Young and Profiting with Hala Taha - Jonathan Javier: Networking Hacks to Land a Job in the Pandemic | E83

Episode Date: October 5, 2020

Learn how to make a lasting impression on recruiters and new connections from Jonathan Javier! Today, Hala is yapping with Jonathan Javier, CEO and Founder of Wonsulting. Jonathan has previously worked at tech giants like Google, Snapchat, and Cisco before starting Wonsulting. The mission behind Wonsulting is to help students from non-target schools land dream jobs at major companies through resume workshops, speaker series, and more. In today’s episode, we’ll talk about Jonathan’s start in the tech world and how COVID prompted him to work on Wonsulting full time. We’ll also dig deep into advice for current job seekers, tips to nail your next interview, and how to grow a meaningful network.   Social   Follow YAP on IG: www.instagram.com/youngandprofiting Reach out to Hala directly at [e-mail] Follow Hala on Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/htaha/ Follow Hala on Instagram: www.instagram.com/yapwithhala Check out our website to meet the team, view show notes and transcripts: www.youngandprofiting.com   Timestamps   00:59 - How the Idea of Wonsulting was Created 02:43 - Are Companies Missing Out by Only Targeting Ivy-Leagues? 05:29 - Starting a Side Hustle with a Full Time Job 07:24 - When Jonathan Realized He Had to Leave his Full Time 08:33 - Challenges Jonathan Has Faced 11:05 - How Recruitment Has Changed with the Pandemic 16:24 - Jonathan’s Advice for Those Who Lost Their Job 18:44 - Advice for Minorities to Stand Out When Applying for Jobs 21:25 - Current Advantages for Job Seekers 24:15 - Learnings from Rejection 26:22 - Jonathan’s Experience with Imposter Syndrome 29:51 - Best Tips on Interviewing 31:40 - How Jonathan Prepped for Interviews 35:17 - Jonathan’s Personal Networking Story 40:21 - Strategies to Grow Your Network 43:35 - What to Do vs. What Not to Do When Networking 45:25 - How to Share Wins Without Bragging 48:28 - Jonathan’s Intro to Speaking Engagements 53:41 - Ways Jonathan Improved His Speaking 55:01 - Why Jonathan’s Biggest Post Went Viral 56:36 - Jonathan’s Secret to Profiting in Life   Links   Wonsulting Website: https://www.wonsulting.com/ Jonathan’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanmjavier/ Jonathan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanwordsofwisdom/ Jonathan’s Website: https://jonathanwordsofwisdom.com/ Wonsulting Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wonsulting/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. You can crush your fingers and all your toes during a data center migration. You can knock on wood, pluck a dozen for leaf clovers or look to your lucky stars for a successful office expansion.

You could hold your breath, shut your eyes, and say all the well wishes to help avoid cyber attacks. But none of that truly helps you. Because next level moments need the next level network. With the security, reliability, and expertise to take your business further, 18-to-business, the network you can rely on. This episode of YAP is sponsored by Podcast Republic. For once, Android users are getting some love.

Podcast Republic is a podcast app where you can discover and subscribe to 1 million shows and enjoy live radio streaming. And with over 85,000 authentic reviews in the Google Play Store, you know their legit. Podcast Republic has super cool features like trimming silence in your podcast shows to save time, personalized playlists, and the ability to schedule to play your podcast at a specific time. Imagine being able to wake up and start your day with YAP or your other favorite podcasts.

If you're an Android user, head over to the Google Play Store to download Podcast Republic, and don't forget to rate and review Young and Profiting Podcast while you're an Android user, head over to the Google Play Store to download Podcast Republic and don't forget to rate and review Young & Profiting Podcast while you're at it. You're listening to YAP, Young & Profiting Podcast, a place where you can listen, learn, and profit. Welcome to the show. I'm your host, Halataha, and on Young & Profiting Podcast, we investigate a new topic each week

and interview some of the brightest minds in the world. My goal is to turn their wisdom into actionable advice that you can use in your everyday life, no matter your age, profession or industry. There's no fluff on this podcast, and that's on purpose. I'm here to uncover value from my guests by doing the proper research and asking the right questions. If you're new to the show, we've chatted with the likes of XFBI agents, negotiation coaches, world famous cartoonists, CEOs, and bestselling authors.

Our subject matter ranges from enhancing productivity, how to gain influence, the art of side hustles, and more. If you're smart and like to continually improve yourself, hit the subscribe button because you'll love it here at Young & Profiting Podcast. Today on the show we're chatting with Jonathan Javier. Jonathan is currently the CEO and founder of WAN Salting, an agency that helps students from non-target schools and non-traditional backgrounds get into their dream careers. Jon's mission is to turn underdogs into winners. Prior to going full-time as an entrepreneur, Jonathan worked at major tech companies like

Snapchat, Google, and Cisco. Jonathan has led over 150 plus workshops on topics like LinkedIn and Personal Branding, and he's also a very sought- after corporate speaker with talks at Google, LinkedIn HQ, Lyft, and more. In this episode, we'll uncover John's top hacks for finding a job in the pandemic and we'll get Johnathan's practical and useful tips for networking both offline and online. Hey, Johnathan, welcome to Young and Profiting Podcast. How's it going?

How's it going? I'm very excited to have you on the Podcast. How's it going? How's it going? I'm very excited to have you on the show. You are a very impressive guy. You're currently the CEO, founder of OneSolting, and your mission is to turn underdogs into winners. Previously to that, you were at major tech companies like Snapchat, Google, and Cisco. And with the OneSolting initiative, you've led over 100 workshops around the world. You've hit the stage for almost 100 speaking engagements, if not more. You also have a huge

LinkedIn presence, and I really want to deep dive into all of your different recruitment strategies for job seekers. But before that, I want to know a little bit more about your career journey. I feel that everything really started for you in terms of your personal brand and your presence on LinkedIn and all these opportunities with your speaking and workshops since you started one-sulting. So tell us a story about how you thought of starting one-sulting, like how did the idea come about and tell us more about that business in general. Of course. First off, thank you so much for having me on this podcast. I really do appreciate it and I really appreciate you did your research so that's amazing I'm actually done now over 150 workshops it's been crazy in the past

wow six months so I know people are probably wondering does this guy have a life yes I do I swear I do but going back a little quick when I was in college which was about three four years, I still remember I wanted to work at the big tech companies, like the Google, the Goldman Sachs, and the Deloitte and the Facebooks of the world. But what I thought was that the system told me that I could never make it into those companies because of my background, whether it's coming from a non-target school or just a non-traditional one. So I actually just utilized LinkedIn to get into all my jobs,

which I'll talk about later on today too, as well, at Snapchat, Google, and Cisco. And I started on soul-ting when I was at Google because I saw that a lot of people were from the big-named top schools around the world. And I was from a much smaller school, a school that I didn't get directly recruited from. And I realized that I wanted to bridge

that gap between the non-target schools and non-traditional background individuals of the world into those top tech companies. So yeah, now we've helped thousands of people get into their careers, especially during these times during the pandemic. And yeah, our mission is to turn underdogs into winners. Everybody has their own underdog story,

and that's why a lot of people relate to it. I know you have your own underdog story as well and probably a lot of people do especially on listening to this podcast. Yeah, totally. So tell us a little bit more about some of these big companies and are they missing out when it comes to talent by not looking at non-target schools like Harvard and other like you know really prestigious Ivy League schools? Yeah I mean I think so because well it does make sense for companies to recruit from target schools because they usually get their qualified candidates from there and from the non-target schools they're great talent. It's just that there's sometimes it's a percentage that's super high

up there what that's super high percentage are the ones that are extremely successful in these companies because of that underdog mentality. I think that's very important because when they get into the companies, they didn't just get it from getting it handed to by their parents or something like that, right? They worked hard to get to where they wanted to be and that work Translates into their actual work at the company. So I feel like that is extremely important especially with those underdog stories and people come from non-target schools To be successful and that's what I've seen especially like when I was working at snap I had some friends who came from target schools But then other ones from non-target schools and the ones from the non-target schools were the ones

but then other ones from non-target schools and the ones from the non-target schools were the ones who were actually the most successful and worked the hardest to make sure that everything was good and up to par. Yeah, I can totally, totally relate to that. I went to the New Jersey Institute of Technology and it's not an Ivy League school. I got my undergrad and my master's there

and I still got a job at Hewlett Packard and Disney Streaming Services. Even though I wasn't a job at Hewlett Packard and Disney streaming services, even though I wasn't a target, like a candidate from a target school, but like you said, it's like you work harder, you're more resourceful, you value your job a little bit more, you probably take more initiative, and it's all about like getting your foot in the door, and then usually people who have the motivation, no matter what school they want to can up the ranks, like once they actually get in the company. So we'll definitely talk about like how we can do that once we get our foot in the door and your tips on how to get our foot in the door. And I was gonna say too as well, like the difference between target schools

and non-target schools is sometimes just simply opportunities. The thing is with non-target schools, you have to make those opportunities happen for you, like you did for yourself at HP and Disney, same for me at Snapchat, Google and Cisco. So that might just be the difference between the two. Yeah. So as I was reading your story, I realized like,

we have a lot of similarities. So we're both like, big on LinkedIn, considered LinkedIn quote unquote influencers, even though I hate that word. We both worked corporate, you left your corporate job. Both worked at top tech companies. Also, both started a side hustle. You know, that's generating a lot of noise and business. Tell us about starting your side hustle at your corporate job. What was that like having a side hustle when

you, I think you started it when you were at Cisco. How did that feel? Were people jealous of you, like, were they accepting of it? And how did you manage your time? Yeah, so I started on soul-sitting, actually when I was at Google, January 2019. Yeah, at first, honestly, people were kind of questioning it in the beginning. Mainly because I had a really bad logo because I just made the logo from scratch out of nothing. But yeah, I basically just decided to do it because there were so many people

that would always ask for my help. So I was like, do I want to do this based off myself? I do want to base this off a business. And so when I created the business, I still remember I was like, hey, I'll do free resume revisions for anybody who comments that they want to resume a vision. And like hundreds of people commented,

so I was like, oh crap, like now I gotta actually do this. But yeah, basically with one-sulting and all those different things, it's just been awesome because, yeah, I still remember I was doing a bunch of workshops every single week, like I had a workshop every single week. And I was like, still at Google and I would actually drive to universities

and organizations and I do them for free because I wanted to scale out the branding and get them kind of as my followers. And I guess it's just grown ever since, which has been amazing. I just see both our growth, especially in our careers, but then also with that side hustle. But yeah, I mean, it's been good.

And the reason why I left Google to go to Cisco was because I balanced it very much better at Cisco. Kind of translated some of the Wonsulting things into Cisco when I did workshops there too as well. Very cool, very cool. And so what are the biggest lessons that you've learned so far now that you've gone full time? You left your corporate job?

Well, actually, let me back check. At what point were you like, I have to leave my corporate job? And if I want Wonsulting to be successful, I need to actually do this full-time. What was that like? Yeah so Michael was to work in three companies in startup software in hardware before leaving to go full-time and so what happened was I actually got affected by Cisco COVID-19 layoffs in February but what happened was they

kept me on the team, and I think one of the main factors was that I literally made LinkedIn content. That's what I personally think. But yeah, I was there until July basically, and then I was like, okay, I might as well just lead to do one soul thing full time, because I already planned to leave in July,

ish, it's only been there like a year, and then do my business full time. So, but yeah, it's been a blessing. I've been doing it now, I think a month and a half now, so far, and it's been great. We've been partnering with a lot of companies and organizations, just to help a lot of students, and just the impact that you're able to make,

whether it's on one person or a million people, that's what's important to me, and I know it's important to you and so many other people. Yeah, so once you took on this full-time position at your job, were there any challenges that you faced since then, or has it just been smooth sailing since you took the plunge? Yeah, so I think one of the challenges was just balancing everything.

And for me personally, I want to do everything. All right, you probably feel the same way too. Like you want to do the marketing, you want to do the program management, you want to do the partnerships. That's what I felt too as well, but then I realized that if you do all those things, there's just going to be super overwhelmed. So what I did was I brought on one of my best friends, Jerry Lee. He's our COO now, so we've been scaling it out together. And then we also brought on more of a team.

I think we have a bunch, a lot of intern, I think 10 intern slash employees now, which has been great. But yeah, I mean, I just had to bring on a team because I realize at the end of the day that you can't do everything. You either do everything or you're gonna burn out or you teach other people how to do it. It's like you're giving, you either give the fish to someone or you teach the person how to fish. And so that's why I taught the people how to do it. It's like you're giving the, you either give the fish to someone, or you teach the person how to fish. And so that's why I taught the people how to fish. And that's why now it's kind of smooth sailing for now, but then we're trying to figure out in regards to

more initiatives and more things that we can do to impact our communities. Yeah, so something that my listeners don't really know, unless they've been listening really closely, is that I actually just started a podcast marketing agency like two months ago. And I can totally really, I scaled my team. I have like almost 27 people on my team right now. And the first two weeks was like so stressful because it was like all these processes. I had to like dump everything in my brain

on everyone and like just kind of hand hold. I felt like I had to review every single little thing. But once people actually know what they're doing, like you were just saying, like everyone and just kind of handhold. I felt like I had to review every single little thing, but once people actually know what they're doing, like you were just saying, giving them a framework to work from, it's a lot less stressful, and it's just like kind of letting it run by itself. Like that's the best business you can make,

is if you actually don't have to be in it all the time. It's impossible, and you'll never scale that way. Facts, facts, all facts right there. Yeah. Cool, cool. So let's get into the meat of our interview. You are an expert when it comes to landing a job, right? And so right now we are in a pandemic. The job market sucks if I could just be blunt before the pandemic, the unemployment rate was at an all time low. Now since August, it was like 15% of workers are jobless right now.

So in your opinion, how is the pandemic really shaped the recruitment space? And what challenges do the unemployed have right now in particular? Yeah, so I think that unemployment rate is extremely high, but there are jobs out there. There's people have to go search for them. But the thing is, what I think what people are doing is they're reaching out to the wrong companies.

Meaning, for example, there are so many companies that are, for example, not doing well, especially during the pandemic. For example, let's just say retail. Retail is probably not doing that good. I wouldn't reach out to anybody in specifically people in retail if there's not hiring for any companies. Or then they're not hiring for any employees. So you first have to identify with the biggest movers right now. For example, let's say Zoom is doing extremely well,

Shopify, Tesla, all these different companies, identify them first and then go see on their jobs page exactly what they're specifically recruiting for. And then what you do is you network with the people in those companies. So you do is you network with the people in those companies. So you honestly, you literally just search a position you're interested in, program manager, Tesla,

go find them, find a common ground with them, which could be in regards to your school, university, even your background, even your name. I'm serious, I'll look like I used to do this when I was in college. I would network with people. I'd reach out to the people who had the same name as me. Jonathan, I'd search Jonathan, Google,

and a network with all the people that named Jonathan at Google. Because it's like common ground aspect of it. That's so funny. You can't do that with the name, Michael. Right. But I mean, no. Like, if you have a unique name, what I say too, is just reach out to people,

be like, hey, I saw that you have a unique name, and you work at Google, we talk to people be like, Hey, I saw you have a unique name and you work at Google, we've had to connect. I guarantee no one will do that, but you will get a good connection. That's smart. That's what I do every single time. So that's what I'd recommend. Yeah. Let's dig deep on the common ground thing. Why is establishing common ground so important and what other tips do you have in terms of establishing common ground and not only for LinkedIn, but how about offline as well.

Yeah, so I think common ground is extremely important because it gets you more comfortable, and then you don't just talk about work, you talk about things outside of work. So for example, Hala and I have the same kind of background in story, right? But another thing we do have in common as well is of course we're both human. So everybody has common ground technically, but another thing is we have the same mic, right? That's why actually before this podcast asked, what kind of mic you have? Because I realized that she most likely had a Yeti mic. But do you see that common ground aspect between the both of us now?

Now that we have those three things in common, right? And we've only been talking for like five minutes. See? So that's important because it breaks the ice. I think it's extremely important to do. Another piece of the common ground specifically on LinkedIn is of course the same mutual connections. But the thing is what I say all the time

is you can network so easily by doing something simply just like this. So for example, let's say I make a post, let's just say I talk about a LinkedIn strategy specifically on how to get into Facebook. What happens is most of the people that like and comment on my things are people from Facebook or people in tech. So what you do is you go comment on it or you go like it and then you go look at the likes and comments and then you go find people who work at the company that you're interested in,

and guess what? Now we have the common ground because you both commented on my post, and now you can reach out to the person saying, hey, I saw that you commented on Jonathan's post, I did too, you're great to connect. That's a common ground piece strategy for LinkedIn. Another one too, as well, for in-person. So I'll give you two for in person because I gave a LinkedIn a lot of LinkedIn strategies right there. One for virtual. So I have these posters behind me, right? They each have a motivational quote on it. So if the one says greatness, once it's changed, once it's goal, the reason why I have these posters in the back is not because I want them. It's because every time I speak with someone, it breaks the ice because they always ask about the posters.

About 75% of people will ask about it, and I'll be like, oh, yeah, which one is your favorite? They'll tell me which one is their favorite, and then I'll tell them which one is my favorite. But then I'll tailor it towards the company that they're working at. So then it breaks the ice, and we talk about posters for five minutes. That's one part specifically for virtual interviewing or virtual conversations that you can do. In person, what I say all the time, research them before, everybody, you can find people before events,

not after them. Don't add them before the event, because what happens is everybody will add them after the event. You have to think in ways where you're like, okay, what am I gonna do that nobody else is doing? So what I'd say is we chat. Can I stand out?

Exactly, how to stand out. So we chat to them before the event, then when you connect with them, you go meet them at the event or virtually or in person, then after you send a follow up, because then most people are going to be in the personalized invites or whatever. You're going to be the one person who isn't,

and that's when you build that rapport before. So those are the two things I'd recommend. Hopefully that's helpful. Yeah, super helpful. I'd love to get into more networking tips later on, but I really want to stick on people who don't have jobs right now, especially those who have been impacted by COVID-19. So how about the people who have lost their job or who have been furloughed?

Should they be quiet about it? Is it something they should be embarrassed about? What do you suggest that they do in order to help them secure their next job? Post about it. I'll link to 100%. But the thing is, don't just say, hi, I'm open to work.

Please come back with me. You should have an ask and a call to action for each of your posts. So if I were someone who got furloughed or laid off, I literally have the structure of the first part being, I unfortunately got laid off or affected by COVID-19 layoffs, the second part would be in regards to a story of yourself or of you at the company, and the third part would be in regards to what you're looking forward to getting into next. I think that's very important because then your whole community will then be like,

oh, like, let me go help this person. Another part that's important to as well, in the post you tag people who helped you in your career, but strategic in a way where they work at the companies you are specifically interested in. So for example, honestly, everybody listening in right now, after listening to this podcast, I want you to tag me and Hala and tag the podcast

to as well, post about a LinkedIn, your takeaways, right? Or you can post about, you know, maybe you got affected by layoffs as well. What happens is this, Thal and I have over 100,000 followers, come by over 100,000 followers, easily combined. All of our followers are by, over 100,000 followers, easily combined. All of our followers are going to see it, and then guess what?

Maybe one of those 100,000 followers will be a person who works at a company you are interested in. And then guess what? We're tying in that common ground. The common ground is that they viewed your profile. You go reach out to them, say, hey, I saw you viewed your profile. We're great to connect. That's how you do it.

That's why I recommend people to make those posts because you never know if it will go viral or blow up. But then people will go to you and be like, oh, what are you interested in getting into? And that's when you have your informational interviews and phone chats. Yeah, I completely agree. And I think that people who have been affected by COVID-19,

people have sympathy for you. People want to do good and want to help people. And so if they see your post, they're going to be more inclined to help than compared to somebody who randomly lost their job or it wasn't because of the pandemic. So the next question I have is really about minority employees and specific strategies that they can take. I know that over the past 10 years,

the unemployment rate among black workers has often been double. So from the start, even before the pandemic, the black community had it worse when it came to finding a job or crew meant for many different factors. So what's your advice to them on standing out and securing a job? Yes, of course. So I work with a lot of underrepresented communities, whether it's Hispanic, African-American, et cetera. What I'd recommend to them, especially for working at big companies, identify employee

resource groups. And this is why I identify employee resource groups is exactly what I did to network with people at Google. So what I did was I'd identify what the ERG, which is what they're called, at the different companies, I'd identify which one that I identify with, whether it's in regards to, for example, being Hispanic, being African-American, being a woman in tech. I'd identify those. What I do is I go look on their company websites and look for the people who are on the page. So what I did was when I was trying to, when I was at Google, I go to Asian Google Network,

I go look at the people on the page, I go find everybody who's Asian, and then I go reach out to them. Same with Black Google Network and Ola, which is the Hispanic one. If you're African American, go look at it, go look at Black Google Network, you will find all the people who are in that ERG,

and your common ground is that you're both the same ethnicity and race, which means that you can be able to help one another, right? Because I would feel more inclined, of course, help other people who come from my similar background. So that's what I'd recommend for people if they're trying to network. That is extremely important because that diversity, inclusion aspect, and that community part is extremely important to a lot of people, especially during these times. Like for once-ulting, we're trying to empower as of people, especially during these times. Like for once-ulting, we're trying to empower as many people

as we can, and we love helping everybody to be honest, and we're gonna continue doing it, of course. Yeah, I mean, that is absolutely amazing advice, and we have that in common as well. I know you were involved in your employee resource group. At HP, I was like president of the Young Employee Network, and on the global board board and all this stuff. And so it was so impactful for my career.

And people who are in ERGs and are in leadership position in ERGs are some of the most influential people within the company. They've got a lot of pull because they're the ones that know the top executives because they're doing presentations, even if they're not a high level employee. They're the ones doing presentations with the CEO and the CMO and asking for budget and things like that. And so they have a lot of pull. So that's a great, great point. I love that.

So on the flip side, the pandemic has a lot of disadvantages for the workforce. You know, there's less jobs, but like you said, there are jobs available. Are there any other advantages that you can think of when it comes to job seekers right now in the pandemic? Yeah, LinkedIn Stories. They just released LinkedIn Stories. And the reason why I'm saying LinkedIn Stories is because if you are a job seeker right now, you should be utilizing LinkedIn Stories as best as you can to number one, market yourself

and number two network. So what I would be doing, if I was a job seeker and I was affected by COVID-19 layoffs or I'm just looking for a job is I put on my story exactly what I'm looking for. I post about it on my story. What's happening right now is everybody is looking at LinkedIn stories. Like everybody because they're like, oh my gosh, it's new. It's the same thing that what happened with TikTok. Everyone's on TikTok because it's new.

Same thing with happy LinkedIn stories. Everyone's looking at their stories, etc. I personally don't look at LinkedIn stories that often because I just get super busy, but a lot of other people are looking at them. Why you do this? You post it, you wait 23 hours, right before it ends, you go look at the viewers, and now you go to see exactly who viewed it. Imagine one of those people work at the companies you're interested in, go reach out to them. Be like, hey, you know, I saw that you viewed my story in regards to what I'm trying to get into in my career. What did you think? Now you can start a conversation between the two of you and you could possibly get into your dream career just from that. So I'd recommend that strategy,

specifically for LinkedIn stories. Another thing as well, Like if you see another person who's been affected by COVID-19 layoffs and their post is going viral or if their post is getting a lot of engagement, go look at the comments. There's probably recruiters there too as well who are trying to help this other person. They could probably help you too. So those are two different things that I'd recommend for people to do. That's smart. So smart. You've got such creative strategies. And that's because you're resourceful. It all goes back to resourcefulness.

And it all goes back to creativity. You don't need to pay. It can just be creative strategies to get what you want. Let's switch gears and talk about rejection. A lot of job seekers, they get rejected over and over again, whether they feel like nobody's reading their resume or they don't get the interview or they get the interview and they get rejected. And it can really hurt your confidence and hurt your ability to kind of get back up on the horse.

Through my research, I found out that you actually got rejected quite a lot. You interviewed for Golden Sachs twice and you didn't get the offer. Your dream job was to work at LinkedIn, but even though you made it to Final Round, you didn't get the offer. Your dream job was to work at LinkedIn, but even though you made it to Final Round, you didn't get the offer. You got into Snapchat, but you were outsourced after six months. You got into Google after your third try, but you exhibited Imposter Syndrome and left,

and you got into Cisco, but got affected by COVID-19, like you mentioned previously. So based on your resume, people might think, oh my gosh, she just had every job in the world and he got everything that he wanted, but it took a lot of strikeouts for you to get there. So talk to us about that and talk to us about how

like your formula for handling rejection. Yeah, when I say all the time and I know a lot of people say this now, rejection is redirection, but what I'm gonna add another layer to is rejection is redirection if you react to it in the right way. The reason being is that especially it's all about mindset. Because when you get rejected, are you going to be doing the same thing over and over again, which is applying to roles and get it the same result, or are you going to do something different that nobody else does?

So that's why I say this because I still remember I was applying to hundreds of roles, get rejected from a lot of them because of, you know, my school was in a target school and I didn't have a lot of good experience or applicable experience. So then I realized that you have to do something different than what you're doing if you keep getting rejected. So what I actually did was, and I recommend this to anybody is I created a project in class that was tailored

towards Snapchat, basically printed it out, went to my interview and I put it into a yellow folder because Snapchat was yellow, went to the interview, did really want the case study, killed it. The two hiring managers were like, how the heck did you know our whole entire system? I pulled out the yellow folder with my project in it

and my resume and I gave it to them. And I was like, oh yeah, I did your whole project in class, utilizing geolocation technology. They literally hired me 30 minutes later. That's basically how I got to job at Snap and how I didn't get rejected anymore. But the reason why I share this is not to flex or anything. It's to show people that you have to think outside the box,

especially when you're networking, we're going to these interviews. Because you have to think, there's probably a lot of other people going for it, but how are you different? Everyone that might have the same experience, but do you have the same work ethic? Do you have the same projects?

Probably not. That's how you stand out, and that's how you turn those rejections into redirections, and ultimately get into your dream career. Yeah, I think that's really great advice. I mentioned just a moment ago how you had in Poster syndrome when you first got to Google and you left after six months.

So tell us what happened. Why, like, what did you feel when you got there? And how did you make the decision to leave and not just stick it out? What happened there? There's a great question. I love talking about this because it's something that people don't talk about, especially when

working at these companies because, you've probably seen a lot of people always like, hey, I don't work at Google, I don't work at Facebook, I don't work at Disney, all these companies, right? But the thing is, they don't know the exact culture or how people feel when working at these companies. They could have the best experience, they could have the worst. My experience was good, was good for the most part, but within posture-st posture syndrome the reason why I talk about this all the time is because in all transparency a lot of people would only talk to me because I worked at Google.

So when I was trying to and I don't know if this experience with you as well because you work at Disney, but a lot of people would all just be like, hey, tell me more about how you got into Google. The crazy part was, is that wasn't just on LinkedIn. It was in person. It was when I was at happy hours. It was when I was with family and friends. It would literally just be like, hey, how's Google? This ultimately, why this affected me was because it

increased my ego. I'm just being super transparent. It increased my ego because I was like, man, I'm the Google guy who got in from UC Riverside. But the thing is, a company should not define a person. The person is defined by their character. And that's what I realized for myself. I was like, do I want to be known for the guy who works at Google

or the guy who started his own company and helped other people get there? And that's the reason why I actually left because of that aspect to empower other people to get into those companies. And if they want to work with those companies, perfect, that's my dream for you. But the thing is, you're not conformed to society norms in which they say, hey, go work at

these top companies because we say so, work at these companies because of the values and truly because you want to work there. So that's what I would say in regards to people who want to work at these companies, and that's why I actually left to go to Cisco, because then I can balance the two. 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. 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. 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 month, this podcast has it all. So don't wait, now's 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. 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, 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. 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 eat trial at trinom.com.shap. That's trinom.nom.com.shap for 50% off trinom.com.shap. This episode of YAP is sponsored by PodCorn, a marketplace connecting podcasters to amazing

sponsorship opportunities. So many podcasters ask me how I monetize my podcast, and my answer is always podcorn when it comes to sponsorships. Podcasters of all sizes can browse and choose sponsorship proposals right from the platform. You set your own rates and collaborate with brands directly without any exclusivities. The best part is with podcorn, there's no middleman. I've worked with boutique ad agencies and I'm either paid late or not at all. It's a terrible experience, but with Podcorn I can rest easy that I'll be protected and

compensated for any reads that I do. You'll never give up any rights to your podcast and the great folks at Podcorn are there to help every step of the way. And if you're a brand looking to get your story exposed, PodCorn can be a great avenue for you. Reach consumers who aren't just tuning in to tune out. Podcast listeners are actively engaged, making your ads super effective compared to other methods. Find the right voices and get matched to podcasts

that fit your brand. Head over to podcorn.com to learn more. Yeah, oh my gosh, I couldn't relate. Everything that you say and like so many of your experiences, I could just relate to you so much with Disney streaming services. I find the same thing. Everybody's always asking me,

how did you get into Disney streaming services? And if my listeners knows, I don't talk about being at Disney like too much. In fact, when I was at HP, I was a lot more vocal about working at HP and their face of the young employees. And at Disney, I've taken it back side because I agree with you.

You can't have a corporation if it's not your own be your identity. Because then if something happens, you lose your identity. If you get fired or if something happens, all of a sudden you lose your identity. So it's more important to build your personal brand or your own thing, that's yours.

I was gonna say, I'll let you as well. I was gonna say, to be real, I didn't even know you worked at Disney six months ago. I just knew you from your podcast. And that just shows exactly, for example, I'm hype you up, Holly, because you should be hyped up, but just knowing you from your podcast, and not knowing you because of Disney,

but because of your podcast, that is exactly what I wanted to do specifically for one soul team. So that's if anybody ever wants to start their own business, definitely do that. And what I say all the time is be an entrepreneur because then you can just leave your corporate job and then go to working at your own and you learn the processes from those corporate companies because they've been successful already. Totally. I totally agree. Like we mentioned previously, you went to a lot of interviews that didn't necessarily pan out. A lot of failed interviews, a lot of great interviews.

So what did you learn from some of these experiences and how can people get better at interviewing? In these interviews that I failed at, I talk too much. Why is it this is because I literally would babble. And this is what I recommend to people. If you don't know the answer to a question, do not just wing it and just go into it. Tell the interviewer like, hey, could you give me 30 seconds

to write my answers now? So I can give you a structured format. It's very important to do this because a lot of people don't think you can do this, but you can't. But don't do it every question. Just do it for some questions you truly don't know the answer to. So, when I did this, I structured my questions and answers into Star Format, and that's when I got a structure of how to specifically convey my experiences. So, yeah, I remember when I was at Goldman Sachs, I was talking so much that the guy was like,

okay, we're good now. Right, so you literally... What's a Starformat? Starformat, yeah, situation, task, action, result. It's very important to do. So for example, I'll just give an example. Like let's just say, tell me about a time you worked on a team project

and someone wasn't pulling their own weight. So the situation would be, let's just say Google, a time that I was doing this was at Google. My task was, so your task is what were you going to do to ultimately help that person pull their own weight? The action steps are the action steps you took to get that person to do XYZ. And the result is what happened due to you doing all this, all these. I think that star formats extremely important because your answer is then in one minute, 30 seconds, two minute, 30 seconds, which is kind of the sweet spot. So I'd recommend doing that format for anybody who's doing interviews

and its behavioral ones. I think that's good advice. Another piece of advice, I was like, you know, stalking your LinkedIn or reading all your posts. You go and you find people who have similar roles at the company that you're applying for. And I think you actually called up like customer service or something one time to find out more information about a role or something. Tell us about that story. That's right. Oh my gosh. This is a great story. So when I was interviewing Google, I was interviewing for like a sales operations role.

So it was for ads. So I was like, okay, because I was like, okay, I'm going to go to the interview. I'm like, maybe I'll do you give, maybe I'll do bad. But I was like, why don't I just go call them because they give me the questions. They give me some of the questions to prepare for. So I was like, why don't I just take these questions and go ask the person who's in my role currently right now How they would react. So what I did was I called Google ads. I found it on Google. Of course. I called them, I pretended I was a customer. So I pretended I have my own business. One something was not started yet.

Had my own business, just pretended. I was like, yeah, it's just Jonathan's services. Pretended I, and then what I did was, I pretended I was a disgruntled and customer. I was like, man, I don't wanna work with you anymore. They're like, oh, why not? Oh, blah, blah. And so I sold a reaction to the person,

and what I did was I took my phone, I put it on my desk and I recorded the whole thing so I could go back to and see how they react every single part. And so when I had my questions in my interview, I literally replicated the exact way that they did it on the phone. That's how I did it, basically. And that's how I got passed by actually first rounds of interviews at Google.

Wow, that's amazing. See, it's really, like, again, creativity, resourcefulness, it costs no money. I have a pretty similar story for Disney Streaming Services. I am in email marketing and mobile messaging. I've always been a marketer, but I've never done email. And obviously, Disney Streaming is only going to hire like best of the best.

And I remember that I studied email, took courses on email marketing, read every article that I could. One of their assignments was like some spreadsheet workbook on analytics that we had to do. And I actually like hired someone to help me learn because I like, didn't, I never had done a pivot table before that that time

because I wasn't really in analytics. I used to do dashboards and stuff but like I never really worked in Excel and like they were really Excel heavy and I just learned how to do it and I crushed it you know and it's like you can figure it out along the way you don't have to be an expert you know you just have to be willing to learn and put in the work and get up to speed very quickly. Like once you know what it's about and what the role is about, if you get the interview, just try your best to study and get up to speed as quick as you can. That's the best advice I can give. I was going to say too as well.

I did something very similar with Excel. What I did was because Google on their responsibilities has said advanced at Excel. So I was like, okay, so what I did was I bought a class on Groupon for five bucks, took it to class, just learned all of Excel, and then when they asked me, do you have Excel experience, I was like, yeah, I took a class. Yeah, and then you like know the words, it's all about knowing the lingo.

That's the other thing. It's like knowing the words that the industry uses so that you can sound like, you know what you're talking about. And then you can figure out everything else later. Exactly, exactly. We're on the same page. Let's talk about networking again. You've got amazing tips for networking and networking and pruning your network,

making sure that you keep in touch. You actually have a very touching story about one of your first managers at Coles, his name was Alfonso. Tell us about your relationship with Alfonso and what you learned from him and how you tended that release. Of course, you know it's so crazy, I'll let I posted this on TikTok yesterday.

It's going viral right now. It has over 500,000 views right now. I know. So. I didn't even know you were on TikTok. I literally just started it last week and it's been blowing up like crazy. So, yeah. So Alfonso he's a great guy. He was, so yeah, four years ago when I was interning a store management slash operations intern at Coles. I was, I was stationed at

his store which is in Coles, Shredo's. And yeah, I still remember my first day. This is when I knew nothing about first professions. My first day, I still remember my first day, this is what I did nothing about first professions. My first day, I still remember, I went to the gym before and then I went into the coals and I was just wearing a t-shirt and I had my dress clothes but I was gonna go change in the fitting room. I don't know what I was thinking I was like, what the heck. So the thing was like when I was in college, I really couldn't afford like new clothes, like new professional clothes, for example, because I was also helping pay tuition and helping paying rent, etc. So what I did was I borrowed my dad's clothes and they're super big. They're not fit, like you know, how people have it all tailored and stuff,

not fit at all. So yeah, I still remember going for two weeks, my first two weeks, I was wearing those clothes and Alfonso actually noticed this. So he, what he did was, in one of our 101's, took me to the fitting room and he was like, hey, Jonathan, look in the mirror. And I was like, okay, so I looked in the mirror and he's like, tell me, what do you think of this impression when a customer sees you? And then I was like, oh, I don't think it's a good one. I mean, it looks kind of baggy. And he's like, why is that?

And then I told him transparent, and he said, I was like, yeah, I honestly, I can't afford new clothes because I've just been paying for everything else. So what he did was he actually gave me this huge discount, which was like biggest discount that calls can give, which was almost like 70, I believe is 70, 75% off everything. And so what I did was is the first time I ever bought clothes from Coles

and everything, I still have it, it's so funny, Hala, I still use the same clothes to this day. It's been three years, four years. I haven't bought any new dress clothes. I still use it to this day. I've had a suit, long sleeve, pans, everything. I literally bought all of my Coles. I'm a very minimalist guy.

People always wonder, why the heck do you ever wear anything else besides one soul thing? To be honest, I probably don't. Very minimalist in regards to clothing, but yeah, that's the things you taught me where number one, first impressions are extremely important. That's why I tell you like, alpha straddles are all about first

impressions because that sets a precedent for everything. Number two, you taught me about, you know, balancing work and hard work really does pay off at the end of the day and then last but not least grit. I still remember that rule had a lot of things in regards to grit because I didn't know everything exactly what the thing was, I kept going and try to keep learning. Oh, and then another thing as well, relationships are extremely important. I've stayed in touch with Alfonso every year, except I skipped one year because I moved to the day. So he was wondering, and it was crazy, a quick story. He was actually a still-to-store manager. My sister was interviewing there. I didn't even know she was interviewing. She called me. She was like, yeah, interviewed for the

Sredo's location. I was like, I intern there. So what happened was he found out, and he actually hired her on a spot, which is crazy. So until new relationships are so important, you never know what's going to happen in the future, but always keep those strong and always stay up to date with everybody. I love that.

I think that's so sweet that you kept in touch with him. Like, I read that like every use so he's bringing him like a holiday card and cookies or something every year. That's so nice. And he seems like such a nice guy to have like hooked you up when you needed it. Exactly.

Yeah. So I interviewed Jordan Harbinger. He's one of the biggest podcasters in the world. And he taught me something really awesome. He always talks about dig the well before you're thirsty. And what he means by that is start your connections before you need them, not afterwards, not after you lose your job. You want to establish those connections before you need them. He also

says that your network is your best insurance policy. In his case, he actually was on this very popular podcast. It was called The Art of Charm. It was a multi-million dollar training business as well. And he got kicked out. And all of a sudden, his friends kicked him well. And he got kicked out. And all of a sudden, his friends kicked him out. And he was the main person of the show, but somehow they kicked him out. I don't know the logistics behind it. And he was left with nothing.

So he lost his business, he lost his podcast, and all of a sudden he had to start all over again. He quickly realized he wanted to start the Jordan Harbinger show. And so he used his network to become a big podcast again. He put out a message soliciting all his contacts to help him launch this new show. And then within two months, it was like the biggest podcast.

And it's like way surpassed Art of Charm, his previous podcast. And it was like the number one podcast on Apple 2018. So it just goes to show like how important your network is. Can you talk to us about your opinion in terms of pruning your network before you actually need them and maybe some strategies around that? I love that.

I love that a lot because I listened to Art of Charm. I know who that is. I was like, wait, oh my gosh, I listened to it all the time. Yeah, so when I was especially driving to corporate, so shout out to him. Well, yeah, strategy that I would say is yes. I totally agree with that because what happens is this, especially in the job search.

A position opens, let's just say Google APM program, which is the associate product manager role. It opens and then you start networking, right? That's what most people will do. When the position opens, then you start networking. You have to do it before because everybody else is going to do that. What's going to happen is this. Would you rather have a process where it's number one,

you've networked with someone, and their position is an open yet, you go on a call with them, you build rapport, and then when the position opens, you can literally go ask for a referral, or would you rather, for example, literally the position opens, you get on the call with them, you build rapport, and then you have to ask for a referral later on, and then the position closes. That's why it's important to build that relationship before, because what I say all the time is the best time to ask for a flow later on and then a position closes. That's why it's important to build that relationship before

because what I say all the time is the best time to look for a job is when you have a job and when you're not even looking. All right, so that's why it's important to maintain those relationships because you never know when you might need someone or might need help. That's why like how I last week,

I actually sent 500 messages to everybody that I've stayed in contact with for the past, I've been doing this for five years. I'm staying in contact with the same people. I literally send them an update every quarter about what I'm up to and people wonder why I do that. It's because it's that relationship building and they've all been on my speaker series.

Literally they all work at the big companies because I was wondering how to have to do you get all these companies. It's literally because of that. Relationships are important, they matter, and hopefully they matter to everybody listening in. I think that is such a key point right there. It's reaching out to your context

so that they don't actually become dead relationships when you need somebody, and let's say you lost your job. If you reach out to like an old manager from 10 years ago, you never kept in touch with. They're going to be like, I kind of remember you. I know you were good, but who knows what you've done in the past 10 years. Why are you reaching out to me? You haven't really checked up on me in 10 years, and you're not going to get anywhere.

That's why it's so important to write a list of every influential person that you want to keep in contact with and have some sort of cadence for you to reach out to them. That's what all the master networkers really do. And Jordan Harbinger has something similar too. Something that, in case you guys haven't listened to that episode, he talks about something called Connect4. And what Jordan does is every day, he goes into his text messages or WhatsApp.

And he scrolls down, scrolls down. And he just starts a conversation with like the last four people that he hasn't talked to you in a long time. Does anybody who's in his text or a group text or whatever it is? And that works for him and helps him kind of like keep everybody kind of fresh and up to date. So you guys might want to try that as well. I love that, that's smart.

Yeah, I mean, you've got amazing strategies and advice, so thank you. How about once we've made a connection with someone, Yeah, I mean, you've got amazing strategies and advice. So thank you. How about once we've made a connection with someone, somebody accepted our LinkedIn request, we used some of those common ground tactics that you were talking about before. What's some of the mistakes that they make off the bat?

What do you do once you get that connection? And what shouldn't you do? So a mistake that people make is they don't follow up. They think that you send a personalized invite and then they'll respond. Most people actually won't respond because they're super busy or they just click connect, connect, connect, connect or accept. So you have to follow up and you have to follow up like within the day, I think it's very

important. Just follow up saying, Hey, you know, thanks for adding me on LinkedIn. I appreciate it. And then go into your little pitch for your little story. That's very important because a lot of people like they said before don't follow up. Another part too as well is it's okay if people do not respond. I see this all the time.

I think what happens in nowadays is that people dwell on the individuals that don't respond versus the ones who do. Reach out to 100 people. If 99 don't respond, who cares? If one person does, that's what matters. Are you going to focus on the 99, 99 people who don't respond or the one person who does? That one person could make the difference in the world, especially in your career. So

that's what it all takes. It's at mindset piece, like I said before, right? You might get rejected from 99 companies, but you might get one offer. That's what matters. It doesn't matter about the 99. Same thing with messaging. You might say 99 message, might might get one offer. That's what matters. It doesn't matter about the 99. Same thing with messaging. You might say 99 message, you might only get one response. And if a person does not respond, you move on. It's that simple.

Don't dwell on it. dwell on the future instead. Here 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. 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 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 with 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 master class was the best it could be. And I was able to focus on my marketing. So Shopify really, really helped me make sure that my master class was going to be a success right off the bat and 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 recommend it. 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 shopfied.com.sash profiting. Again, go to shopfied.com.sashiting, all lowercase to take your business to the next level today. Again, that shopfide.com-profiting, shopfide.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. Kelly Roach is a best-selling author, a top-ranked podcast host, and an extremely talented marketer. She's the owner of Not One, but six 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 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 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 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, yaap fam. As you may know, I've been a full-time entrepreneur for three years now.

Yet 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. 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, 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. 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 app 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. 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 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-profiting. That's masterclass.com-profiting for 15% off an annual membership.

Masterclass.com-sash-profiting. I love that. Great strategies. Let's move on to personal branding, because I think that's something else that you're really an expert on. I saw that recently you posted that you were nominated for the Forbes 30 under 30. That is incredible. Congratulations. And I saw that you posted about it and you post about your wins quite often, but you do it in a way that it doesn't seem like it's bragging. Can you tell us about your formula in regards to showing progress and success stories, but without looking like you're bragging? How do you do it? Yes, of course. I love LinkedIn posts and LinkedIn content, because it's basically like, I just love the community and everybody who's a part of it.

So what I say all the time is when you're making posts, especially for like announcements or things like that, put some value into there of how you did it or just put a story where people could relate to. I think what happens is people just simply do this. I'm happy to announce that I got a job at Deloitte. Thank you everybody, that's it, right? But the thing is, you wanna give value to other people

of number one, how did you want to give value to other people of number one. How did you get to where you are now or how did you get to where you got that position? Because then you empower other people to do the same. This is why I stress people all the time. That's how you get more engagement on the post because if people see that, they're like, oh, wow, this person is very humble. This person gives back to the community and this person wants to help me get into the company too as well.

So that's one part of it specifically with personal branding. Number two, each of my posts actually have a back story or strategy behind it. People think that they know the strategy, but in fact, sometimes they don't, but I'll give you an example, right? Grace Hopper. So Grace Hopper celebration, the post was in regards to what I would do if I was a Grace Hopper. Obviously, I'm not having been there. I'm not, I don't identify as a woman, but what happened was the reason why I posted this was, number one, Grace Hopper was happening the next week.

Number two, what I did was I found everybody who was a part of Grace Hopper. They saw my post, number three, I got reached out to by Grace Hopper to speak next year Right, so those are the three things that I did and I just tagged them in it And then when I did was number four I did a prep session the next week because I found all the people number two That right, attending Grace Hopper that were professionals and recruiters I brought them on to this on to LinkedIn and then did a prep session and then was even crazier is number five I didn't know this was gonna happen.

The career fair got canceled at Grace Hopper. So what I did was literally partnered with Glimps and Y Combinator to do a career fair. The next day, after they said it was canceled. So then you have all those things I have all the people from Grace Hopper, I have the speakers and professionals of students, and then now I have the career fair.

That's how I grew all the following because the way that people were able to view the career fair, they had to follow on soul team. Right, so that's exactly how. That's amazing. That's exactly how I did it. That's the kind of the backend strategy of everything, because I try to think, I don't care,

like engagement school, but like the thing is, like if it's able to get to that goal that I set to it, that's what matters. Yeah, that's so smart. You are such a smart creative guy, seriously. Let's talk about your speaking gigs. We've mentioned previously you've had like almost or over 100 speaking engagements.

You spoke at Google, LinkedIn, Cisco, Lyft, Samsung, Microsoft, TEDx. These are huge. I want to get into speaking myself. I've done a few things. I'm going to be at Propelify, Tech Innovation Festival. And so that's cool. Definitely not anywhere close to you yet.

So tell us, how did you get into speaking and how did you learn how to speak really well? Because you have a great stage presence. You do really great talks. What was your process like in terms of being a speaker? Yeah, first thought everybody who's listening in, Hall is gonna be on one of our one-soulting speaker series. So you all better follow one-soulting and check her out

because she's gonna kill it. So I'm just saying that. Number two, so how I got into speaking was I accidentally got into it when I was a senior in college. Basically, I was doing a lot of, I mean, just helping a lot of people and one of the organizations that I was a part of was like, hey, do you want to come to be on LinkedIn? And that's when I spoke. There's only 10 people. It's totally fine, right? But the thing is, it's crazy how a 95 95% actually 99% of my speaking engagements

I don't reach out for literally they usually reach out to me and I think that's a good and a bad thing because like I should be like That's why I hired like kind of a program manager to to kind of do some reach outs and some partnerships But most of them are reaching out to me just to LinkedIn So LinkedIn has helped a tremendous amount not only only for getting my jobs, but all my speaking engagements. Like the ones I told you for LinkedIn, TEDx, all those were through LinkedIn. But basically, just to tie back how you get into speaking engagements is number one, just talk about the speaking

engagements that you've done on LinkedIn and post about it, and then go tag the people who were specifically inviting you, because what happens is they usually know other people who would invite you to as well. So they'd bring you on. So that's one part. Number two, participate in speaker series on virtual virtually. That's why for example, like Hala, I guarantee you that you will get hit up a lot after being on our speaker series by a lot of people asking you to speak. The reason being is it happens all the time to every one of my speakers and that's why I tell the speaker like, be prepared because you're going to have hundreds of people

add you but then you also get invites to speak at other places. So that's number two. So speaking at some large events, number three, honestly utilizing your background, utilizing your story. If you have a relatable story which we do, that's very important. Another part is you have the credibility. For example, in Baha'u, you work at Disney and HP. I worked at Google, Cisco, and Snap. We have the credibility of, okay, these people have been able to build their own companies,

and they've been able to work at these top corporate companies. Same for people who are trying to get speaking engagements. Your credibility matters, and you can build credibility if you don't work at a company, just build your own credibility by speaking for free at different places. So yeah, that's what I would say about how you get to speak engagements, how I got better at them is being very engaging with the audience. I always ask questions. While I lengthen live, my first question is always, where is everybody tuning in from? First question, every single time. Another thing is getting them involved. So why I ask that question is because then I'll shout them out.

I'll be like, all right, oh, I see Jonathan from New York. I see Marcus from New Jersey, whatever, right? Because then they feel valued and they feel like, oh, wow, I'm getting listened to or I'm actually on the screen. So that is a part that I gain the confidence. And number two, the first impressions, the icebreaker. I was trying to put an icebreaker in the beginning or just making a statement just being like, Hey, all has everybody doing it and get everybody else comfortable because if you get the room comfortable, it ultimately

translates back to you. So I think that's very important. But yeah, I mean, my experience, I spoke in in Jordan. I flew out to Jordan. I was one of the youngest speakers there. High God, that was from LinkedIn. I was super nervous. But then I realized that I don't get nervous anymore. Because I realized that the words that you say, it's impactful. All about mindset.

Are you thinking, oh my gosh, what do these people think? You have me in a negative way? Or are you thinking, how am I going to impact all the hundreds of people that are going to be here today? That's how you do it. Yeah. Well, you read my mind. Literally, my next question was, I love the way

you start off your LinkedIn lives. What are your tips to get an engaged crowd? So to your point, you ask them where their location is so that they can engage, start typing, and then you can shout them out, make them feel involved. You also ask them for their energy levels, what's your energy level, one to 10.

And if they say two, you'll say, you got to work on that. And that's so important because it's like you feed off the energy of the crowd. And it's a really smart tactic that you do. For me, I haven't done like, you know, so many speaking engagements on stage, but I keep getting invited to other podcasts. So that's helping me practice.

It's just telling my story over and over again on other podcasts. But yeah, I would love to, like, did you take any courses in terms of speaking or did you always just have a good presence and ability to speak without saying like ums and us and kind of doing it as good as you do it today. Like did you take classes or courses for that? I took none. No courses at all. I've literally just been I just practiced myself and I think it also comes from doing a lot of

workshops but then also just knowing the content extremely well now. So now I just kind of flows really well and I feel like that ultimately translates because I still remember when I was in college and different things, I try to wing things. And that's when I got nervous because I didn't know anything about the content. When people ask me questions, I'd be like, oh crap, I don't know how to answer it. But if you know the content really well

and you know you're passionate about it and you can feel that passion, that's what stands out especially when you're speaking. Because then people are like, oh, this person knows what they're talking about. So yeah, I'd say I never took a class, but if you all are interested in learning more about public speaking, honestly just hit me up and let me know. Thank you. That's very generous of you. Okay, so last question before we close this out. I heard about your most popular LinkedIn post. It got almost 45,000 likes or something

like that. Tell us about that post and why you think it went so viral. Yeah, I think it went viral because, and the post was about my career journey basically from getting rejected and then getting to the corporate companies, but yeah, I think it went viral. It was number one is very relatable to a lot of people. So I think that's what really triggered it because people are like, oh, wow, like, if this guy can do it, I can't do. Number two, Jeff Weiner actually shared it, which was a CEO of LinkedIn.

He actually shared it. He shared the, it's kind of funny. Someone shared it and then he shared the share of that other person. So it was kind of, it was interesting. And it's still went crazy. Right, so went crazy. So I was like, that's why I was like, what the heck? Why are there so many people liking it? I was very confused. But yeah, I think that's another reason. Number three,

I respond to all the comments. All of the comments, like literally each one, I don't know, how the heck I did this is about 2000 comments almost responded each one. The reason why I did that was because then I knew that the thousand people who commented on it would feel that their voice is going to be heard. That's why I respond to every comment because if someone takes 30 seconds to comment on your post, take 10 seconds to do so. Whether it's you, whether it's you have someone else to it, I don't know. Right? So that's why I think another part of it. And that's actually the post that got me super popular at Cisco, because people were like, yo, you're the guy who just started Cisco, right?

Whenever I went to work, they're like, yeah, yeah, I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So all the senior leaders kind of knew me at Cisco and stuff, so it was pretty cool. That is cool. Cool. Well, the question that I asked all my guests that come on the show is, what is your secret

to profiting in life? All about the people you hang out with and associate with. I think that's very important because they reflect who you are, but then they also impact and influence how you react to things. Look at your five closest friends, look at the five closest people you associate with and think to yourself, are these people that ultimately reflect who I am? Think about those words because if they are,

then that's amazing. If not, then go find people who also motivate you to be even better than you are today. I think that's what happened, especially early on in my career when I was a student like a freshman. I didn't have the biggest influences, but then when I got on later on, I hung out with people who were more successful than me,

which then inclined me to be successful and strive for success as well. So that's how I recommend to everybody. Last but not least, what I say, my favorite quote, if you never ask, you never know. And if you never ask, the answer is always no. So always remember to just ask, and the worst thing that can happen is they say no, or they don't say anything at all. That's some great points, right? There are lots of gems from you today, Jonathan. Thank you so much. And where can our listeners go to learn more about you and everything that you do?

Of course. So yeah, if y'all are interested, you can find me on LinkedIn, Jonathan Havier. We have our website, wantselting.com with all our different services. We actually just released a course, which is basically how to get into your dream career. And we go through the whole entire cycle in regards to how to do it.

So that was awesome. We just released it yesterday. You can email us at helloatwansulting.com. You can find us on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, all those different ones. So yeah, that's what I have to say. Awesome. Thank you so much. Of course, thank you so much.

Thanks for listening to Young and Profiting podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review on Apple podcasts or comments on YouTube, SoundCloud, or your favorite platform. Reviews make all the hard work worth it. They're the ultimate thank you to me and the YAP team. The other way to support us is by word of mouth. Share this podcast with a friend or family member who may find it valuable. Follow YAP on Instagram at Young &

Profiting and check us out at Young & Profiting.com. You can find me on Instagram at YAP with Hala or LinkedIn. Just search for my name, Hala Ta Ha. Until next time, this is Hala, signing off. Are you looking for ways to be happier, healthier, more productive and more creative? I'm Gretchen Ruben, 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 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 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 Rubin.