Speak With Confidence: Practical Strategies for Video Communication With Shirlee Engel

What does it truly take to become a powerful communicator in today’s world? On this episode of Speaking With Confidence, host Tim Newman sits down with Shirlee Engel, seasoned TV reporter turned on-camera coach, to unpack the tools, mindsets, and effective communication skills that bring authentic connection to every conversation, far beyond just public speaking.

Whether you’re building a business, leading a team, or growing your influence online, Shirlee shares how to master leadership communication, develop active listening skills, and overcome those confidence hurdles (yes, even the dreaded imposter syndrome and speaking anxiety). Spoiler: The secret has less to do with memorizing scripts and more with showing up as yourself.

You’ll learn how storytelling, authenticity, and embracing imperfection can transform presentations, video content, and daily conversations into powerful moments of connection and impact. Tune in for practical advice to:

• Build public speaking confidence, even if you’re not on a stage
• Use storytelling techniques as your “currency” in a noisy, AI-driven world
• Master the art of showing up authentically (camera “resting face” and all!)
• Repurpose content and leverage technology for presentation skills development
• Turn your presence into profit through strategic visibility and messaging

Key Takeaways

• It’s Not Just About Public Speaking: Powerful communication is about how you connect, listen, and share your story across every channel, from Zoom calls to videos and live events.
• Authenticity Is Your Superpower: Shirlee explains why embracing imperfections and showing your human side create true connection—and why storytelling is more critical now than ever.
• Overcoming Imposter Syndrome & Anxiety: Both Tim and Shirlee get candid about their own struggles with confidence, sharing tips for breaking through self-doubt and putting yourself out there.
• Actionable Techniques for Any Communicator: Discover practical ways to build confidence on and off-camera, structure your message, and ensure every interaction—whether leading a meeting or posting online—leaves a lasting impact.

Connect with Shirlee Engel

https://www.youtube.com/@ShirleeEngel

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shirlee-engel/

https://www.instagram.com/be.camera.confident

http://www.sizzlereelschool.com/

Visit TimNewmanSpeaks.com to grab your free resource, The Top 21 Challenges for Public Speakers and How to Overcome Them, and start building the confidence you deserve.

Chapters

• 0:38 Episode Introduction and Guest Overview
• 2:57 From TV Reporting to Entrepreneurship
• 9:16 The Power of Authentic Storytelling
• 16:05 AI Tools for Content Creation
• 22:05 Developing Strategic Messaging Pillars
• 31:54 The B-Roll Bank: Capturing Video Assets
• 43:54 Sizzle Reel School and Camera Confidence
• 53:15 Episode Closing and Call to Action

Transcript

Tim: 0:08

Welcome back to Speaking with Confidence, the podcast that helps you build the soft skills that lead to real results Communication, storytelling, public speaking and showing up with confidence in every conversation that counts. I'm Tim Newman, a recovering college professor turned communication coach, and I'm thrilled to guide you on your journey to becoming a powerful communicator. I want to thank each and every one of you for your support. It truly means the world to me. If you have questions or if you want something covered on the podcast, just send me a message. Please visit timnewmanspeakscom to get your free e-book. Top 21 Challenges for Public Speakers and how to Overcome them.

Tim: 0:42

Today's guest is Shirley Engel and how to overcome them. Today's guest is Shirley Engel. Shirley is the CEO and founder of Camera Confident, where she helps entrepreneurs and small business owners master their on-camera presence and attract more clients through video and visibility opportunities. A former TV reporter turned entrepreneur, shirley knows that confidence isn't just about what you say. It's about how you say it. She's helped countless professionals refine their messaging, tell compelling stories and show up powerfully on video, on stage and in the media. Today, she's here to share how you can speak with confidence and turn your presence into profit. Shirley, welcome to the show. I've been waiting for this for a long time.

Shirlee: 1:21

Thanks so much for having me, Tim. I'm so excited we're finally getting to do this.

Tim: 1:25

Yeah, I mean. So we've had a little bit of history of taking your sizzle real school class and, and you know, we, we've talked to one and all for a number of different things and I think you're you're going to bring a ton of value to our audience because, as you know, you know I've got, I've got the standard resting bitch face on camera and get a little bit better with it. We're, you know, we're baby stepping as as we go through this uh, it's all perception tim.

Shirlee: 1:52

You know that that's the first place I would start is to stop stop saying that it is funny though it's, it's hilarious.

Tim: 2:00

uh, I'll leave that there for now, but but know you've been in the content creation business, you know for a long time and I'm not sure people truly understand what or how local TV news reporters get their stories on air. It's almost like when you're a one woman band.

Shirlee: 2:20

I certainly started that way. Yeah, and it's so interesting because that is changing and has changed even since I've left the business. But yeah, I started doing everything like from, you know, getting the coffee to filming, to reporting, to editing. And I was thrown in on my very first day at an actual job where I was paid to do it and was told, okay, get a story on the air by the end of the day. And I looked at the edit machine and was like, how do you work this thing? So, yeah, definitely.

Tim: 2:50

But so how have things changed from, you know, being a, a, a newscaster, a news reporter, to being on camera as an entrepreneur? Now, obviously, a lot of things aren't the same, but are there any things that were transferable?

Shirlee: 3:06

Yeah, lots of things were transferable. One of the biggest things is the ability to tell stories. A lot of people, especially in today's day of social media and we're told the shorter the better people have two to three minute attention spans and all the things. I think people have lost sight of what storytelling means and people don't think storytelling is important anymore, and I would argue it's more important than ever now, especially with the advent of AI and so much content is written with AI. Now we even have like AI B-roll, ai video, all that kind of stuff that now telling stories and being authentic is so important.

Shirlee: 3:47

Speaking of authenticity, though, not that being a reporter, you're not authentic, but you do have like a persona. So when I first started as an entrepreneur, people would say, oh, it's your reporter voice again, and I was like that's not a good thing. That's not a good thing when I'm trying to connect with an audience, as myself, as as a coach, as someone who wants to connect with people. You know, delivering the news is one thing. You're not allowed to have an opinion. You're not allowed to reveal what you think about something or reveal any emotion about something. All of those things are so critical to connecting on video as an entrepreneur, as a content creator, as a thought leader. It's really what makes you human and what attracts people to you, especially now. So there were definitely a lot of transferable skills in terms of the technical know-how and writing all of that kind of stuff. But you know there are crucial differences as well.

Tim: 4:44

Yeah. So what was it like for the first time you were in front of the camera, knowing that it was going to be be broadcast as a newscaster.

Shirlee: 4:51

Oh well, let's just say I wasn't confident. Uh, you know that feeling when you're about to go on TV or on video or on camera, maybe you don't know on TV and and your heart's beating so fast that you're like, is the microphone picking up the heartbeat? Because this is really embarrassing, you know, and you're convinced that people will hear your heart beating through your voice. Well, I felt all of that and I felt very awkward. And my introduction to TV journalism was a lot of being live, where things were happening. So there was no such thing as like a retake or a redo.

Shirlee: 5:26

And back in that day as well not that I'm that old, but I'm old enough that it was before digital. So there were actual tapes we were filming on. So it's not like now you can just do 1000 takes, like we didn't have all the tape in the world. So a lot of it was just sort of. You know, you aim for as good as you can be. And the deadline was almost a good thing because it didn't allow you to overthink it like it had to go out. And I always encourage clients to treat their content much in the same way, because if you're in your head and you're constantly thinking, oh, I want to do this again. I didn't like that take. People are always like, oh, I did 100 takes before I did that one and I'm like why are you doing a hundred takes? There's no reason to do a hundred takes. Even if you mess up, it's human right.

Tim: 6:16

So that was a good introduction and really after probably at least with me, after like a third take, if it's not right and I'm not going to use it, I have to walk away because it just gets the emotion, goes out of it. I mean it just doesn't even feel natural anymore.

Shirlee: 6:26

Yeah.

Tim: 6:27

So if you're going to do take after take like I do, sometimes I have to walk away and then come back to it. You know, come back to it later. Let's just put it that way Exactly.

Shirlee: 6:36

Just be confident about it and just say the thing, say whatever it is that you're going to say yeah and say it with meaning, say it like you were going to say it to someone else, right? Because if you're having a conversation you don't say, oh, can I just take that back and say that again Like we don't do that. So it shouldn't be any different on camera. I know that's easier said than done, but it's definitely a put in the reps and you get better kind of thing.

Tim: 7:02

Yeah, did you have some of the same feelings, going from being a newscaster to be an entrepreneur, in front of the camera, knowing that there was going to be that little bit of a transition?

Shirlee: 7:12

Not really. No, I, I didn't. And I think it was almost a relief to be out there. You know, the first business that I launched was an interior design firm and I was showing up on Instagram and I was just being me and I was doing my thing and I actually found that I had missed it, you know, because I had spent a few years working in executive consulting and coaching um and and worked in public affairs and I was really excited to get back into it.

Shirlee: 7:39

And then I started appearing live on a morning television show as an interior design expert and just talking about design and you know, it's kind of like riding a bike, it just it just came back and it was more fun because I could smile, you know, I could, I could emote, I could use my hands a little more. I wasn't looking straight, that's the other thing. I wasn't looking straight into the camera, I was talking to someone else. So I felt almost I would say the camera, I was talking to someone else, so I felt almost I would say the opposite, like it was. It just felt very natural. But that's because I had been doing it in a staged kind of way for so long.

Tim: 8:14

Right. So you know, and you know we've talked about this before. You know, for me, I like to be able to see the person who I'm talking to, and you know, when we're doing this, you know I've got to be looking at the camera, as opposed to over here looking at you and watching your facial expressions, and and so, for me, I lose some of some of the, some of the meaning, some of the emotion, some of those things at times. So how can we, if how can we, look at the camera and and truly be able to be authentic and and share how we want to share, so that it comes across almost naturally?

Shirlee: 8:53

Yeah, and I love that you set it up that way, because right now you and I are recording on a platform. We're both in boxes for those people who maybe can't see the backend, and as you're talking, I'm not actually looking at you, I'm looking at the green light, because if I look at you, this is what it looks like and I lose the eye contact with the viewer, right. So that's something that even if you're not someone doing on camera stuff, if you're on Zoom calls, if you're doing client meetings, like whatever kind of speaking you're doing, people often forget that you've got to look people in the eye, even virtually, and if you think about it, if you both do that, you're not actually looking at each other. The way I get around that and this is something that takes practice is you picture the person Like the lens is not a lens.

Shirlee: 9:40

I always think someone's behind the camera and you're actually speaking through the camera to that person rather than talking to a lens, because I think that when you do that, you lose a little bit of that. But you know, it is one of those kind of like walking and chewing gum at the same time, or like tapping your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time You're it's a little bit of a mind bender, but it's absolutely critical to maintain that, especially if you're recording something that's then going to go out. Ultimately, it's about the audience, it's about the viewer, and you want to make sure that the viewer experiences that as an interaction that feels natural, even if it doesn't feel natural to you recording it.

Tim: 10:23

Yeah, and for me that's one of the hardest things to get over and I'm getting natural to you recording it. Yeah, and that's what. For me, that's one of the hardest things to get over and I'm getting a lot better at it. You know, doing this podcast for a little over a year now and having taken your sizzle, real school and and learn some of those, some of those things, but it's it's still kind of it's still kind of not natural but it, but I think it's just like anything else, the more you do it, the more practice that you do it, the better you get at it?

Shirlee: 10:51

Yeah, absolutely. It's like you know, if you want to go to the gym and you say, well, I can't go to the gym cause I'm not in shape yet, but then you got to go to the gym, you're not just going to get a six pack the first time you go to the gym, right, and so that sounds ridiculous. We're laughing at that. But a lot of people say, well, you know, I can't put out videos yet because I'm not, I don't feel comfortable or confident, or I can't show up, and it's like, well, how do you think you're going to get there? You've got to do the thing.

Shirlee: 11:19

It's like anything, right? I mean even the most magnetic speakers that you see out there on video on stages. They didn't start that way. And if you want proof, go to their social channels and scroll way down like way, way down, as far down as you can go, and guaranteed you're going to see some pretty awful takes that they had at the beginning. None of us are born like this. I mean, some people do have a natural talent, but even that needs to be honed. There's a mastery to it.

Tim: 11:47

That's right, and that's the other thing that people need to understand. If you do have some natural talent, it doesn't mean that you just rely on that. Most people who you know, who are like us, you know type A, you know the entrepreneurial spirit, who want to progress in life. We work on things. You have to get better at it. You can't we don't just rest on our laurels and think that that's going to be good enough to get us to where we want to be.

Shirlee: 12:13

Yeah, and I think, especially now I'm trying to do this in my own content. I spend a lot of time talking about and filming and showing the not so polished aspects. You know, I published a YouTube video yesterday and there was a mistake in one of the graphics and somebody reached out to me on LinkedIn to tell me and I could have panicked and, oh God, they're going to think I'm not. You know, they're going to think I didn't pay attention or whatever they're going to think. You know, we always have that in my head oh, what if people are going to judge? And so instead I filmed content about how I go about correcting that, and I had so many people reach out to me after and be like you know, I'm so glad to see that. Thank you for showing that. You know, people are so grateful for those moments and this.

Shirlee: 12:57

I teach this stuff Right, um, and so I could easily be in my head and be like, oh, it's got to be perfect, because if it's not, then people are going to think I'm a fraud or they're not going to think I think I don't know what I'm talking about. I think, if anything, people appreciate knowing that even people who have quote unquote mastered this. I mean you never. To me it's also a constant evolution, like you're constantly working at it. I love the gym analogy, because it's the same thing. I mean you might get into amazing shape, but if you don't keep going and keep it up, you're going to lose that Right, and so being on camera is a lot very similar to that, and public speaking is similar to that. When I first started back into being out there and being on TV and being on video after a little hiatus like I had to get back into it I had to remember how to speak and, so to speak. I mean it comes faster when you've done it before, but there still is a ramping up period, for sure.

Tim: 13:58

Well, you know, I like that you talk about our mistakes or our mess ups or not necessarily feeling comfortable. You do a lot of that type of content. Like a month or so ago, you put something out about, you know, doing a photo shoot in public health. Sometimes it feels like we're being looked at and judged and we kind of go through that. But the whole idea is don't worry about it, just keep being. You Do the things that you have to do. And then you did one where your daughter was putting makeup on you. Um, yeah, and and truth be told, I've I've been that too my daughter put makeup on me not red lipstick.

Shirlee: 14:37

I hope like me.

Tim: 14:38

Yes, oh, okay and you know my granddaughters will paint my fingernails. You know it is what it is and it looks like you know a kid did it. But we have to be okay with those sometimes that we're not perfect, that we're not. We don't show up how we want to show up, but at least we're showing up.

Shirlee: 15:04

Yeah, but I think it goes further than that, tim. I think it's necessary, I think it makes you human and you know, especially if you're an entrepreneur or you're someone who's you know, a consultant or someone who relies on visibility for clients or income, you need to create connection, especially with people who don't know you, and I can't count how many times I've met people and they've been like hey, even even in Phoenix. The other day I was in Phoenix for a conference and some people were like hey, it's Shirley. Like it's like they know you already. Well, how did they know me? I didn't necessarily know who they were, but it's because in my content I speak to the camera, like I'm speaking directly to them.

Shirlee: 15:46

So people feel and I felt this as an interior designer as well, when I would go on and talk about design on TV and then I'd go to a client's house and they'd be like hey, how's it going? And there was that feeling of like we already know each other and I'm meeting this person for the first time. And that's what you absolutely need, because there are lots of other people doing what you're doing. I mean, none of us are. You know, there's very, very few, if any, niches where it's like oh, you're the only person doing that, right? So what distinguishes you from those people? It's you as a person, because the other thing that a lot of people used to rely on, particularly in the coaching space and in the knowledge-based economy, was knowledge, that transfer of knowledge.

Shirlee: 16:30

Well, guess what? Knowledge is free now. You don't even have to pay for it. Anything I ever want to know, I can go into ChatGPT, and it's not just about, like you know, tell me the best restaurants in downtown Phoenix. It's analyze this for me. And, like you know, tell me the best restaurants in downtown Phoenix. It's analyze this for me and give you know. So, in the absence of being able to like, you can still sell that knowledge. But when people can get that for free from AI, what do they get from you that they're not able to get somewhere else? Well, they get you. So the era of the personal brand, I would say, is we're in that, the height of the era of the personal brand, because that's what we've got to sell now, in 2025.

Tim: 17:10

Yeah, and again, just take that. That next step further is, like you said, it's about that personal connection. We, we, we rely on AI, we rely on technology, but there's no getting around that personal touch, that personal connection, those personal relationships.

Shirlee: 17:29

Absolutely.

Tim: 17:29

You just can't, and so you have to be able to communicate. You have to be able to connect with people on whatever level that they're, on whatever level that they're on.

Shirlee: 17:41

Yeah, and that's what comes back to storytelling. You know, and a lot of people, especially I find clients who come to me and I ask them about their stories because we want to, you know, develop their messaging and you and I did this too in sizzle real school. You know what's your story and people think, okay, what's a story I have and they really start to get in their heads about it and it has to be a good story and it has to be the best story and it has to be interesting. And people don't realize that even what they consider as a mundane story could be a very impactful and relatable story to someone else. Like I was taking my daughter to school the other day and, you know, whatever. So it doesn't have to be this epic hero's journey. People love even the mundane.

Shirlee: 18:25

You know, I was listening to a podcast the other day where someone was talking about how there's this trend of people being obsessed with watching people eating things in reels. I don't understand this myself, but like, how just mundane and basic is someone eating a hamburger? But, you know, maybe there's details around it, maybe it's the type of hamburger they get, maybe it's the specific place they got it. That is new in that community, or maybe you know they're wearing a really nice shirt and they drip something Like these things that we don't think are that important, are so relatable, that we don't think are that important, are so relatable, and they make people say, yeah, oh, my God, Right, and it doesn't have to be this big epic story, and so that's, I think, such an important thing to weave through your content and wherever you're speaking, because that's that's your currency. Your, your stories are your currency now, not your knowledge.

Tim: 19:20

Yeah, Stories are your currency now not your knowledge.

Tim: 19:22

Yeah, that's at least for somebody from my generation. That's hard to, that's a tough hurdle to get over. You know, just from that perspective, you know we've had YouTube for I don't know how many years. We've had Google, for I don't know how many years, but it's really the last four to five years that what you're saying has really become our, our new reality. And you know, when you know for first, people in my generation, I think people would come to us for our knowledge. And now we have to, we as, as entrepreneurs, we we've got to, we've got to be able to pivot and understand that and, like you said, go in this other direction.

Shirlee: 20:07

Yeah, and we also have to create content at scale. That's another thing is, you know, I have people who are like, oh, I don't want to use AI. And I am very much pro-AI, not just for ideation and brainstorming and all those wonderful things in the process of developing what you're going to say, but also just in the systems that get your messages out there, because if you're not using these things, then you are being left behind, because humans can't physically keep up with the pace of what AI can do and there's new things coming out every day. I mean, it just really blows my mind. But you know, I think it's something to embrace. There are certain aspects of it that you know maybe we don't embrace, but definitely in the public speaking realm, it allows you, from a visibility perspective, to do a lot more.

Tim: 21:01

Yeah, so what tools are you using and how are you using them?

Shirlee: 21:04

Yeah, so many tools. I'm one of those people that like wants to know how to use them all and then I pick the best ones. I always, no matter what I, you know, learn about. I always go back to chat GPT and the most powerful thing that I've done that a lot of people do is create a custom GPT in my brand voice. So you know, if you have the pay, you need the paid version of ChatGPT to do this and you can create a custom GPT and train it to speak like you. If you've been using ChatGPT for a long time, it may already do that, because ChatGPT even there was at the time of this, recording an update that came out, where it remembers even better the stuff you've told it before. But if you've never deliberately fed it a brand guide or you want it to pull from a very specific type of voice that you speak in, or examples of some posts you've done before transcripts, things like that, using AI to come up with first drafts and ideas and brainstorm how to make things better those are the ways that I'm really using it from a content creation standpoint.

Shirlee: 22:10

I'm someone who doesn't believe in ever starting with a blank page now. There's no reason to. That doesn't mean that we copy and paste, far from it. Although the more you use AI and the more you train it. Far from it. Although, the more you use AI and the more you train it, the more it starts to sound like you and the less work you have to do. But you know an example of that.

Shirlee: 22:28

You know, I'm a creative type and I have a YouTube channel and I'm really ramping up my YouTube channel at the moment. And so this morning, as I was getting ready, I just, you know, the ideas were coming to me and I started thinking about the beginning of a video, and so I went into my notes app and I wrote out all of the you know, here's how I think it's going to go. And then I copied and pasted that into ChatGPT and said OK, here's what I have so far, Can you? And I gave it very specific prompts about the type of videos I like to create, and it spits back out a script. I take that script.

Shirlee: 23:00

I like to also use Claude. Claude is I find a better creative writer than ChatGPT. Chatgpt is very good at strategy, you know, being strategic, helping you, brainstorm, thinking outside the box. It's not always as good at writing because it tends to churn out pretty similar looking stuff. Claude is really good for that, but what I do is I use different platforms to come up with my product, and that way it's it is ultimately me in the end, because I'm not just taking it from one source. And then, as far as repurposing videos, there's lots of great AI tools. One I use in particular is called Opus Clip. Even this interview we're doing right now, breaking things up into smaller pieces to be able to repurpose through Shorts and Instagram. So the approach I take is you create a very valuable piece of long format content and that allows you to break it up and, you know, get the most mileage out of it by using different pieces of it.

Tim: 24:00

Yeah, and that's so important to understand and then being able to take. When you take this content and then you cut it up or you have these tools cut it up, you also have to. It's not just let them cut it up. You have to make sure that it's going to work for whatever platform or whatever message it is that you're going to actually be using on. You can't just say, okay, it did this one and it sounds pretty good, so we're just going to slap it up there and hope that it's going to get the message out that we want to get. We still have to go through it and make sure that it's communicating the message that we want to communicate on the platform that we want to put it on.

Shirlee: 24:46

Yeah, and you know I've developed different methods for doing that. I find I probably use maybe 60, 50 to 60 percent of the clips that it spits out, because some of them, without more context, don't really make sense. The reason I like Opus Clip is because I've tried a lot of other ones and I find the AI at least at the time of this recording it's always changing, I find puts out the best quality stuff. But what I'll often do is then I'll go back to ChatGPT and ChatGPT has an option where you can press the microphone and you can play the clip so it transcribes the clip for you, or you can copy a transcript and then I tell it to come up with, let's say it's LinkedIn, write me a LinkedIn post based on this transcript. So it's pulling from what I already said.

Shirlee: 25:33

But then it's organizing it in a different way, or maybe an email or a blog post or whatever it is, and then I take that off of ChatGPT and then I revise it and put my own spin and my own voice on it and post it, and that whole process can take a couple minutes. So there is no excuse. Oh no, what do I post today? I mean, ideally we want to have content plans and have them weeks and weeks out, but you and I both know the reality of entrepreneurship. It's hard to do that and sometimes you have things that come up on certain days where you have something to say and you don't want to wait two weeks to say it. It's timely right now. So I think it's a healthy mix of having stuff in the bank that you're not constantly feeling like you're catching up, you're on this content treadmill, but also leaving room for that magic where, on a specific day, if you have something to say that you're not kind of sitting on it for a couple weeks yeah, and I do something very similar what you do.

Tim: 26:31

But I find myself a lot of times like if I'm working on something, I'll get a thought which is rare but I'll get a thought and I'll put it in the chat GPT, knowing that I'm not going to do anything with it. Or it could be two days, it could be a week, and I'll say, okay, let's go back and see what it came up with, and then that, take that and either do something with it or not do something with it. But right, so in the past, where you know we, we all have the notes app, but for me that's just not practical, it's just not. You know, my ADHD just doesn't work that way. But now, with ChatGPT on the phone or sitting here on my computer, I can just speak it in and move on. It takes 15, 20 seconds, as opposed to me typing something in my notes app or anything like that. It'll take me 20 minutes. Just speak it in and go and then come back to it in a couple days or whatever. I did that five times yesterday, five times.

Shirlee: 27:38

Wow, that's great. And then how do you keep track of it? Because that's one of the things I think is something that's difficult in some of these AI apps is just, you have this long conversation. You're like, oh, I had this really good thought like last Wednesday, and what did chat call that chat again? So I think there is a risk of it kind of getting lost in the ether. There is a risk of it kind of getting lost in the ether, which is why I like having an idea parking lot and being able to draw on that.

Shirlee: 28:10

So it really depends on how you work. But it's what you said it's find the system that works for you. And the other thing I want to say is there is still a strategy. So the way I work with clients is I make sure that there is an underpinning to what they're saying, that that everything every video you create, every message you put out there has to feed into a broader narrative that you develop that really stays on brand and on message, right? So a lot of people are just throwing spaghetti at the wall and they're wondering why it's not working. Why is it crickets? Why don't people engage with my content? Well, if you're just kind of randomly throwing things up there. Your viewer, your audience can't follow the breadcrumbs, so to speak.

Tim: 28:53

Yeah, and again, for me that's, that's something that I find myself doing at times too, and I and I, you know, I get off track and I say, okay, now I can, I can see them off track now, and then just veering back on Um and and and it's hard, yeah, it's.

Tim: 29:17

I mean, you've got to have somebody, who, who, who can, um, who can help lead you back. As number one stop you from from getting off track, but if you do get off track, lead you. Lead you back to on track as quickly as possible so that you're not wasting time, energy and resources.

Shirlee: 29:29

Yes.

Tim: 29:30

Going down a road that you really shouldn't be going down.

Shirlee: 29:33

Absolutely.

Tim: 29:36

So, uh, but that gets back to the whole idea of being authentic in who you are, too Right I mean, because when you, as as we, as we talk about these things and and I've said multiple times, you know to you, to you and on some of the other things, I use self-deprecating humor because that's just who I am, but that's also something for me to that keeps me on track. I get a thought. What happens when I get a thought? I go to ChatGPT or I open up another app and I do it with messages, like with with my wife. I'll say, jen, remind me to this when I get home, remind me to do this or remind me to put this into whatever it is. And so it's. It's understanding how we operate so that we can be authentic when we show up.

Shirlee: 30:33

Absolutely yeah, and telling us stories of your life too. And that's also where the whole idea of you know being in the moment a little bit more comes in, because that whole packaged, manufactured image is really out in 2025. But there is a skill in making sure that even in those moments that come across that might seem like you know, oh, this just happened today, you still want to weave in the overall message that you have, especially as a business owner, as an entrepreneur, because ultimately, you are marketing all the time, right? Whether you like it or not. That's what this is. It's marketing.

Shirlee: 31:13

You know, people don't just show up on social media all the time for fun. They usually have, you know, some kind of reason to do that, and that's not always a business reason. Sometimes it's a visibility reason, it's a fan base reason. Whatever it is, you are expressing yourself, but they're always, to really be successful at it has to be a through line, right. And so I think it's important to just not to take the time to ideate, take those great nuggets and ideas that you get that come to you like us. You know creative people and people who don't always think in a linear way, but take the time to really develop that, because you know the iteration, that's just, you just throw it out. There is only part of what it could be if you actually took the time to really think about. How does this play into my broader message and how can I turn this into you know, a specific type of content that can actually have a purpose, right?

Tim: 32:10

Right, right. So what's your process in terms of creating content, you know, from the idea perspective? Um, because I think you come up with with really great stuff, I mean it's. I mean, I mean you're, you're no watching people eat, type of video, type of thing yeah, probably not.

Tim: 32:30

Not, not on my channel, yeah but but you, you always have really good ideas that that make. But then again, it just me makes me think about some of the things that I'm doing and how I go about things. So so what's your process in coming up with these types of ideas?

Shirlee: 32:49

Yeah, I think it.

Shirlee: 32:50

It really comes down to. I have three main pillars of all of my messaging, and you mentioned some of them off the top what to say? So that's anything related to messaging. How to say it, that's anything related to being on camera body language, eye contact, voice, backgrounds. And then how to create buzz, so that's you know, pitching media, podcasts and stages, how to land those things, who to pitch. How okay, you got it. That's fabulous. How do you sound good? How do you, you know, make the most of that appearance? What do you do after? So everything I talk about falls under one of those three pillars.

Shirlee: 33:28

And then being very strategic, with having a really deep understanding of the audience and the people who are watching. And then I run a business. So who are the clients who I'm speaking to and what are they going through? Because I think a mistake that a lot of people make is they make their content all about them. Right, I do this or I do that, or I know this, I know that. I'm going to teach you. This is how I do this and that's great.

Shirlee: 33:56

But if I'm watching as an audience member, I want to know what's in it for me. I mean, at the end of the day, you're either asking people for their time or their money or both, and so, even if you're not a business owner, you're still asking, you're still selling, you're still selling people to give you their time, to give you the time of day to stop scrolling right. So I think it's about knowing your pillars, knowing your audience and then being able to present the information in a way that you know speaks to that person or that type of person that you're trying to reach. Because a lot of people I find as well, kind of use the LinkedIn speak. I like to say, you know, they don't say it in a conversational way, the way like an actual person would talk, and that was a skill I really honed as a journalist because it was beat into me.

Shirlee: 34:45

I would show up with a script and they'd be like what does that mean? It means this OK, say that Right. So I'm now I do that with clients I'm like, ok, what does that actually mean? And if you think about your messaging as an onion like there's always layers of the onion you can peel back to really get to the heart of what it is that you're trying to say, and so I think that's so, so, so important and just rooting everything you say and it goes back to one of those pillars in your messaging.

Tim: 35:16

And again, so important and so glad you said those things. I mean you've got your pillars, but it doesn't matter which pillar you're dealing with. You have to know who your audience is. You have to know how to touch them, how to communicate with them, how they're going to receive that message. So I mean you could have those pillars and you could have incredible content, incredible messaging, but if you're not actually targeting the right people, if you don't know who it is that you're trying to target, it doesn't really matter, it's just going out into the ether.

Shirlee: 35:47

You just waste all the time, effort and I think another key piece of this that a lot of people don't think about, especially people who came of age in the generation of the traditional advertising. You think about the madmen in suits and they're scribbling on the back of a napkin with a cup of scotch and they're like in a back room and then suddenly they emerge and they're like here's the campaign and then it goes out. We live in a very democratic social media world where your audience will tell you if it's good. You don't get to decide if it's good. A lot of times I'll put something out there and I'm like, no, this is pretty good. And I'll put it out there and I'll be like, oh, it didn't really land. Or I'll put something out and I'll be like this wasn't very good and it just goes. People love it.

Shirlee: 36:30

So I think that the creators that really get it, and the ones that succeed and the ones that grow, are the ones that are constantly analyzing how did this land with the audience? You know what was the, not just likes, and you know some of the vanity metrics. But is this resonating? And if it's not resonating, that should tell you something, because the ultimate deciders of whether your content is effective is not other people who you know are watching you and criticizing you or think they can advise you. It's the people who you're targeting.

Shirlee: 37:03

What better way to know if it's working than with your audience? And so I think that the people who really succeed are the ones who are constantly really have their finger on the pulse of what is resonating, and then you create more of that. So that means that sometimes you're not going to use, you're not going to speak to all of your pillars equally. Maybe there's a pillar that gets way more engagement, or your audience. Kind of use your audience and let them guide you to what they want, because that's again one of the mistakes that entrepreneurs make is they go out there and they do what they want to do, and obviously you know you have to be passionate about it, you have to be an expert if you're purporting to be an expert, but it's about understanding what the market wants, and content is much the same.

Tim: 37:51

Yeah, and you said something at the beginning. There, you know, what you put out could land, could not land, and those that are successful, those that are also successful, aren't worried about how they look. They're going to put it out, they're just going to do it. They're just going to put it out there and obviously, there, there, there's a plan for what they do, but they're just going to put it out, and if it doesn't resonate, it doesn't resonate, but they're still just going to put it out, yeah, out, and if it doesn't resonate, doesn't resonate, but they're still just going to put it out. Yeah, and that's something that my, my audience in particular, really struggles with. Well, they don't, they, they don't take that step forward of actually following through and doing the thing. What? Whether it's um, getting up on stage, what? Whether it's doing a video, whether it's whatever it is, they talk about it, they prepare for it and then, whatever it is, they hold themselves back.

Shirlee: 38:48

Yeah, I see that a lot with clients as well. I'll often say to them get off the page, which is it's a form of procrastination and it's a form of staying safe. You know, and there's lots of different examples of this, not just in me showing up on you know video and in public speaking, but it's you feel a resistance to doing something that puts you outside your comfort zone or where your brain thinks this is not safe for me. Safe for me and, I think, a lot of people who are looking to get out there but don't necessarily have the confidence or want that spotlight, you know, because not all entrepreneurs want to be out there in the spotlight all the time. They want clients but they don't want to have to you know, dance on video, so to speak.

Shirlee: 39:35

It's about getting outside your comfort zone, because people will appreciate it, and letting go of perfection, and it would be such a lie to say, oh, there's going to be a time that you don't care how you look. I mean, I keep moving my bangs out of my face because they're driving me nuts, but here I am, I'm live for you know, taped live on a podcast. You're never going to stop caring how you look, but you are going to get to a point where you're comfortable being yourself, warts and all, as they say, in front of the audience, and your audience will reward you for that.

Tim: 40:12

So do you ever find yourself in that position where you have created something and you don't? You're ready to put it out, but then you don't, for whatever reason?

Shirlee: 40:23

All the time there is a there's a graveyard of reels that I have filmed over the over the the years, that that just live on my phone, and every so often I'll come across one of them and be like, why didn't I ever put this out? You know, sometimes, because you know there's it's very important to get into the habit of filming B-roll of yourself, so video of you just doing your thing, because you never know where it's going to come in handy. So I do film a lot of things that don't see the light of day because they're like just in case videos, and you know it is a good point to go back to some of them and and see how they can be used. But absolutely a good point to go back to some of them and and see how they can be used. But absolutely there's lots of things that I've filmed that have never been released, and I'll bet you that's there are probably a lot of missed opportunities in there, too, of things that I just wasn't sure, like right now.

Shirlee: 41:13

Um, I've been doing a lot of Instagram stories lately and you know they have that one minute timer and and if you go beyond the one minute, then and what we were saying earlier, you know you have that line that's being traced around the circle and it's coming up to the end, but because I'm looking at the camera I don't see when it's at the end, so I always get cut off. Well, I could get all in my head and not put it out, but I'll just be like oops, got cut off there and just keep going. It put it out, but I'll just be like oops, got cut off there and just keep going. It's also a way to get people to keep watching from story to story. But, um, yeah, I mean it's, and and how many other people are going to see that? And be like, oh, that happens to me too, right?

Tim: 41:51

exactly, and you'll probably get a laughing emoji or what have you? Yep, yeah, yeah. I wish you hadn't said the b-roll thing, because I try and put that. I'm trying to block that out because I know that I have to do that. I know, but that's something that I hate doing. I don't like doing it, I don't want to do it, and so for me that's a big pain point for me that I just nobody wants to see me walking around doing whatever I do.

Shirlee: 42:19

I don't want to see me.

Tim: 42:19

So it's those things that we know we, whatever I do, I don't want to see me, so so it's. It's those things that we know we need to do. We have to figure out a way to get over it. And that happens, just so the audience knows it happens to everybody. You are not unique with something that you hate doing, don't want to do, don't feel comfortable doing whatever it is. We all go through it. We all have to figure out a way to get over it, to be able to move forward.

Shirlee: 42:41

Yeah, and I think with something like that, that's where batching comes in. So, so well, it's like who? I don't like having to remember to do that either. Uh, because sometimes I don't have. There are some days where I wake up and I'm not filming that day, right.

Shirlee: 42:55

So maybe I'm in my pajamas and haven't showered and haven't put my face on, and so the best way around that is to set a day where you're like I'm going to film B-roll on this day, right and how, whether, that's, you know, once a month or once every two weeks or whatever it is, and having that planning, that foresight of being like what kind of B-roll do I need for my content?

Shirlee: 43:18

And then carving out time specifically to do that. And then you build up a bank of content, a bank of B-roll, a B-roll bank, I call it, and that is something you can draw on over and over again. And so you know, how many different shots do you need of you typing at a computer? Because that's what a lot of us do, right? Like we sit at computers all day. So why not have a few different shirts and, and you know, swap them out and do a session where you film a bunch of stuff of you on a computer, in different angles, different shirts. You know, and then it's done. You don't have to do it again, for you know a month, two months, whatever so you get a new shirt yeah, you get a new shirt, or more than one shirt?

Shirlee: 43:59

Yeah, exactly.

Tim: 44:02

I was at a conference a couple of weeks maybe it's recently, just to put it that way and I was proud of myself because I told my, my friend, who was actually running the conference, and make sure you send me video and pictures, cause I'm going to need them, yeah, and so I remember to have somebody else do it.

Shirlee: 44:23

Yes, yes, that's so important and sometimes it can feel a little awkward. So I spoke at, you know, in my interior design capacity. I spoke at a trade show and it's not the kind of show where there's like cameras around and filming and stuff. But I actually hired someone to come and film the presentation and, you know, walked in with the camera and all that and it's you know, hi, you know, but I needed that video, right? I mean, that's that's how we show our brands, that's how we show what we're doing, and people love being a fly on the wall in that type of situation. Show what we're doing, and people love being a fly on the wall in that type of situation.

Shirlee: 45:01

So, you know, whenever there's an opportunity to film yourself in action, whatever it is that you do, no matter what you want to have that B-roll for it's always nice to have, because you know we talk about sizzle reels like what better way to talk about yourself and what you do than have video of you in action, doing your thing and speaking opportunities, whether it's on a stage, on a podcast, you know, whatever at a conference, whatever it is, even being at a conference, that is golden opportunity to show you out and about and mingling and with people, rather than having to just, oh, what am I going to put here?

Shirlee: 45:39

I'm going to get some stock footage or, you know, I'll just have my mug on on video the whole time. It just makes it more dynamic. So, you know, and, and so many times I'll have clients tell me, you know, like, oh, I went on this vacation and we did this incredible thing. And I'll be like, did you get some video? No, why not? And and a lot of people don't think about that right, like they're on vacation, that that's not the first thing on their minds.

Tim: 46:04

But you never know when that type of visual might come in handy in your marketing exactly, and even with even if you have good stock footage, when you, when you weave it into other b-roll, it looks like stock oh yeah, people can tell you can tell it's, it just doesn't. Even if it's really good stuff, it doesn't have the same look, it doesn't have the same, not at all it doesn't have the same, so again.

Tim: 46:29

But I don't want to dissuade people from using stock footage. If you need to use it, use it, but you're much better off if you have actual B-roll footage of whatever it is that you're trying to show.

Shirlee: 46:41

Couldn't agree more yeah, absolutely.

Tim: 46:45

Well, Shirley, you've got some really good things going on with what you're doing. What are they?

Shirlee: 46:52

Well, I have just released a longer version of a signature challenge that you did and that a lot of entrepreneurs have enjoyed, called sizzle real school.

Shirlee: 47:03

It is the one video that I would say every single brand needs. It's your trailer for your business, for your channel. If you're a youtuber, if you have a youtube presence or wherever it is that that you want to show your personal brand, having that brand trailer is so critical. So what we've done is taken this five-day challenge that people love so much and we've expanded it into a course where people can take a little bit longer, have access to me on live calls and create that stand out brand video to really make their brand shine. And the nice thing about sizzle reels is that once you learn the process, once you learn about this type of video, you start to understand that there's several kinds of sizzle reels you can create for your business, and once you've done one, the floodgates are really open to make all of your videos that much better. So we're super excited to release this, and we've got just some incredible entrepreneurs doing some really great things with their sizzle reels, and so this has just been a passion project of mine.

Tim: 48:05

It's an extension of what I did every day as a journalist and it's just really such an honor and pleasure to be able to help business owners tell their stories because, as I've made some changes and transitions over the last five, six years taking courses, taking online courses, taking in-person courses the Sizzle Real School, without a doubt, had probably some of the best value in anything I've done educationally in the last five or six years. Wow, Thank you so much. That's five to six years.

Shirlee: 48:38

Wow, that's thank you so much.

Tim: 48:40

That's amazing, Because well, you have to enroll to figure this out though, okay, so don't just take my word for it and enroll in it.

Tim: 48:49

But you not only did you teach skills, but the way you went about it to get me over some of those hurdles that I have for myself, like I don't have nearly as much resting bitch facing so I have some, but not nearly as much. I'm a little bit more comfortable in front of the camera, and the process of, of building the scissor reel is has opened my eyes up to, like you said, building for a number of different opportunities. You know, I know one of the things that you talk about is an elevator pitch, and so in my previous life as a college professor, we did those. I've got a process that helped them, and one of the things that I'm doing is I'm combining, combining the whole idea of the elevator pitch into the sizzle reel to. You know, a 45 second sizzle reel, 45 seconds is all you get, and and and some of the some of the good things that have have come from that, you know, for for some of my clients, has been amazing.

Tim: 49:58

So again, enroll in sizzle reel school. I mean you, you, the value, the value that's there is. It's unbeatable, it really is. Thank you.

Shirlee: 50:08

Yeah, I mean it's great. We'd love to have as many entrepreneurs go through this as possible, because I'm really on a mission to you know, bring this type of skillset to entrepreneurs, because a lot of you know type of skill set to entrepreneurs because a lot of you know production companies. You can go outsource filming a video. It costs thousands, if not tens of thousands, of dollars to create a video for your brand and in 2025, you don't need to spend that kind of money. Um, you know that story is within, but you just need the right guidance. You need process, you need to understand what makes a good video, how to put that together and, as you'll attest, there's beginner, intermediate and pro. There's no previous experience required and entrepreneurs are using these reels for all kinds of incredible uses and they're really helping people tell their stories and have this one central place that you can direct a prospective client or someone to learn more about you. And what better way to do that than through, like a movie style trailer for your business? Right?

Tim: 51:10

Yeah, and on top of it they get your feedback, they get feedback from other people that are in the course, so you're getting a lot of feedback that's going to help you get better, help you make it better, help you build that confidence of being in front of the camera, telling that story, putting it together and, like you say, you don't need all kinds of expensive equipment, expensive computer programs to do this. It's really not that hard.

Shirlee: 51:37

Exactly? Yeah, not at all. We don't make you buy anything.

Tim: 51:44

Well, shirley, that's great. I really do appreciate it. And where can people find you to register for a sizzle reel or if they want to work with you with Camera, confident or any of your other programs?

Shirlee: 51:53

Yeah, so I mostly hang out on YouTube. I have a YouTube channel which we can link to in the show notes, and would also love to hear from people on LinkedIn. They're linked to each other, so if you go to my YouTube, there's a link there where you can find me on LinkedIn. On LinkedIn, I'm Shirley Engel. My DMs are open and I love connecting with people, so you know those are usually the best places to find me, but I hang out on most of the platforms.

Tim: 52:17

Yeah, and again, I don't say this often, but when I do say it I mean it Make sure you follow Shirley, because she does. The content that she puts out is really good. It makes you think it helps. It's going to help you in whatever area that you're looking for, especially with being confident on camera. I mean it's. She does really good stuff.

Shirlee: 52:40

Thank you, tim, that's so kind of you.

Tim: 52:42

Well, take care, and we'll talk to you soon, shirley.

Shirlee: 52:45

Thank you. Thanks so much for having me and have a great rest of the day.

Tim: 52:49

Be sure to visit speakingwithconfidencepodcastcom to get your free ebook Top 21 Challenges for Public Speakers and how to Overcome them. You can also register for the forum for public speaking. Always remember, your voice has power changers. We'll talk to you next time.