That Time I Met Chris Do

I went to a Chris Do workshop back in January 2024.

I was scrolling on Instagram and he was promoting a local workshop in Vancouver.

I didn’t know who he was, but one of my mentors on IG was following him, so I looked through some of his content and thought “hey, I need this” and I bought a ticket last minute and went.

It was a 2-day, $2000 workshop on business and personal branding.

Thought I’d share some of my notes and takeaways from that workshop! Some of these are really high level tips that I have never seen in anyone’s free content before:

1. Content IS the job.
   
   Even if you have multiple businesses to run, you cannot hire someone to replace you in video.
   
   You can hire writers and a content team to help you generate ideas, but Chris still writes a lot of his own stuff today.
   
   He is also still the main strategist when it comes to understanding platform algorithms.
   
   He has over 2 mil subs and a couple of different businesses, so I think that says a lot.
   
   People follow you because they want to hear what YOU have to say.
   
   My opinion is to do the first write of long form yourself, then you can either hire someone to scrape your long form or you can use chatGPT to repurpose it into smaller digestable pieces for Twitter, IG, Linkedin, etc.

   
   That way it’s all still you, but you still hit your goal of showing up everywhere all the time.
   
   

2. Practice your writing skills
   
   Being a good writer is a skill that pays off big time in content.
   
   So if you’re good at it, it’s something worth doubling down on.

   
   People utilize AI more and more now.
   
   This is great and helps us move faster, but as of January 2025, AI still isn’t good enough to write like a human and it is obvious when something is written by AI vs an actual person.
   
   Maybe this will change in 12 months, who knows.
   
   Dan Koe is an example of this in the content world, the reason he can hold attention without excessive retention editing because he is an excellent writer.
   
   His delivery makes you connect with him easily and instantly.
   
   By the way, I write these newsletters from scratch myself because I thoroughly enjoy this part of the business 🙂 
   

3. Camera Authenticity
   PSST - This is a higher level influencer secret that I’m giving away for free.
   
   People’s first judge of you in real life is whether you are the same in real life as you are on camera.
   
   That’s why if you do content, it’s important to just be yourself.
   
   No weird characters or pretending to be someone you’re not.
   
   One question I always ask myself is “if someone watched this video of me and bumped into me in real life, would they think I’m the same?“
   
   Your clothes, accessories in the background, color grading, editing, retention editing, they all impact peoples’ perception of you.
   
   My mom actually told me, in her very critical Asian tiger mom tone, that I need to start to dressing more like my influencer self when I go out, just in case people recognize me.
   
   I will admit that I wear a lot of Lululemon on a daily basis.

   
   Anyways, back to camera confidence and authenticity.. this is just how peoples’ brains perceive information in a world of overstimulation from social media.
   
   

4. Storytelling > everything.
   There was a lady at the workshop that was the owner of a beauty salon with multiple locations.
   
   The reason why I still remember her isn’t because of her business, it’s because of how she introduced herself.
   
   She told a very unique story about how her business came to be (from a tough life transition & divorce).
   
   Her brand was built on her life story and they used this in all of their marketing collateral and website.
   
   This is a fairly commoditized service that I would argue competes on price/location more than anything.
   
   But the reason I remember HER brand is because she knew how to storytell when she introduced herself.
   
   Now that’s powerful.
   
   This is how influence is built.
   
   All of the world’s greatest leaders, FAANGs, and C-suite executives know this.
   
   Storytelling is also a skill that they teach at workshops for C-suite executives to help them become better leaders in their organization.
   
   People do not connect with facts, they dislike being told what to do, they connect to and relate with stories and through emotion.
   
   It’s something you can learn and practice because there are a lot of great frameworks out there.
   
   

5. Editing
   Tactically, how you edit videos impacts your retention and watch time.
   
   In an ideal world, we edit with minimal dead air because even if you stop to take a breath, your viewer might click out.
   
   But editing makes a huge difference in how you’re perceived in real life.
   
   For example - Chris gave an example of a well known Youtuber that is known for using jump cuts.
   
   Funny enough, I didn’t even know what a jump cut was prior to this workshop and I still use them in my videos today.
   
   To me, I’m just chopping down my video in final cut pro so it’s between 8-12 minutes long without too much dead air.
   
   But to your viewer, it might make a difference in how they perceive you.
   
   Back to the influencer, they were giving a speech in real life but apparently people could tell that he wasn’t able to speak in the same pace and clarity in real life as he did on camera.
   
   Interesting takeaway.. just something to ponder on.
   

   That’s all for today! Let me know if anything stood out by replying back to this e-mail.
   
   Best,
   Alice