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Hey everybody! Michael Gebben here and I'm super excited to be with you on another rockin'
Wednesday.
So, I'm really fired up today to talk to you about something that... I've been doing a
lot of these strategy sessions with videographers and I also just spoke recently in a University
and there's this idea out there that there's no opportunity, that everything's so competitive.
No matter what you're doing, no matter who you are in life, that it's difficult to get
a job. It's so competitive. There are so many other people out there. How do I succeed?
How do I succeed in life? My motto in how to succeed in life, "Think outside of the
box."
In reality that's very cliché. And I know that there are a lot of things sometimes that
I say that are kind of cliché. But the more I've experienced life and the more that I've
experienced extremely high performers, it's so true. Now, I wanna tell you the three different
areas that I think people fit into but how that you, if you fall into the third one,
you will crush it.
The first area is this area that literally we'll spend much time on. It's the area where
you're way down here and you don't do anything. You just sit around everyday hoping that the
phone's gonna ring or an email's gonna come in, or someone's gonna be on your door with
the publisher's clearing house and you've won the lottery. Something that's just gonna
fall out off the sky, these opportunities. That level, nothing will ever happen for you
and yes, it's completely competitive and like I said, nothing will ever happen.
Level #2, this is the area, this is the area that most fall into. This is what I feel the
box is. This professor brought up to me, like a lot of people don't even know what the box
is. Maybe these kids in college or in highschool... they don't even know what the box looks like
so they don't know how to think outside of it. Well, I'm gonna tell you for just a second
what that box looks like. The box looks like when the professor tells me... they've got
a class that teaches people how to put resumes together. That my friend, is the box. That's
just one element. But the box is what everybody else is doing. Everybody. If you fall in the
category of just following the trend of what everybody's doing, it's gonna be really difficult.
It's really, really, really competitive. I'm gonna use the example of a videographer or
a photographer here for a second just to paint a picture for you guys. Everybody in that
area is able to acquire what I'm even shooting in right now. It's a Canon DSLR we'll say
-- to take photos or to do video. Everybody's got that. After doing all these strategy sessions,
everybody's saying that everybody's got these cameras, it's so difficult, because I can
charge a premium and they sit here and talked to these different people and the thing I
get asked over and over and over again, the first thing I get asked, "How much does it
cost?" I tell people, well that's all people know what to ask. There are all these other
things that they're thinking but they're not gonna ask you. They're not gonna ask you,
"Are you a nice guy?" "Are you gonna be easy to work with?" "Are you gonna be fun?" "Are
you gonna do the right job?" "Are you gonna show up on time?" They're typically not gonna
ask those things. They're gonna ask you the only thing they know what to ask and that's
how much it is. So many of us wanna go right to that spot of telling someone how much something
is. But here's the thing, if you talk to 5 different people and yes, they all use similar
cameras and their work all look similar, there might be some nuances. To us, the creatives,
we might be able to tell the difference but to the client, they might not be able to.
So you see all these work, they look all the same or similar. And then they see prices
that are all over the board. But if all you've done is painting a picture of you have this
gear, how many days, okay it costs this, they're gonna go, "Well, I just talked to this guy
and he said it was $500 cheaper. So we lose everyday to the cheapest guy. Every day. And
that's where we're going, "Oh my god it's so competitive. I just can't compete." And
now, I did say in a previous video, that I believe personality trumps talent. I wanna
tie that in here for a second. Because what I believe in this world is although that's
true and I'll tie tie that in, you still have to strive for excellence with your work. You
still have to stand out.
That brings me to my third category. That idea of being outside the box, that idea of
not doing what everybody else is doing. Be different. If you were applying, we'll bring
the photographer/ videographer thing here back in a second. But if let's say you were
applying for the job that's super competitive, if they get 500 resumes, what are they gonna
do? They're gonna look and they all look the same and then when they find something different,
unique, something that stands out, that's gonna bring that one to the forefront. That's
what you wanna do. Do something.
I even had a buddy recently where instead of doing cold calls or cold emails, they had
a handwritten letter that they had to have signed, Fedex to a place and that got them
the call, that got them in the door. It stood out because no one was doing that. So there
are things out there that you can do right now that no one else is doing. Let's tie back
to the photographer/ videographer. Instead of being like everybody else and just immediately
telling them the price and then they're going, "Well, I found somebody else cheaper." Be
the guy who is not just the creative, not just the person who has the gear and the technology
and can make a video. You've got to become something more than that. That work still
has to be excellent. And then you as a person have to be stand out. You have to be passionate
about what you do in any field. And then thirdly, you wanna bring massive value in other areas.
Divert the attention off the price. The price is not important. You want to create and paint
this picture of how you're gonna be able to get the result for that person. That's what
they want. They want the result of whether you are making more money for their business,
whatever it is, they want that result. Then there are all those other things that you
have to overcome in the conversation is they can tell you're passionate about. They can
tell that you're an expert. They can tell that you know what you're doing. They can
tell that you're gonna show up, all these different things. That is so vitally important,
that you divert the attention away from the price and you bring it to all these other
things and how you're the expert. You're not just a video guy who makes video. You're the
video marketing guy, like you understand how they can utilize that video, how you're truly
gonna help them, how that photography campaign is really gonna help them or how you, if you
come in to that job, you are gonna blow away everybody else and you're so confident about
it, not arrogant but confident in your ability to give them a result that they want. That
is vitally, vitally important.
I recently did an interview for a podcast that I'm gonna be launching here soon with
Michael Port. And you'll get to see it in there but I got to plug in this nugget for
this because I asked him. I said I believe that personality will trump talent. And we
both agree that you've got to be on that certain level still. You just can't produce down here.
You still gotta produce at a certain level but you won't exponentially grow beyond that
level. You wanna get more and more work because you're exponentially greater than that. You
still need to hit a certain level but then the rest has to be focused on you. And what's
so interesting to me is that what he said was that basically, he talked to two other
people besides me. So I'm glad I got this job. I was referred to by a friend of mine.
So I got the job but he talked to two other people. Both of them were highly referred
from trusted friends and both of them had equal or better work than I did. But the reality
was, I connected with his vision more than the others did. This is what he told me. This
was out of his mouth. That I connected more, like he felt that I was that right fit, like
I would get him, I would ultimately create the best video for him because I got what
he really needed to the core. I wasn't just gonna make a great video. I was gonna really
get his message like to a tee out there so that it really resonates with his crowd. That's
just the thing that I hammered home that albeit you're still gonna have great work and referrals
are great too. But you as a person has to be a stand out. You as a person has to demonstrate
that value and I've done it over and over and over again in my life.
That's the big thing I want for you guys. I want you to know that you've got to still
be excellent. Don't settle. The print in my shirt says "Never Settle." If you want that
charge in life, if you want that enthusiasm, that excitement, that stuff that lights you
up. I'm always learning. I'm always moving forward. I'm always pressing the max because
that charges me. That lights me up. I don't just go, "Okay, I'm good." That doesn't light
people up. Just keep pushing. Guys, just keep pushing forward. Remember that talent is very,
very important and you still need to strive for excellence but at the same time, focus
on you. That's what these videos are about. Focus on you and you becoming excellent too
and outstanding, an outstanding human being who can show their value to the people that
they're dealing with no matter what it is that you're doing. And if you can do that
and focus on creating great work, being an excellent human being that provides massive
value to people and gives them the result they're looking for, price will not matter.
All these other things with all these competition will not matter because you'll be light years
above everybody else because this area in the middle, this everybody's got a camera,
everybody's got this or everybody's putting a resume, everybody's doing the same thing,
everybody's in the box, that is ultra competitive and you'll have a difficult time. But you
just jump to that next level and I promise you guys, there's a much smaller group of
people in that level and you will be able to crush it.
So rock and roll my friends. I truly appreciate you so much and be sure to SHARE this with
your friends. We've got some super exciting things coming up here in the future and if
you haven't checked out Gebbs Juice from my daily little audios, check that out in the
description but also remember to SUBSCRIBE because we have a new video every Wednesday
bringing the fire and I'm super excited. Thank you guys so much. Rock the week and we'll
see you next week. Take care.