How can I overcome my fear of going live on video if I hate being on camera?

Start by recognizing that being terrified is completely normal and that you don’t need to be polished or perfect. Instagram gives you options to ease into it: practice mode, broadcasting only to close friends, or going public. The beautiful thing is it’s extremely low-risk—you can delete the broadcast immediately after or even kill it midstream if you want. When you’re just starting out with a smaller audience, very few people will even see it, which is actually a gift because you get to practice with way less public pressure. The first broadcast will be rough, but the tenth one won’t be. You need reps and sets to get good at it. Remember that messy, unpolished, and real is actually what people want. Your studio being messy, making mistakes, swearing accidentally, the cat knocking something over, the dog barking—all of that is authentic content that people connect with. Just turn the camera on and start talking as if it’s not even there. Don’t sit waiting for people to join; just go about your work and check in occasionally.

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Asked by an artist afraid of being on camera · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2026-02-24