On this episode of The Byron Lazine Podcast, I sit down with BAM’s phenomenal film producer, Bobby Kawecki, to discuss how we met and how Gary Vee and DRock were involved in that meeting.
We deep dive on how Bobby is the man behind the lens for our BAM video content — and all the equipment necessary to do just that.
When Bobby met Byron
It started with a tweet I sent out looking for a new video producer.
Videographers and Content Producers for YouTube work in New Haven County CT - DM me!!
— Byron Lazine (@ByronLazine) January 6, 2021
I tagged @drock because I knew Vayner Media was doing layoffs and I knew how passionate DRock is about content creation. Sure enough, he retweeted it, which Bobby saw as he was scrolling through Twitter.
I liked your tweet and just went about my day… It was in the middle of dinner and you DM’d me… “Do you have time to jump on a quick call?” and I was like, “Sure, why not?”… So, that Saturday, we talked – you, me, and Jill – on Zoom; Tuesday, I came here to the office for the interview; the following Saturday, I moved into my apartment.
The mindset of a great video producer
From the beginning, Bobby had the mindset a great film producer needs to have. He understood that we need to be relevant on the platforms people are spending their time on.
Another great thing about Bobby is he has incredibly thick skin.
I think that comes from, oddly enough, a combination of two things: going on auditions, doing acting things, and also working in sales… All creators should work in sales, because it is the most galvanizing thing in the world to spend 8 hours, make a hundred calls, and have a hundred people hang up on you or tell you you’re shitty or they’re not buying what you’re selling.
How do you find the best clips?
What can a video producer do to take a pillar piece of content like a long-form podcast and find the best clips that are going to convert on Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts?
So, the best piece of content that we have right now is informative content that is also polarizing and a little bit, I would say, incendiary, right?….Well-thought-out, well-researched content that you can back up with numbers but is also something a lot of people disagree with and that a lot of people agree with at the same time.
Questions to ask when hiring a video producer
Before I hired Bobby, I’d spent eight years creating video content for my real estate business, and I brought what I learned to the interview process.
So, what questions should a real estate professional be asking if they’re ready to hire a video producer but they don’t have that knowledge or firsthand experience?
We discussed three main points:
- The DISC assessment is a great way to filter out people who will work well in your company culture.
- Find content you want to emulate and ask, How can you get me from where I am to this type of content?
- Determine who understands and is eloquent in content creation as well as marketing.
Advice for new video producers
I asked Bobby what advice he would give to someone who wanted to be the Swiss army knife of video producers for a real estate team.
You’re always working on something, so make your time as valuable as possible, especially with your editing. Focus on as much long-form content as possible that is evergreen, so you’re not week-to-week, that can over time be broken down into shorter-form clips – while focusing and devoting one day a week to just ‘Here is a four-hour block where we are going to record 60 to 80 clips.’ And you do that once a month, and you’re always a little bit ahead.
Podcast equipment
Next, we broke down the equipment needed to pull off one of these podcasts. While you can realistically get professional results with $1,500 worth of equipment, the camera comes last. In a pinch, you can definitely get started for less than that using the camera on your phone.
If you’re just starting out, especially if you’re a solo podcast… audio, lighting are your pillars, right? And audio above all else. If you’re doing it on an iPhone, there are plenty of great solutions.
How to Start a Podcast
Bobby was involved in one of BAM’s latest ebooks, How to Start a Podcast, which is free to download and is packed with all the information you need to get started with podcasting.
The ebook is structured through three different price tiers where it’ll be effective no matter your skill level or your budget, right? The main thing is just start… It might sound like common advice, but it’s common because it’s true.
New courses and podcasts
BAM has a course for real estate agents, and we’ve been talking about doing a course on all the ways we’re producing content. We’ve also thrown out the idea of Bobby doing a podcast where he talks to other video producers about new hacks, things that they’re testing, mindset, etc.
For the content we create and for the way content is trending, I haven’t been able to find somebody who says, “Okay, so you want to be a video producer. Here’s the five skills you need to get really good at to make yourself attractive to a company that’s looking to hire someone to create short-form, engaging, high-conversion video.” I don’t know where those videos are, so I’m really looking forward to making them.
Watch the full episode for more.
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