How to know what to say when the camera is staring back at you.
You sit down to record a video. You hit record. And then… nothing.
Your mind goes blank. All that expertise you’ve spent years building? Gone. You’re staring at the camera like it’s a stranger who asked you a question in a language you don’t speak.
That moment has a name. I call it blank page syndrome, and it’s one of the most common reasons people never get started with video.
Why your brain freezes (and why it’s not your fault)
Most of us who come from a corporate or professional background default to a very specific way of sharing information. Reports. PowerPoints. Research-backed presentations with citations and caveats.
That instinct kicks in when we try to make videos, and it’s the wrong one.
You start thinking you need to sound polished. Official. Like you’ve done your research. So you overthink, over-prepare, and eventually do nothing. Or you record something so stiff it sounds like you’re reading from a legal document, because in your head, you basically are.
There’s also the comparison trap. You’re watching creators in your niche who look effortless, and you’re comparing their year five to your day one. What you don’t see is what their first videos looked like. (Hint: not great. Nobody starts polished.)
The coffee shop test
Here’s a simple way to check if you’re approaching your content wrong.
Imagine you’re at a coffee shop and someone asks you for advice in your area of expertise. You don’t reach for your phone. You don’t say, “Hold on, let me write a script.” You just answer, because you know the answer. You’ve always known the answer.
That’s your video voice.
The way you explain something to a friend, a colleague, or a stranger who’s genuinely asking — that’s what your audience needs. Not the polished version, not the corporate version. The version that just comes out.
Your camera doesn’t erase your expertise. It amplifies it. The goal is to stop seeing the camera as a test you might fail and start seeing it as a room full of people who need exactly what you know.
You don’t need new information. You need to share what you have.
One of the biggest traps I see is chasing novelty. People want to talk about a brand-new tool or a methodology they just heard of, because they think that’s what will make them stand out.
It won’t. It’ll make you sound stiff, because you’re reciting something you don’t actually know yet.
You already have what you need. The only rule is that you need to be at least two levels ahead of the person you’re speaking to. Not ten levels. Not five. Just two. You share what you did to get from where they are to where you are. That’s it.
And here’s the other thing: you need to say the same things over and over again. Not because you’ve run out of ideas, but because your audience needs the repetition. Think about politicians and their stump speech.
It always used to annoy me too, why are they saying the same thing again?
Because you never know who’s hearing you for the first time. Consistency is how your message lands, how your audience learns what you do, and how they eventually trust you enough to want more.
How to beat the blank page: the voice dump method
If you’re not a natural writer (I’m not), this is what actually works.
Grab your phone and open Voice Memos. Or if you’re at your computer, use Audacity. It’s free. Hit record. Whatever the topic is, just talk. Stream of consciousness, no editing, no pressure. A question someone asked you, an idea that popped up, a thing you’ve been meaning to say. Just dump it out loud.
Then take that audio and bring it into NotebookLM. Upload the audio file directly and it’ll transcribe it automatically. From there, you can ask it to pull out three main points, generate an outline or a script, write a hook, or suggest a call to action.
You don’t need to script every word from scratch. A few bullet points posted right under your camera so you can glance down and just talk. That’s all you need.
Start before you’re ready (and start small)
If you’re not ready to go direct to camera, that’s fine. We’re building to that.
The first video format we’re working on in the lab is a faceless video. Your audience hears your voice but doesn’t see your face.
Put a question on the screen.
Answer it.
Get comfortable with the sound of your own voice, the act of finishing something and pressing publish.
That’s the rung we’re starting on. Once it feels manageable, you move up.
The fastest way to get better at video is to make videos. Not to watch videos about making videos, not to wait until your setup is perfect, not to wait until you feel ready. You learn by doing, and you get comfortable by doing it repeatedly.
Your audience, the specific people who can only understand it when it comes from you, is out there waiting. And what they need most right now is for you to show up.
Your challenge this week
Pick three topics you could talk about without notes for 10 minutes each.
Don’t overthink it. What do you know? What do people ask you about? What could you explain to a stranger in a coffee shop without flinching?
Write them down, then head into the lab and post them in the community thread. Next week, we’re going to take one of those topics and turn it into your first video.
Want to be part of the live masterclasses?
These EVAL sessions happen every Wednesday at 12pm. We dig into the real stuff: not theory, but the actual steps to get visible on video without burning out or selling your soul to the algorithm.
If you want a place to learn and show up alongside people who are figuring this out right with you, come join us in the Embrace Video Action Lab.
The replay library is there.
The challenges are there.
So are the people who are exactly two rungs behind you, waiting for what only you can share.
You Ask | I Answer is a weekly masterclass series for business owners and experts who want to build visibility through video, without the overwhelm or the pretending.
