So I guess we can start both by drinking the water and we'll continue from there. So I'm gonna drink water, which is good. We are already hydrated. They're starting the interview just after drinking. Cheers. Cheers.

So this is our official high because you already had an unofficial high as anybody that does an interview shoot, meaning probably a 30 minutes in which we both tried the record, setting the technical aspects up, testing the lightning, the voice and the webcams and having problems and glitches with the webcams, and yet seeing them. And finally the official Hi, hi. Hi. That's true. You really do get to know somebody when you watch how they handle technical glitches. And in my case, I don't know if that's a good thing because that's my sort of weak point, but it's so nice To connect and to do this interview together in this conversation, I am a big fan of your work.

I think you have a wonderful warm personality that comes across in your video. And as you know, I'm a big believer in the power of video. Yeah, yeah. And it was only when we got to know each other. And we asked some questions that I found out a little bit more about how you do video, why you do video, the differences between our approaches, but ultimately resulting in the same thing, which is this greater connection with your students, which is fantastic. So I'm really excited today to sort of talk about some of the aspects of what we do from different approaches and really try to to bring a new perspective and certainly to my students.

That's just a real gift. So thank you for doing the conversation. It's it's great to talk to you. Thank you. And I would like to say in response to that because you had the very warming welcome your personality, something that I, I tend to be inspired by because I'm a very logical person, plant person. So when you said warm, I would say, Yes, I am working and looking at you and the way you are creative and expansive in your courses, I have a lot of things to learn and to educate myself.

And it's a great experience. Oh, thank you. Thank you. I mean, I have to say one thing that I love about this learning community is this sense of supporting one another. And my courses really do focus on confidence and communication, whether that's in person or on stage or pitching in front of clients or really on video, which I think is a powerful, powerful tool. At the end of the day.

It's that spirit underneath. That is really I think, what's engaging students and what's inspiring them and to say, Okay, well here are my obstacles, but instead of me going, I feel so bad about This, you have to just be encouraged to say, you know, this is something I don't know enough about, but I'm going to have this spirit of learning in a positive way. And it just makes everything better. And it actually you can learn better and be more effective. So that definitely comes across in your videos. Absolutely.

And, you know, which is great. Thank you and to dive in into tips and tricks. You know, when you're doing a Skype interview you have usually you have the laptops camera here, and yes, you need to look at it even though the video of the person you're talking to is right beneath it. And yeah, that person is so interactive and so funny and expresses his herself so better that you just can't stay and look at the camera and ignore the person. You're like, looking down and then everybody is like, why is he looking down? Why is he looking down to see that person?

So about for you, yeah, to start looking at the camera even though the funnies. Yeah, that's so funny. It's I mean, that is one of the things that I teach people to do is really practicing in everyday situations. And because we have these amazing devices, you know, like our phones and things that have cameras built in, suddenly, you can also be the same one. We're like, little buddies. But, but but to me, you can really practice in such everyday situations, just that one piece, right?

Because it's weird to look at a lens. It's weird. Nobody is gonna just pick it up and be like, Oh, this is the easiest thing in the whole world. I'm picturing exactly who I want to talk to. right in that lens. Because as a human being, I naturally want to look here at your face, right?

Because I want to, you know, you're all the way across the planet. And I want to see your face and yet the experience for the viewer, we're actually both of us are more invested in the people that are watching this in the future, so that it's not really about us. It's not me enjoying looking at you right now. It's about Me connecting with you and having this conversation and people who are watching it are going to feel more engaged, because my energy is going right into that lens. And to me, that muscle that sort of getting comfortable doing that must begin in everyday situations so that even if you're having a video conference call for work, and then like, who cares where your eyes are, right? But you have to practice because if the other person won't realize the reason why they feel more connected to the conversation and your ideas, is because you're looking into the lens, they don't realize that it feels off putting it's like if you're at a dinner party, and someone's just not looking at you.

They're like looking around the room or they're just talking to the table, but they're never making eye contact you feel left out. Human nature. Yes, actually, we should suggest Mac developers to put the webcam right in the middle of the screen so we can look at each other while doing the interviews. Yeah, it's funny. It's funny, but there's such human thing. All my teaching is about really just being a really kind lit up human being.

And so I always said, the side benefit of my work is that you just get happier. It's just, it's just happiness. Because it's really going back to the that energy of who we really longed to be that sort of quiet simplicity being seen being heard, feeling like you're not being blocked by your fears and inhibitions, you're just more in flow. But, you know, there's reality of challenges that come up, it's how we deal with those challenges. And so one thing that I've really learned from you is, is taking this you know, we all gravitate towards what we're comfortable with. So for me, given also my background, you know, being on camera for a better part of my adult life, to to then translate that as a teacher and be on camera is great, but what I wasn't as comfortable doing is all the technical stuff.

So here you've made courses that make it really easy to think about video in a different way. So whether it's whether it's creating video with a stark background that you can sort of integrate yourself into a keynote presentation, which is super fun, or even using ScreenFlow to take really normal situations like Skype interviews or Skype conversations and turning them into really great content by editing them and high quality lectures is awesome. Or even you and you know, when I when I looked at your courses, I didn't realize until I spoke to you that you were really reading from a teleprompter, which is something that I really teach people not to do. But but that's because that's my way. But because to do a teleprompter, well, you have to practice you have to actually know what that is. So I'm curious to ask you, especially for my students, what are sort of your secrets to making your teleprompter your your script delivery sound as personable and as engaging?

What are some of the things that you do? Well, at first, I should tell you how I started using the prompter Because, since I'm an introvert and as probably all your students know you're an extrovert, but I'm not. That's correct, but we'll talk about it later. Okay, not well, you're expressing yourself as an extrovert. I'm like, my sentences are 20% of yours. And I'm talking way less, as we all can see in the video.

So when I started I had, I had trouble being expansive, expanding my words and being creative in front of the wall, because I wasn't in front of the people. When I am trained. When I'm doing trainings, offline trainings, it's very easy to be creative. Because you're inspired by the group's energy you can catch a glimpse of what they expect, but when talking to a wall with a camera in front of it, it's like you're talking to nobody. So what I did that first and it is pretty funny. I had the small Teddy Bear, which I put there on over the camera.

And I talked to the teddy bear. So I was like Hi. And it helped with my emotions because it was funny to talk to a teddy bear. That jump started my interaction with the camera. And now when I talk in front of the camera, it's actually easier because as an introvert, when you start something when you're uncomfortable in a new situation, that's where the hard part is. But once you get comfortable or once you repeat being uncomfortable many, many times you started getting comfortable and then exceeding exceeding expectations in that situation.

So if you're an introvert and maybe not that expensive, I suggest putting a picture of a friend maybe or a teddy bear on the camera and speaking to him her or it Yeah, is great. Think it's great i, I offer First of all, I mean, it's, it's funny, but we have a story that we tell ourselves, right? We have a script that we tell ourselves and I am this I am that I am whatever, and we all do it. You know, I'm a vegetarian. I like this kind of music. This is like my definition of myself.

So you can say I'm an introvert. I'm an introvert. I'm an introvert. And by the way, there's nothing wrong with being an introvert. But I also think that you have to be aware of that that's not necessarily your perception. You know, just because it's you who thinks that doesn't mean that that you're any less expressive or engaging or even comfortable?

So it's funny because I would say that you're very extroverted. I mean, you know, you and I contacted each other whatever there's, there's a connection. Now in terms of demystifying my extroverted nature. I have a tremendous amount of introverted qualities big time. You know, I have a very small group of friends really small as opposed to someone who loves going to tons of parties that doesn't drains me big time. So I have you know, there's a wonderful book by Susan Cain called quiet to be read quiet words.

Yeah. Yeah. It's a wonderful, wonderful book. And I think that I think that there's, there's a lot of misconceptions about introverts and extroverts, but I agree with you in this sort of like, look at me society, we have to balance that part what what keeps us healthy, what keeps us balanced, and for me, it's a lot of introversion, a lot of introversion. And then when it comes to teaching, obviously, I'm more invested in my students. I'm more invested in my students in the learning in the teaching and then learning so when I look at the lens in the beginning, I had a little post it that I would make a little hole and I would put where the nose like the nose would be.

And I put it over the lens and I've got smiley faces so there's eyes and nose. And it's true, the more you practice and the more you really know who your tribe is. You know, your fans, your students, you know, who are those people, it becomes more and more personal so much so that you don't ever think about yourself anymore. You know, you're really sending your message to them to one person who's kind of that ideal student. So it's cool, but then you made the decision to go ahead and do a script. So can you tell me like, do you write everything out?

Like what program do you use? I'd love to sort of give people some insights into the use of teleprompters. Yes, well, I, I had a few headers to run, let's say, I started doing courses in which I talked freely, and it was alright, I spoke freely. I got a decent video in which I was created. But I since I'm not a native English speaker, when talking freely, I had to choose between my accent or my creativity. So when I was being creative, I lost my accent and I spoke in Romanian, English.

Accident that wasn't quite beneficial to the person listening. But once I, once I wrote everything down, and they use the prompter, I was able to concentrate on delivery because everything there was to think of was just there in front of me. So it helped me tremendously. And it was actually very easy to create the prompter. I just wrote the text down. And the advantage being that I could edit the text and make it more powerful use power words repeating key points and doing having gotten an editor, a friend of mine that helped me edit the text so that it was very persuasive.

And then just putting it on my iPad and putting the iPad behind the web or the webcam with which I recorded myself. So while I was looking at the webcam, I was actually looking At the prompter, and there is a lot of free prompter software for iPad for iPad. So yeah, it went there you go. Yes. And it there is an awesome added benefit to that. Since in my videos, I had all my content written down and edited so that it was it has a powerful delivery, I had roughly 95% of the text needed to convert that course into a book.

So basically, in one of my courses, the about disc about the personality test, I just converted the text from the course into a book that had only a few minor edits, like look at the screen translated to look, check the text below or things like that. Right and you have a book instantly. That's fantastic. And where do you sell that book? Well, you As a sales as a marketing tool, yes, I started selling it in as Akin in the in the Kindle format. But after a while, I found CreateSpace which is serviced by Amazon in which you can deliver the books physically.

And the books are distributed by Amazon. So basically I have the paperback and the Kindle version. Now, right? I have drawn from two of my courses and now I'm writing the third course slash book in this way, in this way. And usually I offered the books free to my students in that particular course since they have the content, the identical content from the course. But the book helps me sell the course because in it I have an offer in which they can send their payment info and I give them access to the course and the course helps me promote the book.

So right so when when, oh, that's fantastic. One thing along those same lines is that one thing I'm looking into right now is to actually taking my videos and transcribing them. So using using the YouTube caption feature, so that they will generate automatic captions, which is about 80% accurate. So then that does require some work to go in and, you know, polish it up and add punctuation and obviously correct the things that Google about wrong YouTube got wrong, but but also generating a tremendous amount of content that way. And that's something that I sort of hadn't meant to do a long time ago have a lot of content. But now I'm sort of catching up and doing that now.

So it's interesting how we tackle the problem from two points. You can go the transcripts and the editing after you have the videos and I'm doing them before. Since I'm very organized and I'm into project management and having a team usually have all the content beforehand, which I debate with my editor so that it sounds very good. And it's also good for adding it into a book. And I'm basically having all the content of the course beforehand. And while you are enjoying delivering the course, and then extracting the content to publish after True, true, but I will say this, it's there's two things.

One is my organization in terms of market research, asking people what they're what they're looking for, and other forms of research is that each of my videos are so well mapped out in advance, but using the technique I use called thought bubbles, which is when we talk about bullet points, it's the same thing. So each bullet point, which could be elaborated in text, I elaborate in terms of the story, so that I make sure that I can tell that story very concisely, and I know what points that I want to hit. And I also know that it's going to be backed up by supplemental material. So, ironically, I may have a course this 50 videos, but I just and I just did this for one of my courses. Because one of my courses is being translated into Japanese. They're like, Oh, by the way, do you have your supplemental material and I was like, Oh, that's really too bad because it's a 40 page workbook.

So it's like, there's, there's the part of me that, you know, that does the writing part that does the organization part. But I think as you know, we all learn differently, and we all teach differently. And the way that I found years ago, is that I, when I if I sat down to write what I want to say, the information is it doesn't come it just doesn't come as easily as if I just stood and I was talking to somebody. It's there's something that happens and just like, I don't know, the vessel that I have, that it comes through conversation, and and the best is obviously with the person. I am love working with clients, I love working with teams, this is the most fun for me. But when I had to translate that into a camera, it was all about imagining, you know, imagining that person on the other side of the lens.

And then I got all excited again, and I could not conjure that same excitement, enthusiasm, if I sat at my keyboard alone. Just couldn't do it. couldn't do it. So everybody, I think it's important when you're a content creator, whether it's for a blog or for a class, to really figure out how do you work best, like what's your sweet spot? Where is it where it feels good for you, and if it feels like a complete uphill battle, if someone told me like in order to make a Udemy class, you absolutely have to write it out and map it out. And everything beforehand, I probably would never have done it.

But I didn't know any differently. I was just like, you know, I got some things to say. So here are my things. So, for right and then the and then what to write comes after Now it's actually a combination of both. Now it's a combination of both. So it's interesting but I think it's so individual just like children, they all learn in different ways.

And so you have to find the sweet spot of what makes sense for them in the same way that as instructors as teachers as content creators, what you know what gets us excited, you know, customizing every everything's to our own needs so that we can deliver better and create valuable content in the in a way we prefer and we enjoy doing and this tip is for the non native speakers out there. When I started out I didn't have an English accent. So basically, I couldn't deliver it in a very powerful american way I delivered it talking like this in Romania Romanian, I tend to I can I create my content now, but I had trouble speaking in English So what I did was hire an English teacher that stayed with me while I was delivering the videos. And I was delivering and at the end of the paragraph, she corrected me.

And I read the paragraph with the correct accent. And after a few hours, we usually had a two hour session in the first hour, we looked over the content, I spoke it and she corrected me. And in the last hour we recorded and this helped me tremendously and improve my English considerably. So if you're a non English non native English speaker, please hire on accident coach or an English teacher that can help you with your delivery. It will help tremendously and after a few sessions, you just progress naturally. Okay, can I just say okay, one thing that you do that I absolutely love and I want to bottle is this idea of I'm looking at the areas where you want to polish and going into them, instead of resisting them or feeling bad about them or judging yourself.

I work with a lot of people that do have accents. And to me, I am like, so impressed that you speak English as beautifully as you do. And if only I could speak Romanian, if only I could speak all the other languages when people come to me and they think, Oh, this is it, and they have this heaviness about them. And to me, that is such a great lesson about one not taking it so personally. And you're right in terms of the in terms of the marketplace, to be able to really connect with an English speaking audience because it is a predominant language and the online learning world especially, you're pairing up with an American company, that for you to just understand that let's let's soften that barrier a little bit, so that I can make sure that it's easier to be heard. Without saying like, Oh, I'm never going to do this, this is too hard.

This isn't fair. When are they going to create the Romanian Udemy Empire? Like, you know, that's the spirit of everything. I think that's amazing. So I really applaud you. One of the courses that I'm including for your students too, is also some extra exercises, to bring your awareness to the very specific things to listen to your own voice.

Part of my background, I have extensive, you know, theatrical training. This is not acting, I'm not teaching anybody how to act, but I am teaching people how to critically observe. Are you someone that has vocal patterns that maybe get in the way, one of my biggest pet peeves, especially for women? is this idea of rising intonation at the end? And I don't know where this translates in other languages if there's a habit that can present itself in Romanian, but rising intonation is everything ending in a question, even when you don't know if you're saying a question because what happens Is that you just don't know everything you just don't sound like you know what you're talking about. And I can watch really successful people do this and they don't understand that habitually.

It's it sends a message of uncertainty. And even by just recording yourself, speaking, whether it's with friends, whether it's with business, whether you're recording yourself for a course, have the compassion, to listen and say, Hmm, here's where I need to improve. And you embody that you did that by hiring somebody else to listen and say, How do I change how I'm speaking to make it sound more American? How does the th sound work? How does the placement in my mouth I mean, this is, this is fantastic, but you can improve that yourself by bringing your awareness to your voice by consciously making some changes, which will feel awkward at first, especially if you use a lot of fillers like um, yeah, like you know, it just takes slowing down. Becoming super aware, which will feel really awkward and removing them slowly slowly from your casual conversation, and then your presentation skills will get just get so much better.

So you'll have those lectures that you share with your students. And I love the way you transmit this and how you communicate. You just apply and give examples when you try to make a point so that everything and every example is in globe in a story that transmit your point with a story so that I guess you can never forget it. It's like Oh, yes, I remember that. Sorry. Yeah, but don't you do that?

You probably do that in your workshops, right? Yes. In the offline trainings, yes. And when talking from the transcript, yes. But this doesn't come to me as naturally as it comes to you. It's like, it's wonderful hearing you transmit an idea in such an experiential way.

You just you can touch it. Well, this is my whole point, it just takes practice. That's it. So I would say to you, it play around even just one or two lectures inside your course, to give yourself the freedom to say, you know what, I have a story. So now I'm going to just create an extra bonus video, which is just one story about this point. And it could be a story that just happened in a workshop or when you were traveling, something to illustrate your point.

I know sometimes you talk about technical things. But I guarantee you that there is some story that you can integrate, and give yourself that freedom. I'm not saying one is better than another. But there is something to be said, when you're developing relationships online because it's so limited, right? People are watching them from all over the world at all different times. You're just this person.

But I've heard that people say to me when they've met me, and even strangers who have met me at events said, Oh, my God, you're just the same. You're the same. You're the same person as you're teaching it. I think that there's that human element that people are craving. Because again, we're like you said, it makes you remember certain things it makes you feel like you have a friend that you're learning from that there's something real about it. And even when I I've been working a little bit with some MBA students, you know, some Masters of Business and boy they have this language that they they you know, this like this speak that they do with their PowerPoint conversations and I'm like, you are boring.

I don't care. I don't care if that's the way you that it's done. It's boring. And it's it you can sell your idea better by having all that data and being a human being. I don't buy that you have to use that sort of business schools smarty pants language to be all smart. I don't buy it.

Because we we learn from we buy We are inspired by humans not data not information. So you you have it you have it in spades you have it you manage it, you know to pull it off even with a teleprompter, but just play a little bit more with just telling a story. Just give it yourself the freedom that's a great idea and I think I'm going to add some stories videos in my next course is after doing a lot of teleprompters one or two and see the reaction Yes, I'm going to tell ya, thank you. Yeah, I built the muscle you've totally built the muscle your your you know, your, your English is amazing. So you don't have to worry about that part. Any work you actually when you talked about the MBA students, I saw that a lot of students do courses based only on voice overs on voice over slides.

And this is something that I would advise against, too. It's alright to have slides with voiceover in your courses, but at least the few the first Two introduction videos, try to do them with your face because you establish a link with your audience. And that's how you get fans and people that like you and want to learn from you, unless you get only people that are interested only in content, and they will buy that content, not the course with you as the instructor. And you don't want to get fans of content, you want to get fans of the holistic view and the content, because this is how you deliver in a way that the students learn nothing the way that the students nose down two or three points. I mean, obviously that's my whole world. I could not agree with you more.

I also think that it's true you make bring an excellent point, which it's not just about the learning material, you want to inspire them to maybe do actions outside of your course. So whether that's following your blog or following you on social media. Or just giving yourself the freedom because right now we're talking about Udemy. We're talking about an online learning marketplace. But there is this dance between what exists on Udemy and what exists on your own course. And as a business owner, or as a content creator, you want to be able to think expansively to bring that marketplace to other activities that you're doing, where you offer other things, whether it's a live workshop, whether it's a membership to, to to something else, you know, that they'll go where they want to go.

And I think by getting to know you, you're right. They're not just getting their information and moving on. And there's certainly other classes which definitely lend itself to seeing the screen and doing a voiceover. But you're absolutely right, break it up, make sure you insert you into the material as well. And that's what people will will come back to over and over again. And I think that you're watching the trends inside of you to me and seeing that you multiple courses is definitely one strategy to sort of build your tribe of fans.

And I think when people really love the instructor, it becomes a natural fit to really follow them. As they, as they expand their course offerings is a great way regarding how you talked about here about how students start following you, I would suggest ending your videos with an action step that your students can take, because that's the perfect moment when you can inspire your students to take one kind of action. For example, in the first video, when they are enthusiastic about your material, you can make suggest them to download a workbook. In another video you can suggest to them to visit your site when they can get valuable information complimentary to that course, and I may be in your content and technical videos. You can just tease them a bit on the next video. Like, this is how you put background in your video.

And in my next chord in the next video, I'm going to talk to you about how you can change the background and animated so that you maintain your students attention for the full length of the video. Yeah, no, that's a great point. Yeah, it's a great point. I mean, I think it's it's funny, the the legality, not legality, but sort of the guidelines of what you can and can't do keep changing. And I think and I think right now, it's, it's fine to direct people to other places, but they can't, they, they're not permitted to have to sign up to get it. So you have to sort of, you know, you have to as a as a, someone who had died and I do have my own website, and I do offer all kinds of stuff there and free stuff when you sign up, but that has to sort of be like up to them to do that, as opposed to like, you can go check this out.

I mean, then that used to not be that way. So in an in an older course, I suggested something and it was an embedded in the materials. But by that, you know, because things change by the time people go direct it back there at one point, they did have to sign up to actually get that. So you have to be a little bit. You know, the guidelines, we were just always Yeah, they change, they change and then someone says you're not doing this right. It's like I had been around for four years things have changed.

Yeah, a lot. Actually, that's a good thing. Because at the beginning on Udemy, there were a lot of courses that were just sent there and just give me more students, more students, more students, and then have dummies, raise their standards. And even though those courses stay in the marketplace, yeah, new courses are have a harder time to enter, but they are higher quality. Definitely. Udemy is moving towards quality now, and that's a very good thing.

Yeah, yeah. Um, it's exciting. I mean, it's really exciting. I think at the end of the day, I've had the privilege of really speaking to a lot of the folks at Udemy It's so true that they're their spirit of how they are building this business, whether you like some of the things that they're doing or you don't, they're really open. They're open to hearing you. They're open to learning from you.

They're open to make it a better experience for the students. Yes, for the instructors, but really, it's about the students. So that was really in alignment with why I create courses and why I do what I do is that anytime I am more invested in their learning, then like me, me, me, me, me. It's just, it's just better. Everything is better, better, better, better. So that's why I really, I think that for people who are considering creating a course it is not, it is not a get rich quick, let me tell you, but it is an amazing vehicle that I think is really going to continue to grow and grow and grow.

So it's really the still the perfect time to get to get started and putting your brilliant message on camera. And it's great for branding. As you said the You move, you started translating your courses in Japanese and I got contacted by a Japanese elearning platform to publish my courses there. They're still English, but they fell in yen. Perfect. Yeah, it's perfect.

It's great. And it's just gonna continue, it's just gonna continue and, and technology changes so much. And even the way that we consume content, whether it's entertainment or education, boy, it is like changing changing. So to be in this space is still in the Pioneer phase, as far as I'm concerned. So so that it's it's a reason to be hopeful, and it's a reason to stay very engaged and learning all the time. So it's good.

So I'm so impressed by you. And I really think that you've got such an important message to share with people and such an inspiring story. So thank you so much for for, you know, sharing some of those insights and I know that my students will certainly appreciate learning from you and I thank you for including some bonus lectures as well as well as a discount Count on to the courses mentioned in the in the resources. I'm included with those bonus lectures. So it's fun. Thank you.

And I learned a lot from this video and from you and I will of course include it in my own courses and because you're so complimentary to my style that the student will just get those words, let's say yeah, and combine them into his own way and his own way of teaching and delivering and yeah, just wonderful. Yeah. And that's the whole thing. There's not there's not any one best way whether there's way you to do that. It's all good. You got to find what works for you.

And I think that there's no end to how, who we can learn from I'm learning from my students all the time. I'm learning from them. So it's, it's it's fun. It's fun, especially when you find kindred spirits as it were. So even though we live on other sides of the planet, and I thank you for doing the call in your evening and my day. It's still you realize how small the planet really is.

Is Pretty cool. Yes, we actually we should end this interview just as we started by hydrating ourselves. It's like we can have a toast any interview that we make. We're like ching ching ching ching ching.