Young and Profiting with Hala Taha - Hala Taha: How To Leverage LinkedIn To Grow Your Brand and Your Bank Account (The Action Academy Podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 This episode of YAP is sponsored in part by Shopify. Shopify simplifies selling online and in-person so you can focus on successfully growing your business. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com-profiting. Hey all, what's up? It's your host, Halataha, and today we're replaying my podcast appearance on the Action Academy podcast hosted by Brian Lubin. Brian was a fantastic host, and whenever I go on a podcast where I really enjoy the conversation, I tend to replay it on my feet.

Starting point is 00:00:42 And a big reason being that A, based on my analytics, I can tell you guys really like to hear me on other podcasts. And B, I thought the topic was super fitting, considering I'm launching my very first LinkedIn masterclass next week. And as some of you may know, I built my recent success with YAP Media and my podcast, Younger Profiting, off the back of LinkedIn.

Starting point is 00:01:03 And in this episode, Brian Uncovers how I was able to leverage the professional networking platform to grow my podcast and later my business, Yat Media upwards of $100,000 per month in revenue. If any of you guys feel inspired after listening to this episode to embark on your own LinkedIn journey, use my code profiting for 55% off the masterclass.

Starting point is 00:01:24 You can go to yatapp Media.io slash course and again use code profiting for 55% off. The workshop happens on November 15th and 16th. You guys get to spend eight hours with me where I will teach you directly about LinkedIn. You're going to learn everything from social media design to copywriting to mastering all the nuances of the LinkedIn algorithm. And guys, I know this platform front and back. We're going to be going super deep in these sessions so you'll leave walking away knowing more than 99.999% of people on that platform.

Starting point is 00:01:57 I promise you, you're going to be able to compete and win after you take this masterclass. Again, go to yappat Media.io slash course and use code profiting for 55% off. We'll put all that detail in the show notes. And if you're listening to this way after November 15th and 16th, still go to Yat Media.io slash course and you can sign up for the wait list and we'll know to reach out to you next time

Starting point is 00:02:19 enrollment begins. Without further delay, let's dive right into my interview with Brian Luben on the Action Academy podcast. Welcome to the Action Academy podcast. I'm Brian Lubin. We talk about the mindsets, the methods, and the actionable steps for you to earn freedom in your life and business a lot of the times. This is real estate, and we have real estate guests come on, but today we are going more so into the media world. And there is no better person that I can bring on in the world of media than today's guest, Hala Taha. Hala is the CEO of a media agency

Starting point is 00:02:51 in the host of the Young and Profiting Podcast. Hala has a mastery of all things social media marketing, but today we talk about how she leveraged one platform in particular to build a multi-million dollar business on the back of LinkedIn. Now I'm not gonna lie. I was on the LinkedIn hate train before. Plain and simple. When I was a corporate employee, I hated LinkedIn because as a consumer, all I saw was HR and recruiters on there. But now that I'm looking at it from

Starting point is 00:03:15 the perspective of a business owner and a creator side, LinkedIn has one of the best potentials for upside growth that I've seen across all social medias. And that includes TikTok. The organic growth potential on LinkedIn is actually insane and that's what Haaland I talk about today. Without any further ado, Haaland Taha. All right, Haaland Taha, how are you? I'm doing great, happy to be here. I actually remember seeing you back when I believed when I was entering the workforce when I graduated college and I discovered this new platform. Maybe some of you guys have heard of it that are listening to this LinkedIn.

Starting point is 00:03:52 And I remember seeing this girl post on LinkedIn and that was before this podcast was even a twinkle in my eye and you were popping off on there. And I remember then LinkedIn went through this phase where it just seems to be recruiters and seems to be a cookie cutter content all over again. And now there's this massive resurgence that we're seeing to where everyone's like holy crap. Look at this platform of what it's doing again. I'd love to hear your input about how you got started on LinkedIn and what you're seeing

Starting point is 00:04:19 now with this resurgence wave. Yeah, it's so funny that you say that because I've been in the thick of things. So from an outside perspective, you might think it's so funny that you say that because I've been in the thick of things. So from an outside perspective, you might think it's a resurgence. LinkedIn has been popping for me for five years. Yeah. So for me, it hasn't felt like this resurgence like you're saying. For me, LinkedIn for the past, I would say, six, seven years has been a place where a lot of people go, professional people go to post content about their life, about their business, and it's not just about HR and recruitment anymore.

Starting point is 00:04:49 And so LinkedIn to me has been one of the biggest game changers. I've been able to make millions of dollars literally off the LinkedIn platform for my business, from my podcast. And LinkedIn to me was the thing that really started it all. So when I decided five years ago to launch my podcast, less than five years ago, like four and a half years ago, I, at the same time, decided to start my LinkedIn personal journey. The first day I posted on LinkedIn and really gave effort

Starting point is 00:05:16 and became consistent then on was the first episode of my podcast. It coincided I was going to use LinkedIn as a way to reach the professional audience. And I was really smart about it because I literally abandoned every other social media platform. I didn't post on Instagram, I didn't post on Twitter, I only posted on LinkedIn and I took it really seriously. And I pruned my community and I was super active on the platform engaging with everyone. And I remember I started my podcast as a side hustle and I was super active on the platform engaging with everyone. And I remember I started my podcast as a side hustle and I worked at Disney streaming services in marketing.

Starting point is 00:05:50 And I remember my only job on the train was to post on LinkedIn every single day, no matter what. And I would prepare whatever assets I needed the night before. And my only job was to write that post on LinkedIn every day and that was my habit. And then on the way home, I would do all of my community engagement. So I would respond to all the comments. I would respond to all my DMs.

Starting point is 00:06:12 And literally within a year, I got to 60,000 followers, which at the time this was four years ago, made me one of the biggest influencers on the platform that wasn't like an HR person. And so I just became this personality on LinkedIn. And then I leveraged that to grow my podcast. That is huge. And you actually set a point there that I want to bring out that is contrary to popular belief. And it's something that I struggle with myself to where a lot of

Starting point is 00:06:38 people that listen into this show are seasoned entrepreneurs. They really know their stuff. Like they are killers. But when it comes to the content game that comes to social media, I preach a lot to them that they need to use this brand and leverage this because this is one of the three levels of leverage the content community and capital that you can leverage in business. And I'm saying you need to get onto social media and leverage your content. But what happens is people get overwhelmed with all the different things that your earquotes

Starting point is 00:07:08 are supposed to do. And I'm in the same camp to where I've got a podcast that's five episodes a week. I've got all of this video content. And I get so overwhelmed with saying, okay, I need to post five times a day on TikTok. I need to post two on LinkedIn. I need to post five tweets.

Starting point is 00:07:22 I need to do YouTube shorts. And it's just so much that nothing gets done. So you started with one singular platform that went all in on that. That what you would recommend for growing a media empire all over again. Oh yeah, 100%.

Starting point is 00:07:36 But first, you need to figure out where your target audience is hanging out. And so I wanted to, first of all, stand out on a social media platform. Second of all, reach the people that would be interested in my content. And so LinkedIn was perfect because there was podcasters out there, but they weren't focused on LinkedIn. I quickly became the number one podcaster on LinkedIn. And that gave me so much leverage to get sponsorships to do trades, cross-promos.

Starting point is 00:08:04 If I had focused on Instagram, I might have been the same size, but I could never say I'm the number one podcaster on Instagram. And by the way, there's a lot of podcasters, so I couldn't break the noise. I stood out on LinkedIn because I was talking about a topic that nobody else was talking about. So when you're thinking about what platform that you want to be on, you want to think, where is there again, at reach, first of? First of all, that's very important. So that's LinkedIn, that's TikTok, right? YouTube, Instagram, even podcasting, no organic reach.

Starting point is 00:08:33 So where is there organic reach? That means it's going to be easier to go viral, to build a community. Where are your competitors not focusing? You also may want to think, where are your competitors doing? This is all, it's not black and white, right? So you want want to think where are your competitors doing this is all it's not black and white Right, so you want to see where your competitors not focusing where there's sort of an area for you to break in or Where your competitors doing really well, but you feel like there's still more pie in the sky for everyone, right? And then where do you stand out in terms of the topics, right?

Starting point is 00:09:01 So if you're on TikTok for example a lot of like painters started doing really well. Where originally it was people who were dancing, but then they started doing other things that were visually pleasing and people started going viral for their paintings and their artworks on TikTok. So you always want to think about how you can stand out. I always think a personal trainer or a makeup artist, if you guys went on LinkedIn and started doing that stuff, people, some people would be like, oh man, don't post this here. It's a professional site. But a lot of people would be interested and you would break the noise. And so I think I stood out not only with my super bright assets, the fact that I was a young woman in podcasting with nobody

Starting point is 00:09:37 else was doing it. I was one of the first people to actually do video podcasting and post it on LinkedIn. I did a lot of things to stand out, but I think the topic itself, and that's not something people really think about often. I love that. It's just so cool to be able to watch. You have absolute mastery at one thing. It's something my grandfather actually used to say to me. He was like, you don't want to have fast five things. He's a whole ass one thing. Yeah, that's, I love that. You can break out. And by the way, once you start making a lot of money and you have more resources, you can hire a team

Starting point is 00:10:08 that can help you manage other things. You can find experts who are really good at the platform that you're trying to reach. And the other thing they want to add just from what you said before that I didn't get to touch on was the importance of content marketing. A lot of entrepreneurs, they don't realize that if they don't have something that

Starting point is 00:10:25 organically sells organic demand and they don't have a lead that is content marketing that is pulling people in, the other alternative is push marketing. It's paid ads and a lot of entrepreneurs mess up because they have a product that doesn't really sell naturally or organically. And instead they try to just pour add money on it and they think it's converting well, but what they don't realize is at some point, that's not going to be sustainable. So if you want to build a sustainable business, first, you want to have product market fit, and then you want to have a content marketing machine that's luring people in so that people are asking you for your services, rather than you pushing it on them and trying to sell to them. And then you're also playing a

Starting point is 00:11:04 completely different game because when you're playing the game of push advertising, you're just doing something that's going to disappear in the shop and it's going to, it's like a wave. It's going to come, it's going to go. But then when you change the game that you're playing to the pool marketing, like you said, then it's something that's a compound game. And now all of a sudden, you go to where you're about to create something brand new in your business and create a new arm.

Starting point is 00:11:25 And now you can do it in two weeks, something that would probably have taken you two years before because you have the resources there. Exactly. And I have the people ready to buy because I've been educating my network for so long. People don't like to be sold to anymore. They like to be educated. There's no such thing as selling anymore. It's all about education, right? And so I've been providing free value and also doing it for my clients for high ticket prices, but now that I'm offering something that is accessible for everyone, people are going to be ready to buy. And I won't have to spend money on a single ad. I just have a community that's ready to buy for me because I've been providing value for so long. Exactly. And Alex Ramose, what shout out, shout out Alex, I'm talking to you,

Starting point is 00:12:07 dude, I'm getting you on this freaking show man. He's coming on my show next week. Oh my God. So for 17. I'm so excited. How I had a one up me, she had to come on the show and she had a one up me. But Alex has this quote, tell him I said hello. Alex has this quote where he says, and it's, I've heard it before, but he was like, if you can delay your ask for a year, you will never

Starting point is 00:12:29 need for money. If you can just give without needing anything back for a year, you'll be rich. If you can give without needing back for a decade, it goes, you'll be a billionaire. And that's like the Mr. Beast model right now to where he doesn't even care about the money. He just wants to provide value and provide content and then he'll get back whatever he gets back So that's why he'll be worth a hundred billion dollars by the end of it Let's hold that thought and take a quick break with our sponsors Young and profitors do you have a brilliant business idea? But you don't know how to move forward with it going into debt for a four-year degree isn't the only path to success.

Starting point is 00:13:05 Instead, learn everything you need to know about running a business for free by listening to the Millionaire University podcast. The Millionaire University podcast is a show that's changing the game for aspiring entrepreneurs. Hosted by Justin and Tara Williams, it's the ultimate resource for those who want to run a successful business and graduate rich. Not broke. Justin and Tara started from Square One, just like you and me. They faced lows and dug themselves out of huge debt.

Starting point is 00:13:31 Now they're financially free and they're sharing their hard-earned lessons with all of us. That's right, millionaire university will teach you everything you need to know about starting and growing a successful business. No degrees required. In each episode you'll gain invaluable insights from seasoned entrepreneurs and mentors who truly understand what it takes to succeed. From topics like how to start a software business without creating your own software, to more broad discussions such as eight businesses you can start tomorrow to make 10K plus a month,

Starting point is 00:13:58 this podcast has it all. So don't wait. Now is the time to turn your business idea into a reality by listening to the Millionaire University podcast. New episodes drop Mondays and Thursdays. Find the Millionaire University podcast on Apple Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Your dog is an important part of your family. Don't settle when it comes to their health. Make the switch to fresh food made with real ingredients that are backed by science with nom nom. Nom nom delivers fresh dog food that is personalized to your dog's individual needs.

Starting point is 00:14:29 Each portion is tailored to ensure your dog gets the nutrition they need so you can watch them thrive. Nom nom's ingredients are cooked individually and then mixed together because science tells us that every protein, carb and veggie has different cooking times and methods. This packs in all the vitamins and minerals your dog needs so they truly get the most out of every single bite. And NOM-NOM is completely free of additives, fillers, and mystery ingredients that contribute to bloating and low energy. Your dog deserves only the best, and NOM-NOM delivers just that. Their nutrient-packed recipes are crafted by board-certified veterinary nutritionists,

Starting point is 00:15:06 made fresh and shipped to your door. Absolutely free. Nom-nom meals started just $2.40, and every meal is cooked in company-owned kitchens right here in the US, and they've already delivered over 40 million meals, inspiring clean bowls and wagging tails everywhere. Ever since I started feeding my dog Nom Nom, he's been so much more energetic, and he's getting older, he's a senior dog, but now we've been going on longer walks and he's much more playful.

Starting point is 00:15:33 He used to be pretty sluggish and sleeping all the time, but I've definitely noticed a major improvement since I started feeding him Nom Nom. And the best part, they offer a money back guarantee. If your dog's tail isn't wagging within 30 days, they'll refund your first order. No fillers, no nonsense, just nom nom. Go right now for 50% off your no risk 2 week trial at trinom.com-shap. That's trinom-n-o-m.com-shap for 50% off trinom.com-shap. I want to take a slight pivot here and dive into your business because your revenues and

Starting point is 00:16:13 your growth and scale is insane. But first, I'm really interested about a mindset shift that you had to go through. I know you started in public radio, but then you got your MBA and then you went into the corporate world. Do you work with Disney? Do you work with these streaming companies for what was it seven years? Yeah, I worked at Hualit Packard and Disney,

Starting point is 00:16:33 but all the while I had the podcast, all the while, but like halfway through I started the podcast. It's so funny because I feel like I've always been an entrepreneur even when I worked in corporate. Just always, since I was a little girl, I had this like entrepreneurial spirit. I used to have a bit since literally four years old. I think I started my first business.

Starting point is 00:16:51 I would sell paintings to like mothers at Sunday school. I used to work at hot and I was Angie Martinez's assistant. At the time, she was the voice of New York. And I was her intern. And so I worked at the station for free for three years. And on the side I had lots of different online radio shows throughout my 20s So I had maybe five or six online radio shows and I would interview rappers

Starting point is 00:17:12 It was all about music. I used to date Chris Browne. Chris Browne was my boyfriend when I was 25 So I worked at the station and I had all these online radio shows on the side I loved radio, but there was no money in radio. Had I stayed there, I would have gotten a $30,000 job a year. And that was like my trajectory. So I ended up getting fired from hot 97, because I asked for a paying job. And then I was like on revenge mode,

Starting point is 00:17:38 and I decided to start something called the sorority of hip-hop. I ended up going back to college, finishing college, and launching this website. Within three months months we were one of the most popular entertainment sites in the world and then all the DJs were my job used to be to get them coffee to do their work for them. All of a sudden these same DJs called me up and wanted me to host all their parties and we were like the hottest thing in the city. Great length and content, right? I totally switched my whole thing, like my whole brand switched.

Starting point is 00:18:06 But anyway, I had to take a break because otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to do what I'm doing now. So MTV rejected us. I got rejected from Hannity, some rejected from radio. Then I got rejected from TV. So this is six years into the entertainment industry of me basically working for free and working marketing jobs and things on the side to like keep everything afloat.

Starting point is 00:18:26 And I'm going to back to school, get my MBA, got an internship at Ula Packard because I was getting my MBA. And then I get to my internship at 70K year. And at the time this was so much money for me. I was like, first stable job. I got to take this seriously. I graduated number one in my class while I was working the whole time at Hewlett Packard. I'm an inchpreneur. I gained to you at Packard and I'm like light years ahead of everyone

Starting point is 00:18:52 Tech-wise because I was this girl that like I used to blog at Hannes 7 I had a huge Twitter following. I had Twitter to blow up my website and you everything about SEO graphic design all this stuff I knew how to do already. I self- lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun.

Starting point is 00:19:10 I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun.

Starting point is 00:19:18 I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. I was president of the Young Employee Network representing 7,000 employees across the world and interviewing the CEO and the CMO and doing the same stuff I was doing but figured out how to do it at Hewlett Packard. Then I

Starting point is 00:19:35 got bored for years in and I was just thinking, this is not enough, like I want to be a voice for my generation, I want to get back to my passions. And I decided I was going to start a young and profiting podcast as a hobby. I wanted to just give away my knowledge to the world. And I thought, hey, I have all the experience in how to do radio, social media. I think I could do this in two years later.

Starting point is 00:19:57 It really took off. But the really cool thing is that as soon as I put out an episode, people are usually really embarrassed by their episode One and two and three and four mine were like masterpieces and People got obsessed Totally obsessed and people would reach out to me on LinkedIn and they'd be like hey, listen to your podcast I can't get enough of it. How can I help you? I'm going to be part of this movement and so by episode two I had my first volunteer who's now my business partner, Timothy Tan, who's literally a millionaire, smart kid.

Starting point is 00:20:29 It was super young when he started with me. By episode eight, I had 10 volunteers in a Slack channel. And one guy would be working on my website. One guy working on my videos, one guy working on my graphics. And I would work my day job, and then work with my team at night and on the weekends. And it really helped us level up. I don't think many podcasters can say they had a team of 10, like two months into it. And by the way, I started out saying, I have to do this by myself. So lots of unpack there. Thank you.

Starting point is 00:20:58 So let's start with, I am a podcaster that does it by myself. And I've gone through multiple different assistants. And it just never works because the vision doesn't match up. So I'm curious about how you built this into a movement and such a community to where these people were just like, Hey, I work for you for free. Because for me, I was just like, I did the same thing as a hobby. I was just like, Oh my God, I've got this huge network. I was like, I've got all these people that I know. And I talked to them. And so how did you go about making this bigger than being a podcast, bigger than being a media company? You made

Starting point is 00:21:34 it a movement. How do you think you captured lightning in a bottle like that? I think it was because my intentions were genuine. So I wasn't making any money and my goal wasn't to make money at the time. I just wanted to make the podcast as big as possible and to provide so much value. And I feel like because I was very hands on with everyone. Imagine you go from listening as someone and you really like their podcast and then all of a sudden you're in a slack channel with them and they're spending hours with you teaching you how to video edit. And I always made sure that once somebody got really good at something that I would teach them the next thing and then they would go teach another person how to do what they

Starting point is 00:22:11 had learned. And so it was just this cycle of everyone just learning and leveling up and it was really exciting because we were getting huge guests from the start. So for us to be this like these underdogs trying to like take on all these huge podcasters and then episode five we get David Allen episode 23, we got Chris boss. We just kept getting all these huge guests. And then we get so excited. And they see that the traction on LinkedIn is happening. It's just that we had such good momentum.

Starting point is 00:22:35 So it kept everyone really motivated. And to be honest, it was easier to motivate people before there was money involved. Once there was money involved, it became a whole different dynamic. Once we had responsibilities and clients, it was very actually difficult for us to get out of the previous mindset that we had, which was like a totally volunteer mindset, everybody do what they can,

Starting point is 00:22:56 and we just had my podcast. Once we had clients, it was a whole different story. Yeah, and now all of a sudden, there's other mouths to feed here, and you've got to, you've got to like actually run an organization. Exactly. Talk us through the growth from there to all of a sudden you said you are popping up to a hundred thousand dollar months. What was the timeframe there? It all happened so quickly. It was so we built the podcast and the LinkedIn at

Starting point is 00:23:20 the same time. Two years into it is when things really started to pop off. What happened is that I started getting creative in the way that I approached marketing, and I think I always say this, I am a really good podcaster, but I'm an even better marketer. And so one of the reasons why I think my show has grown faster than other people is because I focused a lot on the marketing, not only the content and the production, right?

Starting point is 00:23:42 And so year two, that's when everything really started to accelerate. I thought about, what can we do to actually be number one when everybody on Apple, who's dominating Apple right now, started their podcast five years before I did. So all the people who are big on Apple are Jordan Harbinger, Lewis House, JLD, they started, yeah, they started 14 years ago. And so I felt like it was impossible to compete with them. And I was thinking, how can I achieve my goal of becoming a huge podcaster and eventually getting sponsorships and just dominating this field without necessarily worrying about Apple, because that's where it was most difficult to compete. And I thought,

Starting point is 00:24:21 where can I like get ahead? So I started reaching out to every single podcast brand that I knew of and most of the software that I used. So I reached out to Riverside.fm and I reached out to Descript and I reached out to Goodpods and I reached out to Castbox and Podcast Republic and all these different brands. And I said, hey, I would love to promote you on LinkedIn. I have the biggest podcast

Starting point is 00:24:42 or on LinkedIn again using it for leverage and in exchange, give me a feature me on your blog, feature me on your website, feature me in your email, feature me on your app, and everybody said yes. And then, and cast box really liked me, and they featured me every month. And now I have 260,000 subscribers on cast box alone, right? Over three million downloads on Castbox alone. And so I started doing this on these apps. So I've 80,000 followers on player FM. I have 10,000 followers on podcast Republic. And so I became the biggest podcaster in my category across all apps.

Starting point is 00:25:16 Then that got me noticed I got on the cover of podcast magazine, Matthew McConaughey came on my show, then everybody wanted to come on my show. And then it just exploded. I went from getting $10,000 a month, to $100,000 a month, to $200,000, to $300,000, and it just kept growing and growing because then it was worth mouth and the podcast really spread. Now I'm just starting to get popular on Apple.

Starting point is 00:25:37 I'm still not that huge on Apple, because it's literally 15% of my downloads. Really? Yes, because I focused on everything else. It's the same thing how I blew up on social media. I focused on the thing. Nobody was focused on. Now, everyone is doing what I was doing,

Starting point is 00:25:53 like, with focusing on the other players. And I became one of the biggest experts in the industry on media buying, and I learned how to sell it. That's a whole different story, but it's another one of the things that I do is media buying for podcasters because I got all these relationships and then I learned that the things I was getting for free people pay for. And I started doing tests and studying subscribe acquisition costs and getting better at it. And once I started making money for my business, I would reinvest and grow my show using the same tactics I used to get for free from

Starting point is 00:26:21 trades. In terms of how I actually started making money in my podcast two years in, I am getting big authors, CEOs that are coming on my show, and I'm working at Disney. I have a very high paying executive job at Disney that I'm crushing at, but I actually don't like my job at Disney at the time because I felt like it was a boys club. And I was starting, for the first time in corporate, I always thought I was gonna be the CEO or CMO of some Fortune 50 company.

Starting point is 00:26:44 The first time in corporate, I was like, I don't see myself going anywhere here. And so I was aware of my opportunities. And at the end of every, almost every single show, the guest would say to me, hey, Hala, how did you pull up on LinkedIn? Hey, Hala, do you have a team? Could you do this for me? Hey, Hala, could you help me grow my podcast? And I'd always be like, no, I'm so sorry,

Starting point is 00:27:05 I have a job at Disney. I have a volunteer team. They don't get paid. We have too much on our plate. And I would always say no until one time Heather Monahan, she's another huge influencer on LinkedIn. She had like maybe 80,000 followers at the time. She came on my podcast. She asked me that question. I blew her off. She didn't leave me alone. And I still believed I didn't have time to do this and that I didn't want to do this. And so I said, hey Heather, I wanted her to be my mentor because I thought, well, I may want to be a speaker when I get older and all these things.

Starting point is 00:27:34 And so I told her I was like, hey, I'll teach you on the weekends how to do this. Because I know how to do everything audio edit, graphic design, whatever. And so I started training her on the weekends and on Saturdays. And she just stopped me one day. It was like maybe our third session. She's Hala. I can't do this. I just had a call with Gary V's company. They told me how much how much of cost everything like that. Your stuff is better. She's your team is better. You can do this Hala.

Starting point is 00:28:02 I'll be your first client. Let's do this. I said All right. Fine. I'll do a start with your videos. And so we started with Heather Monahan's videos. Then all of a sudden, I took over all of her LinkedIn, all of her podcasts, and we do a really good job. Then I get asked to guest on a billionaire show. His name is Jason Waller, true underdog. And he found me because of my podcast and everything. And at the end of it, he asked me, hey, could you do this for me? And I knew he was a billionaire. And I was like, yes, I can definitely do this for you.

Starting point is 00:28:31 I like, let's have a call. And he wanted me to run his LinkedIn, his Instagram, his podcast. And I was very good at PowerPoint presentations. That's all I had at my website. I had nothing. I had no website. I had no proof.

Starting point is 00:28:44 All I had was like us doing Heather Monahan for months. And I put together this PowerPoint presentation. And at first, we had we had priced everything at 3K each service or something like that. This is Barnard Tim. He's let's just do 10K each service and see what happens. So that's 30K.

Starting point is 00:29:00 We were pitching for this monthly retainer, 30K a month. And I do this pitch, my first pitch ever for the company and he's let's do it. And that was it 30K month all of a sudden we went from zero to 30K month. Then I got care gold in the CEO of all these people were guests on my show. Care gold in the CEO of hint water, Brittmoran from Britt and Co. Then we got the CEO of 100 got junk, Marshall Goldsmith, the top best selling author, a number one executive coach, and we just started landing client after client. And literally six months into it, I'm still working at Disney streaming services.

Starting point is 00:29:33 I have 30 paid employees, making over a hundred grand a month. And then I was like, okay, I got to quit my job and I quit my job. And I've literally only been an entrepreneur now. I guess it's been a year and a half only of living in entrepreneur. So this all happened so fast, right? And we start this company. It's goes really well and I never had to do a paid ad. It was all just leads from my podcast, which were my guests, and then referrals. And they started just telling their friends and it's this very luxury social media service that I was offering.

Starting point is 00:30:06 Now I started my podcast agency because I learned how to monetize my show. What I always do is I learn how to do something myself and then I sell it to other people. So I learned LinkedIn and we offer LinkedIn. We learned Instagram. Now we offer Instagram. We knew how to do podcasting. We offered podcasting. We figured out how to monetize my show. Then we started offering monetization. And so we just always do that. We figure it out for me, and then we start selling it for everybody else. And so we started this podcast network in January. And in the first year, we made $500,000 already. The years not even over, just like having an idea that we started in January. Everything's going really well. And the key lesson here is,

Starting point is 00:30:44 follow the organic demand and follow what you're good at, what you love, what you have passion for, and what people want and will pay money for. We'll be right back after a quick break from our sponsors. You hear that sound, young and profitors? You should know that sound by now, but in case you don't, that's the sound of another sale on Shopify. Shopify is the commerce platform that's revolutionizing millions of businesses worldwide.

Starting point is 00:31:11 Whether you sell edgy t-shirts or offer an educational course like me, Shopify simplifies selling online and in person so you can focus on successfully growing your business. Shopify is packed with industry-leading tools that are ready to ignite your growth, giving you complete control over your business and brand without having to learn any new skills in design or code. And Shopify grows with you no matter how big your business gets. Thanks to an endless list of integrations and third party apps, anything you can think of from on-demand printing to accounting to chatbots, Shopify has everything you need to revolutionize your business. If you're a regular listener, you probably know that I use Shopify to sell my

Starting point is 00:31:50 LinkedIn secrets masterclass. Setting up my Shopify store just took me a few days. I didn't have to worry about my website and how I was going to collect payments and how I was going to trigger abandoned cart emails and all these things that Shopify does for me was just a click of a button, even setting up my chat bot was just a click of a button. It was so easy to do. Like I said, just took a couple of days. And so it just allowed me to focus on my actual product and making sure my LinkedIn masterclass was the best it could be

Starting point is 00:32:19 and I was able to focus on my marketing. So Shopify really, really helped me make sure that my masterclass was gonna be a success right off the bat It enabled focus and focus is everything when it comes to entrepreneurship with Shopify single dashboard I can manage my orders and my payments from anywhere in the world and like I said It's one of my favorite things to do every day is check my Shopify dashboard It is a rush of dopamine to see all those blinking lights around the world showing me where everybody is logging on on the site. I love it. I highly

Starting point is 00:32:51 recommended Shopify is a platform that I use every single day and it can take your business to the next level. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com.sashProfiting. Again, go to Shopify.com.sashProfiting all lowercase to take your business to the next level today. Again, that shopfly.com-profiting, shopfly.com-profiting, all lowercase. This is Possibility powered by Shopify. Yeah, bam. If you're ready to take your business to new heights, break through to the 6 or 7 figure mark or learn from the world's most successful people, look no further because the Kelly Roach show has got you covered.

Starting point is 00:33:29 Kelly Roach is a best-selling author, a top-ranked podcast host and an extremely talented marketer. She's the owner of NotOne, but 6th thriving companies, and now she's ready to share her knowledge and experience with you on the Kelly Roach show. Kelly is an inspirational entrepreneur, and I highly respect her. She's been a guest on YAP. She was a former social client. She's a podcast client. And I remember when she came on young and profiting and she talked about her conviction marketing framework. It was like mind blowing to me. I remember immediately implementing what she taught me in the interview in my company

Starting point is 00:34:02 and the marketing efforts that we were doing. And as a marketer, I really, really respect all Kelly has done, all Kelly has built. In the corporate world, Kelly secured seven promotions in just eight years, but she didn't just stop there. She was working in nine to five. And at the same time, she built her eight figure company as a side hustle and eventually took it and made her full-time hustle. And her strategic business goals led her to win the prestigious Inc. 500 award for the fastest growing business in the United States. She's built an empire, she's earned a life-changing wealth, and on top of all that, she maintains a happy marriage and a healthy home life. On the Kelly Road Show, you'll learn that it's possible to have it all. Tune into the Kelly Road Show as she unveils her secrets for growing your business. It doesn't matter if you're just starting out in your career or if you're already

Starting point is 00:34:47 a seasoned entrepreneur. In each episode, Kelly shares the truth about what it takes to create rapid, exponential growth. Unlock your potential, unleash your success, and start living your dream life today. Tune into the Kelly Road Show available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hey, you listen to podcasts. Hey, Yap fam. As you may know, I've been a full-time entrepreneur

Starting point is 00:35:08 for three years now. Yap media blew up so fast. It was really hard to keep everything under control, but things have settled a bit and I'm really focused on revamping and improving our company culture. I have 16 employees, so it's a lot of people to try to rally and motivate.

Starting point is 00:35:24 And I recently had best selling author Kim Scott on the show. And after previewing her content in our conversation, I just knew I had to take her class on master class, tackle the hard conversations with radical candor to really absorb all she has to offer. And now I'm using her radical candor method every day with my team to give in solicit feedback, to cultivate a more inclusive culture,

Starting point is 00:35:47 and to empower them with my honesty. And I can see my team feeling more motivated and energized already. They are really receptive to this framework, and I'm so happy because I really needed this class. With masterclass, you can learn from the best to become your best, anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace. And we all know that profiting in life doesn't just mean thriving in business.

Starting point is 00:36:09 With masterclass, you can brush up on your art skills or your cooking skills or even your modeling skills. With over 180 classes from a range of world class instructors, that thing you've always wanted to do better is just a few clicks away. On masterclass, you'll find courses from many Yappa All-Star guests like Chris Voss and Daniel Pink. I've been taking their sales and negotiation classes and I've been feeling like a real shark lately.

Starting point is 00:36:34 I've totally leveled up my sales skills. How much would it cost you to take a one-on-one class from the world's best? A lot. But with Masterclass annual memberships, it just cost you $10 a month. I have to say the most surprising thing about Masterclass since I started this incredible journey on the platform is the value for the quality of classes instructors. The platform itself is beautiful. The videos are super high quality. You can't beat it. Gain new

Starting point is 00:37:03 skills and as little as 10 minutes on your phone, your computer, tablet, smart TV, and my personal favorite way to learn is their audio mode to listen on the go. That way I can multitask while I learn. Get unlimited access to every class and right now as the app listener, you can get 15% off when you go to masterclass.com slash profiting. That's masterclass.com slash profiting for 15% off an annual membership. Masterclass.com.sashprofiting. My big takeaways from your story are that what you did is what we talk about on this podcast

Starting point is 00:37:39 a lot is where you normally on this show, we talk about building like a financial foundation to where it is. You have the unsexy stuff like you have the real estate index funds, whatever, and then you can grow the sexy businesses on top of it. But you did the exact same thing, but instead of a financial foundation, what you did is you built a platform foundation. So like really all of this is from how freaking rock solid your one platform like LinkedIn Was the catalyst of all of this and then you were able to take that and I'm sure after a while It became like mundane for you because you were just doing it over and over again But now you feel all this stuff on top and then now you can branch out to whatever you want because you are great at one thing

Starting point is 00:38:22 It's just good at like 20. That's insane. 100%. 100%. And I would say it's my LinkedIn and my podcasts were the two really foundational things. And what it is like we were saying before, it's this content marketing engine. And it's me providing free value to a community that then provides for me at the same time. But the key here is that for two years, I didn't sell a thing. All I did was build social proof, build trust, gain skills, train my team, and get everything ready. A lot of people, they're not ready yet. They don't have the foundation to build a business.

Starting point is 00:38:59 I almost start too late. I have everything ready to go, like 90%, and then I'm like, oh yeah, I can start a business with this. You get started a little earlier, but a lot of people they start way too early and they need a lot more skills and social proof and experience. Before I think that they should start a business. What do you think are some good indicators of that, of knowing like a barometer to be able to judge, engage when you are ready and when you're not. Because I see that a lot too. I've got a lot of people. For me, I talk about all of this because I went and I worked the corporate job, made it

Starting point is 00:39:33 to the top, quit that, and now I would travel around the world. So I teach people how to do that. It's just like you said. It's like you do it, and then you teach others. But there's a lot of people that say, oh, I want to start a podcast on this and that, but they haven't done the thing. What's your advice on that? What should they do?

Starting point is 00:39:47 First of all, you never want to sell anything that, especially service based, I'm talking really about service based right now, because if you want to bootstrap anything, that's really how you do it. It's through some sort of service offering that you have. You haven't done it for yourself, like, for example, if you're like a graphic designer, but you haven't designed anything nice for yourself or for somebody else, you obviously need to level up your skill. So what do people compliment you on? What do people ask you questions on that signal that they think that you're an expert?

Starting point is 00:40:16 Those are the things that that are your real skills that people value and may pay money for. So if nobody's asking you for advice in these areas already, if you haven't done it already for yourself and or for somebody else that you're something that you're really proud of, then you're not ready. You need to make sure that you level up yourself before you go try to sell something that you're not that well qualified to sell, right? Because nobody will want it from you. There's too much competition. Yeah. I love that you did that as your litmus test to where you were like, no, uh-uh.

Starting point is 00:40:48 Okay, fine. I'll do it. That's a good example. If nobody will take up, if you are offering something for free and nobody's taking you up on it, you're not ready. You're just not ready. And now if you're offering something for free and you're getting blown up and people are saying, hey, take my money. And by the way, you can learn while you build your community. Exactly. So if you want to learn it, let's say you want to be a painter and one day you want to sell paintings. Start an Instagram talking about painting and educating people about painting and as you do it, you're going to learn and then you're going to have a community. And then by the time you're ready to sell something, you have a community there for you. I feel like a lot of people think that the community

Starting point is 00:41:26 and the business comes at the same time. I think it's way smarter to start the community first. Yeah, I agree. I agree. And then you can also build it around how you are learning. So you're either the grizzled expert or the enthusiastic beginner that's learning. And as podcast hosts, we also can play,

Starting point is 00:41:43 we can wear both hats. Awesome. That's why this is such a cheat code to be able to do this. But anyways, I want to be conscious of your time here And as podcast hosts, we also can play, we can wear both hats. Awesome. That's why this is such a cheat code to be able to do this. But anyways, I want to be conscious of your time here and let you be able to get out of here. So where can people go and find you? I'm sure it's very easy.

Starting point is 00:41:54 Where would you prefer? Well, thank you. Yeah. First of all, I would love for you guys to check out Young and Profiting podcasts. We interview the brightest minds in the world and unpack their wisdom. So I've had Deepak Shope around. I just interviewed Jim Quick. We've got Alex from Ozzy next week. Ryan Holliday coming up. So very excited for all of our

Starting point is 00:42:09 upcoming guests. You guys can check out Young & Profiting podcasts on your favorite podcast player and I'm on Instagram at Yaf with Holla, Tiktok at Yaf with Holla and LinkedIn. You can't miss me. Just search Holla and you'll find me. There you go. Thank you so much for coming on. This has been Freaking Awesome, a marketing master class, and I appreciate everything you're doing. Keep printing out the content, and maybe you and I will be working together here soon. Yeah, I hope so, Brian.

Starting point is 00:42:35 Congratulations on your show and great job. Appreciate it. Thank you, everyone. This has been Brian Lubin and Hala Tahad, the LinkedIn Queen with the Action Academy podcast, signing off. Are you looking for ways to be happier, healthier, more productive and more creative? I'm Gretchen Rubin, the number one best-selling author of the Happiness Project. And every week, we share ideas and practical solutions on the Happier with Gretchen Ruben

Starting point is 00:43:12 podcast. My co-host and Happiness Guinea Pig is my sister Elizabeth Kraft. That's me, Elizabeth Kraft, a TV writer and producer in Hollywood. Join us as we explore fresh insights from cutting edge science, ancient wisdom, pop culture, and our own experiences about cultivating happiness and good habits. Every week we offer a try this at home tip you can use to boost your happiness without spending a lot of time energy or money. Suggestions such as follow the one minute rule. Choose a one word theme for the year or design your summer. We also feature segments like Know Yourself Better,

Starting point is 00:43:45 where we discuss questions like, are you an over buyer or an under buyer? Morning person or night person, abundance lever or simplicity lever, and every episode includes a happiness hack, a quick, easy shortcut to more happiness. Listen and follow the podcast, Happier with Gretchen Ruben. What makes for great vacation?

Starting point is 00:44:04 Depends on who you ask. Are you looking to get away? Or bring everyone together? Do you want to get outside and play? Or see a play at the plate? Fortunately, however you operate, I'm the destination you've been looking for. The name's Missouri,

Starting point is 00:44:21 but you can call me Mo. And I have just one question. What's your Mo? Come see me at VisitMo.com.

Young and Profiting with Hala Taha - Hala Taha: How To Leverage LinkedIn To Grow Your Brand and Your Bank Account (The Action Academy Podcast)

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.