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Introduction 0:02
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.

Russ Johns 0:19
It's a beautiful day for the #piratebroadcast™. Thank you so much for joining us. Join in the community, the #piratebroadcast™ community is live and well and make those connections. Reach out and have some conversations. Today we're having a conversation with Jim. He's in the room becoming a pirate. Jim, how are you today?

Jim Fuhs 0:43
I'm doing great, Russ. Thanks so much for having me on today.

Russ Johns 0:46
Jim is an individual that is also, like myself, doing remote broadcasting, putting shows out there, using stream yard as his tool and using other tools on live streaming. So we're going to be talking about...guess what? Live streaming today. So Jim, thank you so much for joining me and I know that you've been involved and engaged in live streaming for a while. So give us the backstory, how did you get involved in that?

Jim Fuhs 1:18
It was really almost, I guess you could call it accidental. It seems so long ago, but back in 2017-18 when Facebook Live really started to become a thing, I was like everybody else. It's like, oh my gosh, I don't know if I want to be on camera and talk and all that stuff. I went to Social Media Marketing World and I met Kelly Noble Mirabella. She has become like a chatbot. I call her Queen at that point. She's like, oh, join my facebook group. She did a live Facebook challenge, where we had to go live every day on our personal profile, or whatever. So that was kind of getting over the fear of, as you know....Fanzo would say, just press the damn button. Then every once in a while, I would do something. Then I had a friend Lindsay Anderson, who was doing this show on Thursday nights, it was called Marketing and Merlot. So they were drinking wine and talking about stuff. So it was kind of fun. I had started playing around with Instagram TV, that was back when you could invite people. They were using be live at the time. So they invited me on and I started talking about it and caught the attention of Tim Stone. Then he invited me to be on his show. Then he's like, hey, how'd you like to do a show together and it just kind of took off from there. Going back, I guess you could say to my Marine Corps time and always wanting to do better, get better, we just kept focusing on on improving, and you start to realize, especially....gosh, seven months ago, eight months ago, there were a lot of people that needed help with this. So I jumped into remote producing, been doing several of those virtual events like yourself, and it's...I don't think it's ever going away, I think it's only going to become bigger. I think people really need to, especially small business owners, you need to think about how you're getting your message out there. I love reading, but I think there's just so much going on that videos are a great way to get your message out there.

Russ Johns 3:43
I have to agree with you on that. 100%. Here's the thing, as you create content, if you start out with video, that's the experiment I've had with the #PirateBroadcast™. If you start out with video, you can always spin the audio off and create a podcast, you can transcribe the audio and make a post. So you have words, images, audio and video. That helps you build the authority and be noticed online and people can accidentally find you or search you and track you down. The reality is, is that if we put ourselves out there and we're able to tell our story and message, what we're doing and why we're doing it, this pandemic may be...what happens if it goes two years, three years, businesses need to be able to cut through the noise, articulate their value, and make sure the people understand what they're doing and why they're doing it. Video plays into that extremely well. Producing shows isn't everybody's sweetspot, you know, it's not something everybody wants to do. There are people that want to do it, there are people that want it done. If we can help them and assist them in their process, then it's a great win, win situation. It's also fun because you and I are in a small group where we get to talk occasionally. It's really neat to learn how other people are doing stuff and how we can help each other get better. I think, sometimes, people need to realize that I don't look at it as competition. I look more at as collaboration because people are going to work with people they know, like and trust. So some people aren't going to be a good fit for me, I might say, Well, hey, you need to talk to Russ or vice versa. Sometimes you just don't have the time because you're booked and you want people to have a quality experience. So it's its own community, I think of all of us that are doing this remote production work and I think it's a lot of fun. I enjoy it because I've always loved solving problems and building systems and kind of solutions. It's like, okay, let me help you figure this out. 've probably been doing something very similar, or in the same vein,since 2014. As an early adopter on Blab, I don't know if you remember blab, or you ever had an opportunity to get on Blab, but it's all of these different versions of live streaming. Some of the things took place because I was piping in. I used to teach classes when I was over in Houston and pipe in experts from around the world and teach a class to somebody that brought together in person. It's really an extension of that and being able to say, okay, well, what's required to bring people together around a subject that people need to hear about. It's a great puzzle to unpack and publish and share with with the audience. Because it's like you said, I don't think it's going to go away. So what's popping up in the world for you right now, in terms of production growth?

Jim Fuhs 7:24
Yeah, so I actually was fortunate still working with them, I actually have been producing a series for MIT and IBM, on what's next in AI. It's three straight weeks, three hour production. And that's the whole thing, right? It's not just the three hours, it was getting each of the speakers on ahead of time, and making sure they understand the process, how they're going to share their presentation, understanding when they need to show up, doing the transitions between speakers to make it look smooth. And, yeah, it's been a lot of fun. Even these big companies, we're using stream yard to, you know, it's so easy for them, especially when they got, especially right now people are working remotely like most of these professors and presenters are coming out of their house, they're not sitting on campus, sothat's been fun. And then more in front of this screen. My friend, Chris Stone and I are co-hosting a new show on Amazon. Well, I guess it's not new anymore. We started in July, but we're on Amazon live and a lot of people don't realize that that's become a thing. You got to get accepted, so that's where you want to build at least your Twitter or your YouTube following up. So you got enough numbers to apply to get into their program. And, of course, the other joke is you have to have an iPhone, because their app to allow you to set up your show is only on iOS at the moment.

Russ Johns 9:01
The irony in that. I don't know why I find that funny. Here's the deal...behind the curtains, we're all human and all of these organizations have evolved over time. You've seen the one where, you know, the Amazon desk. They used to go by doors and, you know, use four by fours to screw their legs on. That's how Jeff Bezos started out. You know, it's just like, bare bones. What that does is gives us the idea or the #inspiration that anything can happen. Anything can happen with live streaming, even gimlet media with their podcasting. They started out the show and you know in the podcast world a few years later, they sold it for what $250 million? They might be able to live on that. Right? They might. I don't know. I don't know. I might take a vacation if I had that. Hey, Jim, I want to give a shout out to some some of the friends and family in the pirate community here. Paolo. He's here. Good morning, Russ and Jim. Good afternoon where I am. Nick Gemmell's in the house. Good morning, Nick. He's a pirate. Barb Tomlin. Thank you so much. What an awesome introduction to our mutual friend, Jim. Yes. Thank you so much. LT is in the house. I wish I could have gotten into the podcast producing side early. That's fantastic. It's still early. It's still early. It is still early. And he says Good morning, by the way. Good morning, LT. It's so funny. We grew up in the same town. Wow. Gabriel. Good morning, gentlemen. He's another one, a great day for a conversation. Gabriel's doing the Made from Scratch Broadcast. Nick, still scared of video. I'll train you, Nick. Tim says, two awesome individuals. So Tim's in the house. Let's see Tim. Good morning, Jim and Russ.

Jim Fuhs 11:27
You know, I'm a little bummed this morning. Tim said no coffee and donuts this morning. But I'm like, isn't every day a day for coffee and donuts? Just saying, Tim just saying?

Russ Johns 11:37
What are you saying Tim? It's like, dang. Adam Adams here. Good morning, gentlemen. Hiett Ives. Good morning. You know what the pirate community is? It's awesome. I know. There's a lot of individuals that are very kind and considerate, and really attend and follow up. My biggest audiences is on LinkedIn. You're on Amazon, I'm gonna have to go investigate that. I'm gonna have to have a discussion with you on that figure out?

Jim Fuhs 12:13
Absolutely.

Russ Johns 12:15
Because I think it has a... do you have to have a flb account?

Jim Fuhs 12:20
Oh, no, you're basically selling their stuff. In a sense, you're almost like being a home shopping network/QVC channel of your own. But what we've done, Chris and I is we bring people on as guests. We don't just make it as talking about stuff. So we interviewed Russ Hedge recently about his upcoming book. Then we interviewed Audrey Bell Kearney and that's where we were talking about the stuff you and I were talking about before we came live about all these things that you can now do with Amazon skills. There's so many opportunities for us as small businesses to get to build our awareness through skills. I mean, they're just getting to be... I call Amazon, I know, this might sound funny, the sleeping giant when it comes to the creator side.

Russ Johns 13:15
A lot of people don't know that they own Twitch either. So there's a huge secret sauce that they're brewing, I think in their infrastructure, and plus, they have a few servers here and there. Probably stream some content around.

Jim Fuhs 13:36
Yeah. Well, and you've basically got your own logistics chain in there. So if you find things and talk about it, people order it, you get a small, small percentage. You think how long it can take someone on YouTube to monetize your channel, where you, in essence, can almost instantly monetize. If you get on Amazon live. I mean, it takes some work. Don't get me wrong, because you've got to go out there. And just like you do with this show, and Tim and I do with the Tim and Jim show, you got to be consistent. If you're not consistent, you're not going to...because I'm sure that that the pirate nation would be like, where did Russ go if he didn't show up for one of your shows?

Russ Johns 14:21
Yeah. I'm closing in on 300, Jim.

Jim Fuhs 14:25
That's amazing.

Russ Johns 14:29
I book five days a week and I'm actually teaching people how that process takes place. So I build in some courses over on the pirate syndicate, which is kind of the home base for broadcasting and live streaming and production and things like that. So it's really amazing to me, I think we live in the most amazing time because we're at a point where you are the media. You are the one that has control over your story, your message and where you place it and where you produce it. Now that we have tools like stream yard, the ability to just go live on multiple platforms all at once. It's an amazing time to to be a creator. I think we're just on the tip of the iceberg.

Jim Fuhs 15:22
I think the biggest thing is, when you really look at the numbers, and I think the number of all the like, what 675 plus million people on LinkedIn, I think they say, maybe 3%, create content. So for all those people that feel like, oh, it's too late. Now, I don't know when it's too late, because something new is gonna come out, or you're going to figure out a better way to tell your story. I know you and I both like to kind of always play around and say, what can I do different? Even what you've done here, with this overlay, a lot of people are like, well, how did he do that? Right? It's just a matter of working at it.

Russ Johns 16:06
Yeah, this is just like, you got to work creatively at being a creator.

Jim Fuhs 16:14
Or hire someone that can can do some of the creative piece for you.

Russ Johns 16:18
Yeah, call Jim or Russ. Or Gabriel, or there's a lot of people out there that love helping others, especially the pirate community is all about that. It's really fascinating to me, Jim, to see how many people are willing to help and contribute. It's just always good. Barb says, I've just recently broken down and started using my Alexa devices. I find myself saying thank you, Alexa, often, when she responded, you're welcome, Barbara, I was blown away. These things are going to be more immersive, more interactive, whether you believe it's a good thing or a bad thing, the mundane and the minutia that can be taken away by AI and machine learning things like that are going to increase in our lives. And they've come out with some recent updates that are just mind blowing.

Jim Fuhs 17:22
Yeah, we literally just got and it was actually yesterday, because Amazon delivers seven days a week, I had ordered these two wireless outdoor cameras. They're by Blink, which Amazon now owns. I put the cameras up, they tie into my Amazon onto my phone into my echo show. So I could literally just say, show me the front door camera, boom, it pops up on my little video screen there. I can talk to the people, so they're even getting into the security business. So now they're everywhere. Even if you don't know it. What's funny, too, Barb, if you haven't tried it yet, if you can set up what they call communicate, you can say you're at the store, and you could hit that and you can record and just say, hey guys, I'm on my way home, hit send, and it'll play on your devices, through the speakers. I was like, wow, that's pretty cool. It scares some people.

Russ Johns 18:30
Do you need anything from the grocery store? I'm stopping by.

Jim Fuhs 18:34
Right.

Russ Johns 18:36
You know it. Here's the other fascinating thing, Jim, is that just like in the last year, look at all of the transitions, emote medicine was really getting pushed back, HIPAA, we can't do that, we can't do this. All of a sudden, seven months into a pandemic, it's there. You call your doctor, they set up an appointment, they get a secure call, and all of a sudden, you're at the doctor's office, from the couch in the living room. People have to think about what opportunities these challenges present because every challenge has an opportunity. The way I look at it is is that we have an opportunity to help so many people Jim, out in the community that are going to be looking forward to some way...think of all of the manufacturers that are now no longer going to an expo or going to conferences. Say for instance, we took an example of a general contractor and we got five of their subs to pitch in some budget, and all of a sudden have a contractor show or a real estate broker that is doing a community show. They're doing their neighborhood and all of a sudden you have several businesses that want to pitch in and all of a sudden, the real estate agent is talking about those businesses and what impact they have on the local community, and the good things that they're doing to support the community. All of that kind of content is really going to make an impact on the world and make a difference in the community. I think that's what people are really looking forward to is, how can we improve and communicate and bring people together? I think a lot of people are searching for that effort.

Jim Fuhs 20:32
Well, yeah, I mean, just the fact that we've become friends over the past few months, because of technology. I mean, you live in Arizona, I'm in Georgia. We would not have met in the old days. I think even what's interesting is these times have really made us think about how do I connect with people? Yeah, it's great to go and meet people in person, but now you can meet with people virtually anywhere. It's just a matter of setting up the time. I think it's very powerful, because I always like to joke, the only thing you're not getting yet with a video is the touch, taste and smell. Yeah, but you get all those other emotions involved. I think it's such a powerful medium, it is a powerful medium. The argument is on the other side as well, you should have subtitles and everything because some people watch it in the office with no sound and

Russ Johns 21:35
Yeah, I have challenges with that, because I love just turning on the camera and talking and just communicating my idea at the moment. It's almost like a legacy thing. It's almost like, I just want to capture this moment, because I'm thinking about this. And I know if I'm thinking about it, somebody else is probably thinking about it, and bringing it together. And that's how I got started before the #PirateBroadcast™. I was doing Two Minute Tips every day. At the end of the day, last thing, I just turned on the camera, dropped whatever I was thinking about and people started reacting and responding to it. Then my computer started crashing and I got frustrated. Like, I can't do this anymore.

Jim Fuhs 22:23
I need a new computer.

Russ Johns 22:26
Yeah. Mark LaCour says, doing compact, complex business remotely is now totally acceptable. What a game changer. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Jim Fuhs 22:42
I think it's actually good for businesses that they're finally embracing remote work, because, one, I think it improves the quality of life for the employees. Yeah, sure, they got to deal sometimes with the family stuff, but they're going to get the work done because they're being trusted to meet a deadline, right? I almost think sometimes, it's, I don't know, maybe it's the Industrial Revolution type thing, but the mentality of you got to work from nine to five. Well, as long as I get the work done, does it matter if I work from nine to five, or from, five in the morning to one in the afternoon or one in the afternoon until midnight? Because we all have different cycles of when we work best. We don't all work the same. I remember back when I had a job many years ago, it'd be like, how much time was spent around everyone just kind of standing around the watercooler chit chatting or constantly taking breaks or like, hey, Russ, how's it going today? As opposed to actually like, okay, I got to get this done. I'm not going to get interrupted, I think there's a lot to be said for that. With stream yard, a lot of people don't realize you can have up to 10 people on it. Well, you could use this for meetings if you really wanted to, and not have to record them and and do some things that maybe you don't want to do with zoom. There's so many ways to be creative with this stuff. I think you and I were talking about, too, like with event platforms, virtual event platform, that's a space that's gonna I think continue to evolve. I'm waiting for the thing that takes over zoom, because zoom kind of was like the first one out there. But I think looking for, I don't know if I want to call the zoom killer, but there will be something else, just like everything else.

Russ Johns 24:37
Well, and I think I think there's a big opportunity...I used to beta test crowdcast, which is a great webinar platform. It's great for teaching shows and training and things like that, but it's not necessarily a good conference piece. Then I used another tool, big marker, I used a big marker platform a while ago and that was cumbersome. Then I'm working on a project that includes Maestro, which streams from twitch a lot, it's for broadcasting. It's just all of these platforms have kind of a slice of it down, but they don't really have it universally down. If that makes sense.

Jim Fuhs 25:31
It does. Absolutely.

Russ Johns 25:32
Because it's like, okay, I mean, stream yard, is really great, because it's easy access for the end user that isn't technical. You just take a link and you say, yes, accept my camera, accept my mic and you're in the broadcast booth. There's a couple of adjustments, but not monumental technology challenges, but nothing's perfect, nothing's perfect. So it's just a matter of being able to work with what you have and make the best of it. But stream yard has made a difference in my life, because I remember streaming from E cam, and working out system resources, and then having to use another tool for streaming out to multiple platforms and then making these connections. It's a little more technical. I used to use OBS or Wirecast, and all these other tools that a lot of people are saying, I've never heard of that. Maureen says, hi, Jim.

Jim Fuhs 26:42
Hey, Maureen.

Russ Johns 26:45
It's really challenging and Mark LaCour says this, as well. So the problem with online conferences is that people are trying to recreate the live experience on the web, which I think is the wrong approach. I totally agree with that, let's make it a live event. Online, and make it what it is...remote.

Jim Fuhs 27:14
Yeah, because I think ultimately, when people do these virtual events, they want to be able to network, right? They want to be able to say, okay, I want to have a conversation like you and I are having now. But, yeah, let's not get too crazy and feel like we're going to be exactly like we are in person because we're not, but i think there's opportunities there that are still are still being worked on. I mean, everything from gamification to a lot of other things that I think it's just a matter of how do you tie it into the technology that you're using. I think the other barrier to entry in some aspects with events is some of the better event platforms are very pricey. So even if you are an arise a virtual event, producer was going to use it, it's like, just the cost of the platform itself. A lot of times companies are saying I don't want to spend that much. But yet they'd spend 10 times that much if it was a live event. Isn't it crazy? The mindset, it's like, well, I don't have to travel, so I'm going to cut down considerably.

Russ Johns 28:23
That's not the way to think about it. Let's put it in production.

Jim Fuhs 28:27
Exactly.

Russ Johns 28:29
We did an amazing event with Mark Lacour over in Houston with OGGN and API, an organization and three cameras set up, an 810 Mini and then different camera shots and presentation involved in it and all of a sudden, live streaming as well. It got great reception. It was a challenge and it worked out really well. I just get excited about it. It's like, okay, look what we can do. Look at the possibilities. We're just at the tip of the iceberg here so let's keep going.

Jim Fuhs 29:15
Yeah, the 810 mini is next on my next on my list of things to get.

Russ Johns 29:19
Yeah, mine too. Mine too. I did invest in...I got another camera. So I got three sigma prime lenses. I got the 56 the 30 and the 16.

Jim Fuhs 29:31
Wow.

Russ Johns 29:32
I got the two 6400 Sony's. So I got that set up. I'm getting set up.

Jim Fuhs 29:38
I'll have to talk to you about that stuff.

Russ Johns 29:44
Yeah. And it's really a matter of just investing back in the business and making sure that you know where's the best choice going. However, it's like an instrument. You're playing an instrument, you're learning your instrument, you're experimenting with what it sounds like, what it can do, what it can make an impact with, so we just need to keep practicing.

Jim Fuhs 30:13
Absolutely.

Russ Johns 30:15
Well, Jim, this has been phenomenal conversation and I look forward to many more like this and getting involved and engaged in the community. If you're out there, and you're looking for some help and assistance, both Jim and I, reach out to us, ask questions, get the information you need to put on your own virtual event, build your own show, create your own experience, learn something new. You can always find me at RussJohns.com, , BookRuss if you want to call or the #PirateSyndicate™ . So Jim, where can people find you and track you down?

Jim Fuhs 30:57
Yeah, the best place is LinkedIn. Just look for Jim Fuhs. I claimed that name long ago, so there's there's only one of me. Also, fuhsionmarketing.com is my website. And I'm also very active on Twitter as well. I'd say LinkedIn is the best place. Same thing. You'd go to my profile, you can book a free call as well, if you want to have a conversation about stuff, because yeah, I think that's the big thing, right? I think you and I both, I have no problem sharing information with people, because a lot of this stuff is not rocket science. Ultimately, you got to decide if you're going to want to make the investment to get this stuff done yourself.

Russ Johns 31:42
Yeah and you have to make it enjoyable, too. Let's have fun with it. Let's enjoy it. Because when you do, it really makes a difference. It makes a difference in the outcome. So everyone here, thank you so much for being here. I truly appreciate the pirate community and I appreciate the fact that you are here and you joined us. If you're watching this remote or listening to the podcast or checking out the page on RussJohns.com, thank you so much. If you have questions, just drop me a note. I hang out on LinkedIn as well. You know, you can always reach me there. Just take a moment, think about how you can help yourself and have a fabulous week because #kindnessiscool, #smilesarefree and you #enjoytheday. Take care, everyone. Don't go away, Jim.

Exit 32:42
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