1601 – Unlock Your Story and Empower Your Audience with Brand You’s Zach Day

Josh (00:00:05) - Hey there, thoughtful listener. Would you like consistent and predictable sales activity with no spam and no ads? I'll teach you step by step how to do this, particularly if you're an agency owner, consultant, coach or B2B service provider. What I teach has worked for me for more than 15 years and has helped me create more than $10 million in revenue. Just head to up my influence and watch my free class on how to create endless high ticket sales appointments. You can even chat with me live and I'll see and reply to your messages. Also, don't forget the thoughtful entrepreneur is always looking for guests. Go to up my influence and click on podcast. We'd love to have you. With us right now, Zach de Zach, you are the founder of Brand. You you're found on the web at my brand. You should also point out to you're a filmmaker and you are film director and you are also both a contestant and trainer for Ninja Warriors. So, Zach, good to have you on the show.

Zach (00:01:23) - Oh, man. It's a pleasure. Thanks. Thanks for having me on Josh.

Josh (00:01:25) - You're also a podcast yourself called The Right Now Show. And again to our friend that's listening to us, just do a search for right now show and you can hit subscribe on that. So, Zach, give us an overview of kind of what you do as a brand storyteller.

Zach (00:01:42) - Yeah. I mean, I got into filmmaking about two years ago. I'm kind of always been that kid with the camera out, like, even in, like elementary school. Like, I always used to record, like, stuff on my iPod and stuff like that. But yeah, I mean, telling people's stories is a very powerful thing that you can do. Because when people know your story, your authentic story, you know, they feel like they know you. It kind of become like a fan of you, if you will. And, you know, they kind of become more emotionally attached.

Zach (00:02:12) - So, yeah, I tell people's stories, you know, why they do what they do, what impact they want to make, the purpose of, you know, whether it's like their story or their brand, like whatever it is. And yeah, I love doing it. You know, I capture drone footage, you know, high quality stuff. So yeah, man, it's really, really fun.

Josh (00:02:32) - Do you know who does? Great story reels on people's back stories. American Ninja Warrior. Right.

Zach (00:02:40) - Exactly. And that's kind of how I got into it. I was on the show. I was actually at one time I was the youngest person on the show at 19 years old. They just changed the age limit from 21 to 19 and got my shot. So I kind of got the behind the scenes look of everything and you know, how they tell their stories, their brand stories, stuff like that. And yeah, so got the interview. I did all the B-roll stuff.

Zach (00:03:03) - And when you're on the show, it's pretty intense. You know, there's the lights, the camera. Sometimes there's fire shooting out at you, the crowd screaming, and then there's big ass cameras, you know, floating around. So yeah, it was quite the experience, that's for sure.

Josh (00:03:18) - And so who do you work with today?

Zach (00:03:21) - So as far as my clients or who do I work with? Yeah, clients with mostly entrepreneurs. Mostly people who own multiple businesses. Motivational speakers. I mean, I've worked with professional MMA fighters, authors. Just anyone who has a story that needs to be told to the world.

Josh (00:03:44) - And why is it that, you know, so the work you do is probably getting them to tell a story in a way that they haven't been able to themselves. Why is it helpful to work with someone like yourself as opposed to, I don't know, probably where most people are probably not doing a great job at it. Like what are you able to bring out in people that they can't do themselves? That's the way to ask that.

Zach (00:04:07) - Yeah. So I mean, when you look at most videos on the Internet, it's very surface level. It doesn't go very deep, you know. So if you work with me, I help you uncover your story. I ask you the hard questions. And I don't I don't do corporate style videos. I like to go super deep in your story, like, why do you do what you do? So a lot of times my story will have a very big conflict, something that you overcame in your life. And because you overcame that obstacle in your life, now you're able to make the impact that you want to make. So, yeah, if that makes sense.

Josh (00:04:41) - Well, sure. Everyone loves a hero's journey, right?

Zach (00:04:44) - Yeah, absolutely.

Josh (00:04:46) - So how do you connect with folks that you work with now? Like how like, how do you do the business development of brand new.

Zach (00:04:57) - Yeah, I mean, it's marketing and marketing is just making people aware of you, right? And, you know there's a couple of steps to that.

Zach (00:05:03) - There's the branding, obviously, you know, like your brand colors, your logo, your website, how you portray yourself on social media. So you want to make sure that all of that is set up very properly, professionally. You kind of want to look, you know, I guess a good word is expensive. Like you want to look like you're very professional. You know, you're expensive looking on the Internet. And then there's lead generation and that's, you know, posting content very consistently, having a strategy behind your content, telling your story, making sure people know exactly who you are and, you know, so you got Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, all those platforms. You want to make sure that you're consistently posting on those platforms. So that's mostly how people see me. And I'm a filmmaker, so I'm constantly posting video where I'm constantly posting other people's videos. And then another side of it I think is the most powerful way is this networking in person, going to events, seminars, business seminars, all that kind of stuff.

Zach (00:06:02) - So yeah, those are like the three ways, you know? You know, you get seen. That's, you know, marketing.

Josh (00:06:10) - Yeah, you're, by the way. I think the best way to appreciate the work that you do, Zach, is go to your website. That's my brand You dot com and you can see clips or follow you like I'm looking at your LinkedIn profile and yeah, it's definitely high quality storytelling, like film kind of film style storytelling. And so there's obviously there's a place for that, right? And then there's also a place for that very just kind of like grab and go, I'm just talking to my phone like, how do you know what type of content to put where?

Zach (00:06:50) - Yeah. I mean, the big thing nowadays is the Instagram reels and tiktoks. That's the vertical videos. A lot of times there's like that trending audio behind the scenes. So when you use a trending piece of audio, it's more likely to go viral. So that's where a lot of my content is right now, the vertical videos and normally they're pretty short because our attention spans are so short these days.

Zach (00:07:10) - Yeah, like a lot of people don't watch movies anymore or if they're watching a movie, they're like on their phone watching, you know, Instagram content at the same time, which is crazy. So yeah, I mean that's predominantly where, you know, my content is. So that's kind of what I do. I do 30 pieces of content for people where, you know, in two days I'll pump out 30 pieces of content in two recording days. And then on top of that is the brand story. And the brand story is kind of what we talked about before, is just telling your story in 2 to 5 minutes. So it's like a mini documentary or like a mini movie, if you will, on your life, you know, and you know, you. And the thing about these brand stories is I want to hit every single emotion that I can possibly hit. I want to hit all your feelings. I don't want to just make you inspired in the video.

Zach (00:08:01) - I want to bring you on a kind of an emotional rollercoaster. So I want to hit that conflict, which it might make you sad. It might make you angry. And then I want to bring you back up. Then I want to bring you back down so you know I can make you pay attention for that 2 to 5 minutes. So that's kind of what it's about. And, you know, when people hear your story, they're more likely to be emotionally attached to you because that's like your first impression. It's like your first impression, if you will. And that's, that's huge.

Josh (00:08:29) - Yeah. And like for someone who's like, Man, I know what you're talking about, you know, like, again, those two and a half, three minute kind of reels, we're just like you would see before you see a contestant on like, you know, American Idol, America's Got Talent, American Ninja Warrior, which you know, us in the US would be familiar with. We all know what those look like, right? What does itwwhat kind of investment of both time and money does it cost to to get something really well produced like that.

Zach (00:09:04) - Yeah, I mean, as far as the budget goes, it's kind of all over the place. And how in depth do you want to go or where we're traveling to and how many members on the team we want to fly out to you. But yeah, I mean, it kind of normally it only takes about 2 to 3 days to film something like this. So, you know, what we do is we do a preproduction session where we dive deep into your story and we figure out exactly what you're, what we're filming, what story we want to tell. And that normally takes like 1 to 2 hours where we literally just ask you super hard questions, dive deep into your story, and then we'll fly out to you 2 to 3 days and we'll film everything inside that. And then we come back and edit it, which normally takes a couple of weeks. So I mean, as far as the investment and normally starts at five and it can go all the way up to 20,000.

Josh (00:09:54) - What you know, what would be some examples of not just maybe athletes, but, you know, business leaders, what have you produced with them and how have they use that in a way that obviously is been good for business?

Zach (00:10:11) - Yeah. So I mean, two examples is I did a pro MMA fighter and he's also a motivational speaker. So before he gets up on stage, you know, a lot of people in the audience, they don't know who he is yet. So he plays that and it tells his entire story and what he wants to do and what impact he wants to make before he walks up on stage. So his introduction is already met, and when he gets up on stage, everyone's going to probably give him a standing ovation. So that's kind of how his video is, you know, brings him value. So, you know, he can walk up on stage and confidently know that, you know, he has authority and his credibility is already made.

Zach (00:10:50) - Another example is I did one for an author to sell his book and basically kind of get to it's kind of like a mini movie on his book so people know, you know, what they're getting themselves into and why they should invest in that book and give it a read and why it's worth it. What was the second question you asked?

Josh (00:11:10) - Well, yeah, Just, you know, again, how business leaders have successfully used, you know, visual content, you know, again, kind of like that, that 2 to 3 minute, you know, I'm just imagining, I'm trying to think of like what it would be for me, like visually what that would be. What are some of those questions that you ask? I would imagine just kind of, you probably you're you're probably just digging, right? You're looking for gold. What's that hook. What's that. You know, what's that. That I would imagine asking or for someone who's thinking about this process right now, we're thinking about what's my story, you know? Okay, well, what are some of the biggest challenges we've had to overcome? You know, what was the emotional burden of that? You know, how did we respond to that? You know, what was our dark moment of the soul? I'm trying to think of like all those things like these are really important.

Josh (00:12:04) - And you know what? Lest you think, Zach, how do you respond to someone who says, Oh, people aren't going to care about that? Like, you know, they're like, you could tell your clients feeling uncomfortable with this or like, Nah, I don't want to worry about that. What do you say to them? To say, No, no, no. You need to listen to me right now.

Zach (00:12:24) - Yeah. Well, I mean, I will say it's not for everyone. Not everyone wants to tell their story. So this is for people that actually want to bring their story to life. And, you know, they want to impact human lives because they have a purpose. You know, they have a God given purpose that's in their soul and they want to express that and share that with the world. So it's for those people. But as far as, you know, like the questions that I asked, you know, during the preproduction session or even like the interview, I mean, really, I'm trying to get their story out of them.

Zach (00:12:52) - So really literally, we sat we asked them, you know, what is their story? And we and then we dig deeper and, you know, why? Why they do what they do. And really just like the impact that they want to make or, you know, the things that they've struggled with, the things that they've conquered and, you know, what they're doing with that and who they want to talk to and who they want to inspire and what, you know, what's unique about their story, what's different that's totally different, you know, from them than anybody else. What's the most inspiring thing or what's just different and unique about them.

Josh (00:13:28) - And when you're producing video kind of storytelling like this, is this something where generally you're producing all your own original B-roll or I'm just trying to think of like, you know, maybe people that have experimented with this and they're like, Well, maybe I could just buy a bunch of like, stock video and throw it in there.

Josh (00:13:47) - I mean, people your audience is going to tell like they know what you're doing. It's like quality speaks for itself today. And I guess it comes down to, you know, how important is this? Like, you know, who is this person that you're trying to attract in the room? Because, you know, you can't fool anybody. We've all seen poor quality video or where it's just kind of like, yeah, it's not sorry, It's not connecting.

Zach (00:14:11) - Right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, what I'll say is the first five seconds, it's the most important. I want to in the first five seconds, I want to have you asking questions about the character. I want you to be interested, character and really curious about the character. So that first five seconds I want to hook you in. And then as far as how this story is structured, we might like the first part is I call it the trailer, and it's literally anything jam packed into, you know, 15 seconds of the very best moments of his story.

Zach (00:14:47) - So then you'll be asking questions about the character, like, You want to know more, and then we dive into the conflict and then we slowly raise up to the climax the character. He desires something and then he's figuring it out. And then he finally figures it out. And then he runs into another conflict because he has to sacrifice something to get there to get to that climax. So he sacrifices something and then he ends up on, you know, like the pedestal, like on top of the mountain, so to speak, if that makes sense.

Josh (00:15:19) - Yeah. Yeah. So, Zach your website, my Brand You dot Com what would be the best way for someone let's say that they've discovered this podcast and they're doing their due diligence and you know what are some next steps They may or may not be ready for a conversation but what would you say? Well, listen, if you're interested in working with me, here's kind of what I'd recommend.

Zach (00:15:46) - Yeah, you just book a call with me and my business partner, and we don't try to sell you on the first call.

Zach (00:15:53) - We're not going to tell you anything. And we're actually totally against that. We just want to get to know you and see if we could possibly be a good match and if this is something that could be of value to you. So yeah, we can just start with the conversation. We want to know a little bit more about your story and we'll take it from there if it works out.

Josh (00:16:11) - Yeah. Awesome. Zach your website is my brand. You. Com. So when you click on that website you'll see a link that says book. Now you can grab a discovery call right there and easy enough so great. Well Zach Day again founder of brand You again American Ninja warrior been around and then so you have you trained so you were on what season.

Zach (00:16:42) - Oh, I was on season ten and 11.

Josh (00:16:46) - Holy. How many seasons are they up to?

Zach (00:16:48) - Oh, man, I haven't even been following up with the show. I've been off the game for about three years now, but I think they're.

Zach (00:16:56) - They're probably like 16. 17? Yeah, they're.

Josh (00:16:59) - I watched. I was familiar with the Japanese version. Midori And it's like I think in the world, like at the time, like only two people had ever actually accomplished. So when it came to America, I was pretty interested in that. So. And then do you run? Do you just work individually with athletes or like, how do you how have you been doing the coaching side of it?

Zach (00:17:25) - Yeah. Mean. So I'll kind of dive into my story with American Ninja Warrior. I started when I was 15. My mom showed me the show and I think I was like nine and I used to play baseball. And some reason I just I lost the love for baseball. But then I found American Ninja Warrior. And so I started building obstacles in my backyard to train for the show. And I ended up going to some competitions and ran into some of the pro athletes. And I realized I was I was pretty good. And some of the pro athletes would come up to me and say, you know, like, you definitely have what it takes.

Zach (00:17:57) - And so I kept going with that. And the next thing you know, I'm winning every other competition that I was going to. And I was one of the youngest ones there. I was, you know, 15, 16, 17 years old. And, you know, I was I was ranking up there with the top, top, like the best of the best, so to speak. And then they change the age limit from 21 to 19 when I turned 19. Wow. So got my shot to compete. And actually, I ran into a lot of I guess the biggest challenge in my life at that time because right before I got the call to compete, my father passed away just out of nowhere. He had a massive heart attack. Yeah. Just totally happened out of nowhere. So it was. It was a really hard time for me. And then three weeks later, I'm on, you know, NBC prime time show Under the Lights.

Zach (00:18:51) - And, you know, I made it past the first round, did decently well, wanted to do better, but I still made it past the first round, made it past the second round in the regional which was Philadelphia. And then the top 15 people go to Las Vegas and I was number nine and I became the youngest ever to make it to Las Vegas at that time. Oh my gosh. Yeah, went to Las Vegas. And I remember my stage one run was it was crazy. And things are so much bigger in Las Vegas. Some of these obstacles are 20ft above water. You know, there's this one off, kind of like a roller coaster track that you hang on to. Yeah. And you slide down this track and you fling yourself to another track and then putting yourself through the platform, which, yeah, it's, it's, it's very sketchy, to say the least. I remember my stage one on the buzzer was just counting down. I had like five seconds left, four seconds left, and I just slammed the buzzer.

Zach (00:19:52) - And that was probably, like, the proudest moment of my life because, you know, my dad just passed. I think it was probably two months, you know, before that. And, you know, I had a four bed in the back of my shirt, which was like four. And then my dad's initials, Brian Day. And I just got to, like, stand on top of the platform and like, look out all the audience. I had a bunch of family members fly out, point to the back of my shirt. And it was, yeah, it was definitely a really, really special moment. And then I went on to the next stage. I think there was 30 athletes in that stage and I ended up getting the top inside the top ten that year and I got Rookie of the year. So yeah, it was definitely a really special time and probably one of the most insane and special experiences of my life.

Josh (00:20:41) - Yeah. Awesome. Zach, thank you so much for joining us today.

Josh (00:20:44) - Again, your website is my brand You. It's been a great conversation. Zach, thanks for joining us.

Zach (00:20:50) - Thank you, man. Take care.

Josh (00:20:57) - Thanks for listening to the Thoughtful Entrepreneur Show. If you are a thoughtful business owner or professional who would like to be on this daily program, please visit up My Influence slash guest. If you're a listener, I'd love to shout out your business to our whole audience for free. You can do that by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or join our listener Facebook group. Just search for the thoughtful entrepreneur and Facebook. I'd love even if you just stopped by to say hi, I'd love to meet you. We believe that every person has a message that can positively impact the world. We love our community who listens and shares our program every day. Together, we are empowering one another as thoughtful entrepreneurs. Hit subscribe so that tomorrow morning. That's right. Seven days a week you are going to be inspired and motivated to succeed. I promise to bring positivity and inspiration to you for around 15 minutes each day.

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