Fearless on Camera: Kim Rittberg’s Content Strategy for Business Growth

So when I first launched my business, it was because I was working during my childbirth. I was a media executive, and I found myself working during delivery and I, I realized I love my job, but this is not how I envisioned it going. If you're not showing up on camera, something is holding you back. Why am I not showing up on camera if it's a goal of mine? If you want to craft a business and a career that lets you be in charge, craft a career you love, we love.

Blaming external stuff, the market, our circumstances, other people, but honestly, it usually comes down to how we see ourselves. Your self image is either your biggest asset or your biggest roadblock. I break down how to shift this in a free training. I just dropped check it out in the description below.

Welcome back to Super Entrepreneurs Podcast. I'm your host, Shahid Dani, the show where we dive into the minds of high performing, high net worth entrepreneurs, innovators, and world class leaders. If you're someone who's always looking to grow, push limits, and think and do bigger, you're in the right place. Today's guest. Is someone who's knows how to turn attention into income in the most authentic way possible. Kim Ripper.

Kim is a digital marketing strategist, award-winning video coach, a host of a popular podcast called The Exit Interview. She's worked at. Powerhouse medias such as Netflix, people and US Weekly, and now she's helping our entrepreneurs and professionals stand out online with video and podcasting that actually connects. Welcome to our show, Kim. Great to have you. Thank you for having me. My pleasure. My pleasure. So you help so many people become more visible through video.

What's something you think entrepreneurs are completely getting wrong? When they try to show up on camera.

I think the biggest thing that we're getting wrong is that we exist in what I call super bottle mode. And we think everyone is judging us, not just yes, physical, but we think everyone's looking at our hair, our, our outfit, our voice. It's too deep. It's too high, it's too low. Yeah. But the truth is people really are in it for the message, and so we have to shift out of supermodel mode and into teacher mode. A teacher's at the top of the classroom. Right.

They're not worried about what they look like. They're not worried about how they sound. No. They're just. Focus on their message, and even people who think, no, I'm okay with how I look. I'm not that self-conscious. If you're not showing up on camera, something is holding you back, whether it's insecurity, imposter syndrome, concerns, you don't look or sound good. You really have to pull the layers back and say, why am I not showing up on camera if it's a goal of mine? Yeah. Yeah. Well said.

It's so important in today's marketplace or today as an entrepreneur, you know, not to be on video. I was super consumed with what other people may think of me on camera. When I started, even my social media posts, I would post mostly of famous people and their coats. So I'll put a image and then I'll put a code so I don't have to put myself on. And you know, it's coming from childhood obviously, that I had to work on, but it was always about what they thought of me and that would hold me back.

I remember feeling so nervous. What if I make a mistake? What if I don't know what to say? Right? What would they think of me? And then some family members would come in and a story would play that they're making fun of me. You know what I mean? Like it was just a. Clip of some kind of a story that I would tell myself to even reinforce that belief, but you know, how I replace that fear is by working on my, the self-talk directly.

Sure. So my working on my self image, I started doing self-talk visualizing, you know, creating that confident person on camera. So I started seeing myself doing that and. And I started seeing myself not worry about people and, and not in a negative way, in a positive way, that I'm just here to add value kind of thing. Mm-hmm. And I noticed the more I did this, and the more I acted that part, the more I got comfortable with the camera and it changed everything. Yeah.

And I think, you know, I'm honest about the fact that even though I had been in media for 15 years, Netflix, US Weekly, I was a TV producer. Yeah. When I had to start showing up for my own business, it took me a while. Like I heard those same negative voices. Yeah. And I am literally like an award-winning video producer. Of course. I know the skills. I, I think it's important just to be real with ourself. Yeah. And a lot of people say, no, no, I'm fine with myself on camera.

I say, okay, then why have you not posted one video in 12 months? I'm not saying there's anything wrong with you, but I'm saying Peel back. Peel back and figure out the reason and then use your why. So I, I ask people, okay, identify your motivation. Right. Do you wanna grow your business? Do you wanna make an impact? Do you want a more flexible lifestyle? For a lot of people, this new world of digital businesses, online, flexibility has created all new opportunities.

Like, so for me, I wanna do what I'm good at, but I also want to be able to see my kids for dinner every day. And for me, that pushed me through. I was like, yeah, you know, I feel a little cringey on camera, like maybe I am a little robotic at first. And over time you get better. But you have to say, this is important to me. I'm gonna prioritize this. And then.

Once you say, this is important to me, I can teach you all the tips and tools and tactics, but that mental block is real and people need to acknowledge it first before they get into it. So it's, it is inner work that needs to be done. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Good point. Absolutely. So for the audience, you know, I'm trying new things, always learning from others 'cause I, I have a beginner's mind that I'm always looking to be mentored and coached by others.

I don't believe I know it all, so I just try to improve. And so if you ever felt awkward on, according a video. Video of yourself, please drop a yes in the comments and definitely get in touch with Kim to see how she can help. So I appreciate you guys and thank you for tuning in the YouTube folks and audio. So Kim, you have had content on Netflix and us. Weekly, they're obviously giants in storytelling. How did those environments shape your own voice when it came to building your personal brand?

Sure. I mean, I think that tonally we all have things that we are drawn to.

And I think the most important thing is really having a clarity of message of who you are. So I have a thing I call the four Cs. The first is confidence, like what we just talked about, really believing I'm here, I should be out there. And another C is clarity. You have to know who you are, why you're different. And what's special about you? Netflix is different. It's not just a streamer. It knows exactly who it is and every time you see it, it knows exactly who it is.

US Weekly, my job was to take the magazine and the online brand and translate that to video. They knew who they were and it was me to say, okay, how do I take that brand and translate it to video in new ways, not just, oh, this article turned it into a video. Really. Pushing the envelope to say like, what new video series can we create that feel on brand and fun, clarity of brand and clarity of message.

And that means every time you make a video, you have to know who you are and what you're talking about. But also every single video, one message, one video, one message. Super simple. Mm yes, we're really busy. We have eight second attention spans. You gotta get so quickly and you gotta be really clear. True. So I think the clarity is something that was always there for me at these companies.

Like the sort of content I would make for Netflix or the sort of content I would make for us weekly is not the content I made when I was in cable news. That's a totally different brand. It's a totally different message. So it's really thinking about, let's say there's five of you. Imagine like five. Of you competitors, exact same industry. What makes you different? Don't overthink it. Don't let it be like, oh, I'm not different. It's like you are different.

Yeah, you yourself makes it different, but you have to really, really be clear on that and always show up as that. We all have Google, we all have chat. You between, yeah. Everybody can write the same stuff. That's not, that's not a thing anymore. So really bringing in your, your unique perspective. Yeah. Unique. Mm-hmm. I like that. So it's awesome. No, it's always that important, right? To bring that, yeah. Authenticity of who you are.

And you know, this word has been used a lot since CO. But it's, it really is true, you know, just to bring your own self, the one that you would have at home in front of your kids, you know, like stuff that personality, just bring it. You don't have to complicate it, just like Nike says, just do it and get yourself on camera, but create that belief system that everything's okay. You know, it's okay if you're not perfect.

It's okay if you don't know the lines at times and you stutter or you make a mistake. People are, are generally going to comment. That's just the way it is. But we have to have that barrier of, have that confidence, like you mentioned within, to know that what you're doing is purely driven based on what you're trying to provide people, the value, right? Yeah. If you focus on that, you just start feeling better too. Sure. Absolutely. Yeah. So when you're coaching someone who's.

Terrified of being judged on camera like I used to. What's one little shift that helps them unlock their true personality fast? So I love your question about fast.

I think that's a relative, but I think the most important thing is just consistency in doing it. Yeah. So that's another C that I teach. Confidence, clarity, consistency. You have to keep doing it. It's like you can't go to the gym once. And then the next day you're like, my muscles aren't bigger. How come my muscles aren't bigger? You just have to do it consistently, and I think it just so true, it just takes a while.

I mean, I did some on-camera reporting when I was a producer for national cable news. On the weekends I wanted to do on-camera reporting and already I was a national producer. I knew how to write. Stories. I knew how to tell stories, but showing up on camera is a different skill. It is a audio, video, communication based verbal skill. So when I went on camera, my first clips were like, hello, this is Kim Ripper reporting for files fun news, and that's not my voice, and that's okay.

It took a little while to get that comfortable voice where it's more conversational, it's less stilted. That takes time. A work with a coach B, put in the reps, and then just be easier on yourself. The first video. Sucks. The third video sucks a little less. The fifth video sucks a little bit less. It just takes time. And just don't be your worst critic like we are our worst critic. Yeah, so true. And if you're waiting for a perfect video, you're never gonna do it.

And if you don't put in the consistency, you don't put in the reps, you're never gonna get better. It is impossible to be better on camera without consistently being on camera. So if you're like, I'll do it when I have a fancy video crew in my house that's too late. You need to be consistently talking to the camera, consistently showing up. Even if you don't post it, you have to talk to your camera. You have to record yourself. It's just a different muscle.

It is not a normal, natural thing to speak to an inanimate object, and that's okay. It just takes practice. Inanimate object the camera. Because we're in this era of technology and digital and social media, we take it for granted. Like, ah, just talk to your camera. I've trained hundreds. Of people. I've trained thousands of people in seminars, workshops, one-on-one work. Like I have met so many people, and the truth is you can't just say, hold up your camera and record it.

It's not a natural motion and that's okay. We just have to acknowledge it is okay if I said to you, take up your water bottle, and so start talking to it. It's like that's kind of weird, right? So we have to acknowledge that it makes you feel a certain way and understanding that. Says to you, okay, this is just a new skill I need to acquire. Instead, we act like everybody should just record themselves and it's totally natural. It's not natural, and that's okay.

Put in the rep, put in the work, do the mindset work, then use the practice skills, and I have a free download of how you can get comfortable on camera. You can visit berg.com/tips, or you can message me on Instagram or LinkedIn, but it's just really important to say. It's a new skill that we need to acquire. You need training, you need a coach. You need to take a class. That's okay. That's okay. Mm-hmm. Yeah know.

And people, we tend to shift behaviors and for example, we'll try to do this more often according to video. Maybe we do it for a couple weeks, but then we fall back, something happens, a thought comes, we make some excuses or reasoning that we do within. And we stop it, for example. Then a couple weeks later we come back. I notice is that if the belief isn't there on the subconscious level, it's very difficult to keep it.

Even if you do it for 30 days, like they say to change a behavior, uh, you haven't done the foundational work, the feeling. The emotional side of you for that activity, I feel like there's a tendency for it to kind of bother you, right? Unless you create that as a belief system. Yeah. And there's in your core. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So I noticed that you rebranded mom's exit interview to the exit interview. Can you share that decision? You know, what happened that you wanted to do that? Sure.

So when I first launched my business. It was because I was working during my childbirth. I was a media executive and I found myself working during delivery and I, I realized I love my job, I love the work I do, but this is not how I envisioned it going. And so I personally was driven. My why was to work that I love, but in a way that I can see my kids. And so for me it was something I was thinking about as a parent. And so I launched my podcast like, how are.

People balancing work and their not necessarily businesses, how are they crafting their careers at work for them as a parent? What I realize over time is what I'm really teaching people is anyone who wants to pave their own path, whether they're parents, whether they're not parents, no matter what. It's really more, the common thread is do you want to craft a career you love? Right? Do you wanna build a business? That's not the primary thing.

It's the common thread is if you want to craft a business. And a career that lets you be in charge, we should talk. And so that's why I changed it to the exit interview. 'cause it really wasn't really about parenting at all. Understood. Um, and so I think over time I'm realizing, oh, a lot of my clients, you know, some are parents, many aren't, many are dog parents, many are, yeah. Wanting to build their own business. 'cause they want flexibility. They wanna travel the world.

Other people are like, I just wanna make as much money as, as I can. Makes sense. So I think that the really, the common thread was that everyone is self-employed and that they wanted to really build a business that makes sense for them. Yeah, no, makes sense. Thank you for answering that. Uh, hopefully I didn't dig, like I was just trying to understand that shift. Yeah, no, good. Yeah, because yeah, I just realized that my decision evolved.

What I realized was my business not evolved, my business had been growing and that my podcast had kind of been stuck with. Why I personally, my personal experience, but that's not really aligned with my business. 'cause my business is come as you are. If you're building a business for yourself, like you're my client, right? If you need to sell, mm-hmm. If you need to make people like you and trust you, we should talk. It doesn't matter if you're a parent or not, it really doesn't.

It's really about crafting career that you love. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. So let's say someone has only 60 minutes in a week to create content and start publishing videos. What's your simplest. Strategy to help them stand out and still grow with that time availability. The most efficient way to make content is, I'm sure you've heard the term batching. It's basically doing a lot at the same time. So we're in a multitasking world, but actually it takes time for your brain to shift back and forth.

So if you're gonna sit down and film the video, don't film one video. Film four videos, and then take that time. To then finish the videos as simple or as involved as you can. If you hate tech, no problem. There's all of these amazing AI tools that that could do it for you. If you like to edit, do it yourself. If you wanna hire someone to do it for you, fine. You should film your own videos. It should be you on camera. Video is the most effective tool I. It gets shared.

The most people say they want it, like people actually, they interact with video the most, but also social media promotes video. So I would say sit down instead of filming one video. Film four videos. Either outsource it or edit it yourself with an amazing AI tool. The most important thing is like finish it. So write up a tiny caption. Put it in your scheduler, whatever, then like make it happen. Don't have like a whole folder full of content mm-hmm. That you like didn't do anything with.

So I think that's really important is like, don't let that content just sit there. So AI tools, do you have any recommendations to do some

funky editing to videos? I mean, I really think for everybody play around and see what you like. Cap cut. Super easy. Super easy to work with. I used to use InShot. Also really easy. I'm talking about, these are not things that I tell my video editors, they don't tell me about. They use like more advanced tools. These are things for everyday people. Yeah. They use Adobe Premier, they use whatever. Yeah. But regular people. I would say Cap cut's amazing. InShot ISS really good.

If you're doing a podcast, people love Riverside. The script, all of these things have kind of similar tools. You go in, you record something, AI will chop it up for you if you want. Like I think it's really, there's a lot of tools out there. It really depends on what you enjoy using. And also if you hate tech, you don't like tech, it trips you up. It takes too long. Get someone else, hire someone else to do it for you. I think that's really important to say, where should I be spending my time?

So like for me, there are certain things I'm like, I shouldn't put my time here. I'm not good at it, I don't like it. It's gonna take me a really long time. Those are the parts of my business that I outsource. Hmm. And the batch work is very much easier and efficient with a podcast, for example. Right? Sure. Totally. That you can, you can chop it up in so many pieces.

And so one thing I would pop about a podcast I would say though, is like, you really have to be like really focused on what the content is of your podcast that is going to, like, I. Really attract people. Uh, two boxes talking is like not really the best video for social media. That's not really what people respond to. So think about like, can I use this idea and make it a different way? Can I show just one person talking animation? Yeah, animation.

Just really things that will keep your videos more interesting for people. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, even with Alex Hormo when he started, you know, one of the reasons why he exploded so quickly was his uniqueness in editing. You know, his, his videos was standing out, right? Yeah. So, for entrepreneurs watching this, please, if you're on YouTube, it's easier to comment audio. You really can, unless you leave a review.

You know, if you can share with us what's your biggest roadblock in making content right now? Is it time, fear ideas? Please share with us in the comments, you know, we would love to help wherever we can. So you, we often talk about how content isn't just about selling, right? It's about connecting. So true. Can you walk us through a moment when one, I. Piece actually changed someone's brand or life, you know, just one piece of content that made a difference.

Sure. So I have a program called Video Bootcamp that people go through and it's a literally a training program like bootcamp, but for video. So it puts you on camera, it gets, you know, gets you confident on camera and it actually forces you to be on camera. And I teach people how to write great content and how to make great content. Everything from getting on camera to actually making and posting good content. I have had clients make hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Extra on top of their already exist salary directly from videos. They're getting clients that are saying, okay, oh, I, I've been watching you for several months. I really feel like you're an expert. I wanted to connect with you. Do you have room in your schedule for a new client? Like really directly from video? So I think that a lot of people think that it's just kind of a nice to have. They're doing it 'cause they feel like they should be. But it's a game changer. It's a game changer.

One of my clients in Houston, her name is Jessica, she started showing up and we were kind of really letting people get to know her and her unique perspective. We brought in the fact that like she's a business owner. And has some little kids and like kind of making her more real, showing more of her real life. I mean, literally last year she made several hundred thousand dollars additional in income because she was able to bring in additional clients through social media.

And that's happening a lot. Like I have another woman in Canada, the same thing, another person in New York City. And so it's really important. It can do so many things. So it can bring in clients. I've had another client bring on speaking engagement. She got a big speaking engagement from one video. Another client got a lot of podcast interviews, another client got a press hit.

So no matter where you're looking, whether you wanna be a thought leader, you wanna bring in revenue, you wanna grow your impact, video can work for all of those things. Mm-hmm. That's great. So is it, is it automated? Automated. How so? You mean like is it AI driven or is it just basically a course where you actually learn from A to Z? Oh no, I do live coaching. I actually teach the course, so it's live coaching with me. Oh, okay. It's both video bootcamp I take people through.

There's like eight modules that we learn everything from how to get on camera confidently, how to write good scripts, how to actually good videos, how to connect directly with clients, what to say to them, how to have collaborations, everything. But it's a live coaching program that I have called Video Bootcamp. So would you do another.

Quick live coaching with me. I would love, let's do it. Your feedback it and tell me what you think. Let do it. You know, like any recommendations for me or any coaching for me? Well, I would have to look, I would have to like do a screen share and a feedback session with you. Oh. Like, not, like right now, as we're speaking, there's no real coaching or feedback you can provide. Well, let me see. I could look up, I could look up online. I'll, I'll, I'll look you up online. Okay. All right.

All right. And don't worry about my feelings. You know, you could be honest. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Okay. Hold on. All right. Okay, so, oh, okay. So number one, I would say, okay, I'll give you some feedback. I'm looking at your, um, podcast page, right? Okay. Okay. So most really, really, really important. So for listeners here, um, I'm looking at Shah's Instagram page. Is that good? Look at your Instagram page, or YouTube or what?

Yes. Yes. Okay. So what we always want is we want people to come to your page and know exactly what you're about and exactly what each video is about. So the first most important thing is the hook. So whatever each video is about, let's say this video is about like the biggest mistake you're making on video. That's a good headline. And then you should show. Maybe me and you, but like, you want the headline.

So what I'm seeing for a couple of these covers is I'm just seeing the words over the course. When we look at, oh, I'm going to do, so me as a user, I actually don't know what I'm getting from that video, so I'm not gonna click Mm. But if, if that more specific, oh, I'm going to do that person's like, um, oh, I'm going to fly to Canada for this thing today. Or like, you just blew my mind. Like I would look at like, maybe you just blew my mind, or it has to be a, a. Proper hook.

Yeah. It has to be to get their attention hook. Yeah. It has to be a proper hook. So that's the cover, that's the hook or the headline. Or you could just make a pretty reels cover. That's the main thing I would say. I'm not clear on what each video is. Okay. No, no, that's good. Yeah. No, I, and I watch Appreciate that. Thank, thank you. So that's, yeah. So you got a little bit of live coaching. I'll, I'll send you the invoice later. Okay. I'll send, okay. No, that's great. No, it's great.

These kind of things people like, right? They like to see. Sure. You know, uh, live interactions and what we can do, they wanna know Is Kim full of it? Is Kim full of it? No, Kim's actually looking. Okay. Kim's not full of it. Yeah. She knows what she's talking about. Yeah. You can always tell energetically these things, just the power of a human intuition. Mm-hmm. But also the fact. Is that you lead with results, right? That's the beautiful part. Yeah, of course.

Definitely have these programs available. Come you wanna check me out? That's how I do it. You know, say, okay, if you, you want to test me, I have everything available. Yeah. That's worth thousands of dollars for free. Test me come. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, totally. So I'm putting it all out there and I'm saying, come, you know, follow the instructions, follow what I'm, what I'm sharing. Do the work and you'll see transformations. Yeah, exactly. That's how I can prove it.

And I'm not gonna take a dime from you. Right. So that's how I prove it. And that's wonderful that you're doing this for people because it's so important out there. Yeah. All these little intricacies in business matter. Yeah, totally. You know, it's not just simply setting up a company and creating a a logo. Totally. There was so much more to it. So I appreciate. Was there a point in your life when you actually hit rock bottom and you elevated yourself?

Was there some kind of internal transformation you dealt with?

I mean, I will say that working during childbirth and realizing like. Yeah, this is all so pointless. What am I doing? I think that that was a real identity crisis, and then I worked really hard for a long time in media. It's really one of those jobs. Yeah, it sounds glamorous. It's very hard, like if you've made it, New York City is the number one market in all of the us If you're making it in New York City, like it's just hard. Like hours are long. People are tough. It's very competitive.

Every single person wants to move to New York City, get a job in media. So by the time I had felt like I made it and then I found myself working during childbirth. Then I quit media. I was thinking like, oh, you're so connected. Your identity is so connected to your job. Is anyone gonna hire me again? Like, who is gonna respond to my emails? Like, who, who's gonna work with me? And that was so narrow of thinking, but I was like really feeling total existential crisis of like, who am I?

And so I think that was just a really big identity crisis for me. And I, you know, it's, I like to be real with people that it's not always just like, Hey, like, uh, you know, I left media and then I'd launched my business and now everything's amazing. It's like. It was really hard. Real. It was really hard. I didn't even launched my business for two years. It took me two years before even launching my business because I didn't have it really. I was like, what are people gonna hire me for?

What is it gonna look like? And like I had only made a few thousand dollars freelancing between jobs before. I didn't really know how I could make like a real career, and so it took a while for me to get my head around that. But it's the best decision I ever made. I am. Like the avatar for all my clients. You know, not only do I have a really thriving coaching business and I love helping people, but I'm speaking like I have a TEDx in May. I'm a keynote speaker, a paid keynote speaker.

I'm writing for Fast Company. So not only do I love the work I'm doing like with my clients, like that's just incredible. But I am getting to have kind of that like glamorous thing that I did get used to have, which it came from the good companies, but now it's myself. Like those things are just, it's yourself. Bullets on my resume instead of the other way around. Yeah. I love it. Kim, congratulations. Thank you to you.

Keep going. Well, I, well, I like it because I wanna see that for my clients. Like I, I do this. Yeah, I do this because like, being on video has changed my life. Like the only way that I was able to build this business where I could see my kids is by showing up on camera. And now I'm getting to teach other people that. And so it's just really, it's. Really gratifying for me. Yeah. At the end of the day, you're naturally working with the law of cause and effect, right?

You're just focusing on doing good for others. Yeah. You know, and you're giving them these tools that you experienced that could help them elevate you. You're showing them how to do it. Yeah. From your time. You know, obviously everybody needs to get paid right. For, for what they offer. Sure. But that energy that you put into that service, that's where the gold is.

You know, it's, you're just a number with someone is different, but you, when you care for a client, it changes the dynamics of the actual results as well. Totally. Absolutely. Yeah. No, I, I really enjoyed our talk. Kim, thank you so much. It was great having you on the show. Thank you so much. You know, for audience, anyone wants to drop a comment about the episode or with Kim, if you have a question, please do any debates you wanna spark up about video content, please go ahead. We'll love it.

Thank you so much, and Kim, appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you so much.