fbpx Skip to content

Follow Us

Do more of what you love
and get paid what you're worth

How to Use an Easy System to create Video Content Featuring Vikram Rajan

Vikram Rajan is the co-founder of Videosocials, a video blogging system for lawyers, accountants, consultants & coaches.

In today’s episode of Smashing the Plateau, you will learn how you can use an easy system to create video content to increase your word-of-mouth referrals.

Vikram and I discuss:

  • What he learned about marketing to a niche [06:47]
  • Understanding the pain points of your niche [07:59]
  • Why is content creation an important marketing activity when you are selling your expertise [10:03]
  • Why a system is important for creating content [15:59]
  • How to identify a good system for your business [17:23]

Vikram is also the founder of Videosocials’ VIP service: Video Interview Podcast management for those who want to “just show up at show time!” And have all the time-consuming, annoying stuff done for them.

Learn more about Vikram at www.Videosocials.net.

Transcript
Vikram Rajan:

I think that's the reason why we have to create systems

Vikram Rajan:

for anything, especially the things that don't come naturally to us and

Vikram Rajan:

the things that we don't really want to do, but we know we should be doing.

Vikram Rajan:

And I think content creation, writing articles, recording videos

Vikram Rajan:

for most of us who don't really enjoy doing it intrinsicly and what

Vikram Rajan:

we notice the right thing to do.

Vikram Rajan:

And like fitness, nothing bad happens if you don't go to the gym today or even

Vikram Rajan:

this week, or maybe even this month.

Vikram Rajan:

But if that becomes the bad habit of not going to the gym or not

Vikram Rajan:

creating the content over a period of time, bad things results.

Vikram Rajan:

Conversely, the good habits lead to good results.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Welcome to Smashing the Plateau.

David Shriner-Cahn:

We help consultants, coaches, entrepreneurs, and small business

David Shriner-Cahn:

owners build their business after a long career, as an employed professional.

David Shriner-Cahn:

We believe you should be able to do what you love and get paid

David Shriner-Cahn:

what you're worth, consistently.

David Shriner-Cahn:

I'm your host, David Shriner-Cahn.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Today, on Smashing the Plateau, I'm speaking with the co-founder

David Shriner-Cahn:

of Videosocials, Vikram Rajan.

David Shriner-Cahn:

In today's episode, you will learn how you can use an easy system

David Shriner-Cahn:

to create video content that can increase your word of mouth referrals.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Stay with us to hear all the details.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Do you struggle to take consistent action on things like

David Shriner-Cahn:

creating consistent content?

David Shriner-Cahn:

How do you feel about your business building progress?

David Shriner-Cahn:

Would you like to be part of a structured, supportive process to help you implement

David Shriner-Cahn:

ideas that you know will help you move the needle toward your goals?

David Shriner-Cahn:

As a member of the Smashing the Plateau Community you'll have access

David Shriner-Cahn:

to a structured process for growth.

David Shriner-Cahn:

You'll also be a member of a community that's built to be a safe, caring place

David Shriner-Cahn:

where inclusive, direct, active and empowering conversations are welcome.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Inside the Smashing the Plateau Community, you'll find a range of

David Shriner-Cahn:

tools and resources to support you as an entrepreneur, access to experts

David Shriner-Cahn:

and answers to your burning questions.

David Shriner-Cahn:

If you're committed to getting your consulting, coaching or small business

David Shriner-Cahn:

to grow on your own terms so that you can deliver great results to your ideal

David Shriner-Cahn:

clients while supporting the lifestyle you want, and you don't want to do

David Shriner-Cahn:

it alone, apply to become a member of the Smashing the Plateau Community.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Learn more at smashingtheplateau.com.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Now let's welcome Vikram Rajan.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Vikram is the co-founder of Videosocials, a video blogging system for lawyers,

David Shriner-Cahn:

accountants, consultants, and coaches.

David Shriner-Cahn:

He's also the founder of its VIP service video interview podcast management

David Shriner-Cahn:

for those who want to just show up at showtime and have all the time

David Shriner-Cahn:

consuming, annoying stuff done for them.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Vikram, welcome to the show.

Vikram Rajan:

David, thank you for having me on

David Shriner-Cahn:

My pleasure.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Tell me a little bit about your career and what led you to start Videosocials.

Vikram Rajan:

It was just a series of, natural events, so to speak, of business.

Vikram Rajan:

I started off as a marketing consultant, one on one, after working alongside

Vikram Rajan:

my father, who is a management consultant, and I kinda learned the

Vikram Rajan:

ropes of consulting from him, but I wanted to focus more on marketing.

Vikram Rajan:

And so I basically turned to his referral relationships who were

Vikram Rajan:

mainly lawyers and accountants.

Vikram Rajan:

And since, they had essentially seen me grow up with my father.

Vikram Rajan:

A few of them trusted in me when I was a very young adult, to

Vikram Rajan:

become my first set of clients.

Vikram Rajan:

And I stuck with the world of lawyers, accountants, and consultants ever since.

Vikram Rajan:

And very quickly realized that as a one on one marketing consultant, there

Vikram Rajan:

was very little leverage of my time.

Vikram Rajan:

And so as I got busy, I needed to bring on someone else, who is my

Vikram Rajan:

current business partner, Mark Bullock.

Vikram Rajan:

So he and I, joined forces and we created a great partnership.

Vikram Rajan:

I essentially filled up his book of business and then we had to of scratch

Vikram Rajan:

our heads, what's next, as he was busy.

Vikram Rajan:

And so we created a service called phone blogger wherein we interview our clients

Vikram Rajan:

over the phone and turn what they say into optimized articles, written articles

Vikram Rajan:

for their blogs, their email newsletters, their social media, and, literally just

Vikram Rajan:

starting another phone blogger client.

Vikram Rajan:

this Wednesday spoke to her this morning.

Vikram Rajan:

She's, uh, an IP attorney here in the New York city area.

Vikram Rajan:

So that's growing and we have staff, that essentially handles

Vikram Rajan:

our phone blogger clients.

Vikram Rajan:

But as the world of video started taking over the internet, we

Vikram Rajan:

had to scratch our heads again.

Vikram Rajan:

this was before COVID.

Vikram Rajan:

So 2017 I wanna say is when Facebook, announced that they were changing

Vikram Rajan:

their algorithm to prioritize video in their, social media feed.

Vikram Rajan:

And then the following year 2018, that's when LinkedIn followed suit and

Vikram Rajan:

we're much more of a LinkedIn crowd.

Vikram Rajan:

And so when LinkedIn started prioritizing video, that's when we knew we needed

Vikram Rajan:

to get serious to help our clients, with the world of video blogging.

Vikram Rajan:

And they basically did not want to be on video.

Vikram Rajan:

this was before COVID.

Vikram Rajan:

So the concept of them being in front of a webcam all day, or at all was

Vikram Rajan:

completely foreign and uncomfortable.

Vikram Rajan:

So we needed to find a way much like phone blogger is a convenient way to

Vikram Rajan:

essentially author it in articles.

Vikram Rajan:

We need to find a convenient way, if not a fun way to bring our

Vikram Rajan:

kind of clients onto video and into the world of video blogging.

Vikram Rajan:

We said, what if we did like a Toastmasters type group or

Vikram Rajan:

mastermind a networking group type style and did it on zoom.

Vikram Rajan:

And again, this was before COVID, BC.

Vikram Rajan:

So people didn't really know what zoom was.

Vikram Rajan:

And we said, click this link and you'll join everyone.

Vikram Rajan:

And now of course we're all familiar with the concept.

Vikram Rajan:

And so we treated it like a networking group, except that instead of an elevator

Vikram Rajan:

pitch per se, or what you do for a living, people went around and these

Vikram Rajan:

were our initial phone blogger clients.

Vikram Rajan:

So they knew the, they understood the concept of talking about an article for a

Vikram Rajan:

couple of minutes, and we said, great, but just make sure you stare into that webcam.

Vikram Rajan:

So you're making eye contact.

Vikram Rajan:

And then after they record their two to three minute video blog, which we recorded

Vikram Rajan:

for them, of course, they would then get feedback from one of their peers of what

Vikram Rajan:

they said, what they could have said differently or say it in a different way.

Vikram Rajan:

And then of course, who do I know that it can share your video with would come.

Vikram Rajan:

And so that natural sharing came, to pass where turned into more of a community

Vikram Rajan:

than even a service, which of course a service is there to part one of video

Vikram Rajan:

socials or our video blogging clubs.

Vikram Rajan:

And then we've realized that we need to help our clients get these videos posted

Vikram Rajan:

and optimized with captions and, headline, end screen with your attorney advertising

Vikram Rajan:

disclaimers and all that stuff.

Vikram Rajan:

And so we hired programmers to create custom software.

Vikram Rajan:

And so here, long story, to a short question here we are with Videosocials

Vikram Rajan:

now with, video blogging clubs and our brander app that essentially

Vikram Rajan:

automatically posts, videos, onto our clients' own Facebook and LinkedIn

Vikram Rajan:

and YouTube and WordPress website, so it's video blogging together on.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Vikram, what did you learn about marketing to a specific niche?

David Shriner-Cahn:

Cause it sounds like you were doing that from the beginning.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And it's something that many solo or very small businesses really struggle with.

David Shriner-Cahn:

I'm really curious to hear how you approach marketing to a specific niche.

Vikram Rajan:

I love it.

Vikram Rajan:

I think it makes marketing.

Vikram Rajan:

And traction that much more easy, especially if you work with the type

Vikram Rajan:

of clients that talk to each other and want to share resources as attorneys

Vikram Rajan:

do, attorneys are very specialized.

Vikram Rajan:

They actually can't even use that word, but they nonetheless are

Vikram Rajan:

specialized like doctors where they are constantly referring each other.

Vikram Rajan:

So they are their best referral relationships.

Vikram Rajan:

So they're constantly networking and sharing resources and

Vikram Rajan:

we go along for the ride.

Vikram Rajan:

So as we do a good job for our clients, they become our raving fans and they

Vikram Rajan:

themselves are part of a community professional associations, literally.

Vikram Rajan:

And so you can't be too niched because even within the world of lawyers,

Vikram Rajan:

there are specializations and they have their own special bar associations,

Vikram Rajan:

et cetera, not advocating necessarily people focus only on the legal niche,

Vikram Rajan:

but any kind of niche market, I think it makes marketing a word of mouth

Vikram Rajan:

that much more, faster and easier.

David Shriner-Cahn:

How does it make it easier to identify a particular pain point

David Shriner-Cahn:

that where you're gonna create a solution?

Vikram Rajan:

There's a natural market research aspect where, the easiest to find

Vikram Rajan:

out the pain point is to really ask your prospective clients or ask your clients.

Vikram Rajan:

But there is some to some.

Vikram Rajan:

You have to skate to where the puck is and you have to somewhat predict,

Vikram Rajan:

what their pain point will be.

Vikram Rajan:

It, it's the understanding that, horse and bug you to a car that no one

Vikram Rajan:

would've really asked for a horseless wagon, per se, they just said they

Vikram Rajan:

wanted more horses on their wagon.

Vikram Rajan:

and to some degree we still use horsepower for that reason.

Vikram Rajan:

And likewise, I think there's that famous anecdote Steve Jobs talking about the

Vikram Rajan:

iPod in that, people just wanted more and more songs on their Sony Walkman.

Vikram Rajan:

And so he had to figure out a way to help people understand that they

Vikram Rajan:

just don't want a bigger Walkman.

Vikram Rajan:

They just wanted a, an easier way of storying, more and more songs.

Vikram Rajan:

And here we have the iPod and all this evolutions.

Vikram Rajan:

So we have to predict, which is what Videosocials is kind of predicting,

Vikram Rajan:

knowing that our clients didn't wanna be on video, but we knew

Vikram Rajan:

it was the right thing for them.

Vikram Rajan:

And it's a good thing that we started in 2019, cuz we rode the wave one good thing.

Vikram Rajan:

At least that came from COVID was people knew that they needed to be

Vikram Rajan:

on video and we grew because of that.

Vikram Rajan:

So it's easier to understand and study your clients either from first

Vikram Rajan:

market research, first person market research with them telling you.

Vikram Rajan:

Or seeing, reading the tea leaves, so to speak.

Vikram Rajan:

And it's seeing what's the patterns.

Vikram Rajan:

If I think if our clients were in completely different industries, it's

Vikram Rajan:

harder to notice those patterns, our clients, there are not only attorneys.

Vikram Rajan:

We work with consultants and accountants and financial advisors, but they're

Vikram Rajan:

all very similar in the sense of professional services and subject matter

Vikram Rajan:

experts, et cetera, as opposed to.

Vikram Rajan:

Working with HVAC or retail and restaurants.

Vikram Rajan:

And then also lawyers.

Vikram Rajan:

I know some agencies do that.

Vikram Rajan:

I just don't know how they're able to really find the patterns in them.

Vikram Rajan:

I think actually that's really brilliant that by focusing on a

Vikram Rajan:

particular niche, it makes it much easier for you to find the patterns.

Vikram Rajan:

I think so.

Vikram Rajan:

It, it's the efficient way out of it.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Let's talk a little bit about your target

David Shriner-Cahn:

market and their pain points.

David Shriner-Cahn:

When you're selling your expertise, why is content creation an

David Shriner-Cahn:

important marketing activity?

Vikram Rajan:

I think historically it's not necessarily the content

Vikram Rajan:

marketing per se that they want.

Vikram Rajan:

Again, it goes to another kind of cliche that nobody buys the drill.

Vikram Rajan:

They buy the whole.

Vikram Rajan:

And in that concept, content marketing is a means to an end.

Vikram Rajan:

For them they recognize that word of mouth referrals is not literally the end.

Vikram Rajan:

I think the end point is of course client acquisition, but at least when

Vikram Rajan:

they think of marketing, they would even sometimes, say, and to this day, they'll

Vikram Rajan:

say, oh, I don't do any marketing.

Vikram Rajan:

I only, I, get everything through word of mouth referrals.

Vikram Rajan:

And, I don't wanna necessarily correct the prospect, but getting

Vikram Rajan:

word of mouth referrals is marketing.

Vikram Rajan:

Like how do you, so I'll ask, how do you get word about referrals?

Vikram Rajan:

And then they'll answer and they'll give you basically all their marketing plans.

Vikram Rajan:

And in that sense, content helps our clients get shared more effectively and

Vikram Rajan:

more easily, more efficiently, really through social media, but through their

Vikram Rajan:

website, through email and even per on person to person, face to face content

Vikram Rajan:

enables a conversation and referrals.

Vikram Rajan:

And so for us, content marketing can be used in a lot of

Vikram Rajan:

different ways as we do it.

Vikram Rajan:

So one aspect of content marketing is search engine optimization,

Vikram Rajan:

SEO getting high up on Google and inevitably our clients benefit from

Vikram Rajan:

the SEO benefits of content marketing.

Vikram Rajan:

But our focus is really on the word of mouth referrals, because if they, our

Vikram Rajan:

kind of clients, they're boutique firms, they're not getting their clients from the

Vikram Rajan:

proverbial yellow pages, either literally yellow pages or figuratively from Google's

Vikram Rajan:

version of the modern yellow pages.

Vikram Rajan:

But rather they're getting it from word of mouth.

Vikram Rajan:

usually there's always those kind of legacy and legendary stories of Hey,

Vikram Rajan:

yeah, I got a client from Google and that's cool, but by and large, they're

Vikram Rajan:

getting it from, let's say other attorneys or their past clients or even current

Vikram Rajan:

clients and content essentially greases the wheels, greases the gears of work.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn:

So how does content grease the wheels?

Vikram Rajan:

I think by it gives other people a reason to talk about you and

Vikram Rajan:

a reason to share you with others.

Vikram Rajan:

it, there's no reason for me to suddenly start talking about my IP

Vikram Rajan:

attorney or start talking about the IP attorney that I know, especially

Vikram Rajan:

to a population that unless you ask me, Hey, do you know an IP attorney?

Vikram Rajan:

Okay.

Vikram Rajan:

That makes sense.

Vikram Rajan:

I'll bring it up.

Vikram Rajan:

that's a kind of a reactive referral, know, Dr.

Vikram Rajan:

Ivan Meister who started that very large networking group called BNI

Vikram Rajan:

has a concept of reactive referrals.

Vikram Rajan:

That kind of response versus proactive referrals, bringing things up, but then

Vikram Rajan:

there's even the pre-active concept.

Vikram Rajan:

The word pre-active is a word of bringing it up to an audience predictably saying,

Vikram Rajan:

most likely these people will want it.

Vikram Rajan:

And social media sharing is that way where you're, sharing someone because you think

Vikram Rajan:

someone else will find the same insight that you got from that person who wrote

Vikram Rajan:

the article or recorded the video blog.

Vikram Rajan:

So to answer your point, it basically enables me to

Vikram Rajan:

bring you up through content.

Vikram Rajan:

When otherwise ordinarily I may a have forgotten about you out of sight,

Vikram Rajan:

out of mind, or if I did see you or saw your name only, there's no reason

Vikram Rajan:

for me to now bring you up to others.

Vikram Rajan:

Or even for me to think about how I can utilize your service for myself.

Vikram Rajan:

But when you've given me a nugget of knowledge, it's an aha moment.

Vikram Rajan:

It's huh?

Vikram Rajan:

I never thought about it.

Vikram Rajan:

That.

Vikram Rajan:

And so for me, it could be a, I could be a prospect or I could be a

Vikram Rajan:

referral source and share someone else.

Vikram Rajan:

So conversely, that's really what you're doing when you're

Vikram Rajan:

sharing content with others.

Vikram Rajan:

You're basically giving them the easy ability to share you with others.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And I love the way you have broken it down into reactive

David Shriner-Cahn:

marketing, proactive marketing, and pre-active marketing, right?

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Why is it important to have a system for creating content if you're

David Shriner-Cahn:

focusing on pre-active marketing?

Vikram Rajan:

Yeah, I think, ultimately a system is a inanimate way of talking

Vikram Rajan:

about habits and for us, a personal system hopefully becomes a habit.

Vikram Rajan:

And the beginning before it becomes a, an alpha rhythm habit where we do

Vikram Rajan:

things, unconsciously without thinking where it's just a part of our rhythm.

Vikram Rajan:

I think about fitness.

Vikram Rajan:

for some people they grew up playing sports.

Vikram Rajan:

They grew up watching sports for them to pick up a basketball

Vikram Rajan:

and play ball on the weekends.

Vikram Rajan:

That's normal, natural and habit to the point of a good addiction where if they

Vikram Rajan:

don't do it, they feel unfulfilled.

Vikram Rajan:

I am not that person.

Vikram Rajan:

For me, I've always had to force myself to get into the gym and create

Vikram Rajan:

all sorts of constructs from hiring a fitness trainer or creating some other

Vikram Rajan:

system, which basically means I need to force myself into the gym until I,

Vikram Rajan:

the endorphins and all the hormones.

Vikram Rajan:

And I'm not a biologist to understand all of the mechanics, but I do know that

Vikram Rajan:

I do feel good after going to the gym.

Vikram Rajan:

I have to remind myself that and that it, once it becomes a

Vikram Rajan:

habit, then the system takes over.

Vikram Rajan:

I think that's the reason why we have to create systems for anything, especially

Vikram Rajan:

the things that don't come naturally to us and the things that we don't really want

Vikram Rajan:

to do, but we know we should be doing.

Vikram Rajan:

And I think content creation, writing articles, recording videos for most

Vikram Rajan:

of us who don't really enjoy doing it intrinsically, but we know it's

Vikram Rajan:

the right thing to do and like fitness, nothing bad happens if you

Vikram Rajan:

don't go to the gym today or even this week, or maybe even this month.

Vikram Rajan:

But if that becomes the bad habit of not going to the gym or not

Vikram Rajan:

creating the content over a period of time, bad things results.

Vikram Rajan:

Conversely, the good habit is lead to good results.

Vikram Rajan:

And so we create a system for our clients where we know we wanna

Vikram Rajan:

keep it easy on their time and hopefully even fun so that they are,

Vikram Rajan:

productively addicted to the process.

Vikram Rajan:

So basically it becomes fun and done for them and that they look forward

Vikram Rajan:

to doing it as opposed to dreading or drudging, because ultimately.

Vikram Rajan:

That's when procrastination sets in and we find other things to do, which you

Vikram Rajan:

know, scrolling on social media is, can be easily distracted and we're trying to

Vikram Rajan:

get our clients to post on social media.

David Shriner-Cahn:

I wanna go actually, and dig a little deeper into the idea of

David Shriner-Cahn:

creating a system for content creation.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn:

There are a lot of different types of content, like you

David Shriner-Cahn:

specialize primarily in video.

David Shriner-Cahn:

There are a lot of different types of content and there are a lot of different

David Shriner-Cahn:

channels for producing and distributing content and there are a lot of different

David Shriner-Cahn:

ways of creating systems for a business.

David Shriner-Cahn:

How do you put all these pieces together and figure out what is the

David Shriner-Cahn:

ideal system, particularly when it comes to getting started with content.

Vikram Rajan:

So we, first and foremost, we focus on video nowadays because

Vikram Rajan:

that's what the algorithms want.

Vikram Rajan:

Google owns YouTube.

Vikram Rajan:

So Google prioritizes video in what we in the marketing world have dubbed, position

Vikram Rajan:

zero, meaning over and above even the first position, cause YouTube clips are

Vikram Rajan:

above search engine results on a page.

Vikram Rajan:

So that's first of all, all right.

Vikram Rajan:

That's our goal is what we want to basically get our clients

Vikram Rajan:

quote, unquote, addicted to, but in a good way, productive.

Vikram Rajan:

And so our concept was how can we make it collaborative, cooperative

Vikram Rajan:

and, relationship focused since that's what they want also.

Vikram Rajan:

And so we knew when we wanted to create Videosocials, we had the phone

Vikram Rajan:

blogger system already in place.

Vikram Rajan:

We still do where it's a one-on-one telephone conversation.

Vikram Rajan:

And it's a rhythm where they know they're gonna have a phone call once a

Vikram Rajan:

week with their editor or every other week with their editor, depending on

Vikram Rajan:

how many articles they're producing.

Vikram Rajan:

So it's a systematic appointment driven concept, same thing.

Vikram Rajan:

We wanted something appointment driven.

Vikram Rajan:

Cause if it's in their calendar, if it's in our calendar, we're more apt to do it.

Vikram Rajan:

As opposed to I'll go to the gym whenever I feel like it

Vikram Rajan:

and never actually going in.

Vikram Rajan:

Cause someone like me never feels like it.

Vikram Rajan:

So if I have an appointment with a fitness trainer, even if I don't

Vikram Rajan:

really feel like it I'll do it.

Vikram Rajan:

And then hopefully the hormones will kick in and I'll like it and then

Vikram Rajan:

eventually I will like it if the trainer is good at the, his, or her job.

Vikram Rajan:

And so with us, the first beginning of the system is the appointment.

Vikram Rajan:

You gotta set aside time in your calendar.

Vikram Rajan:

It's the only way things get done.

Vikram Rajan:

So for us, it was like, what are we gonna do in that appointment?

Vikram Rajan:

We say 45 minutes.

Vikram Rajan:

I actually originally wanted half an hour that wanted it short and sweet.

Vikram Rajan:

We had to extend it to 45 minutes, but I said, look, we

Vikram Rajan:

can't have it more than an hour.

Vikram Rajan:

We could just sit in front of a computer or a webcam for more than an hour for me.

Vikram Rajan:

Just, just horrible sounding.

Vikram Rajan:

So now of course, ironically, a year later we spend all day on our

Vikram Rajan:

webcam, whether we wanted to or not, but nonetheless 45 minutes session,

Vikram Rajan:

we wanted to purposely keep it small about six, seven people at a time.

Vikram Rajan:

Cause we knew that was very interactive and just an right number

Vikram Rajan:

of people, that magic number seven.

Vikram Rajan:

Where it was just the right amount of interactivity to keep it fun and

Vikram Rajan:

interesting where people are learning from each other and sharing notes and

Vikram Rajan:

feedback on each other's video blogs.

Vikram Rajan:

But it wasn't so large that we ran out of time, but it wasn't so small

Vikram Rajan:

where it was a downer of energy.

Vikram Rajan:

And so we just arbitrarily picked kind of the number five to seven.

Vikram Rajan:

There was no real science other than Hey, let's try that.

Vikram Rajan:

And it made sense for it to be closer to seven and eight instead of five.

Vikram Rajan:

And so that was kinda makings of the system for us to know.

Vikram Rajan:

And then we had to systematically manage what happens in the 45 minutes of how

Vikram Rajan:

do we get people in the right mindset.

Vikram Rajan:

So we begin ceremoniously ritualistically with kinda, we essentially have someone

Vikram Rajan:

repeat the motto and the credo of what we're here to do so that we basically

Vikram Rajan:

are training our brain to go, all right, for these 45 minutes, we are in a room

Vikram Rajan:

to create content, to create video blogs.

Vikram Rajan:

And so we had to architect what a video blogging club.

Vikram Rajan:

Is and was because there's no other thing.

Vikram Rajan:

Now, luckily we were able to watch and learn from other modalities.

Vikram Rajan:

We were able to see what does Toastmasters do, which is essentially an in-person

Vikram Rajan:

club to PR to help with public speaking.

Vikram Rajan:

My business partner was president of one of the largest Toastmaster club out

Vikram Rajan:

in Hawaii, the largest one in Hawaii.

Vikram Rajan:

So we were able to kinda learn from their model.

Vikram Rajan:

We were able to learn from networking groups.

Vikram Rajan:

We were able to learn from mastermind coaching communities.

Vikram Rajan:

And so we didn't just make things up.

Vikram Rajan:

We synthesized to prior models, knowing that, all right, this is

Vikram Rajan:

how a meeting can probably go.

Vikram Rajan:

And, the first two, three months, it was a very much a learning and tweaking.

Vikram Rajan:

And then we realized we needed that part too.

Vikram Rajan:

As I mentioned, David, up of, we needed an automation system.

Vikram Rajan:

Cause it's like our clients were all dressed up with their videos, but

Vikram Rajan:

nowhere to go with them and for them, for us to help them post the videos,

Vikram Rajan:

one on one became really arduous.

Vikram Rajan:

We would do it for them.

Vikram Rajan:

That became a hamster wheel that we didn't enjoy so we had

Vikram Rajan:

to figure out an automated way.

Vikram Rajan:

So we had to learn from other systems, would be an easy way for us to say

Vikram Rajan:

it and then tweak it to something that is much more catering to our

Vikram Rajan:

type of clients and what they want, where it's fun, but not silly.

Vikram Rajan:

Cause these are serious topics.

Vikram Rajan:

These are serious attorneys dealing with serious issues.

Vikram Rajan:

But during the video itself, they're talking about very serious topics

Vikram Rajan:

of matrimonial or bankruptcy or real issues of IP issues of business law.

Vikram Rajan:

So these are not silly TikTok dance videos.

Vikram Rajan:

These are substantive video blogs that are really about their

Vikram Rajan:

expertise, but we clap for each other.

Vikram Rajan:

And that's one of those releases where it feels a little silly to do.

Vikram Rajan:

But we all get into the spirit of clapping for each other, because we are

Vikram Rajan:

encouraging each other to do something that ordinarily left to our own time

Vikram Rajan:

management we probably wouldn't do.

Vikram Rajan:

That goes back to the right.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And I love there's some elements of your system that are

David Shriner-Cahn:

very different than many other systems for creating content on a consistent

David Shriner-Cahn:

repeated basis, which is that it's appointment driven, it's mindset driven.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And in particular, it's driven by having a curated peer group that

David Shriner-Cahn:

does learning and support together.

Vikram Rajan:

Correct!

Vikram Rajan:

I think those are great great.

Vikram Rajan:

Sorry.

Vikram Rajan:

Thank you.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn:

So Vikram, what do you see coming up?

David Shriner-Cahn:

now that, we're a few years into Facebook and then LinkedIn.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Changing their algorithm to favor videos and we're two and a half years into our

David Shriner-Cahn:

change behavior as a result of COVID.

David Shriner-Cahn:

What do you see coming up in the world of content creation for particularly

David Shriner-Cahn:

for, experts and primarily solo experts?

David Shriner-Cahn:

So I think there is a long term on the horizon.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Which I won't spend a lot of time, but we know it's coming.

Vikram Rajan:

We know the metaverse is going to take over.

Vikram Rajan:

We know virtual reality and augmented reality is going to be there, whether

Vikram Rajan:

we like Zuckerberg or not, or agree with Facebook or not politics aside

Vikram Rajan:

or personality aside, these guys are visionaries and we know inevitably

Vikram Rajan:

as hokey and weird as it sounds.

Vikram Rajan:

The metaverse of living in a virtual reality world.

Vikram Rajan:

It sounds as weird and foreign as being on zoom all day or

Vikram Rajan:

being on our cell phones all day.

Vikram Rajan:

Would've sounded to someone in the 1980s.

Vikram Rajan:

We would've been like, this is ridiculous.

Vikram Rajan:

So I'm not gonna carry a briefcase and hold this giant briefcase, to my head.

Vikram Rajan:

but here we are 20 years later where the devices have gone from a briefcase

Vikram Rajan:

down to literally in our pocket.

Vikram Rajan:

And so Oculus being one of those giant goggles sounds and

Vikram Rajan:

feels ridiculous at least to me.

Vikram Rajan:

But I think in, I think in coming years, it will turn into something

Vikram Rajan:

much more portable and usable.

Vikram Rajan:

And I think it's going there.

Vikram Rajan:

So that's 10 years, but closer to home, David, the reason we actually

Vikram Rajan:

ended up creating a VIP service was really because of our members.

Vikram Rajan:

We started noticing over the summer, last summer of 2021, a good percentage

Vikram Rajan:

of our members started talking about their interview show that they had

Vikram Rajan:

launched essentially unbeknownst to us.

Vikram Rajan:

Not that they have to disclose all their marketing to us, but they didn't ask us

Vikram Rajan:

permission, help, approval, idea, input.

Vikram Rajan:

They just did it.

Vikram Rajan:

They would basically have a zoom meeting with someone and they

Vikram Rajan:

would record it for YouTube.

Vikram Rajan:

And they'd basically be interviewing one of their potential clients or referral

Vikram Rajan:

relationships and it would become their web series or their video show.

Vikram Rajan:

They called a variety thing, or they would just call it a podcast, even if it's

Vikram Rajan:

not literally on the podcast platforms.

Vikram Rajan:

And they would basically record a video blog about their latest episode.

Vikram Rajan:

And that's how we started getting to know about their shows.

Vikram Rajan:

And this was, they had not like one or two.

Vikram Rajan:

This was literally like a good 10, 20% of our members.

Vikram Rajan:

And so it was very noticeable where it was time and time again, at

Vikram Rajan:

least one or two people per club.

Vikram Rajan:

We started noticing a pattern and then coincidentally, around the same time

Vikram Rajan:

our members started asking us for help.

Vikram Rajan:

How do they get that YouTube video show into apple podcasts?

Vikram Rajan:

Or how did they get their podcast into their email newsletter?

Vikram Rajan:

And we started realizing that a lot of our clients, our members wanted to create

Vikram Rajan:

this longer form content, but in the form of an interview, especially with

Vikram Rajan:

their referral relationships, because it was a form of extended networking.

Vikram Rajan:

And I think it was sign of the times that they were itching

Vikram Rajan:

for more deeper networking, but they couldn't do it one on one.

Vikram Rajan:

They couldn't do it face to face.

Vikram Rajan:

I should say, obviously it's one on one, much like what we're doing, David,

Vikram Rajan:

but they couldn't do it in person.

Vikram Rajan:

And I think the craving was there to the point where so many did it on their own

Vikram Rajan:

and that's just our members let alone this Renaissance of podcasting, in general.

Vikram Rajan:

And so as our members started asking us for help, we realized, I realized

Vikram Rajan:

that, my staff does everything for me and my show pretty much running

Vikram Rajan:

it where I show up at showtime, why don't we just do that for our members?

Vikram Rajan:

it was like a duh moment.

Vikram Rajan:

duh, why don't we just say, duh, why don't we just do it for our clients?

Vikram Rajan:

And that's when occurred to us where yes, we wanted video-centric it's Videosocials,

Vikram Rajan:

but also because the algorithms, including YouTube all want it to be video.

Vikram Rajan:

We want it to be an interview.

Vikram Rajan:

We don't want this just to be an extended blog or an extended video

Vikram Rajan:

because two or three minutes of a talking head is okay, but when you get

Vikram Rajan:

to something like a half an hour, like much like we are doing, it's auditorily

Vikram Rajan:

more interesting and visually more interesting when it's more than one voice.

Vikram Rajan:

We see that on TV even.

Vikram Rajan:

And that, of course we want the podcast platforms, cause that's a

Vikram Rajan:

whole new marketing channel that we weren't opening up for our clients.

Vikram Rajan:

And deliciously, that's spelled VIP Video Interview Podcast, and as a marketing guy

Vikram Rajan:

and as a poet, it's irresistible for me to find a good, TLA three letter acronym.

Vikram Rajan:

So VIP was born.

Vikram Rajan:

So Videosocials, VIP.

Vikram Rajan:

Nice alliteration.

Vikram Rajan:

We basically brought it up to our clients, kinda Hey, why don't we

Vikram Rajan:

just run this whole thing for you?

Vikram Rajan:

And you just show up at showtime.

Vikram Rajan:

And we did that in December of 21 by January, we're already

Vikram Rajan:

running two or three podcasts.

Vikram Rajan:

We're now up to almost 20 video interview podcast for our clients.

Vikram Rajan:

So I think to answer your, again, short question with a long answer.

Vikram Rajan:

I think as an interim, I think the long form content, but more video interview

Vikram Rajan:

podcast oriented, where you can listen to the audio as a podcast, but watch it, over

Vikram Rajan:

lunch for a video or listen to it on your commute is this new evolution, this new,

Vikram Rajan:

obviously in the extension for me, but it's something I've been doing for years.

Vikram Rajan:

Something you've been doing for years.

Vikram Rajan:

but something that I think has become very much part of the mainstream and

Vikram Rajan:

kind of that the very trendy area of content marketing, especially

Vikram Rajan:

because that collaborative aspect.

Vikram Rajan:

I'm looking forward to this episode, coming out.

Vikram Rajan:

I'm looking forward to sharing this episode on to my network.

Vikram Rajan:

Thank you again, David, for having me on it's a feather in my cap to

Vikram Rajan:

be honored, to be on your show.

Vikram Rajan:

And I think for every one of our clients, their guests, likewise see it as an

Vikram Rajan:

honor to be on our clients' shows.

Vikram Rajan:

And so their guests are excited to share their episode with their circle

Vikram Rajan:

of influence, which in turns markets my clients, markets, their shows,

Vikram Rajan:

but markets, their practice as well.

Vikram Rajan:

So I'm looking forward to sharing this episode to my circle for

Vikram Rajan:

them to get to know you David and get to know your community and

Vikram Rajan:

get to know the show at large.

Vikram Rajan:

And

David Shriner-Cahn:

yeah, no, it's really brilliant.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Vikram we've covered a lot of territory today.

David Shriner-Cahn:

If someone wants to go deeper with anything that you've shared or access

David Shriner-Cahn:

any resources that you have, where would be the best place for them to go?

Vikram Rajan:

The easiest place is my website.

Vikram Rajan:

If they go to Videosocials, plural, videosocials.net, and the bottom

Vikram Rajan:

right hand corner will be a chat box.

Vikram Rajan:

It's not a bot ,BOT, it's a box and that chat box goes straight to my cell phone.

Vikram Rajan:

So if they wanna type in a chat message, if I'm not available, of

Vikram Rajan:

course they could put their email in, but it goes through my cell phone and

Vikram Rajan:

we can basically text right there.

Vikram Rajan:

They can look me up on LinkedIn.

Vikram Rajan:

I'm pretty easily found on social media, as you can imagine.

Vikram Rajan:

But videosocials.net is easy.

Vikram Rajan:

You can come as a free guest to one, our video blogging clubs, you can get

Vikram Rajan:

to the VIP area videosocials.vip is specifically for video interview podcasts.

Vikram Rajan:

but they'll get to know me, get to know our video blogging clubs and

Vikram Rajan:

get to know our members that way.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Sounds great.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Vikram I wanna thank you so much for taking the time to

David Shriner-Cahn:

join us today on Smashing the Plateau and share your insights.

David Shriner-Cahn:

My guest has been co-founder of Videosocial, Vikram Rajan.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Thank you again, Vikram for joining us.

Vikram Rajan:

Thank you again, David.

David Shriner-Cahn:

When you visit the Smashing the Plateau website, you'll

David Shriner-Cahn:

find a summary of each episode, along with the links we mentioned on the show.

David Shriner-Cahn:

On today's episode with Vikram Rajan, we learned how you can use an easy

David Shriner-Cahn:

system to create video content that can increase your word of mouth referrals.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Do you struggle to take action on things like creating consistent content?

David Shriner-Cahn:

Would you like to be part of a structured, supportive process to help you implement

David Shriner-Cahn:

ideas that you know will help you move the needle toward your goals.

David Shriner-Cahn:

As a member of the Smashing the Plateau Community, you'll have access

David Shriner-Cahn:

to a structured process for growth.

David Shriner-Cahn:

You'll also be a member of a community that's built to be a safe, caring place

David Shriner-Cahn:

where inclusive, direct, active and empowering conversations are welcome.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Inside the Smashing the Plateau Community, you'll find a range of

David Shriner-Cahn:

tools and resources to support you as an entrepreneur, access to experts

David Shriner-Cahn:

and answers to your burning questions.

David Shriner-Cahn:

If you are committed to getting your consulting, coaching, or small business

David Shriner-Cahn:

to grow on your own terms so that you can deliver great results to your ideal

David Shriner-Cahn:

clients while supporting the lifestyle you want, and you don't want to do

David Shriner-Cahn:

it alone, apply to become a member of the Smashing the Plateau Community.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Learn more at smashingtheplateau.com, where we have additional resources to help

David Shriner-Cahn:

consultants, coaches, and entrepreneurs build their business, after a long

David Shriner-Cahn:

career, as an employed professional.

David Shriner-Cahn:

We believe you should be able to do what you love and get paid,

David Shriner-Cahn:

what you're worth, consistently.

David Shriner-Cahn:

I'm David Shriner-Cahn.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Thank you for taking the time to listen to our show.

About the author, David Shriner-Cahn

David is the podcast host and community builder behind Smashing the Plateau, an online platform offering resources, accountability, and camaraderie to high-performing professionals who are making the leap from the corporate career track to entrepreneurial business ownership.

Scroll To Top