A lot of people struggle with video marketing or production because they don’t know what to say. You just need to get out of your head. As long as you have valuable information, you have the power to share it. You don’t need all the lights and glamour, you just need to be yourself. Learn more about video marketing with your host, Chris Swartz, and his guest Ginger Bell. Ginger is a three-time bestselling author, Emmy award-winning producer, speaker, and founder of Edumarketing. Join Chris and Ginger as they go through the power of education and information. Start marketing yourself through video today!

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Listen to the podcast here

 

Video Marketing: Being Your True Self In Front Of The Camera With Ginger Bell

I am here with our guest Ginger Bell. Ginger, how are you?

I am great, Chris. Thanks for having me on. I am so excited to talk with you. I absolutely love what you are doing. It is important to be able to get more positive information out there and be able to share things that are inspiring, motivational, and get people off of their rears to start doing things.

Thank you so much. It has really been a pleasure to be connected with you. You have definitely moved me in the direction of getting off my butt. Ginger is an Award-winning filmmaker, Emmy Award-winning co-producer, best-selling author, video content producer, and master guru at marketing. The company that Ginger and I connected through is Edumarketing. There is a whole lot of stuff there. Ginger, I am going to let you unpack it and talk about what you do.

The biggest thing is I always say tattooed on my forehead is, “Too dumb to quit.” If there is a problem, let us figure out the solution and unpack it. A lot of the things you talked about that I have been involved with came about from meeting people, networking people, talking to people, finding out what they need, and being able to help people get things done. I am blessed to absolutely love what I do.

It is across the different industries and we are connected through the mortgage business, which is my primary profession but you have been doing this for a long time, right?

I had been a teacher but on the corporate side pretty much all of my career. I predominantly have been doing training within the mortgage and real estate space for many years before diving into the mortgage industry and the real estate industry. I was a corporate trainer at Dale Carnegie Training. I loved doing that and being able to teach people how to overcome their fear of public speaking, how to be able to communicate with others, how to be able to lead, and all of those things. That set me up to be able to have an idea as far as helping people in the industries that I am involved in now.

 

Your passion is helping people because you have been so helpful to me. I thought I have to have Ginger on the show because you have a gift. How did that come about? Where did that start? Is that what you are drawn to?

I had an opportunity to write a book in 2020 with several other women in the mortgage industry. They asked us to write and go back to lessons we had learned and how they applied. I have always been a teacher and someone helping because I grew up in a family. I was not always the oldest, and I had two older brothers. Brian passed away when he was one and I never knew him. My other brother, Gary, passed away when he was 9, and I was 7. When I became a parent, I had a better understanding of what my parents might have gone through.

Although fortunately, I have not gone through that but when you go through things like that as a child, my mom had a nervous breakdown, understandably so. I took over taking care of the household. I had two younger brothers and then, eventually, a younger sister. My parents were also foster parents, so they fostered 150 foster kids throughout their lifetime. I always have been that kind of person because it started at such a young age. At seven, it is like, “Figure it out. Something needs to be done.”

Back then, we did not have DoorDash and Uber Eats. We did not have those things. I had to figure out how to make a box of Hamburger Helper. The nurturing part came from that because then being pushed into this oldest sibling taking care of my brothers, and at that time, I’m also taking care of my mom because the grief has been completely devastating, so I stepped into that. From the challenges that we have, it will either decimate you or you grow from them. I have been fortunate to be able to find ways to grow from that. That is why I always say, “It is too dumb to quit,” because it is like, “I am not going to quit. I am going to keep going.”

I will give you an example. My son now lives in Ohio. He got a job there and he was home for Christmas and then went back. The day after he got back, he ended up with COVID. I found out because a friend he had been around said, “I tested positive.” He is like, “I will do a test.” He tested positive. When he had gotten back home, his car was not working because he was in Ohio and he had not been home for a month, so that was not starting. The next day, he said, “I can’t leave the house because I am diagnosed with COVID,” and then a snowstorm hit.

There was no Uber Eats. No nothing. I said, “Do you have anything in the house?” He said, “I have a loaf of bread in the freezer, peanut butter, and jelly.” I am like, “That will last you for at least a day.” It is funny because I am the person I am. I am getting on my apps trying to find something to get delivered to him. I’ve got Kroger to do Instacart to deliver him food. He is like, “Mom, I can’t believe you’ve got that done. It honestly is illegal to drive.” I said, “Whoever picked up that order needed the money. Give them an extra $20 when they leave it at the door.”

You’ll either grow from the challenges you face or you’ll get decimated by them.

That, for me, is like, “What do you mean we can’t get something delivered?” Of course, we can. We can figure this out. There is somebody somewhere that will help. Many people quit too soon. There is a book, Three Feet From Gold. It is one of my favorite books and it tells the story of a person who was digging for gold and ended up selling. Within a very short time, the person that bought their property moved 3 feet, and then they found this huge gold mine. It is a matter of keeping going.

Everybody has Think and Grow Rich. I read it a million times but that one I have not.

It is by someone else but it is one of the best books about keeping going, not just keeping going but adapting. A lot of people are afraid to try different things. It is like a shift.

It does not always go as planned. You and I had some hiccups before we started recording. We are in the Northeast. It is cold and February. I was talking to you about our kids got sent home from school. We are in a day and age where everybody is working from home. All my good stuff, we have the office but I’ve got to go in there, dust it off, and set everything up. I am set up to work from home while my family is like, “Go to the office.” I am here and this is where I had prepared to do the show but we had some weather. The kids are running around. We had an internet connection when we first started. You’ve got to figure it out.

The conversation is there. That is the most important thing. Focus on what is important. At the end of the day, as beautiful as your backdrop is, nobody was there.

What we do on this show is unpack and try to help our readers with little stories and nuggets through the stories and experiences that we have had in our lives. That is where the FUEL comes from. It is an acronym for Foundations Under Extraordinary Lives. We all have these building blocks and this foundation that our life is built on.

 

Some other times, the foundation is not perfect. It has a couple of cracks in it. What you shared with your brother is powerful. That has to go somewhere within you. It is not something that any of us would want anyone to experience but it happened. You had to be there for your mom and your brothers.

I definitely have more of an understanding of why you are such a take-charge person after hearing that story because you had to. You did not have a choice. Here we are, all of these years later, you are pushing guys like me in the mortgage industry to step outside of my comfort zone. Get the videos done and get your marketing out there. I have been doing mortgages for many years and have been in high-level coaching. My family and I moved, and I was going through old notebooks. I am like, “I’ve got notes from working with Coach Bill Hart in 2009.”

Bill told me in 2009 to start making videos. Sometimes, it takes the right timing and the person. You truly have a gift for getting me and people will say, “You do a show. You have the show on CNBC.” I hate being on video. I do not like it. I am uncomfortable as can be but I do it. I have great people in my life like the coaches in the Freedom Club and people like you, Ginger, that said, “You do not have your stupid digital background? So what? Let’s go. If you do not have the perfect microphone and perfect setup, get out there and do it.”

You have a gift. I hope that people reading will take that away from this to say, “There is never a perfect time. You do not always have the perfect equipment. One of the things that Ginger has taught me is, just do it.” I want to acknowledge your gift in getting people to take action and being able to help people. Sometimes, you go through your day and do what you do. I want you to step back and know that you have a gift.

We all have a gift and we all have several gifts. It is a matter of leaning into what those gifts are and I’m sharing those. Many times, people take an easy route. Sometimes we get tired. Here we are in 2022, it looks like we are finally turning the corner on this whole pandemic thing. Who knows what is going to happen with the world? Sometimes, you are exhausted. It is like, “I do not want to do that one more thing.”

You know in the back of your head the right thing to do. It is a matter of if more people would listen to that, do the right thing, and not be afraid to step outside and lead. That is important to be able to do that. The story as far as my brother passing away when I was seven, I wrote about it in the book because when I looked back on why I am the way I am, “A pushy broad,” as sometimes my husband says but I do it in a nurturing way. My son is a 3 Palm Eagle Scout, so I was a scout mom, too. The boys always knew. You do not want to hear the mommy voice from Ginger.

Video is nothing more than a recorded conversation. Get out of your head.

Do you throw the middle name in there when the mommy’s voice comes out?

I have a look. No need for words. I find it is more powerful if you do the mommy look. As a parent, I can tell you one of the most powerful things. If you are a parent, this will be the most valuable thing you are going to get out of this entire episode is like, “I am disappointed in the choice you made. Why did you make that choice? Are you happy with that choice?” That is important. It is for people to own up to that to be able to have that.

Going back to me as far as how I was, I had to own up to and I did not have much of a choice. Somebody had to take charge. If you are at that point where you have to take charge, sometimes you can stand back. Sometimes it is the right time to take charge. The first thing to do is to take charge in a loving way and to let people be a part of it. That is important. For me, getting my brothers involved as far as keeping them active and involved in helping to take care of the house. I would make a list, “Here are the things that need to get done. This is what we need to do so there is no choice in it but what do you want to do?”

Asking rather than telling, saying, “This is what we need to do. Where are your strikes?” Chris, we need to motivate people. We do need more positive, motivational information. Being able to do that is like, “That is your strength. You are good at it and being able to draw that from people.” Lean into that. Do that more and find out what that strength is.

At some point, you need to figure out where it is that you can have the most impact. For me, my passion is connecting with people, hearing their stories, and seeing how I can have an impact on their life. Whatever that is. Maybe somebody shares something and they need help with something, “I know a person that can help with that.” Being a connector and solving problems. I happened to land in the mortgage space many years ago. Here I am. There are people that have questions, problems, do not know how to buy a house, and need to figure everything out. I can help with this.

There is a lot of emotional connection and energy that I need as a person to go through that experience with someone to say, “This is so exciting. You did not think you could buy a house and now you have bought this house. This is our first house so we are buying the bigger house.” There is that, which I happen to pull for the mortgage industry. I do not say, “I am the best mortgage broker out there. I live for mortgages.” I don’t. I like to help people and make a difference in their lives. That is why I’ve got into this show because it was a natural fit for me to want to share these amazing people that I come in contact with like Ginger and say, “Let us share Ginger’s story.”

 

Somebody is reading somewhere and that ripple effect. We are mutual friends with Carl. He always talks about that ripple effect. It’s so powerful. I do not know if there are 10 or 1,000 people reading. If there is one person that takes something away from what we are sharing here, that is why I do this. It is my fuel. To hear the stories behind the people is so important. Ginger, you were at an event on stage with some of the best people in the mortgage industry. Everybody knows that Ginger is the guru master at video marketing and getting yourself out there but do people know Ginger and what drives you?

A lot of times, they do not. They know me, “Chris, you are the mortgage guy.” I am a person. I have a story. I have a life. I love to share that.” If you are going to connect to someone or start a new business, you know who you are working with and you can say, “This is somebody that I would click with or have something in common with.” For people reading, I would like to echo what Ginger said. Follow where you are heading and what feels right to make an impact because you know what is right. You know deep inside I have always known, “I can connect with people and people feel comfortable talking to me but what do I do with it?”

I still do not know but I continue to push forward and figure it out. With the video marketing, for people reading, business owners, entrepreneurs, anyone that is trying to market themselves, how do you get them out of their comfort zone that says, “I do not look good on video. I do not sound good. I will do it when I get the DSLR camera. I need to get the right microphone.” All of these things would be stories that we create. What would you say to people if they want to get started in video marketing or with whatever it is they are doing, what is the first step? How do people take action?

The first thing is to get out of your head because video is nothing more than a recorded conversation. The reason that people do not like doing video, they always say they do not like how they look. We can get over that. It is usually because they do not know what to say. That is the biggest challenge for people. Maybe they can get one video done but done doing the next. To give an example, TikTok is taking off for a lot of people. We did a coaching call on getting into TikTok and everyone is like, “What do I do after the first one?” It is like, “You do another one and then another one.”

The second thing is you have information that is valuable. Share that information. It is pretty simple. Chris, you are an incredible professional in the mortgage industry, have a great reputation, and serve your customers very well. If I was to call you and say, “My son is looking at buying his first house. What is the number one thing he needs to know?” You would be able to have a conversation with me.

You would automatically know. If you can think of doing a video like having a conversation with someone on the phone, it makes it a lot easier. Get out of your head. Go to your inbox. If you keep a tablet, I am a writer, so when people ask a question, I will write it down. Take those questions, answer the question. Take one question that you get repeatedly and answer it on video. It is simple. As you get started, you can build on that, especially if you are looking at TikTok and all these other things. There are all these people dancing. Be true to yourself. Be yourself and do not ever be anybody else because people will see through that.

Be true to yourself. You don’t ever want to be anybody else because people will see through that.

On TikTok, they have the viral the dabke dance. It is a Middle Eastern dance. It is a line dance. There are these viral videos and these people doing it. It is spreading like wildfire. My wife was like, “You should learn how to do the dabke.” I am like, “Nobody wants to see Chris do the dabke.” To tie with what you are saying, Chris can’t try to do the dabke and go viral. It might go viral but for all of the wrong reasons. That is one of the biggest things for me working with my coaches in the mortgage industry and people such as yourself, it was like, “Get out of your head. You sound the way you sound. You look the way you look. That is you. Own it and turn the camera on.”

A video is like if you are going to Netflix to watch a show. If you are scrolling through it, you are looking for something that will entertain and make you laugh, which is some of those viral things or you are looking for something that is going to educate you. I love National Geographic and a lot of the travel channels. You are looking for something that will inspire you or inform you. Those are the things that you should be doing your videos about, whether you are entertaining, educating, inspiring or informing, those four things.

You can run the gamut on that. You do not have to do one or the other. You can do one video one time that maybe is a little entertaining. I did a video one time, I was promoting an event for a California association and they called it Summer CAMP because it was CAMP, California Association of Mortgage Professionals. I put my CAMP shirt on and we sat out in the backyard. I had my videographer who came and shot it for me. I am honestly dressed up like I am at Summer CAMP. You have to be okay with not always being comfortable. That is okay. I am not going to do it all the time but it got my attention.

I am speaking at an event in Austin. Their theme is PowerUp and they are doing the whole retro game thing, which is huge for me because the Galaga is the only game I can still beat my son. I did a promotional video and I said, “This weekend, I am going to go. We have some of those old-school retro game places. I will shoot a video there for you and send it to you.” You have to think about that. How can you entertain in a positive way and then how can you educate? For me, education is the easiest thing to do because you have information to share and then inspire. It is like, “What can you do to inspire someone?”

Carl and I wrote the book the Leadership Video Planner which starts with nothing more than quotes because people want inspiration and then informs them how to do things and steps. Those four things, if you focus on doing that and get out of your head, grab your phone, you do not need any fancy equipment and that fancy background. People do need to hear you, so you need to make sure they can hear you. Other than that, get your message out there because you are valuable and you have information to share.

Ginger, it’s such an inspiration. You have been so helpful. I have been in high-level coaching watched my peers and highly successful people around me shoot a video and do a video. I had all the excuses in the world. I had all the intentions in the world of shooting video, “I am going to make these videos as soon as my Yeti mic arrives. When I get my voice trained.” I started to do it. I was critical on myself. I have had people all the time that meet me because I am a leader in the mortgage industry. I am successful in what I do. I have put myself out there in a lot of places to be vulnerable, to grow, and be where I am.

 

When people meet me and they say, “You are even-keeled. You are so chill.” I have had people say, “We’ve got to step it up. Get in there and jump around. You are in sales.” I am like, “It is not me and if I did it, the people that know me, that would be a funny video.” They would be playing that over and over, saying, “What were you doing?” I have had so many people tell me, “You’ve got to do this.” I am like, “I do not do that. That is not me.” Just be you because that is who you are every day. That is how people around you know you. That was the biggest thing, just to do it.

I love Edumarketing, the name of your company, which is educational marketing. I would think all the time, “What am I going to do a video on?” You and I are like, “Grab four topics.” After many years of doing a profession, I have to know something, hopefully. I started grabbing little ideas. Sometimes, it was last minute and our calls were rushed, and I am like, “We are going to talk about three things not to do before you buy a home.”

Whatever it is that you do or you are passionate about, you have information. Do not think you have to go digging for this amazing content to make this perfect video. Think about what you already know and share it. Take those questions that you are getting repeatedly in your business. Hopefully, you will take something away from our show and implement it. That has been the game changer and why I wanted to have Ginger on is the implementation and execution of all these ideas that we have.

Without it, it is nothing. You get nowhere. Perfection is the enemy of done. Take the first step. Hopefully, this show has inspired you to take action. If you have a business, if you are passionate about a particular cause or if you have a hobby that you are interested in, share it. You want to get it out there. If you are interested in that, definitely take action now. Ginger, how can somebody connect with you if they are interested in getting in touch with you and need more help with this?

Our website is Edumarketing.com. It is education and marketing. You can do that or you can connect with me at MeetGingerBell.com. That has all my connections and everything is right there.

Ginger, thank you so much for taking the time to jump on the show. Before we let you go, we are going to hit you with our rapid-fire. It is real quick, three simple questions. We play a little scenario. You are stuck on an island. You are stranded there. You are never leaving this island but it is a beautiful island, so you are not that upset.

Outside of your family and your friends, we want to know who you are taking with you but taking it to a bigger fun level or somebody that has had an impact in your life, a celebrity, somebody that is living or passed, it does not matter. Who would you want on the island with you to share that experience with?

The one person that I would take with me would be Sue Woodard. Sue is an amazing individual. She is fun to be around. She is smart and resourceful. Honestly, we would kick ass on that island.

I do not know Sue personally but I have been in the mortgage business since about ’04 or ’05. I think about that time. Was Sue with ToolBox?

Sue was with Barry Habib then it became LunchBox and then she was president Vantage. She has such a giving heart. She is so great to be around. She and I spent three days together in Washington State in this wonderful lakefront cottage that we rented. We were helping each other in our business and we spent time together. Sue is who I would take on the island. You should definitely get her on your show. I will connect you, so you can do that because she is amazing.

We will give you another little plug for the book because you and Carl put the book together. What is the book that you have out now?

My most recent book it is called the Leadership Video Planner and you can get it online at LeadershipVideoPlanner.com and it is super simple. It is 52 weeks of quotes to help you to do one video a week. That is the idea. I had a lot of managers and business owners I work with and they are like, “I do not want to do videos for my customers.” I would say, “Start with a quote. Let us do that.” That is how it is.

The second question is a book to share with our readers that has had an impact on your life that you would like to share.

The Three Feet from Gold is a great one. Think and Grow Rich, I gave that as a graduation gift when my son had friends graduating from high school and college because it is so powerful. For if I was going to say there is one book you should absolutely read in your lifetime is How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie. It focuses on a lot of what we have forgotten and what technology has taken out of our lives. That would be the one thing. If you have not read it, read it. If you have read it, reread it. If you have teenagers at all even into adolescents, give it to them.

Last but not least, you are on the island. What is your guilty pleasure of fun food or snack food? What does Ginger need to have on this island?

This is going to sound weird but guacamole and chips.

Ginger, it has been a pleasure. For everybody reading, if you’ve got something out of this episode, please share it on iTunes, put it out there on social, whatever platforms you are on. if you’ve got something out of this or enjoyed the show, please leave us a five-star rating. On that note, we are out.

 

Important Links

• Ginger Bell
• Edumarketing
• Dale Carnegie Training
• DoorDash
• Uber Eats
• Instacart
• Three Feet from Gold
• Think and Grow Rich
• Coach Bill Hart
• Freedom Club
• California Association of Mortgage Professionals
• PowerUp
• Leadership Video Planner
• MeetGingerBell.com
• Sue Woodard – LinkedIn
• How to Win Friends & Influence People
• iTunes – FUEL with Chris Swartz
• https://www.YouTube.com/channel/UCzKE3FKGkq5wlE5oLYMcECQ
• Ginger@Edumarketing.com

 

About Ginger Bell

Ginger Bell is a 3-time Best-Selling Author, Emmy Award Winning  Producer, Speaker and Training Specialist with Edumarketing.com, a full-service training, marketing and video production agency focused on utilizing the power of education, new technologies, media, and personality-driven marketing to position individuals and companies as experts in their field.

Ginger helps companies and entrepreneurs create educational marketing campaigns and strategies to increase their customer base and grow their business.  Her clients hire her to develop training and marketing programs, design online education programs and create video marketing and branding strategies.

Her client list includes Arch MI, Total Expert, Finance of America, First American Title, FirstFunding, Re/Max, Motto Mortgage, Tovuti, Windermere and countless entrepreneurs and small-business owners across the US.

A sought-after speaker and published author to audiences nationwide, Ginger has been named as one of Mortgage Banking’s Most Powerful Women, 50 Most Connected Professionals and Elite Women of Lending.   Ginger has also been awarded the “Professional Woman of the Year” award by the National Association of Professional Women for her commitment to training and education.

Tags: Being Your True Self, Power Of Education, Sharing Information, Taking Charge, Video Marketing, Video Production