Produced By - The Quiet Brand Builder: Growing Without Noise, Pitching or Pressure | 137: Talha Hanif

Episode Date: February 2, 2026

Talha Hanif is a LinkedIn content designer who helps founders turn their personal brands into content that actually connects. With a background in computer engineering and a deep respect for design that works, Talha has quietly built a business that speaks louder than most personal brands. He’s worked with creators, coaches, and entrepreneurs to develop visual identities that don’t just look good, they feel right. No fluff, no shortcuts, just thoughtful design rooted in clarity, intention, and human connection.In this episode, you’ll get a free masterclass in design, consistency, and showing up for the long game. Talha shares how he built a standout brand without ever cold pitching, how AI fits into his creative process, and why success means nothing if you can’t stay grounded. From scaling a business to supporting his wife’s fashion brand to still making time for cricket, family, and the gym, this is what creating with purpose looks like. If you’ve ever doubted your creative path, this conversation might just reframe everything.Connect with Talha:https://www.linkedin.com/in/personal-brand/https://talhaqurashi.com/https://www.instagram.com/talhadesign786/Timestamps:00:00 – The one trick that helped him grow on LinkedIn00:40 – Welcoming Talha to the podcast01:23 – From engineering to design02:39 – How posting turned into a business04:02 – Building a career without chasing clients05:06 – Designer vs artist: key difference07:41 – Behind the scenes of his client process10:16 – Why design isn’t subjective11:40 – What he does when creativity runs low13:33 – The power of not needing leads15:38 – How he gets clients without pitching16:45 – Why he never sends cold DMs17:40 – What his business looks like today18:04 – Why he doesn’t post for leads anymore20:24 – Why most people quit LinkedIn too early22:12 – Outlasting others beats outsmarting them23:06 – The most helpful content advice24:42 – Using emotions in design and copy25:01 – Honest take on AI in design work27:25 – The one red flag when hiring designers28:44 – Advice if you’re not good at design yet29:15 – Canva vs Figma vs Adobe30:41 – Why he teaches his team every tool31:17 – A Canva product built from 500+ carousels32:27 – Who inspires him right now33:44 – Balancing design, business and life34:48 – Why Instagram didn’t work for him35:05 – What keeps him consistent on LinkedIn36:36 – His “Jasmin test” for content that lasts37:08 – His life beyond design38:17 – Cricket, gym, and daily routine39:13 – Getting abs back and staying fit41:00 – What the gym taught him about life42:29 – Favourite books and takeaways44:08 – Helping build a fashion brand45:02 – Where to find Talha online45:30 – Story behind the “17 milliseconds” line46:46 – Final thoughts and reflections Connect with Tomas:X: https://x.com/TomasLoucky⁠⁠⁠Stan: https://stan.store/TommenLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasloucky/⁠⁠Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisistommen/⁠⁠Unproduced:Newsletter: https://unproduced.substack.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unproducednotesSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033Ddo8ibDlLYoaP7FFLIWMore:Links: https://linktr.ee/produced_by⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://producednewsletter.substack.com/⁠The Podcast Club: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/25420030/Tools & gear that support the show:Metricool: https://f.mtr.cool/HRJBZKRiverside: https://riverside.sjv.io/vDnDodFavikon: https://www.favikon.com?fpr=tommenRa Optics: https://ra-optics.myshopify.com/discount/TOMMEN?rfsn=8803777.591d19JamX: https://jamx.ai/podcasters-offer?ref_id=e02d48af-ef66-4e76-b804-c2e8d282a8bfSome links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. If you find them useful, using these links helps keep the podcast running. Thank you!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I have been creating content for almost three years, three and a half years now and then and the only thing that I figured out is you can be useful, actionable, start to take, do a lot of things. But if you just figure out one thing, that would make your content live extremely easy. Just tackle human emotions. That's it. For example, if somebody is frustrated, you want to help them. Just take this question.

If you are unable to grow your followers, you have a pain where you don't understand how to grow your followers. So can you tackle that? That's a frustration. If somebody is not getting clients, he's looking for money, he's looking for clients. That's a pain problem. Can you explain that into simple words so he can find new clients? That's a solution that you can create.

So everything boils down to one thing. If you understand human emotions better, you can create guys, see, see, you code templates, create everything. Just understand the human emotions and try to tackle that, solve that human problem, and we'll get a lot of followers and a lot of attention on your content as well. And you can find different angles as well. You can find an angle where Talha is looking for a solution. or maybe. Before we dive into today's episode, please hit that subscribe button.

Your support helps us grow and inspire more people on their journeys. Thank you. Hello, Talha. Thank you for joining us today and welcome to the show. Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Thomas. Hi, everybody who is listening to this. So Talha, for those who don't know you, can you please introduce yourself?

Yeah, sure. So I'll give you a little introduction of the background that I have. So I'm basically a computer engineer, put an into designate. I stumbled on LinkedIn content creation in 2022, right? So I was just trying my leg there because we already had a business, which was creating large-scale SaaS products for companies. That was our main business. And then I just stumbled on creating content on LinkedIn.

And when I started posting stuff, other people like creators started asking me, how are you doing those things? So I said, this is the process that I'm doing. And I'm creating these kind of carousels and these type of things that I'm doing. And they said, would you do it for me? I said, yeah, I can do it for you. And from there, I remember that I've done my first carousel for almost $100. And then it was like a bigger gig, which was $200. And from there, like it went on. And I have built a separate business, which is helping creators create better looking content. So that's how my journey started, creating stuff for my

own self, and then helping other creators create better living good. So that's my background. If I didn't read more about yourself on your LinkedIn profile, I would honestly expect that you studied design because you've got such a beautiful design. So I was very surprised that you actually studied something different. Yeah. So the idea of being a designer was like I always wanted to create something which looked beautiful. Right. So because of my background in computer engineering, I always tried to break down the larger problems into smaller ones. So I understand them better.

Right. So when I created CCH or when I started creating garrasals, I look at the problems like big, heavier problems, and then I trimmed them down to one slide at a time. And from there, I learned about the fundamentals of design. I learned about how other people do stuff. Just try to copy them as well. I try to experiment more stuff. I've been doing it for almost seven and eight years now. So in those seven and eight years, it's not just I had like an instinct of. design, it was more like I've learned through all those years and I've taught other people as well. So yeah, it's not just I'm, I'm a good designer. It's all about doing the practice, learning the art, and learning by doing the thing. So it's not like that you are born suddenly with talent, but they actually put the reps in and put the hard work in to improve your craft. Exactly. That's how it's normally done. I'm actually very happy to hear that because you know that people often look for shortcuts or want to see immediate results. But as you said, it actually takes time and practice.

So I think it's a perfect example. Yeah, exactly. It takes time and it takes patience as well, because all the stuff that you are going to create, all of that will not come out as great as you're hoping it for. Right. So you have to just stay calm, put in the reps, and then over the period of time, you get better.

And obviously, you would train your taste as well by looking at the good stuff that's out there. So you learn from that good stuff and then you apply it in your own craft and you just try to make it better. For example, I love watching the stuff that Jasmine creates and Nick Brioch market creates, right? I hope I'm pronouncing his name right. So I look at their stuff and I always get inspired from what they are doing because I hope they put a lot of effort into it and a lot of thought into it. And I try to just copy their stuff and see how I can use that into my design rather than just doing my own stuff. that's really important as well.

I like it. And I think it's really important to see it as inspiration, something to learn from, but at the same time, applied for yourself because you want to create something that is unique to you, right? Exactly. And has your own touch.

And another part is I learned in my career, which was like you don't have to have a style, not the taste. You don't have to have a style. What do I mean by that? So as an artist, you have a style and you always create something in that style and that becomes your signature.

style, right? And everybody recognizes you from that one style. But as an designer, like my job is as a designer is to understand other people's style and style in their own way. Right. So for example, if I'm designing something for Thomas or maybe Thomas, I would design it according to your design language, according to your thoughts and according to your style according to your signatures rather than my own signature. So that's what I try to teach other designers and that's what I try to do it myself. You have to put out there so many different styles that

some people will like one and other people will like a different style. And whenever, whatever they are liking, they can just reach out to you, ask for the same thing. Right? So that's not your signature style. That's the style that's resonating with them. So that's, I think, the difference between

a designer and an artist is artist has a signature style. Your design is not. That is a great point because I can honestly say that of course I looked at your portfolio and your work, whether on LinkedIn or on the website, and I've seen so many beautiful ones and I was like, how does he come up with so many ideas? Always creative, I do know, different colors, styles, graphics and everything. And it makes complete sense because you can see often, for example, on LinkedIn, where people

share, I did these banners recently. And you usually can see like kind of pattern that those banners look very similar. I can honestly say that when I look at yours, all of those two are beautiful and unique. So that was a great point that you shared. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And you have to hone your craft as well. Over the period of time, those design aesthetics, you try to make that a language. Right.

Whenever I work with somebody, I always tell them, I'm here to help you figure out your style. I'm not going to force my style on you. I'm just going to understand your style and create a language out of it. So everything stays consistent and we create like a brand ecosystem. So you can use it consistently for over the next five years if you want to. So that's my method of working. Can you describe a bit a process behind it? Because I'm sure that it's not that easy, especially if it's style tailored to each person.

So what is it like? How do you do that? Yeah. So I'll explain it through an example and that person has given me the whole freedom of creating that thing. So I hope you know Will McTig. he reached out to be maybe I reached out to him by watching his stuff and he was doing amazingly cool stuff but he had like just Kenmore templates that he was reusing right so I reached out to him that I want to help you and those were initial days like early 20 23 or something like that so I reached

out to him and my process is I try to understand the person first so I don't go into designing the first day I try to understand the person that I'm helping with so we jumped on a call we did like a one and a half hour, one and a half hour session, and I try to understand him as a person. So from that, I collect keywords, right? Because I am a designer, so I understand design language. If somebody is a coder, he understands Python, he might understand Java. So as a designer, I understand design language. So my process is I collect those keywords, I take those keywords and go back and see what

that English word means into design, right? So I pick those keywords, go into design dictionary, and figure out some of the feelings that I can gather from that keyboard collection. And from there, I create three to four mood boards. And in those mode words, I try to explain why I am choosing those design languages. Right. So so many people say that design is subjective. In my opinion, design is not subjective. It's more like you have to understand the design language, so you can explain it to other people.

So when I present those mood boards to them, they pick one language or they pick multiple items from different languages. I combine them again, right, and then create a whole list of things that how the whole presentation would look like. I call that a brand presentation, right? And when they see that and they compare it to the things that they have already been doing, there is like a huge contrast. And the word that I'm looking for after doing the brand process is like, that's me. that's exactly me that's the word that I'm looking for so a session where I collect keywords I take those keywords back to design a dictionary figure out some of the things figure out the methods figure out what are the colors that I should use how the font should look like

create woodboards present those mode boards receive feedback and after that feedback create like a presentation where they can see the finalism so that's the process I take the ultimate goal is I want to create designs for them, not for me. That's the whole process. I honestly wonder how many people do it like that because it's the whole process, the whole thinking behind it. And I wonder if sometimes people just, you know, pick the template and adjust it or actually there is such a thinking like you just said, because it sounds great. Yeah. So because my background is in engineering, so my method of working is understanding everything. If I can't understand things better, I can't deliver on my promise. And the second part is, I can't even explain it to other people. If I can't

do that, it's frustrating for me. Like, as a designer, I'm not doing a good job if I'm unable to explain my designs to other people. I like it. I think there should be just more people like you. I hope so. There are. And just to come back to Will, to the example that you mentioned, is his brand in white, orange colors? Because I was looking just for the people, if they want to have a look, you've got beautiful presentations or like overview on your website so they can have a look. Yeah, exactly. And the main idea was he was doing extremely corporate things before we met, right, on LinkedIn. And after that, I tried to understand that person. And if you ever talk to Bill, Will is a very low-toned, very earthy guy. And I created his design in a way that it looks like

that he is an earthy guy with softer green, softer red and softer textures of earthy colors, right? So that's what I created for him. And does that happen to you? And if so, what do you do, that you don't have ideas or that you are not creative? Because you created so many. Of course, you are experienced, skilled and everything. But does it happen that maybe sometimes you don't know? And if so, what do you do?

Yeah, it always happens. It happens like after every two, three projects. I sleep over designs, right? So I collect some of the things. I create a lot of stuff. And when things are not making sense, I step away from it. for a day or two, sleep over them, right, and then come back to them again. Because if you are creating a lot of designs for other people,

sometimes you are not hitting the nail on the head. You are not finding the solution for that person, right? At that time, you have to just take a step back and rest. That's the best advice that I can give to any designer. Just take a step back and relax, because eventually figure it out, right? And it's for you to be more safe in terms of finding the solution. and then keep figuring out how you'll find those solutions. Because when you're resting,

and when you're taking a step back, you are not thinking about that problem, but you're thinking about the mechanism that you have to adjust during the process, right? So my way of dealing with that is take a step back, relax, and after two days, we'll always figure it out. I actually like it, and I feel the same. For example, when I do something curative,

and it feels like your brain stops working and you don't have ideas, it's always easier to take a break, maybe do exercise, which also helps me, or just step away for a bit and then come back, and it usually helps. Yeah, so previously when I was not married, I used to do, like I used to play some of the sports or I go to the gym, but now I am married and I have a kid. So if you just go back to them and spend like two or three hours with them, you have so many good ideas when you always come back.

So yeah, it's good. And Talha, when you started on LinkedIn, what was it like for you looking for the clients before you had like a rich portfolio? Because I'm sure there's a challenge for many people who are starting out to lend those first ones. So what was it like for you? And also if you can share any advice. Yeah. So when I started creating on and on LinkedIn, I was mainly looking for UXUI clients, which means software design clients, right?

And I started creating content, simply putting my stuff out there, sharing my like the screen. that we make, dashboards that we made, and I landed two, three clients, like, immediately after posting two, two, three months, right? And when I got those clients, I was like, is this a platform to create more content or I should just take a step back and relax and I don't need anything more? So after those two, three clients, we had like plenty of other clients, by the way, just to take a step back, we already had a business. So I'm not looking, I was not looking desperately for clients, right? And that's the best strategy that you can have. Not look for clients if you want more clients because you can post this stuff that's more relevant to people.

You don't have to look desperate while you're posting and you don't have to chase clients if you want more clients. You simply have to put your stuff out there, tell people how you do stuff and tell them how they can contact you if they want the similar stuff. So when I started creating content, I was just another guy who was posting stuff and I was posting more stuff related to UX UI, right? I got the clients. I was not looking for them. And then when I started posting more carousels, people started asking me how you are creating those things. So again, I was not looking for clients and I was not pitching clients. I was not sending cold DM. I was not sending anything. I was just posting my stuff out there and telling people how I am doing those things.

that's it right so the simple strategy for anybody who is just starting out make it extremely easy for people to consume your stuff show people how you are doing things and how they are turning out and show people step by step guides of how they can do similar stuff because if to just guide people 90% of the people will not buy your stuff right you only have to cater that 10% and sometimes 5% who want to do the similar thing but they don't have time to do the thing. So they know that you are doing a thing so they can just simply ask you,

can you do it for me? That's the simplest process. That's how simple social selling work. Do stuff that you are doing, explain it to people in an easy way, and if they want to reach out to you, they can contact you. Simple. I agree, I guess the best way how to do it

let your work speak for you so that you just post content, people see that it's quality, it gives them some kind of value, and they just reach out. Exactly. the clients I have worked with are either reference or they reach out of me after observing my stuff or reading my stuff. I don't call pitch. I don't do cool pitching as much. Yeah. And was LinkedIn

like your only or primary platform or did you also explore other platforms such as other channels? Yeah. So before landing on LinkedIn, I was an upwork. There are multiple steps to that. I was like a bestseller there. I was best selling on a five. as well and I already had a business right so I did not need many when I joined LinkedIn right LinkedIn just happened for me I was not desperate I was not looking for many or anything like that so it just happened for me and I greeted it with both hands open okay if you are giving me an opportunity I will do it more right so I already have a business which is like a software design business

as products so that's a 60% of the revenue 30% or 20% or 25 percent is from LinkedIn. I'm an investor as well. I've invested into two or three businesses. So the money comes from there as well. Oh, wow. So it sounds like a great, impressive current. I'm sure well deserved. Yeah. So just to take a step back, I'm not the only person in my team. We have a 28% team who's working on different businesses. So I'm not the only person. Oh, yeah. And now do you use LinkedIn still to look for clients to build your personal brand or what are actually your goals now on LinkedIn? Yeah, so my goal is to become an investor.

That's the long-term goal, have multiple businesses. But on LinkedIn, I try to tell my story and tell people that they can do so many good things, or they can earn a living by just designing. Because when I started design, my circle used to tell me that I will just earn like $500 or maximum $300 from design, and that would be my life, right? I can't end more than that. So I've proved them all wrong and I want to make sure that everybody was designing stuff

for other people. They understand how design can change other people's life. It can change their business as well and how they can become better and live better lives by just doing designs, right? And understand this. So my way of just giving it back to the community that you can add a better living by doing designs

and just built my business portfolio. you and my personal brand through Langen. I'm not looking for clients. Client are just bracing out to me. They want me to help them, and I'm happy to do that. I already had, like, more clients than I was expecting. And I'm sure that more will come. Yeah, I refer it to other people as well.

But I think from my point of view, like someone, you know, from outside from the LinkedIn, I can honestly say that. I feel like that you are leading by example, because you've got a strong brand, beautiful content, successful in the way that you speak, I think you are doing great work. Yeah, so it's just about doing your thing and telling other people how you are doing the thing,

and that's what matters, right? When you are on a stage in life where you know that you have done the thing, and most of people who are on the same path and they don't have no idea what they are doing and where they want to go, you can just become like a signal for them or maybe a light on the path, that's how things are done. So, yeah, it's just about giving back to the community who was on the same path. Yeah, definitely motivation. And when you look back, when you started on LinkedIn or throughout your journey and now,

can you see that like the space is shifting or progressing? I can see like a lot of talented designers and new emerging on LinkedIn all the time. But from your experience, how do you see the progress, how it's going and maybe where do you think it goes in the future? Yeah, so I always look at how. how many people will survive after a year? So many people have started with me. Like, I used to connect to a lot of designers who were just starting out.

Because I loved when I joined LinkedIn that it's a community-based platform. But you can actually exchange comments and, like, exchange ideas with other people on the platform. It was not happening on other platforms, right? So it was not that saturated. But now it feels like a saturated,

but I think after a year, it will live. drop and new people will join. That's how most social media platforms work. But kudos to those people who just survive and they want to do something good for the long term, right? I've seen people who joined with me slacking off or dropping off LinkedIn after three months or after two months, right? That's not how you build a personal brand on new social media. A good way or a better way to build a personal brand is to just stay consistent. Sometimes you get 30 likes and sometimes you get 5,000 likes.

just depends on the day, right? But in terms of saturation, I don't think there is saturation. It's just like newbies are coming in and they just want to dominate the field in two months. It's not going to happen. So they have to stay for long term. And if they can't, they don't have patience.

They'll slack off and then you'll have more opportunity. So yeah. All I can say is that I agree. It's a good point to see always new faces. And sometimes you remember some people from before, but you don't see them anymore. And I think it may be said quite a lot, but I think it makes sense why people say it all day. It's about playing the long game because you can see it now from you that you've been there for years

and it doesn't happen just overnight. But it's like that these days people are just impatient that they want to see results as soon as possible. Yeah, you don't have to outsmart people, you just have to out time them. Yep, that is true. When I started creating, I had multiple tabs open, no system and zero clues. what I was doing. So I made a page that fixes that. Templates, kids, tools, carousels, reels, the actual stuff that I use, not fluff. It's at Sten store slash Tomen, that's T-O-M-M-E-N, or in the show notes. Take what helps, ignore what doesn't. Back to the episode.

And speaking of LinkedIn Talha, I'm pretty sure that you get this message a lot or people ask, you. But have you got some advice for growth on LinkedIn? Of course, outside of what we discussed and what is obvious, such as to keep showing up and create quality content, but have you got any other ideas? Yeah. So I have been creating content for almost three years, three and a half years now on LinkedIn. And the only thing that I figured out is you can be useful, you can be actionable, you can be strategic, you can do a lot of things. But if you just figure out one thing, that would make your content live extremely easy. Just tackle human emotions.

That's it. For example, if somebody is frustrated, you want to help them. For example, just take this question. If you are unable to grow your followers, you have a pain where you don't understand how to grow your followers, right?

So can you tackle that? That's a frustration. If somebody is not getting clients, he's looking for money, he's looking for clients. That's a pain problem. Can you explain that into simple words so he can find new.

clients, that's a solution you can create. So everything boils down to one thing. If you understand human emotions better, you can create guides, you can create cheat sheets, you can create code templates, you can create everything, right? Just understand the human emotions and try to tackle that, try to solve that human problem, and we'll get a lot of followers and you get a lot of attention on your content as well. I like it. That's a good one. It's like everyone has some kind of problems or issues. So find it, try to address it and help people with that. Yeah, exactly. And you can find different angles as well. You can find an angle where Telha is looking for a solution or maybe Telha's wife is looking for a solution.

Telha's brother is looking for the same solution. So it's a different angle of looking at the same problems from different perspective. I like it. And of course, need to stand out because sometimes it feels like that it's getting oversaturated with the content. sometimes maybe a bit quantity than quality. So deliver quality it helps us all. That's why we are here for. So if you're unable to get quality stuff out there, that's where we help. And as we are discussing this topic, Talha, what is your take on AI and maybe how you use it

in your own workflow? Because of course it's very important, but sometimes it feels like that people use it a bit in a lazy way. So how do you use it? What's your advice and your take on it? So initially when AI launched or like Chad CPD came, I was kind of skeptical about it because it was not helping me write better. But after some time, if we look at the Q4 of 2025, all of our stuff or all of our systems are reliable on AI. For example, when we write stuff for people, we train the GPT and it gives us the content that we post on social media, right?

we used to buy a lot of illustrations, icons, and different things from different platforms. We don't do it anymore. We create it in-house, right? We don't have an illustrator, but we can ask chaty-b-t to figure out a style and create things for us. And we use the same thing in the carousels and all those things that we create. So I think it saved our asses a lot. It made our life extremely easy. And it made our processes extremely easy.

smoother as the time progresses because adopting to AI was extremely tough initially because designers were like I don't want to give away my baby of creating illustrations of creating icons and all those things right but if you want efficiency you have to sit with them and tell them that if you want to create three pieces of content in a day then you have to learn AI to create the things that can assist you in your design progress rather than just sticking to I want to create illustrations, I want to create I can,

then I want to do this, right? So you have to just train them according to what's needed by the R rather than just sticking to their own artefacts or maybe artist instinct. Yeah, so if I can summarize it, it made 60% of our life extremely easy. It took over 60% of our business.

Yeah. And I think it's sometimes you see this question that people are afraid that I've said, You've seen it many times, people will take over your work or something like that. So what do you think when it comes to designing and graphic work, if people are skeptical about this or a bit of right? Yeah. So if somebody who is a designer who has like an artist kind of thing,

artist instinct that I want to create something that's my signature, don't work with that person. Because that person will sabotage your design style. That will not be your presentation or your, representation on a breadwalk with somebody who understands a design aesthetic according to you he learns about you he understands what you do how you do things what's your common words that you use what are some of the ways that you look at things what's your aesthetic right how do you want people to perceive you as a person that person will understand more about your design aesthetic

than a person who is just an artist or just a good designer who just wants to impersonate you as him. So that's my advice. Find an individual or find a designer who can copy your style, add it into his own work and make it more polished. I agree and I like it. I think that although of course there might be like maybe more designers or like a lazier ones because of AI makes it easier and faster, but at the same time it helps to differentiate actually those quality ones. So maybe it might people just might need to look a bit more for the quality ones, but there always will be, so don't be afraid. Yeah, and there is one more perspective.

If you are not great at design and you don't understand it, just hire anybody. Just get better first, right? And you will get unique after. So get better work than initially. So you know that this is how the quality work looks like, and then hire a better one after that. So at least get good added first.

Yeah, yeah, that's true. And don't overthink it. It's always better to start. Get something doing, learn from it, then keep overthinking and don't start your launch at all. Exactly. And what are Talha outside of AI? What are some of your tools that you use? You've got like these two groups, Canva versus Figma.

So who are you? What do you focus on? What do you use? Yeah. So we work in Illustrator. We work in Photoshop. We work in Figma. We work in Canva.

Right. So all of the designers that I have in my team, I force them to learn all these tools. Because in my opinion, a tool does not define a designer. If you are a good designer, you can work with any tool you want. So that's the first thing. So in our company, we use Adobe Suit, Figma, Canva, Kenva, Kalanley, Notion, Slack. These are our tools. We don't use anything else.

Google Suit as well to share links of the videos and designs. So these are the five, six tools that we use in our company. We don't need anything else. I mean, it's quite a few already. And I assume that you know all of those as well and you master them. Yes. So I learn everything first myself and then I train my team on that. I'm basically just a compass who defines the direction.

I do the things first and then my team is working on somebody else. And then when I get good at something, then I let them do the thing and I guide them throughout the process. So everybody in my team is kind of trained by me. But you still need to have a favorite one. Which one would that be? Yeah. So in terms of tools, yeah, Notion is my favorite.

By far the favorite one. Notion and the second is Figma. Oh, Figma. Okay. Yeah. You said a great point before because I personally, if I design, I use Canva because I, I just know it. I feel like it's easy. But I've seen, as you said, on LinkedIn, amazing designers. and from both sides, Canva and Figma.

So as you say, if you get the skills, if you know how to use it and if you are talented, both can create amazing results. Exactly. Like in my daily routine, I use 80% Figma, right, in my design process. But when I created content or teach it for other creators, I figured out mostly use Canva, right? Almost 95% or 96% people that are creating content,

they use Canva. So what I did, I took all 500 teaches that I've created in the last two years, and I created a product in Canva. So everybody can use it and they can easily edit those things because they are more savvy to Canva. So my way of working is I am not married to a tool. I can always search tools and I can provide solution according to people because it's the people who are going to buy those things and they are going to use it.

I don't have to be stubborn about it. Yes. Yes, that is true. And you tell her mentioned it before, like in the beginning of your journey or a bit earlier, about your inspirations, which I believe was Yasmin and Nick. But these days, who are some of your inspirations? I'm sure that now it's more like that you are the inspiration for people, but still some people that you like to follow and learn from.

Yeah, initially I was, those were inspirations for creating content. Like, I've learned so much from them. So that's the one thing. I'm into fashion design these days. My wife has launched a clothing brand. So I'm helping her figure out what are some of the clothing methods and what are some of the wearing mechanisms that people use in our country and how we can sell it to an audience.

So I'm more invested into fashion design these days, finding out how women wear stuff. So in terms of inspirations, I'm not particular with any designers for now, but I'm looking at as a category of fashion design. I used to love what Christo has done in the past. I've learned so much from him as well. I have watched Matthew Encina that was like a creative head of Christo's company. So I loved his work as well.

So there are so many designers that I looked up to. And I learned so much from Christo in terms of how to build a business out of your creative journey. So yeah, these are some of the people that I love watching and observing. Yeah. And Talha, you mentioned so many things that you do. Now I found out another one. So how do you manage to do everything?

How's your time management priorities? You also have a family and you do so many things. Yeah. So I was talking to my wife and I said like if I don't do stuff, I might feel stuck at a place. I feel that I'm not being useful to other people. So I work every day. I work all the time that I wake up.

I spend time with my family and I go to gym for workout and that's my life. And you're on businesses, you inspire people, you build your brand, we do much more. Yeah, just as a part of what we do. And outside of LinkedIn, if I'm not mistaken, you're on Instagram and maybe some other platforms. So do you plan to grow on other platforms is just on a site or how do you approach it? Yeah, so I try to grow on Instagram multiple times, but I don't think that, I think that's not a platform for me. I like LinkedIn a lot, but I want to expand my network

on other plate forms as well, but not for now, because I'm busy in too many things already. I don't want to take one more thing on my plate because that will not be good for Instagram or some other platform as well. What do you think it may not work? Because Instagram is very visual

platforms, I would assume that for you it will work well, but what do you think it may not? Yeah, so that's not on a priority list. that's what I can say okay okay that makes sense then yeah and tell how with your experience on LinkedIn

I'm sure that you've seen it as well that people often complain or mention about the algorithm and the reach so when you experience this what is it actually that keeps you showing up because you've been on LinkedIn for years

and you still continue you've got a great mindset so like what is your why or what helps you in those tough times yeah so whenever I'm talking to somebody who's on LinkedIn, right, or some people that I am extremely close to, during those conversations, during those chit-chats, Jasmine always comes up, right? And we never met, we never had a conversation on a call, we never have seen each other directly,

right, on calls. But I still remember that person. And I'm almost sitting seven seas away from him, right and we have never met in person if i remember him so many other people who he held must remember him as well so consider i am the only person who remembers him i can be the same person for somebody who sitting in the world that one person who learns so many things from me or who can admire me in his own conversations or in her own conversations so i just want to touch that one person that's it. If I get 20 likes, it doesn't mean anything. If I get 300 likes, it doesn't mean anything.

I just want to touch that one. That is a great explanation because I can honestly confirm so many times. I even heard Yasmin mentioned on my podcast, Yasmin or even Lara. So you can see how much impact they make. And it's only people on a podcast. It's not those, I don't know, thousands or even more people actually on the platform. So I like the mindset. and I've got no doubts that you are doing great work, impacting positive.

Yeah, I'm trying my best. I'm trying my best. It's about just, I think, that one soul who remembers you for the rest of his life. Yeah. And Talha, I like to ask kind of lighter questions by the end of the recording or as it's approaching. So what is it that you like doing in your free time or what are some of your hobbies? Yeah, so I play cricket, I watch cricket, and I spend time with my wife and my cat. or these are some other things that whenever I want to relax and whenever I want to spend some

low time, that's what I do. Just need to be more careful playing cricket or not? Yeah. Exactly. I'm honestly not really much into cricket because where I come from, it's not that popular, but for people who like it or follow it, what is maybe your favorite team or a favorite player? Yeah, so I'm from Pakistan. So in Pakistan, the only cricketer who is kind of faithful,

famous or a big superstar is Barbarazam, right? And my mindset and my approach towards life is more towards Koli, right? So he's an Indian player. So Pakistan and India is kind of rivals from centuries. So I like the player of the rivalry. So yeah, everybody who watches cricket will know these two names. Yeah, I will Google. I'm sorry, I don't know. But I know this is going to be probably predictable answer. But as you said, India and Pakistan are rivals in sport. Objectively speaking, which one is better? Yeah, so in terms of playing cricket, India is extremely better than Pakistan, quality of the cricket, right? But in terms of passion, those two nations are extremely well-wursed in terms of passion. Like, they really love

the sport. They don't hear opposite opinions about it. Yeah, yeah, okay. And what is your position when playing on cricket? Because I assume you've got positions, like, for example, in football, so what is yours? Yeah, so in my school I used to play as a one-known batsman, like one gets out. The second person who comes in was used to be me, and I used to keep the wickets. So I'm kind of a wicket-keeper, one-down-betsman. I used to be. But now they can play me at any point they want.

Multitalatists who can do everything. Yeah, exactly. And you also, before you mentioned that you go to gym, is it just to live healthy or got even any bigger goals or plans in a gym? Yeah, so till 19, I used to have six-pack apps. I was extremely into fitness and working up. From 22 years old to 26 years old, 25 years old, I gained a lot of weight because I used to consume a lot of calipies and I was not going to the gym. So I went from 75, 78 to 115 KG.

So it was a huge jump, right? So I spent a lot of time in business, building businesses and doing all those things. so I neglected my health. And from there in 2025, in the start of 2025 and at the end of 24, I resumed working out and I lost like 20 KG. Now I'm at between 85 to 87. Like my weight flexures into that range. So yeah, I want to live healthier. I love working out a lot and lifting weight gives me a lot of peace and calm and it gives me conscious one. So yeah. And I'm sure those apps will be back soon as well. Yeah, hopefully.

I want to get them back, but let's see. Now it's good because it's going to be winter, so still a few months before the summer heat, then you can start working. So in winters, it's better to work out. In my opinion, like here, it's not that snowy, it's not that harsh winters. So it's better to work out in winters because you gain a lot of muscle

and you don't lose a lot of it. And you stay indoors, so you gain a lot of muscles, I guess. Yeah, yeah. No, it's a good point. And I was just about to mention that, as we are discussing, like, a sport or working out, when we spoke before about being creative, that's, for example, what really helps me to take break from work or when I'm not creative, workout always helps.

Yeah, that's what I think gives people more peace as well, because all the frustration, exhaustion, that's causing mental blockage, can be reduced easily by just walking out and this when you do it in the jump. And one more thing that I've learned and I advise the people to work out, every man who's out there, they should work out because when you can't lift a dumbbell, you understand the reality of life, that you will not be able to pick up all the weights that you are carrying on your shoulder. And it's harsh, that's the reality.

And then you have to become stronger to lift those weights over the period of time, right? So whenever you are doing something, initially you will suck and it's fine. But progressively, you will be able to pick those or lift those weights and it becomes better and it becomes easier over the period of time. So that's a life lesson as well. So you suck. It's fine. And you get better. And don't forget that everyone started at some point. So everyone sucked in the beginning. So it's completely normal and natural. Exactly. Exactly. Do you then tell how to read books and if so, have you got any books recommendations, such as any that were impactful for you?

Yeah, I read a lot of books. No books are here, but there is a whole self of books. I love reading books. My best is the habit one. I don't remember the habit. Atomic habits, right? Yes, exactly, the atomic habit. That I read it three to four times.

It's an extremely good book because that was the first book that gave me an idea that you can structure. your habits. So what I do is if I'm working on something and I have to go to the gym, my stuff is already prepared so I don't have to think about it. Right. And when I'm coming back, the food is ready. So I'm unconsciously eating my food. And my food is prepared the whole day so I don't eat junk food. So it's like making habits seamless is the easier way to follow the discipline rather than just thinking about everything. When you think about things, it becomes hard. Of course, and it's a great example and I do the same.

I've got my stuff for the resume ready and I know what I'm going to eat after. You don't have to overthink it. Exactly, exactly. And the other books are like everything that Harmosi write, I read it. I read Mosy Minute as well. So all the books that have million dollars written on it,

you should read it. Million dollar offers, million dollar models. Everything that Hermosier writes, you should read it. I have read the latest one, but it's a good reminder to, fix it. Yeah, 100 million leads, 100 million offers, 100 million models. Yes, yes. And Talha, what are some of your future plans or goals or some things that audience can be excited about? Yeah, so this is strictly towards the Pakistani audience. My wife is building a brand and I'm

helping her and I'm an investor into her company as well. So she wants to create like a kind of a million dollar company in the future in the next three to five years. So that's the biggest goal that we have set for ourselves as a couple. And hopefully we'll achieve that. So in the next five years, that's the biggest thing that we are doing. I mean, without a doubt, she's got a great partner, whether to support, to invest, the talented designer, it must work out. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. That's what I tell her that she got the package and won. fingers crossed and will be excited of course to follow and see how it goes yeah yeah and then talha i guess it's obvious by now but can you summarize where people can find you follow you and

promote any of your services yeah so people can find me atelha any on on lincoln uh they can they can see the link in there as well to go to my website if they want to work with us they can set a calenli lake and that's in lincoln and other than that we have like a software product within where we create SaaS, large-scale SaaS products, and they can find me on behinds as well. We have almost 50-plus digital products that they can find on my website as well. So yeah, that's just there for helping other creators.

I will add any links to the show notes, and you actually reminded me of one question because when people look at your LinkedIn, you get a tagline. It says something like, catch attention in 17 milliseconds. And I was curious, if it's actually the number that is somehow a silence back,

if you came up with that or why 17 milliseconds? It's exactly why you asked that question. It's exactly curated for that, right? So when I was writing taglines, it was not my tagline. It was somebody else's, but they have written it in a different way. So when I broke it down,

I understood that you have to use a number and a strong word and make it extremely short. So I rode like almost 20, 25 lines, and I came up with that one nine. So grab attention in seven, milliseconds. That makes you think, is it scientific? Did he write it intentionally or what's the background of this? So that's exactly how it was curated for. I'm glad that I proved the point then. Awesome. Talha then, very last question. Is there anything I should have asked you and did not,

any final piece of advice or anything I would like to share before we finish? Yeah, so this was an extremely good session. I've never done a podcast before. You reached out to me almost three times, which was kind of, I felt bad for not replying to you initially because I'm not the only person who is looking at my LinkedIn. So when I saw that message and I looked at my VA, I was like, you did not mention that person based up. So that was so generous of you reaching out again. And again, I said, I've never done it before. And I would want to do it more because I really loved it. The conversation is amazing. And you are an amazing post as well. Just keep doing the things, telling other people how things are done. And you're giving me an inspiration to start a

podcast as well. Awesome. Talad, it's one of the nicest messages I've heard. I'm grateful. Thank you so much. I genuinely enjoyed it too, because as I said before, I've been following you and always admiring your work. You're clearly one of the most or the most talented one out there. You've got amazing plans, very ambitious. I wish you all the best and we'll keep following and supporting. Thank you once again and keep in touch. So thank very much. Yeah. Thank you for your time. Thank you for inviting me. And I hope people watch this stuff and realize that they can do the thing that they are thinking about and they don't have to think about it more. We just have to do the

thing and you'll learn along the way. Thanks for listening to Prejudice Buy with comment. Check the show notes for all the links. And don't forget to subscribe, like and share your feedback. Speak soon.