Camera Shy? How a LinkedIn Writer Recorded His First Videos in One Session
Norbert Benedekffy knew he should post videos. He just couldn't get from “I should” to “it's recorded”. Here's what changed in less than a month.
By Evgeny Maximov·7 min read·
A strong personal brand on LinkedIn built on text. He tried video before, but never stuck with it.
Helped with topics and scripts, set up his camera on a call, directed the first session, then edited and delivered in 2–3 days.
In less than a month, a set of short videos he's proud of, and the confidence to record more, including long-form.
Knowing you should post videos is not the problem
YouTube and video in general can be scary. Not because the camera bites. Because there are so many actions between “I should post videos” and a video that's actually live.
Norbert builds email systems for coaches and founders. He has a real audience on LinkedIn, all built with text and pictures. He knew video would help. He had even tried it: recorded a video, edited it in CapCut, posted it on LinkedIn. And then he stopped.
“Knowing that you should post a video and knowing how to actually do all these steps, it's like two completely different worlds.”
From my intro to the interview with Norbert
Why it's so hard to start making videos
Norbert explained it better than I could. He said: when you decide to post videos, you're here, and posting is there. And between them there are about seven steps. Topics. Script. Camera. Light. Sound. Recording. Editing. Publishing.
His example: you weigh 50 kilograms and decide to build 20 kilograms of muscle. You have zero right now. So the first goal can't be “20 kilograms”. It's “go to the gym today”. With video, the first goal is 30 seconds of footage. Or just talking to the camera.
That's what changed for him. Not motivation. The steps. “This is just one step from where I am. OK, I checked that. What's next?”
Why we chose small steps over big goals
Norbert had other offers. People offered to edit his videos, some even for free. Their message was: “You record, send it over, I'll do the rest.” That's exactly the part he couldn't do alone.
So we started from the beginning. Topics. How to form his ideas so they fit video. I joined a call and showed him how to set up his camera. And when he watched his footage and felt “that's not really me”, I told him the truth: it is you, the emotions come through, it's OK.
Writer, actor, director: the three roles that slow you down
This was Norbert's biggest “holy crap” moment. In our first session he had one script ready and the goal was three videos. The first video took about 20 minutes to record. We kept stopping. He wanted to fix phrases while talking. I was pulling him back.
Then it clicked. When you record alone, you're the writer, the actor and the director at the same time. That's why it's slow and painful. So we split the roles.
Every take stops halfway. The first video took about 20 minutes to record.
The next two videos took about 9 minutes each.
| Video in the session | Time to record |
|---|---|
| Video 1 · all roles at once | about 20 minutes |
| Video 2 · roles split | about 9 minutes |
| Video 3 · roles split | just under 9 minutes |
He cut his time in half, and the videos got better. Norbert called it two weeks of improvement in one hour.
Two more things I tell every camera-shy founder. First, if you feel slow on camera, don't force yourself to talk faster. We speed some speakers up by about 10% in the edit. Nobody notices it, but the video feels much more alive and people watch longer. Second, if you're calm by nature, that's fine. Calm doesn't work in a 30-second Short, but in a long video a calm, precise expert is exactly who a buyer trusts. Pick the format that fits you, not the one that fits a TikTok star.
Don't polish the script. Say it in your own words
I watched Norbert overcomplicate things. He'd spend time on a specific phrase, and then not use it while recording. He used his own words instead, and they were better.
He compared it to the gym. When he has a program written at home, he just executes. When he doesn't, he wastes time between sets thinking about the next exercise. Recording is the same. Prepare the thinking before. On camera, just execute.
The freestyle videos became his favorites
Part of the session was freestyle. Norbert recorded it just to talk and experiment. He didn't expect anything from it.
We picked parts out of those freestyle takes, and they became his favorite videos from the whole set. That's the job he actually wanted to delegate. Not “cut from second 20 to second 40”. Someone with taste, who sees what's good when you're too close to your own content.
“Editing, everyone can edit a video nowadays. What impressed me was the ability to spot things, to pick them out and leave them in.”
Norbert Benedekffy, founder of Alpha Vision
Who is the bottleneck?
I asked about delivery speed. Norbert laughed. He was sitting there “waiting” for videos, then got a message from us asking for something, and realized: “Oh, it's my turn.” Our delivery was 2 to 3 days. He couldn't record as fast as we could edit.
That's normal, by the way. With almost every client, the bottleneck is the person on camera, not the team. That's why we ask for one filming day a month, not one every week.
What Norbert recommends to other founders
His advice was simple. If you don't want to spend 6 or 12 months piecing together random advice, get people who have done it. In two or three weeks you can go from posting nothing to having videos you're proud of.
And his measure of success for the first videos? Not views. It's like photos. You take pictures on your own and think you look bad. Then someone says “stand like this, turn your head”, and you like how you look. First, make videos you're proud to post. The results come after.
Next for him: post the short videos on LinkedIn next to his text posts, record more short-form, and then move to long-form. With video, people get his words, his voice and his face. In his words, the more time potential clients spend with you, the higher the chance they buy from you. If you want someone behind the camera from day one, see how our done-for-you YouTube service works.
FAQ
How do I record my first video if I'm afraid of the camera?
Make the first step tiny: 30 seconds of footage, not a finished video. Then split the job into roles: write the script first, record it without judging, and review it only after. Norbert Benedekffy used this approach and recorded three videos in one session.
Why is it so hard to start making videos for my business?
Because “post videos” hides many steps: topics, script, camera, light, sound, recording, editing and publishing. Norbert described it as about seven steps between where he was and a posted video. When you see only the goal, it feels too far away to start.
How long does it take to get comfortable on camera?
Less time than most people think. Norbert's first video took about 20 minutes to record, the next two took about 9 minutes each. That's why we say one filming session can give you the progress of weeks of practice alone.
Should I read a script word for word on camera?
No. Use the script to know what to say, then say it in your own words. Norbert spent time polishing exact phrases and then didn't use them while recording. Your brain can't act and edit text at the same time.
What are the three roles in making a video?
Writer, actor and director. The writer prepares the script, the actor records it without stopping to fix things, and the director reviews it afterwards. When one person does all three at once, recording slows down and the result gets worse.
Do freestyle videos work, or do I always need a script?
Freestyle can work very well if someone with a good eye edits it. Norbert recorded some freestyle videos just to experiment, and the clips we picked from them became his favorite videos from the whole set.
What's the difference between a video editor and a video team?
An editor cuts what you tell them to cut. A team helps with topics, scripts, camera setup and picks the best moments without you pointing at each second. Norbert had free editing offers and chose the team because it helped with the whole process.
How fast can a team deliver edited videos?
In Norbert's case, about 2 to 3 days. He said the real bottleneck was him: the team could deliver faster than he could record.
Should I start with short-form or long-form video?
If you've never been on camera, start with short videos. Norbert planned long-form first, then realized he needed more short-form practice before the jump. It's like training: you don't start with the heaviest weight.
Why should a LinkedIn creator add video?
Text only gives people your words. Video adds your voice and your face, so people get to know you faster. Norbert's view: the more time potential clients spend with you, the higher the chance they buy from you.
Who is Norbert Benedekffy?
Norbert Benedekffy is the founder of Alpha Vision, which builds email systems for coaches and founders. He grew his personal brand on LinkedIn with text posts before adding video.
Full video transcript
Transcript of “if you struggle to record your first video, watch this”. Auto-generated from the spoken video, lightly formatted.
Speaker 1 YouTube can be scary, terrifying, annoying because you need to do a lot of actions to post only one video. And Norbert had the same feeling because he wanted to create videos but something holds him back. Knowing that you should post a video and knowing how to actually do all these steps to actually post a video, it's like completely two different worlds. So what happened with Norbert? We started working together and we created a bunch of videos to break these limiting beliefs that oh you can do this you can actually post content and you just need to invest one day a month to record a bunch of videos that's all this conversation is helpful for people who for example build a big brand on linkedin with short form text content but they want to do videos but still something holds you back and you don't know how to start doing this activity watch this video till the end because i asked norbert a lot of questions about what changed during our work together can you share more details about why you decided to like okay i want to try out like short Speaker 2 form videos short form videos are good for top of the funnel so whenever you post them you can attract new people with it but the reason i i said yes to you and i had a lot of uh inquiries of people to edit my videos for free and like stuff like that but the reason i said yes to you was because you offer to help with the process of it so you see how the process looks like from the inside and they were only telling me hey you go record your videos and just send it over and i'm gonna do it for me while you were there helping me with the topics how to articulate it how to form my ideas so it fits videos you joined a call with me you showed me how to set up my camera you reassured me that even when I felt like that was not really me on the camera and I felt I re-watched the video and I was unsure that that would go through the camera and through the monitors that as i wanted it to you pretty much master the process yourself you were able to help me not just with like the technical part but also like how to get there you made it easy to say yes and barely impossible to say no so that was because it was so good and and the process was the same.
So you set some expectations, you made it easy to entry, but you also delivered. Speaker 1 It was like the first experience of recording the videos or did you try it before? Speaker 2 I tried it before. I tried it, but I never stuck with the habit because I think I just didn't get enough positive feedback out of it. So when I posted my first video on LinkedIn, I basically just recorded the video and I just edited it with CapCut. But I think even the mindset was just not there. So I was trying to, when I recorded videos with you, it was from a different perspective.
I was trying to explain something. When I tried it before, I was trying to, I wouldn't say impress, but I think you get what I'm getting at. It was like I have to act in a way where I'm not myself. As when I did it with you, you were like, yeah, this is you. This is, it comes through clearly. You have the emotions. It's okay. It was much easier. Speaker 1 So basically you didn't have this like self-doubt in yourself. Like why are you recording by yourself? It's like I'm recording some kind of like crap. Speaker 2 It wasn't a self-doubt.
When you say, I'm going to post videos on whatever social media channel you pick, that's here. And I was here. So I was telling myself, okay, I'm here. I'm going to post videos. But the posting videos and from where I was, it has like seven steps between the, you know. So it's like when you say, oh, I'm going to build 20 kilograms of muscle and you're 50 kilograms at 175 centimeters tall. You have zero right now. So first, the goal should be, hey, I'm going to record, you know, five seconds or 30 seconds of footage or I'm going to just talk to a camera.
like and you broke this thing up into smaller steps so it made it easier to act on it was like a distant thing in my mind but the way we did it it was like oh this is the next step this is just one step from where i am okay i i checked that okay what's the next step well this is the next okay and then i checked that and then i recorded and then i you know so it was it was more the process of how you work and how you communicated and held my hand during the process i would say Speaker 1 are you happy with the final results final videos that we delivered i am i'm happy with it uh what Speaker 2 i'm more happy is about is that like everything else that came with it so the videos are i like the videos uh i wasn't satisfied with my with myself because i felt like yes yeah yeah so like how i present and how i perform but that comes with experience but when it comes to how you helped me shape the scripts or the ideas and even when i had the freestyle videos i did not expect to get something out of those freestyle videos i was like dude these videos i'm doing them just sake of like talking and like just experimenting and then you manage to pick out parts of it and those are actually my favorite videos out of the the whole set that we did yeah so this was so it's not really because editing everyone can edit a video nowadays so if i watch a course two hours i can edit videos but what impressed me was the ability to spot things to actually pick out and and leave them in because when i work with someone in video who does my videos i don't want to tell you hey go to second 20 and then from the 20th second uh cut it till the 40th and you know so like i don't want to micromanage i want someone who has the eye who someone who has the taste someone who recognizes what good looks like and even if i don't recognize it because it's it's me i i'm too close to what i'm doing but i i feel like you are someone who i can trust when it comes Speaker 1 to this and this is what i was impressed with the most if you want to delegate video editing you don't want to delegate like i need to be i want responsibility yes otherwise like you can edit by yourself because you're basically saying to cut this past.
Exactly. It's like, yeah. Okay. Understood. Yeah. Uh, what's about like this, the speed of the, of the delivery, like, because we like recorded bunch of videos together, some of the videos you recorded by yourself, uh, with, with your guys, uh, like in terms of the timeline, what do you think? Speaker 2 I was surprised because I, I, I was in a state state of waiting, but in reality, I was blocking the process. I remember one time I got the DM asking for something. I was like, oh shit, it's my turn. Two to three days, I think.
Was it? It's, I mean, it can be faster. Like I can't record videos as fast as you delivered them to me. So I'm the bottleneck. Yeah. Speaker 1 Yeah. Okay, great. Understood. your like biggest takeaway or like biggest like aha moment like holy crap something like clicked for you like what what was this thing when we joined the call you and i i had the script ready Speaker 2 and i was like okay let's record three videos that was the goal and i had just one script ready we recorded that first video was like 20 minutes i think yeah that was the first one the second one was nine minutes and then the third one was like just under nine minutes something yeah that means by recording three videos just this habit of doing it and even if i was doing it i wasn't good again i wasn't satisfied with my performance but i checked the differences in the videos and even from video to video I felt like I was improving so the aha moment was having someone by your side who can point out the things that you're doing well and the things that you're not doing well and sometimes even call you out for spinning in the same place instead of doing the thing because I realized that if you split the roles up you're the writer you're the actor and the director at the same time it just slows the process and when i realized it's like okay you put me in a in a writer's spot first because i delivered the script or like my idea of a script right then we went into the actor position and you told me hey okay you have the script you have that just say it out as you feel as it is or just you know have the script delivered and then let's wrap it up and then we'll see after and once those were done we switched to the director uh position and then we looked back and we looked back at someone who was the actor not myself so i just i pretty much just split up the three roles the reason it took 20 minutes in first place was that we tried to like correct it and i was like pulling you back or like just pulling on things this change and i just half the delivery time.
And again, videos were even better. So And it's like this two weeks improvement just in one hour. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And in 30, 35 40 minutes. So what's your Speaker 1 next plans in terms of like, okay, I got the videos, maybe I will create new videos, or I don't want to connect with video content, like what's what's your next plan after like having this like test stage where we created a bunch of videos? Speaker 2 Yeah, so first thing would be testing out the videos that we have. So I'm going to just post them, see what happens.
After that, I would probably want to record more. And I was also thinking about recording long form videos. But first thing I want to do is just have some short form videos recorded and just add them to my posting schedule. I post on LinkedIn. I have pictures with text. So that's my go-to. But when it comes to video, I believe in the time spent together. So the more time you spend with your potential clients or the more time they spend with you, the higher the chances of buying from you. So I'm just looking to build up that time.
And also if they see you, they can like you unlock the voice and the visual. So with videos, you can like unlock all three channels of communication. So it helps to make a good impression. So I will definitely add this to my arsenal. like I don't have expectations because content and especially video it's like you have to you have to post more you have to be there you have to come up with with new stuff you have to like talk about the same things over and over again and and just be there because most of the times content it's not there to help someone discover you but when someone discovered you and tracks your channel they have something to consume before they choose to, you know, join my email list and read from me or like whatever to binge my content.
Speaker 1 Your thought about, okay, maybe I'm ready to record a long form. It shows after like we have this bunch of short form videos or not. Speaker 2 I was thinking about recording long form before, but now it made me realize that I should record more short form before getting to long form. So again, the steps. So if I'm here and long forms are there and I was like, I want to do that, but I still have a couple of... Because recording videos was, in theory, it's like when you watch those fitness exercises and your ego tells you, oh, it's easy.
Speaker 1 So anyone can do that. Speaker 2 And then you get there and then you try to hold the plank and you're 15 seconds in and you're like, you just don't want to hold it anymore because you can't and you're like embarrassed and Speaker 1 ashamed so that's another aha moment that hit me yeah you can apply the same like it's like one Speaker 2 minute video yeah that was that was 20 minutes later like yeah i still have to record 15 more Speaker 1 set now yeah based on your like parents working with independent like freelancers like video editors working with a team where we handle everything what's your like main recommendation for guys who are considering like creating video content uh what you can recommend to them how to approach this how to how to solve this like thing like oh i want to be on camera right now and record Speaker 2 videos setting the goals is like the harder thing so i always believe that it's hard to do something when you don't know what you don't know so i'm thinking that you know something isn't equal or like isn't the same thing as validating it because when i told myself oh i want to record long forms i was like yeah well how hard it can be like you just sit in front of a camera talk and then you cut it up and you add something something yeah uh-huh okay who writes the script um how to place the camera, how to place the lights, what, how to pick the topics, how to focus, like writing it's, it's cool.
And writing emails in my case, it's like a thing, but even social media writing is different. Speaker 1 Not to mention video writing. Speaker 2 So like, I think if there's anyone who wants to avoid, uh, piecing random advice together and like a pile and like trying to figure it out themselves for six months or 12 months, hiring a team or like hiring someone like you would just i wouldn't say half the effort but like in a month or like even in two or three weeks they would go from not posting anything to having content that's like that they can be proud of once it's posted because i think that's like a good measure when you do something when you record something it's like pictures you take the pictures then you look at them and you look like shit that's not the thing we want but when you take the when someone tells you hey stand like that you know turn your head and raise your hand and then you look at the same the next set of pictures and you're like oh i like how i look i think that's that's the the thing that we should we should measure uh things in the first place and Speaker 1 then the results will come so first price is more like a practice yeah like and it's much easier to Speaker 2 do this with like personal trainer like in a gym exactly it's easier to just do the things that someone tells you than to plan uh execute and analyze and like do all the roles uh yourself Speaker 1 and i also saw the progress like in you like how you present how you perform because i think like the main thing for this set of videos it's more about like shifting your mindset like i can do this and like it's not so hard and like because I was checking on the video recording that you are you're trying to over complicate different things like oh I need to write this like specific phrase yeah we need to we need to like refine it and you still didn't use it while recording you use your Speaker 2 own words yeah yeah right so it's that's one of the things another I the thing that I wanted to make sure is that i use the simplest version that people can understand but when you're recording it's it's more complicated because you're using your brain to act and then your brain can't process the writing part so it's like i was like dude wait how can i like you know it's it's like being in a gym i've been a personal trainer and i've built my own programs but when i build my program at home and then i go to the gym and i just look at the list i'm like okay i have this i go execute i don't think i just do it i just focus 100 on the things that i have to do yeah but when i don't have my program and i'm like okay what exercise should i do next i waste time between the sets i don't even i can't even push with that intensity because i can't focus on doing it because i'm already thinking about the next exercise that i need to do because i still have you know one Speaker 1 hours in the gym so yeah yeah it's it's like that that's how in less than a month Norbert went from just a LinkedIn text guy to a person who can confidently record short form and long form videos you don't need to worry about how to edit or publish the video he just need to show up on camera because he has the expertise present this information and after it can get a lot of new leads and if you are thinking about oh I want to start a YouTube channel it's time to book a call with my team so we will show you the full roadmap how you can build strong social media presence and get more leads out of your videos.
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Founder of a done-for-you YouTube agency for high-ticket founders. Making content since 2014. More about me
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