Speaking and Communicating Podcast

One of the clients came to me and was like, my show is about to go on Netflix, but they came back and they said, hey, virtual backgrounds are out, blurry backgrounds are out, you need a physical setup.

Because one, it builds not only your credibility, but you also become more trustworthy.

Welcome back to the Speaking and Communicating Podcast.

I am your host, Roberta Ndlela.

If you are looking to improve your communication skills, both professionally and personally, this is the podcast you should be tuning into.

Communication and soft skills are crucial for your career growth and leadership development.

And by the end of this episode, please log on to Apple and Spotify and leave us a rating and a review.

Now, let's get communicating.

Now, let's get communicating with Junaid Ahmed all the way from Virginia.

He is here to help a lot of us, including myself, with our home studios.

Since the pandemic, a lot of people have transformed to being in home offices, and junaid is here to help us to transform our lives in our home studios.

So that we can have a professional look, improve our brands, and be more successful.

And before I go any further, please help me welcome him to the show.

Hi, junaid.

Hi, Roberta.

I'm so excited to be here.

Thank you so much for bringing me on.

I'm excited that you're here as well.

Welcome.

It's my pleasure.

Please introduce yourself to our listeners.

So my name is junaid, like Lemonade, and I love to talk about technology and make it so easy for literally anybody to understand.

The reason why I like and love to talk about it is because I grew up in tech background, taking things apart, putting things together.

I'm a home studio architect, photographer, father of four, and a podcaster as well.

And I've been loving the journeys that I've been on.

So were you that kind of kid as well?

You know, when you have a brother or sibling who would take the TV, we used to have the TV with the big back, and then parents come home, like, what happened to the home TV?

Oh no, junaid took it apart and suddenly put it back together.

Maybe, maybe that was me.

Right.

What is so exciting about that?

What's exciting is, you know, we have seen so much technological advances in just the past 10 years, past 20 years, that now if the technology doesn't move fast enough, we call it stagnant, which is kind of hilarious, right?

Because what's even possible right now is we're communicating through the internet.

But this was not possible 50 years ago.

This was not possible 100 years ago.

So people growing up in those eras, and now they're in this new era, and, you know, adopting to technology and saying that it is slow.

And that's something that we'll start to realize over time as you get acclimated, you get used to technology.

And you're like, you know, why is this thing a little bit slower?

What excites me is that, number one, being a parent of four kids, I have very limited time.

And that where I get to, you know, do the things I love to do in the space, in the time that you have.

And because of that, I wanted to create a space that didn't take any time for me to come here and start having the conversation, start recording the communication, or start recording the videos that I wanted.

Now, as we all know, there's going to be things that's going to go wrong with technology.

It's the Moore's law, like anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

So having technology set up in a way that's perfect.

It's like you don't think about it when you sit in your car and you start driving because everything is already set.

Everything is prepared for you when you buy a car.

So a studio is the same way.

You want to be coming in here, pressing a button, and start having that conversation.

It's like when you pick up the phone, right away you're communicating to the other person.

So having a studio built and set up for you as an entrepreneur, for you as a business owner, it does the same thing.

It enables you and it creates that efficient way of not only showing up on camera but also having those conversations that you love to have.

As human beings, we love to communicate.

We love to have these conversations.

And if there's a limiter in the middle, there's a blocker, guess what?

You're going to set back and find a different way to communicate or find a different way.

And those might not be as effective as video is.

So that's why I created this space for myself because a few years ago, I wanted to record a course.

Now, I've been behind camera for over 30 years.

And when I wanted to be in front of the camera, I was like, okay, I got all this set up.

I've got the cameras rolling.

I've got the lighting.

I've got everything.

But as soon as I stepped in front of the camera, guess what?

I froze.

I didn't know how to start my video.

I'm like, wait, I know this.

But the thing is, I didn't.

I only knew the tech side of things.

But to be in front of a camera and be speaking to somebody, you gotta know how to engage, how to tell a story, how to start that conversation, how to keep them engaged.

So that part, I had to then work on.

So I had the technology kind of figured out, but I had to still work on myself.

And by the time I started speaking, my kids came and they're like, Dad, it's time for dinner.

Let's go.

I had very limited time.

It took me two hours to set up the cameras, having so much experience.

But again, it took me a lot longer to figure out how to speak in front of the camera.

So later on, I just spent more time in telling my story, in listening to other people's story.

And I interviewed over 400 guests on my own podcast, listening to their stories.

There's a thing about repetition.

The more you do, the better you get at it.

And of course, you're also getting that feedback from the audience.

You're getting the feedback from the guests.

You're getting feedback from the other people that you're talking with.

You got to do the practice.

So anybody can jump in and buy a really expensive car.

But if you don't know how to drive, well, it's just going to sit in the driveway.

I would hope not.

Let's go deeper into that because this is a Speaking Communicating Podcast.

And we talk about public speaking, how to get your audience engaged, everything you just mentioned.

And you said you froze the first time.

So let's go through the process of how, yes, you've mentioned repetition, but what else did you do to get better at it?

Because a lot of people may be brilliant at work, but if the boss says, junaid, go and do a presentation to this potential client.

Uh-oh, not me.

Not me.

So what is it that you did to start that journey and end up being as good as you are and actually interviewing people and knowing how to engage your audiences?

Absolutely.

So the first thing that I continued to do was be a solo podcaster on my own podcast.

So I recorded Just By Myself on the podcast, talking about the different hobbies, because anytime you insert hobbies, anytime you insert something that you're passionate about, you can talk without pausing, without stopping.

If I were to talk about movies, if I were to talk Marvel or Iron Man, I can continue to talk about it.

And those are some of the things that you want to start with because you have so much more knowledge about those topics.

So, I continue to do that on my own podcast.

The second thing that I did was I also enrolled myself into Toastmasters.

Because Toastmasters, they are creating this safe space, no judgment, go up there, speak, and they're also giving you feedback.

So now you're in the safe space and you're encouraged to speak, encouraged to continue to dig in and grow.

The third thing was I started inviting people that I knew on my own podcast.

My old friends, my family, friends that I met that are in the same hobby space, friends that I met that are in the same photography and videography space.

So when I'm talking to people that I already know, when I'm talking to people that already have a passion to talk about, and we connected through a specific area, for example, I connected with a lot of people when I was cycling.

I connected with a lot of people when I was beekeeping.

I joined beekeepers communities.

I joined cycling communities.

So we have a common topic to talk about.

So that made it easier for me to talk about it and ask these questions and prepare.

The fourth thing that was really, really important was the pandemic hit.

Pandemic caused me to work from home.

Now lucky for me, I was working from home a month before everybody was required to work from home and in that time, I was able to put my space semi-together where it was better than what it was before.

But that also enabled is I joined another community.

Because I was podcasting, I joined a podcasting community called Unconventional Leaders.

Because all the people in there were heart-centered, heart-minded entrepreneurs, they're like, hey, we need to create a space where we can talk about.

We are stuck in our homes, but we still want to communicate, how do we do that?

So every single day from 4 p.m.

to 5 p.m., we had a Zoom call.

But there was anywhere from 6 to 10 people meeting each other.

again, we joined a community, creating a safe space so we can talk about the things that affected us.

All that does is we are communicating, we are sharing what is in our minds, we are sharing what is in our hearts.

That opens up, that gives you permission to now go and speak with other people, and invite them and give them permission to speak their truths.

As I continued down that path, again, the key in all of this was, number one, we found a community to communicate on common topics.

So, that's the three Cs.

Yes, I like that.

Community to communicate on common topics.

I like that.

By the way, for anyone listening, junaid's podcast is Hacks And Hobbies podcast, which is very interesting because one of the things that some of the podcasters, when we've had a community of our own and I listen to them, people think you need to have everybody listening to you.

But you've just clarified that point and said, the people that are interested in your topic, you don't have to have targeting all 8 billion people to listen to you.

The community of people that have that common interest in mind.

Absolutely, Roberta.

And what's beautiful is that if you take that 8 billion people, of that 8 billion people, only 4 billion people have access to internet.

Of those 4 billion people, maybe 50% are men.

From that 50% of those men, let's say 2 billion, maybe 10% have 4 kids and still married.

The more filtering you do, the people that you find will be more aligned with what you're talking about as opposed to not being in alignment with what you are.

So, niching down and figuring out, hey, who are these people that are going to resonate with what I'm talking about?

You gotta define those values.

You gotta clarify who you are.

And that's going to help you get there so much faster.

That's absolutely correct.

And we know niching is one thing that is like the buzzword in the online space.

Yeah.

So, in the Hacks And Hobbies Podcast, you said the hobbies is the common topic, is the common interest.

What have you find is the common thread when interviewing your guests?

The common thread that I've found is most of these people that I'm talking to are number one, they're entrepreneurs.

And this started at a very young age, meaning their parents were other entrepreneurs, they were inspired by other entrepreneurs.

And it was instilled in them that they need to continue to work and fail as fast as you can.

Because the quicker you fail, the quicker you can learn, hey, what did go wrong?

Okay, let's not do that again.

And now let's try again.

We see that in our kids as they're growing up, when they're one year old, they can barely walk.

They can crawl everywhere, but they can barely walk.

And then when they start walking, they'll fall a lot of times.

But guess what?

They get back up.

I wonder the entire world population walks, right?

This is something I took from Tony Robbins.

He talks about it all the time, right?

So you got to keep crying.

You got to keep fixing those failures and figure out, hey, what went wrong?

So that's been a common thread.

You know, the resilience, the community, or the people that are around them, that enable them, I'm always asking, hey, go back to as far as you can remember, what inspired you?

And they're like, well, you know, my mom, I'm like, there it is.

There's an older person in your life that's inspired you, that's encouraged you.

That's what a lot of people that haven't made that far, takes a slower time for them to get there, is because they're still trying to overcome the blocks in their minds.

Like they're trying to overcome themselves.

I was just in an event yesterday and talks about who are the people that are the oppressors?

I'm like, interesting.

Is the oppressor somebody outside of you, or you are the oppressor for yourself for limiting yourself?

Like, holy smokes.

Please say that again.

Are you the oppressor who is limiting yourself?

Like, when you do something wrong, you're oppressing yourself.

When you do something that you know is wrong, you're the oppressor for yourself.

Right?

And it just blew my mind.

I'm like, wow, I never saw it from that perspective, but it makes sense.

Like, we are the first person to stop ourselves from doing something great.

Forget everybody else.

But we're like, oh, that's not ever gonna work.

We discount ourselves.

Find ways to encourage yourself.

Find other people around you.

And that's why communities are so powerful.

When I wanted to become a beekeeper, for six months, I watched YouTube videos.

And the last video that I watched, the guy's like, well, if you really want to become a beekeeper, you need to go join a local beekeepers group.

And what's funny is that there's one in every single city.

Just have to look it up.

So I found one.

And I was like, wow, this is so cool.

So don't oppress yourself by limiting yourself.

Because yes, when we describe an oppressor, we describe someone who literally shuts the door on potential opportunities you could have.

So you are the one shutting the door on yourself and saying, I'm not going in there.

Exactly.

Wow.

That was so well put.

Now, let's talk about the home studio.

I'm using a virtual background, but what have been people's perceptions when they look, everybody's on video, if they look at your video, what are some of the things that they think, oh, this is great, junaid is credible.

I'm looking behind him, all the setup versus someone else and they think, is this person a serious podcaster?

That's a great question.

What are the perceptions that people get when they watch a video?

Now, like you mentioned, it builds credibility for whoever's on camera, because not only have you spent time in making sure that you look good, it's same as when you show up at an event.

You're going to dress your best because you respect others and you respect yourself.

So you want to show up in the best light possible.

The same thing that when we are on camera, you want to make sure that you're doing the best you can based on the ability you have.

So the reason there's 3 million podcasters right now, and everybody has only so much information on what's the best thing that you can do.

That's because we are again mimicking the people that we are around.

So if somebody is using a virtual background, like hey, I can use a virtual background.

That's what I started with.

I'm going to use a virtual background.

I'm going to use a vinyl backdrop.

Just buy a vinyl backdrop, drop it in the back.

Depending on who you're hanging out with, you're going to mimic that.

Because we learn from mimicking, we learn from copying.

Like we're literally teaching our kids, hey, here's the letter A.

Draw, draw, you know, copy this.

So human beings have the nature of copying and learning from that.

I mean, even God, I'm a God fearing person.

You're not believing God.

So even God, right, he taught all these words to Adam.

And then he brought all the angels and like, hey, I'm going to ask you guys a question and you need to answer.

And the angel says, well, we don't have the answers to that.

And then he asked Adam and Adam, you know, repeated all of those things because God had taught him.

And that's when he asked all the angels to bow down to Adam.

But one didn't bow down.

That was Iblis or Satan.

He's like, hey, no, I'm better than him.

I'm made of fire.

He made of clay.

Like, well, you out of here.

So anyways, we grew up copying each other.

So again, depending on who you're around, you're going to copy that setup and you're going to basically mimic that.

So with the studio setup, what I do is like, hey, start with what you know, but then seek knowledge so that you can get to a better setup.

So over time, you're going to grow and over time, you're going to get better.

So the virtual background was great in the beginning, but we've been doing this for so many years.

You know, it's been four years since the pandemic.

We've been in front of the camera.

We've had so many more technologies available, so many more things available.

One of the clients came to me and was like, hey, my show is about to go on Netflix, but they came back and they said, hey, virtual backgrounds are out, blurry backgrounds are out.

You need a physical setup because one, it builds not only your credibility, but you also become more trustworthy because the people watching that video might be like, hey, what are they trying to hide?

Like what's going on?

Why are they hiding something?

All right.

So those things when you think about it.

On that point, junaid, for instance, you said, so that means one of the rooms in your house, you just decided this is going to be your studio, right?

So if you live in a one-bedroom apartment, for instance, you don't have an extra room to create a studio like junaid.

Of course.

So I don't want my bed to be behind me, so we got sprayed.

So most of us, the virtual background, not to make excuses, it doesn't look professional to have a bed behind you.

I don't even remember this video.

And I was in South Korea at the time, which is funny.

He's American, but his wife is South Korean.

And they were talking about the North Korea conflict.

And the kids stepped into the door behind him, and the bed was there behind him.

And the mom came and grabbed the kids.

Remember that video?

It went viral.

I do.

I remember that one.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So most of us don't want the bed behind it.

I know.

But that video went viral.

Wouldn't you want your video to go viral?

True.

Yes, we want it to go viral.

That's true.

But because remember the dad, even the dad was squirming.

He just sat there while the mom is just going crazy with his two babies.

So you want it to go viral.

But you don't want the bed behind you.

I understand.

I understand.

So there's multiple ways to do it, right?

My friend, Jeff, in HD, and I mentioned him a few times on different calls.

He uses a virtual background.

But you can't tell that it's a virtual background.

Because one, he comes from a television production background.

Two, he knows how to use a virtual background properly.

Because virtual backgrounds have been used countless times in movies.

But you can't ever tell it's a virtual background.

In Spider-Man, in all the movies, they use green screen, right?

Those are virtual backgrounds.

They are basically acting in front of nothingness.

And then in post-production, they put the whole scene together that makes you believe.

As if it's jumping on buildings over the street and there's people.

Exactly, right?

So, doing it correctly versus doing it incorrectly is another thing.

So yes, you can use a virtual background, but you got to do it the right way.

You got to do it way where it looks like, hey, you're in the same space.

And what makes that possible?

Proper lighting.

again, it comes back to spending time in your space and spending time in your studio space.

Even if you want to use a virtual background, you want to make sure that you have the lighting the right set up.

The color in the background, the lighting in the background should match the lighting that you're using for yourself.

Having that conformity throughout the entire scene.

Because again, you as an entrepreneur, you as a podcaster, are delivering a message.

You have people of community that are following you.

So they want to connect with you on a deeper level.

And that's why it's so important to have a setup that connects you with the audience.

Like, oh my god, junaid loves Iron Man.

He loves The Avengers.

Look at all those posters.

Yeah.

So again, having a space that can define deep inside who you are, what you love with the people just by look of a video image.

Like people probably look at this one image for one second, and they know exactly what I like.

Because of what that image represents.

You know, they say a photo speaks a thousand words, and that's what we're trying to create.

That is so true.

And also, let me ask a question.

This is even specifically for me.

The camera.

So I have a laptop camera.

So I'm looking at it right now.

Yeah.

But the thing is, I'm not looking at your face right now.

And every time we have a conversation, I want to look at your face, maintain eye contact.

Yeah.

And so when the video comes out, your face is just below the camera.

So when the video comes out, I don't look like I look exactly at the camera.

Sure.

I know what you mean.

And that's because we're looking away from the actual lens.

And this is where the audience is.

But I'm looking down at you here, right?

And that's what I did first.

At first, that's what I was doing.

I was looking directly at the camera lens because I know that's where the audience is looking at.

That's how I make the eye contact.

So, over time, you level up your space.

I just had a simple camera.

I just had a few lights.

I just had my monitor.

And over time, it grows.

Right?

Over time, you add more things to your setup.

So now I have a teleprompter.

I have a computer monitor that basically showed me what's on my teleprompter.

I have more lights.

I have some audio connections over here that keeps the audio in mute.

So again, all of these things, you bring into the space because you're practicing, you're learning, you're growing.

Practicing, learning, growing.

What's working?

What's not working?

Okay, let's eliminate the things.

again, practicing time, hanging out with the people who know the tech.

There's a daily livestream on YouTube called officehours.global.

And they talk about this technology.

officehours.global.

They talk about all the tech that you can think about.

Any question you have for tech, you can simply go there and ask your question and they will answer.

And when you see their setups, they're just like mine.

Because again, they're in the space from video production, from technology, from teaching people how to look good on camera.

It's huge for public speaking, giving keynotes, doing presentations, yes.

All of that comes into play.

And then one last thing, I know you have on your website.

So I have an ebook, 7 Stages of Home Studio Evolution.

You can go get it on Amazon or you can pick it up from my website.

And I also have a physical copy for that book.

You can find it on Amazon or you can get it from my website.

7 Stages of Home Studio Evolution.

7 Stages of Home Studio Evolution by junaid Ahmed.

junaid, is there one last thing you feel that we need to know that I haven't asked you regarding your home studio and the evolution thereof?

So the first thing that you want to invest in for your home studio is get a proper microphone so that people can hear your message without having to worry about what is he saying again?

What is he saying?

You want to make sure you eliminate all the echoes, you eliminate all the things because after all, we are communicators.

And the only way communication happens is with good audio.

So my first recommendation for my first investment that I tell everybody is get a good microphone.

You know, it will cost you $50 to $150.

Get that microphone so that people can hear you and what your message is about.

Get a good microphone.

Sometimes people use the headsets.

I'm using this one.

Obviously, if you're in your own studio, you don't even need like you because you don't have the background noise.

Everything is just, oh, you do.

I didn't see that.

So the reason I use earphones is so that I can hear you properly.

Sure, I have separate speakers, but I'd rather hear you in the headphones because then I can pay attention to all the questions properly as opposed to listening to in loud speakers and then with a chance of it leaking into the audio that I'm speaking through.

So again, you want to eliminate all of those crosstalk.

So when I speak, only this microphone listens.

When you speak, only I hear over here.

And you were right.

Your audio is so crystal clear.

I mean, you have a deep voice, it's clear, it's pure.

There's no echo.

There's nothing behind it.

Thank you.

Appreciate that.

Mission accomplished.

Any last words of wisdom for podcasters, wannabe podcasters, speakers, anyone, videographers who wants to set up the ultimate home studio, especially if they feel that they don't have the budget for top-notch expensive equipment.

What would you say to them?

Absolutely, Roberta.

Thank you so much.

So again, the book is going to talk to you in detail.

So there's seven different stages.

The novice, we all start at novice, then you become a hobbyist when you buy that microphone, then you become an enthusiast when you spend more money on a camera, and on and on and on you go, right?

So start with what you have, practice, practice, practice, because when you practice and have those conversations, you're going to get comfortable with yourself.

You're like, okay, now I'm ready to level up to novice.

So again, start with what you have, because that's going to be a bigger teacher than anything else that you go look for.

Right?

As soon as we start implementing what we've learned, you automatically get better.

That's why they say, when you teach, you learn more than if you were just to read for yourself.

That is absolutely true.

Let's repeat the three C's again, community.

Communicate.

Communicate.

Common topics.

And the common topics.

That's right.

That's what we're all looking for, especially since the pandemic with so much distancing, virtually and in person.

Thank you so much, Junaid Ahmed, founder of Humble Zone, who helps us evolve our home studios.

We are really appreciative of you being here today and sharing all this wisdom with us.

Thank you, Junaid.

Thank you so much.

My absolute pleasure.

And before you go, please give us your websites again and the details of the book.

Absolutely.

So if you want to learn more about home studio, go over to homestudiomastery.com.

There's a free four point assessment that you can sign up and help me help you walk through your space and what you can improve.

If you want to get the book, go over to homestudiobook.com and you should be sent to the book ordering page or if you want to find it on Amazon, just look up 7 Stages of Home Studio Evolution on Amazon and that's where you can connect.

If you want to learn and follow me more on different platforms, just look up at Super junaid on every single platform.

That's Super Junaid who's super indeed.

Thank you.

Thanks Roberta.

My absolute pleasure.

Thank you for joining us on the Speaking On Communicating Podcast once again.

Please log on to Apple and Spotify, leave us a rating and a review and what you'd like for us to discuss on the show that will be of benefit to you.

We encourage you to continue to get communicating and let us know how communication skills continue to improve your life professionally and personally and stay tuned for more episodes to come.