Every October I run a little challenge called Out There October: one video a day, every day, all month. No sign-up. No rules. No penalties if you miss a day. The only goal is to get comfortable with video — because comfort is the whole game.
I have been evangelizing daily video since around 2015, and the premise has never changed. You do not need permission, equipment, or a strategy deck. You need reps. Thirty days of reps will do more for your visibility than any course on "personal branding."
WHY VIDEO, WHY NOW
LinkedIn is actively pushing video right now, and short-form video earns engagement on Instagram too. Here is what most founders miss: video drives free awareness. No ad budget required. The moment someone connects with you on LinkedIn, they are in your network — a video in their feed keeps you visible without spending a dime.
The deeper win is developing what I call a video voice. Most of us have thoughts worth sharing; we just never built the muscle of saying them out loud on camera. A month of daily posting builds that muscle fast.
WHO THIS IS FOR
This is for the founder, the marketer, the RevOps lead, the salesperson — anyone whose work would benefit from being seen but who feels camera-shy, inconsistent, or stuck for ideas. If people keep perceiving you as a newcomer because you never show up, this fixes that.
THE NO-PRESSURE RULES
Rule one: you do not have to record every day. Batch-record several videos in one sitting and schedule them out across the month. Rule two: missing a day carries no penalty. This is practice, not punishment. The people who finish the month are the ones who made it easy on themselves at the start.
YOUR CAPTURE SETUP
Start with your phone. Open the camera, hit the big red button, done — vertical or horizontal. And here is the part camera-shy founders need to hear: you do not have to show your face. Flip to the rear camera and show your work instead — your desk, your process, a behind-the-scenes moment. Makers and builders do this brilliantly.
For tutorials and talking-head videos, Zoom and Loom are your friends. And if you want one recording to serve everywhere, look at Riverside: record horizontal once, then crop to vertical with one click. Same content, YouTube and LinkedIn on one side, Reels and Shorts on the other.
THE EDITING SHORTCUT
Record one long video, then chop it into clips. Descript lets you pull a single sentence into its own composition and export it as a standalone clip. On mobile, CapCut, InShot, Adobe Rush, or iMovie all get the job done. You do not need Premiere Pro. You need done.
WHAT TO TALK ABOUT
First, know your purpose — sales, job hunting, teaching — and know exactly who you are talking to. Then never stare at a blank page again with these topic sources: AnswerThePublic (type a seed topic, see the real questions people ask), Google's suggested searches, the Ahrefs and Keywords Everywhere browser extensions for search volume, BuzzSumo for what is trending, and Pinterest for idea-style content. My favorite source? The questions that come up on your sales calls and customer conversations. Answer those on video and you will never run out of material. Opinion takes work too — "somebody said X, and here is what I think" is a whole content category.
WHAT MAKES A VIDEO ENGAGING
Engaging means two things: it is relevant to the viewer, and it keeps them watching. Delivery, charisma, and format all matter. The highest-performing formats are entertainment (make people laugh or feel something), storytelling (hooks, curiosity, a crescendo), and education that is genuinely relevant to someone's job.
Keep it short. A relevant 60-to-90-second video will outperform a rambling ten-minute one every time. Watch your analytics — if people leave after three seconds, that is data. Diagnose it, tighten the hook, and post again tomorrow.
ONE VIDEO, EVERY PLATFORM
You do not need unique content for every platform. I repost the same videos across channels because the audiences are different. Just respect the format: Reels want 15 to 90 seconds, LinkedIn favors horizontal, YouTube long-form is horizontal while Shorts are vertical. Cut accordingly.
If you want a head start, map your thirty days in the Digital Life Planner — its scheduling tabs were made for exactly this kind of streak. And if you need polished thumbnails and cover images without filming anything new, the AI Stock Photos pack has you covered. Want first dibs on new drops while you build your video habit? Join the Savvy List.