How To Connect With Your Audience With Video Story-Telling

About This Episode

Discover the power of video storytelling for your personal brand. Learn how to engage, inspire, and connect with your audience through compelling visual narratives. Unlock the potential of video content to build trust, establish authority, and leave a lasting impression.

In today’s digital landscape, personal branding has become a vital component of professional success. To stand out from the crowd and make a lasting impact, it’s crucial to leverage the power of storytelling. And what better way to captivate your audience than through the art of video storytelling?

Video storytelling has the unique ability to connect with people on a deep, emotional level. By combining visuals, sound, and narrative, you can create a sensory experience that resonates with your audience.

Today, we talk to video documentary expert Jude Charles.

For over 15 years, Jude Charles has been producing documentaries for entrepreneurs. He has produced stories for Google, Steve Harvey, and dozens of visionary CEOs. Jude is the author of Dramatic Demonstration. His book is a roadmap that teaches you how to dig deep to find compelling stories that no one else knows and then leverage those stories to grow your business.

Who Is Jude Charles

For over 15 years, Jude Charles has been producing documentaries for entrepreneurs. He has produced stories for Google, Steve Harvey, and dozens of visionary CEOs. Jude is the author of Dramatic Demonstration. His book is a roadmap that teaches you how to dig deep to find compelling stories that no one else knows and then leverage those stories to grow your business.

Watch The Interview

Key Topics Jude Covers

Links & Resources

Episode Transcript

Markeith Braden: Video storytelling. Everywhere we look, we see videos, whether it’s Facebook or Instagram. Video has become king, and today, we will be talking to the number one video expert I know I have seen at work.

I have seen him work with my coaches and produce some of the most valuable content that any entrepreneur, coach, consultant, or business needs to tell their story. 

This podcast will be a great interview; you don’t want to miss it. Come in, sit, and have your pad and pen together because we’ll give some value-packed information today. Welcome to another episode of the Maximizer brand podcast.

What’s going on? Everyone, welcome to another episode of the Maximizer brand podcast. I am Markeith Braden, your personal brand strategist speaker and the host of The Maximize Your Brand Podcast, where we’re all about helping subject matter experts in your career in your niche in your field to grow and build their brands online so that it impacts their influence and their income.

I’m so excited to be with you today as we talk about video content and becoming an influencer through video. Today, my guest is the premier expert in this area and someone who helps entrepreneurs create documentaries around their stories. You don’t want to miss this.

Without prolonging today’s podcast, I will introduce our guests, but first, let me read his bio real quick. 

Jude Charles, for over 15 years, has been producing documentaries for entrepreneurs. He has produced stories for Google, Steve Harvey, and dozens of visionary CEOs, one of those being one of my coaches that I have coached with over the past few years.

Charles is the author of Dramatic Demonstration. This book is a roadmap that teaches you how to dig deep to find compelling stories that no one else knows and then leverage those stories to grow your business. Jude’s mission is to lead and empower entrepreneurs with relentless, unwavering courage.   

Jude, welcome to the Maximize Your Brand podcast. I appreciate you taking time out today to talk with us.

Jude Charles: Markeith, thank you for having me. I look forward to this conversation and blessing your audience with information on how to grow their brand and take things to the next level.

Markeith Braden: Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, I gave a brief bio about who you are. Please provide more information about your background and the different things you are working on to show up in the world.

Jude Charles: I was 17 years old when I started this business. I was in a TV production classroom. My teacher, Mrs. Donnelly, told me on May 4, 2006, ” Jude, you’re talented at this; you should start a business. ” I’m the youngest of 10 children. My father worked as a construction worker, and my mom worked at a cheer factory. 

So, I should have taken Mrs. Donnelly seriously. The following day, May 5, 2006, Mrs. Donnelly entered the classroom with a yellow envelope. What is this? so she said, look inside, look inside. And inside this yellow envelope was my first set of business cards. To this day, I have the very first one that she ever gave me. I still have it on my desk. That’s how I got started in this business in 2006. 

Fifteen years later, I am still blessed with the gift to bring these stories to life. I help entrepreneurs craft their story and bring it to life through documentaries. 

Markeith Braden: We met about two years ago, 2019. I remember Darnyell talking about hiring this videographer and how, at first, she was going back and forth on whether or not she wanted to pay the price point you were charging her to get it done. 

Ultimately, she did it, and I had an opportunity to see you at work doing the different things you were doing for her. I’m like, man, one day, I hope to be able to work with him and do something similar.   

So, we will talk about quite a bit of that and the types of work you do for entrepreneurs. I had the opportunity to listen to the audiobook that you had on Spotify, and I had a chance to listen to those stories.  

I am ready for this interview. So, the first question I have for you is, what is branding to you? What is branding to you regarding video as it pertains to business?

Jude Charles: Branding is how you make people feel. What do people say about you when you’re not in the room? Yeah, and what they say about you usually is your story. What they tell others about you is usually your story they will tell. Like with Darnyell, you know, Darnyelle started her busines and talks about how, even when she was born, her mother didn’t know that she was pregnant with Darnyelle. Right, and that Darnyelle isn’t supposed to be here. What other people will remember is is the fire and the passion that Darnyelle has on stage. 

That’s what they say behind the scenes. And that to me is that’s what a brand is. And then when you talk about adding video to that brand, now you talk about packaging up your brand in a way that can be shared with others. And oftentimes what happens is that people aren’t clear on how to do that. They will decide to sit in front of a camera and talk, but they don’t make you feel anything. 

And to me, when even as I sit here and have this conversation with you, I’m thinking of how do I make people feel and that feeling comes in many different forms. But again, video allows you to package that in a way when you think about it intentionally. Video allows you to package it in a way so that after someone has engaged with you through a video? They are now left with a feeling. And that’s what I like to do in the work that I do.

Markeith Braden: You know, and I recall you speaking to that around in some of the episodes of the audiobook, and I had a thought like, why is it so important to connect with people’s feelings? Why is it so important for entrepreneurs and their brand, or people in general, to connect with people and their feelings? 

I’ll never forget a quote by Maya Angelou, she said that people will always forget what you say. But they will never forget how you made them feel. Why is that so important?

Jude Charles: Yeah, feelings are our emotions, it’s the thing that moves us when we are experiencing something. So, if you’re watching a movie, and the movie makes you laugh, that’s an emotion. If the movie in the end made you cry, that’s another emotion, and you’re left with that feeling. In the same way, when we are engaging with other people, the way that you make them feel is the very last impression they’re left with. 

Before a client works with you, the one question they’re asking is why should I do business with you versus any other option available to me? But if we simplify that, that person is asking. Why should I work with Markeith to help me elevate my brand? Why should I work with Jude to help me tell my story? 

The way we normally answer is, we’ll try to tell them all the accolades that we have. We’ll try to tell them the things that we can do. But that’s not what they’re asking for. They’re asking Who are you? Because that’s the only thing that can make you unique is who you are as individual, who you are as an individual is your story. 

When I started this podcast by telling you that I was 17 years old when I started this business, that tells you a little bit about who I am in the sense that as a 17-year-old. I was naive enough to think all I needed was a business card and a video camera to start a business. I needed much more than that. I dared to start in that way. So, when you asked me why I felt so important, feelings were what we were left with, not necessarily what you did for me. But how did you make me feel? How did this conversation make you feel after you’ve left?

Markeith Braden: So good, how we made a person feel after encountering you. I always would say that to. What does a person walk away with? What does the person walk away with after having encountered you? I know a part of my experience, and people say this all the time. 

A part of my experience is that I want people to feel inspired and encouraged after they encounter me. People tell me all the time there’s just a presence that I have they experience. that sometimes I don’t necessarily feel it. But there’s something that they feel after being in my presence, and I’m like, wow, that’s just, it’s almost like a superpower that you may have that comes along with who you are. 

So, how do people feel when they encounter you when they encounter your business? When they experience your service? When they experience your product? How do you make people feel?  

 So, today’s topic is all about video storytelling. And we have video shorts now through Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, so many of the social media channels are jumping on the bat bandwagon. And people are kind of doing those kinds of video shorts to tell a story. But this is a little different from that. This is more documentary style that you do. Talk to us about what is video storytelling.

Jude Charles: Video storytelling is the way that I do it. It is telling that person’s story and putting it into a documentary. So, what I’m doing is following the entrepreneur and looking at these moments in their life. So, let’s back up for a second. What the story is, is a very specific moment in time. But it’s all it is. Story has been a buzzword over the years and people are trying to complicate it with structure and all these different things.  

The one thing to remember is that a story is about a particular moment in time. What I do with a video camera is I document that very specific moment in time, or sometimes I will document many moments In time, and then ComPilot to create an overarching story and overarching journey. So video storytelling in the way that I do it is documentary form.

I am a fly on the wall and I’m just seeing life as it happens. You got an opportunity to not only see next-level everything, which was Darnyelle’s first Docu series, but you’ve also gotten an exclusive preview of her second Docu series, Move to Millions. And what you see in the very beginning of the move to millions, or what you have seen are her and a team heard at a chamber treat in North New Orleans, it’s a very specific moment in time.  

But then she goes into talking about 2014, the year that she made her first million dollars, and it didn’t feel good. But I’m bringing you into that particular moment in time because she had a big event, she brought on 100 clients, and had to grow the business really quickly. She had to hire people quickly, and it didn’t feel good. That is what video storytelling is, You’re bringing me into a very specific moment in time.  

It’s not just you sitting in front of the camera talking. It’s me seeing your life as it’s happening. Yes, we have video shorts nowadays, IG reels, right? But even a reel can be, you know, if you’re going to purchase clothes or purchase a car, you can say hey, come along with me. Right? And it’s you filming the logo of the car dealership, you filming the inside of the car because you’re thinking about maybe getting car A or car B, and you’re filming, and you’re bringing me along for the process.  

That’s what video storytelling is. Allowing someone to get a three dimensional view into your world. Again, you’re not just sitting in front of the camera. You’re bringing them into your world into this very specific moment in time that they can experience.

Markeith Braden: That’s so good. The one that I saw of Darnyelle’s was exceptionally done well. So, video storytelling. Now, in your audiobook, you talked about, which is entitled, dramatic demonstration. In and of itself, the title Dramatic Demonstration. The dramatic part speaks to the whole idea that we want to take you on a journey, right to give you not just the great parts of the story but also the low parts and take you to the high and high moments.  

I learned that from Lisa Nichols when I first started my business. I went to a Speak & Write conference, and she talked about the journey of taking them to the valley, but not leaving people in the valley and then taking them to the mountaintop. And so you do that in your documentaries. Why did you call it dramatic demonstrations?

Jude Charles:  In a dramatic demonstration, I call it that because it’s not enough to tell your story, it’s important to show you a story. But even then, I have these five demonstrations that I think about behind the scenes, live illustration, social proof, unique mechanism and transformation. 

But just like you said, it’s not just the great moments, it’s the low moments. So there’s this emotional pool that I want you to feel as you’re going through these demonstrations. And so that’s why I call it dramatic demonstration. Because it’s not just show me but the emotional part of what you’re showing me it’s important for you to get vulnerable in the way that you tell your story. 

So that people will really feel your story. At the beginning of this podcast, we talked about why we should make people feel the impression that we leave someone with. That is what I call a dramatic demonstration. When I recently spoke on stage in Nashville, Tennessee, and I did this illustration with Jenga pieces.

Markeith Braden: And when you were in Nashville and you didn’t reach out.

Jude Charles: I was only there for a couple of days. But I spoke at this conference marketing conference, and my talk was about changing the story that’s in your head. Because often, we want to be able to tell our story, but you have to change the story that’s in your head first before you can even share your story. And part of the illustration was talking about subtracting the noise.  

And so we all have played with a Jenga piece and or pieces. There’s 54 pieces and in the Jenga pieces the whole idea is that you remove pieces to put it back on top and you make sure that Jenga doesn’t fall down. Right? Well, I did an illustration where I removed the piece, and the piece was probably written listening to fewer podcasts, that’s subtracting the noise, or spending too much time on Facebook. Okay, in core values you need to remove that. There were three pieces in there you needed to add there was confidence and courage.  

When I removed the pieces, I didn’t put them back on top in core values. Instead, I asked the people in the audience who needs to spend less time on Facebook. And then, depending on who raised their hand, I actually threw them the piece. If someone needs to listen to last podcast, again, someone raised their hand, I threw them the piece. 54 pieces threw out about 10 pieces. A couple of days after the event, I went in the Facebook group, and I asked, Hey, does anybody still have their pieces? I’d love to see a picture of it. Well, when I saw the pictures, and the pictures were loaded, there were people that have the pieces at their desk.  

So I did a demonstration with the Jenga pieces. That was one thing. But I made a dramatic by interacting with the audience and actually throwing the pieces to the audience. But we talked about in the beginning of how you leave someone, how you make them feel. Now they’re going home with this Jenga piece. It’s not just a Jenga piece anymore. There’s a moment in time attached to it. There is more value to it.  

When you’re creating a dramatic demonstration, whether it is just video storytelling, or you’re presenting in front of someone, that dramatic demonstration now holds more weight. And it holds more feeling that will make someone want to work with you. Ask the question, why should I do business with you versus any other any or any or other person available to me? It’s because of the feeling that you left me with. That makes it why I would want to work with you. That is the dramatic demonstration.

Commercial: Are you a corporate executive or career professional, ready to take your life back, prepared to take your time back, and you’ve thought about becoming a coach, a speaker, a trainer or a consultant in your own business? Well, I invite you to schedule a brand maximization discovery session so that I can help you to uncover that expertise and learn how to package yourself in an online based business properly.  

I’m Markeith Braden, a personal brand strategist and master lifestyle coach who’s all about helping corporate executives and career professionals maximize and monetize their brand online so that they can create a location-free business and live the life that they crave.  

What I know for sure is that you want to be doing something fulfilling, and that’s exciting. And that provides great value to the world, you want to make a greater impact on the lives of individuals. And you know that if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll always get the results you’ve always gotten.  

So schedule a brand maximization discovery session by going to my website, www.markeithbraden.com/consultation, that’s marking brain.com, forward slash consultation, and let’s maximize and monetize your personal brand.  

Markeith Braden: Which is so interesting because we’re always asking ourselves, you know, what is our unique difference? What is our unique difference, you know, in working with me as a personal brand strategist or having me as a speaker versus the other person who’s a personal brand strategist and a speaker? And just in what you just said, I don’t know that many of us even think that we could communicate and say, your audience will feel this. Through my speech or by working with me, you will walk away filling whatever the fill-in-the-blank is.

Jude Charles: Yeah, it is. Again, the feeling is your story, though. I talked about subtracting the noise and changing the story in your head because I told the story of burnout. I burned out in 2020. And I am still going through burnout right now. But the reason that I brought meaning to these Jenga pieces is because I told that story. And I said I had to subtract the noise in my own life. I had to stop listening to so many podcasts, spend less time on social media, and do everything. And it’s like, Hey, if you’re going through this too, here’s what you can do. But that is the feeling. Right?  

That is the one thing that makes Markeith different from Jude, and the organizer could have both people at the conference. Right? But the way Markeith is going to have someone feeling in the way I’m going to, it’s going to be two different experiences, but they’re both powerful in their own right. And that is again it. You want someone to feel something, but you take them through that journey through your story is under We’re standing.  

Jude started at 17. And you know, he was a young entrepreneur, the youngest of 10. Or, in 2020, at the height of his career, he burned out and had to think differently about how he ran his business. It’s all a part of the story, me sharing information. And I could be screaming at the top of my lungs, the information is not going to move you what’s going to move you is the story.  

The Jenga pieces were fun to throw out in the audience. But what moves you about that is the story attached to it. And again, that’s that’s what dramatic demonstration is; it’s how you attach a story to the presentation that you’re making. How do you attach a story to the video that you’re creating? How do you attach a story to the podcast that we’re creating?  

How do you maximize your brand? And there’s an overarching story around that. That, to me, is what dramatic demonstration is all about. Again, you bring more meaning, and war waits to the thing that you happen to be doing.

Markeith Braden: So good, so good. One of the quotes I wrote down while listening to the audiobook, you said that it’s essential to show and not just tell.

Jude Charles: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’re showing. So that can be one of the five demonstrations again. There behind the scenes, live illustration, social proof, transformation, a unique mechanism. I’ll go through each five quickly. The Jenga piece was a live illustration, a took an object, or you can use people to make an illustration so that someone will better understand your idea or your concept. 

My idea was to subtract the noise. Okay, let me bring that to life so that you understand it; let me show with the story versus telling the story; I can easily just tell you, yeah, I went through burnout. And I had to subtract the noise. 

I’m just telling you the story. But bringing the visual element to it is a demonstration. That’s the live illustration behind the scenes is simply that is just what is going on behind the scenes when no one is looking, I’ll often tell the story of, like, if I’m if you, I and Markeith are in Starbucks, and there’s no one else in there, we found a wallet on the ground. 

Whatever I do next, behind the scenes when no one is looking, it will tell you much more about me than just saying I’m a person of integrity. Because if I pick up that wallet and put it in my pocket, you’ve seen something else behind the scenes when no one is looking. 

Well, the same thing you want to do when documenting your story is bring them behind the scenes—social proof. We’ve heard the term before we think about testimonials. But social proof, I think differently. I think about the visual and physical cues. When someone puts their hand on their heart when they’re talking to someone, you are touching me emotionally and deeply. 

There’s something deep about what you’re saying that it’s moving me emotionally or if I’m laughing loud. That means you’re saying something to me. That’s really funny, right? Those are the visual cues that I’m looking for visual physical cues. The unique mechanism is the unique characteristic of the person. You know someone like Darnyelle Jervey Harmon, where she speaks she speaks and teaches on spiritual principles. And she prays before she does her talks over before she does her events. Those are unique mechanisms. 

Those unique characteristics of Darnyelle’s transformation were my favorite. We are familiar with in the fitness world the before and after. But I think about transformation in the form of life after. How has life changed? The best illustration of that is a fitness coach who received a picture from her client, and the image is of an empty plane. 

In the text message, the client says to the fitness coach, I’m getting ready to board a plane, and this is the first time in my life in my 40s, I haven’t had to ask for a seat belt extension. That is how life after has changed. It’s not just the fact that she lost weight. It is the fact that she no longer felt embarrassed getting on an airplane and having to ask for a seatbelt extension. 

Those are the five demonstrations, and that is how we show the story versus telling the story. She could have easily texted her fitness coach to say you know I’m on a plane; I didn’t have to request a seatbelt extension. Instead, she sent her a screenshot of the empty plane. And now that brought it to life in a different way that brought the three dimensional view of her world in a different way. 

That is what it means to show your story, not just tell your story. You want to show your story. We each have a phone that has a camera in our pockets and whether you’re taking a picture or recording a video. You have access to do that today. It’s not just about hiring Jude Charles it’s how do you bring your story to life even as you’re engaging on social media.  

Let’s say you work a nine-to-five job, a traditional job, and you’re applying for a new position at a brand new place, and they know nothing about you; one way to really stand out is to create nothing long you don’t have to do a 10-minute thing. But if you did a three-minute video, you bring them into your world. Now you stand out amongst a sea of maybe 100 different applicants, you stand out, because you took the extra time to create a video about who you are.

Markeith Braden: Good. That’s good.

Jude Charles: Demonstration and showing you go ahead.

Markeith Braden: I love video. I think that one of the reasons why I love video is the ability to be able to create one piece of content that can be distributed in multiple different ways. I love love videos. One of the things that I pulled from listening to the audiobook is your roadmapping process that you take your clients through, and kind of wanted to talk you through that. 

I know in one of the episodes you used the podcast host and and kind of walked him through the example. I wonder if you will do that with me today. Please go through those three areas of the roadmap.

Jude Charles:  Yeah, so it’s three phases to the roadmap is phase one is dramatic clarity. So we get really clear on your brand and who you are, what do you stand for? What do you stand against? What are your core values? What are your philosophies and beliefs? We work through all of that in part phase one, which is dramatic clarity, dramatic demonstration of the five demonstrations.  

After you’ve told me what your core values are, or what your philosophies and beliefs are, I’m looking for the moment in time that it’s really happened. So that when I’m going to document your story, or if you’re looking to recreate certain parts of the story, you know how to document it. Those are the five demonstrations we just talked about. Dramatic leverages what you also just mentioned, which is that video has the ability to be repurposed over and over and over and over again. 

We work through in road mapping. We work through how before we ever press record, before we ever decide to sit you down for an interview, how are you going to actually share this? Because I realized years ago clients would get the content I’ve created for them. But then they’d only upload it once to YouTube or upload it once to Facebook. 

And I was like, hey, I just put out this video look at it. He’s like, no, how do you use it three months from now? How do you use it six months from now? How do you use it in different parts of your marketing process? When someone first signs up for your email list? And there’s an indoctrination sequence? How do you use it there? When someone has just purchased your product? How do you use it there so that they get a deeper understanding of who you are ?

Don’t just think that someone has viewed your video just because you posted it on social media; it may not have gone out to everybody. How do you continue to use that video over and over this dramatic leverage? Then, roadmapping itself, I spent a whole day going through those three phases. It’s a six to eight-hour session. We go through all three phases so that by the end of it, you are extremely clear in the same way that you can’t build a house without a blueprint. 

You can’t go and create your story or craft your story in video form without this roadmap, because the roadmap takes you from the beginning. What stories do I share all the way to the end? Where do I share these stories on what platform so that you’re able to maximize your brand? Are you able to make money? A return on investment from your story?

Markeith Braden:  I’m glad you brought that up. You’re able to because it is a very high investment. Yes, that people make to work with you. I know you only work with five clients a year. Yeah, around these types of documentaries. Can you give us some examples of results that individuals have received and getting this type of content created with you?

Jude Charles: Yeah, the very first time I had seen results. It was an ironic time in my life because I woke up at seven o’clock in the morning to the sounds of chains hitting the floor. And it was always a nightmare for me to hear these chains hitting the floor when I ran outside or ran to the front window to see what was going on outside. It was a tow truck driver coming to repossess my car for the second time in eight months.  

I walked back into my room. There was nothing I could do about it. I sat on the edge of my bed, but after 30 minutes of sitting there, I received a phone call from a client. Her name was Keisha Dior, and I had been working with Keisha for about a year. At that point, she had built her business from the ground up.  

It was a cosmetic business, and I had documented that entire journey. She launched her business with this documentary, and she was calling me to tell me in that moment that she had just learned she crossed over the seven figure mark, she had just made million dollars in her business, the first year of the business.  

While at this point in 2011, I had been in business for five years struggling to make $20,000 a year. But it opened my eyes to the fact that a documentary or a video can be so powerful that it can help an entrepreneur make $1 million. I was like, Okay, first time it happened, maybe it’s a fluke. Then, I went back and learned sales and marketing to learn how to position myself even better so that I could charge what I’m charging today.

I recreated this concept of making money from your video with an interior designer. And I don’t have the exact numbers for the interior designer, but I know that he was able to connect with his ideal client in a repeatable way. Okay, to happen twice. Great. Let’s keep going on and see if we can repeat this today. Results have been like Darnyelle; before we ever pressed record, Darnyelle was able to make $100,000 from our road mapping session. 

It was a strategy that I had given her about going back to actually do case studies video case studies with her clients. And by doing that, she created an email series that made $100,000 All through the power of storytelling.  

There was another client before we started working together; we went through a a road mapping session. He needed to do a pitch for people to join his mastermind. He was two weeks away from it. We also worked on a docu-series together, but before this happened two weeks away from it. He made the pitch and was able to bring in $2.5 million from being able to craft the right pitch with the right story.  

I use those two examples because that was before we ever did the Docu series. Then, after we did the Docu-series at Darnyelle’s mastermind, people joined her mastermind simply from watching the Docu-series. Now, the mastermind is costly. So it’s, I’ll put it like this: even at the lowest level, she could charge $30,000 for her mastermind; it only took 25 people to be in the group for her to make $1 million.  

I forget the exact number. There are at least 50 people in the group now, all of them because of the Docuseries, but a few of them because of it. So it’s easy to do that math. Stephen Giorgio, who was the guy that did the $2.5 million from stage people watched his Docu series and then went to buy his $1,000 course because they now understood who he was and understood him better.  

So they bought his $1,000 course that. Is the power of creating these video stories is that when people realize the funniest thing when people realize you’re real. You’re authentic, and that you truly care about the investment that this person is going to make into your company.  

It’s a more profound connection; it’s depth versus width. And now they do want to join you on the journey. They want you to lead them on that journey to making money. That is when I think about why it’s so crucial for me to do the road mapping first and why I charge for it first when I do these roadmaps. 

As of today, the road mapping will go up at some point. But as of today, it’s $17,000. I charged for that investment because it’s not just what I’ve seen, it is what I’ve proven. I have my dramatic demonstration of proof that this continues to make money. I have been on over at this point, at different podcasts.  

I launched the audiobook; the audiobook is entirely free for people to listen to exclusively on Spotify. But the book itself, when it launched, was at $100, and right now, it says $150. But when the book launched, it was at $100. And people

Markeith Braden: The value of this is that I do most interviews with people who have written a book. The book is $15, $20, $25. He just said that his book was $150. Yes, I was like, I need to get the book. And now he just said it’s $150. I don’t know if I’ve ever paid more than $40 for a book, but I just want people to understand that this must happen. I have some value in it because that’s gonna be my next question anyway; as you know, where do I start if I can’t afford to hire you?  

Jude Charles: You start with the book. And the reason that the book is high priced is because I understand the value that I’ve created for other entrepreneurs. I understand the roadmap that I’ve taken them through. And this book helps you take yourself through the roadmap to creating the same type of dramatic demonstrations that I’ve created for my clients. 

You can create it for yourself. But the most important part and the reason I started mentioning the price of the book, and the fact that I also not only teach these things but demonstrate these things in my business, is that, as of today, I have sold 52 copies of the book. Not a significant number, right? But here’s the biggest difference: the book is priced at $100. Let’s keep it simple math is priced at $100. That’s $5,200. 

If I priced it at $20, and sold 52 copies, that would have only been about $1,000. That is a five-time difference. Yes. But it sells, and it sells because of the power of story. This is not just theory that I’m teaching. I’m teaching things that have happened to other clients on a much bigger scale. So that’s why you’re hearing the 2.5 million. Are you hearing the $100,000? It’s a much bigger scale. But the same thing can happen for you. 

I know this book will sell 1000s of copies, it may not be doing it at the speed as most people would, but it will sell 1000s. Let’s just add it up again: low in 1000 copies, 1000 copies times $100. That’s simple math. So $100,000 off a book that you’re not supposed to make money off of, right? Again, I just think the power of story that makes these things possible is the power of it, not just me putting a video together. 

But it’s the experience that I create, not only in the book, but in the audio book too. You’ve talked about listening to the audiobook, and you’re you’re pulling quotes from the audiobook. It’s a different experience. It’s not just me reading the book, it is also segments of podcasts that I’ve been on. Yes, right. And again, this is all the same principles that I’m teaching in the book that I live out as well. And I continue to make money, I am able to charge $17,000. Without the book, I’m able to charge $17,000 for the sessions. I’m giving these sessions to you for $100. It is simple math, it is easy to understand that if you can invest in yourself at $100 and make much more money. There’s no reason not to do it.

Markeith Braden: So people were paying $17,000 for the sessions, and I want to give people the principle around knowing your value. But your clients, you know, it may be something different than what I learned. But your clients today are paying what, to do the Docuseries?

Jude Charles: Yeah, so it’s a six-figure investment to start. So, every project is different. We go through the road mapping to determine the project’s cost. So some projects have cost $100,000, up to $300,000. But it’s a matter of what we are doing. Sometimes we’ll film for six months. Sometimes, we’re filming for a year; what are we doing to document your story in that period? What are we covering in that time to document a story? 

I happen to travel with my clients wherever they’re going. So, like Darnyelle mentioned, she was in New Orleans at a team retreat. We filmed that. She was in Delaware doing her mastermind filming, in Atlanta speaking, we’re filming that. I’m going all over the country wherever she is for Darnyelle for a year, wherever she is, and I’m documenting that entire journey. So it depends. But again, it goes back to your talk about knowing your worth. When Keisha Dior made $1 million from a docu-series we created together, the very first part of the Docuseries, I had only gotten paid $3,000. So this isn’t overnight that I went from 3000 to 100,000. 

Or even when I went from not ever writing a book to selling a $100 book. When you know your worth, you see the value that you create and the value that you bring. You’re disrespecting yourself by not charging what you’re worth. She made 1 million nd I only charged 3000. OK, that was a mistake. I understand marketing, branding, and sales. To keep increasing the price. I went from charging 3000 With Keisha to the very next project I did, when I went back and learned sales and marketing. Very next project, I charged 15,000.  

I got results from his docuseris. I didn’t call it a Docu series, then I called it a brand film. He got results from his brand film. I remember interviewing him after the fact, and this is incredibly important what you can do today, I interviewed him after the fact I got a testimonial from him. and he said, “For what you brought to my company, I would have paid you $40,000.   

I took that in with the next client. I charged $40,000. I didn’t just interview him. I interviewed him at different milestones of the project. After roadmapping, I did an interview. After we finished filming, I did another interview. After he saw the first preview, I did another interview; I’m showing you the journey because I’m not just saying Tell me about the great experience. I’m asking what your apprehensions were when this was happening. What were you scared of? Or the next client that I go to work with? I’m bringing them value; here’s what you can expect. Here’s how it went for someone else. Here’s all the questions I know, you may be asking me, I’ve already packaged it into a case study for you.  

Again, it’s creating a dramatic demonstration. Here arethe powerful ways that we could use video to tell stories. It’s not just your own story. Sometimes, it can be your client’s story as they’re going through the process of working with you. All of these things bring value, though. In my opinion, each time that you go to a conference or workshop, you should increase the rate. Each time you’re working with a new coach, you should increase the rate. Every time at least this is how I did in my business.  

Because I work with only five clients a year, every time I had a successful project, emphasis on a successful project, meaning we’ve made it all the way to the end, the client is happy, they’ve given me testimonials, and I increased the rate. Roadmapping was the same way. Today, it’s at 17,000. It’s going to go up to it will eventually go up to $25,000 because once I keep hitting milestones and how many books I sell, I’m going to continue to increase the rate. The very first time I charged for road mapping, it was $500. That was in 2014. It’s 2022, and it’s at $17,000. 

Because I understand the value that I bring road map and when clients are having success before we ever start to record. There’s value in road mapping by itself. When you talk about knowing your worth, that’s the way that I like to think about it. It didn’t come overnight. I stand by what I charge because I believe in my value.

Markeith Braden: Well, people in the comments, Danielle says, This is so powerful, so many gyms, I will be buying the book. What’s the name of the book? 

Jude Charles: Yes, the book’s name is Dramatic Demonstration: How To Attract Premium Clients and Scale Your Business with Visual Storytelling. You can get the book through my website, JudeCharles.com/book. I’m sure Markeith will put this in the show notes as well. But that is the way that you can purchase the book to learn the same principles that I’m teaching. The same principles are taught in the book in dramatic demonstration, dramatic clarity, and dramatic leverage. One last thing I’ll say about the book is, it’s a book that takes you on that journey of road mapping for yourself, but it’s behind the scenes of three of my clients as well. You understand how they have used it; it is not just looking at it from my point of view of my business.

Markeith Braden: Well, we are almost at an hour. I have maybe one more question. We just heard you talk about video storytelling dramatic demonstrations and heard you talk about the price points and different things working with him. As a new entrepreneur or somebody like me, how do I get this done? How do I start really doing my own video storytelling and connecting with people’s feelings? Maybe through my podcast or doing YouTube videos or, sharing different webinars? How do I really began to practice this now.  

Jude Charles: I have this book that I will eventually brand it’s Story bank. The secret sauce is storytelling. How do you start today to begin to make money, you take this story bank, and it’s an empty notebook, but you take this story bank, every day, there are stories happening to us, there are moments in life that are happening to us. You write it down in this book. How you don’t know when you’re going to use it, you don’t know, when’s the next time you’re gonna do a presentation, a webinar or a podcast, you may not know if you’re going to use it there. 

But what you end up having in this story bank is stories that you’ve deposited, now you can withdraw the stories when it comes time to withdraw the stories, and what ends up happening over time is that you tell these stories over and over. When it comes time to record a video, it comes time to be on stage and doing a type of illustration, the story is not the first thing you have to think about you already know the story. 

You just have to think about how you present it. That’s how I would get started. The second thing I would advise, if you’re getting clients and still maybe new to business, in the very beginning, understand your clients stories. What’s bringing them to you? What is their pain problem, that they’re having at the moment in time that’s led them to you documenting their story on your cell phone, video camera? That will help you to gain more clients, and again make more money.   

Now you’re creating a case study from the clients you’re working with, even if the clients are paying you $100 Or doing it for free. You provided value, you offered a service, you gave them a product. Now ask them for a testimonial, or what about the experience, even something that you can improve, but it creates more value that gets you to the next step. 

Those are two things. Story bank is number one. It’s the easiest thing. Just write down the stories that happened to you or have happened to you. Number two is to pull out your cell phone and start recording your clients so that you can package those stories to continue gaining more clients.

Markeith Braden: So good, so good! We’ll have to come back and talk more about video storytelling and documentary-type content. You know, there are so many different things we can learn. I definitely got to get the book Jude.

Jude Charles: One thing we could do Markeith is a road mapping session. Let’s do a live road mapping session for the Maximize Your Brand podcast the next time we jump on. Let’s allow your audience to understand what it feels like. Because the next time we come on, and they have worked through their stories, they have started documenting and want to get a better example of how I package this better. We’ll do it live Markeith.

Markeith Braden: I would love to take a live road mapping session, and people can get all in my business. At the same time, that’ll be a great idea. We’ll also take live calls next time, live questions, and live Q&A; people can call in and ask questions from that experience. We definitely will get that scheduled.