Andrew: Hey everybody, it’s Andrew Warner – Founder mixergy.com, home of the ambitious upstart, and today I’m going to be interviewing a friend of mine. Here’s a woman who wanted to get on-air gigs, who wanted to build a career for herself – but she couldn’t get enough of them. So she decided to take matters into her own hands – she started using social media tools, things like that. I remember I was watching you, Shira, at an airport using Quick on your cellphone to broadcast video live to an audience that you were building using social media tools and then that got you on on-air gigs. I think you were on, um – Let’s see – NBC, Fox – a bunch, in fact, why don’t you tell people. What are some of the highlights of your career?
Interviewee: Well, so far besides obviously my work online, which has led to all of this I hosted a weekly lifestyle show on NBC here in L.A. called First Look and Open House which is a real estate show, I hosted an interactive music show on Direct TV. I was a correspondent on a court TV show called Hollywood Heat and I’ve been a talking head on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel. The list goes on and on really. And that’s lead me to besides building up my personal brand and doing my own kind of projects online. I’ve worked for legitamite brands a lot of us follow and trust. Y’know I was the red carpet host for the Webbies, I was the official video logger for internet week in New York. I’ve hosted content on Hollywood.com, Movies.com. Obviously with NBC (?) called Alex (?) TV. Currently, I have my own blog on CBSnews.com called ‘On The Scene’, where I track the best in social trends and pop culture and I video blog and a I blog and it’s very raw and on the scene basically. And then I actually just launched a new Yahoo! show today, Andrew. A new daily show called ‘What’s so funny?’ where we look at the best from comedy on that night on T.V. so it’s a little convergence of TV content on the web, on Yahoo! TV – What’s so funny.
Andrew: Okay. I want to get into how you got here, and along the way I want to learn some of the tools that you’ve used, I want to learn how you built up an audience for yourself, and I want to find out if this is making any money at all.
Interviewee: Well, I always say to people starting out and coming to me for advice that it’s like you don’t need to wait to get on your dream job, or to get on a TV show to start your career. The tools are there to begin your porfolio without waiting for someone to start that for you. So when I was starting out, I was getting hired on gigs but I’d might shoot maybe once a week, or once every two weeks and then I was like – well, what am I supposed to do in between? So, I started a blog and this was maybe a few years back where it wasn’t as popular – now everyone’s starting blogs, but – I started blogging about, first professionally I was blogging about pop culture. I called it the pop report, because I didn’t want people to say Shira Lazar from shiralazar.com. So I said Shira Lazar from the Pop Report, The Pop Report was pretty general and that was where it was like [exclaims] Pop Culture! and things that I thought inspired me. And that ended up getting me on.. Networks. Because y’know, TV now the whole thing is getting talking heads that are bloggers and so people kept referring to me as Shira Lazar from the Pop Report and that got me on Fox News Channel, CNN. You know, I got to know the bookers on those shows that’s basically how you get in with the shows – and so a lot of these people have daily content, they need people to fill it up – and so they get you as a talking head! and so that really built my credibility, y’know – being on TV and also inbetween shoots y’know I would kind of show behind the scenes of my shoots which would really help to engage people to bring more of a personality to it? Which I think distinguished me more as a brand than just like a person that gets hired to do gigs. Because I was continuing my brand even after the cameras were rolling.
Andrew: Okay, let’s go back and see how we got here. Do you remember the first TV gig that you got?
Interviewee: Yeah, I mean I remember the first – I out of college I was hired as an associate producer for a morning show in Vegas called the Vegas show – on a FOX affiliate, I was the associate producer and I booked the whole show. I wasn’t even 21 when they hired me. A producer from the Ellen Degeneres Show where I interned during my last semester of college hired me and they also let me do a few red carpets. That’s when I started getting into the whole red carpets and when I was done, that show, it fell apart, thankfully – because I was living in Vegas – I came to L.A. and I then I had to decide..
Andrew: Before we continue there, okay, I can see that you’re an associate producer. They give those out to people who, who are responsible, right, those gigs?
Interviewee: Well you need to know I was a very, I knew content, like I studied communications, I studied video production and I’ve always been good at tracking people down and like, getting the best person to tell the story? Which I do now, like I interview people and I’m always looking to get the, you know, the information from the horse’s mouth. So, I was bringing people out to Vegas for segments, you know, everyone from the wacky like psychics and dog whisperers [laughs] too, like actors. And I was just finding people that were entertaining that would engage people to watch and I was booking them and flying them out.
Andrew: Okay. How do you go then from booking to being on the red carpet with a microphone and a camera on you?
Interviewee: Well, it was something that my producer knew I wanted to do. I told her, and so when those little things came up, it wasn’t like necessarily I was on air the whole time but I was asking people questions, doing interviews. And then I had to basically step like take a few steps back and say, “I’m not going to take anymore production jobs.” I was getting offered jobs just to produce. And it’s not something I wanted. My heart … like I would get so excited like an adrenaline rush when I was on air. And so I basically created a reel like to go do on air stuff in the traditional way, which isn’t in the way that many people do it now, like I just, she just put a camera you know, live watching her all day long. And she does it for herself now. She didn’t do it necessarily the traditional route. But living in L.A. I was kind of figuring that out. And I needed a reel. So, I started making it in my own videos. Like, “Hey, Shira Lazar, live from Hollywood.” And literally like got my own camera, my own mic and pretended I was interviewing people as it was part of a show. I put that reel together like a three minute highlights of me doing standups, interviews of people and sent it out to agents that I knew were hosting agents.
Andrew: Uh, huh.
Interviewee: So, once I got an agent, I started being sent out but in the midst of that, I met while making my reel wireimage.com which is the biggest celebrity photo service in the world. And, wireimage just was starting their video division it happened. And I met the founder, one of the heads, and he goes, “Have you done red carpet work?” And I go, “yeah” cause I’d done it like twice. [laughs] And he started letting me go on the red carpets do interviews and do reporting for their new division. So, it was like the right place at the right time/ I kind of knew I had my focus in terms of like what steps I wanted to take. Like I knew that ultimately …
Andrew: I could see you’re making a reel. You’re saying while you made your reel, you found wireimage or they found you. How did you guys make that connection?
Interviewee: Honestly, I randomly, I bumped into them at an event.
Andrew: Uh, huh.
Interviewee: Bumped into this producer. He was from Canada. I’m from Canada. You see a lot of these things happening where you put out your focus of like what your goal is. So everyone you meet, you’re like, “Well I want to be on…” or you don’t even say “I want to.” Like you embrace the title. I was telling people I was hosting content before I was hosting content. Perception is reality. I say I’m a media empress. No one knows what the hell that is. [laughs] But, you know, I own it and so slowly people start understanding it. I mean, look at Michael Jackson. He’s the one who called himself the “king of pop.” I always say to people, “If you want to be something, own it and embrace it now.” Don’t wait for other people to title you. And the Internet allows you to do that because about me, “Hey, there you go.”
Andrew: You’ve got your [inaudible] page. Okay, wait. I want to go so deep into the details here that we really understand the story here and we can learn as much as possible. Alright, you’re at a party. You know what you want to be. You’re starting to tell people that this is who you are already. Guy from Wireimage has a conversation with you. He asked you, “Have you done red carpet work?” You say, “sure.”
Interviewee: I say “yes.”
Andrew: And then he gives you red carpet work to do at Wireimage. What happens after that?
Interviewee: He sent me on the red carpet with Angelina Jolie. I didn’t do such a good job. And he actually didn’t want to hire me again. But while in the time that they hired me for the second time, there was an online magazine, music magazine called Planet Verge. I knew the girl. It was like a young, underground magazine. I go, “I want to do some video for you.” And so I got … you know, a great way to get experience or get video for your reel or for your website, just connect yourself with an online publication that could be somewhat known. Or even … I mean now you can start your own blog that looks professional, and you get credentials for any events. It helps if you’re in a big city like New York or L.A. or something just cause there’s events all the time. And then I was just going out with the video camera.
You know, I had friends that just came out with me with a microphone, and I started doing interviews on the red carpet myself. And I threw it on this website. Who knows who was watching? But it helped me get that experience and build my reel so that the second time Wireimage came to me to do another premiere. I was ready. I felt more confident, more comfortable. And then I did really well and then they started wanting to hire me all the time. And I literally … I was doing almost red carpets every night for them. And on the red carpet at the time, a lot of the websites were starting up. This was like five years ago. And they needed red carpet hosts. They needed people to do the interviews. A lot of these sites had guys that owned them there were maybe a [inaudible] that were at the basketball team doing the interviews. And they would meet me and I was very, you know, excited. You know, I was a go getter. But I didn’t need to be micromanaged. I knew what I was doing. And they started to hire me to do their video contents. So, you know, at the time it was like Hollywood.com, this other site I can’t even remember. Like, every vague site on the red carpet I worked for.
Andrew: Tell me something else that I’ve noticed about you. A lot of people would say, “I don’t want to do this. I’m only ready to do that because that’s big enough for me” or “that’s the right time for me.” You’re willing to jump on anything. That’s intentional. Why?
Interviewee: I think because one, I love what I do. So, it’s not that I’m not picky but I embrace and I’m open. I think as long as you have your goal and your mind, you know where you’re headed. You know you’re moving forward and evolving. I’ve seen … there’s nothing bad about taking on something or, you know, one night of a project that maybe isn’t your ultimate dream project. But, you’re meeting new people, you’re being open.
I think a lot of people restrict themselves and close themselves up to opportunity when they’re just so focused on a goal and they assume there’s a certain journey or path you need to take. So, anything else that comes in their way, they’re like, “No, that’s not part of it.” Like, how do you know that’s not part of it? So many projects I’ve taken on are random things that were so vague. I’ve actually met interesting people that have helped me with something bigger. You never know where that person’s going to end up. I’ve just never been closed up to those things. You know, as long as I’m free, I’m available. I maintain my integrity. The people are good energy. I also look at it like, “what would I be doing that night?” Those three hour shooting, would I be doing anything else? If I’m just going to be sitting in my apartment on the Internet, why not?
Andrew: But, a lot of those gigs weren’t … a lot of those gigs weren’t paying you, and you did them anyway?
Interviewee: Yeah, because I love what I do. And even Kerry Viza [spelling] said. It’s like she gets paid a lot of money for a lot of things he does but you know what, he does a lot of things because it’s out of his own heart. And I think people see that, that when you like what you do, it’s like obviously you need to get the respect from people and they need to respect you by paying you for your skills and your talents. But, you also have to realize when to fight for things. And sometimes, you know, if it’s someone starting out and they want you to do something, maybe do it as a favor or, you know, if you’re free, you need to … it’s a give and take. And I like helping people. I care. And I think that goes a long way because as many favors as I’ve done for people, people have done favors for me. I just love life. Life is short. I don’t over think things. As long as people aren’t taking advantage, I feel like I’m okay with lending my time as long as I don’t feel, yeah, like I’m being taken advantage of. And, sorry this is getting a bit long winded, but, yeah, I just feel like a lot of people cut themselves off counting young people starting off. They expect one thing and that’s all they do. And you know what, they don’t end up moving forward at all. They don’t end up anywhere because they’re just waiting for that big project like MTV to call them up to host a show. It’s not going to happen. You need to keep on putting yourself out there and hustling.
Andrew: And, did it help you become a better broadcaster to do all these different shows?
Interviewee: You know what, yeah, you nipping it on the head. What is that meaning [laughs].
Andrew: Hitting it on the head, nipping it in the bud. Yes, I’m hitting it on the head, right?
Interviewee: It’s like nipping it on the head. I look at myself just like an athlete. You know, he has his big championships that put him in front of millions and known brands and everything, and those are the times you really see them and they make headlines. What do you think they’re doing in between all of those tournaments? Do you think they’re just sitting around chillin’? No, I look at myself as like, “this is my sport”: on air, broadcasting, connecting with people, story telling. So, I’m not going to just do it when someone calls me up and says, “here’s a paycheck.” I’m going to do it all during the time in between. And that’s what keeps you getting better and keeps you, you know, on the bike. If you get off that bike, you’re going to be a bit rusty when you go live or interview people or talk to people. So, the only way to continue that great energy of doing something you love is by, yeah, randomly taking those things in between that keep you doing your crafts and practicing. And that had a lot to do with, you know, taking gigs maybe that weren’t paying cause I just knew I wanted to. I loved what I did so much that it’s just like, “I need to be doing this today to fulfill myself and my craft.”
Andrew: Okay, let’s continue with this story. So, you get your first opportunity with Wire Image. It doesn’t go so well. But they end up giving you another shot, and then you do so well that you’re doing show after show or red carpet after red carpet for them, right? What’s next?
Interviewee: Yeah, and I’m meeting all these websites on the red carpet: [inaudible], Hollywood.com, VerizonD, Cassidy. I’m this kind of go to girl for all these websites. We’re just starting up
And this is when it was like QuickTime video and I was loving it because I was it was really hands on I’ve always been that type that really liked you know getting myself involved and I was also auditioning for things through you know the more traditional route through my agent and I started building up my reel more I got a new agent and I ended up having this reel of Hollywood.com stuff you know some really great interviews with celebrities on the red carpet. Somehow court TV was looking for someone to start kinda filling in for an entertainment show they had called Hollywood heat and they said hey would Shira do red carpet one day. because I was doing red carpets all the time so it became like my expertise. and I started you know being a correspondent on the show and that was my first TV gig. On court TV (laughs). and you know so I was doing that I also started doing video game highlights on, for GameStop stores through this company that would do these like you know we’d do an hour of programming that would re air nonstop over a month and I was doing video game highlights so that was an interesting gig too so I was at this managers conference at the time one weekend and I get a call from my agent and he goes fox news channel wants you to come on and talk about Anna Nicole smith.
And I’m like fox news channel ok cool I don’t know how how did they even find me cuz I don’t know anyone at fox news channel fox news locally had been bugging my friends to get me on and so I go live it was my first live hit on a news network and I was very nervous cuz id never done it before I was like 23 at the time and I end up finding out this is an interesting story the girl who anchored the show she was filling in and they would bring on talking heads all the time and she was sick of the people they were booking all the time and she googled entertainment reporter los angeles and because of my website I guess I had good seo somehow because my name came up and she looked at my site she liked my reel she saw I knew what I was doing, she saw my resume, she saw I went to Emerson college she went to Emerson college and then she goes to her booker book this girl now.
So I go on and I was like freaking out and now you know it was like going to the bathroom for me I could go on these shows but it was such a big deal and after that you know I got invited to the talking head circuit and fox news channel started bringing me on a lot and that really helped you know develop my live skills and also bring you know a lot of people I was on fox news so much a lot of people thought that I was working for fox news and um so that was going on and in the midst of that I auditioned for a site at the time called code TV and this was actually a big turning point in my career it was gonna be like a video version of daily candy and I’d worked for a lot of sites at this point so I auditioned and it was the typical if any of you are in Hollywood like cattle call like lineup of girls against the wall I do you know I go in to do mine and they’re like the cameras not working so I sit down with the founder and the girl who’s casting it and they go well tell us about yourself and I go well lets go to my website I showed them everything my reel and they go ok well you know this is better than if you had done like an audition on video I leave an it happens that as I’m leaving the camera starts working again oddly enough like literally the camera did not work for my audition but it worked in my favor because my website you know spoke for itself everything I had done in the past and then I started talking to the cofounder about the internet and the power of the internet and doing video content and he was like you get it so I started working for this site called cotv which ended up being lxtv which fast forward a year and a half later gets acquired by nbc and becomes like the first kind of local online to TV website that like and it was the first of its kind to really like make that transition from web to TV in terms of local video content and they did it right and I ended up hosting two of their shows on nbc here in la and that was definitely a turning
pint in my career as getting you know credibility of the web was starting to rise but I was still getting the credibility from being on a TV show and the experience so when that ended in 2008 I ended up going to reels channel which is a movie network and the midst of all this I met mike macadin from twist up and that to be honest that was a huge thing to me because I started hosting a lot of these tech mix shows and it really got me involved with the tech community here in la as we know and it was just starting up so I had these two streams going kinda these more mainstream streams going and then this kind of underground tech world going that I was involved in that like no one really got like people network executives that I would just videos on my nokia camera that I would host these tech mixers and they just didn’t get it they didn’t get why I did it what the point was
Andrew: why? why did you do it? why would you want to host a tech mixer?
Interviewee: Well, one, I’ve always love the community, like people think they’re like… [xx] is always asking this, like, “Why are you here, you don’t have a startup? You’re not really a tech reporter, necessarily.” The thing is, I’ve always used technology [xx] events the conversation and for the work that I do. Even back in the day, in high school, I was like a Photoshop freak. I created my yearbook, I brought a digital for the first time, I was the first year to do that. I was the layout designer of my newspaper, and that was all done digitally. So, I’ve always been into using digital media to, basically, tell stories.
So, I wasn’t necessarily the people like creating at the back and, people, I’m not a developer. I don’t know code, but I’ve always been working with people like that. I’ve always been inspired by the Web community for some reasons. Like I love how they think outside the box or a constant brainstorming, it’s hands on, people start projects from nothing, and I just love that energy. I’ve always been good at bringing kind of, I think, the mainstream angle to it and saying like, how can we bring…my love is always video content and broadcasting. So, I would always go to websites that had no video content and be like, “Hey, how can we translate your content into video?” That’s like [xx] is good at and talking, I’ve always been good at talking to the Web people, the Web guys. I understand where they’re coming from, but I bring a mainstream angle of it. I’m on the gap, you know, the convergence of the two communities, I guess.
And, so, you know, going to Twiistup, I even met a site the first time I went called “Fafarazzi” and at that time, they had no video content, they were kind of like celebrity fantasy football. It was fun meeting them because they energized me and I helped them create video content for a while. From [xx] Mike Macadaan and he goes, “You get the community, you know how to talk to them, but you’re not too intimidating, you look good on camera.” So, it kind of works out in everybody’s favor. So, I started hosting those events and then it kind of all trickled down and the text scene in LA blew up as we all know, and it became the first event to really start up to bring that community together. So, it’s always been something I’ve been passionate about. I love this world, like my heart feels really connected to this space.
Andrew: Let me acknowledge a few people who are helping us out here, who are watching us live and I hope more people watch these interviews live. I’ve started to do them live and started to do them on a regular basis here everyday on Mixergy.com.
Interviewee: Good on [xx]
Andrew: So, let’s see, we got Cage Patel(?), thank you for telling people to watch us live. Broco(?) who’s been following you is retwitting your tweet that you’re going to be here live. Thank you, Broco. Let’s see, Casper Cotch, thank you, and Kirsten Winkler. Kirsten Winkler has been a huge help here to me, so thanks for telling people that we’re live.
All right, here’s what I want to know now. OK. Now, we understand how it helped you get…how putting a reel together helped you show that you had experience and helped you show bookers how you’d be on cameras, they hired you. What I want to know is, what about the audience that you have, the fan base that’s now retwitting out that you’re here on Mixergy, the fan base that watches you when you use Quick or some new technology to do video online. How? How are you building up all these people? How are you building up the audience and how are you keeping them coming back?
Interviewee: I think it doesn’t happen overnight. I mean, you can have something viral, but it doesn’t mean the audience will stay with you. I think it’s about consistency and the quality of what you bring. I mean, obviously, a lot of my videos are just raw, uncut, but the fact is I think I’m bouncing out. Sometimes I do, you know, the more me, like I’m in my car just talking, having fun, and then I’d balance that kind of PR live casting buzz with hopefully contributing something. I always step back, in many cases, and make sure there’s that balance, because I think, if it’s always about me, me, me, which a lot of the Internet is about. The fact is, when you’re a brand, you know that people are coming because it’s you bringing the information. But I always make sure that I’m contributing something.
Andrew: What do you mean by that? If you’re just doing a video in your car, how can you contribute something meaningful from there? What are you adding? What are you talking about?
Interviewee: Well, I mean, sometimes, yes, just contributing on the car might just be fun but sometimes my contribution is just contributing fun and good energy and positivity that will hopefully brighten someone’s day or make them laugh, bring out some sort of emotion. And then, I balance that, I would actually be interviewing people or coming to from an event and bringing you access to things that you might not necessarily have access to ever. I look at that…
Andrew: Like what? What would you show me at an event that I couldn’t see otherwise?
Interviewee: Well, there will be like an event like a red carpet from the [xx] premiere to South by Southwest, an after party that you would love to be at but you can’t get to South by Southwest. Two, you know, when I was in Chile, doing a Travel Channel special, I was bringing people behind the scenes, and on the journey with me through all these experiences. You know, I’m not scared to be who I am and to, I guess, break down that wall between me and the audience. I’m not scared to be human even though I do have a professional side. I think I bring in a bit of both, like people know I could be kind of goofy and real, but they know I do bring content where I’m professional.
They know there’s a script and they know it’s produced and put together. So when I think you have that balance, people build more of respect, they don’t just think you’re just shoving a camera in their face and your face and you’re just trying to get attention. [xx] just about that you’re actually trying to advance the conversation or inform or entertain and contribute something.
South by Southwest. An after party that you would love to be at but you can’t get to South by Southwest. To you know, when I was in Chile doing a travel channel special, I was bringing people behind the scenes and you know on the journey with me through all these experiences; I, you know, I’m not scared to be who I am and to I guess, you know break down that wall between me and the audience and you know I’m not a scared to be human even though I do have a professional side. I think I bring a bit of both. Like people know I can be kind of goofy and real but they know I also sometimes; you know I do bring content where I am professional and they know there’s a script and they know it’s produced and put together. So when I think you have that balance people build up more of a respect. They don’t just think you’re just shoving a camera in their face and your face and just trying to get attention. It’s not just about that. You’re actually trying to you know advance a conversation or inform, or entertain or, and contribute something and I’m like where do we go with that? I’m trying to think.
Andrew: You know what? Actually you answered my next question because I was going to ask about how you balance the professional you and the personal you. In fact, do you want to answer that? How is it when you go on camera when you tweet do you put out a personality? I always, always wander about that for myself.
Interviewee: What do you mean? I mean honestly I, I always say to be draining to maintain something that you are not on the Internet. Really it is because at a certain point it’s like 1: as you grow it’s like you need to maintain some consistency to your personality and I just feel like if you’re everywhere people are going to be like what’s who are you and you know who are you and who are you not and I think that the more you use these types of tools whether it be Live Stream on You Stream or using Quick or, or any of those you know any of those things and Twitter even people will start see, start to see certain things and they’ll be like okay I get that’s you and, and if you; I don’t know you just need to find that balance. I always look at it as like what would I want to share with my friends? Like even a quote; I’m like that is so funny, it makes me want to call up my friends and like to hear that or that makes me laugh and I want to share it with my friends or my maybe my followers on Twitter or the people reading my blog. It’s just like a.
Andrew: But here’s the thing. Okay, I get the sharing the quote. I get the sharing the quote. I get the seeing you behind the scenes behind the scenes at South by Southwest through you because you happen to be there and you’re turning on a camera. But you’re not always the party girl; you’re not always the person who has the funny quote.
Interviewee: No.
Andrew: Right? Sometimes we all are just the person who wants to have a McDonald’s meal or, or a crappy slice of pizza.
Interviewee: Well that’s funny. I was just happy. I haven’t eaten a McDonald’s meal in like forever. No, no you know what; I always find I think I’m naturally.
Andrew: Do you show that? Do you show that part? Do you show the part of you that’s, that’s embarrassing?
Interviewee: Have I? Do I feel like? I feel like disconnecting sometimes. I do. Like this weekend I did a lot and I realized I hadn’t really tweeted that much. Sometimes you don’t really care too. There’s certain things that you keep behind closed doors, if you know what I’m saying. But there’s enough that you do share that it makes it okay to kind of step back once in awhile. I mean and, and you know like I went to brunch yesterday. I wasn’t like tweeting about my brunch. However, I was waiting in line at the bathroom and I decided to tweet that I was enjoying the last two hours of my weekend before starting my new Yahoo show last night. So you decide. I mean, I, I definitely think now with Twitter and everything you start getting this guilt if you don’t maintain that and if you kind of disconnect for a day or so. There is this guilt. That you’re like; you it’s almost like you go off the face of this earth. Like people are like where are you? Are you okay? You’re like yeah. Even my mom if I stop tweeting for a day she wonders if every things okay. So I definitely.
Andrew: All right, let me ask you this. I’m sorry. It seems like we’re stepping on each other but that’s just because the lag in site.
Interviewee: No, no. Talk. We’re both passionate.
Andrew: I know and I wish we were in the same room. I’ve got to start to do interviews live with people one on I mean with people in the same room as me instead of using Skype. But for now, this is going to be the best way for me to reach out to the biggest number of people. So what was the question that I was getting at? Here it is. I understand if you’re doing videos of yourself, I understand if you’re blogging, you’re getting experience, you’re showing off what you can do. I still don’t get how being on Twitter, how building up your own audience can help you because if your working for even Yahoo, if you’re working for a TV network they’ve got a bigger audience that you’ll ever have on Twitter. You’re not going to bring over your 10,000 followers and amaze them?
Interviewee: Yeah, but I. But their all different niches. I always say like.
Andrew: Do you have an example? Do you have an example of how you got something because you were on Twitter or how something happened in your career that wouldn’t have if not for your personal following?
Interviewee: Yes, I, I. Yes, I mean so many, so many things.
Andrew: Like what?
Interviewee: Well for instance; I mean this travel.
Andrew: OK. You said earlier that what you do is, you’d say, “Andrew, what’s the deal with Mixergy?” What happens if Andrew goes on for 5-10 minutes? I’ve had people, when I used to do only audio and they couldn’t see me, they would go for 10-15 minutes answering the “What is your company?” question. Now, [xx]
Interviewee: [It’s the] analogy of the practice before, sometimes listening, sometimes you’d get to talk to them before. What I’d say to my interview subjects, they go, “Hey, this is going to be five minutes, let’s get to the point, let’s have fun, let’s be high energy, and let’s just do this.” Because, I always say, the fact is that if someone wants to learn more about a subject, they will. There are resources, there’s Google, they could even find out more on your blog, you don’t need to give them everything. People feel the need in a video, it’s like
encyclopedia of that subject, you don’t need to be. All you need to really do is engage, provide some sort of negative information that sparks an interest and then inspires that person to find out more. I don’t look at myself as like the expert of it all, I just look at myself as kind of the tipping point for engagements. So like bring us a subject to the masters, basically, and say, “Hey, here you go, this is interesting and this is something you should know about. If you want to learn more about it, here are the links and the resources. Here you go.”
Andrew: All right. We got some questions coming in from people who are watching us live. [Keenan] wants to know how you got started with LX.TV. What’s LX.TV?
Interviewee: It started as CourtTV, that was the video version Daily [xx] site. I auditioned, which is like an interview in normal people’s terms, and we started shooting. At first we’re shooting daily, they realized they were spending too much money, we went to weekly. And then, because someone, I think, had own the Code brands like Code Networks based on zip codes, and so they changed it to LX.TV, which is like luxury television. I was there from the beginning, I think, like two and a half years ago, and they were smart enough. You know, it was lucky that I was part of the brand, my boss, [xx] had to make the transition to TV and then New York.
They launched two local shows on NBC and went to bed with NBC, basically, and we see [xx] over the company. They’re producing content but really cheap that was high quality, informative. We also did kind of the infomercial structure where a lot of businesses now, I guess, pay a bit if they want to be profiled in LX.TV. They were like the first, I think, really local site before local was cool, and now local is the big thing. We see [xx] of the company as part of their local media division. They launched an LA show which ended up going national, and now, it’s pretty much based out of New York. So, that’s how that all happened.
Andrew: All right. What about this? I’ve got a lot of questions now coming in. People, keep these questions coming in, it’s very helpful for me. All right.
Interviewee: Awesome!
Andrew: Let’s see if we can go through some of them rapid fire. Mahalo Daily, before they hired you, they went through a big…they put on a big to-do to hire the previous co-host. You just happened to be on. I mean, Jason Calacanis just said, “I love you, let’s put [Cheryl’s] on.” How did you get on Mahalo Daily? How did that happen?
Interviewee: Well, I mean, I know Jason. We have a lot of events that are Mahalo, so I’d bumped into him and I started getting to know him. I became, actually, really close to Tyler Crowley as well, he works very closely with Jason at Mahalo, and I heard [Leda] was leaving. I saw the show, and it’s interesting, because I hadn’t really developed my brands on YouTube. I mean, if you’d go to my page on YouTube, it’s not like I get like iJustin numbers. But, because I hadn’t really been a platform, I’ve thrown videos, but it’s not like my career blew up on YouTube.
So, I thought it was an interesting audience to tap into, obviously. I thought it’d be fun because it was something new. Like I said, a person was asked to do it, they were paying me. They are actually now paying me sporadically, but when I was first asked to fill in, they said, “Hey, can you just fill in? We’re not paying.” And I go, “You know what? This is a new experience. I like it, it’s fun. It’s something new that I haven’t done before tapping into a new audience. I’m all game.”
So, I started doing it and, you know, I had so much fun doing it. I guess, they really liked me and I had good chemistry with Lon and we really got along well. So, when he finally need to pick someone to do it consistently, they’re like, “Hey, can you do it with us?” So, it was funny because people are like, “Yes, they’re so lucky to have Shira because she’s actually done stuff before.” But, I never looked at it as like, “Well, I’ve been on TV, it’s like [can’t] to Internet?” it’s like I’ve respect for each kind of audience and brands as they are, and I respect that. Like, Mahalo [xx]
Andrew: You know what? I’m going to say this to do that. I’ve seen the way that they work and they’ve got a lot going on over at Mahalo. They, probably, one day, said to themselves, in fact, I know they’ve said this a lot of times, they’ve said, “We need somebody right now. Who can we get that will probably be here right now and will be good?” Often, when they have that question, they’ll talk to me and they’ll say, “Let’s get Shira Lazar and maybe somebody else.” So, it’s because you’re always available, always willing to jump on things and always come in professionally…
Interviewee: Sure, people will know [xx]
Andrew: …that they go to you, that you become their “go to” person.
Interviewee: That’s the thing. I’ve become, I think, for the Internet, and I say this and I would like to be, long term, kind of a voice for this community and generation. Kind of like, I don’t want to sit down [xx], but like the [xx] Oprah Winfrey, Ryan Seacrest, it’s like they’re two good broadcasters. It’s like you know what you’re going to get, you know what to expect, I’m professional but I’m fun and engaging. No matter what, it’s like you know that there’ll be quality and relevance wherever I go, and fun. You know, so that’s what I hope to build doing all these projects.
Andrew: All right. Let’s see what else we’ve got here. Casper [Kutch], I guess I did pronounce his name right because he’s still engaged here, he didn’t get pissed off with the way that I’d pronounced his name before. He came back, he asked this question: How do you have so many followers in UK and Europe? Are you cultivating them? How are you connecting with people overseas [xx]?
Interviewee: Do I have a lot of [xx].
Andrew: Apparently…Casper, are you overseas? Sorry, go ahead.
Interviewee: Yes. I’m Canadian. So, I’ve always been very into…I love connecting globally.
And kind of like I don’t want to sit down I got two nurses here. But like you know a mix between Oprah Winfrey and Brian Securest or like the go to broadcast or its like you know what your going to get you know what to expect a professional but I’m fun . And no matter what it’s like you know they’ll be quality and relevance where ever I go and fun. You know so that is what I hope to build doing all these projects.
Andrew: Let’s see what else we got here. Casper Cotch I guess I did pronounce his name right because he is still engaged here. He didn’t get pissed off the way I pronounced his name before. He came back and asked this question. How do you have so many followers in the UK and Europe are you cultivating them? How are you connecting with people?
Interviewee: Do I have a lot of followers?
Andrew: Apparently. Are you and Casper are you over sees? Sorry go ahead.
Interviewee: Yea, No, well I think it least started I’m sorry I’m kidding and so I always bee and into I love connecting globally. I think the World Wide Web is called the World Wide Web for a reason you know there’s a lot of people and we obviously know the power of social media and the internet is to connect people everywhere. It’s like you can be in the middle of nowhere and still be connected.
But it think sometimes we forget counting in the tech community were still niching were so small we forget how many people are out there. I get so excited when I see people you know that are so far away that I would never expected the be reading and watching what I do. Being engaged and I think maybe my show in Shula helped a bit with that a lot of news blogs and newspapers were actually covering the trip I did in Chile.
Where I was blogging and using social media tools to travel. You know this was all being covered for the travel channel so it kind of made headlines and Chile I think created that audience. And in Canada I guess there is a bit of an audience because I am Canadian.
So I don’t know because I think I am on so many platforms I’m not just focusing on one thing. I’m on twitter U-tube, yahoo, I do travel blogs; I was part of the web all that connects to a different audience.
Andrew: All right Burgundy and Gold is watching and he or she is asking do you see Twitter and other social networks eventually fading away like My Space? Could it just be a fad? And so you’re committing all your time into Twitter and all these other networks.
Interviewee: And that’s the thing that’s my fears me thinking that’s why it does scare me. Thinking you basically rely on one platform for it all. Because what if that platform kinds of fades or dissipates. Hopefully your enough ahead of the curb that you jump and kind of wild the platform because maybe going under your already starting your fan base on something else. And that’s hwy I think it’s important to maintain your own sites and your own brand aside from all these things. Never just rely on your twitter page for it all.
Because what if that goes away you should have somewhere else that destination for people to go to other then your twitter page. I do however think twitter there’s something about it is much bigger then just being a social network. You seen it with search, you seen it with real time news. And it being the future possibly you know for first and all professional are news strains.
And so I think Google obviously is a search site and it’s not going away anytime soon. It’s kind of established it’s the go to place for search information. I think twitter is the personal search and its real time interns of what people are thinking. And I don’t see that going away anytime soon. I think it’s a huge power in that tool I really do. So I just think its something bigger then just being like ten doors box of who you are in a profile like a My Space or Face book.
Andrew: OK, let’s acknowledge the few other people here who are watching us, who are saying hello to us. We got Mike Gnome who says Andrew no questions here I just think Sherrill{?} Lazar is a absolute beast to think, great interview I don’t know what it means but apparently it means he loves you.
Interviewee: Please
Andrew: Tina yes I and still in Qanzareas and he is loving me that I’m here in Glenazarus{?}. Scott Zinko thanks for all the support Corrigenda{>} there saying that’s the way to pronounce there name. We got one person o Smiley is watching us from Jerusalem and asked a question. About do you consider your audience over sees and we talked about that.
Oh yeah here one other question before I wrap it up with my last question. Gaming Angel wants to know where that is if you have any tips for getting more comfortable on the red carpet. I imagine your standing there as a Nevus not you necessarily but someone who is starting out. Who is standing there as a Nevus who is talking to these big celebrities you got big networks and big lights everywhere? It could be a little intimating.
Interviewee: Its really nerve racking
Andrew: How do you get comfortable?
Interviewee: Well that the problem is with the red carpet it’s a cluster F I’m not going to say the word literally. I need a drink after going on the red carpet. And I have been doing it forever.
Sometimes people are just swarming, and it’s like fast, you need to get to the point, it’s like you don’t have time to have a conversation like this, it’s like have your main question that gets their attention, so it’ll be like, Hey, you need to sometimes scream, make the eye contact, eye contact is important with the celebrity, all right, there’s a bunch of things, one if they’re coming down with their publicist, talk to their publicist before say, hey I want to ask a question can you make sure they come by me so the publicist brings them to you, if that doesn’t happen make sure you get eye contact with the celebrity, scream out a question, ask something that’s not too easy but that’s not too hard, something that you know will engage them to answer really quickly and then you get into that other question and that might be a weird or wacky question, I mean there’s so many ways, this is like red carpet 101. If you have them in front of you, first ask about the movie just to get them comfortable just because they’re used to answering those questions and then if you’re going to ask something a bit more controversial or deep you can do that the second question in. Don’t get into it right away because you might overwhelm them, so just do the first quick question something they are used to and then you can get them in there and you know the go to thing sometimes is what are you wearing, or, but sometimes if you catch them off guard you can get some of the more funny responses. If you’re like, “what type of pies do you eat, or finish this sentence “When I get happy..” and they’ll be like, “when I…” and you get really interesting responses that way. Try to think outside of the box and definitely organize your questions beforehand because you literally have no time with celebrities, you might have one minute barely or like one question to ask. If Colin Ferrell’s right in front of you they’ll put all the mics together and there’ll literally be ten mics and so it’
s like who’s going to ask the question and you need to take, like take charge and be like “So Colin how do you think, like literally scream in their face.
[inaudible]
But ask something relevant that you know everyone wants to ask.
Andrew: Say that again, because we just lost you…say what was that last sentence?
Interviewee: I said “There you go, some tips for the red carpet”.
Andrew: OK. Alright before I get to my actually last question, I’ve got here notes about what I promised people we’d get to and there’s, and we didn’t cover this one point, salary, the money’s coming now from doing internet stuff? That’s how you’re paying the bills?
Interviewee: Well I’ll tell you before we had a bit of an economic downfall, I was making money on the internet for a while. Like it’s hard, people were surprised, this in 2007 even, I was making money doing video content online. Obviously the money’s always been better on TV. When I got hired to work at NBC I was exclusive and that was a contract salary that was the most I’d ever made, and the past year you know things have been a bit more difficult, I’ve been busy, but in terms of getting people to see like why it’s important to spend something when they don’t see the numbers right in front of them, it’s been a bit harder. But recently I’ve seen things really get better and I am proud to say that I am making, to be honest, my entire salary online, better, my current salary is better than what I made when I was working on NBC and it’s on an internet project.
Andrew: Wow…wow
Interviewee: And I’m not going to say exactly because I’m not someone who’s like that and I don’t think it’s about money and I hate being that type, but I think it’s important to bring legitimacy to the community to show people like how many times, I can’t tell you how many times I tell people I host this online NewsSat and they’re like, but how do you make your money, and I’m like really. At a certain point I know I love what I do, but I make money, it’s like tough, this is my time its valuable and its part of my skill set, I mean do you really think I donate my time like this is volunteer work. No, you can make money doing this on the internet and that’s what I’m trying to tell people that that’s the case.
Andrew: but the credibility comes from being in mainstream media.
Interviewee: I think it’s a balance, I think though you need to keep it real, you never need to forget that raw, sub-culture community, I, you know,doing things guerilla style because I think that keeps people engaged. I think there is something about people catching onto something because it feels like it came from nowhere and its very organic and there’s no money backing it. People, you know,[inaudible] the online community likes that for some reason to bring legitimacy to a brand and I get hired by CBS news and I’m like “Hey its CBS news everyone come watch” and sometimes people would rather it came from nothing like they like the story behind it that you started in your basement. But I’m trying to bring the energy to the community that we can still create great content on platforms that we all trust and know and are a bit more established and we can bring that energy and that excitement to those outlets.
Andrew: let’s wrap it up this way by giving a summary to anyone who’s watching as we said, you know, I want to be on T.V. the way Shira Lazar is.. I want to build a personality and build a following for myself instead of sitting back and waiting for somebody to give me my shot and hire me and then do all that for me. What do they need to know? One thing is?
Interviewee: That?
Andrew: Why don’t we go through the list, yes.
interviewee: Get a reel together.
Andrew: A reel?
interviewee: Of you doing standup, of you interviewing people, just showing off your personality.
Two, and this is in the traditional sense: find an agent. There are lists, if you go online, like hosting agents. Send them your reel, see if they’ll pick you up.
But in the meantime, start your blog, your personality driven site. Find that one thing that you can talk about to everyone for hours. That kind of one subject that everyone is like, “you just know too much about it. You can talk about it like forever.” That’s that thing that it will be you know, people will see that you’re so passionate about it. And you will be able to sell that. And you’ll be able to sell your personality in that subject.
So start blogging consistently – maybe not everyday. Make sure that each blog there’s a reason you’re talking about it. Incorporate video into it. Do videos whether they’re set up, or maybe on the go. Show a little bit of a side that is not as produced and not as touched up, and bring people on the journey with you. Be on twitter, have those videos, maybe upload them to YouTube and then embed them on your blog.
And then reach out. A lot of those CNN and FOX – a lot of those people are now online. So start tweeting with them and say, “Hey, check out this blog post. Hey I’d love to be a guest on your show.” Or find their emails. Just try to connect with those people that are booking all these shows, whether it be online now, or on TV. Start being credible within your subject matter
Andrew: Alright, I love it. I’m actually going to excerpt that and put it in with the video to make sure the people see it
Interviewee: One more thing, one more thing! Online only does so much. Bring online offline. There’s so much power. I’ve strengthened so many relationships professionally and personally bringing it offline. So check out all the big conferences and go to those conferences to meet the influence-rs and the people. You know being online can only do so much. Bring your basically, your craft to people. If you are talking about real estate on your blog you know, say you’ll moderate a real estate convention or a real estate event. So bring your personality and your brand offline. That’s a huge thing
Andrew: Alright well let’s leave it there. Thank you Shira. Thank you everyone for watching As always, I always say three things to do at the end of the interviews. The first is, find a way to connect with Shira. Don’t just sit back passively and listen to these interviews. Connect with her and start to build a relationship beyond this interview The second thing is, give me feedback – as much feedback as you’ve got. You can do it by email, you can do it by the comments of this post, you can do it by twitter. You could do it by whatever system you like. And number three, click around Mixergy. There are tons of other interviews for you to listen to and learn from so that you can build an incredible internet company. Shira, anything you want to sign off with?
Interviewee: No, that’s great. Just go to Shiralazar.com. Rock on, and keep checking back! Have fun.
Andrew: Alright thank you. Thanks for doing it
Interviewee: Thanks.
Andrew: Bye everyone.
