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Connect with Brenden
https://www.youtube.com/c/mastertalks
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendenkumarasamy/

Connect with Russ
https://russjohns.com/
https://thepiratesyndicate.com/
https://nextstepnext.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nextstepnext/

Audio digitally transcribed by Descript

[00:00:00] Introduction: Welcome to the #PirateBroadcast™, where we interview #interestingpeople doing #interestingthings. Where you can expand your connections, your community, #kindnessiscool and #smilesarefree. Let’s get this party started.

[00:00:10] Russ Johns: And we're back with Brenden again for an amazing episode. And I hope you're watching this. I'll keep doing this and it looks apparently like LinkedIn is having a problem with the connection here. Surprise. Okay. So Brenden, how you doing?

[00:00:29] Brenden Kumarasamy: Life is great. Russ. How about yourself?

[00:00:31] Russ Johns: Life is beautiful and getting better every day. I wanted to follow up on our last conversation because you are rocking it in the coaching space. You're helping a lot of business owners actually with their presentation and their presence. And I know that you've grown your YouTube channel, you've started making impact on LinkedIn and catch us up on the journey and see if I can actually fix this LinkedIn thing.

[00:00:58] Brenden Kumarasamy: So yeah, absolutely Russ and hopefully we figure it out. But yeah, what happened since our last chat, I think our last best master wasn't really a business. It was, we were having a conversation. I was getting on podcasts, religious to meet people, see who else is at the space was creating content. But ever since then, I got really big on clubhouse. And that really increased my following on YouTube. And I was able to get a lot of executive clients to a point where I was starting to get overloaded. I needed to quit my job so I could do this full time.

[00:01:28] Russ Johns: What a problem to have.

[00:01:31] Brenden Kumarasamy: It's a good problem.

[00:01:33] Russ Johns: Yeah. So are you enjoying it? Are you having fun?

[00:01:36] Brenden Kumarasamy: I'm having a lot of fun. Entrepreneurship definitely has its cons as well. It's not the, it's not the rosiest thing in the world. Yeah. But I think the best thing about entrepreneurship is that you could really do anything you want with your time. You want to wake up at 9:30 and work until midnight and the next day wake up at 6:00 AM and work until 10:00 PM, you could just do that. Whatever works for you. And I think that flexibility is super awesome. So I've definitely been enjoying it. And I get to just spend all day connect with people like you, definitely nothing to complain about there.

[00:02:04] Russ Johns: That doesn't suck.

[00:02:07] Brenden Kumarasamy: Definitely doesn't.

[00:02:09] Russ Johns: So I want to talk about YouTube channel because I have over a thousand videos on YouTube. I've been on YouTube for a long time and I just really haven't put any energy in YouTube. And I don't have any dreams of being a YouTube star or anything like that. Sorry, ambition and energy, I only have so much of, so the reality, though, is that organically over time, I'm continuing to grow and I would like to increase the exposure so I can help more people. And so what are some things that you've done over on YouTube that have made a difference for your channel?

[00:02:50] Brenden Kumarasamy: Absolutely. So let's start with what you just said, Russ, that's super relevant. Is this idea that as you spend more time on your YouTube channel, past videos still continue to get views even years later. And that's the magic of YouTube is that recency isn't really a factor in YouTube's algorithm. It's all about the quality of the content, how much people watch it. And YouTube will constantly recommend content even if it was made seven years ago. And that's one of the benefits of YouTube is if you keep creating, that's why I always tell people if you want to be on successful on YouTube, all you gotta do. One video a week, one really good video week. Yeah, like super high quality. Like mine. I have a whole production team for my YouTube channel today and it's one video, not tense, burn yourself out as a creator, but do it for 10 years. So one every week for 10 years, because the magic of YouTube is that if every week you drop gold, like absolute gold, it's just a solo episode or something where you're sharing your best three life lessons or something. What's amazing of these types of videos for us is they live forever. It's when somebody visits your YouTube channel, they need to be amazed. So I have an artist who does my thumbnails, have a video guy who like literally films the instructions the video. And I write out all my videos a to Zed. So I think what a big piece of YouTube is really quality titling the video in a way that people want to click on it and creating a channel where, when somebody finds out about you, they immediately go, oh, wow, I need to stay here and watch a bunch of videos. So that's really the secret is once a week for 10 years, make it really good, treat every single video like it's worth a million bucks. So really sit down and spend an hour, again, filming it and you'll go very far. And even if you don't, by the way, I'll give everyone a mini tour. You know what we need a successful YouTube show. Here's my 80 20 rule to YouTube. Make a list, especially if you have a services business, it's perfect. Make a list of the top 10 questions. Your clients ask you or prospects, ask you 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, all the way to 10. Make a video on each one. Like a really nice one, hire somebody to help you with the production, but only make 10. So that way, when a prospect of LinkedIn or any other social media sends you, Hey, Russ, I'm interested in your services. Here's my question. You don't have to waste, especially with the following. You have ongoing, you don't have to waste your time replying to a thousand DMS. You can just send those videos and you can help a lot of people a lot faster, and you won't need YouTube growth.

[00:05:25] Russ Johns: Yeah, that's probably something I need to get back on because one of the things that I used to do and I haven't done for awhile and I'm not really sure why is I had a short video on how to create your LinkedIn header Canva. And I would just share it with somebody. I just drop it in their messages and say, hey, I just wanted to let you know that this is available. If you ever want to upgrade your header, here's a great way to do it. And it was just a short video on how to upgrade your LinkedIn header. And we got lots of activity from it, lots of traction, and that's probably something that I could do several different variations on. And then just continue to share it out just for visibility and building authority, because once people know what you do and you associate. Events like that with your authority and your product and your service or whatever you're doing that, keeps people top of mind too.

[00:06:20] Brenden Kumarasamy: I completely agree with you, man. Absolutely.

[00:06:23] Russ Johns: What about LinkedIn? What's your activity and experience on LinkedIn over there?

[00:06:28] Brenden Kumarasamy: Yeah, I'm still growing. I'm still learning from you. You're the grand master, a lot of my buddies who are, you're like the Dumbledore of LinkedIn. You've even got the laugh too, but anyways, yeah, I'm still learning. But I think what I've learned, especially being a YouTube creator because I'll be honest, creating on YouTube is way easier than just putting up a poll on LinkedIn. It takes two minutes. So that caught me off guard in a good way. Where creating a post here is a lot easier. So I've actually created daily posts for the next six months already. And the way that I do this, and here's my tip for people. Post once every day, but create twice. What does that mean? That means every single day, make two posts. It actually doesn't take you that long. I think a YouTube channel, this would actually be really hard because writing a YouTube script takes an hour and a half. If you're really good. If you're new to YouTube, it might take you two hours. So spend that time. But on LinkedIn, it'll take you like 15 to 30 minutes. But if you keep creating twice every day for six months, you'll have a six month lead in your content strategy. And then once you have that lead, you can use all of that extra time to just engage with other profiles. So that's what I've been doing now.

[00:07:42] Russ Johns: What I like to do and here's here's another tip is because everybody has a period of creativity. And when you sit down and you have a period of creativity, grab a favorite drink, sit down and create multiple, build a library and backup library, and then just choose from that library on what's appropriate for that day. And then just so you don't have to think about it. You don't have the pressure. You can think about it when you're creative, so you can post when you're not. That way you have it all the time and you have it available to you. The other thing is that there are posts that you've probably completed before previously, and you can repost, you can reshare that stuff and, because it's still relevant and because of the way the algorithm works and the exposure that you have, it's not a bad thing, it's great content. If it was a great content the first time, it might be great content the second time. So that's another opportunity. I want to give a shout out to a couple of people in the room. It looks like LinkedIn came back online Ahoy, mates., Marcia, Reece. Thank you so much for being here. We're going to be doing, Brenden, one thing I'm doing an Amazon live. So on Amazon live, Marcia Reece, and I are going to be doing a session the Saturday, and I should have the link here to bring up. But we'll be bringing a couple of guests on talking about her product. She has Staywell Copper that she has available on Amazon. So we're going to be talking about Staywell copper. So those are all kinds of activities on how you can connect everyone. So Elise, in from South Africa, I hope you're doing well. Thank you so much for all the work. I was on with you probably know, David Brier, the branding genius. Yeah. He's pretty good. That was another one with WinJect Studios. I'm on Tuesdays at 11, typically at 11 on Tuesdays with shows like that. So, Elize, thank you for joining that episode. Tim, the grand master wizard, a podcasting broadcasting lifestyle. Thank you so much for being here. Hope you're well, Hiett Ives. Great content. Love it. Love it. Hiett says I've got a lot on my channel. Poorly organized and promoted. I'm sure you're talking about YouTube. Hey, sometimes it's an experiment, right, Brenden? Charles, good tips. Wendy says good morning, pirate creatives. Good idea to ride the wave of posts. To whip out at a moment's notice. You're gotta have the toolbox if you're going to play in the game. Kenyatta says, Hey, Russ Johns, and Brenden. Good morning. #PirateBroadcast thank you so much for being here. I record five short pieces every Monday morning, then release every morning. See, there you go. Library model. Wendy says so many people say I needed that post today. Leftovers are new nutritional nuggets to people who have not yet tasted your fair. Oh, that's awesome. I'm one of the guests on Saturday. All right, Hiett. So he's going to be a guest on Saturday on Amazon live. Hello, Marcia Reece. Love the StayWell Copper. Welcome. Fantastic. I love it. Kenyatta, Wendy rich. Hey. So Brenden, I know that you're coaching people, you're coaching and helping other people in their presentations. Are you still focused on the presentations and coaching in that arena? Or are you going to expand that to be in the YouTube space or a LinkedIn space, or tell us about the future?

[00:11:33] Brenden Kumarasamy: Yeah, absolutely. Russ happy to brother. So yeah, for me, my coaching businesses, mostly for executives and companies, middle managers, generally in tech companies or entrepreneurs who are looking to level up their game. And what the process would that I do is I walk them through many different areas of communication. So one of them is definitely presentations. But really refine it, make sure it's perfect or should the vocal varieties is perfect. The way that we present our ideas. And then we move towards other areas of communication. Like how do you deliver feedback in a way that's effective? How do you build relationships with other people with their communication style? Imagine you go into a conversation, you look like this, hi Russ. Yeah, I'm good. How about you? You're like, whoa, what's wrong with this guy? Did he get some sleep yesterday? Does it look too excited to be here? So there's a lot of ways that how we could take the skills we learned to communication apply it to other factors.

[00:12:31] Russ Johns: Be present. And also Brenden let's face it, there are some days when we don't have the energy that we needed, that we would like to have, however, do your best to show up, attempt to be there when you're there. Cause showing up is half the battle. We were talking before the show about growing a YouTube presence that we were talking about. 10 years of one great show a week, and that's just showing up doing the work and being there. So I love that idea. I love that concept. What do you see as one of the challenging traits that people have?

[00:13:09] Brenden Kumarasamy: I would say one of the challenges people have around communication is people who really don't know how to practice. I think that's where the challenge comes from. So I'll give you an example. Let's say you prepare a presentation, right? Russ, you prepare it, you get it ready to get all the slides done. Most of the time of practicing you just rambling throughout the whole thing. You're presenting it. That's not the right way. It's not the smartest way to do it because they're just going to get tired and you're not going to like it too much. I like to equate presentations to jigsaw puzzles, those toy puzzles we used to do as kids. We put them together. So let's say, I asked you Russ, let's say you're working on a puzzle yourself. Which pieces would you start with first? And why?

[00:13:48] Russ Johns: If I didn't do it a puzzle, I'd probably start with the edges work from the outside in.

[00:13:54] Brenden Kumarasamy: Outside it. Absolutely. Because they're easier to find. You'll find those little pieces. So exactly. So why don't we do that in public speaking, we just shove a bunch of content. We get to the presentation, we go through the whole thing and then the ending sounds, something like this. Yeah, thanks, everybody. Let's open the floor to questions. So treat your presentations like a jigsaw puzzle. Start with the edges first. Practice your introduction 50 times, not two times. Do it 50 times. 50 seems like a big number for us. It's actually not a big number because your intro is like a minute or two, same thing with the conclusion. What's a great movie with a terrible ending. Last time I check terrible movie, same thing. 50 times, the conclusion, two hours of practice, Russ, will change your life.

[00:14:43] Russ Johns: I love it. I love it. That's hard for me to do on a life. However presentations are much different.

[00:14:51] Brenden Kumarasamy: And actually what I would argue is this is actually easy to do on the live stream, because what you do is you take not during the conversation as we're talking now, that's probably not easy, but when you do the intro for a guest, maybe you can work on that. Maybe that's a pointer or one that I could give you right now. That's super easy is make a presentation on the #PirateBroadcast as an actual slide and go present that presentation to local universities like Arizona state, different places. You can promote your show, but talk about the bigger mission. So that way you can practice that and people can say, wow this is like the best broadcast ever. I need a tune in every week.

[00:15:28] Russ Johns: Yeah. That's what I was talking about with David. Yesterday was the idea of how do you different is better than better, or different is whatever that statement is. It's really, how can we actually. Take it up a few notches and just be so unique that people go, wow. I never thought about that. And that's where I think the evolution of live streaming is going to go. And you have a evolution of video as well, because we're always evolving. We're always changing. You think back 50 years ago when there were three channels and then you had kids. Now you have Netflix and you have an abundance of choices. So it's now it's just what can we create that is going to grab the attention? And as David says, rise above the noise, I think that's a great analogy. So that's what I'm thinking of is how can I improve the #PirateBroadcast? How can I improve the engagement? How can I improve the activity? And You bring up some great points. I'll have to track you down and maybe have I have a session with you.

[00:16:37] Brenden Kumarasamy: I appreciate it, brother.

[00:16:39] Russ Johns: Yeah. So Kenyatta is here. She says Howard Kaufman. Good morning. Looking forward to having you on representing ORL on the natural grocery radio show this Saturday. Let's give a shout out to Howard and his ORL natural mouth care products. I love his products. I love what he's doing and I look forward to that. Michael Baker, Michael bigger repetition reinforcement of beliefs. As you have to believe in what you're presenting. That's true. That's true. That's let's believe in what we're doing. Kenyatta Turner, thanks for the invite and very much looking forward to. Michael Baker says shared goals and purpose. Absolutely. So how do you structure, how do you go about thinking of the structure of a presentation as you're starting it? For instance, if I was going to go out to some universities because I've taught podcasting at university and actually taught workshops. And if I wanted to put a presentation about live streaming and the condition in the direction of media today, how would I go about structuring that or what would be my thought process that I would want to maybe consider as I go through that process?

[00:17:50] Brenden Kumarasamy: Absolutely. So let's get this super simple Russ. Cause I don't like to over-complicate things.

[00:17:55] Russ Johns: Don't over complicate it.. I'm a simple guy.

[00:17:59] Brenden Kumarasamy: You're a simple guy in Arizona. Yeah. I love it. So the way that I think about it is what is the idea you want to defend? What is that opinion that notion those exercises that you believe about livestreaming and then from those ideas, simply ask yourself what is the best way of defending those ideas? So for me, my main idea is I think anyone in the world could become an exceptional communicator. So what idea do I use to defend that? The best one is my own personal story because when I was a kid, I grew up in a system where I had to speak French all the time. I grew up in Montreal. You didn't know the language so my parents sent me there. So my whole life, not only was I scared of presentations, I had to present in a language I didn't know. So if I could do it, I'm sure everyone else could do it too. So notice how see through your smile you're like, oh, now I'm more convinced that I could become an exceptional communicator. Brendan wasn't just born out of the womb and presented like this. So same thing with you. What are the three key concepts you want to teach about livestreaming? And what are the three best ways of presenting? Then you have to try a bunch of things. It's not going to work the first time. And then the third piece of that is testing, go out there and test those stories, test those anecdotes. And I always ask this question at the end of my presentation, what resonated with you? What resonated with you? So when people go, what resonated? I know it worked, what did it, and then I know how to rework it.

[00:19:27] Russ Johns: Then you can just adjust along the way. Perfect segue into the idea of taking what you have continuing to show up and continuing to improve on it. It's very simple equation, really. And so many people fail to understand that they build their own complexity in the process. It's like they over-complicate it. And then all of a sudden they're overwhelmed and then they don't do anything. And so keep it simple.

[00:19:56] Brenden Kumarasamy: Absolutely.

[00:19:58] Russ Johns: I love that. I love that. So what can we do in the content creation process?

Cause we're talking about a lot of content and then so based on what you just said, what's the argument for people to create content what's the purpose and the meaning and the drive for people to great content. Cause there's a lot of information out there, but why would someone like myself want to create content? In your opinion?

[00:20:23] Brenden Kumarasamy: Absolutely. So for me, content creation, whether you ought to be famous or not, is all about wanting to achieve a specific goal. So for me, when I started master talk, the goal wasn't really to make a bunch of money or something. It was, hey, I realized a lot of people in university couldn't afford a speech coach, so it's just making videos for them. So I think for me, it always starts with who is that specific audience that you want? And in your case, I believe your thesis was really, how do we really lead with kindness on live strips? How do we lead with helping other people and how do we change the culture on social media to reflect those values? And at the time, I'm sure when you started your live stream, not many people were doing that. So that's your reason for being, and also associating a specific image to that brand and which in your case is the pirates, right? Everyone's a pirate, which is cool. And I guess I'm one too.

[00:21:19] Russ Johns: You are a pirate.

[00:21:21] Brenden Kumarasamy: There you go. So yeah it's giving that space that you're opening for other people. So for you, who's listening, starting with that objective really helps because the key to content strategy is not really to have the best quality. But to outlast to be sustainable because my first videos were not with production teams. My first videos read on my mom's couch in my basement with no editing, just a phone. I still have them up. Go watch them. They're grainy. They're bad. They're terrible. But I keep them up. Yeah. It's that people see the process and then we get, I caused, I keep getting better on camera. And now of course my videos are a bit more professional than they used to be, but it's a process, but it starts with that core vision. What is the reason that we're creating? And from that reason, it's going to be a lot easier for us to outlast.

[00:22:16] Russ Johns: I love it. I love it. There's so many elements that people don't think about online space and it continues to grow. And in my opinion, it continues to be less complicated. The technology is getting easier, right now you can start with a phone. It doesn't take a lot of gear. It doesn't take a lot equipment. Doesn't take a team. Like you said, you could start with where you are, what you have. Show up. I just love that theme. I just love that idea and I love that concept. So before wrap up, what's next on the radar for Brenden and your ambitions and goals and training and coaching. The world that is unfolding in front of you.

[00:23:01] Brenden Kumarasamy: That's a one element question, but yeah, I would say for me, what's next is really focusing on YouTube and LinkedIn. LinkedIn, I'm seeing a lot of opportunity here. There's a lot of amazing people here who don't yet know who I am because I've mostly spent building my brand on YouTube. Yeah, man, it's spending most of my timejust meeting more LinkedIn legends. I already do so I can learn from them, grow with them and the YouTube channel and continue the mission that I've been on to bring accessible communication tools for free to a wider group of individuals.

[00:23:34] Russ Johns: I love it. Jamie J I saw the post from Jamie J and you guys must be connected cause he's an awesome individual. I've known Jamie J since podcasting days back in podcast movement. So shout out to Jamie J if you're not connected with Jamie J, connect with him, if you're not connected with Brenden, connect. This is what the #PirateBroadcast™ is all about is making those connections, reaching out and discovering new people that you have not yet met. And just say, hey, I'm a pirate, love to connect. It's a very simple process. It's like I saw you on the #PirateBroadcast. I thought I would connect. How simple can it be? So I really love it. Brenden email me, so this is the last cold you will ever have. I'll tell you what, I don't know if you know this or not, but copper is a natural deterrent for germs and it keeps you safe and sane. . I gave one to my mom, too. Mom has one. She wears it everyday now, Marcia. So it's very cool. Lee is here. Brilliant. Thank you both. Thank you so much. Charles, you create because people understand stories that they can relate to. That's true. That's true. Brenden, it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much. Like I said, if they're not connected, anybody's not connected to Brenden, reach out on LinkedIn, message him, ask for a connection. Tell him you connected on the #PirateBroadcast. Any last and final words as we part away and go on and do something else today.

[00:25:12] Brenden Kumarasamy: Yeah, I would say final words. I always like to end with the book recommendation. My favorite book is Thirst by Scott Harrison. I think Scott's a savant.

[00:25:23] Russ Johns: Scott Harrison.

[00:25:26] Brenden Kumarasamy: So I highly recommend the read and life advice. Go out there and create some content, go out there and speak out your ideas and communicate them. Because trust me, there is one person in your community who really needs to hear your message. And your only job is to figure out who that person is.

[00:25:44] Russ Johns: I love that. Thank you again for showing up. You're always welcome back to the #PirateBroadcast™. Come back when you have a product or a service and you want to share it out. Let me highlight you because that's what the pirates are all about. Little#kindnessiscool, #smilesarefree, Brenden, #enjoyyourday, man, take care.

[00:26:04] Brenden Kumarasamy: You too, brother.

[00:26:05] Russ Johns: See you soon.

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