Let's talk about some of the production blunders and mistakes I've made over the years one of them right here. I am primarily immediate trainer. So I thought well, we have a media backdrop that will be impressive and I have had clients and other people say that they like this if I'm doing a live interview, but when it comes to when people have to look at for an hour or two and a training, they hate this. I used to get hate mail. From Udemy stirs I still do because it's still on some of my old courses. This is too busy of background.
And it might be okay if I'm sending a promotional video or a sales pitch video that's 90 seconds long to immediate training prospect, but it's a horrible backdrop for a training. That's why I went to the white backdrop which you've seen for the rest of this course. I'm not saying you have to have a white backdrop but I do want you to listen to yourself. To listen to think that I've had many, many backdrops over here, this is a video loop. And I'm not going to go into all the technical production side, there's so many other good courses on that. There's just a video that I'm standing in front of a TV and a closet in my home that's been converted into a studio.
So find something that isn't going to distract number one. Number two, it accentuates what your message is and what you're all about. Even better for what I do. I've found I've used so many backdrops in the world, everything people hate, other than a solid white backdrop. So that's what I do that other blunders I made. You're gonna really think empathetic at what I'm gonna tell you here.
But I hired a coach, very, very well known video production company and distributor of products. based in New York City. I'm not going to mention their name because I still had to deal with And I pay them about $5,000 to build me a studio and I have state of the art, big broadcast quality cameras mounted on the wall. I've got all sorts of studio lighting, different computers get different software. They helped me mount the TV. Everything was great, but there was one weak link.
They gave me a $20 lav microphone. I have no idea why I should have done better due diligence. So I'm getting feedback on my early courses from Udemy saying, TJ your audio isn't good enough. And of course, I was arrogant and said, What are you talking about? I have one of the fanciest TV production companies in Manhattan build my studio. You don't know what you're talking about.
Turns out good and he didn't know what they were talking about. The audio was poor quality. So there are a ton of great experts on your Get me to tell you what Mike, and the test does how to test it. Also Udemy will give you feedback. I didn't listen, that was my fault. I'm urging you, make sure you have good audio, get feedback from Udemy and just listen to it yourself on cell phones and computers, put it on a big TV, see how it hears.
Because there is something that every single Udemy instructor who talks about how to make courses says and it's true, the audio is actually more important than the video. So you want to make sure you've got a good microphone and a good system. Now I use a lav mic because it just aesthetically I don't like the bit and I have this the snow I have snowball I have the biggest fanciest like $500 mic. I don't use them because I want to be able to gesture and I want to be able to demonstrate Public Speaking things, you might not want a lav mic, they're not necessarily the highest quality for this sort of thing. So figure it out, make sure you have good quality audio. You don't have to have a many thousand dollar video camera the way I do, but make sure it's as high quality as possible.
So my earliest courses, just old video I'd shot for maybe six, seven years ago, I had a webcam, maybe a $40 webcam. And the problem isn't so much the quality of the webcam, but I had poor lighting. And the lighting was getting reflections behind me now I still have some of those courses. They still make me money, but I'm probably ruining 95% of what I could make if I had just had better quality lighting there the way I do now. So, listen again. I know I'm repeating myself.
Listen to you to me. They tell you your audio is horrible. It is. They tell you you need a better lighting or a better camera. You do pay attention to all these details. So you don't waste time and money like I did.