Get Started with Live Streaming: Essential Tips

Tanya Smith [00:01:01]:
Alright. Alright. What's up, everybody? It's Tanya here, Tanya Smith. And this is Stream Like a Boss TV. So I am super excited and thrilled to be back with you. It is Thursday. I kinda missed being here with you. I think it's been at least a week, maybe 2, where we have had a little bit of a hiatus, but it was much needed.

Tanya Smith [00:01:24]:
I promise you. But I am super glad to be back. And tonight, what we're gonna do is to take things back to the boss, because sometimes that's what we need to do. We're gonna talk a little bit about live streaming a, so the essentials. And this is really going to be excellent for those of you who are brand new to live streaming or for those of you who need a little bit of a refresher about some of the more essential things that we do and that we need to incorporate into our stream if we're streaming for business. So that's the focus. With Stream Like a Boss TV, what we focus on is helping service providers. So that's coaches, consultants, course creators, you name it.

Tanya Smith [00:02:07]:
If you're providing a service, we help you to go from crickets to clients and cash so that you can stand out, sell more services, and really serve more a. Because to me, live streaming is all about service. It's about part of extending your service as a service provider. So what I'm gonna do real quick here is double check a few things to make sure that we are on and pop in in all of the spaces where we need to be. I did have a few little connection issues initially. It looks like we're we're here. If you're here with me, let me know where you're from. And for those of you who have been here for a long time with me, for family, you know to type in hashtag o g.

Tanya Smith [00:02:50]:
If you're brand brand brand spanking new and you've never been to one of our videos, I want you to type in hashtag newbie. That's how we do right here. So I am broadcasting in a couple of different places. I'm on LinkedIn. I'm on Facebook, and I'm definitely on YouTube. That's typically where I like to spend my time mostly is on YouTube, but we definitely stream into all of those places because we have fam in each of those areas too. So I'll talk about that. That's one of the things we'll cover tonight as I go through a little bit of a mini master class with you on the basics of live streaming.

Tanya Smith [00:03:26]:
So if you're here, type in hashtag newbie If you're brand new, I see a newbie. Hey, chef. What's up? From Hotlanta in the house. What's up? And if you've been here before, type in hashtag OG. Alright. Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm going to give you a few seconds to go ahead and get yourself together. Make sure you grab your notepad and your pen, your favorite cup of hydration.

Tanya Smith [00:03:53]:
And while you do that, I'm gonna play a really super short video. And when we come back on the other side, we're gonna dive into this content thing and talk about live streaming essentials and get you all set up. Here we go again. What's a? Learning with Mark Warren, who is an OG in the house. Like, Let me give you that applause. Carlos Tacos, you're back. You're not a newbie. You're an OG.

Tanya Smith [00:04:18]:
You a. A by Retelia, good to see you. An absolute wonder that Stacey Moore in the house. Actually, doctor Stacey Moore as we know now. Right? So a, welcome, welcome to the broadcast. Okay. I'll be right back on the other side of this video, and we're gonna do a deeper dive into the power of live streaming and get you super excited about it like I am, because I do I love this this form of media, and I didn't start out that way. So I'll talk a little bit about that as well.

Tanya Smith [00:04:49]:
Alright? Here we go. Alrighty, folks. We are back. We are here, and I'm super, super thrilled. I can't tell y'all how much fun this is, but it's fun for me to be able to come and share with you. And I'm gonna do a couple of really, I think, some cool things that will help you to see the power of what you're able to do when you have the right streaming platform for you and you have the things in place. So one of the things I'm gonna do, which I never do, is I'm gonna switch cameras a little bit so that you can kinda see what is possible when you're doing lives, when you are set up in a way that is gonna be effective for you and for the style a what you wanna present yourself. So I'm gonna have a little bit of fun tonight.

Tanya Smith [00:06:02]:
We're gonna do some fun things. But, additionally, what I will do is share with you the three main points that I wanna cover tonight. Okay? Now if you've got questions, if you've got comments, if there's anything you want me to expand on further, I want you to pop that into the chat because this is for you. This is not about me. This is for you. So if you've got something that you need me to clarify or something a question that I've not answered during the content that we're gonna be talking about today, I want you to ask that a, and let's see if we can get you some help. Okay? So the main thing I'm gonna cover, these are 3 specific points that I really wanna focus on and dive in with you about today. So first of all, why? Why the heck should you even care about live streaming at all? Because there's so many other different forms of media.

Tanya Smith [00:06:51]:
We hear people talking about podcasting all the time. We hear people talking about blogging. There are a number of different ways that you can actually use media of some type to get yourself out there on the Internet stream. Right? So that you can be visible, get noticed, and, you know, start earning revenue because of what you're sharing. I wanna also talk about tools and platforms. So we're gonna talk about the basics of tools that you need, platforms you can choose from, and then also destinations. Destinations streaming the social spaces where you want to broadcast. So we're gonna talk about that.

Tanya Smith [00:07:30]:
And then finally, we're gonna do a little bit of a dive into planning for success. So I wanna talk about how to help you to not just get on live and just go, but also to put some planning in place so that you can be consistent, so that you can be successful, so that you can see the fruits of your labor, because a me, it's work. This is not super simple. I know sometimes we make it look a little bit easy, but it becomes simpler. It becomes easier for you to do as you go over time a you get more confident as you become more competent in what you're doing as you arrange your stream a and you put all these different things in place. So we'll talk a little bit about that. I'm gonna try to keep it high level because we will end, before the end of the hour, I think. But it depends on your questions and what you need help with.

Tanya Smith [00:08:25]:
Okay? So I've got an agenda, of being live that you get to ask your a, and I can answer them for you. Now if you're watching the replay, I want you to type in hash hashtag replay so that I don't miss that you were here for the replay. And if you got questions, I'll be coming back over the coming, you know, days. I do monitor my inbox to make sure that I'm responding, so feel free to type in your question or your chat, if you are watching the replay, but just type a hashtag replay for me if you're here for that. Okay? Alright. So let's talk a little bit about why. Why should you even care? First of all, why am I talking about this topic today? So live streaming is one of my favorite things to do these days. It was not years ago because I found myself struggling with trying to stand out online, and I I think I do.

Tanya Smith [00:09:30]:
I'm gonna pull up some like, actually, from a presentation that I've done. I'll pull up a few of these, just some of the key slides because I think it will help drive home some points. It's also gonna drive home the point that I wanna make about live streaming a that one of your best effective tools is to really be switching up your scenes so that you can capture attention and keep attention on you, right, and on the content that you're sharing. Let me say hello to a few folks before we move any further. I gotta do that. I wanna acknowledge a of all, Dan Roth in the house. What's up, sir? He said, Carlos, I've seen you before. You ain't no newbie.

Tanya Smith [00:10:12]:
Carlos Tacos. You know I always gotta give Carlos Tacos some pub. I'm sorry. I got a little bit of a allergy thing going. So I have been a little bit out of breath today, but we'll work through that. So Carlos Tacos in the house. Marcia Baker, what's a? OG, hashtag OG. A Live, hot hello from Atlanta.

Tanya Smith [00:10:33]:
I got some Atlanta folks in the house. I am loving it. I am loving it. Beyonce of live streaming. Dude, that's funny. Let me go ahead and put Mark Warren up because I wanna acknowledge you from earlier this today. And then Chef Keturah, good to see you. So we got Hotlanta's all up in the house.

Tanya Smith [00:10:53]:
I'm loving this. Good to see each and every one of you. Alright. So let's take it back to the topic at hand, and I'll talk to you a little bit about why. So one of the things, that I will confess and I'm gonna pop this up so that you can kinda see it a I'll walk you through it. But I'm gonna confess this Again, didn't care one lick about being on video. So years ago, before I started doing live streaming regularly, my thought was, how can I do video and keep myself off of the camera? And so I would do all kinds of things to do this. I would read over.

Tanya Smith [00:11:34]:
I do voice over live, so I'd have my PowerPoint at the time for a Google slide deck. I do whatever I could. I actually I had somebody create a caricature a caricature of me, which a lot of people are doing now with AI. Right? But I had someone, a company, and I can't think of their name right now, Graphic A. Graphic A, they created a caricature of me that I use for videos, and I would simply talk. Right? So I'd use my voice, but you would not see my face. So when I tell you that I was not the first one running to the door saying I wanted to do video, I'm being for real. So here's, a few of my confessions.

Tanya Smith [00:12:20]:
Let me pop this up real fast. Video was the last thing I wanted to do. I am an introvert on the scale for MBTI or Myers Briggs, which I talk about now with live streaming archetypes. If you haven't taken that quiz, I'll make sure you get that link. I'm an introvert and INTJ. My first on camera video was horrible. So when I first decided to do this, if you look at the video that I did where I braved, I I was brave, and I got on a, it was really bad quality. Like, the resolution was bad.

Tanya Smith [00:13:01]:
The microphone was bad. Could barely hear me. I was in and out. It was crazy. It was nuts. But I still did it, and I hated it. And I didn't do one for a while. I kept thinking it was too hard.

Tanya Smith [00:13:15]:
I kept thinking I wasn't perfect enough. I kept thinking that I needed to look like or be like someone else. And I think there that sometimes those type of thoughts, not sometimes, all of the time, those type of thoughts are holding you back from doing what you should be doing and being who you should become. K? So I couldn't figure out what I needed to do in order to improve my revenue generation. What I was finding is that a, it worked fine to be able to just do audio. I was doing podcasts. I I had a podcast called Snack Size Marketing. I was doing telesummits.

Tanya Smith [00:13:55]:
A of the first ways that I actually grew my brand at the live, it was on Twitter, is by hosting the Women of Color A. And it was a summit that had people from all over the world, speakers from all over the world that were sharing tips to help women of color to be able to be promoted in their boss. Because being a corporate person myself and having faced certain challenges, that was near and dear to my heart at the time. So anything I could do with audio, I was good with. But what I realized at some point is that I needed to do something dramatically different because I was losing organic reach. I was taking a nosedive on all of my socials. Like, it was doing nothing. It was dead.

Tanya Smith [00:14:43]:
Some of you are thinking that right now, that your socials are completely dead a you don't know why you're there. And if that's you, if you're like, I don't know why I'm still doing social media because it's not helping me at all, I want you to type in a one in the comments. Type in a one if that's you because that's probably a lot of us. What I ended up a, and I'm gonna see if I can find this live. And if I can't, I'm just gonna say it out loud for you. But, basically, the gist of the message that I found myself repeatedly telling myself because I saw it a, I found it, I'm gonna pop it up, It's this message right here. This is one of several mantras that I adopted as I started doing live streaming, and I'm gonna get to the point of why this matters in just a second. But here it is.

Tanya Smith [00:15:39]:
When you do the things that others don't, you get the opportunities that others won't. This is this is true. Think about it. So when you find yourself thinking, how do I compete with all the noise? One of the things that you can do as part of your strategy is to consider how do I stand out and be uniquely me, differentiate myself from the pack of other people that may be saying something similar or selling something similar to what I do. And so my thought was, okay. Well, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna research, and I'm gonna see what the social feeds are telling people they need to do. And what I discovered is that, especially at that time, it was really new still. But they're saying livestream.

Tanya Smith [00:16:31]:
The social platforms are coaching, you need to go live. And I resisted because I was like, I don't wanna do that. But I also realized I needed to make a change. I needed to do to do something dramatically different that would be effective in helping me to really boost my visibility. And since a lot of people will say no, when you say yes to something like video and especially live streaming, then that can be an edge that other people don't have. So I'm gonna share with you really quickly a slide that talks about benefits of live streaming for you, especially if you're a service business. Here's 3 big ones, but then I'll also speak a little bit from the heart and tell you where this helped me the most. So let me pop this one up for you.

Tanya Smith [00:17:26]:
Y'all, when you think about it and and I'm gonna make this differentiator. The differentiation between live streaming and prerecorded video or on demand video is real. Okay? You get to decide though or choose. So I'm gonna tell you right now, I'm not saying to you everybody should be going live, everybody should be doing x. That's not the way that I work. And for those of you who are, like, in my community, you know this. But what I wanna do is to give you another perspective if you haven't been thinking about live stream, because here's the thing that you do need to know. First of all, it can give you increased reach, more so than traditional video content.

Tanya Smith [00:18:11]:
Why? Because when you pop up on live, people get notified that may or may not have even known who you were. They're getting notified. They get a chance to take a look and see, okay. Let me scan this title. Oh, that looks like something I might be interested in. And the feeds are actually so the algorithms are actually saying, okay. Based on the consistency of this person doing these live videos, it looks like the topic or the theme of what they talk about is this, and it could be useful for this person over here. Right? So you have the potential for increased reach.

Tanya Smith [00:18:48]:
You have the ability to be able to build an engaged audience around a topic or topics that you talk about. And by engagement, what I mean is that what you're doing is you're creating a situation where people are able to gather and and have like minds for maybe not even like minds. Maybe there's some differences there, which is fine, but they are talking. You're talking right now, right, through a chat. I I see you. I acknowledge you. Thank you. What's up? I see you.

Tanya Smith [00:19:23]:
Erica A, Talk Virtual is here in the house. Tanya Fisher agreed with me on the number one. I don't even know why I'm here on social media if it's not effective. Yeah. I get you. So when I was thinking of ways to actually stand out and differentiate, one of the things that I had to do was to dig deep and say, okay. Well, I'm gonna pull this out. I'm gonna come out of my shell, a up out of my introverted nature, and do the thing that others won't so that I get the opportunity that others don't.

Tanya Smith [00:19:58]:
And what it did for me is it allowed me to be able to create an audience where I was able to build trust and credibility because I showed up every week consistently talking about something in within a bucket of content. So my content pillars were clear. What I wanted to talk about was clear, a how it could impact them in their lives a their business a. Not just the business, but also the life. Right? So I believe that it truly is a highly effective tool as you saw there on the live. But here's the other thing I'm gonna tell you personally that you won't see on the slide. Personally, what this thing did, and it will do this too if you're a public speaker or someone who's seeking to become 1. So doctor Will Moreland will tell you this, boom, you will notice that the more you put your self out there in front of the public, the same public that you're worried about judging you, because people will judge.

Tanya Smith [00:21:00]:
It's gonna happen, but they're doing it anyway. Give them something to talk about. That same exercise of you putting yourself out there and being true to yourself and having something of value to share, something that you believe in, something that you're passionate about and enthusiastic about talking about, doing that over and over and over again begins to build this muscle. For me, it began to build this muscle where, first of all, I got a thicker skin, because you will. Right? You start learning how to bet off the haters. Secondly, technical skills, those were enhanced. And on a personal a, within my family space, my family unit, I have 2 daughters, they saw mom is out here doing this. Well, you know what? I can speak up for myself too.

Tanya Smith [00:21:58]:
So the growth, the personal growth and development of doing live streaming has been huge over the years. The more I've done this, the more I've been able to speak out for myself. The less afraid, the more courageous I am to get on stages like real like stages in real like, where you're really seeing people face to face. And it has become something that I enjoy coaching. But it didn't start that way. So if you're, like, sitting here and you're thinking, yeah, that's her, but that's not me. She seems so easy with this. It didn't start out that way y'all.

Tanya Smith [00:22:34]:
I didn't have a beautiful studio like I have now. Right? This took time, and it may take time for you. So the why is because it will do all those things and more if you put yourself out there and you're consistent. When I look at the question of a for service businesses, if I wanted to give you like a concise answer about what this can do for you as a coach for a consultant or a course creator or anybody that's in a field where you're serving and not necessarily selling a product. It builds authentic connections with your audience that can boost your engagement and and help cut the corners. Because I don't know if you know the old saying still exists today that people buy from people they know, like, and trust. K? We've heard that over and over again. And there used to be a really long tail, but you and it still can happen this way.

Tanya Smith [00:23:35]:
So let me say that, especially as a coach. I've had people that have said, hey. I've watched you for the last 3 years, and I decided now is my time, which is great. But live streaming and showing up for people and interacting with them can really help them to know, like, and trust you much faster than simply through email and some of the other more traditional methods like blogging. So I want you to really think about how can I leverage this? So here's my question. Have you tried live streaming in your business yet? If you have, I want you to find a hand raise emoji and pop that into the chat. I wanna see how many people have actually gone live. If you haven't, you don't have to put an emoji at all.

Tanya Smith [00:24:20]:
But I'm just curious, Let me know in the comments if you have at least done a stream. Just one. And that means that you published it and people saw it. Not that you got on your camera or your phone, push live, and then deleted it. No. No. No. I'm talking about those of you who actually did a live.

Tanya Smith [00:24:46]:
I wanna know how many of you have done this. Okay? Now let's talk a little bit about the getting started and the essential tools, because, hopefully, I've given you enough around what I believe is truly reason for you doing live. Oh, let me say this. I forgot to say this, but I need to say this. Okay. Carlos, I got that hand. I see you. One thing that I did not mention, but this is really this is a good it's a nugget for you too.

Tanya Smith [00:25:18]:
When you go live, it's cheaper than doing video on demand. Why? Because a this is something I love to talk about all the time. When you go live, it is what it is. What you see is what you get. So if I mess up, if you hear the Amazon guy, I used to have a lot of dogs at this point in time. It's quiet in the house. But if you hear all of that going on, you know it's real. Like, it's happening in real time a on demand and produced videos where you probably need to put effort and time into learning an editing platform or tool, effort and time into learning an editing platform or tool.

Tanya Smith [00:25:56]:
Maybe you're using something like CapCut, but maybe you're using Adobe Adobe Premiere Pro for you're using DaVinci Resolve for you're using something that's gonna take a learning curve for you to a, and, also, you could be paying a outsourcing people to edit for you. So it does get to be a bit more expensive to do produced video if you're doing it in such a way where you're presenting yourself as a pro and you want it to look nice. Whereas with live streaming, you can get on your phone right now, which I'm gonna talk about gear, essential gear. Before I do that, let me acknowledge some folks real quick here in the comments because I am loving it. I see these hands up. Yeah. So you've done some lives. Absolutely.

Tanya Smith [00:26:41]:
Absolutely. You've done a lot before. Hicks, you got hurricane Dave in the coaches. Yeah. Like. And you big time too, Like. So I guess I'm doing okay. Valencia said she's also done a live.

Tanya Smith [00:26:57]:
I love it. Okay. Thank you for sharing so that I know folks who have gone live. I love it. Now if you haven't, don't feel badly because that's why we're here. We're either doing a refresher for you if you've gone live before or if you're new to this thing, I'm giving you some basics and foundational stuff to to think about, to consider, to adopt. Okay. So let's talk a little bit about getting started and some of the essential tools and platforms.

Tanya Smith [00:27:24]:
I'm gonna give this to you in 3 parts. So the first part is platforms. I think we'll do platforms first. No, let's do destination. When you think about destination, one of the things that you're gonna have to consider as you are preparing to do live is where do you want the live to show up? So which social platform or platforms do you prefer? Now part of this means that you've done some hopefully, you've done some homework into where your target audience is. I like to call them the m v 3. Your most valuable video viewer is who I'm targeting when I'm talking on camera. K? And I've got a whole class on that, a whole webinar on that, which, by the way, if you go to stream like a boss dot tv, you can find free resources, webinars, downloads, all kinds of stuff on the tab that says resources.

Tanya Smith [00:28:25]:
So a couple of my webinars are there for free right now. I think when you're deciding on for destination and where you wanna go live, you need to consider the ease. Like, what how does it feel for you to go live in that space? You need to consider, is it right for you? Like, is this a happy place or a place where you feel comfortable and good about showing up? And is it a place where your target audience is hanging out? Because if not, maybe that's not where you need to be. And you don't have to start out or ever get to being in all places. That's not a thing. I know somebody probably said, be everywhere. I get it. But if you're just starting out and you're trying to build your reputation and you're trying to create a habit of being on camera, one of the best pieces of advice I can give you is start with a single platform.

Tanya Smith [00:29:26]:
1, maybe 2 at the most and see, get your groove, get your your your flow, figure out how you're doing it and what you wanna do so then you can take that same method and apply it to other spaces. A you're first starting out, one of the things I used to tell people is that Facebook, now known as Meta, I guess, but Facebook live is probably one of the easiest places to start. Instagram is an easy spot to start, especially if you're just using your phone. Right? YouTube is a little bit more complex. LinkedIn is a little bit more complex because there are specific criteria that you must meet in order to be able to go live in those destinations. And same thing with TikTok. For those of you who are TikTokers, in order for you to go live on TikTok, you must meet certain criteria. So I'm gonna give you, for instance, one of the things I see you, Tatiana.

Tanya Smith [00:30:19]:
What's up? I'm gonna give you, a couple of pieces of info that I recently researched because I wanted to make sure I stayed on top of this for you. But LinkedIn used to have a whole, like, gatekeeping thing to where it was like it took me a couple of years to get on. My clients were getting on and getting approved to do LinkedIn live, but I couldn't. It was weird. Anyway, LinkedIn members as of February 2024, if you're trying to go live on LinkedIn, LinkedIn members and pages with at least a 150 followers or connections may be eligible for LinkedIn live access. Other qualifications include being in good standing with LinkedIn. There's certain country restrictions that I won't share here, but you can look this up. You need to have an account that's older than 30 days, and you must have previously shared original content on LinkedIn.

Tanya Smith [00:31:16]:
So all of this is in their knowledge base. If you wanna know the exact criteria and you wanna stay up to date, especially if you're watching this later on, go on to LinkedIn into their help function and type in LinkedIn live criteria or requirements. Okay? And you'll be able to pull this up. For YouTube, in order for you to stream, you have to have a certain number of subscribers, no streaming restrictions that have been placed on you, you need to verify your channel. So there are things that you need to do with a few of these destinations, and so you wanna be aware of that if those are the spaces that you choose to start. Now a was one thing. For me, I prefer to broadcast on the 3 that I a. So Facebook, and I actually have 2 destinations in Facebook, so my page and my professional profile.

Tanya Smith [00:32:10]:
Right? On LinkedIn, I'm on my LinkedIn personal profile. I'm not on my LinkedIn page doing lives. For me, I found that my LinkedIn profile does better with engagement and, connection, and that's where I spend more of my time versus building up my page. It's just my thing. It's what I decided, but you can decide differently. And then, YouTube, of course. So those are my 3 destinations. So you need to pick where you would like to put your stream.

Tanya Smith [00:32:43]:
The second thing I'm gonna talk about is tools. And I'm gonna say this, and there are differing opinions about this, but I'm gonna say it anyway because I get to say it because it's my show. You don't have to have all the gear. Okay? I see you see me right now with 2 different I've got 2 different cameras up. I literally have 5 cameras around me right now. I hardly ever use all 5. So when I say to you in earnest that you don't have to have all of the stuff in order to get started, trust me on this. You don't.

Tanya Smith [00:33:19]:
You can start small. K? But there are 3 things that are essential to you doing lives that I think you need to think about and consider as you're starting out. a is having a good camera. So a webcam. K? And it could be the webcam that's in your computer. Look, I started that way. It was the worst angle possible. It went right up my nose.

Tanya Smith [00:33:42]:
It was so a, and the resolution was bad, but I started anyway. You gotta start somewhere. Okay? So a. The second thing is, or not computer, webcam. Webcam of some for, because people need to see you because it's a live stream, and we're talking about on camera. A thing is lighting. You need decent a And that's cool and all, but there is such a thing as weather in most places. So what if the weather's bad? Is that your excuse to not go live? Because now it's dark a it's not working.

Tanya Smith [00:34:33]:
So you do need to think about investing in some sort of lighting. And if you have questions, I want you to pop those in here, okay, for me. You've got some really strong, gear heads in here too that are in the chat that can help you. If I can help you, they can. Hicks is one of them. Yeah. There's several people in here. John Lacey's in here.

Tanya Smith [00:34:52]:
Yeah. Tatiana's in here, so we ask the questions. So webcam, lighting, and then the thing to me that is the most critical is sound. So you need a microphone. K? Now you don't have to go out and get a Shure mic. You don't have to go out and get a Rode Pod mic. You don't have to get I've had all of them. I've got a whole graveyard full of microphones.

Tanya Smith [00:35:18]:
Trust me. I started out my most professional favorite mic was a Blue Yeti with my PC. I graduated eventually, but that worked fine for several years, actually. I used the a first. I don't know if y'all know what that is, but it looks like an old timey radio radio station, mic because I used to do something called blog talk video. Because remember, audio stuff. And that was my favorite mic forever. It's old school looking.

Tanya Smith [00:35:51]:
I just live the way it like, and it was big. But, yeah, you don't have to have a bunch of expense. Don't go out and spend $10,000 on stuff when you haven't even made the decision that you're gonna be committed to doing live streams. Just don't. This is not necessary. Let me pull up some comments because I think I'm seeing some comments that make what I'm coaching. It's it's emphasizing what I'm saying. You don't have to have it and then flex out with the a care of action.

Tanya Smith [00:36:21]:
Well, Hicks, I'm just streaming, you can graduate to these things. Right? But you don't have to start. I know gear sparks joy for me too, John. I'm trying to help the people out y'all. I'm trying to say, don't don't start with what you see here. Don't start here because I didn't start here. I used to snowball at my teaching job. Yeah.

Tanya Smith [00:36:47]:
It was a solid mic. You are in the right room, hurricane Dave. Yes. You are. I love it. Okay. I wasn't trying to switch to the multicam to show off. I'm saying here's what's possible.

Tanya Smith [00:37:05]:
That there are things that will be possible for you, that you a you can do switcheroos. You can also have things like this. Watch this. This is cool. You can have special effects popping up. Thinking. You can have sounds, so you can have sounds like this. Stream like a boss.

Tanya Smith [00:37:28]:
You can do all kinds of fun stuff with live streaming that will make it engaging and fun and interactive. Right? I don't like to go over the top with all of that and do it all at once and all in the same show because I don't want people to be distracted from the message, especially when I'm doing a solo teaching like this. When I have guest interviews, I like to insert a few things here and there. I'm gonna start inserting more stuff like trivia quizzes and all kinds of things. Yes. I love what you're coaching. Monique, former teacher. You have to scaffold coaching, start with the basics.

Tanya Smith [00:38:04]:
This is why we are here. That's exactly right. Yep. You wear so many hats as a streamer and a video creator. Pick a skill and develop that when you're comfortable. I love see, John is always coming with the nuggets. He always does this, and I just love it because he adds to it. Him, Hicks, a lot of the folks that are here in the feed, you may already know them because you've seen them before on their own shows and channels, or you've seen them here in the feed helping me out to emphasize different points.

Tanya Smith [00:38:36]:
So thank you for being here. Yes. Tatiana coaches, is also an educator, so scaffolding for the win. So start with what you live. And if you are not ready to invest in anything yet, so be it. Use that ridiculously expensive smartphone that we probably all have because this will work too. You can actually go live from this. So that's gonna lead me into the third thing that I'll talk about as far as this particular section, and that is this.

Tanya Smith [00:39:13]:
So we talked about destinations. We talked about essential gear. The next thing I wanna talk about is your platform. By platforms, what I mean is your software that you're using to stream. So, really, we're gonna break this up into 2 buckets. So one is you could literally just go live in your native social media app. So Facebook, for instance, has its own built in a native. When I say native, that's what I mean.

Tanya Smith [00:39:46]:
It's already built. It's baked into Facebook. Any extra any extra bells and whistles. The things you saw me do just a few minutes ago where I have, you know, the sound and I've got the the fun little things like this right here. Right? All of that is because I'm using a specific software called Ecamm Live, but there are others as well that I'm gonna share with you real quick. So if I were giving you suggestions about doing native versus doing a streaming platform, what I would suggest to you is that you wanna, again, before you spend money on an annual subscription to something, you wanna test and trial the different platforms I'm gonna name in a second. You wanna test them out and see what you feel comfortable with because different personalities really could you benefit from different things, different learning styles. I've got educators that are here, so you know a has different ways they like to learn a absorb and to perform.

Tanya Smith [00:41:01]:
And so if you're looking for a streaming platform, platform, the benefit to having a live stream platform outside of the native apps is that you're able to use a couple of different things. You're able to see comments on the screen like you're seeing with me now. You're able to add add ons. So the animations a the sounds and all of those things, those don't come with native apps inside of Facebook, Instagram, etcetera. They have a few things that you can do. Yes. A few things. But you can really take things to the next level with a live streaming platform.

Tanya Smith [00:41:40]:
So a couple of them that I'll share with you, OBS I know John Lacey is gonna love that I said this. Boss. Because live streaming with John Lacey, John Lacey actually teaches OBS. He teaches people how to use it, and it it's important to have someone teaching because it can be, it can get a little complicated to set up on your own if you're not technically savvy. So I want you to know that it's a free for, it's a free software that you can actually download and you can start using, and it will give you a lot of the features and things that you've seen me a use here. It's excellent and it's free. But it just there's a learning curve to learning how to use it. There's also Restream, which is one that I use.

Tanya Smith [00:42:31]:
I I keep this one in my hip pocket as my backup plan. I love Restream for the reason that it has really excellent resolution, so the quality of the video on the other end looks good still, when you're streaming. I love that it allows you to pull up comments and to brand it with your own videos and graphics and things similar to what you've seen me do a, but it's still not an advanced a, so it's a good one for starter. Some of you are using StreamYard or have been exposed to StreamYard. Some of you have been exposed to A, which is now called Streamlabs Talk Studio, which I think is just a mouthful. They really need to think about that. But there are lots and lots of different ones. One stream live is another one that a lot of picked up.

Tanya Smith [00:43:19]:
People picked up for an LTD years ago, a lifetime deal app. So there are many, many, many different ones. There are 2 others that I would recommend besides, Restream. Riverside FM, if any of you are sleeping on that one, I'm starting to learn more about that. I actually have a 15 percent off code. I'm work I'm reviewing certain things for them as they have new features coming out, and partnering up as somewhat of an ambassador. I'm gonna use that loosely and say that I am leveraging the features because of my audio podcast. So there's a lot that can be done in there, and they're adding new things constantly.

Tanya Smith [00:44:04]:
So there's more stuff that I suspect is gonna be coming that will help us to be able to do live stream, in addition to a, similar to, like, what Descript a, in addition to it produces your show notes, produces short clips from your video. It does a lot of things now, but they're getting even better. So Riverside is absolutely one to start a. Although, I don't think that that's a true live streaming platform as the ones that I'm sharing with you are. Ecamm Live, specifically, is what I use right now. This is my go to and I'm pretty much Ecamm for life. Like, that's I love the Ecamm community. I love the way in which they support each other.

Tanya Smith [00:44:48]:
We support each other and teach each other how to use this this app. And we can I can make this look like however I want it to look? I can create all kinds of different scenes and control the way in which I'm branding myself using it. So, yeah, let me put this up because I am the same. Monique said, I've got so many of those that I got on LTD. Got several as LTDs often fade away. Yep. That's right. I have a lot of people that are still using A, which is now called Streamlabs.

Tanya Smith [00:45:23]:
I have a lot of people that are using that. There are folks that are using Live, which is another one that was on AppSumo and some of the other a ltd platforms. Let's see. We're doing more on Restream, but there are some StreamYard specific features I miss. Yeah. Yeah. There's been some changes at StreamYard recently. I would have in the past said that's definitely the destination, but, I don't know necessarily that it's in the top of my top 3 to 5 list right at the moment.

Tanya Smith [00:45:55]:
But it does have a lot of really great features. I'm sorry. Let's see. When I'm done. Yes. I know. Yes. Yes.

Tanya Smith [00:46:04]:
Yes. Building up to excelling and advancing your gear. That's a good tip, John. Okay. So I've shared more about your gear, the destination. We talked about that. We talked about your essential gear, and we talked about platforms. K? If you have specific questions, pop them in the chat, and I'm more than happy to answer.

Tanya Smith [00:46:29]:
I also have reviews on my channel. If you're on YouTube, there's a whole playlist called live stream summer school, which I produced last year. A lot of the stuff is still the same, but there are several individual videos where I'm reviewing tools, specific stream for. So if you need more about a specific tool, go out there and just browse. Much of the information probably is not yet outdated, but they probably have added new features in some of those platforms. So take a look at that if you need more help or ask questions here. Okay. The third and final thing and let me pop this up because, yeah, A.

Tanya Smith [00:47:09]:
I'm getting more into it. And if you do need a code, let me know. Let me know if you need a code and you can try it out and get a discount. Okay? Just send me a DM for you can comment here a I'll come back and make sure you have that code. Okay. The last and final point, because here's what we said we were coaching to talk about, Why streaming tools and platforms and a, and then planning for success? What I a make sure you do is that you set yourself up for success, not failure. In all that we do, we need to be excellent. You agree? I want you to be excellent.

Tanya Smith [00:47:54]:
I want you to be excellent. By the way, let me ask this question before we move to that section. What platform do you prefer for live streaming? If you're streaming now, which several of you are, I want you to drop in the chat your favorite platform so that others can see what is a common tool that people are using. So drop it wherever you are. If you're on LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, what's the platform that you're using for livestream? What do you like the most right now? Okay. You're welcome, Tanya. Okay. Planning your live stream content.

Tanya Smith [00:48:27]:
Let's talk a little bit about this. I'm gonna keep it high level because I do some real in-depth talks and courses and training around this planning thing. It is so much fun for me to do content strategy and to teach you tactics. But I'm gonna keep this high level and share these a couple points. So a first point I've already said, which is planning is key to having a successful stream career. So if you're doing livestreaming and you're doing it as a series, if you it's a limited time series or an ongoing series, seasonal, episodic, all of that, if you're doing it and you're planning on doing it for some time, you will find that you will start to create a workflow, or you should because there are repetitive recurring things that you're gonna do each and every time. So a couple of tips that I would share with you in regards to workflow and planning are this. a, as you start to create a routine and for me, I started creating a routine as I began doing more live, and I had no idea what I was doing.

Tanya Smith [00:49:42]:
Right? So I started creating a routine because I a, wait a minute, there are things that I wanna have in place before I go live. Because, originally, that wasn't happening. Here's what was happening. Let me be real. What was happening is I was like, I need to go live. Oh, yes. I was going live at 6. Oh, darn it.

Tanya Smith [00:50:00]:
I'm late. And I was streaming. And I was running into the office or wherever I could find space, and I was trying to hurry up and set up the camera. And I was trying to get lighting, and and I sounded like this by the time I got on the line because I was out of breath. Right? So I started to jot down notes and make lists of these are things that I know I have to do in preparation for the live. These are things I know I need to do right before I go live. These are things I need to do while I'm live, and these are things that I need to do after the live to optimize what I just created. Right? These become workflows.

Tanya Smith [00:50:43]:
K? These become the things, your checklist that you go to and you refer to over and over again. If you need help with that, I got you. Because that's something that we talk about inside of our Stream Bosses Academy. But if you don't, and you're doing this on your own, that's pretty much how I started, is I started documenting, and being in the space that I am from a corporate standpoint as an a. For course, I understand what SOPs are, standard operating procedures. And so I, by nature, had that kind of thinking anyway, but I started doing it for my personal business and for my live streams a recognize that that was super powerful. Now there are automation tools, there are AI tools, there are things that I could share with you that would help you to even shorten the time of the work that you're having to do before, during, and after your stream. K? A of the things that I'm creating is really cool y'all.

Tanya Smith [00:51:44]:
Oh, I'll I'll show a, sneak peek of it really fast. Okay? Because we're almost out of live. But I'm gonna show you a sneak peek. I have not yet released this officially because I'm making tweaks, but it is AI specific. It is AI generated. So let me share with you really quickly. This is one of the things that I was creating for me that I'm now creating to help people in my community who also need to do similar things with their live streams, and they're trying to take their streams to the next level. So I have built out an entire suite of tools, a YouTube thumbnail generator using AI, a stream engagement tool for ideas on creating questions and things that help people to interact, a livestream copy assistant, a brand manager, and I'm creating new bots all the time, a guest coordinator for my livestream shows.

Tanya Smith [00:52:40]:
I was building I had an idea that I wanted to build this stuff out for myself, and then I found this tool that allowed me to build it out for other people. So very excited about launching that soon. It's not ready for release just yet, but it's coming. So if you need help with that, my AI trained, servants will be at your a. And they're using my methods, my procedures, which are uniquely like. No one else has ever created or built. So that's pretty cool. I think it's nice too.

Tanya Smith [00:53:15]:
Valencia is very I'm excited. I'm excited about that. And, yes, Monique, like for the win. I'm a big old list maker. I love it. Added a checklist in my Google Boss show run documents to remind me of all the things. Yes. So run of show is something that is a really cool way to, refer to the flow of your show, The flow the workflows that you use during your show.

Tanya Smith [00:53:46]:
Alright. Yes. Chef Keturah, you live cooking demos via Facebook and IG is what she's doing. Talk a uses 1 stream live. Tatiana uses YouTube as her destination. Let me pop that up. I know it's not as smooth for participants because even now as we're as I'm watching your comments come through, I know that there are people that are on LinkedIn. I can't see their comments.

Tanya Smith [00:54:14]:
It's hit or miss with some of the different platforms. So I'll end up having to go back over to, LinkedIn and acknowledge people after the fact, which I don't love. I could pull it up on a 3rd screen, but that just gets distracting. Let me answer your question. Excuse me. Can you do local or individual recordings of boss or guest talk virtual? I think that question might be for you. I do have a stream live in my arsenal, but it's been a long time since I've been out there and used it. So I'm gonna see if Talk Virtual can answer that question for you.

Tanya Smith [00:54:51]:
Yeah. Yeah. It has been a little bit of an uphill battle. As an event planner, a of show is the implementation of coaching. Like, Holly, the workflow that. I love it. Yes. Yes.

Tanya Smith [00:55:03]:
Yes. So these the terminology, you all can get familiar. I can throw out a bunch of acronyms, and I can throw out terminology and all of that stuff, but in the end, what I just want you to get from this message tonight is that you're creating a process by what you do for streams that saves you time and allows you to show up as your best and most brilliant self whenever you're on camera. Right? And I also want you to feel good about what you did when you get off camera instead of deleting. So that is the purpose of sharing these things with you. The other piece of as far as planning and consistency that I'll share before we wrap is that the most important thing you can do is to create a schedule for yourself. And I'm not telling you you have to be live every day. I know there are people that do that.

Tanya Smith [00:55:57]:
That's not me. I I don't have the I can't make the time. I won't make that time to do that because there are other things that are in my calendar that need devotion to. There are people that need me to be devoted to them as well. So, yes, we need to create a consistent schedule, but it's gonna look uniquely different for each and every one of us. So for me, Thursdays tends to be the day. I'm starting to add something else that I need to create from a content perspective. It's gonna take another day of the week, but Thursdays are my day.

Tanya Smith [00:56:35]:
And every Thursday, except for a in the month, because I decided this year in 2024 for I'm taking breaks. But my consistent schedule is that I'm gonna do at least 3 stream a month. So you have to decide what works for you. Is it once a week? Is it biweekly? Is it daily? Is it once a month to start? Now I'm gonna tell you right now, month once a month is probably not sufficient to start really building a community of people who know that you're gonna be there at a certain like, and they're looking forward to you being there. So I really would probably stretch a little bit if you can and see if you can do weekly at least. That would be ideal. And if not weekly, try biweekly and see if that works for your schedule. I have a mix.

Tanya Smith [00:57:27]:
So there's also things that you can consider in terms of the for, and I've talked about this in another video. Whether you have guest for you just decide to do solo or you do a combo or you do panels, there are lots and lots of different ways that you can do streams. So I'm gonna do more videos on these basics and essentials, and I'll break this down again with current a. So look for that coming up. I know. Brakes for the win. Hello. You know this, Tati.

Tanya Smith [00:57:59]:
We need some brakes down then. Because I used to be like, no. I'm just gonna drive through no matter how I'm feeling. A now I give myself permission because the world is not gonna end, and this stuff will be here. It will. So I give myself permission to take breaks when I need that mental space. Absolutely, Valencia. Please feel free to reach out.

Tanya Smith [00:58:20]:
If you go to my website, I have something called a discovery call. You're more than happy to sign up and get on my calendar for that. Here's one thing I'm gonna share with you all this because I've been talking about this whole idea of your personality and making sure that you are, the way in which you're delivering your lives fits you, because you don't have to be like and look like everybody else, and you shouldn't. You just need to be you on camera because that's that's what's gonna reach the people that you need to work with. You don't have to be me. You don't have to be the person you see next door. You need to be you at all times and fully that. So I've created a quiz.

Tanya Smith [00:59:02]:
I'm gonna pop up the link for you here right now. And this quiz is the discover your live vibe quiz. So if you go to stream like a boss dot tv slash quiz, or if you're just at stream like a boss dot tv and you actually see right there on the front page, there is a link for, clicking on the quiz. You can take the quiz right there. The reason why I decided to create that is because I a that there are different archetypes. And so what I've done is I've blended my knowledge and previous certification as a Myers Briggs person and a, brand archetypes certified administrator. I've merged those things into live streaming and said, okay, if I have this personality type, if I'm an engaging entertainer, then some of the things that I can do as a live streamer would be to be an entertainer. Like, I'm a insert these type of things.

Tanya Smith [00:59:59]:
So I've created a special report depending upon how you've answered to go and take it, test it out. It's just been released today. I've been working on it for a while, though. And what we'll be doing at the end of this month is actually hosting a workshop to to dive deeper into personality types and the benefit of merging that with your video so that you really feel you feel authentic and fully you when you get on video. You do it in a way that feels right and that's gonna attract the people that you most need to attract. So it's gonna be so much fun. I can't wait. Okay.

Tanya Smith [01:00:46]:
Yes. And I'm gonna put pop these in here in case this reminds folks. So Tatiana, yeah, recently is a, starting I know. We talked about breaks. Actually, Tati was on my show, I think, the last show that I did. So if you are following my videos, definitely go check her out. She'll tell a little bit of the story in the background. Chef Couture learned to give herself grace and allow proper rest.

Tanya Smith [01:01:14]:
This is so important y'all. When you're doing this video stuff and any other types of content, it takes time. I was just having I've had this conversation numerous times this week with people about the fact that content creation, no matter what form it is, it's a lot of work. So as I'm sharing these stories with you and I'm telling you these things, these tips and tactics and tools, it really from the bottom of my heart, I want you to be able to adopt a style and a process that works for you in a way that is not taking away joy, in a way that is not impacting or affecting your wellness in an adverse way, in a way that instead is gonna uplift you and help you to be supportive and encouraging to the people that you are now serving. Right? So this is why I do what I do. And this is why I create what I create because I believe that live streaming is a powerful tool, but I also recognize that it can be exhausting if you don't have the right things in place to help you to do it effectively and efficiently. So I hope this has been helpful tonight. I'm going to recap really fast and say, oh, Tati, you saw my a camera a.

Tanya Smith [01:02:31]:
I'll add a third one day. I just don't want to. I mean, I literally have 5 cameras a I don't do it. Okay. Why streaming? Is what we talked about. We talked about streaming being beneficial because it can truly help you to connect with the audience that you're intended to serve and shorten that time of know, like, and trust. It can shorten that cycle because people feel like they know you. I've run into people in the grocery store who are like, oh my god.

Tanya Smith [01:02:58]:
I know you. I've seen you. You're Tanya. Right? And we just started having a, and I started asking them about their family because they shared in the comments, you know, things that were happening with them personally. So we get to know each other and become you know, we build relationships and connections through streaming. I love that part of it. It's also more affordable. I a that too.

Tanya Smith [01:03:21]:
And it also can help you increase your reach. The second thing we talked about is tools and platforms. We talked about the idea of what are the basic tools that you need, what are the destinations that you need to consider, and what are some things that you need to think about, and then what platforms might you need to consider because you could go native or you may choose to invest in something. If you invest in something, trial it first Make sure it's right for you because each of us, again, learns things a. We perform differently. Planning for success was the 3rd and final tip that we talked about. And so planning for success is about the idea of making sure that you're putting things in place that will help you to be consistent and to show up as your best self on a, having the equipment in the right place. Alright? We didn't even get into a lot of those other things, but having workflows and checklists that help you to remember the recurring tasks that you do each and every time you get on camera.

Tanya Smith [01:04:19]:
That in itself could be just a simple enough fix for some of the things that you all are going through if you've been struggling with streaming. Alright, y'all. That's what I got. If you've got questions, I don't think I missed any. But if you have questions or comments that I missed, absolutely pop them in the channel for pop them in the chat. If you learned anything tonight, I want you to put a golden nugget. I always ask my coaching clients, is there a golden nugget that you picked up from tonight? So if there's a golden nugget, I want you to pop that in the chat. One thing you learned that will be helpful that you can carry with you now and into the future with your stream? What is that gold nugget? Pop that in there for me.

Tanya Smith [01:05:11]:
You're so welcome. Awesome. And definitely smash the like button. Okay, y'all. Thank you for spending time with me. I will be on next week, I believe, with a guest. We have Burton Kelso coming on. He's coming back on.

Tanya Smith [01:05:27]:
Some of you may remember him from before. We've had him on the show for. But more to come. I'll share more details about that coming up. I will be here on next Thursday at 8 PM EST, just like we do at least 3 times a month. I see a golden neck yes. Yes. Yes.

Tanya Smith [01:05:44]:
Yes. Yes. Oh, wait. Let me pop this one up because I think this is cool. You don't need a second camera angle, but it is kinda cool. Run of show checklist. Yes. Monique, good good takeaway.

Tanya Smith [01:06:00]:
Awesome. Okay, folks. Thank you for spending time with me. If you haven't remembered to like, subscribe, and follow, now is a great time for you to do that because we're getting ready to wrap it up. I appreciate you being here. I appreciate you spending time with me tonight. Thank you for your questions and your comments. Thank you for your support and your a.

Tanya Smith [01:06:20]:
And I hope that I can continue to show up for you the way you show up for me. Alright? Take care, and I will see you next time in the stream.