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Lessons from an epic fail

6am. My alarm goes off.

At 10am I need to be at the station to catch a train to Gatwick airport.

I'd promised the team I'd record a mini Free Training course for them while I was out of town for the coming week.

If I filmed it now, it could be edited by the time I was back. That was too good of an opportunity to miss.

By the time I’m set up to film it’s 7am.

Just 3 hours to record a Free Training course?

Let's do it.

That’s in the bag. I’m packed, it’s scripted, it's got to be enough time.

I check everything. From how the plant pot is angled in the background, to crucially, that the camera’s focus is on my face.

Camera battery? Check. 100% full.

Microphone battery? Also full and the receiver is firing.

So what could go wrong?

1 hour 47 mins later I’m done. It was a 45-minute course but I did multiple takes as I'm still getting back into my groove.

Besides, I want this to be good. The goal is to have this as a set-and-forget resource that can help people over time.

I check the footage.

🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

When I sat down the focus was perfectly on my face, but one minute in I moved slightly to the right, and it focused on the plant pot instead.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Bad audio you can maybe fix... but no AI tool can change the focus from a plant pot to my face.

It's not use-able.

Time to reset - I have 55 minutes left to film a 45-minute course.

Here goes nothing.

By some miracle I one-take that bad boy, pack up, throw myself into the car, and make the train on time for the second moment of truth.

I put the SD card into my laptop and…

It happened again.

It's bloomin' happened again.

I now feel stressed af - the morning is wasted - and my head’s pounding from the early start.

I get to the airport and I'm sitting at my gate wondering how on earth do I salvage this (yes I've been told I'm stubborn)

I can't be empty-handed here.

I find the closest airport lounge, pay £25 to get in, head straight to the meeting room, put up a "Reserved" sign, and start moving the furniture around.

I filmed the training for the 3rd time in the airport lounge, pausing every 10 minutes as a plane quite literally went over my head.

To share a lesson from this stressful experience I'd say:

1. Always check the focus on your camera (obvious takeaway)
2. There's always a solution. If you know you're creating something of value, be happy with whatever form it takes

I'll share that Free Training with you as soon as it's edited.

It's good. I should know - I feel filmed it 3x times!

In the meantime, I'm grinding 12+ hour days right now working on the first ever cohort of my personal branding course.

We're only launching to the waitlist as this is an exclusive chance to join as a Founding Member and learn from myself and the team directly over 4-weeks.

Can't wait for our public launch?

P.S. Waitlist members are getting extra emails jam-packed with value. Don't miss out on those.

P.S.S. I'd say paying £25 to film you free training was a good ROI. Would you?

Talk soon,