Daran Herrman: I got Amanda here on the establishing your empire podcast. Thank you so much for coming by and doing a podcast in person actually.

Amanda Horvath: So exciting.

Daran Herrman: It’s crazy. So why don’t you start off and tell us a little bit about yourself, who you are.

Amanda Horvath: Yeah. So I ran a video marketing company for about five years and during that time worked with amazing clients and different business owners and everything.

And I got to really see how to use video. To grow a brands, but a lot of the clients that I had worked with, they were already established and I was curious, okay, well, how would you actually take someone that has no online presence and take them from using video to actually becoming a thought leader right from scratch?

So what I did was throughout the time of doing this, I was working with people. I’d test all these different results. And then I would have a clients that I’m like, okay, let’s try this. Let’s like turn you into someone. Like let’s make it happen. And over and over again, they’d say no. And so eventually you got to the point where I was like, you know what, I’m a, nobody like, let me step in front of the camera and see if I can make this work for myself.

Daran Herrman: So let’s talk about getting clients because you know, in your story, if we back up a little bit, you had some big clients and some successes there, so. There’s a lot of people that want to get into the photo video world. So it started there first and then get it circle around to what you’re currently doing.

So how would you get clients? Like how did you get your first decent sized client, right?

Amanda Horvath: Yeah. So I started out in LA. Which is obviously one of the most competitive markets, right? Every single person has a video camera. And when you are creating videos for someone it’s like, well, why would I pay you to do that?

My friend can just do it for free. And he has like a red cinema camera or whatever. So I had to become hyper focused on how do I actually market myself. So I went to film school. I graduated, I. I had a job that still to this day owes me like $25,000. So it was like, at that point it was like, okay, I need to make money.

I need to figure out how do I get clients like yesterday kind of thing. So I ended up taking a B-School with Marie Forleo and starting down the online marketing routes. And I think that really, if you are a videographer, if you’re a photographer, We focus so much on the creative, but you need to take yourself out of the creative for a second and put on the business hat and say, okay, I’m a business owner.

How do I market myself? Don’t have a portfolio website, right? Like that’s the very first tip I would say, get listed on all the areas where people are searching for videographers, Yelp. Craigslist Craigslist is surprisingly a really good lead opportunity. I found a lot of great clients from there. Believe it or not.

Daran Herrman: And I think the big thing there is the portfolio is huge. And then one thing that I always thought was big for me is when I did get somebody hooked a little bit is I didn’t talk. I didn’t go backwards and show him before all that I start saying how was going to solve their problem. Right? How, if they hired me that.

It was a guaranteed great video that was going to happen. Right. As opposed to a lot of people, I think start getting into the weeds with it a lot, you know, and then, then it just seems like a, a hard task to hire you. Right. So you get a couple of clients and what made you pivot from being a production person to being kind of, I don’t know, a coach or whatever you would call it now.

Right.

Amanda Horvath: So. Throughout the time. It was really that experience of working with top clients and seeing them behind the scenes and seeing the messy marketing side of it. Right. No one knows what they’re doing when it comes to this stuff. Like truly everyone is just figuring it out behind the scenes. So being able to see the behind the scenes, the ugly side of tons of different businesses gave me the confidence to say, okay, if no one else knows what they’re doing, I can do this.

I can make this happen. So that’s kind of how I ended up transitioning in a way of going from, okay. This is a huge opportunity in time that we have right now to step up and compete with people that are just now figuring it out too. So let’s say. I worked with multiple different clients and they were anxious uncomfortable in front of the camera, but they were big names.

So with them being that way, well, if you’re just starting out and you are also that way,

Daran Herrman: it’s everybody is. Yeah. Right. If the big names are nervous and scared, then everyone is right. So how do you get over that? How do you get someone else or even yourself? Over the nerves to get in front of the camera.

Amanda Horvath: Yeah. So there’s one exercise that I tell people to do. And it’s with, you can do this today and it will transform your on-camera personality very quickly. You’ll go from looking like a serial killer. Right. Which if you, I I’m sure there are some people out there that are like, yeah. When I watch my video back, it’s so incredibly cringy.

And that was me, you guys. So don’t worry if that is you. So. W the exercise is you’re going to sit down in front of your camera. Your phone, right? No need to have a fancy camera, pop it open, put it on to the camera mode. And you’re going to say this phrase in multiple different ways. So you’ll say, Hey, I’m Amanda.

And I’m testing out my on-camera personality to see what works for me. And you’ll say that in your normal voice. And then twenty-five percent more excited. Then 75%, more or 50% more excited. Now this time, move your head, your hands, your shoulders, you know, like actually add body movement to it and make sure you smile while you talk.

And then 75%, a hundred percent. And then watch it back and see what works for you.

Daran Herrman: Interesting. That I think that’s also good because I always feel like the first five minutes is just like terrible. Anyway, like if you have to get over, maybe not even five minutes, first two, three minutes. I have to get over that hump.

Like then everything starts flowing better. Right,

Amanda Horvath: right. So true.

Daran Herrman: so have you ever shared that video of you going 50% louder, 75% more excited.

Amanda Horvath: So I haven’t actually done it myself because now I have it on camera personality, but it was watching client videos of, because now I’ve transitioned to, from doing it for business owners to actually.

Like I was the one behind the camera shooting and editing to now teaching business owners, how to do it themselves. So with this, I would, people would send me videos and it’s like, ah, you need to smile more like, you need to have more energy. You need to move around. Don’t be so stiff. And so I just created that an activity just to kind of.

Figure out how to loosen them up a little bit.

Daran Herrman: I liked it. I think it’s fun. I do something that’s kind of interesting that, I think it was from Tony Robbins or something, but I just breathe in three times and out three times while touching your fingers and it just kind of takes your mind off of what you’re going to do.

And you’re just paying attention to your breathing, right. To get to kind of in a mode. Cause I hate it. Like I’m in front of the camera, obviously. Not as much as you, but I’m terrible at it, but you just push through with reps and it, and you just get better and through time, right?

Amanda Horvath: Yeah, you definitely do.

Daran Herrman: So let’s say that you’re up business owner, like w like how would you help somebody? Like, I understand they get in front of the camera and all that, but like, actually, what does that mean? Right. For their business, for their company, for their person. Like, and you can take it any which way you want.

Amanda Horvath: Yeah. So.

Specifically. I like to work with people that feel this, whether you’ve admitted it to someone else or not, there is something inside of you. That’s like you should do video. And you’ve thought about it for years. And it’s, I’ve talked to people 10 years that they’ve been thinking about this five years.

You know, two, I thought about it for two years before I started. And it’s like this, we kind of tell ourselves that there’s this go component of it to a certain extent. Well, if you want to be on camera, you want to be seen then. Like who are you? Who are you to do that? And so I think that the first thing is to recognize that my mode isn’t necessarily like my strategies and everything.

It’s not necessarily for every business owner, but it’s for the person that has been thinking about that. And I genuinely believe that if you are that business owner that is experiencing that, you’re hearing that voice. It’s a call to adventure to step up it that you’re made. You’re here to make a bigger impact on the world and you’re currently making, and you can’t do it without video is video is the best tool today, right?

When was the last time you read a blog post genuinely?

Daran Herrman: Yeah. Not, not often, but I tell you what every single day pop up YouTube, you know, and watch 15 minutes during lunch or something. It’s very easy to consume four minutes, you know? so how did you, I guess, so let’s say that somebody, they kind of know that they want to do it, but like how do you get them to like move forward?

Right. Obviously if they reach out to you, that’s already helpful, but you know how what’s some S some, let’s say somebody’s like, never did once. Just wants to do that. Like what, what advice would you have for them?

Amanda Horvath: Right. Let I think the first thing is to really think about your, who you want to be online.

And it’s, we all have a personal brand, whether we think we have one or not, it’s just a matter of digging deep and figuring out what that is. Right. We’re sitting here in your house, you have these music, you have clearly you’re into music, right? You come from that background, like you have all these different components of yourself and we all do.

So I think just starting to really look at yourself, look at your past, look at the patterns that have been popping up over time. And starting to just get it on paper. Who are you on paper first and foremost, before you ever even film a video, right. Because when you’re a lot of people, what they do, they’ll look to who they want to be.

And they’ll embody this person, these add these dreams that they have of, Oh, I want to be this famous person. I want to be this cool personality online. Right. Everyone wants like the vlog kind of look and feel. And when you do that, you’re going to deal with imposter syndrome and you’re going to deal with this feeling of.

Like who, who am I to be doing this? Because you’re trying to be someone that you’re not. So instead of doing that, look to your past and look at the patterns that have continuously popped up over and over again with time, like what makes you, you music, different things, you know, like all the different things that make you, you base your online persona based on that.

So I think that’s the really, the first step before you even hit record is just to say. Who am I,

Daran Herrman: I love it. I also think that it would be much more difficult to try to keep up a different persona. Right. Cause then you have to think as opposed to just being right. So, all right, we got it all on paper and we figured out who we are, which I think that’s a fantastic activity, whether doing video or not.

And then, and then what what’s, what’s the next step for somebody?

Amanda Horvath: So it’s rather simple in strategy, but not so much in execution. So you need to choose one platform and you need to choose a cadence that you can maintain, and then you need to just stay consistent.

Daran Herrman: Even with the podcast I have to do every Wednesday.

If I don’t that I will never, I won’t get an episode out because. Your priorities are all over the place, right? You end up wanting to do, you know, clients talking to you have friends that are in town. This, that look, I know it’s coming up. So if my Monday and my Tuesday busy, then I got to do it on the weekend or whatever it is.

Right. So I have to, I could either pre do it or, or do it Tuesday night at midnight, but. I stick to that schedule because I created that for myself. Right,

Amanda Horvath: right. And it’s like, you have to become a different person to do that too, which is big.

Daran Herrman: I think it’s also powerful to like, Say that, Hey, this is what I’m doing.

Hey, every Wednesday. Right? Cause then now you just held yourself accountable to your friends or people who follow you. Right. Right. Do you want me to go this direction of helping somebody get on video?

Amanda Horvath: Is this something they totally do that.

Daran Herrman: So was very powerful for people.

Amanda Horvath: So definitely. Yes. Cause

Daran Herrman: I even struggled.

I struggled at all time. So, and I’m, you know, when you would say when you would. Look at me compared to other people you would say, Oh, well, you’re up here on video, which I feel like I’m here. Right. Cause I’d never do it enough, not even close, but,

Amanda Horvath: everyone thinks they’re down there. It’s just true.

Daran Herrman: Yeah.

Yeah. And then I always, like, I need to do so much more right. In once a week. That’s not even near enough. Right. And then I think a couple other issues I have. And I think this is just kind of interesting to talk about is, I need it to be highly produced, which is ridiculous. Right. Just grab the phone and get out there.

Go in the backyard, whatever and chat, but I have, you know, even as podcasts, I up lights and multiple cameras, and I think it helps my confidence be like, okay, well, if I do all this, then the, you know, I think I’m just going through baby steps to force myself out there. But. so I, you know, I’m very interested in, ways to, get myself out of that system of having it to be this big production.

Right.

yeah, I get it. I don’t even know where to start there. Right?

Amanda Horvath: Yeah. Yeah. I think the perfectionist mode can be really challenging. And I definitely deal with that, like type a personality, right. A plus student type of thing. So it’s overcoming that perfectionism and letting go a little bit. But at the same time, I think that it’s important to recognize that.

And you know, this just as much as I know this, like. Basic phone video sometimes converts better.

Daran Herrman: Oh, sometimes way better, way better. Cause it’s real. Yeah. Well I think the guards let down a little bit. I tell a lot of my clients, Hey, let’s have 25% of your videos to be this highly produced, really fantastic high quality video, but 75% should just be, you know, phone.

Good enough lighting. It’s not make it a hard to watch, but. you know, it’s all about the content that you’re producing that you, that you’re showing. Right. And I think that, again, some of these guards down a little bit, when it is like more real feeling, so you PR you do post a lot, you do a lot of content.

How do you, how do you do that? Like, like, like any tips or tricks there?

Amanda Horvath: Yeah. So, so if we’re going back to like you choose one platform, you choose your cadence and you stay consistent. Right. With I, everyone thinks like, Oh Amanda, you post so much, right. I post once for a week.

Daran Herrman: Oh really? Well, maybe just because your videos are better.

I see them.

Amanda Horvath: It’s funny because people always do tell me like, Oh, you’re, you’re constantly like posting videos and it’s coming out and everything. And it’s like, well, I’ve been doing the same thing that I’ve been doing since the beginning. Posting one video per week. Now, of course I’ve added like Instagram to it, to where sometimes I’ll post a photo or different things like that.

But it’s that, that consistency that makes you feel like you are everywhere, especially on YouTube. When the algorithm keeps serving it up for. You know, if you watch one video, then boom. Now you’re going to be watching a whole lot more of my videos.

Daran Herrman: And so in some people would say, okay, once a week, that sounds daunting.

Like, how do you come up with enough content to post weekly?

Amanda Horvath: Yeah. The initial hurdle is the hardest part because you feel like. You want to put everything into that one video and you want it to be perfect and all these things, and it’s like, as you start creating content and you just start putting it out there, you think that that’s all you have, but you’re constantly reading posts.

You’re, you know, you’re constantly listening to podcasts, you’re doing things you’re learning and they’re always bringing in more and more things. And your perspective changes over time. And when you’re releasing content, people are going to be commenting. They’re going to be talking to you and your DMS.

You’re going to be getting all these different ideas. So at the beginning, it’s challenging because you’re not getting that input.

Daran Herrman: Yeah. And I mean, I agree. Cause you’re also. You’re around it so much. So you’re also, if you have an idea, you probably write it down. You say, Hey, I can make a video out of this.

So back to kind of the business owners, because obviously COVID has been difficult. And maybe just a quick question on this would be like, What’s something that somebody could do right now that is maybe a small business owner. and you could have, you could have any, you know, any store that you want e-commerce store or local store or whatever, it would be any advice for the small business owner.

That’s probably struggling at this at this time.

Amanda Horvath: Yeah. This is a challenging time with COVID for sure. I think that for a lot of people, this is such a huge opportunity to reflect, are you on the right track? Right? Like, if you love what you’re doing in your businesses struggling, and you just need to get more leads, then that’s one thing.

But like, I think first and foremost, you need to say like, am I on the right track? Am I doing the thing that I’m supposed to be doing? Or has the universe serve this up in a way for me to wake up to the fact that. I maybe should shift, right? So depending on which one you’re doing, we can kind of talk through both.

But if you are a business owner right now that just needs to get leads first and foremost, I highly recommend LinkedIn. If you’re going to choose a platform and you’re struggling to choose, which one do I go with? LinkedIn is a gold mine. Have you spent any time on LinkedIn

Daran Herrman: resilience? 100%. And I, without leading you the question like, why, why, why LinkedIn?

Amanda Horvath: Yeah. So LinkedIn is a discovery platform. So Facebook, Instagram, they have already there at maturity, right? You post content. It’s going to be buried within only a couple of weeks. And with LinkedIn. You post something on LinkedIn and it’s going less people are on the platform actually posting content. So because you post something and there’s less people posting content, your content is going to be around for about two weeks.

That’s the first part. And then the discovery platform comes in when I see your post. And I like it. It goes to my audience.

Daran Herrman: Right. It goes on, on your, I don’t know if you call it your wall, but whatever your profile is, your activity. I also think that LinkedIn, like. Three likes is like a LinkedIn is like 30 likes on Facebook or something because I, I just feel like this is the right audience, right?

just because you might have some artificial reach on, on Facebook or whatever it would be just, I don’t feel like people actually pay attention to you as much.

Amanda Horvath: on LinkedIn, you mean like the traffic that you get from LinkedIn

Daran Herrman: actually paying attention to your, whatever you post.

Amanda Horvath: So here’s the other thing that is absolutely mind blowing to me about LinkedIn.

So with all these other platforms, it’s kind of like you can’t control who follows you. Right. Like, you can kinda connect with some people you could follow. Maybe they’ll follow you back kind of thing. But with LinkedIn you can actually search. So let’s say your audience is. You are a photographer and you specifically like shooting, I keep doing the music analogy, but like you like shooting music, right?

So you’re just going to add a ton of musicians. So you go into LinkedIn and you type in musician and you can do musician and blank and you can search it within a certain location too. So if you’re a local business, you can get hyper specific about your audience on LinkedIn and you start to curate who are you creating content for?

Yeah,

Daran Herrman: it’s very, it’s really interesting. You could also take that same mentality and say, you’re looking for a job, right? You could, you could circle around somebody before connecting with them. You could literally connect with people in the same industry or their competitors or their clients or whatever it would be.

And then you would seem like you’re you’re that in our circle or whatever. It’s an interesting mode. And I think that. Yeah, that could be, that could be pretty good with like,

Amanda Horvath: it’s pretty amazing. Like I’ve, I’ve been trying to dive all in on LinkedIn and I think that that. Ability to do that, separates it from any other platform.

And because LinkedIn is a business platform, people are more likely to buy off LinkedIn and they are off Instagram. So there’s just so much more of a pool. So if you were a struggling business owner, right this very second, and you need to get leads, start getting strategic. With who, like what kind of content to create and how to serve it up to the right people.

Daran Herrman: What about the, do it yourself versus pink? Somebody? Yeah. Any, any thoughts there, right? Yeah.

Amanda Horvath: Yes, absolutely. So you and I know how expensive it is to pay someone to do it for you. And the reason it’s expensive is because it just takes time. When someone first starts with video, they think that they’re doing something wrong.

And in reality, you’re doing it right. It just takes time. Like that’s the reality of editing, right? So you can either pay someone else for that time. Or you can have a system in place that allows you to do it quickly and efficiently without taking up tons of your time and maybe outsource parts of it’s.

So I am really, really big into that model. The do it yourself, outsource parts of it. Depending on your budget, especially if you are a struggling business owner.

Daran Herrman: Right? So for you, what w what parts do you outsource?

Amanda Horvath: I outsource my assistant editing. So about 80% is completely sent. It’s sent to the Philippines for about $8 an hour, and they I’ve.

I have a system in place, and this is actually what I teach in my online course. It’s like the fastest system for producing consistent video contents. And. It’s essentially the editing process. So you take the editing process. What would you typically be doing? Break it down to where, when you do get into the project, it’s pretty close to done.

And the reason I say 80% is because the person in the Philippines doesn’t have, they’re not as tapped into whatever it is that you’re talking about in your video. Right. They don’t know that you just repeated something twice. Like that. And so you watch the video back and you’re kind of fine tuning it to a certain extent instead of having to send notes back and forth and try to cut, like put the perfect email together during this time code in this time code, we you’d make this change or whatever, or even if you’re using like a, something where you can actually comment on the video, it takes time.

So why not just open up the project file quickly? Snip, like. Move it, tighten it up and then out like export it. So I think that video is a skill that is just like building a website, every single person that is a business owner today, you have to understand the funnel rentals of that. Like even at school where space website, right?

Like you have to have the basics. Video is another skill is just like that. It’s not going anywhere and you will make your life so much easier if you just learn the fundamentals.

Daran Herrman: Yeah, I agree. I like to trade in the project file back and forth. Obviously you’re going to have to have some basics, like you said, to be able to do that.

What about hiring somebody that’s outsourced, right. It’s a big thing to hire somebody overseas. I love that there’s some time differences. It’s great. You go to bed, you send it to them. They’re waking up, they’re doing it. And you know, while you’re sleeping, any tips or tricks on hiring somebody that’s outsourced.

Amanda Horvath: Yes. I love online jobs.ph. That’s definitely been my go-to for hiring people. It’s specifically the Philippines and there’s several different things to like go through and do it. But I think first and foremost, it’s so incredibly important to have a system, like you said, You have to know the basics in order to send them that project file.

Right? If you just start diving into the deep end and hire someone you’re going to have. I mean, I’m sure you’ve dealt with this, right? Yeah.

Daran Herrman: I have a lot, a lot of issues, whether it’s a half a world away or somebody here in Austin, right.

Amanda Horvath: Will you do this? And it feels like this magic people treat outsourcing or hiring like this like magic solution.

I’m going to stop my fingers and it’s going to be perfect. And then it comes back and it’s terrible. And you don’t have the basic skills in order to say, why is this terrible to give them notes or whatever. So I think that. Before you even start outsourcing, like, just get comfortable on camera, get like, understand what you’re saying, understand the very basics to be able to so kind of, you know, pull someone on.

But if you do so I’ll give you the answer. I guess, if, if they do have that, you post a job. I personally like using Google forms. Instead of just like submissions, like on the site. So you post something and it’s like, Hey, this is what I’m looking for. Fill out this form. If you respond to this post, I’m not going to read it.

Right. And then you can quickly have questions that eliminate the people you don’t want. Internet speed is a huge one.

Daran Herrman: Hmm. Interesting. I also like that because then, you know, they

Amanda Horvath: read your post 

Daran Herrman: stuff. One thing that I always do with the outsourcing is I just give them small tasks, you know, five, $10 tasks, see how their communication is, see how it goes, as opposed to giving them the, the massive project I need done.

Right. I want to start small

Amanda Horvath: in tests like five people with that small task and see who does better,

Daran Herrman: right? Because it’s so cheap to hire five people for a small task, right. Pick the best as opposed to just.  I think we’re so used to just hiring one person for the job. Right? Why not hire a few? See who’s the best and then keep with that person or two, right?

Amanda Horvath: Yeah.

Daran Herrman: What about just what’s what’s a common question that a lot of people ask you, right? I’m sure you get questions that are almost the same all the time. What what’s what’s some common questions.

Amanda Horvath: Any, I would say the most common is. Microphone that’s microphone for your iPhone.

Daran Herrman: Oh, interesting. Okay.

Amanda Horvath: Yeah.

So with audio, like you can shoot, I am such a massive advocate of shooting on your phone. It is amazing, especially with the now iPhone 12 pro that has come out, right? Like, the, just the capabilities of these are phone, video and camera is, is surpassing. Other cameras on the market,

Daran Herrman: especially when I

Amanda Horvath: started yeah, a hundred percent.

Like there’s you will complicate your life so much more by going and buying a camera. So I’m like, just use your phone upgrade, right. It’s time for enough. Great. Go do it life upgrade. So with that, there are, several affordable microphones out there. The purple Panda lavalier microphone is an amazing one for it’s like $39 or something like that.

And it sounds right. Really incredible. So

Daran Herrman: that’s interesting. The question that you get, the question I always get is like, what camera do you use? Or which one should I buy? Or, you know, very gear heavy.

Amanda Horvath: And I don’t know because I’m so like phone, like shoot on your phone. It was just a guy. It was a question that I got so much that I was like, I need to make a video on this.

And it was annoying. Cause I was like, I don’t know, you should buy a zoom with Sennheiser microphones. You know what I mean?

Daran Herrman: But that goes back to what you were saying earlier that, you know, w when you’re trying to come up with content, a lot of times people are asking you basically, they’re basically telling you what content to produce.

Amanda Horvath: Exactly.

Daran Herrman: Okay. So, so. How do you, how do you get clients now though? So right. You’re in front of camera, you’re out there and you want wanting the people to hire you. What’s your approach to marketing.

Amanda Horvath: Yeah, so I am very much an inbound marketing person. I want to put magnets out there and then attract the right people to me.

And this is one thing that I’ve learned about my personality, right? I’ve gotten into human design lately, which has been a very fascinating. Experience, which is a total side note. And from your face, I can tell you don’t know what it is, so I’m not going to go there, but, I am an inbound person. So I like to attract people to me with the transition.

I’ve been transitioning from the service based business, to the course business model, which is a very fascinating pivot. And it’s a very different model to where I’m not actually bringing in clients on a day-to-day basis anymore. I it’s just when I’m launch. So in some ways I’m focused on providing value, provide value, provide value, provide value.

Okay. Join my program. Like we have this two week period to join my program. Then I have like this huge launch where I use a webinar, with emails that go out and those kinds of things. so it’s YouTube marketing one video a week. And then Instagram and LinkedIn and,

Daran Herrman: and how has pivoting and coaching gone?

Because there’s so many people that are in that space now. So it’s tough because I think you got to make yourself so that people trust you right. And want to come in and, you know, and like, so any, any, I guess trials or tribulations that’s happened from that pivot to coaching?

Amanda Horvath: Oh, it has been such a journey.

Yeah, it is. The experience of having clients control your time and you having to just find the time to be able to create your own videos. Like that’s a huge step in and of itself for you to prioritize yourself and start getting good at saying no, like that’s huge. then the creating the course while also creating one video per week was really, really challenging.

I mean, it was like, I’m shooting 50 videos outside of one video a week. And I don’t know if people are by it, you know, it’s gonna, it’s going to work. Yeah, I did validation calls, but like, you don’t know until it actually happens. There’s this one moment where my sister, she came into my room. She’s like, Amanda, you seem like you have this dark cloud over you, you are a terrible person to be around.

Like you don’t understand, like I’m trying to do this pivot and no one understands and whatever, but. It worked out. I

Daran Herrman: love it. So what’s the kind of the ideal customer, like who who’s somebody that you would want to sign up for your coaching class? Right? 

Amanda Horvath: so I now, because of how challenging that transition is, I’ve very much I’m honing in on, if you are a service-based business owner that is looking to pivot to the online course business model, you’re ready to get away from trading time for money.

You want to get more into that passive income space. Let me give you the video strategy to make it happen. Let me give you the tools and help you really make that pivot.

Daran Herrman: Yeah. I love that. And so it sounds like somebody that’s already. Well already on their way, a little bit, they just probably need to, some, a little bit help to, to, make, go to the next step or whatever it would be

Amanda Horvath: potentially.

They could also, it could be someone that’s running a service-based business, they’re burned out and they feel like they’re meant to be making a greater impact on the world. And they don’t know what it is. And there’s maybe this side hobby that they’re really into. Well, let me build a personal brand around that and work to pivoting completely to something new.

So I think that when you start, when you use video properly, it is actually like a guiding tool that can kind of lead you to find your passion and purpose in life. And then from there you can actually build a business.

Daran Herrman: Well, you, you know, you obviously run your own company, you know, pivots almost like creating a new company.

What advice would you give somebody that wants to maybe start their own business or even just a side hustle or anything like that? Any set, any tips or tricks to get started? Right.

Amanda Horvath: Yeah. So I think that it’s. It’s once it’s getting like, start with your why, right. Like, sorry. And that gets like, really get clear on where are you headed?

And I can give you the example. So when I was running my video marketing company, I, I set a goal when I was 25. I was like, I want to have passive income by the time I’m 30. It was on my 27th birthday. Or I had, I had just turned 27 and it was a couple months after that I got on a call with. Like a CFO type.

And she was like, you’re going to need to double your rates in order to keep doing what you’re like to really make profit. And I was already charging a lot of money and I was already working with a certain demographic of people that it was like, if I double my rates, like I have to go corporate, I don’t want to do that kind of thing.

So it was connecting to that Y of realizing, okay. At 25, it’s at this goal to have passive income by the time I’m 30. And the reason that I wanted to do that was because I eventually wanted to be a stay at home mom and like have the option to stay at home with my kids. Now I’m like turning 29 next week.

And I’m like thirties, a little early. We’re going to hold off on that. But you know, like having that clear why. And having that timeline, like a time-bound timeline, it made me realize, okay, no, like I am putting my foot in the sand. I cannot keep going on this path that is not going to lead me to where I actually want to go.

I need to make the change. No one is going to give me the time to make this happen. I have to step up and really do it. So how

Daran Herrman: did you actually start?

Amanda Horvath: So it’s. The V I think the very first step is having a time block in your calendar that allows you to focus on content. And when you are a burned out service-based business owner, you, it is a huge deal for you to take any time for yourself.

So you are, in some ways it is a content time block, but if you, if you have that one time block that it’s on your calendar. Every single week. And all you can do is get on YouTube and watch videos. You need that time, you know, like you just need to like breathe for a second

Daran Herrman: completely agree that you had to do.

You’ve got to make it a priority, like some way shape or form, whether it’s. You y’all middle of the night or whatever it is, it’s it just has to be a priority. Otherwise it wouldn’t ever happen. when I started one of my first companies, well, my third one, but one of my first companies, I guess it was back in 2009.

I literally like four to 6:00 PM every day. And I know everyone can’t do that, but that was two hours. And I’m a big believer in that because otherwise it just never would have happened.

Amanda Horvath: Yeah, for me, it was Saturday morning hustle time. It was like, okay, if I can’t take my week during the time, like, let me go to a coffee shop, just start learning how to do this.

You need to study the platform that you’re going to start on. So for me, it was YouTube. Like I knew I wanted to do YouTube. So it’s like spend that time just learning, like don’t just jump into creating content. Like I think that’s the theme. I think overall, so far of this podcast is like, don’t jump in, like, think about it, give yourself the time, zoom out for a second and then decide like, you know, where am I going?

Daran Herrman: And what’s your favorite video that you’ve ever made

Amanda Horvath: favorite video that I’ve ever made,

Daran Herrman: or maybe the most popular, if you don’t have your favorite.

Amanda Horvath: Yeah. from client videos, it’s the bicycle sport shop video that I made for. It’s a local bike shop here in Austin, and it was a very, emotionally driven video.

And there’s just like a lot of like it’s cinematic. It has like this underlying, we kind of like hit upon what it feels like to be on a bike. And it just, yeah, it was, I think it’s one of my favorites. I

Daran Herrman: love it. Any, books or mentors that’s helped you along the way?

Amanda Horvath: Amy Porterfield has been my North star for five years.

And she’s yeah, she’s definitely huge with the online marketing made easy podcast. That’s how I kind of initially got into marketing and I’m now like I’ve T I took her course in order to create and launch my course. And I’m in her like top membership program as well. and then in terms of books, E-Myth was a huge thing for me.

Robert Kiyosaki with his cashflow quadrant was also a massive one. I just started reading clockwork, which I’m very excited about.

Daran Herrman: I haven’t, haven’t read that one yet

Amanda Horvath: at all. Feels like it’s the new E-Myth.

Daran Herrman: Okay, cool. Yeah. Even if it’s a book that’s, it’s very common for people to, to talk about. what about like, what does success look like for you?

Amanda Horvath: Goal is I want to be working three days a week.

Daran Herrman: Interesting. And when you say work three days a week, what what’s, what does the other day,

Amanda Horvath: right? Yeah. So it’s, I was just having the conversation, this conversation with someone the other day, actually. And in some ways, like what I’m doing now is not work.

Right. I’m getting to do. Film YouTube videos and get on LinkedIn. Like now I’m, you know, doing that. And I’ve learned that I am a course junkie, right? Like I am, I’m obsessed with learning. I like that challenge of, I see something I need to overcome it. So I think it will be replaced with other things, of.

Like I’m about to take a human design certification course or whatever.

Daran Herrman: Yeah. Because sometimes you can, for me, it might not be as much as like, you know, only three days a week, but it’s the, when I go out and travel or something, a lot of times I can get a much clearer head and, you know, all we need is a couple of good ideas and our whole life.

Right. But you have to be able to make those good ideas.

Amanda Horvath: Completely. I think that’s been one of the biggest lessons across this whole thing is like someone described it to me as the clear pond analogy. So there’s, if you’re looking at a little pond and you’re you walk in circles in that pond, then it’s going to be super murky and you’re going to look through it.

And you’re not going to have a clear idea of anything, but when you like sit still, you meditate, you allow that the particles to settle, then you can actually see through the pond. So I think for me, it’s, it’s figuring out what are the natural rhythms that I want to live with. And what does that look like?

Like how often am I traveling? How often am I just chilling by the pool hanging out? Like, I want to have more white space in my life that would allow me to kind of discover who would I be if I did have way more stillness in my life.

Daran Herrman: And any timeline on that, right. Is this five years out? Like, or is

Amanda Horvath: this next year?

I I’m, I’m definitely like trying to. Someone in a mastermind group that I’m in, mentioned this as their goal. And I was like, Ooh girl, I am so on board with that. Like, so

Daran Herrman: what about this question? I asked a lot, a lot of people and I kind of like it because it’s interesting. What about any advice you give your 16 year old self or any younger self?

Right.

Amanda Horvath: I think it’s just. Too. I mean, my 16 year old self, I always say you couldn’t pay me to go back to middle school or high school. I hated it. Right. And it was just this constant feeling of being different, not being understood, not being seen. So it’s trust that you’ll eventually find your groove. I think just trust the process.

Stay in there. You’re enjoy every stage. And I think that’s like the lesson that I’m learning every day as well. It’s like trust the process. You are exactly where you need to be right in this very moment in time sitting, talking to Derek.

Daran Herrman: That’s completely correct. one thing I wanted to ask earlier is so film school, right?

Was that worth it? Do you recommend it? any, I, I did not go to film school. but I always wonder that, right?

Amanda Horvath: Yeah. Great question. Film school is I actually am a huge advocate for what my education, the education that I got was incredible. I went to Loyola, Marymount university and I use my degree every single day.

Just. And obviously I’m not doing film. Right. But it set me on this path. I knew in high school that I wanted to do video and film school gave me the foundation to learn what a good story is. how to, I specifically studied documentary filmmaking, which was so incredibly useful for business videos, right?

Like interviews and B roll and different things like that. So I think that. I know, I don’t know. It’s, it’s complicated because you don’t need film school. Right. I don’t think that you do. And I don’t think you even need a college degree these days. Right? Like my brother and sister don’t have a college degree.

It was like, and then I went to film school, you know, and that was not typical for our family to do that. So I think it just depends on each person. I got a scholarship, so I was able to get away without debt. I think that’s a key component. If you were going to be going into school. To get debt. Like I would think twice about that,

Daran Herrman: right?

Yeah. Completely. That’s a whole different world. what about the differences between, you know, cause I think a lot of people listening and I think a lot of people in general, my nieces and nephews, they’re young, they want to be YouTube burrs and this and that. so, so for some of the people wanting to get in the industry, what are some of the differences you saw between LA and Austin?

Right. Any thoughts there?

Amanda Horvath: Yeah. So when I was going to college and this is one of the things that I. Think is really beneficial about going to school. I had six internships during college, so I went in, I was like, yeah, I’m going to film school, but I’m going to graduate with a job, which is hilarious because yeah.

Still to this day have not really ever had a job, but that was my mission. And I went and I, I took a Corp. I did several different things to figure out what I hated and

Daran Herrman: that’s a great way to look at it.

Amanda Horvath: Yeah. And you need to do that. Like I was like, okay, I got on set at CBS and it was a big studio set and I hated being on set.

I was like, this is like the worst thing in the world. I cannot stand it. Like not doing that. Next, you know, like move on to the next thing. Okay. Maybe I want to edit movie trailers. Like, let me, let me try to do that and dive in and explore this little random niche. I think that’s the value of LA versus Austin.

Like Austin doesn’t have as many of those, if you’re doing film, like if you are really thinking YouTube or film or TV or anything like that, There are so many different roles that you can play that going to a big city like that to discover what roles you do enjoy. That’s really beneficial.

Daran Herrman: Yeah, I agree.

And I think the, on the opposite end, an Austin, which I’m sure has pockets in LA too, is there’s a lot of people that are creative here and they’re really easy to find. And, and, as someone who’s owned a photo video company, I’ve always enjoyed being able to hire a lot. There’s so many people here that are, that are creative and that are interesting.

Amanda Horvath: And don’t get me wrong. Austin is way better than LA. I have not missed it one day since I’ve left. I lived there for six years and yeah, it’s amazing. But. Austin is booming and LA is dying in my opinion.

Daran Herrman: Right. What about working for free? And have you, have you ever done that in any thoughts?

Amanda Horvath: Never, never works for free.

Yeah. so working for free is great to get your foot in the door, but if you are working for free. Have a cap. It is not that you are working for free and you’re suddenly a slave and you’re willing to do anything. Still have a contract and still have, if not a contract, if you’re still learning, maybe you don’t have it that, but you have a deliverable and you have.

A, like, I’m only giving you one round of edits, that’s it? You know, I’m doing this for free. You’re going to get the video that you get and that’s it. So I think that it’s like, don’t be afraid just cause you’re seeing, try and get your foot in the door and do a favor. Have boundaries for yourself too.

Daran Herrman: It sounds like you’re speaking from personal experiences.

Amanda Horvath: Yeah. And I’ve watched so many people do it too.

Daran Herrman: Yeah. What I always say with the work for free is act like it’s a big contract, you know, and a lot of times put $8,000 cracks crossed out zero, you get one round of edits, like you said, and then the rest are billed at a hundred bucks an hour or whatever you want to do just to, just to kind of keep it.

setting expectations, I think is very important. what about, so you you’re you’re you’re on the up and up with your companies and things are going well, your presence is growing any regrets along the way.

Amanda Horvath: No, I think that stepping in front of the camera was one of the best things that I’ve ever done in my entire life. Like, and I recommend it so much for other people. I think that I needed to have those two years where I was wanting to do video and, and feeling that in trying to go, like I learned so much throughout every single phase of my career that.

Yeah, I can’t say no threats. I guess the one was, that was very stressful, was stopping my clients in April, 2019. I was like done no more client work. I’m going all in. And then I didn’t launch my course until January. And it was like, okay, you just cut off your income for the last five years, you know, like what are you going to do?

And it was like, I had to kind of figure it out. But I learned so much in the process, so

Daran Herrman: yeah, it’s funny. Cause you almost have to do that to force yourself, to launch the new courses and all that, but then it’s like, wait a second. I just, I just lost my, all my reps. Yeah.

Amanda Horvath: Income in general.

Daran Herrman: What about that?

You know, the next five years, 10 years from now, where do you see yourself? You know what, where’s your, your big goals, right? Your vision of your, of your life.

Amanda Horvath: I am determined to make video more accessible to the masses. So it’s constantly trying to figure out how do we create, how do we make it easier to create videos?

So AI video editing is a big focus of mine. Like really paying attention to kind of what’s what’s happening there. And there’s some really cool technology coming out and yeah. I have kind of, it, it used to be a 10 year goal and I’m realizing, Oh, this is around the corner. Like, yes, we have a lot of work to do, but it’s happening and it’s going to be happening a lot faster than we think.

So I would love to not necessarily. Be like, I want to have that three day work week and eventually be a mom and be like, you know, doing my thing there, but I want to feel like I’m still contributing. And so at some. It’s not going to be being the CEO of that kind of company, but maybe being some sort of advisor or something involved in that.

Daran Herrman: Yeah. I think that’d be a lot of fun. I do agree. Like there’s a lot of the future’s really interesting time because we’re kind of the Renaissance period here for, for all these creative industries, as well as just. Life in general with technology. So it’s, it’s, I think it’s super exciting to what the next step will be.

Cause I think we even looked back 10, 20 years ago, like on our phones and stuff. Like how crazy that was. That

Amanda Horvath: it’s crazy. I mean, I remember the first time I heard about a DSLR, I was like, Really they’re shooting commercials on these things.

Daran Herrman: Are you telling me I started, you know, on VHS. Yeah. And they had,  converting from analog to digital to be able to edit them.

And yeah. So yeah, it was a big change. Yeah. So I end every podcast with this question. It’s my last question is how would you like to be remembered?

Amanda Horvath: Hmm, I would like to. Be remembered. That is, that is a tough one. Okay. I would like to be remembered as the person that shows what was possible.

Daran Herrman: Well, Amanda, thank you so much for being on the establishing your empire podcast.

I really appreciate you coming on and feed on

Amanda Horvath: blood guest. Thanks for having me.

Daran Herrman: All right. Cheers.