Digital Social Hour - Unlock Middle East Market Potential: Maha’s Insights | Maha Abouelenein DSH #772

Episode Date: October 1, 2024

Unlock the Middle East Market Potential with Maha’s Insights! 🚀 Join Sean Kelly on the Digital Social Hour Podcast as he sits down with Maha Abouelenein, a trailblazer in digital marketing and communications. With a career spanning Google, Netflix, and VaynerMedia, Maha shares her incredible journey and the massive opportunities in the Middle East market. From Dubai’s tech-forward vision to Egypt’s vast consumer base, discover how global giants like Google and Netflix are harnessing the Middle East's potential. Tune in now for a conversation packed with valuable insights on personal branding, the power of authenticity, and the art of networking. 🌍📈 Don’t miss out on Maha’s secrets to building a thriving career across continents. Watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets. 📺 Hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more eye-opening stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 🚀 Join the conversation and explore how you can leverage these insights to grow your brand and business. 💡 Don’t miss this exciting episode available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. #digitalmarketinginuk #youngentrepreneursforum #emailmarketing #marketing101 #socialmediamarketing #marketingstrategies #marketing101 #youngentrepreneursforum #middleeastmarket #digitalmarketing CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 00:48 - How Maha Met Gary Vee 04:02 - Working for Google and Netflix 06:47 - Speaking Engagements and Topics 10:05 - Personal Branding Strategies 12:27 - Effective Storytelling Techniques 13:39 - Public Speaking Tips 15:35 - Insights from Jim Kwik 16:19 - Lessons from Deepak Chopra 18:56 - Business Opportunities in Dubai 24:14 - Writing Your Book 25:47 - Networking Strategies 27:25 - Lifelong Learning Importance 28:05 - Emphasizing Self-Reliance 28:48 - Book Release Information 32:16 - Finding Mahogany Online APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail] GUEST: Maha Abouelenein https://www.instagram.com/mahagaber https://www.mahaabouelenein.com/ https://digitalandsavvy.com/ www.youtube.com/@digitalandsavvy SPONSORS: Deposyt Payment Processing: https://www.deposyt.com/seankelly LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I mean, you're just glossing right over these, but these are like fortune 10 companies. Yeah, I mean, I joined Google the day the revolution broke out in Egypt, the Arab Spring broke out in Egypt. So I kind of had to do a lot of crisis management from day one. Netflix was only available in the US and one day they turned it on in 130 countries. The Middle East market was big region for them. Helping these companies understand the importance of the Middle East market. All right, guys, we got Maha here, founder and CEO of Digital and Savvy. Thanks for coming on today. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. I know it was a last minute thing and you came from VCon.

It was, yeah, I just flew in this morning from LA and I'm going right back right after this. And this is the third one now, right? Yes, this is the third one. The first one's in Minneapolis, which you went to. The second one's in Indy. And LA is taking off and starting this afternoon. Let's go. You've been working with Gary for a while now, right? In December, it'll be eight years. Dang, that's impressive. Congrats on that. Thank you. How did that come about?

Actually, it's so funny. I had never heard of Gary Vaynerchuk. And I was in a bookstore in Minnesota over the summer in 2015, 2016, and decided I wanted to read a book. And so my friend's like, you should read Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk. And I hadn't heard of him. So I bought the book, started following Gary. And then it took off from there. I was like, started following his content, became very interested in what he talked about. And I thought, wow, what he does at VaynerMedia would be great if we can open VaynerMedia offices in the Middle East.

At the time, I was living in Dubai. and I thought maybe Gary wants to come and conquer the Middle East market. So I should try to get to him and tell him, hey, this is something I do. I live in the region. I'm American. I'm Egyptian. I can help you. But I didn't know how to get to him and I didn't know how to get to anyone in his team. And then several months later, somebody who works with Gary was a videographer. His name is Matt Ligotti. And he was covering or filming for one of Gary's clients, Cy Wakeman. And she wanted to go to Egypt. So I helped her go to Egypt, met her. And I said, can you guys introduce me to someone on Gary's team? Met somebody on Gary's team several months later, and then went to meet

Gary and told him, listen, these are the things that the Middle East can offer. Are you willing to listen? Do you want to learn about the Middle East? And Gary's like, yeah, I would love to learn more and get to know you. So for like a year, more than a year, I just spent time building a relationship, learning about his business, trying to create value for him. And then I got him to come to Dubai. I said, if you can just come to Dubai, I can show you what it's all about. Seeing is believing. It's one thing to talk about a place, but you have to see it to understand it. So he came. We had an incredible trip. He did a seven-hour vlog about it on YouTube.

Wow. Yeah, talking about his first trip to the Middle East, his first trip to Dubai, so you can go on YouTube and see the entire trip of what we did. He spoke to like 4,000 entrepreneurs, went to Facebook, talked to a bunch of CMOs, was on billboards, cover of Entrepreneur Magazine. Like he was a rock star. People were very excited about Gary. He has a huge following and an audience there. His podcast is very popular in the Middle East. So we took it from there and now we're working together. That's brilliant. Yeah. Ever since. Seems like Middle East has taken off lately. Dubai,

Egypt. Yeah. I mean, it's a city of the future. I mean, Dubai is incredible city. They are making it easy for entrepreneurs to go to start up businesses there, to work there, remote working policies. Saudi is, as you can see, is crushing it when it comes to sports and entertainment. And they are really pushing the boundaries on what they can do to bring tourists into town. So I feel like a lot of people are excited about what's happening in Saudi as well. And then Egypt, I heard you're going to Egypt. 110 million consumers. It's hard to ignore a market like Egypt. And the mystery and magic of Egypt is always going to be something so special. Oh, yeah. Were you born there? I'm born in Minnesota, actually, but I'm 100% Egyptian. Let's go. Yeah.

You're the first Egyptian I met. Really? Yeah. Okay, good. Well, I'm excited you're going to be going there. Yeah, I'm really excited. Yeah, they're rare out here. Yeah, I tell you, Egypt is beautiful. It's really affordable now with the dollar. So you can go value for money, have an incredible experience. And I'm really, really a big promoter of people going there and checking it out. It's a once in a lifetime trip and you got to see the pyramids. I love it. Yeah. You also have some big clients and big companies you used to work for, right? Yeah, so I was born and raised in Minnesota. I lived and worked here until I was 27 in the US.

I worked at General Mills. I did a lot of sports marketing for them, NASCAR, Super Bowl, Wheaties, all the kind of fun things, working for really cool brands. And then I moved to the Middle East and I ended up working, I was the head of communications and public policy at Google. I launched Netflix in the Middle East. I worked for the ruler of Dubai in the Middle East. I worked, I built Weber Shanwick. It's a global PR firm. I built 19 offices for them across the Middle East. So I spent my time helping U.S. companies enter the Middle East market and then helping companies in the Middle East that really wanted to kind of understand U.S. market, where the business opportunities were, and sort of used being both nationalities to my advantage. That's so smart because these are huge companies you're naming.

I mean, you're just glossing right over these, but these are like Fortune 10 companies. Yeah, I mean, I joined Google the day the revolution broke out in Egypt. The Arab Spring broke out in Egypt. So I kind of had to do a lot of crisis management from day one. Netflix was only available in the U.S. And one day they turned it on in 130 countries. The Middle East market was a big region for them. And it was an extraordinary time because content, storytelling, helping these companies understand the importance of the Middle East market. YouTube was the largest consumption per capita in the world out of Saudi. Kick off an exciting football season with BetMGM,

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The people have two mobile phones in the Middle East. Everyone walks around with two phones. It's common. So consumption is huge. It's very common for people in Saudi to have, like every person have like 100 to 200,000 followers. Whoa, that's common? It's very common.

Like that's, for the US, that would be like you have a lot of followers, but that's common in the Middle East. So mobile consumption is through the roof in the region. So digital marketing, social media, consuming content, videos, YouTube, all of that plays really, really strongly in the Middle East. Interesting. So why do they have two phones? I think it's status symbol, one thing.

And I think, too, they love the technology. Everybody wants to have the latest phone. Everybody wants to have the latest technology. So you probably see when you go to dinner people will put out their phones and it's just part of the culture that people have yeah a little flex yeah that's hilarious people do that here yeah it's fun yeah it's always a conversation to start out here I think too they they also like to have one for personal one for like one for work so they they split it up like yeah. You mentioned riots earlier. What was that about?

Oh, the Arabic Spring. So I think you probably saw that happened in the Middle East. It was like in 2011. I don't remember that. There were some protests in the Middle East. And I think people were like, you know, catalysts for freedom and for change. And it was actually ended up creating a lot of entrepreneurs. And people got really a sense of freedom for what they can do with the internet. It was really great. Interesting. So what's the biggest thing

you speak about on stage? I know you do a lot of public speaking. Yeah. I mean, yesterday I was talking about the importance of building your personal brand. So people don't, people think of personal branding as if like, I want to be a social media influencer. And what I'm trying to get people to think about is your personal brand is your reputation. It is your name. It's the most important thing you need to focus on. So you need to be intentional. What's my reputation? Don't let other people define it for you.

You should define it. How do I want to be seen in the world? And you need to invest in your personal brand, not because you want to get followers or you want to sell them products, but because it's good for building relationships. It's good for acquiring talent if you want to hire people. You know, building your personal brand or your relationship can bring you business opportunities. If you work at a company and you want to get a promotion, how are you showing up? How do you articulate who you are, what you stand for? So I spent a lot of time working with CEOs and clients, you know, helping them build their personal brands, either through thought leadership. You know, it's not about self-promotion. I like people

to think about it as idea promotion. Like, what are your ideas and how do you want to share those with the world? And it's not just about what you do on social media. Sean, it's more important how you treat people in real life. What relationships do you have? How do you value your suppliers, your vendors, your employees, your teams? What kind of culture are you building? So I love to talk a lot about the importance of thinking about your reputation and especially in a digital age right now where we live and work, where everything's in real time and cancel culture exists. So think about it. Like how much time do you spend during the week thinking about your reputation? Yeah. You got to think about it, right?

You have to think about it and you have to build it and grow it. Right. And do things that is worth getting accolades or worth getting, you know, attention from others because you're doing good work that matters. You're really working with intention. I mean, you got a big award for your podcast and that's good for your reputation. And people know you're a strong podcast. You have good listeners. People love the content.

You do good storytelling. All of that is intentional. Yeah, it's helped a lot already, to be honest. I've gotten some good guests from it. I mean, it's your brand, right? It's your business. Yeah. Yeah, one of the most commonly asked questions I get, and I'm sure you get asked this every

day, is how do I get more followers and views? And I think that's the wrong way of thinking about things. 100%. It has to be about giving value to your audience. So what are you doing to give value to your audience so that they continue to follow you or share your content or DM it to somebody on a reel or a post that you did? Like that's the value. If you are giving value to your audience, the content, your followers will come. Yeah. Everybody has an audience. They just haven't found it yet. Agreed. And I picked this up from Lex Friedman, actually one of the best shows in the world. Uh, he hides his views and likes on YouTube. So he doesn't even know how many views

he's getting. Really? Yeah. He just, he values the content is the King. The value is what you give the audience. Exactly. Yeah. So I thought that was crazy cause I used to obsess over views and likes a lot of teenagers and millennials do that. that um but yeah that's toxic because then you get in your own head if a post doesn't perform well you know yeah and you shouldn't be intoxicated by that because the views and likes can come and go because the algorithms change and viewer have habits change but if you're connecting with your audience and knowing what they want and giving them value i think you're going to be fine. Yeah. Well, personal branding. I'm glad you talked about that because it's changed my life. How? It's just been the best investment I've made because

now I could get almost any podcast guest I want because I've invested so much in my personal brand. It's so important. My reputation. John, it's so important. Like it's the one thing I want people to obsess about because we live in a world, look at the creator economy, where that's going, where that's going, where that's growing. It's going to be like a $520 billion industry, right? Wow. Yeah, it's huge. It's massive. That means anybody has the ability to create content, to build stories, to build a business, even if they don't want it to be their main job as a side hustle. You're learning new skills, like you're learning how to connect with

audiences, tell stories, build a connection with somebody else. That's valuable. And I just feel like everyone can take advantage of building up their own skills and investing in themselves. Absolutely. Look at Jake Paul. I mean, he just launched a nine figure company in 60 days. Because he had a strong personal brand. Right. And he built a business off the back of it. Same with his brother. Yes. Billion dollar company in a year or two. Because they invested in personal brand. Right. And he built a business off the back of it. Same with his brother. Yes.

Billion dollar company in a year or two. Because they invested in their name. Right. Everybody has a brand. Everyone has a name. So if you're an entrepreneur or an employee, you have the capacity to build something purposeful, intentional, and big around your name. Yeah.

If the product aligns, that's the key. 100%. Because I've seen people promote stuff they don't care about, and it flops. Yeah, well, the number one thing in building your personal brand is being authentic. Like, you have to be you. You can't fake it till you make it. Because that gets old, and you can't keep it up. And people will see right through that in a heartbeat.

100%. These days, for sure. Transparency. Like, we see it. Like, if we see something that doesn't feel right, or that they're posting something, or that they're talking about something that doesn't really seem authentic to their values, we see that in a minute. And that's the beauty of the internet. Like authenticity wins. Getting value for other people really wins. Yeah. You could hide it for a bit, maybe on a podcast, but when you're out in the real world, people talk. No. And you have choice. I can just switch the channel and listen to something else or watch something else or download something else, right?

There's such an abundance right now in the market that I can go listen to somebody else's podcast. I don't have to stay there if I feel like they're not being true to who they are. People follow people. They don't follow companies. So they want to connect with the person, the storyteller. They like your style. They like who you are. They like your ability to connect with somebody, a guest on your show.

That's why they listen to you. Absolutely. How did you develop your storytelling skills? That's something I'm working on this year, actually. So a couple of things. One is be a good consumer. Like, consume content. Like, be a consumer.

Like, I feel I've grown because I'm investing in being curious and investing in learning new things. So exposing myself to different content, exposing myself to different people, and then thinking, huh, how did that story, what would made that story resonate with me? Because it was simple, because it was emotional, because it was funny, because it had somebody in the element of the story. So think about your storytelling style. How can you make it simple for people? That's what breaks through. People overthink. I was actually emailing my team about something today and they're like, oh, we're going to redo this whole newsletter thing. I'm like, guys, you're overthinking it. Just do good storytelling. Think about what you put yourself in the shoes of the audience. What would you want to see or hear? And then that's the aha moment that flipped the switch for them.

They're like, okay, yeah, we're overthinking it. Yeah. What's a good story? Like if you open a newsletter and it's all text, you're probably going to like, eh, pass it. I just have like an image or something that's going to tell a story that helps guide the reader and makes it exciting for them. Yeah. I'm really excited to work on it and master it in public speaking. That's the next stage for me because I got a really crazy story. Really? But I just talk too fast. So when I'm on stage, like when I did the award speech, I had nothing prepared and I just talked too fast. I looked back at it and I was really disappointed, but I think it's important to know how to story tell. But that's self-awareness, right? So like now you know, and you're going to think about investing in how to do good public speaking. So I used to actually be a really fast talker when I

get on stage because I get nervous right so you get my legs are shaking yeah you get nervous you get more anxious so you start picking up the speed and so I trained myself through breathing to slow down and talk as if I'm in slow motion in my head it sounds like slow motion but when I'm talking on the stage it's actually not but you have to kind of force yourself to like pull back the throttle because you you when you it's just natural when you get on stage the lights people you get anxious what if I say something wrong everybody's staring at me how to do it and actually I do a lot of training with executives on how to do

public speaking so we should talk. Yeah, definitely should talk. And I'll help you. It's actually, it gives you confidence. For sure. If you get confidence to speak in public, you can conquer a lot of things. Oh yeah. A lot of things.

It's actually, I think it might be the most feared thing in the world. It is the most feared thing in the world. Number one, right? Yeah, and it's the number one thing, like Warren Buffett always says, like the number one skill you need to master on the planet is how to speak in public.

Because it's about articulating your ideas or sharing how you think about something. And if you want to convince somebody to hire you or convince somebody to give you money or convince somebody to be a client, you got to know how to talk to them. Right. Public speaking has opened a lot of doors for you, I'm sure. Yeah. And I enjoy it. I really enjoy being able to connect with one to many.

So normally it was like clients that have to being able to connect with one to many. So like normally it was like clients that have to hire me to work with me. And so now what I'm doing, I'm trying to do more public speaking so I can talk one to many, scale my ideas, teach more people, all the things that I taught Google and Netflix and tricks from things I do with Gary and Jim Quick and some projects I've been doing for Deepak Chopra. So trying to like take from the playbooks and learnings and scale that to many people. Yeah, Jim's incredible speaker. Did you train him?

Yeah, Jim Quick's amazing. Yeah, we've been working for him for more than a year now. Nice. Jim's awesome. Yeah, he's great. His story is nuts. Yeah, he had like a brain aneurysm and I'm told he had a broken brain.

Forever, they told him that. And he seems like one of the smartest guys in the world now. Wait, I don't think he had a brain injury. He had something. He had a traumatic brain injury. Yeah, traumatic brain injury. Yeah, but a really bad one. Like they said he would never be the same.

And now he's a memory coach. Now he's the brain coach and can learn thousands of pieces of volume and teaching people how to speed read a book in minutes. Yeah, nuts. How'd you get involved with Deepak? Because it's one of the greats right there. Yeah, so Deepak Chopra, I know his business manager. And he was a friend of mine and said, we were talking about something.

I think Deepak was going to be going to the Middle East or something. So I said, let's have a call. And I just basically volunteered. I wasn't going to be in Dubai at the same time he was. And so I did one of my rules of my new book, which is add value. Try to add value to somebody. Without asking for anything, without looking for something. How do you add value to somebody? So I said, well, he's going to be in Dubai at the same time I am. Maybe I can arrange something. If you give me a couple hours of his

day on that trip, I'll connect him to somebody. I lived there forever. So I have a lot of relationships in Dubai. So let me see what I can do. And I had no idea what I was going to do. I didn't know what I was actually going to deliver for him, but I just put that out there into the universe. Does he have a few hours to give me? And then I was going to go and rely on myself to figure out something extraordinary to do for him. And I did.

I found an incredible opportunity. The Museum of the Future was going to be opening. It wasn't open yet. It is the most iconic building. It's called the most beautiful building in the world. And I knew the people that were organizing it, if they could open it, if they can give them a tour and get a meeting with the minister. And so we did, we spent a couple hours together and it was great. And then I didn't really talk to him after that. And then several years later, weeks later,

Deepak reached out and said, I have something I'm working on. Maybe you guys can work on it with us. And then we started doing some projects together, but you start with giving value to somebody first, showing good intentions first. And then you make a deposit in someone's trust bank. If something good comes out of it, great. If it doesn't, you gained from that experience. And I had an extraordinary time with him. Right. Yeah. Adding value is how I've been able to grow the show. So after a guest comes on, I personally text him. I say, uh, look through who follows me on Instagram, look through who's been on the show. And if you want any introductions, let me know.

I love that. Yeah, I don't expect anything in return. But because I do that, some guests will then send their friends on the show. And that's how I've been able to grow. Sean, it's a playbook that I really think is important in business. Like people always want a transaction. Like I'll do this for you if you do this for me. That's not how people work anymore.

Build value with others. Build value with others. Build value with others. And that will come back to you. And it works. It's how I built my career of 30 years. And it's how you're building your business and your brand. So by trying to be valuable to other people, you're becoming valuable yourself because then you have built these networks. You've built these relationships.

You've made deposits in other people's trust banks, you've done good for other people. So you have multiple people that you've done good things for. So someday if you need a relationship or a network, that's how people do business today. And that's the future for tomorrow. Absolutely. So what kind of businesses is Dubai looking for?

What type of industries? I mean, everything, I would say, is moving there. Real estate is, is crushing there right now. Dubai has the largest per capita of trillionaires and millionaires in the world. Trillionaires? Yeah.

There's a trillionaire in the world? There's trillionaires. Holy crap. Yeah. They're the highest city. They're the biggest, they're the city in the world that has the highest per capita number of trillionaires in the world.

Wow. Actually, I think there's a word for it. It's like, it's like, I don't know, something hundred trillion. It's like, I don't know, something hundred, it's like, I don't know. Centi. Yeah, that thing. Centi-billionaire or something?

Yeah, because centi-millionaire is 100 million, and then centi-billionaire would be 100 billion, I guess. And then there's trillion. I mean, they have them. Whoever they are, they're in Dubai. Oil money, right? Yeah. I don't think it's oil money.

It could be oil money, crypto money. I think it's just investors who have been building businesses over time. So I think a lot of real estate market is very strong. Tech market's very strong. FinTech market is very strong. Retail market is very strong. Really? Yeah. So I feel like, and they're always growing and expanding, right? This is one of the very few economic blocks in the world where the GDP is growing year over year. Well, if you think about Europe, Europe's on the decline. China's a closed market. We can't do business there.

Which region in the world is growing? Dubai. So they might surpass us one day. Well, they're small. They're like 7, 10 million people. They're not going to surpass the United States, but they think technology first. They've had a minister of AI for more than 10 or 15 years, like when it was unheard of. That's cool. They had a person in charge of the government who was the minister of AI. And everyone thought, why do we need that? That's like 20 years, 30 years from

now. And they're like, exactly. We're going to be first. We're going to invest in it now. They have a minister of youth. She's 22 years old because they want to know what do young people care about? What do young people want? How do we build a city that people who are that generation care about? So it's things like that that make people wake up and go, wow, Dubai gets it. I love that because there's no really voice for the millennials in the U.S. in terms of politics. Well, I think they want to have that younger generation either love government and politics or get involved, but also how do you cater to them? What kind of things do they want us to do for citizen services? How do we make sure that they're happy? How do we make

sure that they stay? Because they have the capacity to travel and live anywhere in the world, right? Right. Speaking of stay, 0% tax will make me stay. 0% tax dubai is tax-free yeah that's a major that's a major major benefit 40 here so when i worked at google so if you work at google in the u.s you pay taxes or in the uk but if you work in google in the dubai office you don't pay taxes everybody wanted that assignment to be so your salary all of your salary is yours that's crazy so you're basically making double what you would make here. Yeah, it was incredible. Plus, they give you a housing allowance, and they give you a transportation allowance,

and they give you a school allowance. So getting the coveted assignment of working in Dubai is really incredible. Yeah, that's awesome. But you're in Minnesota now? I moved back to Minnesota during the pandemic, so it was 2020. Actually, I'd been in the U.S. I had been in the U.S. I had been in the U.S. for like four to six weeks for business. I was here for the Super Bowl, the Grammys, the NBA All-Star Game. I

had back-to-back events. So instead of going back and forth to Dubai, where I lived, I stayed in the U.S. and just went in base camp for my sister in Minnesota. I got back to Dubai and it was March 7th. And I was like, huh, they're talking about this thing called the coronavirus. This doesn't look very good. What if they close the airports? What if they shut things down? And my sister's like, that's not going to happen. I'm like, well, I don't know.

It doesn't look good. Very long story short, I decided after living overseas for 23 years, in 24 hours, I was going to leave. Wow. And it was just, I was on turbo mode. I don't know how I did it, but I like sold my car, packed up my apartment, got my vet papers for my dog to get out of the country, said goodbye to my friends. I was like on a mission. I was like, I was going to get out before the airport closed because I had heard they were going to close it on Tuesday. And it was Sunday. Wow. So I had to be at the airport Monday night with all of my stuff.

So I did, I don't know how I did it. I talked about the story in my book. It's crazy story. You won't believe it. And then I got back to Minnesota and I've been living here ever since. So I opened an office. I still have an office in Dubai. I have an office in Minneapolis. I have, um, a remote team. We work all remote and I love it. I'm so glad to be back. I go to the region every month. I'm there. I'm actually in Los Angeles going to Egypt, Dubai, and Saudi over the next couple of weeks. But yeah, I mean, I love going there. I still have a business there. I have relationships. I spent 23 years building my name there. And now I want to use my relationships to bring value to other people and teach them about the market and the region. And I'd love to get you over there.

Yeah, I can't wait. I'm excited. We definitely got to take you over. I definitely want to film out there. There's some people out there that I want to get on. Yeah, we'll make it happen. That's incredible. It took me a month to move within my own city.

So you moved out in a day. That's props to you. That's impressive. I think when your back is up against the wall and you just kind of, it was a very easy decision for me. I was like, am I ever going to see my family again? What if I have that chance? If I don't, cause we don't know, we didn't know what we were doing during the pandemic. It was a very easy decision. Then it was like, okay, I just got to execute. I just got to like push myself through this. Yeah. Talk to me about the book. When did that come out? The book comes out October 8th. It's not out yet. It, um, it's called

the seven rules of self-reliance and it's a, it's a And it says how to stay low, keep moving, invest in yourself, and own your future. And the reason I wrote this book, I've been wanting to write a book for a long time, is it's not about what I did in communications and storytelling, working for some of the most powerful people and companies in the world. It's how I did it. It's how do you rely on yourself? What kind of skills do you need? What tools do you need? This is the playbook on how I did it. How do I walk into a room at a Super Bowl party and walk out with all the contacts? How do I get to network with some of the most powerful people in the world? That's what's in this book. That's what I teach people.

So the seven rules, one of them is be a value creator. So create value for people. How do you actually do that? What's the actual steps? If I want to take that into my practice and my business and my life, my personal or my professional relationship, how do I create value for other people? How did I create value for Gary? How do I create value for Deepak? How do I create value for Google? How do I create value for my sister? So it's those, that's one of the rules. There's a whole chapter in here on how to build your personal brand, the real playbook with details. It's actually the biggest chapter in the book.

And I talk about treating your reputation like a currency. What's its worth? What's its value? How do you increase it? When you think of your reputation in terms of currency, it's a different mindset and a different equation. How can you really invest in your reputation? One of the other rules in the book is to be a long-term player. So often we are real time. We want transactions. We want to tap to pay and go. We want to get the

whole season now. We don't want to wait three seconds for a video, but I want you to think about being a long-term player. What does that mean? How do you build relationships? How do you network? How do you build a network of people? I want you to have a very strong network, Sean, so you can text or call anybody at any time if you ever need anything. How do you DM? How do you master the networking on DM? How do you network one-to-one versus one-to-many? So we're going to meet today. And after we leave this conversation, we're going to post about it, we're going to talk about it, we're going to dab each other up.

But let's say you want to be a part of my network, and you want to meet people that I work with, and I really loved our conversation, so I want to help you build your network with other people that might benefit from you. How can I be a super connector? That's the real work. That's the power of many. Like

right now, relationships are gold. It's how you get guests on your podcasts. It's how people trust you. It's how people understand what your personal brand is about, is they see who else have you talked to? Who else have you been with? What relationships do you have? That's important. It is. And so there's a whole chapter in the book about how to network and how I do it and kind of the skills. And then even if you're an introvert, it's daunting to network if you're an introvert. You don't want to go into a room of people you don't know. So what are the tricks?

What are some things I can say to people to kind of get the pressure off me and onto them? So it's real practical advice as well. Another rule in the book talks about being a lifelong learner. The only way you're going to be strong in this world is if you know stuff. What are you doing? How curious are you? What are you doing to invest in yourself to learn things? And it can be anything. Learn pickleball, learn tennis, learn a new language, learn how to create a podcast, learn how to edit a video, anything. But you've got to be investing in yourself. A lot of people are waiting for other people to give them that project that's going to make them a rock star or train them. You need to own up for yourself and invest in yourself. And that's why I talk about invest in yourself and owning your future. So those are the rules.

I think the concept of self-reliance is something that nobody talks about because people think self-reliance is about being independent and not needing other people and working alone. And I'm saying it's the opposite. It's how to be a weapon. It's how to be powerful. It's how to be confident.

It's how to be empowered. And I feel like those who know how to be confident. It's how to be, you know, empowered. And I feel like those who know how to rely on themselves win. And those who know how to rely on themselves feel no pressure. The pressure is off because they're not waiting for permission from others. They're not waiting for the judgment of others. And I just want people to learn like, what does self-reliance really mean to me? And what are some things I can do to rely on myself I love all of these holy crap I can't wait to read that is it gonna be on audible it's on audible I recorded it myself nice yeah yeah I'm an audiobook kind of yeah it's on audible there's an ebook and also it's coming out October 8th you can buy it Amazon Target Walmart Barnes & Noble

everywhere where you buy books yeah all that stuff is so relatable to me because I was a massive introvert. Massive. And how did you break out of it? Just had to go to events and slowly work the confidence, have some business success to build up confidence. But it was tough. Yeah, and it's also too, Sean, about how do you operate in an event today? Like, what are some things you need? Like, go to an event.

Like, VCon, for example, is happening now in Los Angeles. Right. How do you prepare for an event like that? Like, how do I make a most of that? There's speakers that are incredible that I might want to work with. There's other people that are in the audience that are guests that I want to meet with. Have a plan. So I have a checklist of, like, teaching you.

These are the things you need to do if you're going to go to an event. And it's scary to go to an event where you don't know anybody. It is. It is. And so like, it's a skill though, like you need to master skills that are going to make you grow skills that are going to make you more powerful. You're going to make new relationships. So anyways, I talk a lot about that in the book and I just feel like networking can become your superpower. Oh yeah. Everybody has a superpower. You just need to know how to like pull it out and find it. Yeah. Yeah. Events have changed my life. I'll get the best ticket just to have the best access. And then I'll make a plan on like who I want to get in touch with and what value I provide to them.

So smart and think it through. So you don't have to get nervous on the spot. Like I always have thought starters. Okay. Like there might be three. I went, this is how I did it. I went to the list of who's speaking at VCon and I made a list of the people I really wanted to meet that I don't know. Cody Sanchez is going to be there. I really want to meet her. Poppy Harlow used to be a journalist at CNN, but she's from Minnesota. I really want to meet her. So I made a list. And then I DM'd them.

I'm going to be at VConn. I would love to meet you. I'm speaking on stage. They know I'm a speaker as well. You know, I'd love to see you in the green room. So I told them who I am. I'm going to be there. And I made a specific comment, like I'm going to be so-and-so. And then I didn't ask to meet them or, but I just kind of floated that. So then when I see them, I can say, oh, I sent you a message on DM. So maybe they might recall they did see that, but they didn't know who I was. They don't, I mean, they don't know me. Why would

they meet me? I didn't give them any context. So they need to, I tried to plant a seed. I made a plan. Who do I want to meet? Planted a seed before the event. I'm going out of econ the next couple of days. I made a map of when they're speaking so I can see them before or after they speak. Always best to approach somebody after they speak. So they're not like busier trying to get their thoughts together. Don't bother them. But have a plan like i'm an experienced at this and i have a plan i'm not just walking into this event cold i love that here's another good hack so i notice warm intros really help with credibility so if i can't get in touch with them i'll see who's uh who they're following and if i have any mutuals reach out to that person say hey can you introduce us at the

event you know what I mean? Love that. It's so important. It's so important that you figure out who knows if you know somebody who might know somebody. So even when you talk about events, look at who the sponsors are. Look at who the media partners are. Do we know anybody that works in any of those companies? Are they might might be there or could they introduce you like, oh, I know somebody that works at Google.

Google sponsoring that event. Maybe I should try to see if I can get an introduction to the organizers so that I can speak next year. Being smart and being awake to like what's happening in the world around you can create tremendous opportunities for you. Absolutely. Maha, it's been really fun. What are you working on next? Where can people find you? This should release by the time the book launches. Yes. We definitely want people to go out and buy the book and share with you and tell us your feedback. I am on Instagram at Mahagabber, which is my middle name. But I have a website, Mahabulanain.

We can put everything in the show notes. And I do free masterclasses and training. And I would love to hear everyone's feedback on the book and what they think when they read it. Awesome, we'll link below. I'll definitely listen to it. Thanks for coming on. Thank you, Sean.

Yep, thanks for watching, guys, as always. See you next time.