Folks often come to me as Video Maestro wanting to master video to compete online, since 85% or more of their competitors are putting videos regularly online.

They come to me specifically for a “Video Makeover,” where I work with them to eliminate all the distracting things they do on camera and then master the handful of professional techniques that create authority and trust.

Yet videos are only as good as the clarity and emotional power of your message.

If your message doesn’t connect with your ideal prospect’s needs and push their emotional hot buttons, looking and sounding great on camera still won’t get you where you want to be.

In fact, most online entrepreneurs waste most of the time and money invested in their marketing videos because they aren’t focused on a clear vision that results in a workable plan.

Imagine that a super wealthy businessman sent you out into the desert of the U.S. Southwest on a treasure hunt, but you’re not given any clear, specific clues or guidelines before you take off, such as…

• What exactly you’re looking for…
• Where exactly it may be…
• How you’ll know when you find “it”…
• How to get “it” safely back to your home…and
• What value “it” might be to you.

Who in their right minds would undertake such a blind, wild-goose-chase adventure and ever expect to find anything of value, or to make a single Lincoln penny for all the effort and expense?

And yet SO many people jump online and wander from program to program, guru to guru, spending tons of money and literally years looking for secrets to that pot of gold that will pay their bills and give them a leisurely life from now on.

When they do it without the right plan, most of them fail.

You can’t execute a detailed plan that’s just the right approach for you if you don’t have one clearly in mind and on paper.

In the “big picture” of making money, here’s what I see as the three main steps to succeeding online, and all of them rely on video as a major tool for sharing their vision:

ONE – Laser-Focused VISION for Your Ideal Path to Thriving

TWO – Transformative VALUE of a Core Program/Service That Actually Delivers the Promised Results

THREE – VISIBILITY to Expose Your Life-Changing Value to Your Ideal Prospects

Let’s focus on VISION in this post – because without it, we’re all flying blind with little chance of competing online.

Max De Pree, an expert in leadership and business building, said that the first question for a leader of any venture is “Not ‘What are we going to do?’ but ‘Who do we intend to be?’”

The “Why” of your life’s endeavors should dictate what to do, and not the other way around.

Let me break the critical foundation of VISION into its practical parts:

1 – What do I love to do, and what is my authentic style of doing? If you don’t love your work, you won’t bounce out of bed to do it every day, and you won’t last through all the problems over time.

2 – Who exactly do I want to serve and help? If you’re trying to be everyone’s solution, you’ll be nobody’s real solution.

3 – What is my ideal customer’s major challenge, in his/her words? If you’re marketing with all your own clever words and not the ones your ideal prospects use to search the Net for a solution, you’re not engaging with your ideal customer.

4 – What is my unique solution that makes me an expert in my niche? If your solution doesn’t sound like the ONLY one that will work, you won’t stand out from the crowd.

5 – What are the elements of my signature brand that will attract my ideal customers? If you don’t have a magnetic brand, you’ll be hearing crickets instead of getting sales.

6 – What is my specific business plan for success?  Shy away from a detailed, measurable, traditional business plan and you have no realistic, dependable way to get where you want to be.

When you can answer each of the six questions above with laser-focused clarity and certainty, you have a VISION that will motivate and drive you day by day to achieve your specific goals.

Now you’re in the driver’s seat.  You’re in charge of a process you understand and really love doing. Your video messages have clear focus, connect with your ideal prospects’ needs, and are effective funnels to bring in new business.

That’s when it ceases to be work and becomes a life you love.

Video is the #1 tool to HOOK your ideal prospects’ interest…ENGAGE with them as a trustworthy authority…RELATE with your “hero” story as someone who’s been there and figured it out…PROVE it works with key testimonials of social proof…and DRAW into your sales funnel to get them to buy and be in your tribe.

Before you get on camera again or record video to attract new business, be able to answer the six questions above so your work will count.

Then you’ll be ready for my makeover process, to get you looking and sounding like the go-to expert in your niche every single time you’re on camera.

Just sayin’.