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

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0:58with us right now zach day zach you are the founder of brand you you're found on the web at mybrandyou.com i should also point out too uh you're a filmmaker and you are film director and you are also uh both a contestant and trainer for ninja warriors so zach good having you on the show Oh, man, it's a pleasure. Thanks for having me on, Josh. 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.

1:42Yeah, I mean, I got into filmmaking about two years ago. I've kind of always been that kid with the camera out, even in elementary school. I always used to record 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, they feel like they know you. They kind of become like a fan of you, if you will. And they kind of become more emotionally attached. So yeah, I tell people's stories, 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 uh yeah i love doing it you know i i capture you know drone footage um you know high quality stuff so yeah man it's really it's really really fun do you know who does great story reels uh on on people's backstories american ninja warrior right 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 I 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 story stuff like that and yeah so I got the interview I did all the b-roll stuff 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 you um the crowd screaming and then there's big ass cameras you know floating around so yeah it was uh quite the experience that's for sure and so who do you work with today um so as far as my clients or who do i work with yeah yeah clients with uh mostly um entrepreneurs mostly people who own multiple businesses um 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.

3:44And 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. 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 do corporate style videos.

4:22I 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. Well, sure. Everyone loves a hero's journey, right? Yeah, absolutely. So how do you connect with folks that you work with now? How do you do the business development of Brand U? Yeah, I mean, it's marketing and marketing is just making people aware of you right and you know there's there's a couple steps to that there's the branding obviously you know like your brand colors your logo your website um how you portray yourself on social media so you want to make sure that all that is set up very properly professionally um you kind of you kind of want to look you know um i guess i guess a good word is 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 know 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 or I'm constantly posting other people's videos.

5:54And then the other 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. So yeah, those are like the three ways, you know, you know, you, you get seen that's, you know, marketing. 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 mybrandyou.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, you know, kind of film style storytelling. And so there's obviously there's a place for that, right?

6:39And 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? Yeah, I mean, the big thing nowadays is the Instagram reels and TixTax. 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. Like a lot of people don't watch movies anymore.

7:13Or 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 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 two to five minutes. So it's like a mini documentary or like a mini movie, if you will, on your life, you know.

7:50And, you know, 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. I want to bring you on a kind of an emotional roller coaster. 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 two to five minutes. So that's that's kind of what it's about. And, you know, when people hear your story, they're they're more likely to be emotionally attached to you.

8:23Because that's like your first impression. It's like your first impression, if you will. And that's that's huge. yeah um and and like for someone who's like man i i know what you're talking about you know there's like again those two and a half three minute kind of reels were 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 u.s would be familiar with we all know what those look like right what does it what's what kind of investment of both time and money does it cost to to get something really well produced like that yeah i mean the as far as the budget goes it's kind of all over the place and how how in depth you want to go or where we're traveling to and how many members on the team we want to we want to fly out to you um but yeah i mean it kind of normally it only takes about two to three days to film something like this so you know what we do is we do a pre-production 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 one to two hours where we literally just ask you super hard questions dive deep into your story and then we'll fly out to you two to three days and we'll film everything inside that then we come back and edit it which normally takes a couple weeks.

9:48So, I mean, as far as the investment, it normally starts at five and it can go all the way up to 20 ,000. 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 used that in a way that obviously has been good for business? 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 um 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 gonna probably give him standing ovation um so that that's kind of how his video is uh 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.

10:49Another example is I did one for an author to sell his book. And basically kind of kind of like a mini movie on his book. So people know, you know, what they're getting themselves into and you know, why they should invest in that book and give it a read and why it's, you know, worth it. What was the second question you asked? Well, yeah, just, you know, again, how business leaders have successfully used, you know, visual content, you know, again, kind of like that two to three minute, you know, you know, you know, I'm just imagining, you know, I'm trying to think of like what it would be for me, you know, like visually what that would be.

11:29What are some of those questions that you ask? I would imagine just kind of, you know, 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 ops i would imagine asking you know or you know for someone who's thinking about this process right now uh you know we're thinking about intro 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 you know i'm just trying to think of like you know all those things like these are really important and you know what less do you think um zach how do you respond to someone says, Oh, people aren't going to care about that.

12:10Like I, I, 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. Yeah. Um, 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 it's for those people but as far as you know like the questions that you know i asked you know during the pre-production session or even like the interview i mean really i'm trying to get their story out of them 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 um 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.

13:12And, 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, yeah, just different and unique about them? And when you're producing video kind of storytelling like this, is this something where you 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. I mean, people, your audience is going to tell, like they know what you're doing.

13:51It'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 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. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the what I'll say is the first five seconds is 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 in the character and really curious about the character.

14:26So that first five seconds, I want to hook you in. And then, you know, as far as how the story is structured, we, like the first part is, I call it the trailer. And it's literally everything jam-packed into, you know, 15 seconds of the very best moments of his story. 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 he he's figuring it out and then he finally figures it out and then he runs into another um 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.

15:19Yeah. Yeah. So Zach, your website, mybrandyou.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 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. Yeah. You just book a call with me and my business partner. And we don't try to sell you on the first call. We're not going to sell you anything. We're actually totally against that. We just want to get to know you and see if we could possibly be a good match.

16:00And this, if this is something that could be of value to you. So yeah, we can just start with a conversation. We want to know a little bit more about your story and we'll take it from there if it works out. Yeah. Awesome. Zach, your website is mybrandyou.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 uh been around uh and then so you you you've have you trained so you were on what season oh i was on season 10 and 11 holy god how many seasons are they up to uh man i haven't even been following up with the show i've been off the game for about three years now but uh i think they're they're probably like 16, 17.

16:58Yeah. I watched, I was familiar with the Japanese version, Mount Midoriya, and it's like, I think in the world, like at the time, like only two people had ever actually accomplished that. So when it came to America, I was pretty interested in that. So, and then, um, 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 uh yeah i 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 when i think i was like nine i used to play baseball in 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 uh i ended up going to some competitions and you know ran into some of the pro athletes and I realized 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.

17:57And so I kept going with that and next thing you know, I'm winning, you know, 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 ranking up there with the top, like the best of the best, so to speak. And then they changed the age limit from 21 to 19 when I turned 19. So I got my shot to compete. And actually, I ran into a lot of, I guess, the biggest challenge of 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.

18:38Yeah, just totally happened out of nowhere. So it was a really hard time for me. and then three weeks later I'm on you know NBC prime time the show under the lights and you know I made it past the first round did decently well I 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 20 feet above water there's this one off kind of like a roller coaster track that you hang on to yeah you slide down this track and then you fling yourself to another track and then bring yourself to the platform which yeah it's a it's it's very sketchy to say the least i remember my stage one run the the buzzer was just counting down um i had like five seconds left four seconds left and i just slammed the buzzer um and that was probably like the proudest moment of my life because you know my dad just passed um i think it was it was probably two months you know before that and you know i had a a 4bd in the back of my shirt which was uh 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.

20:12I 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 10 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. Yeah, awesome. Zach, thank you so much for joining us today. Again, your website is mybrandyou.com. It's been a great conversation, Zach. Thanks for joining us. Thank you, man.

20:51Take care.

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