teklounge

If I hear someone open up with “In this economy…” one more time, I’m going to hurl a shoe at them.  For me, the Economy has only helped fuel the inevitable. The Internet is now oversaturated with promises of Cohen Brothers-like video artistry from every moron with a camera willing to work for scraps.  So, when I got the call for a shoot in Utah with no budget for a crew or equipment rental, I couldn’t turn it down.  Everyone needs their scraps.

So how do you get from Florida to SLC with a backpack and a couple bags of sufficient video production gear?  It’s an indoor interview shoot on location in the client’s corporate office. What to bring?

1. Microphone - George Lucas was right. Sound is 50% of the show. 
Camera mics are NOT an option. Bring a decent external directional mic & cable. In most situations, you can mount it on a little floor stand out of camera-view and get a nice clean signal. Be sure to wear headphones whenever recording. Ever. Sound loves to drop out, distort, or find interference once you take the cans off. These mics are sturdy. You can bury it in one of your checked bags.

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I’ve run across this gem a couple times now in my travels. Never ceases to frighten me.

I admit it - I enjoy business books. At least, the ones that are popular now…  At lot of the coolest companies today are getting huge from their “personal brand”. No one has made that coupling of words more popular today than the one and only Gary Vaynerchuk, whom I’d never heard of before buying this book.

My family and I take on a seven-hour drive regularly, so I’ve been getting into audiobooks on the phone.  “Crush it” was near the top of the list in new biz books with tons of great reviews, so I went for it. It’s always a gamble… There are few things as time-warping as being stuck with an audio book that’s ruined by a mismatched actor/reader. We hit the road and once things calmed down in the roadster, I slipped into the headphones… Then Gary comes on sounding like he’s on crack. Gary chose to be the voice of his audiobook. I quickly felt this was a bad choice for dear Gary. ”Holy God”, I thought…  I checked the progress bar - five more hours of this. 

 ”Why didn’t someone tell him he sounds like a spaz?”, I thought.  Then, after a few chapters, I quickly learned that his hyper-active/hyper-gritty style WAS his product.  Gary’s a character and he grows on you fast.  He knows it and he’s selling it, and selling it well.

I quickly came to just flat-out like the guy. It drags a bit when he’s talking about his childhood and growing up, but true fans will appreciate the retrospective. The meat of this sucker is the entrepreneurship and self-marketing warships that Gary goes into great detail explaining the vital importance, various methods and tools to create - all with a zeal that only he could deliver. 

He brings a lot of great points to light and makes it clear that a powerful personal brand is essential for anyone in any line of work. It’s a great book and a great audio book.