

    As for Samsung, where there's a blame there's a claim.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by petelta View Post

      You should release the damn product right now and start updating it. Just rerecord your voice with a better mic this time if that's the only problem and start replacing each video one at a time.

      You won't make a bad name for yourself because you have no name yet. You aren't going to be famous after your first product launch and you aren't going to be shunned either.

      What if all the buyers don't care about how you sound, and they love your content? People don't buy to hear a pretty voice and as long as you don't act like your some guru videographer, most people won't care.

      I've used this line a bunch today, but as Chris Winters says "Massive Amounts of Imperfect Action"... while you sulked during the christmas break, you could of had it rerecorded. If you don't want to rerecord the vids, then release it anyways and start on your next product.

      Travis
      Originally Posted by Marcus Rockey View Post

      Maybe you're right about releasing it now. It just doesn't sit right with me. Maybe it's a mistake but right now I don't wanna let it go.
      Marcus, release the product. You can always promise the first wave of buyers an updated version when you have them redone. Besides, audio challenges are a great reason-why for a temporary price reduction.

      "The audio on this version isn't what we wanted, and we're having the videos redone. When they're ready, the price will go from $X to $X+, and this special will be gone forever..."

      Something like that, anyway.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
    Originally Posted by Marcus Rockey View Post

    But it was actually a close friend that told it to me straight - ''you just sound off in all those videos you've created''.
    Get a second opinion.

    Especially, if it's a friend that isn't a marketer or product creator.

    If it truly is only the sound, then rip the sound off and redo that, don't scrap the videos.

    Get a number of people to review at least one of the videos and then take all that feedback on board to see where to go from here.
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    MOST people DON'T KNOW HOW TO TEACH! ALSO, there are a LOT of ways to do things. MANY teach things that are just WRONG, ODD, OBSOLETE, etc....

    So what you SHOULD have done was come up with a nice format about WHAT to teach and how, and a number of techniques and methods to teach. You THEN should have done one and had a few friends review it. ALSO, different programs, media, and methods are MADE to alter quality. So review things how you plan to produce it.

    That is ANOTHER thing. Videos may change based on FPS, compression, methods, etc... That SAME thing can affect sound ALSO. OFTEN, that stuff is settable, but they are options.

    As for headsets, there are no real standards. Some simply aren't made for quality.

    I have NO idea why tina said "Especially, if it's a friend that isn't a marketer or product creator.". Other than having experience with USING the product taugh, or similar videos, NO experience really matters here in giving an opinion.

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
      Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

      I have NO idea why tina said "Especially, if it's a friend that isn't a marketer or product creator.". Other than having experience with USING the product taugh, or similar videos, NO experience really matters here in giving an opinion.
      I said that because often our real-world 'friends' are our biggest detractors when we get started. That person may be reacting to the perceived difference in their friend and not to any lack of quality with the video. The OP said he was 'off' in the video. That sounds more like unfamiliarity and reaction to a new role then actual feedback to me.
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    • Profile picture of the author Marcus Rockey
      Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

      MOST people DON'T KNOW HOW TO TEACH! ALSO, there are a LOT of ways to do things. MANY teach things that are just WRONG, ODD, OBSOLETE, etc....

      So what you SHOULD have done was come up with a nice format about WHAT to teach and how, and a number of techniques and methods to teach. You THEN should have done one and had a few friends review it. ALSO, different programs, media, and methods are MADE to alter quality. So review things how you plan to produce it.

      That is ANOTHER thing. Videos may change based on FPS, compression, methods, etc... That SAME thing can affect sound ALSO. OFTEN, that stuff is settable, but they are options.

      As for headsets, there are no real standards. Some simply aren't made for quality.

      I have NO idea why tina said "Especially, if it's a friend that isn't a marketer or product creator.". Other than having experience with USING the product taugh, or similar videos, NO experience really matters here in giving an opinion.

      Steve
      What hurt most was the comments about my voice tone, couple with the work already invested.

      I've been mentoring for seven years in the offline world so when I started making a nice income online I naturally fell into helping others to do the same. The two kinda went hand in hand.

      I am always trying to entice newcomers to IM from offline marketing so the opinion of my friend who has zero experience online seemed quite relevant.

      Thanks all.
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  • Profile picture of the author Troy_Phillips
    Must agree with Tina and John on this one. Is this friend an authority? I have bought video from people that hardly spoke English ... the nuggets were well worth overlooking the bad audio.

    It is seldom about presentation but more about the information.
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  • Profile picture of the author jasonl70
    The audio quality will not effect sales.. nobody will hear it until after they have already purchased.

    At which point, If you deliver the info you promised in the sales letter, people will be plenty happy..

    do NOT get caught in the perfection trap.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    3 months and a $40 headset?

    Last year I invested 12 months and $3,000 into a product that only made a handful of sales.

    I could've easily have just given up right there and then.

    Here's what I learnt ---> MONEY LOVES SPEED.

    Put products together FAST. From now on, I'll be creating products in a matter of weeks, or even days - not months.
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    • Profile picture of the author KevinDahlberg
      Originally Posted by John Romaine View Post

      3 months and a $40 headset?

      Last year I invested 12 months and $3,000 into a product that only made a handful of sales.

      I could've easily have just given up right there and then.

      Here's what I learnt ---> MONEY LOVES SPEED.

      Put products together FAST. From now on, I'll be creating products in a matter of weeks, or even days - not months.
      I've been in the middle of trying to figure out how long to go before I release my first product. "Money Loves Speed" just reminded me that I needed to get it out NOW.

      To the OP, thanks for the cautionary tale. When I do my first video program I gotta make sure my audio is good. Hopefully the rework turns out better.
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      • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
        Originally Posted by KevinDahlberg View Post

        I've been in the middle of trying to figure out how long to go before I release my first product. "Money Loves Speed" just reminded me that I needed to get it out NOW.
        Kevin, I made the mistake of trying to make my product "perfect", and that turned out to be a huge mistake. More videos, more audios, pdfs, worksheets and more. It took so much time, money and energy that it left me exhausted.

        Please dont make the same mistake I made.

        Instead, just get it out there.

        If it makes money, great, if it flops, then you havent killed yourself putting it together.
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    • Profile picture of the author SurrealPSD
      Originally Posted by John Romaine View Post

      3 months and a $40 headset?

      Last year I invested 12 months and $3,000 into a product that only made a handful of sales.

      I could've easily have just given up right there and then.

      Here's what I learnt ---> MONEY LOVES SPEED.

      Put products together FAST. From now on, I'll be creating products in a matter of weeks, or even days - not months.

      haha, I watched your video when you explained this saga in full detail. I hear ya, and Im definitely getting my product moving faster as a result.

      You seem like a kool bloke
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  • Profile picture of the author jasonl70
    John mccabe had a good idea, which made me think..
    maybe release what you have, telling your list it's a "scratch-and-dent" type sale, that you're re-recording some of the video (not because it's bad, but because you have better equipment now and because you're a perfectionist you wanted to immediately re-do it all) - and that they can't get the current ones at a huge deal Tell them the caveat is this - you want feedback on the content (for even more "reason why" psychology)
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  • Profile picture of the author chasnsx
    The real question is, was your friend addressing the way you sound, or the content of the videos when he said you were just sounding off? You have to have some meaningful content in order to get people to pay attention, and get them to buy your product, but your friends are not the right ones to judge this. In my day job I learned a long time ago to maintain a strict line between clients and friends, because letting anybody cross the line in either direction meant that I ended up working for free.

    Get some videos out there, and get some real reactions from some folks whose money you are actually asking for. If you want people to open their pocketbooks, you are going to have to take a few lumps on the way there.

    And if your friend doesn't sell for a living, he doesn't know anything you need to know anyway. Keep him around for beers after work, but keep the work focused on the work.
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  • Profile picture of the author jlcs
    People's opinion is sometimes good or bad. And I most importantly is your determination and judgment. Keep it on, friend!
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  • Profile picture of the author Marcus Rockey
    My friend is not a marketer, no experience here. He was talking about voice tone and a little mechanical.

    This was hard to take but needed really.

    I had one of the videos reviewed by 7 warriors. 6 said the sound quality was really bad. The sh and p sounds in particular. Funny thing was it did sound ok to me.

    All warriors enjoyed the content and said they learned new stuff that was valuable to them.

    I like the idea of a price reduction due to sound quality and redoing video's as I go along.

    The content is for a membership site. Sure perfectionism is in my way here.

    Points noted and I need to leverage the work I've already done.

    Thanks
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    • Profile picture of the author Troy_Phillips
      Originally Posted by Marcus Rockey View Post

      My friend is not a marketer, no experience here. He was talking about voice tone and a little mechanical.

      This was hard to take but needed really.

      I had one of the videos reviewed by 7 warriors. 6 said the sound quality was really bad. The sh and p sounds in particular. Funny thing was it did sound ok to me.

      All warriors enjoyed the content and said they learned new stuff that was valuable to them.

      I like the idea of a price reduction due to sound quality and redoing video's as I go along.

      The content is for a membership site. Sure perfectionism is in my way here.

      Points noted and I need to leverage the work I've already done.

      Thanks
      I don't know Marcus .. instead of going down in price I believe I would go the opposite. You get the real Marcus .. warts and all. Never sell yourself short. If the info you have is original .. no one else has it .. higher price demanded.
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  • Profile picture of the author miklanderson2
    Transcribe the videos into text and place the transcript below the video. Then if people are having trouble with the audio and it's really as bad as you think it is, they can get the same information in written form.
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