In this episode, we speak with Marielou Mandl content creator focusing on Lifestyle and Creative Technology.

Marielou's Links:

⭐️YouTube.com/marieloumandl

⭐️Instagram.com/marieloumandl

⭐️TikTok.com/@marieloumandl

Get ready to dive into the ultimate weekly live stream party with Lisa, Mark, and Neil! It's super laid-back, and they're all about bringing creative minds together for an hour of amplifying the Ecamm Fam's talents! 🎉🎨🚀

🤝 Get involved and be a guest on our show! https://creative-amplifiers.captivate.fm/booking

⭐️ Link to our bio: https://linktr.ee/creativeamplifiers

About Us

NEIL: youtube.com/ @NeilFarrimond 

Neil is a passionate creator dedicated to providing invaluable advice, tips, and tricks on video creation, editing, and achieving exceptional audio quality. He’s eager to share his insights and personal experiences to help others excel in their creative endeavors.

For Neil, it's not all about the gear - he firmly believes in simplifying the creation process and making it an enjoyable experience for all involved. Trust him to guide others toward producing their best videos and unlocking their full potential as creators.

MARK: youtube.com/ @educationonfire5530 

Mark is a professional percussionist with 25 years of experience and has performed with some of the UK's finest orchestras and theatre companies. He discovered his passion and 'voice' through music, which led him to share his understanding through drum and percussion teaching in schools and his private practice.

Mark's desire to share the creative and inspiring learning he witnessed in schools drove him to start the Education on Fire podcast in December 2016. With over 370 episodes released and downloaded in 147 countries, Mark interviews educators worldwide, enabling parents and caregivers to support their children in living, learning, and growing to their full potential.

LISA: youtube.com/@anappetizinglife

Lisa is a passionate lifestyle entrepreneur, consultant, content creator, and founder of the lifestyle brand An Appetizing Life. With a strong background in advertising and television, both on and off-camera, Lisa brings a wealth of experience and expertise to her work.

Having successfully created her own jewelry and home fragrance company, Lisa understands the intricacies of building a brand from the ground up. Through her consultancy business, Lisa is dedicated to helping women entrepreneurs aged 50+ grow their brands, elevate their visibility, and celebrate their accomplishments.

Hello and welcome everyone to Monday nights on this creative amplifiers show. Thank you so much for being here. And we're really delighted to have a fantastic guest with Mary Lou Mandel coming up very soon, but first of all, Neil, the big burning question so far on everyone's lips is how are your cats?

Oh. Well, they are just wonderful as normal. They've actually been enjoying the sunshine. We've been getting nice weather here in Portugal. So I have, as you probably know, two indoor cats, Martini and Khaleesi, and they are sun worshippers. So they stay in the conservatory and there's sun streaming down in them, keeping them nice and warm.

And then the other five outdoor cats have been driving us crazy recently, trying to get into the house and get more food. So we have five outdoor, two indoor, and never the two shall meet. So there you go. But they've been good. They've been good. And I've just got this thought that if they do meet, is it some kind of sort of reservoir dogs kind of?

It would definitely be a reservoir dog situation. The very territorial you see, so like, you're not coming into my patch. It would be like that. It would be, it would be a bloodbath. So, um, we'll, we will keep them separate. And one funny story real quick is that we did take one of the cats in. last week or the week before to the vet and we actually thought that it was, um, a girl cat and we used to call her princess.

And then when the vet called and said, Oh no, your princess has turned into a prince. I said, Oh, that's great. That's what they do these days. So, you know, wonderful. But anyway, yeah, we always get that mistake. So you never know, but there you go. Amazing. Lisa, how was your weekend? Can you follow that? Well, I'm going to add on to it.

I had an orange tabby that was a rescue they thought was a boy, which was a girl, and they had named her Bernie. So we just kept it, but Bernie was actually a girl, not a boy. So, you know, there you go. You never can tell. You never can tell. You never can tell. My weekend was fantastic, actually. I, uh, didn't, I do the farmer's market, uh, my local farmer's market with my daughter on the weekends usually.

And so we did that and I came back and did a little gardening and roasted a chicken and worked on a few recipes and yeah, it's one of those chill weekends. It was good. Nice. And you're just going to let us know when we need to start talking more and more about your food related activities, so we can do some proper promotion.

We'll do some proper promotions soon. Good. Right now, it's all about creative amplifiers right now. This is the focus. It is indeed. So let's just say hi to a couple of people. Hi, George. Thank you so much for being here. As always, I'm assuming that you've been prepping, getting ready for the quiz later as the, the lead and the main honcho of our quiz.

So thank you very much for showing up again today. And of course, we have Mary Lou waiting for us. We, she's going to be joining us very, very soon. Um, and also Marcus. Fantastic. I

knew there'd be a reason that we should have kept that going. Exactly. Oh, brilliant. Thanks, George. That's very, very true. If I, if I'd been a bit quicker on my, on my feet and I've thought that through, then it would have been. Of course.

It's the multitasking I can't do here. I am producing it and it's just that you have a brain The cogs have started to already sort of just sort of start to come off slightly already. So but yes, thank you That's why it's a community feel we need you all To be chipping in to be able to do that to keep this on the go.

Keep it live. Keep it funny Keep us focused and keep it real. So yeah, thank you so much indeed Brilliant, so I think we should bring on Mary Lou and um, Let's have a proper conversation about some some brilliant things related to e camps. So Mary Lou Are you ready to join us? Are you ready? Here we go Yay Hello

So, Neil, take us away. Well, hello Marylou. It's so wonderful that you've joined us today. We have a bunch of questions for you. We'd like to get to know more about you. Uh, and one of the first things I'd like to know is when did you first discover Ecamm? And how did you start your video creation journey?

And I was running their media team, but because of lockdown, we didn't have the school aspect of it anymore. So I started a series where I was interviewing, uh, some of the. like Academy Award winning makeup artists and, and special effects artists here in Los Angeles, like people who've done movies that we have all seen.

And I was like, I can't just show up with like my webcam. These are professional. Uh, so I was like, cause I was like, I could take all my gear and film something like that. I already knew how to do, but getting my camera. into my computer so I could do these interviews over the internet. I didn't have a way to do that at the time.

So I was looking up like, how do I bring this camera into the computer? And then I found, uh, an Adrian Salisbury tutorial that was like how to bring your Canon 80D, which I was using at the time, into the computer. And then it was Ecam. And then I was like, wow, this thing is great. And then I messaged, uh, Marketing at Ecamm.

And obviously you, you're now doing live and I've joined a couple of your live shows, which are just fun and really, uh, Great to be part of. Do you think there's a bigger advantage of live streaming versus pre recorded content? And what would you say that that is? Is it more about the engagement and the dynamics of going live versus the pre recorded?

What do you enjoy best if you had to have a choice? Between the two, live streaming, I think the advantage is that you just got to do it. You're there, you're on stage, it's happening, you just go. So it is what it is. And you just have some fun with it. But like when you're pre recording, uh, I believe in your interview with Katie, she was kind of talking about the same kind of notion of like, this is where you have more of a chance to get on top of yourself.

We're like, Oh, that wasn't a good take. Let me do it again. And things like that. So I think that there's a place for that. So typically most like branded content that I do, if it is something that is like a sponsored video. Um, I will pre record it because that kind of video is going to get the B roll.

It's going to get multiple angles. It's going to like, I want to make sure all the talking points are specifically there because that is what that offer is. But live streaming for connecting with the community. Like I feel like recording long form. short form and live stream videos all kind of serve a different purpose for me, but I also see a difference between a live stream and a live show.

All of that very arbitrary, just because I was like, all the twos feel good to me. Like that it was not like me looking at analytics or anything. It's just like, okay, this is a time that I can say, this is when I go to work. And, We haven't missed a week all year. It has absolutely impacted my channel in a positive, positive way.

And, and it's just been so much fun. And it's a good place for me as a creative to like get the wiggles out because that is a live stream. That is two hours. of just hanging out, chit chat, community connection. If people have questions, great. We answer it in the, in the moment. We can, we can talk with them about where they're at, with their video creation, if they're having any issues, but then also it's just like talking about what everybody else is doing.

Like, I know that. That like I was, I was able to get onto Marcus's show because he was hanging out in the live stream. And now I know all about Marcus's show. I know Sammy Superstar is working on his cinematography business and working on his reel. Like I love hearing about what everybody else in our community is doing as well and being able to champion them and connect with them and also connect with folks like you.

So that's a live stream. I think it's more of the. concept of a like FaceTime content because people want connection. So even though this looks really fancy, right, and it has the lights and I have multiple cameras, it is still a chill live stream. Anything can happen. Things break. You guys help me fix everything.

It's like, it's so much fun. It's just like, hang out with me in the studio. Now a live show is like what you guys are doing here. Creative amplifiers, right? There's a run of show, there's a format, there's guests, there's a a deliberate purpose for the times that we hang together, which is also awesome. And I think that a lot of people should start there.

I think you should start there because freewheeling for two hours is not easy. I'll tell you guys that, but doable, especially if you're someone who like likes to talk and you got things to talk about. Um, but having a run of show in a live setting is really how I, I got a lot of my chops in on camera experience.

Because I was working with a company called Afterbuzz TV and they were podcasts and they were reviewing shows. They were like aftershows. And we did those live. They were live. It was like, okay, we watched the show from 7 to 7. 30. Then 7. 35, we're live for an hour, usually a panel of three or four people.

And, and it just, that was it. If you messed up, that was the show. If it was perfect, that was the show. And, and that was a, so freeing. And I think it is a really freeing peep thing for people. Cause you're already learning your gear. You're already learning, oh my gosh, what do I talk about? You're already learning a run of show, how to manage topics, how to manage people.

Like if you don't have to worry about the post production and you could just get it done right away, then. It's a gift. It's a gift that we have through Ecamm and through live streaming in general. But Ecamm really gets us to a point where we can make something super nice. Yeah. I think that's something definitely we, when we were talking about this and obviously we, we started our journey by meeting each other at Creator Camp, which, which you were part of last year, which was really fun.

Um, we. We weren't sure at the time whether we were going to do something with Structure. And thank you very much for saying it has Structure and a run of show. Sometimes we do feel it goes off the rails sometimes, but we do try and have a run of show and something that, you know, is, is a guide for us. And you're right.

I mean, a lot of, a lot of us here have different experiences. Mark has done, Lots of podcasting and recording and Lisa's done pre recorded format content and a food channel, and I've done a bit of both. And I used to find that live streaming at the time when you don't have an audience, when you don't have that connection, when you don't have the community, it's hard because you're just talking to yourself.

And if you don't have a topic. If you don't have some sort of structure or a plan, then it can just really easily dry up and things. So I think that that's the distinction you've made there between a show and a stream is really important. And I think you're right. People should maybe start with a show, at least there's some structure with that, and then, then go and do, you know, just a standard sort of live stream and just see how it goes.

And I found. Recently, just by going live, even just testing some things, people will join you. It's, it's so nice to have just people just joining as a community, helping each other out and things like that. And this is something that we thoroughly enjoy being part of the Creative Amplifiers team, because we have wonderful people like yourself who want to come on the show and, you know, and talk about their journey and things.

And it's just about showcasing people like that. So it's, it's really cool. Um, I did notice recently as well, that you did add a membership now to your YouTube channel. And I've always found, is this something easy, easy that you can accommodate into your creative routine? Because do you have to dedicate a lot more time to deliver like specific content if it's exclusive for people?

And how do you sort of set the pricing for that? Because I've always found like, well, if anybody went to a membership model, then there's an almost an expectation that. They're paying for something. So, you know, there's a value there that you're expected to sort of deliver. Could you talk a little bit about sort of your thoughts around that?

Yeah, I've had access to the YouTube channel memberships for like, I, maybe a year at this point. And I just never pulled the trigger because I would start looking at it and I'm like, I would just feel like, Oh my gosh, what am I going to do? Like I have to commit so much. From talking to, uh, Kirk Nugent, he's got He has a channel memberships that I was like, how do you do it?

And then looking at how other people kind of do it as well that I was like, okay, there's a way that this clicks for me. And in doing our, the live streams for, you know, the past three months. I know that there's like some folks who like love to support, like Marcus is like my number one supporter, like drop a super chat.

And like, I'm so grateful for that. So I was like, okay, well, there are people who do want to support and maybe like there's something that I could also give back a little extra, uh, in order to, to make that just feel like a good community based, uh, product, uh, service, just a thing that we're working on together.

So I ended up doing two tiers. And one tier is just the first tier. It's just, you want to just support the channel. It's basically buy me a coffee, but it's built into YouTube. And that it's like a, you sign up for like a, the monthly of it, but like people can cancel at any time. So the offer for the, it's called friendly supporters.

I think I did that one at four 99. Then you get these little badges in the chat, which like people love that. I made little emojis of gizmo and Zilla, which are my cats and, you know, recurring characters in my stuff. So people. I was like, that's something I would enjoy as an audience member to be able to have.

And then I would like add more stuff eventually. But I was like, you know what? It's that idea of like, just start with what you can think of right now. Don't think so hard about it. Okay. So I was like, they get a badge that they're a member. They get to have gizmo and Zillow emojis and, and they get to support the channel.

If, if that's what they wanted to do, then, then they have a support. There's not really much extra that happens with that. Even though I have been doing, um, member only posts that include that tier. Now, the next tier up is, I called it, a Lew Insider. And this, I've only had this open for a little bit, just like, um, like two weeks, maybe.

And I've been doing special posts that are just for them. And then also video uploads that are just for them. And you're like, it's fun. Like, so like I'm doing this, but I'm not putting a lot of extra editing work into it. It's not like I'm, this is not a course. This is not. the like fully edited stuff.

Eventually, I would do a special live stream that would be for members only. But right now, then that would mean that Marcus is hanging out with me four times a week.

Also have respect for people's time. So what I've been doing is if I have say a short, like I usually there's a longer version of a video when I've edited a short, like a talking thing. When I do my first pass of the edit, maybe it's like three minutes. So I'm like, okay, let me take that three minute version, which I don't think is bad.

I'm going to give that to the members. And then I continue to work on it. And then the 30 to 60 second one goes up on shorts where people can find it. Uh, and, and that kind of gives, if you are a fan, if you are a supporter, if you are already into what that creator has to say, you saw it in the 32nd version, then you might also get value out of the three minute version.

Now that's just where it is right now, because granted it's only been a couple of weeks, but I, I am also starting my. My membership as far as for, for video creators, which will be on a different platform, like that's going to have an app that's going to have courses that's going to be a different beast.

So the way I look at the YouTube memberships versus like what I'm building, say with, with you screen, which is an app that's a video creators club. The YouTube memberships is people who are fans and supporters of Mary Lou. of the creator of the channel. This other membership is like people who want to learn how to be video creators and have fun making videos.

You want to learn how to edit in Adobe Rush. I'm going to hook you up there. You want to do, you want to have all the really deep questions about X, Y, Z. We want to talk about making money on the internet because I don't like to talk about that on my channel, but people ask me. So that's something that I was like, I got to put somewhere behind a paywall where I can see who's looking at this, just because like, that's, that's my business.

And it like literally is my business and I would like love to share it, but I just don't like it being floating out. In the air, you know, like some things you got to, you know, cause it's like personal and it's like, uh, I want to make sure it's like for people who are really serious and we're not just passing things out for people to just exploit, you know, so for YouTube membership.

I like to think about not extra as far as like duplicate tutorials, right? Because the tutorials are there and tutorials I feel are like lead magnets if you like use that kind of terminology. But I like tutorials are the things people are searching so they find you. So I would not put a tutorial where someone could search, how do I hook up this camera to this computer, right?

If they're, if they're looking that up, I want it to be public, because that's how I'm finding new people behind the paywall is for the people who already know me, the stuff that maybe someone searching would be like, I don't know this girl, I don't care about that. But I would share pictures of like, we went to Universal Studios, like, here's kind of some fun stuff that happened there.

This is like more of my people of my fans of my friends who want a little bit extra, who care about who I am, and who care about what I'm up to. And it would be fun for them, right? Thank you. That's, that's really, really good advice. Thank you so much. Really, really helpful. And I like what Marcus has said here in the chat where he said, YouTube memberships are mostly a way to support creators.

That's that is the way to, to look at it. It's like that there are people who would want to support you. What could you give them? That's like, cause they're there to support you. They're not there to buy. More videos per se, like you want to be able to give them something back, but that's not what they're there to do.

They want to support you. So you give them something, give them a little, you know, give a little gifts. They're giving you gifts. That's a good time.

That is such a good, great, great breakdown of, um, just the whole. Massive things that you are doing. Um, I have a question and I love watching you live because you're just doing it and stuff happens and it's brilliant. And you have such a great rapport with your audience. Like, it's just really nice and it's relaxed and I feel like people are getting, you know, great things out of it and they're getting you and your, your amazing personality.

Do you have any tips of how people can, you know, create that kind of atmosphere on their lives and keep it engaging and relaxed and fun and, you know, not so, not so serious, but serious enough to learn. Yes, absolutely, Lisa. I'm so glad that you brought this up because you said you were at the farmer's market.

I was at that exact same farmer's market this Saturday or Sunday, the exact same one because we found out we live in the same neighborhood, uh, that I was at the farmer's market. And this is kind of a way that I describe it to other people, the way my live streams are. And I was like, Just looking at the farmer's market.

I was like, yes, this is what I'm trying to tell people your live stream. Imagine I say I've called it a festival, call it a conference. But for today's purposes, it's the farmer's market. You set up a booth at the farmer's market, you have your wares. Right. So if my, in my wares are how to make videos, like fun ways for making videos, making, making videos, fun for people, right.

That's my wares. That's like, what's in my shop. Right. So people can come up to the booth. They can talk to me about what I have to offer. Maybe they had a question of like, Oh, I see you talk about making videos. Can you tell me X, Y, Z, or maybe they just know me from the neighborhood. And they just come and they want to chit chat and they hang out and people come in.

We talk to them and then they go and look at the rest of the farmer's market. Maybe they come and say hi again, or maybe that's all you saw them for this week. That's how I approach the live streams. There are in a festival people like the internet is a festival of entertainment, of things to consume, of videos, of creators, of entertainment.

So if you are this little booth, you just want to be there and ready and welcoming and not feel bad if nobody's coming to talk to you or if everybody's coming to talk to you. Because like, I don't know, maybe Beyonce's on the stage over there. You're not going to compete with Beyonce on the stage, but like, you can be like, yeah, I see Beyonce's on the stage.

Did you guys see Beyonce on the stage? And then they come and chat with you about things afterwards. Right? So When you are doing these kind of live streams in this style, in this casual style, it is something that you practice is the ability to just keep talking, even if nobody's there, because in my history of live streaming, there absolutely going to be times when nobody's there, or there's people there and they're not saying anything.

You got to just find things to talk about. So I always kind of have a couple topics floating around and. In the past, I've had like a list of ongoing things. So if it's like, if there's dead space, then I know I'm going to sit here at this desk anyway. So while I'm here, I'm going to edit this video. I'm going to pop open the overhead camera so you guys can see my phone.

I'm going to edit this. If anybody has questions, let me know. Otherwise I'm just going to keep working on this thing and thinking out loud. Right? So it's, Having somebody come hang out with you, but knowing that they don't have to be there the whole time. Like, don't feel bad if they go, it's their day. If they're there with you, that's amazing.

That's like a gift that they come and hang out with you. But otherwise, like there's tons of other things that you can do. You just keep talking. And you fix up your booth, you know, you like have little flyers, maybe you have cookies, I don't know, like you make it a good time. So when people do come, there's stuff to do, stuff to talk about.

It's a fun time for them. And then maybe they want to come back next week at the farmer's market. They'll be like, Oh, I got to see what, what Mary Lou's got at the booth. I love it. Yeah, it just seems to me that it's that sense of the freedom of that, which is, which is amazing. But I think also that, and sort of the, the understanding of the nitty gritty, like say of having something you're going to talk about to be able to sort of think, but I'm happy just to be here.

And that ability to talk out loud. I think the way you framed some of these things tonight has been really incredible because it really does, I think, sort of open up your understanding of what you're trying to do and how you're going to go about it rather than I'm creating a show or I'm creating a stream, which feels a very different thing.

Um, and I've got a sort of a follow up question to that kind of sort of relaxed atmosphere. We know that we see sort of will popping up every now and again on, on your, on your shows as well. How is it and why do you have someone else coming in? And obviously they need to be the right sort of person to feel sort of happy on camera as well.

But what do you think about people sort of getting maybe their family or extended friends and family coming in as part of what they're doing and, and what sort of atmosphere does that sort of change for the people watching, but also for yourself? Well, for for us, it is a specific, uh, dynamic of our relationship because he's also an artist, he's an actor, he's a comedian, he's a musician.

And whenever we first met, like, I've just been obsessed with doing videos on the internet, since we could put videos on the internet. And, you know, he's like auditioning, and he's like, you know, working all this stuff. I was like, make videos for the internet. And now that's what he does. You know, this is his, realm.

So it does help to have people who are actually wanting to be on camera, but also doing their own thing. Because when he comes into my show, or if I pop up on his, his shows, his live streams, sometimes he livestreams on TikTok and sometimes on Instagram. He's not like quite, he's not e cam, but he, he streams from his phone, but also hooks up an electric guitar and an electric drum set and like his cracking jokes and playing music.

Like it's a completely different kind of show. It's a good time. Most dangerous man alive. Look it up, . Uh, but when we show up in each other's things, it's, it's a, a like a guest star situation. Like you think about sitcoms, you've got your main characters that you like, you're so happy to see. You're like, I am there to see, uh, I can't even think of a, a name like.

Carrie Bradshaw, right? Like, so if you're watching Sex and the City, you're there to watch your main four girls, right? They're the main girls. But sometimes, Stanford, the best friend, shows up and you're just like, Oh my god, this is an episode that has Stanford in it! Amazing. But they're not there all the time.

That's not what the draw of the show is, but you're glad to see them. That's, I feel like, the same way with the Cats. It's like, they're guest stars sometimes, and it's like, it, it helps to, uh, flush you out as a, an existing human. Like, you are a real person. Like, we're, we are filming in our homes. I, I don't know anybody who actually has a studio that they go to, which would be great, but like, I'm not trying to pretend that I will tell people I am this, this closet, this wall back here.

That's where my clothes and all my secrets are. That is just a regular closet, you know, this, like this side here. This is where Will's part of the desk is, you know, down there. It's just like, boxes of things I need to put away back in the garage. Like it's, we live, we exist. So why try to hide it and be so buttoned up?

But that's also my vibe. And that's been my vibe forever is like, I don't know. I'm a mess. You're a mess. It's okay. It's okay. It's just the internet, you know, so I want to connect with people in a way that shows I am a real person because I am. And so are you. And so we could just be that. we can just have a human experience together that happens to have nice cameras and lightings and microphones.

I love it. And I've just got one question related to that. Not that we'd ask you to open up those colored drawers behind you, but just for those people who watch you regularly, is there, is there a color, maybe that one's particularly close and one's particularly secrets just for people's imagination? Oh, for like, what's in there?

Like what secrets and what's closed? I do share stuff sometimes like in our live streams. I will go in there and grab something because I have, uh, like there's, I, At least we'll know what this is like. You live in Los Angeles, you've been in the entertainment industry, you have a million lives. It has changed.

You go through, just like Taylor Swift, we got eras, right? So I got my burlesque dancer eras, I got my like pole dance studio eras. So like, I can go in there, I could pull out corsets, we can pull out feather boas, we could pull out like, and then with that come stories. And with that comes with connection.

So like I say it's secrets, but none of it's like really secrets. It's just like, is it relevant or not relevant in the moment? Because I don't know, you could just do a Google search. You'll find that information. Like it's not, it's never hidden that deep. Uh, when you're Mary Lou, you'll appreciate how long I like to say it.

We've had. We have had many cat lives. So , I've had a couple of cat lives. . Yes, yes. As I discovered, and I don't know if you guys know, but this is, this is for Lisa's stories. These are for Lisa's stories. Just, just know Lisa's, we we're with an icon. I know We're finding things out on a sort of weekly basis, so it's um, it's always a surprise, isn't it?

That's that's what we find. Yeah. , I'm Remind, sorry. Like as creators as well, like I just like, just know that like once you're now you're in entertainment, like your content creator, you are in the entertainment industry, it will evolve, it will change. Maybe right now, like you're doing your live stream, but later you're going to be hosting a show or you're going to be filming for somebody or you're going to be emceeing, uh, you know, performance at the farmer's market, or you just, just be open to the adventure because like, There's so much you can do.

There is no, there is no one way there. It doesn't exist, but if you choose in your creator life, in your creative life to experience whether this is it or not it, it's going to inform who you are as an artist in the long term. Like everything that I've done, like I've gone on adventures and some of it I'm like, what was that?

And somebody was like, wow, that was really like amazing. But like, it all informs the, the ability to show up who, uh, as who I am right now. So take it, take the adventure. Yeah, I really like that. I love the, the fact that we, you're not sort of bound by one particular facet of your creativity and you can certainly branch out and do many things.

And you've got to try these things to see one, whether you like them, one, whether it works for you or not, and more importantly, whether people like it. people think it's any good. So there's always that, you know, and we all have to play around with different things to, to see what works and what doesn't.

Um, one of the things you mentioned in your bio is, is the importance of on camera confidence. So what helped you get confident on camera? Because it seems to come very natural to you now. So is it just years of practice or is there sort of certain things that you could help? with the audience here on how to get better on camera and how to get a bit of a bit more confidence.

Yes. I think that it is, it is something that you can practice and you can learn as with any skill, any muscle. I will preface this with like, I was asked to be on the middle school morning announcements and I was ready immediately. Right. They were like, can you come do this? I was like, yes, let's go today for lunch.

We're having pizza and mac and cheese. And I was like, you know, I was about it and I was ready for it. Whenever the opportunity came up. Now, if you're watching this and you are a content creator or an aspiring content creator, like there's something in you that wants to be on camera, you can be good on camera.

Like have the confidence that if that. that inkling, that itch, that desire, that hunger is in you at all, then you deserve to be on camera. You deserve to be there. You can be there and you have something to say. I often think about when I am doing research on gear that I'm sure a lot of us have done. I will go down these rabbit holes looking up a new camera and I will just go and it's the same guy.

It's the same guy. It's the same guy, even though they're all different guys. So I see that and I don't see, oh, my type of person isn't there. I see, oh, I should show up. So other people know they could also be here. Cause when you shine your light, it does not, it does not dim other people. you shine your light, then other people can see more.

So if you have it all in you to want to shine your light, and I know that you do, then like turn it on full blast, because you doing that is going to light up things for other people. And I see it in my comments all the time. People are like, wow, I didn't know I could do that. But now I can even we like in your interview with Uh, with Katie, like I know early on she was nervous about being on camera, but now she's, she's doing multiple shows and interviews, like more than she can even like get through.

And she's so confident and calm and, you know, like we love to see her. So if you, if you have it in you, the desires in you, you can do it. And then just talk to people. Like you talk on FaceTime. I think that's a good place to practice. Like if you're just FaceTiming with your mom, your best friend, screen record it.

Sometimes. screen record it sometimes and just see like how you act because when you're talking to like your best friend you're not like today on my best friend catch up we're going to talk about how i made green beans you know you're just like girl i made green beads it was great or like maybe that was bad but you know next time i'll do better Think of that, that way.

And then that, I feel like that can help people sometimes. You've clearly not heard me on FaceTime. Yeah, that's exactly how I talk. But anyway, go ahead. But that's you, but that's like your version of it. O'Neill. Um, I love that you, uh, to give the reminder that it's, you're working a muscle. And if you don't use it, you lose it and it will go away.

I can attest to that. It just will disappear. But also that if you have that burning desire and to shine your light, there's food for all, I'm going to use it, that terminology, there's room for you and somebody out there you're going to connect with, and that's going to be your person or your people. And so don't worry about.

All the other folks, just do your thing, shine your light. And I love that you just spread that word because people forget that and they get shy, then they get discouraged and don't be discouraged. Just do it, you know, just get out there. So, and even if you start to feel discouraged, here's a story that happened to me when I was a videographer.

I got sent, uh, I was filming events, uh, with this marketing company. They sent me to an event in Oklahoma. It was like at a middle school and I'm there and like, there's a live show. I'm not performing. I'm just filming stuff. And I just like, I have my cameras. Like I always have my cameras. I'm setting them up around this gymnasium.

And this group of middle school girls come up to me and they're like, Are you the one that's filming this? I was like, yeah. And they're like, I didn't know girls could do that. Let me tell you, I went to the bathroom and cried because I was like, wow, my just existence here has opened up an option for them that they maybe would have not thought about.

But like, they saw that I was doing it and they're like, they said to me, I didn't know girls could do that. Not in a mean way. You know, like I had never thought about that as an option. And that means a lot. So you're showing up means a lot. You may never ever have the conversation, but you're showing up means something to someone, whether you know it or not.

Just assume you'll never know it. And then you hear about it and you're like, wow, that's a bonus. But just know that it's, it's there. Definitely good. Yeah, it's awesome.

Does anyone in the audience have any, yeah, any questions, yeah, to ask Mary Lou? Just remember, we're here for you. We're here for you. We're here for you. We want to make sure that you kind of have the opportunity to to do that. And just uh, just while we're waiting to see if there's anyone doing that, let's just um, there's a couple of comments which have come in which I think are really worth sharing from that point of view.

Because Marcus had mentioned that Obviously the youtube memberships are a great way to support creators And I think it's quite good for us sometimes to be able to have that opportunity To really sort of be able to sort of say how can we help what can we do? How can we support you but also at the same time?

I want to do it without there being too much effort or or without there being too much input from us I just want to give you some money I just want to say thank you for what you're doing rather than I need to do a course to sort of make that worthwhile or anything like that You It's a, it's a low entry point, low, like touch point or like some people just want to support you and give them an option.

Like, I opened up those YouTube memberships. I'm like, if nobody signs up, okay. If a ton of people sign up, okay. Because it's, you know, it's not like it cost me anything to start it. It was an option that got, Activate it on my channel and I played with it. Yes or no. Yes or no. And then I was like, let me just open it and see, because I enjoy doing my live streams.

There's sometimes videos that I have that aren't really appropriate for like the, the marketing of the channel for the, the topic of the channel. Right. But there's like places that it could go and maybe this is, this is a place. And then if I do that for like a couple months and people are like, we're tired of seeing videos of you and the cats doing whatever.

I'll do something else, but people will never get tired of videos with the cats.

So another thing, another thing that Marcus had sort of said about, you know, that sort of feeling of what it's like to be able to watch someone as well. And that's the thing about sort of wanting, I think sometimes to, to create content, but also to kind of feel like, yeah, we want to be part of your show, but we want to be part of your life.

We want to know what's going on with the cats the next time, as well as whatever you say, like whether you're learning something and all that sort of stuff as well. And also. Um, here from Muri's Music. Hope I said that right for you. Um, but I think that's it, again, that same sort of idea of, you know, what are we trying to do?

What are we, how are we trying to do it? Um, and, and how are we going to put that together? So, we do have a question coming, which is fantastic. What was your first event that you filmed and what camera format, Mary Lou? So this is from Eagle VP. That's from Keith, yeah. Yes, Keith. Nice to see you, Keith. Uh, the first event, I can't remember like the exact first one that I did, but there was a couple where I was just part of the production team.

So I was the clipboard gal. And I will tell you if you want to get anywhere, just have a clipboard. I forever just had a clipboard in my camera bag. It didn't matter if I was filming or not. You just, you can get anywhere. I got a lot of things, a lot of places in Coachella with a clipboard. You know, I was there for work.

I was there for work, but you know, you're like, oh, I got to get these shots of, you know, sorry, just, can I go through? And they're like, okay, they just let you go. Just let you do it. You go, go in with confidence. You can do a lot of things. Um, but it was. One of my cameras that's on the shelf back there, the Canon 80D, 8 0 D, was my first one that I purchased for my professional work.

So I was filming, like I'd film on my phone and I would film on my G7X. I'd be posting stuff on social media. People that I worked with in events in marketing were like, Oh, you know how to make videos. I got the 80D just because it looked like it was a great camera. big camera. I didn't really need to film with that.

And sometimes it was more cumbersome than it necessarily needed to be because the videos that I was making were like 30 to 3, 32nd to 3 minute sizzle reels of a tour. You know, that they're, they're showing in a PowerPoint presentation, you know, it's not something that needed to be too big. It just needed to be able to turn around fast and, and get that there.

So formats, the DSLR, I'll use GoPro. Sometimes I had early on one of the early DJI Osmos that you had to connect to your phone that is in a box right now that I'm going to bring out and re review because it was awful and put me off of DJI for like, For years, for years and years until I now got the new Osmo and I was like, wow, they, they've improved it a lot.

Uh, so it really was any camera that I could get my hands on that I had on me, but the, it really, I got the ADD just because I think Casey Neistat was using it. I could get a big lens and it looked like I had a work camera. But if the client wasn't there, I sometimes would just film on my phone.

Best way. I was going to ask you just one last question for you, but just regarding now YouTube, uh, when the ability to go vertical into the shorts, um, I think you've done a couple of your streams, which are vertical, both to Instagram and to YouTube. Do you think that is going to be the next big thing in terms of streaming?

to YouTube from a vertical perspective, because obviously shorts, you get a lot more views. I know Doc mentioned that he got a lot more subscribers just by going vertical one day with his YouTube channel. I think the only thing that concerns me is the types of people that are watching the YouTube shorts right now.

And I've, I think I've mentioned to the guys here that I've looked at a YouTube short before and just gone through the shorts reel. And then there's a guy, there's a guy asleep. You know, and he's still streaming, but he's fallen asleep and, and people are getting more comments. And this guy's getting more views than any of my videos.

Like, well, if I can just fall asleep on a YouTube shot, then maybe that is the way to go. I mean, what's your, what's your thought around that? I mean, you, you're still doing a little mixture, right? Between Instagram, vertical and, and YouTube. For the past couple of weeks, maybe even month, it's been vertical.

strictly vertical to both YouTube and Instagram. And I look at Instagram as a, if Instagram works, then I'll live stream there. But YouTube, like if YouTube doesn't work, then I'm restarting it until I can get to YouTube because YouTube is my, is my main girl. I've been doing it vertical because it does get more people in.

It's like you're in a bigger festival, right? Because if you're doing your one, you're not really getting shown to new people. Now that is, it's a strategy. Right? If you, if you don't want to be open to the entirety of the internet potentially seeing you and coming in and causing trouble, if you're not ready to stomach that, then like, it's, it's not for you because we get people who come in, but we, like, I've been doing these kind of things for a long time that, I don't know, when something weird happens, I'm like, it's fine, ban, whatever, not a big deal.

And you know, and I got like some folks who help with, with moderating. So it's, uh, it's, it's helpful to, to weed a lot of them out. And also to like, I'm not scared of them. Like if something weird comes up, like, I'm just like security is like quick and easy and don't feed the trolls. Right. Just, just don't feed the trolls.

because that's what they want. They want it to come in and have a fight. If you're prepared for those kind of things and you do that and you get some experience with it, it's not so bad, you know, because like if somebody subscribes and then they're like, wait, this isn't the channel I thought it was, then they'll unsubscribe.

I'm not too worried about it one way or the other, uh, because I think they can tell pretty quickly through the live stream who they're talking to. Uh, and, and, and even in my comments, when I get randos and they say something off color, like they get read really fast, uh, or banned. So just have a, a block party if you need to, is what I like to call it.

If somebody is acting out, I'm like, it's time for the block party. And then I just, okay. So that's what the vertical, but with. With the landscape one, you're not going to get new eyes, but it is quality nourishment for your existing audience because maybe you're getting new people through your ranked videos.

So it really is just depending on your strategy and what you kind of offer. And what's happened with me in both vertical and landscape is somebody Googled, cause you know, YouTube is Google Google's YouTube. Like they'll like, how do I X, Y, Z this video? And how do I resize a video on my phone? They Google that they ended up on my page.

Cause I have multiple videos about that topic and saw that I was live and then go live. So if you have an optimized library that people might stumble upon your page while you're alive, because you're live streaming often. Then your landscape is probably fine. It just, it depends on how you want to approach it, but just know if you go vertical at this point, you're, you're open to the internet, you are, you are just open to the internet and be ready for what may or may not happen, but it really hasn't that been that much of a problem.

Oh, great. We've got one more question coming from Keith as well. Um, what do you think about having an email list and sending out an invite to your live stream? I. Personally, as a audience member and consumer for different mailing list that I'm part of, like, I always end up unsubscribing to those. So I, I, I approach what I put out.

what I produce based on how I behave as a consumer where I'm like, do I want to see this every two, two days? No, not really. Cause so I don't really do too much in emails. Now, is that like, it's a gaping hole where like, there's potentially a lot of loss. Sure. But like in my strategy right now, it's not part of it, but I, I think if you are someone who has a really engaged audience, that's ready for those things.

Like, like Gloria has one, right. Live streaming pros, like Her, her emails come in and I'm like, Oh, she's teaching this thing. There's a topic already. Great. Now I'm like, okay, yeah, sure. I want to do that. Or even like e cams live stream. Sometimes I'm like, I want to learn about, uh, Adobe express. So great. I'm glad that they told me otherwise I wouldn't have known.

Um, but for the, where my audience is right now, because these live streams are so just like, I'm chilling, you know, where I'm at. It's on my banner. I'm here at a certain time, two times a week, then either they know where they don't. Because I'm working on other things too. So it just depends on your energy.

You don't have to do all the things I guess is my point.

Oh, nearly. You suddenly gone quiet. Is that you?

Oh, we don't know. And another note on the vertical while Neil's figuring out how to come back to us is I think with the shorts. And the vertical lives with any of the changes that the, the, the different platforms push, because we're in their house, this is their party. So it's like, if the host wants us to do this, great.

I flow with that. It will go back to landscape. So experiment with the things that are kind of hot right now until it doesn't. You just go with the flow because this is not our party. It is not. We're here. We show things, we share things, we share our art, we share our work. They change the parameters a little bit or they're like, Hey, come try this.

Like, give it a try. If you don't like it, just don't do it. It's okay. Makes a lot of sense. Neil, have you returned or are you still? Yes. Sorry. I think there might've been a problem with my, uh, I was on mute. I was coughing before and I couldn't, couldn't unmute. The perils of the Stream Deck. Anyway, thank you so much, Marilu, for all your time today.

It's been a wonderful engagement with you and we really appreciate you stopping by. I know you are very welcome to stay on. As Mark mentioned before, we have quizzes, we have lots of things coming up as well, but we just wanted to say thank you so much for being a guest and we'd love you to come back Probably in LA and do a joint show with Lisa, of course, but we'd love you to come back and uh, wait to do this again.

We still great. Cause like one of you could go to Lisa's and then one of you could come here or we can like rebuild. We will just go into the studio city farmer's market and all just live stream, go live stream. Burrito booth. Oh, I'd love that. So for people who are listening, uh, so you go live twice a week, every Tuesday and every Thursday at 2 30 PM, uh, Pacific standard time, right?

Yes. But might change in the, in April due to some requests of listening to what the audience is looking for, what they're needing, because a lot of, a lot of my squad is in, in Europe. So I'm maybe moving it a little bit earlier. So we'll talk about that. If that's, if that's something you guys tell me, because I'm flexible.

It would be nice. But you know, we're just, we're just a small part of the community, you see, as Europeans, but yeah, we'd like, like a little bit early. It would be nice. Then we can join you a bit more frequently. That would be great. All right. Love it. Right. Well, let's make sure everyone can keep in contact with you so that they know where to find you, what to do as well.

So, This is where you want to be connecting if you don't know already. I think pretty much everyone in the, uh, in the chat does know, but just in case they don't, um, there is where you can find her. So as we said, thank you so much indeed. We really appreciate everything that you've done. And yeah, we look forward to connecting again.

And I'm looking forward to that farmer's market hangout. Let's do it. Let's put it in place. Take it easy. Thank you. Really? Wonderful. That was brilliant. I loved it. And People, those people who've been keeping in the chat as well and everything I really do appreciate, um, and really, really, really love it.

Um, so should we, um, share a little bit of merch on the perch ready for, as we start to move this along a little bit. Yes, please do. And so I think we should. Maybe from Lisa and I, this is, we're really loving the amount of effort and time and lack of other things that Neil's doing in order to keep moving this show forward, as we can demonstrate.

So, absolutely love it. So, Neil, this one is yours. Would you like to explain this story? This was, uh, over my morning coffee, as you know, um, and it was a sunny day. Portugal just decided to have some sunshine and I thought, well, what a beautiful morning with a virtually clear sky to, uh, take my pristine, very valuable Ecamm gold collector's mug.

There's only, 250, 000 of these available. So it's a collector's item and I decided to take a, um, picture of it in my, uh, this is just on my balcony. You've been up here, Mark, playing darts. If you remember, that was the same location. You had a game of darts, myself and my wife when you were here. There you go.

So that's a beautiful set. Beautiful set. Thank you. Absolutely love it. Um, Lisa, I think you are up next. Yes. So I was just fiddling in my garden and it was very sunshiny outside so I had a little ecamm hat and sat it on top of my succulents and uh, yeah, that's That's that. Yeah. Not that exciting. If you just don't want us to show things to ourselves, please do send them in.

And we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll give you information about that later on. But, uh, yeah, we do that. Thanks, Mary Lou. Really do appreciate you sharing all that thing. And I think I'm the last one here. So this is one that I took. Um, I was just waiting to do some podcast training. I do some podcast training for the London school of PR and they've got a cafe just around the corner.

So. Took the opportunity to spend half an hour just before I went in, always a good opportunity to share a little bit of e cam merch on there as well. So that's the story of that one this week. So, um, yeah, can't, can't wait to show it, see what we can come up with before, but as I said, please do send some stuff in because we want to share.

Where you are what you're doing and how it fits in and also if you want to let us know what you're up to Make sure you get in touch. So are we ready for a quiz? I think we are ready everyone watching. Are you ready for a quiz? Here we go

All right, so the first question is what are the names of marilu's Cat. Is it Gizmo and Zilla, Mogwai and Slinky, Mr. Mogwai and Kelso, I can't even pronounce that, Miss Kitty and Mischief? You should know this, it's been mentioned today. It has indeed, and what we'd like you to do is to put A, B, C or D in the chat, and the first one to put it in the chat correctly will be the winner.

But, uh, if you don't know, please do guess. We want to make sure that we give you the opportunity and we also want George to have the best option of, of being at the top of the leaderboard. So exactly, exactly. So let's see, we've got a, a few people here who have some answers. We have Marcus. He thinks it might be a, we have Keith.

Seems to think it's A as well. This seems to be pretty a good idea of all those people who seem to know what it is. George thinks it's A as well. So the answer is It was a congratulations to those people, but I can tell you It was George. He was the winner George. Well done George Congratulations as always.

I mean, I don't know why we even second guess there might be somebody else but um, yes Thank you so much for that one. Here we go. Then question number two Which actor won an oscar for best supporting role? Was it a You I don't, Gillian Murphy is the reason I'm laughing. B, Robert Downey Jr. C, Bradley Cooper or D, Paul Giamatti.

So why are we, why are we laughing Lisa? Because I pronounce, um, that name number A and I'm still laughing. pausing on it so many of the incorrect ways. And I know this actor, I know his work. He's great, but give me grace. No problem. So put those answers in. Let's see what we have who we are able to do.

We've got George came in first, not quite sure. Is that an answer, George? It may well be. Should we find out what the answer is? I have a shirt that says that. Huzzah. The answer is B, Robert Downey Jr. And not surprisingly, George, for the win, again, with his zero latency internet connection that can get to the answers quicker than we can say them.

I don't know how you do it. Do you know the answers before we ask them, George? I'm convinced. It makes you wonder, doesn't it, exactly how this happens. And is he on like speed dial to you, Nilo, or are you just sending these out? I have no idea. I have no idea. Something like that. Not at all. He's got some serious internet.

That's all I'm saying. So question number three, which platform does not have native chat support in ecap? That's a Instagram B X or Twitter as it was C Rumble D LinkedIn. A, B, C or D in the chat, if you please, there's always one right answer, of course, which is what we're hoping for. There may be some bone of contention here as well, but let's see what the answers are.

Yes. If you're not sure, feel free to guess. And we can, if you don't get the right answer and you, uh, haven't been on enough live streams for me, you can, we can send that information to Katie and she can find another way to get back. Oh dear. Okay, so do we have some answers? Yes, we do. First of all, I think it was just George laughing for what we'd said before from those previous ones.

We have Marcus thinks it's D. We have Keith thinks it's C. And we have George who also thinks it's C. So the answer Is

it is C rumble and George, so George, for the first time, I think in probably quite a long time.

Um, and the only reason that I'm saying that of course is because, um, as we go back onto here is the fact, not that you got the answer wrong, but because the first person to come in Was Keith. Thank you so much indeed. You are well done Keith. Good grief the winner. Congratulations. Congratulations. Sorry, I'm just, I'm just scrubbing George's name, idea and putting Keith, 'cause I already put George's name, but it's okay.

No problem. So it, George just assumed it was there. Was it in ink? You should, maybe the pencil first. . It's a way forward as you go through. Oh dear. We, yeah. Can't believe something went wrong and uh oh. Very important. Follow up. Absolutely, Keith. That's exactly it. Well done, Keith. Congratulations. Yeah. Neil, maybe what you need to do is you need to have some kind of new graphic with a sort of a sort of that sort of gunslinger kind of thing where they're sort of going apart from each other.

First one to draw first person. Right answer. Like a standoff. Exactly. I'll have a think about that. Definitely. Just in case you've got anything to do in the next couple of weeks, I'll be, all right, let's do a little bit of, uh, creative showcasing. Absolutely.

And she didn't find anybody. So she told herself that if she got out of hospital, she would share her own journey. Which is what she posts here on YouTube every day. An amazing lady. And you can find Aubrey's messages here at Simply Aubs. Wonderful. That's incredible, isn't it? What an amazing thing. It is.

It just goes to show you've got a story to share, something that's important to you. There are people out there that need your voice as well as, like I say, the information that maybe you're absolutely doing it as well. Um, couldn't agree more. Mary Lou, definitely. Couldn't agree Just also have a, just to say how warm the, the, the community is here.

George being very gracious with, uh, getting that answer, right.

Okay. So our next long way to catch up to George. Sorry. Yeah, it is. It is. But no, we'll give you all the, all the possible opportunities. We'll, we'll keep these quizzes going. So our next guest is Marcus Schaub. He will be here on April the 1st around the Easter weekend and we're looking forward to meeting up with Marcus and you can share his journey of his YouTube journey so far.

And, and Marcus has had quite a few guests on his show recently. So yeah, we'll be looking forward to talking to you Marcus very soon. Couple of weeks. Stay tuned. Absolutely. And Joel's just saying, yeah, she was so cool. It's great to be able to create a camp. Again, we wouldn't have met these people without Create A Camp, right?

So, yes. There we are. I love, I love the fact that guests give us lots more questions and follow up things for things which are coming up because Marcus is, uh, is, is also going to be in a couple of weeks. So, yes, indeed. That's you. That is you. Absolutely brilliant. Okie dokie. So if you want to be involved in the show, then here are a few things we'd like you to do.

Um, in order to do that, we'd love you to be a guest. If you're interested in being on the show, you don't need to have a big following. You don't need to have a big channel. You might be setting out. You might just want to sort of share where you are. We'd love to be left to hear from you. As I said earlier, much on the perch, we want to share some random pages of your merch that you're wearing.

You can excuse me. Um, the opportunity, maybe when you're doing something from work, whatever it happens to be, just send it to us. Um, and then also tell us about your show. Cause we were, we're here to sort of share your journeys, share the things you want to help promote things that you want to share with the world, much like Aubrey, you know, anything we can do to help that, um, and you can find out all of that stuff if you go to the link tree, um, you can see there.

And we also have the QR code for that as well. Um, and if you're more of a visual person. Here you are. You can do it here. That's QR code. And there's the details for our YouTube and Instagram. So finally, everybody, is there anything else you'd like to say before we say goodbye to all the lovely people?

Just has been a great show. Loved having Marilu on. It's been great. Looking forward to seeing Marcus in a couple of weeks. Should be good. Yeah, Marilu for all the great tips and energy. It's fantastic. Absolutely love it. Thank you all for being here. Thank you for your comments. Thanks for being part of the show and we'll be back again in a couple of weeks time.