Produced By - Your Name Is the Brand: Why It Pays to Show Up Now | 129: Aastha Sharma

Episode Date: December 8, 2025

Aastha Sharma is a Personal Brand Coach who helps C-suite leaders, founders, and entrepreneurs grow their presence on LinkedIn with clarity, storytelling, and purpose. With a background in journalism and over five years in personal branding and ghostwriting, she has guided 50+ leaders in transforming their profiles into platforms for influence and leadership. Her work goes beyond content, it’s about helping people show up with confidence, consistency, and alignment.Through her coaching, Aastha helps clients uncover the voice behind their vision and turn lived experiences into authentic, high-impact content that drives visibility, trust, and business growth. In this conversation, she shares what it really takes to build a brand that feels human yet powerful, how to attract opportunities without chasing them, tell stories that connect, and lead with your own voice instead of a script.Connect with Aastha:https://www.linkedin.com/in/aastha-sharma8/https://topmate.io/aastha_sharma8Timestamps:00:00 – Cold open: Attracting clients through pain points00:59 – Intro and welcome01:23 – Meet Aastha: from mass comm to personal branding coach02:31 – From acting and journalism to LinkedIn strategy03:52 – Helping C-suite leaders find their voice online04:15 – Do you really need to niche down?06:08 – Aastha’s trial-and-error journey on LinkedIn07:37 – The moment she realized LinkedIn could be monetized08:27 – Why personal branding is a marathon, not a sprint10:01 – Should you post personal stories on LinkedIn?12:21 – The boundary between personal and oversharing13:13 – Common LinkedIn myths that hold people back14:54 – How to attract clients without cold DMs16:53 – The problem with bad outreach and lazy pitches18:46 – What ghostwriting really looks like for founders20:45 – Why your voice shouldn’t be outsourced completely21:47 – How personal branding drives hiring and partnerships24:51 – Sales without cold-pitching? Here’s how26:03 – Is it too late to start on LinkedIn?27:41 – The best platform to grow your brand in 202529:05 – How Aastha stays consistent (even when it’s hard)30:53 – The batch-creation method that saves her time31:52 – Why enjoying the process is essential32:50 – Her “confidence swipe file” strategy for low days33:35 – Aastha’s hobbies and favorite books34:50 – Her take on Atomic Habits and $100M Offers35:32 – Goals for Instagram, team, and 100k followers36:57 – Where to find and work with Aastha38:21 – Final advice: Be authentic, not AI-generated 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.

So the best way to actually attract clients is talk about their pain points. When you talk about that, for example, let's say if you're posting twice a week and one post you keep for a pain point that your client has and you have a solution for it, why not talk about that so that they get attracted to relate with that and they say that, my God, this is what I relate with. This is my problem as well and this is the person who can actually solve it. So I think this is the best way to do that. Other way to do that is, for example, when I see different profiles, I see there are a lot of things people miss.

So I go to them directly and tell them, see, these are the things that I see in your profile. You want some help or consultation. I'm ready to do that. I'm ready to do that. So that is also a way, a direct way to go out. But very genuinely, it doesn't need to be a pitch. But curious, you are curious to help. them. That's that. 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, Asta. Thank you for joining us today and welcome to the show. Hi, thank you so much, Thomas. It's my pleasure to be here. Thank you so much. So Asta, for those who don't know you, can you please introduce yourself? Absolutely. So I am a personal branding coach. I help entrepreneurs, founders, C-level executives build legacy here. This is what I do. And I do it right now on LinkedIn. But as we go further, I also am starting with my journey on Instagram as well. Yeah, basically that. So is this type of the career or the journey that you plan for yourself? Or is it something that you always wanted to do or how did you discover it?

I actually discovered it by luck, thankfully. So going back to my studies, I have done my graduation and post-graduation in mass communication. And I have done a lot of things earlier. I tried a lot of things like acting, modelling, urging, dubbing, journalism, anchoring and whatnot. So after all of that, I started my journey in 2020. When I quite randomly opened LinkedIn one day and I started seeing people hosting something. something and I just thought to myself, who are these people who what are they talking about and why? So I started talking to them, observing them, connecting with them to understand the whole dynamics

of LinkedIn, right? And gradually, while I figured I started getting followership, engagement, DMs and soon enough people started connecting with me asking if I can handle their profiles as well as I have built mine. So quite hesitantly I started that. And thankfully, it worked out in favour of me because naturally I was doing the right things. Like, you know, asking the right questions, connecting with the right people from their profiles, extracting the emotions in their content and, you know, putting them properly through my storytelling. Because I was a writer already. I knew the dynamics of storytelling. So I could do that.

Then my journey started and I've been helping entrepreneurs, founders, you know, C-level executives, build legacy here, especially for C-level executives. They are at a level, they have done it all, and I know so many of them personally. But they do not want to start a business right now, but they are kind of stagnant right now. So I help them reach more audience so that they feel that they are still growing.

So I basically help visionary leaders now build powerful brands on LinkedIn through, you know, real authentic human storytelling. That's that. Yes. And as you said that you focus on Cs, suit executives and leaders, I think that's something that people often struggle with on LinkedIn is basically how to find your niche or what to focus on. So what would be your advice to people? So maybe in the first place, whether they shoot niche and in the second place, how to decide or how to find it. I think it's very important to find your niche and how you can do it is asking yourself, what is one thing that you can talk about for hours, right?

And you have a lot of content, a lot of thoughts on. That is, that something interests you. And what are those topics that actually people come to you for consultation, right? So that is the first thing that actually I asked myself, what you can do, what is your best interest and what people actually relate you with. And I think there comes a point. Even if, for example, if you're from a finance background, you really like financial things.

You can talk about that. If you, for example, there's a VP of finance, right? One of the clients, for example, VP of finance, they have to talk about finance. So since they are in their own industry right now, they already know their niche. It's not very, but for a beginner, it might be a little confusing at times in the beginning.

So those are the questions that they need to ask. And once they start writing about it, they see people are interested in talking about it from different angles, and you are interested in talking about it from different angles, I think that is when you actually understand what is your interest, what is your niche. It comes when you start. It doesn't come first and then you start, basically.

Yes, I like it and I agree. And don't be afraid to try. try and maybe if it doesn't work out, you can just change it after. But if you don't try it, you're not going to find out. And from your experience, Astha, did you discover it early or did you go by trial and error before you discover what you're going to focus on? Or what was it like for you? I think for me, how I started was I used to talk about my personal and professional aspects in a way that, you know, professionally what I have done, what are the experiences that I've had those were I experimented for a year or two because 2020 was a time not many people were

actually writing right so I did not know what exactly do I have to write so I was just experimenting with what I can write very emotionally putting my emotions into it and what people are actually responding to so I had a mix of personal and professional in the sense what is happening in my personal life as in how am I what am I doing to grow like I'm waking up in the morning, early in the morning, even when I'm not an early word, right? I used to wake up late, but still, what am I working on, you know, working out and productivity and all of that? How am I managing my time? I used to talk about all of that. And that was personal and professionally where I come from. I was slowly and gradually letting

people know where I come from, what is my background, what I want to do so that people actually know all of the aspects since they haven't met me but at least they have come through my post and they know here and there this is ashtar Sharma and this is what she has been doing she has been trying to improve as well and that is how as i said people started i started growing followership i started getting good traction as well and when people actually saw that people in good positions right the founders and entrepreneurs they actually reached out to me that way so that is when I actually thought, oh, this could be something, you know, I could monetize. This is how you monetize LinkedIn. So it was that that happened with me. One point that I would just highlight

is that it takes time both to monetize it and maybe to benefit fully from LinkedIn for your career. Because I sometimes feel like that people try to speed up the process, you know, try to attract leads. You see all the time, I don't know, all kinds of tactics. And when it lands, in your inbox and stuff like that, but from your perspective, it's not short term, right? You need to keep showing up and it actually takes time. There's no shortcut. If you think there's a shortcut and, you know, you can do something, try some hack and people tell you different tricks.

There are no tricks. There are no hacks or shortcuts. You have to go the long way if you have to, if you want to sustain a long way. And I know this is what everyone, you might have heard it a lot. and I'm going to say it again, but LinkedIn, if you LinkedIn, not just your personal brand, it is a marathon that you have to keep walking or running in. It's not a sprint. You don't want to just be visible for six months and then get, you know, then hide, right?

It is for your life forever. And there are different opportunities that can come from this. You have to connect with the right people. You have to put out the right content. You have to be consistent enough so that, people actually see you because people come in, people go and all of that, but you stay consistent. I've seen people coming in writing, posting for a day, posting for a week or a month and then they disappear. But I don't even remember their names, right? There are so many people.

So even your prospects or your clients wouldn't remember you if they don't see you. So you have to be visible regularly. It doesn't mean you have to post every day. It means, maybe once or twice, but quality. It should hit your client's pain point, basically. So there's no shortcut. You have to go the long way to sustain the long term. I totally agree. I feel like that you can keep saying this all the time,

but still people don't understand. And another aspect you mentioned before, and I really liked it, was that when you are sharing content, you are also posting like photos or experiences from your life. not necessarily work-related or business-related, but even something kind of more personal. So what's your take on this? Because sometimes I think that people think that it's not appropriate on LinkedIn,

but I actually think that it shows your personal site and LinkedIn is changing. So what would you tell people on this topic? It's very important to tell your personal things. you share your personal things with people but of course there is a boundary right you have to share things that has some takeaway to the people right they should be able to run something from you for example as i used to talk about my growth and even now what i do is i post my workout pictures in my comments pinned comments that you know because i feel obligated that you know i have started this i have told my people that I have started working out. I have lost five, six

cages in six months. I have told them, right, in the print comments. So I keep it very casual so that it's not just about, you know, telling this is how much I have earned, this is what I do the whole day, this is my client. It's not just formal, right? Because humans are basically, they attract to emotions. It is just not about, and LinkedIn is not like 2019, 2020, LinkedIn now. People have evolved. LinkedIn has evolved. And people want to, like Instagram, like YouTube,

people want to see something very heartfelt here on LinkedIn. So it's not just about, you know, I started working and tagging the company and all of that. But they tell about, you know, this has been in my experience. Now I'm joining this company and this is what I'm expecting. When you do it in a heartfelt way, people actually relate to it. So it's good. to share your personal things, but of course there should be a boundary. You can't say what you have eaten in your lunch, right?

It needs to have a takeaway for other people, basically. Yeah, yeah. Don't confuse LinkedIn with Instagram, but at the same time, I think once in a while, if you imagine that you are scrolling the feet and there are motivational posts, work-related posts, and then there is one post that stands out

because it's someone unique and personal from someone's life. It really makes a difference. Of course, just ensure that people actually know who you are personally and professionally, what your values are, your principles are, whatever you talk about, they extract, you know, they build up your personality, they imagine you like that. So ensure you put up personal things as well, why not? Yeah, and as you've worked with many founders and many people to build our brands, what are some common misconceptions or maybe even miss that you come across,

and what's your advice against them? One really common misconception is that you have to have a huge following to be successful on LinkedIn. But in reality, it's much more about the quality of your connections and the value of your content than numbers. See, if you have a thousand random connections or 10 people of your industry who might need your help and they reach out to you, of course you would prefer 10 people, right? Consider of 10,000 of random connections, right? So another misconception is that you have to be very formal all the time. It's a big misconception and still, right?

People often think that LinkedIn is only for stiff, corporate style posts. But actually things are changing. A lot of engaging content is coming out. You know, it is very authentic, even a bit conversational as well. You can crack a joke on LinkedIn. You can add a humor, you know, thought to it to your post. So it is good. But be cautious.

People should be able to understand it, of course. But yeah, you can do that. So people also feel that you have to post regularly in the terms every day. But you don't have to post every day, right? You don't have to flood your feed with content that doesn't matter to anyone, right? Just do it quality. Just focus on the quality instead of the content. I think these are the few misses that people actually, there are misconceptions on this.

I like all of those. I would just add that consistency doesn't mean every day. Consistency can be three times per week. And although it may sound like a cliche, it's always about quality over quantity. Absolutely, absolutely right. I think quite a challenge probably for some people or you can see on LinkedIn is actually how to attract clients on LinkedIn. I think also when it comes to personal branding, it's becoming more competitive. So there are more people who are looking for clients.

So from your experience, what's your advice how to attract clients or how to just find people to work with there? So the best way to actually attract clients is actually talk about their pain points. When you talk about that, for example, let's say if you're posting twice or twice a week and one post you keep for a pain point that, your client has and they are you know you have the solution for it why not talk about that so that you know they get attracted to oh my god you know relate with that and they say that oh my god this is what i relate with this is my problem as well and this is the person who can actually solve it so i think this is the best way to do that other way to do that is for example when i see different profiles right i see there are a lot of things people make

So I go to them directly and tell them, see, these are the things that I see in your profile. You want some help or consultation. I'm ready to do that. Meher for you. So that is also a way, a direct way to go about it. But very genuinely, it doesn't need to be a pitch. But you are curious to help them. That's that.

And yeah, so basically talking about it through posts, or you can also directly reach them genuinely. Yes. I agree. I would say try to place yourself into their shoes or into their position because everyone has some kind of troubles, struggles or problems. So just try to help them offer a solution. But don't be to, I'm sure you also receive a lot of annoying pitches. So I would say take your time, be nice and use some common sense as well.

Right, absolutely. Clients do not want because they get a lot of pitches. They get a lot of features and they just ignore all of them, right? you have to tell something different for them to actually talk to you. And even when I, I mean, I just remember some profiles that I handle and I get so many of those pitches. I don't know what to do about them, right? And I have a 15-minute call.

I mean, why would a founder and entrepreneur get on a call with you? And, you know, even when there's no base, there's no relatability. Like, who are you? Why should I spend my 15 minutes, precious minutes with you? So they need to get into the shoes of the other person and understand their requirement. Right. They should try it genuinely. I agree.

It's like you get someone's DM. You've never seen the person. You don't even know the person from engagement. And the first message they are offering you 15 minutes call. I'm like, who are you? Why should I do? Exactly. Exactly.

That happens with me as well. I'm sorry. That is not fixable. Yeah, no, no. I completely understand. Are you struggling to stay consistent on LinkedIn? Fanpost helps you create high-quality posts in minutes, so you can write faster, show up more, and stress way less.

Built by creators for creators is the easiest way to grow your presents without burning out. Try it free at fanpost.com. And understandably, if there are people who never worked with any, for example, ghostwriters or content creators, and suddenly they are about to hire someone to manage their profiles. And understandably, they might be afraid when random or strange person is going to work as themselves. So what would you advise in such situations? This is a very important question.

And honestly, people actually struggle with it. Founders actually struggle with it. A lot of people think that a strategist or ghostwriting means someone else pretending to be you. But that's not how it is. A good ghostwriter or good strategist doesn't replace your voice or tone, you know. They actually refine it rather. They are kind of your mirror that actually helps you see your ideas more clearly. And you as a founder already have stories.

You have clients wins. You have the failures. You have the lessons learned and behind the scene movements. But you're busy running the business and you don't have the time to turn those into laying posts. You either do don't have the idea how to do that because that is not your work. That is not your background. So that's where good professional LinkedIn strategist and ghostwriter comes in. You can share your voice notes.

You can share your quick thoughts, maybe even random one-liners. And they will help you turn that content that sounds exactly like you. But it will be sharper, it will be clearer and easy for others to understand. like they need to understand in the right language. And what's important is you should always stay involved with the strategist. Your audience follows you because of your perspective, not because of the perfect grammar or fancy hooks that they say. But when you work with a ghostwriter,

don't hand off your voice. You have to co-create it. So you have to bring in your ideas. You bring in your words. but the brand is built together and that's how founders should approach taking support from LinkedIn professionals after all you have to look after your business

and things that you can delegate you already do in your business this is also a thing that you can delegate and get very good results in the long term. I agree and I think sometimes people think that they can manage everything but understandably have only

so much hours during the day. And if you are focusing on business, you want to have some life outside, just easier, faster, and more efficient to let someone a professional do it for you and help you with that. Of course, they do not have the time to understand, learn and hit and trial and all of that.

And they shouldn't do that because their work is to, you know, maintain the business, scale the business, expand it and not just write LinkedIn post. When professionals can do that and they can hire and delegate that. I think it is a smart strategy rather. Yep, I agree.

And it saves you time headache and I don't know what else later on. And Asta, if there are people who might still not be convinced that it's worth building your personal brand or they think it's not worth it at all, do you think there's a future for it or how would you convince them that's actually worth building one? It is very, very important. You might have seen different founders, entrepreneurs, be it like big names like Ellen Musk, big names like Bill Gates, right? They are not there just because, of course, they have built something, but they have also talked about it. You can see, you can search them and you find hundreds and thousands of videos of them. Pictures, of course, others can take it, but they have talked about things. They have talked about their values, their principles themselves,

what they have built and what not, right? So basically they have done the personal branding for themselves. So it's not something new. People have done it and they can see a long-term effect. Steve Jobs will see the effect of that, right? Ellen Musk, even if he puts out one tweet, the whole world sees it, right? Everyone, the dynamics of even stock market changes like that. So that is personal branding.

and basically you have to share your story. It has a huge ripple effect when you share your story. It helps you in hiring. It helps you in getting partnerships. It can help you in a lot of things. If you start as a founder first, I'll talk about hiring, right? Or when you have a strong personal brand, you are not just a name somewhere on LinkedIn or you just have a LinkedIn provide.

You become someone people actually know already. For example, I've seen founders who share their insights and just, journeys on LinkedIn, they attract top talent because potential hires feel aligned with their vision and their values. They are not just applying for a random job. Just seeing the description. They are drawn to the person behind the brand. Right now, I have a person's name. His name is Mahadi, if you know. He's from Dubai, right? I see him talking about his culture, talking about his mindset, even sharing WhatsApp chat screenshots of their team, how they interact, they motivate and fire each other. They celebrate the wins. I love that guy. Right. And he was on Instagram already

getting viral. Now they are on LinkedIn. They are getting on YouTube and everywhere. And they are doing great. Right. And even if they put one story like, I'm going to hire. I am hiring everybody. Right. He said that. I'm hiring everybody. And they had loads of, loads of people applying for them. So this is what it happens. Right. Apart from that, you can get. partnerships because you already have done the half of the work that is building trust. The personal brand is a trust builder when other businesses or entrepreneurs see you constantly sharing value, valuable content or showing up authentically and engaging thoughtfully, they are more likely to want to collaborate with you because of your consistency and values and principles.

They know what you stand for and that makes a partnership conversations very smoother and you know, more genuine, better than getting to know each other from scratch. They already know things about you. I agree completely with all you, Seth. I think another thing that can help founders build their personal brands is getting sales. Right. I work with entrepreneurs who have landing significant sales because their content had already been, you know, already built a relationship with them.

So by the time someone reaches out, they feel like they don't. know you and that makes the sales process warmer and more natural. So basically personal branding is like the foundation that helps in hiring, partnership, sales. It's all about being known for who you truly are, the value you bring, your purpose, your why, and that in turn open doors for opportunities, basically. The world is your oyster, basically, if I may say that. Exactly. I completely agree. And I think sometimes people might feel like that it's late to start, you know, showing up on LinkedIn, building personal brand, which if you think it's late today, it's still better than if you joined later or if you didn't join at all.

So if someone tells you that, oh, Astha, is it late to join? What's your answer to something like that? I would say that's rubbish. Do not think like that. Definitely. Because, you see, there are, I think there was a number, there was a start. There are one billion of people who have LinkedIn account, right? And only 1% of people actually creating content, just 1%.

The people you actually see are just 1%. And the 99% of them, they either are not active, they either just scroll or they just consume passively, right? So you don't have to worry about that. You do not have to overthink. Rather just start your journey because it is very important especially in this creator economy especially in this economy

you have to build your name if you want to grow of course that is good if you want to work in a corporate job have a 9 to 5 job and that is fine as well that is great but if you want to build your name

if you want to grow you have to build your personal brand there are creators on Instagram on YouTube on LinkedIn people talk about themselves and you also need to talk about yourself. If you are interested in, you know, for starters,

maybe if you're okay, sharing your pictures and text, if you're good at writing, you can try out definitely. And for a professional thing, you can try out LinkedIn. If you are more comfortable with the videos, pictures, editing, you want to go that way, Instagram is for that. If you want a long-term thing, you can opt for YouTube as well. So it's about, I think it's about just starting out. It is very important if you really want to keep growing,

if you want to have more opportunities coming your way, if you want founders, companies, HRs to see you, or do you want to build your name? Because personally, if I talk about it, I wanted to build my name. I wanted people to know my name that, you know, this is this person and this is who creates brand and she has built for herself. So that is why I am on LinkedIn right now. I keep talking about different aspects of my personal professional

or whatever is happening in the world related to my industry. But also I'm going to Instagram now. Right. I'm still in the phase that I have closed account right now and I'm just testing with those small sample of people who are my friends. Right? The stories, the post and all of that. Once I'm confident after like four or five weeks,

I know that I'll be. out there and I will have the benefit and people will see me and I will get opportunities, collaboration opportunities, clients and all of that. So you have to, you know, start to grow. Don't be very comfortable in one place. Start now. People are there but you just have to see your personal growth. Don't see others. They'll keep going. You have to see yourself. Start today. I agree and I support the message. I think. it comes back to what we discussed before as well that it's a long game that you need to keep showing up

but to be realistic it's not always easy to show up sometimes you are more enthusiastic sometimes less so when you've got moments like this if you have moments like this what helps you to keep showing up even if you don't feel like it? I have a very clear vision I have a very strong why and that is why I keep coming again and again

I do not back out. I manage my time accordingly so that I know. For example, the why could be anything, right? I want to help people. I want to build my brand. I want to help people. I want my name on top. That is my why.

And for that, what do you have to do every day, every hour? So I manage my time accordingly. So basically, when you know your goal, when you know your why, things kind of fall in place, right? Why you do what you do and what are the things that you need to do. For example, I aim to have one lack of followers, right? What are the things that I'll be doing? I have my goal, right?

I will engage every day. I will post every day. I will post quality things. I will network with people. So kind of reverse engineer instead of doing something on and on. And then reaching a point, you have to understand the goal. and then reverse engineering, what are the things to do? And it is very hard to be honest, to be very consistent every day.

And that is why what I do is I batch create content. I consume every day and I save the posts that I want to talk about, my opinions, I keep the draft so that it's not very heavy on me on a Saturday. I keep Saturday and Sundays one time, at least three hours of the content time, that I can batch out so that I know the whole week I am free. I don't have to worry about it. So it is very hard, I know, but once you start doing it and you find, you manage your time and you find easier ways to do it,

it becomes, it definitely becomes easier. It does. I like it and agree. Find systems and processes that help you to make it easier. And what's also very important, try to just somehow enjoy it because it makes it easier. enjoying is very important. If you won't enjoy it, people will actually understand that. And it won't be sustainable for you.

You have to enjoy the process. You don't have to just reach the goal. You have to enjoy the process. And you will, if that is of your interest. I mean, I really enjoy my time. I really enjoy talking to the clients, the founders, the answer. They are so mature. Oh, my God.

I get to learn so much of so many things with them, you know. And when people actually say the founders, actually say that, you know, they compliment like Asa you, they have complimented like Asa, you are my advisor, you know, you are not someone I have, you are not a service provider, you are my advisor. And those kind of things, it actually kind of brings in confidence that you never knew you had, right? Those kind of things. And I think you need to enjoy your process and I even have a swipe file, you know, whenever I feel low, I go to that and I see, I. I. I've taken screenshots when people have actually said good things about me.

I've saved those screenshots. Whenever I feel low or, you know, kind of confused, I go to that. I see that there must be some reason that they have told me this. I have potential you can do this and you have been doing this. This is what, you know, you have to talk to yourself. You have to keep that mindset to keep going. That is true. And I like it because, of course, all of us sometimes feel half-doubted or even imposter

syndrome. So something like that, I think it's a great advice. Absolutely. Absolutely. At whatever stage you are in, you can get imposter syndrome. And you have to have things ready so that you kind of dismisses that thoughts, right? So you have to do that with your brain. And Astha, just as we will be approaching the end soon, I like to ask a few kind of lighter questions. So what is it that you like to do in your free time or, What are some of your hobbies? Well, I like to...

Nowadays, what I've been doing is just, you know, I have some books, for example, there is a book, this is Alex Famosi books, 100 million offers. I kind of am really this as well. Yeah, I have certain books. How is it? How is the book? I've just started reading it, but I think it's quite good. I mean, it gives you things that you already know,

kind of forgotten and it is quite step by step. I think it's quite good but it's been just a few pages that I've read but I'm going to read it. I think apart from that, self-help books, I really like to read self-help books whenever I can. I try a book just to skim books in one go because I don't get time other than that. I think singing is something I really like painting. There's different things I keep doing, you know, exploring. talented person. And with some self-help books, have you got any other you'd recommend or those that were impactful to you? Self-help, I think it's very common, but I think it's very helpful atomic habits. It's very common, but it's very helpful. It tells you that whatever

small things or my new things or, you know, little time you take to do different things, how it impacts you. Right. So it is very, it is quite good. You should read it. I agree. I think that's the book that everyone should read. It's so helpful, such a good one, and I heard it recommend it so many times as well. Yeah, yeah. There are many, I can't think of the names, but I have full rack of books, self-help books. Then can you tell us if you've got any plans for the future or any goals and you would like to share with us or what we can expect from you maybe in the future? Of course, of course. what I am planning to do is right now

I am quite active on LinkedIn as I told you I am going to go active on Instagram as well I am still trying to because I have been an introvert type of person but I understood that I like to

talk to like minded people more and that is why I never talked to other people around me so I'm just kind of understanding the dynamics of Instagram and how I can adapt to it. I'll be soon keeping my account open. I'll be doing that. So we'll follow each other there as well. Apart from that, I think on LinkedIn, I have 53,000 of followers. And I say that metrics do not

really matter, but I really want myself to touch one lack of followers soon. That is why I'm very consistent. Let's hope. I think apart from that, I think I'm good on the part wherein I have a good team. I have good clients and I think this is what I'm looking for myself and I am also increasing the team. So if there's anyone ghostwriters who wants to work on profile, if they want to reach out to me, of course, I'm there. I'm there for them. Yep, sounds good. And we discussed it, but can you summarize where people can find you, follow you and promote any of your services? For now, you can follow me on LinkedIn from the name Astha Sharma. And you can DM me, you can connect with me, ask your query, you want to connect with me.

If you want to work with me, welcome, most welcome. And then very last question is that if there is something that I should have asked you and did not, or any things we would like to share before we finish? I think that's it. I think we have covered everything. I think we have covered everything. Just one thing that I keep telling people is, you know, just be authentic. Just be authentic.

Actually, they are two things. Just be authentic. And do not use AI that much that we are using. Because they have been posts. There have been comments that people have been using AI 100% AI. So what I've started doing is I don't want to comment back. Right. So even on post, I am not commenting because they are all AI.

And I don't know if the other person would read my comment. So it'll be a waste of my time. It's not about just getting, you know, engaging on theirs and we will engage on ours. It's about authenticity. It's a LinkedIn is a networking platform. I want to read your thoughts. I want to know your thoughts about you and all of that. So you better tell me your story instead of AI telling me your story.

I think that's that. Just be authentic. It's very, very important. I don't know what to say because that's something that I feel like I keep telling all the time as well. Yet people probably focus more on quantity over quality. And with AI, as you say, I also see comments and I'm like, I'm sorry, but I don't know what to reply to this. And after some time, you just don't want to waste your time by replying to such stuff. Right.

I think I've heard this somewhere or read this somewhere that LinkedIn is taking steps to actually kind of capture that AI content, whoever writes it, and they will do something about it. because in the long term it won't work because LinkedIn and LinkedIn people can also see what's happening right so there needs to be and people like us who actually write by themselves right who actually takes out time takes out that mental effort and all of that and who have been doing it since 2020 and earlier it's not fair to them so i think this will be you know taken care of by LinkedIn very soon. So it's better you start writing by yourself, share your own thoughts. It'll be better.

It'll be good. I like it and I would only support this. It's a good one. It was a good message to finish with Asta. I want to say again, thank you. It was great to meet you outside of LinkedIn. I really enjoyed it. You shared some great value and keep up

doing the great work and I will keep following and supporting so thank you for our time. Thank you so much. It would great having you, having to talk with you here. I had a great time. Thank you so much. Thanks for listening to Produce by with Tomen. Check the show notes for all the links. And don't forget to subscribe, like and share your feedback. Speak soon.