Three Videos Every Business Needs

Struggling to make professional videos that won't damage your brand's reputation? In this episode, video production expert Josh Schaidt reveals why not all content is created equal and shares the three essential types of videos every business needs: the how, what, and why. As founder of Lft Phi, Josh explains the crucial difference between casual content creation and professional video production, emphasising that the most important work happens before hitting 'record'.

Drawing from personal experience, Josh shares how video transformed his career during an 18-month unemployment period, ultimately landing him a job because hiring managers had watched his content. He offers practical tips for improving production quality on a budget, including controlling variables like lighting and sound. Plus, he reveals why LinkedIn has become his primary platform for B2B video marketing.

Whether you're just starting with video or looking to elevate your production quality, this episode provides actionable insights for creating impactful business videos.

Guest's Platform Recommendation: LinkedIn for B2B video marketing

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Chapters

• 15:15 [Ad] Everyday AI: Your daily guide to grown with Generative AI
• 16:02 (Cont.) Three Videos Every Business Needs

Transcript

Jim James (00:01)
Now there are three kinds of video that you need to have when you are going to be running your business and marketing your business. Luckily today, my guest is going to tell you what those three are, but not before I tell you that Josh and I had a little bit of fun on LinkedIn because I promoted the fact that he was coming on the show today and he's sent up on LinkedIn. It says, a leading number of the Ugly Mug Coalition, I need all the help I can get in the simple act of reducing the shine that

makes a big difference under the studio light. So you've actually got a picture of him on LinkedIn holding a packet of oil control film. This is how much attention this man pays to production when he's making films for people. Josh Schaidt joining us from Bealton in Virginia. Welcome to the show.

Josh Schaidt (00:53)
Thank you, is an absolute honor to be here.

Jim James (00:56)
Well, Josh, look, I'm joking apart, you did put it up that you're coming on the show. And I thought it's fantastic because it shows that you care enough about coming on the show. And anyone that's going to watch this on the YouTube and Jimmy James will see Josh has got the lighting set up. He's got a microphone with his company Lft Phi Lft Phi on the microphone as a label looks like one of these TV anchors. So

Josh runs a company that is in video production, which is why I'm excited to have him here because it's such a hot topic. Now, Josh, we're going to talk a bit about why content isn't just content, right? And why most of us could be making some content that's actually damaging our reputation and what the solution to that could be. So Josh, tell us a little bit about you first.

And then we're going to dive into the three kinds of video that people need, but also the mistakes that we're making that may be undermining all the good that we think we're doing.

Josh Schaidt (02:06)
Sure. Look, I am someone who was a very insecure individual and who lived my life behind the scenes. And my whole goal my entire life was to shine a spotlight on other people, mainly because I didn't want the spotlight to be shown on me. And I stumbled into this world of marketing and video, and it has been an absolute

blast to the point where I've conquered some of those insecurities. And I'm even appearing on prestigious podcasts now. But it's one of the things that I feel is the coolest part about living in the time that we're living is that we have tools at our hand. We have people willing to give us knowledge and we can create

the exact image of ourselves to share with the world. Like that's incredible. We don't realize that less than 20 years ago, video production of a certain quality and a certain caliber was not accessible to us as human beings, as normal human beings. Like,

the phones and the microphones and the lights would cost 70, 80, $90,000 a piece. And no one really has that chunk of change around. But now, as I said, video has been democratized. And if you're a business and you're not using video to transform your entire operation, I think you're missing an absolutely huge, huge, just opportunity

and you're leaving some dollars on the table. And I don't know of any business owner that wants to leave dollars on the table.

Jim James (03:59)
No, especially at this day and age, you don't want to leave dollars or Bitcoin or crypto anywhere. No, and think you're absolutely right, Josh, that really even just the last decade has seen the accessibility of not any content creation, because I think that that's become cheaper ever since, frankly, the iPhone has had the camera. But it's now the distribution has become easier because video through

Josh Schaidt (04:04)
yes.

Jim James (04:29)
platforms like Riverside, through YouTube, through the Spotify with video.

The content creation is one thing, but now distribution and embedding of video has I think managed to get it to be not just something you want to have on your own website, but something you use to promote outbound marketing as well as inbound marketing. You said Josh here on your website that you have, which is lftphi.com. And Josh can tell us the story about why he's given it a name that certainly I pronounced incorrectly. You said,

you'd rather watch a video. Why is that, Josh? Why do think people would rather watch a video?

Josh Schaidt (05:13)
So I've come across a couple of studies that are talking about how the way that we interact with knowledge now is changing. It was a New Zealand, I believe, based study that said that over 55% of people searching online are using platforms like TikTok and YouTube over traditional search

engines like Google or Yahoo, or any of the other ones that are around the world. And it clicked in my brain that it's that people aren't looking for information. People are looking for someone to tell them the information and to take the journey alongside with them as they overcome the struggles that they're facing, you know, the information that they're looking for. Personality is so so so important

important now. And that's why you'd rather watch video. From a business standpoint, even to there's something much more personal and less cold about a video, especially if it's done with the right personality on screen. So yeah, that's why I believe that. Yeah, you'd rather watch a video. I mean, we could do this podcast and we could just put out the transcript, right?

And sure, the content is the same. It's still searchable on all the search engines, all this stuff, but all that contents and context and nuance and personality that you put into your presentation that hopefully I can communicate just by being on screen matters. So yeah, that's why people would rather watch a video.

Jim James (07:07)
Yeah, Josh, I love that. And this idea that, you people are looking for a companion on that journey. And especially as more and more people are feeling isolated when they're working from home and teams are getting to be more and more temporary, aren't they? As companies are sort of building scrum teams and then they're finishing a project and they're moving away again from each other. So I love that idea that people are looking for a companion on that journey. Hopefully it'll be a human, not necessarily just an AI companion, but I guess that's coming

to but Josh, that's maybe another topic we can talk about a little bit later. But what I would like to just talk to you about is this idea that there are three videos that you say that everybody needs to have. I can't have you on here without asking you, what are those three?

Josh Schaidt (07:56)
So it's quite simply this. It's your how, your what, and your why. How do you do what you do? Why do you do what you do? And most importantly, what do you do and why you're better than everyone else at it? And those three videos are absolutely essential,

absolutely essential. None of them have to be any more than two minutes. You can capture everything in those two minutes. And if you do them right and you do them with the right level of production that accurately portrays your business, you can use them almost forever. The ROI on a higher production video, like one of those is much more than just

a behind the scenes thing that you've captured and you thrown up on your socials.

Jim James (08:57)
Josh, I'm going to ask you, can you dive into each one of those separately and give us, you like, the framework or the 10 scene layout? If it's two minutes at 28 frames a second, you don't need that many, right? But do you want to just give us each of those videos as if you're like a template? What should people include in each of the three? Or is it just one

video with all three of them in it. It sounds like you're saying there should be separate videos for each.

Josh Schaidt (09:31)
Yeah, they absolutely, excuse me. They absolutely should be separate videos. For the reason is that our attention spans are so much shorter and you can almost micro target your ideal clients with shorter videos. And if you talk about going in depth into what those videos are, let's talk about the how, the how you're going to

open the scenes on, you know, explaining the problem that you are, that prompted you explaining, excuse me. If we talk about the how, you're gonna talk about how the problem that you had was, inspires you to make a solution. And then you're going to show the solution in steps. And then you're also going to.

Sorry man, I gotta be honest with you. You kinda caught me off guard with this one. I wasn't prepared.

Jim James (10:36)
Well, that's all right. Welcome to my world, That's the trouble, Josh, with the,

So you've got, but that's okay. So you've got the how is the, how I came to this place where I want to provide the solution, right, for the audience, is that right?

Josh Schaidt (10:55)
Yeah. Right. So the, is the actual nuts and bolts of how you address your ideal clients problems, right? This is where you're going to show some of your behind the scenes stuff. This is where you're going to show the actual product that you produce or the actual solution that you have. You're going to, it's not going to be a full demo or tutorial, but it's going to be a highlight reel of the capabilities that you can offer.

The what is very similar, it focuses on what exactly that you do, but it's very narrow targeted to your problems. This is two or three of the main problems that you solve for your ideal clients. That's the what num and then finally is the excuse me.

Sorry about that. And then finally is kind of like the whole why you're in business and your backstory, right? Why you do what you do and why you're better at it than everybody else. Those are kind of the basic outlines. And you ask kind of like for a template, a script of whatever it would should be on it, that's gonna change so much. It's gonna change based on the personality of your company. It's gonna change based on.

Jim James (11:58)
Okay.

Josh Schaidt (12:22)
your, types of offerings is going to change really based on the audience that you're going for. If, I'm in financial services, I'm going to make a completely different video that I'm going to, if I'm making energy drinks. So there's really no one type of template that everything should have. It's all really going to be based on the client.

Jim James (12:44)
Okay. And then I'm going to ask you then Josh, you talked about content and production and are they not one in the same thing? Because many people can now create content. But from what I hear from you, you're saying, well, you know, there are production values to be involved. So just take us through what's the difference because most of us are filming. And as you say, spending a lot of time doing it

but without much expertise or training or direction. So what's the difference?

Josh Schaidt (13:21)
Sure. Look, content has become a catch all for anything that is thrown on the internet on a social media feed. And it's, I think content should have a little bit better of a place in the marketing mix for sure. But content is something that I feel the bar is very low for entry. And if you are not creating content,

at the bare minimum, you're missing huge opportunities to connect with your audience. Where production comes in, it's a higher level of detail, thought, planning, and execution that is meant to

deliver a completely different type of message where content to me is about attracting eyeballs production is about getting to a very particular outcome production from turning a person from converting into a from a client or from a prospect to a client from a a trainee if it's an internal production from a trainee and to a full-blown employee

to creating something that,

to creating a very specific outcome for what you're looking for. Where content is, hey, look at me, look at me, look at me. Production is, let me move you from point A to point B very specifically. And it takes a lot of high-end work to get that feeling across outside of just the on-screen talent.

Jim James (15:14)
Very interesting, Josh. So would it be fair to say that really sort of content is to some degree just what we produce, but if it's got production values, there's an intent behind it that is structured throughout the narrative. And what about the kind of elements when you do production to get people from, you say, from a trainee to a full employee, what elements

would you at Lefi be putting into that video to make sure that it accomplishes the intent and creates impact?

Josh Schaidt (15:56)
So classically, it's going to be camera, lighting, sound, motion graphics, based off of a well-defined script, and then shot under very controlled circumstances or situations, right? A production is usually controlled. You've got control over your lights, your levels, the makeup artists, all of those things

because there is, you're expecting a higher return on investment on that than you are hitting the record button on your camera, on your microphone. So the elements that you put in there is really mostly stuff that happens off camera. You are doing all of the prep work to create a narrative that moves people from point A to point B. And you are reshooting and recapturing and, you know,

the production gets much bigger and much more complex because of that.

Jim James (17:05)
Josh, I think you've also kindly articulated the difference there. And one of the standout points you made there for me is that the work takes place off camera, right? And I think that with content, we're all busy thinking about, you know, clicking the record button on our phones and going, okay, I just need to do the graphics after I've done the filming. I would be fair to say that really,

production and where you come in, you, Josh, Schaidt and your team is to think about what happens before the button gets pressed.

Josh Schaidt (17:41)
Absolutely. You know, for, for instance, if you're creating content, you really don't care what angle of the sun is going to be coming in through the window. When we're on a production, we're on set. We've got apps on our phones to track the movement of the sun. Cause as the movement of the sun goes across the screen, it changes the lighting on the face of our clients that are on there. That's a different level of particular being particular that isn't demanded from content

but is demanded from high-end production.

Jim James (18:15)
Josh and I'm smiling for anyone that is watching the video, they'll see me smiling because I've spent hours trying to get my lighting right. And because I find in the morning when I record the lights on the other side of the house and doesn't come through. And then by the afternoon, my afternoon interviews, the setup has to be almost entirely different with the lighting. And so I'm,

I'm absolutely with you on that. That's the challenge of video, of course, is that you have to think about the context, the lighting, not just the sound, right? So it is a multi-sensory and therefore a multi-dimensional and requires that level of work that Josh, you put in to the production. So that's wonderful to think about it in that way that we need to have intent and that needs to translate into some logistics and possibly some apps as well

before the filming starts. Josh, what can you recommend for those of us that maybe don't have a large budget and most of us are creating content at speed and at home or in the office? For the amateur creators like me, what do you recommend we do to make sure that our production values set us above

if you like, the low level that can actually damage our reputation.

Josh Schaidt (19:46)
Yeah, you know, it's, it's really interesting. You use the term damage your reputation on lower levels. There's something about high-end production or even next level production from whatever the level that you are now going to the next level that, shows that you care enough about your audience to put the work in and to that. Do you have this different level of trust that you gain because you've put that work in? So yeah, I like how you put the, you know,

sometimes lower level content can damage us. To your point, if, let me just say I was talking to you and you were one of my clients. The first thing that I would tell you to do with your trouble with the lighting that you have is buy blackout curtains and keep your room completely blacked out and dark as much as possible because the sun you cannot control. You can't, but you can control where you put a light.

You can control your background, control those things. So the first step, any amateur person wanting to take that next step in production is learning what you can control and how to keep control of the variables. How do you reduce echoing in your room? If you're talking about audio, reducing outside light and outside, you know, distractions by blocking off areas. And then look,

you can get, you can invest 60 to 80 US dollars. I know there's international shows. So I want to put in there, there's us dollars, 60 to US dollars in a couple of small lights that will do wonders for you and it's just a matter of getting online, asking the right people who know what they're doing questions like reaching out to me, asking me questions.

Hey, what should I get here? I'm trying to accomplish this because every person is going to approach content production or video production in a different way. And you've got to be able, my job is to be able to be flexible enough to say for you, it would be this for you. It would be this. So reach out to someone. Don't think you can just figure it out all on your own. That's probably the number one step is find a creator that you like.

Connect with them, how do you do what you do, and then move on from there. And then secondly, be prepared to find ways to control your variables.

Jim James (22:19)
Okay, that's really good advice that you need to say control your variables and that doesn't cost anything actually, although the blackout curtains might cost you a penny or two or a dollar or two depending on where you are.

Josh Schaidt (22:34)
Well, if you have a blanket laying around and you can tack a blanket up over your windows to cut down on the light, you've already invested in the blanket. Find, you know, just a way to keep it up there and do that. That there's a lot of simple ways and a lot of simple hacks to get around and control your variables. Not everything is going to have to cost you a lot of money.

Jim James (22:54)
And I think to your point, Josh, you're always amazed when you look at a creator's studio. It can look beautiful from behind, but because you're only seeing that 16 by nine letter box, actually the rest of the room could be carnage, frankly, but it's what you see in front of the camera that matters.

Josh Schaidt (23:14)
Yeah, I would not want to give you a panoramic view of everything that is around me right now.

Jim James (23:20)
Josh, I wouldn't ask you. There are some people only listening and not watching. So they can just imagine you in a nice big, you know, leafy suburb in Virginia there, which is obviously where you are in a nice mansion of some kind, an antebellum mansion. Josh Schaidt, with the kind of business that you've been building, love to just move on to you as an entrepreneur, if that's okay.

How have you been building the brand and help me because I have, I'm sure said the wrong name. It's Lft right? Lft, there you go. told you I'd be spelling right. It's Phi as in like P-H-I. So you've got the Greek, I guess that is, isn't it? How have you been getting your business noticed?

Josh Schaidt (23:56)
Lft Lft.

You know, it's going to sound really simple and some people might roll their eyes, but it's your network. For me, it's always the network. I have dedicated, I've kind of dropped a lot of my other social channels, to look directly and work directly on LinkedIn and then tapping into the people that I already know to help me find people that they know. It's the most cost effective way

and it is, I have for me the most powerful way. Like I've, I've been able to work with some of the largest, industries and companies on this globe. And it wasn't because I had contacts in them directly. It's because I had friends of friends of friends that got me in the door and then executed on them. So it's the network. I can't, you know, I can't say it's anything. I don't have any magic secret sauce.

Jim James (24:42)
Hmm.

Josh Schaidt (25:12)
I don't have anything to, know, any secrets that hacks or any of that. It's just who you know and creating more connections with people.

Jim James (25:22)
But Josh, that's what this show is about, right? It's about talking to people like you who are building businesses and keeping the cash coming in without a large budget and without this perception that there might be one magic solution. Everybody's got different ways of doing it. They're all equally valid. And one of the points of this show is to give people reassurance that what they're doing is fine. And other people may have different ways.

But there isn't a universal solution to getting noticed that is applicable to everybody's business or everybody's stage of business, right? We're all different. Is it interesting that you're focusing on LinkedIn? So have you, if you like, moved away from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, especially with your background in video, I'm interested that you've lent into LinkedIn.

Josh Schaidt (26:16)
Well, I've moved into LinkedIn because that's where the businesses are. I'm a very business focused production house. Know, videographers, if you do a search for videographers, you've got wedding videographers, you've got birthday and event videographers, you've got all types of different things. I'm super business focused. So LinkedIn is where my crowd is. And I'm happy that LinkedIn is pushing video content as hard as it is.

It is, it's kind of like a finally type of, of, of moment for us video creators out here because our audience is on LinkedIn and now they're getting, fed our work. So yeah, that's, that's why I'm at LinkedIn. YouTube is something I'm looking at a little bit in the future, to get a little bit more long form stuff. I'm a kind of a big believer in the short form push, but I do see long form content being

massively important too, but right now I'm riding the LinkedIn wave and I'm investing most of my time in there. And I, if you're, if you're a B2B, I think that's the place you need to be.

Jim James (27:27)
Okay, that sounds good. If you're in B2B, LinkedIn is the place to be. You heard it here first from Josh Schaidt. There you go. I think that'll be our snippet. Josh, if there's, if you like, a number one tip that you would give my fellow UnNoticed Entrepreneurs as an entrepreneur yourself, what would it be?

Josh Schaidt (27:49)
Don't be, don't, don't be too scared to start creating video. Don't let it overwhelm you. Don't think that you're going to be this amazing thing from day one, but that doesn't matter. Just start it. If I may, let me, if I may share videos changed my life. I was, I was fired from a job and

Jim James (28:11)
Please do.

Josh Schaidt (28:16)
I started making some video content on the side and I was laid off for like 18 months and finally got an interview and the hiring manager said to me, yeah, we saw some of your videos online and we liked your personality and we liked, know, who you were. This wasn't even related to the job I was getting, but just the fact that I had videos online and they got to know me before they even needed to work with me

was a sign that this video thing is important. So to all the entrepreneurs out there, get comfortable on camera. Just start, just do it. It will pay you dividends down the line.

Jim James (28:59)
Josh, I love that. Thank you so much. And as someone who is experimenting and trying to grow through video myself, I also really appreciate your encouragement that I may actually get better, which is reassuring. I can only go up, I can only get better from where I'm sitting right now. So that's great. Thank you for the encouragement. Josh Schaidt, if you want to find out more about you and Lft, where can they do that?

Josh Schaidt (29:26)
Sure. Best place to find me is on LinkedIn. I've kind of already given that away. I'm there multiple hours a day. Love responding to DMs, love responding to comments. You can check out our website and find out a little bit about the production services that we offer to businesses. LFTPHI.com LFTPHI.com and stop by.

See us see what we're doing. So we're up to see how we can help you out Transform your business through the power of video

Jim James (30:02)
way you said that it's almost like you said that before. Josh, thank you for coming on the show. You've been listed with Josh, Josh Schaidt and by the way his surname is spelled S C H A I D T. It sounds like a sort of a word scramble game but it's pronounced shade so that's how you can find it but also I'll put his details in the show notes as always. Thank you for joining me Jim James your host of the UnNoticed Entrepreneur today.

Josh Schaidt (30:05)
Once or twice. Thank you so much.

Jim James (30:31)
Big takeaway, of course, from Josh. One is that not all content is created equal. Number two, that we need to think about what we do before we hit record in order to create good quality content that doesn't damage our reputation. And the third is that don't let those first two put you off starting because you do need to create video because ultimately that's where people are leading to watching rather than just trying to read.

People want to see who you are before they do business with you. So video is gonna be essential. My name is Jim James. You can listen to this, hopefully, but also you can see us on YouTube. Thank you so much for joining me. And until we meet again, I just encourage you to keep on communicating.