Show Up or Stay Hidden: Why Authentic Content Wins Every Time

You've thought about showing up more online. Posting more, talking to the camera, letting people see what you're actually building. But every time you go to do it, something stops you.

In this episode, we're talking directly to you about that. The fear, the self-criticism, the "what will people think" spiral, and why pushing past all of that is the actual work.

Because the people who are growing right now aren't the ones with the best gear or the most polished content. They're the ones who keep showing up anyway.

A podcast about what really goes on behind the scenes of building brands, businesses, and personal platforms. 

We talk marketing, content, branding, community, and the uncomfortable middle between idea and execution.
Built for founders, creators, and business owners who want honest conversations, not recycled advice.


Hosted by Matt and Olivia. Audio-only for now. New episodes regularly.

Listen & subscribe
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Follow along
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@Mattortlieb_
@oliviamckerrow
@ortliebmedia 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

The businesses and personal brands who are showing up constantly, showing their face, talking directly to the camera, and highlighting their day-to-day are the ones blowing up and having a huge impact on socials compared to the people who are still afraid to show up as them. Why is that?

SPEAKER_00 0:22

I think it touches on connection. It's a huge thing to feel disconnected to people online. And when you start to show your face and talk to the camera, it's like you're having a conversation with someone. And it's yeah, it may be uncomfortable for some people, but if you're wanting to put in the work and if you want to reach these goals of blowing up or making your business greater, it's best that you show up in a way that is authentic and true to you. And that's by literally picking up the phone and talking to the camera.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Yeah. I I think that's why I don't know if you've seen it, but PayPal and these other massive brands are looking for head of content, head of CEO content because people want an inside look of what it's like to be in their because people want to see what it's like to be in that role building something so big.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Yeah. Was it when we were chatting with Owen where it was like like document your work? Don't show your work, show you working. That's I think huge right now. Yeah. Like I notice it amongst the people that I follow and like how they're showing up. It's yeah, most of them are still not talking to the camera, but a lot of them are showing them working.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

And putting in that effort. And I think again, that's something that people connect with.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Yeah. 100%. I feel like for me, I'm slowly wanting to get into that content too, of highlighting what it's like building a content agency by just myself doing it for now. But because people want to see and they want to support. Yeah. Compared to just showing your work, I think there's a misalignment when it comes to what goes into they want to know what goes into that those projects.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Oh, yeah. I feel like it's completely misunderstood. I feel like people just assume that when you're creating a content agency, it's so simple, but there's so much more to the back end stuff of it. And I think you've done this in the past where you've showcased you like not your work, but you working.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Day one, day two, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Yeah, that was your thing for a while.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

And I would I got so busy from day 15 that I just kept forgetting to film more days. Which is great. That's what you want. Yeah, totally. But how can someone stay consistent if they're maybe not in the same industry as us?

SPEAKER_00 2:57

To be honest, this is just coming straight from the heart. You have to want it. You have to want it so bad. And it may not always be the exact same time every day, but just you have to show up. Yeah. And that's what it's come down to, and that's what I've learned from you is that today I posted I've posted two talking head foot videos in the last 24 hours.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

And like how many members? Three members.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

Three members from that.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

And just that in itself is proof that the more you show up, the more you engage is where that growth stems from.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Yeah. It goes back to our conversation with Ariel.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

He's showing up as himself constantly, yeah. Multiple times a day, and it's paying off.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Because people relate to him, people like to support him, everything he's doing.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Same thing with your business too. And everyone's business.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Yeah. I think there's a huge fear of showing off, showing up authentically because there's fear of judgment. You think that people are cringing at your content or you're self-critical. Me. Because you look back on these videos and you just pick apart every single thing. Yeah. But I think the more you push that and you try to get yourself out of that comfort zone is when it becomes easier and easier. I remember when it was like pulling teeth to get me to put a photo photo video of me talking. Now I do it almost every day.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

I remember one of our first couple of photo shoots, video shoots.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

I basically had to convince you to talk in front of the camera and tell people who you are and what you're building.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

And looking back, it was probably the most uncomfortable thing for you to do.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

Yeah. And you could and that's the thing. You can tell when someone's uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

But now that's nothing. We'll do you'll do four workouts for Club Sick on a Tuesday, and then we'll shoot two quick clips of you talking about it. It's nothing.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

There are five other clips behind the two clips. But not a one take wonder over here.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

I feel like people, like you said, are so it's not me. I don't want to do that content. I don't want to talk in front of the camera. It's weird if I do that. What will people think?

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

To be honest, who cares?

SPEAKER_00 5:21

I was just about to say that who cares?

SPEAKER_01 5:24

I know you don't want you're not that person now, but you have to be. Yeah. If you're trying to do something big for your business, if you want to get to a certain point, you have to get comfortable showing up on camera and talking about your business.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

Exactly. And that's what I was getting at when it's if you want something so bad, you're gonna have to do very uncomfortable things. You're gonna have to talk about yourself, you're gonna have to show up in ways that you don't feel comfortable doing, but it's gonna it will take time to get there. Yeah. You and you've even mentioned too, you never thought you'd be in a position where you would be talking to a camera all the time or talking on a podcast, and yet this is you pushing past that discomfort, being like, No, I actually have to do these things in order for me to grow.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

Yeah, totally. It's you're not gonna see results right away. No, you're gonna be stuck and you're gonna think to yourself, this isn't working.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

But it is even if it's one person seeing that video at some point, whether it's a month, two months, three months from then, yeah, you're gonna see the effects of it and of you showing up consistently. Let's talk about personal brands versus businesses and separating the content. Let's go with the difference between businesses first. I I know it doesn't it every business is different and every content piece of content we create for them is different, but down to its core, I feel like it's hard, it's a it's super hard for some people to separate the two, and they almost become extensions of the business, which is fine. But at least for me, from my person my experience, yeah, Ortly Media is where I promote all of the work, the outcomes, I highlight the project, I talk about what went into that project, yeah, the problem the client was facing, the outcome, and maybe the results from it. And then on my personal page, it's more so behind the scenes of shooting that project, yeah, talking about that project, maybe showcasing some work as well. Yeah. But I think my approach to that is more free. I don't take that stuff too seriously compared to my Orly Media page.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

Yeah, and I think it's different when you're a small business and you truly are the face of the business too. Like, of course you're gonna be an extension of that. And what and not necessarily to say that your personal brand is meshing with your business. You've obviously had this very clear separation, but I think when it comes to bigger businesses, it's a little, it's a little less personal, I would say. Like you there's a you have to maintain a level of quality and you want to make sure that what you are creating for a business is meeting the business where it's at. Whereas personal, you can dabble into a bunch of different things. It can be raw, it can be high quality, it can be behind the scenes, it can be talking, it can be whatever. So I think that's a big differentiator between the two is that the level of content that you're putting out as a business owner does need to be significantly different.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Yeah. A lot of the projects, a lot of our clients are the ones showing up on camera, talking about what they do, how they do it, but it's also pulling in some of their members and customers to be in the content as well. Compared to a project we shot in October for Protein Supplement Company. Yeah. And none of the owners are there in the content. No. It's athletes, the benefits, the features, the product.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

That's a true campaign. Yeah. A business campaign.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

And I think again, like it's more lifestyle. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Exactly. And I think with small businesses and stuff, too, it's easy to have your community involved in what you create, but when it's a bigger business or a business itself, you almost don't want to be in it. You do want to make sure that you are separating it a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

As much as we say all this stuff, it is a lot easier said than done. If, let's say, let's go with personal brands. If you're I guess it doesn't matter, if you're just someone building a business or want to be building a business at some point, but you don't know what that is yet, how do you start?

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Well, I think you need to find what I think when you're posting on anything as a personal brand, you have to find your niche and you kind of have to establish that in order. I don't know, that's like personally, that's how I grew. I established what worked for me.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

I stuck with it, and it's not to say that it doesn't change over time because it does, but I think you kind of have to start with one thing and expand and grow from there.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

That's in that's my personal opinion, but that's only from my experience. Like all the reason I've maintained a gradual growth is because of my workout videos.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

You were super clear on what you wanted from the beginning. Yes. Whereas people, let's say, who don't under necessarily know where they want to be, they don't know where to start. And so it's more so try everything, try every type of content, see what works, see what doesn't work, what performs well. And then rolls. How you show up online as yourself.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

And then take it from there.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

Yeah. Yeah, I think that's fair.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Same with the way I started with photography. I started with everything, shooting everything, and then from there I got a better idea of what I liked and what I didn't like.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

And now I'm doing more of what I like.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

Yeah, so it's kind of dipping your toe into everything. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

And then going from there. How should people treat it? Because showing up on camera is very uncomfortable some for some people.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

I think it's something that if you want to build something, it has to become a priority for you. You don't necessarily want to treat it like a job or work, but it does take work to build something. So you have to prioritize your time to create that content to establish what you want. And that's the only way you're kind of gonna move on.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

I think it starts with small steps.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

You have to don't you don't have to start showing up on your face on camera.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

No.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

You can start by throwing your phone on a tripod or setting up in a corner and just filming whatever you're doing in that moment. Yeah. And then either putting a voice over over top of it or text with music. And then hopefully that gets you to the point of wanting to take that next step and talk to the camera. Whether it's for the quick 30 seconds at the beginning or three seconds at the beginning. And then from there it can roll into clips of you doing something. It honestly takes practice. Yeah. Okay. What can people take from this episode?

SPEAKER_00 12:33

I think just where if you are wanting to create more of an established personal brand or even business at this point, it's just figuring out where to start, where to begin, and how to st show up and what it means to push past the discomfort.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

Episode 15, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:55

Yes. Yeah. Episode 15? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

Thanks for listening.