My first video with Lucia!

4 min reading time

I decided video is going to be part of this new world of mine. It’s a little scary. But you and I can walk this journey together.

First thing to do is find yourself a Lucia. She’s my new video production manager and I’m thrilled with her. She lives in Nicaragua, just one hour ahead of my time zone.

We use Slack for our messaging, screen sharing, and face-to-face conversations. We use Dropbox for file sharing.

Until now, my idea of making a video was:

Interview someone
Add my five-second animated introductory logo in front of it
Upload it to YouTube

It worked adequately enough. But click on the 31-second side-by-side compilation she made for us. For minimal cost, the right side looks so much better!

Lucia color corrected my raw footage. She made it shorter, added call-outs and captions, added my logo, and created an “outro” (the opposite of an intro) at the end.

Which one would you prefer for your business? I thought so. Me too.

The next time you have some raw video and want to improve it, send it to me.

I’ll ask Lucia to help you with it!

Tried and Failed

Beth bought me a green screen for the on-screen videos I plan to make.

The thing was huge. She spent 90 minutes ironing it, then another 90 setting it up in my office: First near the window, then in front of the bookcase.

We got Lucia on the line and she said we’d be better off moving the office furniture around and forgetting about the green screen. So that’s what we did.

The green screen and three light stands cost a surprisingly low $170. We kept the lights and Beth sold the green screen for $70 within hours of listing it online.

Beth really likes getting rid of stuff online. First it was eBay. Then it was Craigslist. Now she’s into LetGo which focuses on your neighborhood. She drove to Safeway and met the buyer there. While there, she picked up some milk because I didn’t go to Costco as I said I would. (Bad husband.)

I went to Costco the next day to make up for it. Good husband!

It’s My Birthday!

Me outside Rockefeller Center last year for my 50th birthday.

I grew up in New York and live outside Seattle with my wife and two sons now. I decided being in New York, reliving my childhood, was the way to celebrate my 50th birthday.

We stayed at the Hilton on 53rd. I woke early, got a coffee and walked around the City, soaking it all in. After breakfast, we got in our rental car and visited Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and specifically the house on 76th Street where my family lived for 37 years. I showed my kids where daddy went to school, high school, and summer camp, all while Beth shopped at Century 21.

At 3:00, my childhood friend met us at the dead end on 74th Street with a Pinky rubber ball so we could play “Kings,” like we used to.

We had dinner at Pete’s Pizza, my favorite, and then went across the street where I hosted “Our 50th Birthday Party” at a bar. I invited everyone from my grammar school (Our Lady of Angels, Class of 1980) to meet for a drink. This would be the one party we would throw for ourselves, since each of us would turn 50 that year.

In contrast, I’ll be home this rather unremarkable birthday.

But to make it special, I have a request of you.

For my birthday, it would be nice if you wrote me back. Yes, reply to this email and tell me a little about yourself.

If you’re the serious type, we can keep it all business: I work at [company] as a [title] in [city]. Maybe throw in a medical device marketing issue that keeps you up at night. Or suggest something you’d like me to write about in the future.

If you’re feeling creative, tell me about something about your past or something you do for fun. Anything that comes to mind!

I’ll reply to every birthday email I get.

And thank you for reading my little story here.