Hala Taha: How to Turn Social Media Visibility Into a Revenue Engine | Marketing
00:00It's probably the best decision I ever made in my life was to really just get started on LinkedIn.Definitely the most thing that I'm like, wow, I'm so thankful that I did that when everybody kind of rolled their eyes at me and that I just showed up every day and built it brick by brick.You cannot scale to the elite level where like you are a household name.People know you. You're getting paid six figures to speak. Like you cannot scale to that without a team.Your brand enables you to get paid more. I was able to charge like the upper upper upper limit.of what somebody would pay for their social and podcast.Because I had the social proof.I'm really scared for young people in terms of like their inability to actually acquire skills.
00:40If you can acquire your skills online, I feel like that is the way to future prove yourself.What's up, Yap Bam?A little while ago, I joined Courtney Johnson as a guest on her show Built in Public Podcast.And we had such an incredible conversation that I knew I had to share it right here on our feed.Usually I'm the one in the hostee grilling entrepreneurs about how they built abusinesses. But this time around, Courtney flipped the script on me and we talked about how I grewmy personal brand and built Yap Media from the ground up. Now, I had an absolute blast recordingwith Courtney. She's one of my friends in Austin, one of my new friends. And this combo gives a really
01:16cool behind the scenes look into my own story that I don't always get to share. I don't alwaysfeel comfortable to share. So you guys are going to like it. Sit back, relax, and enjoy this specialcrossover episode with Courtney Johnson. Welcome to Built in Public. II'm your host, Courtney Johnson.I've been a full-time content creatorand a personal brand strategist for seven yearsand I've really built my career sharing the process,not just the outcomes of personal brand.
01:40Built in public is about what it actually looks liketo build a brand, a business,and to build real leverage in the creator economy.We're talking strategy, systems, audience growth, monetization,and that uncomfortable middle ground between I have an ideaand this is actually working.I'll be sharing what I'm testing, what's working, what's not,And I'm gonna be bringing on people who are building their careers and companies out loud, too.
02:03If you want honest conversations, practical insight, and zero BS, you are in the right place.Let's build in public.Today, I'm sitting down with Hala Taha.Hala built one of the biggest podcasts in the entire world.It's called Young and Profiting.She built it completely from scratch without industry backing and turned it into a major, major, multi-million dollar media company.Hala is a founder of Yap Media, a LinkedIn Top Voice, and she's someone who has,built her brand by consistently showing up, taking up space, and owning her voice in rooms
02:34where she wasn't always expected.Paula has grown an audience of millions, interviewed some of the biggest names in business.But what's most interesting is how intentionally she's built both influence and infrastructureat the same time.So today we're talking about what it looks like to actually build authority, to scale yourplatform, and to create opportunities instead of waiting for them.Hey, Hola.Hey, Courtney.
02:57Welcome to the pod.I'm happy you're here. I'm happy to be here too. We just had a great conversation. We're doing a little like swap cast situation today. We're here all day together. We're here all day. We're spending the day at the studio. And I want to start talking about personal brand. What is your personal brand origin story? Like how did you start?Well, I feel like I've been trying to make it online since I was literally like 18. Like I was so early to the game. How did you know? Like how did you know that?this was a thing. Well, I started my career in radio and I worked at Hot 97. I was Angie Martinez'sassistant for like three years who was like the voice of New York at the time. This is like over 10 yearsago. And I was really interested in radio and I was really interested in this like new likeinfluencer world. But at that time there was no word called influencer. You know, nobody was really likefamous online yet. And I was kind of like really early to it. So I was kind of like really early to it.
03:58I actually started a blog when I was like 24 or something called the sorority of hip hop after my radio days.And I had these like online radio shows before podcasts were even a thing.And so like I started out like super young just trying to make it online.And I was kind of like too early.Like my biggest platform was like Twitter and I had like 6,000 followers.But like that was a lot back then.You know, I had a YouTube channel that had a couple thousand subscribers.And like that was super cool back then because nobody like there was no.
04:28concept of like an influencer with millions of followers. So I just really wanted to be visible online andtry to like experiment with the internet. So I was starting early on. Now, the first like big break I had,I think was LinkedIn. So in 2018 when I started my first like real podcast like young andprofiting, that's like a top 100 podcast today, I started in 2018 and I started posting about my journeyof becoming a podcaster and interviewing all these cool people on LinkedIn. And that's theIt's when I first like really started establishing a brand where people knew me and I had some sort of influence and audience. Yeah. So you, yeah, a lot of our listeners are like kind of in that cringe phase. Yeah.Yeah. Feeling cringe of posting or maybe around a certain topic. Did you have that when you were starting? I didn't have any reservations about what people thought about me because I was so used to putting myself online and so used to kind of peers or family.looking down upon that or thinking that, like, you know, I was like the black sheep or that it was
05:33cringeworthy. So I just like had the confidence to start posting online and didn't really feellike it was wrong to post online or that I would get in trouble to post online. I knew that that wassomething that I really wanted and wanted to figure out. So I didn't have a lot of like,cringiness related to posting online. Yeah. Your consistency is really impressive. I mean, you've beenonline for like 10 plus years consistently consistently posting how did you maintain that consistencyI mean that's really impressive I have to say I didn't do it alone I'm somebody who always recruits ateam when I first started my podcast two months into it I had 10 volunteers in a Slack channelI don't even like you know I have a 10 person team that runs my social media now and you know you need arms and
06:26as you grow a brand, as you as you grow a business, you can't think that you're going to keep doingthe same things you were doing 10 years ago and that you can, you know, post every post yourself.At some point, you need to scale with systems and a team, right? So I've always been of this mentalityof like having people support me and I've never been shy to ask for help, even if they wereinterns or volunteers, especially when I wasn't making any money, I would literally put out posts like,hey, if you want to learn how to post on social media, you know, come join my, my movements.for Young and Profiting Podcast.And I would just train people how to support me in my DMs,
07:01how to support me with my website,how to support me editing videos and posting online.And I basically would just recruit teams to help meuntil I actually had a business where I started paying peopleto help me post online and become more visible.So I'm not really afraid of asking for support.And I think that was a big help.Yeah, I think interns is interesting too.
07:22Like a lot of people have to take an internshipto finish a certain course.or like a completion or learn a certain skill.And that can be a huge win-win.I love that.I love what you're positioning it as because it is a win-win.It's like your train, like you're going out of your way to give this person trainingthat they would otherwise pay a mentor for or pay a course for that you're giving for free.
07:43In exchange, they're helping you with content.That's a great place to start.Yeah.So whenever I had any sort of like free labor, like a lot of people will give me crap aboutthis.Like I'll say in an interview, like I had free interns work for me for two years.and people will be like, how dare you?How dare you exploit people?
08:00When literally, if you talk to those people, they'll be like,Hala taught me everything if it wasn't for HALA.Like, you know, I was able to get ex-career.Some of these people have equity in my business nowand our leaders and business partners with me, you know,eight years later, right?So there's so much opportunity in taking an internship.I myself interned for free at Hott 97 for three years
08:19under Angie Martinez and learned so much.I'm literally making millions of the skillsthat I learned from Angie Martinez now.And so I really am a believer of doing free work if you are learning something in exchange.And when it came to these interns, you know, as soon as I learned something really, like, valuable and they were really good at it, I wouldn't have them keep doing the same thing.That's exploiting their labor.I would say, okay, now train that to the next person and let me teach you something new.And as long as you're able to keep teaching them, I feel like then it's like a win-win situation.
08:52As soon as you're not teaching them anymore, just getting work from them, then you've got to pay them.Yeah, this is like the perfect level of spicy topic. I love to talk about here.Yeah, I remember when I was in college, Gary V had this video that I saw, and it was tips for college students.I was watching this YouTube video. I'm like, who's this Gary Vee guy? And one of his tips for college students was, like, don't be afraid to take on free work.Like, go seek out free work from people you admire. And at the time, I was like, that's such bullshit.I am paying for all this shit. I'm going into debt. Like, why would I take on free work? Fuck you, Gary V. I was like, I hate this dude. Yeah. Then I got an opportunity to work for, to take on a couple of projects for free. And I was like, okay, I'm going to do them. Oh, my God, I learned way more than I would have even in a class. And I was like, oh, I'm sorry, Gary V. So if I ever meet him, I'm going to tell him that story. And you got to start somewhere, right? If you're, if I'm looking for somebody that I'm going to pay to do something, I want you to already have the skills. Right.I want you to, you know, do a better job than I could do myself.Yeah.
09:56But if I hire somebody for free or if I have somebody for free working or for a stipend, you know, now I have a company and we give out stipends to interns, you know, so we're still, we're paying them, but just not as much as a full-time role.It's like, I'm going to have more leeway.I'm going to, like, take my time with you and give you, like, that attention.And in return, not have to pay as much as a regular employee because you don't have the skills that warrants compensation for a regular employee.Hey, young improfitors. You know, hiring reminds me a little bit of dating. You can get a lot of potentialcandidates, but you still might not find your right match. And when I'm hiring at Yap Media, I don't have time to justhope the right person sees our job posts. And indeed, sponsor jobs helps me get in front of the right people.Sponsor jobs boost your job posts and search results so you can reach the people who actually help your
10:47business thrive. Plus, you only pay for results. Spend less time searching and more timeactually interviewing candidates who check all of your boxes.Less stress, less time, more results.When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed sponsor jobs.And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help give your job the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast.Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast young and profiting.That's Indeed.com slash podcast.Terms and conditions apply.
11:27Need the right hire fast?Then this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs.Yeah, fam, you know October hits different.The season shifts.And suddenly, when your alarm goes off in the morning,your body's like, absolutely not.But when you have the business and a million decisions waiting for you,you cannot start the day already feeling behind.
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12:16go to drinkag1.com slash profiting,and for a limited time, get AIDS.free immune support bundle, including a bottle of omega-3 fish oil and a bottle of vitaminD3K2 with your first subscription order of AG1 NextGen or AG1 Pro. That's drink AG1.comprofiting. Drink AG1.com slash profiting. What's up, Yap Fam? You guys know we love reading on thisshow. So I'm always excited when I find a book I genuinely think is worth sharing. Life at the speed ofPlay. Launch products people love by Mark Pinkus is one of those books. Mark is a legendary SiliconValley entrepreneur and investor, and this fast-paced 170-page book is his playbook for testing
13:04ideas quickly, navigating uncertainty, and figuring out what's actually worth pursuing.One of my favorite concepts is what he calls the abyss, those moments when you feel stuckor unsure of what's next. Instead of fearing uncertainty, he shows you how to use it as a tool fordiscovery. Right now, Mark is doing a buy one get one offer for Yap listeners. Go to getmark'sbook.comslash yap, buy one copy for $32 and get a second copy free. So you can keep one for yourself and givethe second to a friend, future co-founder, or someone who needs a little push. Another way when you'restarting out, you can reduce your labor costs is doing trades. Like I used to help people. Like I would runsomeone's social media for like a month in exchange, they would build my website. I would,
13:51you know, give someone a social media audit. They would give me a like tax or shipping audit orsomething. So I'm curious, did you facilitate any of those trades early on? I loved trading.But I would trade to actually grow my audience. So I would trade audiences. So my first point ofleverage was LinkedIn. So I remember when I first started posting on LinkedIn, I have like29,000 followers now. The first year I posted on LinkedIn, I had like 60,000 followers. And this was yearsago. So that was like a pretty big following. And suddenly I could call myself like the biggest podcaster on LinkedIn, you know, it's competing with like Jay Shetty and all these other huge podcasters, but just on the LinkedIn platform. So I'd reach out to all the different podcast tools that I knew like Riverside, Shore. I'd reach out to all the different apps, CastBox, Player FM Podbean, all my hosting, like all the different hosting providers. And I'd say like, hey, I'm the biggest podcaster on LinkedIn. I will post about your app, your earshops. You. Youemail newsletter, your website, in exchange for you promoting me on your website, promoting me in yourapp, featuring me here. And then I got all these different features and it helped my podcast grow.
14:59And in return, I posted about their platform on LinkedIn. And so a lot of my growth strategieshave to do with trades, even just this podcast swap, for example, like I'll go on your podcast,you'll go on my podcast and we'll trade. So I really like to trade to grow my platform specifically.That is so smart. So for all of our listeners, maybe they're going to do a trade with a newsletter, maybe a podcast, maybe some sort of industry resource in order to grow. That is so incredibly smart. I love that cheat code.Love. What other things did you do early on that maybe you get a little flack for?What are some of the things that I did early on that I get flack for? I think, you know, when I first started posting on LinkedIn,and I started posting about my podcast, people would be like, this is not the place to talk about this on LinkedIn.Why?
15:52Because even back then, it was like LinkedIn is strictly just professional LinkedIn.So back then, eight years ago, when I started posting on LinkedIn, it was so unheard of to like talk about something else other than your job on LinkedIn.And so people would literally be like, what do you think you're trying to do?Why are you posting this on a professional platform?And that's literally the thing that got me noticed and got me popular on LinkedIn.All the comments of people being like, what are you doing?Yeah.So, like, now I get, sometimes I get flack for, like, the way I dress.
16:20Like, I'm not dressed professionally enough for LinkedIn.Or even the topics that I talk about, people will say, oh, that's not appropriate for LinkedIn.And I'm like, well, there's no rules.Yeah, there's literally no rules.Like, so who are you to say that that's not okay?I think something else that I've gotten flack for is, like, the concept of, like, engagement pods on LinkedIn.Right?So I really understand how the algorithm works.
16:43and in the first 90 minutes of posting,you really need to have an influx of engagement.And so with my, like, students or clients,I've got all these different engagement podswhere basically, like, if you post something that day,everybody's required to, like, like and comment on the post.And some people are like, well, you know, that's cheating.It's totally within LinkedIn's terms of service.
17:07It's totally fine.It's totally fine.Like LinkedIn likes it.They want you to take people from Slack or what,app or Facebook or wherever and bring them on to LinkedIn, right? So they actually don't mind that at all,and it helps you with the algorithm. And when you bring people together that are like-minded,that all want to win on LinkedIn, you end up creating a community that supports each otherthat might, you know, go to conferences together, might hop on calls together and share tips
17:34and tricks, and you guys end up learning faster, and you created a peer group. So I feel likethere's so many reasons why engagement pods are awesome.I'm just totally against like AI bought fake engagement pods.But as long as it's all real people.And especially if you like niche down where like you're all like in real estate or something supporting each other, there's so many gains that can happen with that.I remember when I first started on LinkedIn, I found every podcaster that was popular on LinkedIn.And I recruited them into an engagement pod.And then we had monthly calls and started sharing strategies.
18:10And a lot of those podcasters blew up.And we're still friends to this day. And we've done, you know, speaking engagements together and helped each other grow. So it's like I feel like it's a really great strategy that a lot of people unknowingly, like they don't understand the benefits of it and they just look at it as cheating. Yeah. I have an engagement pod. Like my content club is an engagement pod. Like at the end of every single session, we go and we comment and we like each other's post. And it gives it a nice initial boost. But I, yeah, it's interesting. I feel like that's a question. I get a lot.So when you started out, you did some trades in order to grow, you did some engagement pods, and you had some interns, people that you were training.What does your team look like now that you're profitable?I have such a big team.Like specifically when it comes to content.Okay.Like your personal brand.
19:01So I have 60 people all around the world that work at EAP Media.So I have a very large team.My team specifically is broken out to I have a social media team.I have a production team.And I also have a guest outreach team that is just specifically to reach out to guests.So my social team, I've got a social lead.I've got engagement specialists who are real people who manage my DMs and comments.And I've got a copywriter and basically my lead, Jaden, who kind of just manages like the entire strategy.
19:32I have a content marketing support now to help me with all my webinars and presentations because I do a ton of free training, webinars,courses. I'm launching a new school program that's going to require a lot of training andcourses and materials like that. So I've got a content, a marketer. On the podcast side,I've got an executive producer, researcher, and, you know, editors, video editors, all thatstuff. I've got a pretty large team. And I think the reason why I was able to get such alarge team is because I started a social media podcast agency. So I essentially am a client.And so I'm our biggest client at the company, essentially.Mm-hmm.
20:14Yeah.So for somebody that's like, you know, they're starting out, they're consistent on social media,they're starting to optimize, they're building their personal brand, and they want to maketheir first hire or start to delegate.What would that first step be?My first hire was a video editor.Mm-hmm.And I think that's a really common path, especially if you're a creator, right?
20:33Video editing is extremely time-consuming.It's extremely hard to get good at.And unless you want to be an influencer in the video.editing space, there's like no reason for you to really like learn that skill. So I'd say like video editing,audio editing was another thing that I quickly outsourced. The last thing you actually want to outsourceis your original thought content. So the most thing that I spend my time on now, which,you know, sometimes is mind blowing, especially to new people in the organization. The most things thatI spend my time on is like webinar content and like the stuff that I teach and train, which is like
21:09my original thought and frameworks.Because nobody else can really replicate that.And I don't really feel comfortable teaching somebody else's material, right?So that's the thing that I spend my most time on is like research for my interviews,content for my webinars.And then like, you know, sales, of course, and offers, offer development, that kind of stuff.But everything else I just like try to outsource.Somebody else who's just starting online, I would say somebody to help with like DMs
21:35and like just like maintaining leads and things like that.Yeah. So video editor, maybe D.Ns. I would also say like whatever you hate to do. Like if you love video editing, like by all means, keep video editing. If you hate it, like what part of social media, you know, I would encourage the listeners to think what part of social media is the most like, you know, is it the graphic design? Is it the writing, the captions? Is it the actual scheduling? Yeah. Is it like the tiny things of like tagging the location and the people? Like, like, what is it?is the most annoying thing and start there. And I think a lot of people might think it's likeinaccessible or really hard. They're like, I don't have the money to hire someone full time.Like, what would it look like for our audience to make that first hire of a video editor?Like, I really want them to understand that it can be accessible. It can be accessible.I remember when I first started with everything, I had no money. I was just in corporate.So first of all, we just talked about it, interns, free interns.
22:39volunteers, people are scared to ask for help and people feel like it's cringy.If you learned something, if let's say you're creating online, you have some sort of afollowing, you have some sort of an offer, you can video edit, you can teach those skills tosomebody else who's like, you know, maybe younger than you.And they'll be happy to help for free.So like, number one, maybe there's free resources.Maybe it's your niece or nephew or something like that or cousin, right?So start there first.
23:08Number two is international resources, right? So you can get somebody part-time for like 400 bucks a month overseas. India, Philippines. They also have like different platforms. I remember when I first started, I got signed up with like video husky. And their whole thing was like unlimited videos. And so I started doing working with them. And then they actually fired me as a client. And they're like, holla, like you're doing too many videos. You need to like your own team.And I thought, okay, this was supposed to be unlimited video, $700 a month.Like, I'm just doing what you told me.So then I went on LinkedIn and I'm like, who works at Video Husky?And I messaged one of the people.And I was like, hey, I see that you're working at Video Husky.How much money are they paying you a month?I was paying them $700 a month to get like 10 videos a month.
24:01And they told me that was too much.She was like, oh, I make $5.45 a month.And I was like, cool, I'll pay you $6.45.and worked for me full time.And she was my first hire.And then I got like, you know,a hundred videos a month out of herbecause she was working full time
24:16instead of like on 10 different clientsat video husky.And so then I started recruiting more video editorsthat way, finding them on Upwork,then finding them on LinkedIn and DMing themand basically recruiting them to my team.So if you get scrappy,you can do things like that.
24:30And you also don't necessarily need somebody full time.You can negotiate with somebody who has video editing skills overseasand say like, hey, I need 10 videos a month.can you do it for 50 bucks a video, you know, and you can negotiate with folks that way within your budget.Totally. That's so helpful.What's up, Yap, fam? You guys know we love reading on this show. So I'm always excited when I find a book I genuinely think is worth sharing.Life at the speed of play. Launch products people love by Mark Pinkus is one of those books.Mark is a legendary Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor. And this fast-paced 170-page page
25:09book is his playbook for testing ideas quickly, navigating uncertainty, and figuring out what'sactually worth pursuing. One of my favorite concepts is what he calls the abyss, those momentswhen you feel stuck or unsure of what's next. Instead of fearing uncertainty, he shows you how to use itas a tool for discovery. Right now, Mark is doing a buy one get one offer for Yap listeners.Go to getmark's book.com slash yap, buy one copy for $32 and get a second copy free.So you can keep one for yourself and give the second to a friend, future co-founder, or someone who needs a little push.What's up, Yap, gang? I recently had Gary V on the podcast, and he told me something that really stuck with me.If you've got sales DNA, you've got to be paying attention to live selling because it's one of the biggest opportunities right now online.
26:01And that really got me curious, so I checked out an app that he told me about called What Not.I jumped into a live show, and I instantly got it.The seller was showing products in real time, answer.answering questions in the chat and building a real relationship with the buyers.It didn't feel like boring shopping.It felt like a community.What Not is the largest live shopping marketplace in the country.And for entrepreneurs, the results are really hard to ignore.
26:24Sellers on What Not can sell up to 10 times more than traditional marketplaces.And the number of sellers making over a million dollars a year on the platform has doubled.So if you've got products to sell and you're looking for a new way to reach customers,search Whatnot, WHAT, NoT in the app store.Download it and you can start selling right away.That's what not in the app store.Hello, young and profitors.If you're running a business, getting website traffic is only half the battle.
26:53The real key to profiting is turning those visitors into paying customers.And I know checkout friction can quietly kill your sales.That's why I always say serious entrepreneurs build on Shopify.Shopify is a commerce platform that helps you launch and run an online store without needing to be super technical.You can build your storefront, manage your business, and make it easy for people to buy.And here's the major advantage.Shopify checkout with ShopPay converts up to 36% higher than the competition.With Black Friday coming up, now's the time to get your store ready and simplify your checkout experience.
27:29If you're ready to launch your business before Black Friday, go to Shopify.com slash profiting to start your free trial.That's Shopify.com slash profiting.Go to Shopify.com slash profiting today to hear your.your first. Yeah, I also want our listeners to really understand that you cannot scale to theelite level where, like, you are a household name. People know you. You're getting paid six figuresto speak. Like, whatever. You cannot scale to that without a team. Like, I think people think,yeah, they look at someone like Jay Shetty. Oh my God, how does he pump out so much content?He doesn't. He doesn't pump out so much content. And yeah, anyways, I just want our audience to
28:07understand, like, to get to those levels, you need a team. It is required. There'sno way around it. Oh, but I'm a hard worker, but I'm disciplined. You still cannot produce thatamount of structure. I totally agree. You need systems to scale. And sometimes, you know,everybody has their core thing that they're really good at. Sometimes the core thing you're good atis the content. And so you need to hire everybody around you so that you can actually do the content.Right. Right. And so you have, everyone's doing literally everything else. Right. So I feel like maybeit is that the content is the core thing that you do and nobody else can replicate, but you stillneed systems and teams to do everything else. So you have the time to do that. Totally. So, Hala,
28:49you're known to have, like, massive, crazy-ass guests on your podcast. Two questions. One,what's been, like, your craziest or wildest guests? And then what's your secret to getting thesebig guests on your podcast? So from the start, I had, like, a really great, um, great,process and system for guest outreach. So one of the best teams at YAPMedia and one of the oldestteams from when we were volunteers is the guest outreach team. And from that team is actually howI scaled the network where now we have like I have the number one self-improvement podcast network andwe do like six million dollars a year in sponsorships. And it's the same like core principles ofoutreach that we learned. And it's basically just email outreach. So the way that I think about
29:35getting guests is that it's a volume game. And if you keep your standards high,your guest standards will always be high. So when I first started my podcast, even though I was a nobody,I was a somebody on LinkedIn. And I was a big fish in a small pond. So I would reach out to people onLinkedIn that I wanted on my podcast and they'd see my following and, you know, they would be more inclinedto join the podcast. But even before I had any sort of following, I just shot for the stars. And I knew that if likeone person, like I could reach out to 100 people, but all I need is one person to say yes. And then oncethat one person says yes, I can then leverage your name and like, oh, and Chris Voss came on my show.Would you come on my show as well? I'm like, oh, yeah, I know Chris Voss. If he said yes, I'm going to say yes, right?
30:18And so I use that, that, you know, like really high standards and just, you know, came up with my dream wish list.And we just would follow up, follow up, follow up, and just like send outbound messages on email and then also DMs on LinkedIn.The other thing is just like really positioning my podcast well. So like anytime I hit the top of the charts,take a screenshot. Anytime I, like now I got nominated for an I Heart podcast award for Best Businessand Finance Podcasts. Now that's in my outreach letter, right? So what are the big accolades thatyou have? What are your stats? So it's like really making sure that you're positioned to try to getthese big guests to come on your show because they need something out of it as well, right? So I feel likeit's a volume game at the end of the day. If you're willing to do a hundred, a thousand reach out,
31:07you can get 20 people to say yes, even if they're big names, you'd be surprised.A lot of these big names like Gary V, for example, he wants to give back.He'll go on, like, literally really small shows because he just believes in the person he likes their, you know, he liked their pitch or whatever, and he wants to just give back.So a lot of these people also just want to give back.And that's your opportunity in.I find that a lot of people, too, just want more content for their team.Like, I've had a lot of big people on the podcast by positioning of, like,I have a beautiful studio.
31:38I'm going to give the raw files to your video team.And like any video team would love an hour of this person speaking.That's also a really great way to position it.And then also like think about the goal of these people.For example, there's an author I really love.I had them on my podcast.I knew that his goal was to get his book in front of more Gen Z.So I can say I can get your book in front of more Gen Z because this is my audience demographics.
32:04So really if you can figure out, and for all the young people listening,Like that's actually like, hey, I'll get you in front of Gen Z.It's like really, really hot right now.But I love that.So I think the referencing, like, oh, I had this person on.So you should come on is so good, especially like tailoring it to someone they probably know.Yeah.And I remember Matthew McConaughey was one of the biggest guests that I had on.
32:26And I had him on pretty early on.I was, I interviewed him in my mom's basement.Wow.Okay.So this was years ago.And my podcast wasn't that huge yet.And I remember, like, he was going.to promote his book Greenlights.
32:39And so that's another tip.It's like, are these people in promotion mode, right?Oh, yeah.Like, I'm so strict about the podcast I go on.Right now, I'm saying yes to everything to promote my book.Yeah.Like every podcast.People are more likely to go on a podcast if they're promoting a book.
32:53So it's like go on, you can go on Penguin, Simon & Shoes, or whatever, and see whatare their upcoming releases and then target those people, right?All those people are like ready to do interviews.And a lot of people, they don't want to do any interviews when they're like, like,not in promotion, but they want to save it for when they have something big going on.So like what movies are coming out, what shows are coming out, like depending on your niche, right?So that's one tip.The other thing is I saw what shows he was going on and they weren't like my shows more popular than them.
33:22So I remember like we had a messenger team that didn't respond.So then I came up with something scrappy and I basically was like, hey, you went on all these shows.And I took a screenshot of the charts and I showed them that my show is more popular than all these shows you went on.And I, like, circled the ones they went on and, like, showed, like, an era of my show.And I was like, I'd love for, you know, you come on, yap, like, I've got a bigger show than the shows he's going on to his PR team.Yeah.And then they said, yeah.So it's, like, basically me, like, showing them, like, hey, my show's more popular.
33:51Here's the proof.Come on my show.I also find that if you will show up to someone, too, they're more likely to say yes.I was in L.A. all last week driving around the city because people are like, y'all come on your podcast if you drive all the way down to Santa Barbara.And I'm like, okay, I'll be there, right?So, like, making it really easy for them to say yes.And also for our listeners, like, you can do this with, even if you don't have a podcast.Maybe you have an interview series.
34:18That's a three-minute interviews on your Instagram.Maybe you have a substack where you interview founders.Like, there are so many ways to do this.Have you read the book content-based networking?It's really good.It's just about how to, like, if you have an interview series, it could be a podcast, a sub-stack.It could be anything.You can get in front of anybody you want.
34:37You can start a conversation with anybody you want.So it says, like, let's say you're selling to CMOs, start an interview series with CMOs.You interview them, you turn them into your client, which I know is one of your tips is turning your guests into clients.Tell me more about that.Yeah.So this is something that I actually just like stumbled into.When I first started my podcast, I was working in corporate.And I was growing my LinkedIn.
35:01I had this podcast.The podcast grew, LinkedIn grew first.But within two years, my podcast was like a top 10 at the time, how to education podcast.And I would always like end these conversations with these incredible guests because I just told you guys about my, I always had high caliber guests and didn't like, you know, ever loan my standards.So they were really like rich, successful people that were coming on my podcast.And at the end of my show, I'd always get the same question.How did you grow your LinkedIn?How did you grow your podcast?
35:30Can you do this for me?And I'd always say, no, I'm so sorry.Like, I've got, at the time I was working at Disney.I've got this job at Disney.This is just a hobby.I literally thought I would never make money on my podcast.Why?Is it because you thought it was too obvious or too easy?
35:44I just thought it was a hobby.It was a passion project.I was never in it for the money.I literally just wanted to help people.I thought I was just like starting this movement.I had a free volunteer team.Nobody was getting paid, including me.And I just never thought that we would make money.
35:56I just thought we were going to help people and become like an online brand.At the time, there was only very few popular podcast.like Joe Rogan, Tim Ferriss, and I thought that could never be me.Meanwhile, like last year, I made $1.5 million in sponsorships on my podcast, right?So I was totally wrong.I just didn't know.I didn't know the industry.I didn't know how to monetize.
36:16So anyway, these guests would come on my show and they'd always ask me this question.How did you grow your LinkedIn?How did you grow your podcast?And I'd always just say, like, no, I'm sorry.I can't help you until COVID hit.So once COVID hit, I was working from home and I found myself with like so much more time.And I started to think about taking my first client.So Heather Monaghan came on my show.
36:37Do you know who she is?Yeah, she's also OG LinkedIn.Yeah, she's OG LinkedIn.I looked up to her so much.So when Heather Monaghan was like, hey, can you have such awesome?She loved my videos on LinkedIn.She's like, you do the best videos.And she kept after the show, even though I said, I can't help you, she kept commenting
36:55on my post and was like, teach me how to do video.Like, you know, stop being stupid.Like, you know?And so I was like,I'm not going to do your videos, but I'll teach you how to do it.So I told her, like, let's have, like, Saturday calls where I'll teach you how to edit videos and make these videos.And so I had a call with her on one Saturday.And we only ended up having, like, one training call because she turned it to my client.
37:18And basically, I showed her my Slack.I showed her my processes, how we do things, Canva, whatever.And she's like, Holly, I just took a call with Gary V's team.I can be your client or I can be his client.Let me be your first client.And at this time, we were, like, starting to be friends.So she knew I hated my job.And she was like, just, she's like, just give it a try.
37:37You have a whole, you've 20 people that work for you.Like, just give it a try.So I did it.And I remember she paid me $700 a month for her videos.That was our first client.And then the second month, I get on a call.And I actually got invited to go on this billionaire's podcast.He had like the number one private growing company in America.
37:59And at the end of the podcast, he was like, hey,you're crushing it on LinkedIn and podcasts.Like, can you do this for me?And I was like, yeah, I can.I didn't have a website.I didn't have a logo.I didn't even have a company name.Mm-hmm.
38:12And I ended up pitching him and it was a $30,000 a month retainer.Wow.And we won it.That's amazing.And then I ran his LinkedIn, his podcast, his Instagram.I blew him up like he started making tons of money on his podcast because I hadfigured out sponsorships.And then I got like the CEO of Carragold in 27,000 a month, the CEO of Weren't
38:31Hurricane.just working full-time in corporate.Wow.And six months later, after I was making like a hundred grand or more a month on my agency,I quit my job.And I started like paying everyone and hiring real employees.But yeah, it just happened super organically.Yeah, I think that really goes to show you don't need a website.
38:47You don't need a logo.And I think a mistake people make is when they're starting their company, they'restarting freelancing or whatever, they're like, I need to invest 10K on a website.And I need to invest all this on a logo.And I need to invest all this on a strategy.It's like just solve one person's problem.That's all you need to do and everything else will unfold perfectly.The first step is not your website or your name or whatever.
39:10The first step is solving that first person's problem.Yeah.And to your point, it's like the skills.It's the social proof.Like I had pre-sold them.I had pre-sold them from my brand on LinkedIn.Presold them from their experience on the podcast.So like they were already so ready networking with them, spending an hour at them
39:27and doing such a great job with the questions and,trying so hard. They're like, I want this person to work for me. You know? And so it was so easy toclose them. And then the other thing is like your brand enables you to get paid more.I was able to charge like the upper upper limit of what somebody would pay for their socialand podcast because I had the social proof. Right. And then the other thing that was really,you know, looking back is like I wouldn't have, I would have never have landed that 30,thousand dollar a month client, had I not learned how to create awesome presentations in corporate.Yeah.
40:06And present to executives and like present ideas clearly and visually, you know, pleasingin a visually pleasing way.That's why I landed the client.Yeah.Wow.That's so, so powerful and inspiring.So I love to inspire our audience to build their personal brands.And I love just to ask our guests, what is some of the craziest opportunities?
40:30that have come from your personal brand.Oh my gosh.I feel like my personal brand gave me my dream career.I feel like I was able to essentially design my perfect career with all the things thatI love to do.So right now I have like a couple different like revenue streams.I've got my podcast, which I get sponsorships for.I've got my social media and production agency, which I've really stepped outside of
40:58that business now.and I have my business partner really runs that team.But, you know, I'm like involved on the sales side of that.And then I have my podcast network where I grow and monetize like 40 other podcasts and I'mresponsible for like all the sales and marketing of the network.And so I feel like I'm literally living my dream job.I get to do my podcast, get sponsors.And my strengths are really like sales and marketing.
41:21And I get to like just do that.And I've designed like this entire career around my strengths.And everything else I've got like.like a team that supports me. And so first of all, I think my personal brand enabled me to literallyjust design my perfect dream job. And I think that's the future. I don't think that regularjobs are really going to exist the way that they have in the past. And like things are changingso fast that like everyone's going to have to be creative and think about their dream, like their dreamcareer and how do they design it through having an audience and creating content essentially
41:56because that's the only way that you can really acquire an audience.Just creating my dream job.Speaking on stages, I never thought that I'd be able to speak on.I got invited to speak at Funnel Hacking Live last year in front of 7,000 people,which is like a stage that I've like dreamed about since I started my, like, I couldn't believe it.I never thought that I'd ever get an opportunity like that.Getting pitched, we were talking about this offline, like to write my own book.Not me going out to the publishers, but them coming to me and me being like,
42:25okay, like, I guess I'm going to do this because all these book publishers want me to write a book, right?So just so many opportunities.It's probably the best decision I ever made in my life was to really just get started on LinkedIn.It's definitely the most thing that I'm like, wow, I'm so thankful that I did that when everybody kind of rolled their eyes at me and that I just showed up every day and built it brick by brick.Yeah, it gave you an inbound life where you're getting opportunities inbound and you are creating rather than how.having to be under the constructs of somebody else's role for you or somebody else's life for you.That's really, really powerful.And an audience, I think, is the biggest leverage that anybody can have right now.
43:06And I feel like if you can build an audience, you now have leverage that is so hard to replicate.And so you can't buy it.Yeah. Yeah, exactly.It's so valuable.Yeah.And it's, it's just you can unlock so many opportunities, so much potential.literally your fucking dream.Yeah.
43:28What advice would you give to someone that's like actively posting?They're building their personal brand, but they feel stuck.They feel like they're hitting a block.Like it's not progressing as it should.Maybe it's not going as fast as they should.What advice would you give them?I think really you've got to think creatively and think outside the box.So there's like a few ways that you can do this.
43:46Like how can you get in in a unique way?Because it is so hard to compete on the plot.Like if everyone's like, you know, just do reels.It's like everybody's doing reals.How are you going to stand out?I'll give, like, one example of, like, what I did.When I first started with my podcast, it was, like, Apple's the only game in town.And in my head for years, I was like, if I'm not a big podcast or on Apple, I'm a nobody.
44:10Like, you know, that was so important to me.And I would always, like, look up at, like, Jenna Coucher and Amy Porterfield and, like,how can I be as popular as them?Like, they've got 10,000 reviews and I only have 500 and, like, always comparing myself against them.And until, like, I was like, you know what?I'm going to make it.I'm going to make it no matter from the biggest podcaster on Apple or somewhere else.That's when everything started to unlock because then I became the biggest podcaster on
44:34CastBox, which is like I've like 600,000 subscribers on Cassbox, which is like the number oneAndroid app.Right?So like I like focused on like where can I win?Yeah.I became, I started posting LinkedIn live podcasts.Then I was the number one podcaster on LinkedIn.People don't automatically think like LinkedIn podcast, but guess what?
44:53I literally get paid to podcasts on LinkedIn the same way that I get paid on Apple and YouTube and whatever.I sell it as impressions to advertisers, right?So just thinking creatively, like how can you get what you want in a creative way?So it's like maybe it's early adoption on a platform.Like I'm super bullish on school because I feel like, okay, I could probably become the number one creator on school.I'd much rather focus on that than trying to become the number one creator on Instagram because that's going to be really hard.Yeah. You know what I mean? So I'm going to focus on school. That's one way. The other thing is, like, your topic. This was really eye-opening for me. I'm Palestinian. And I, you know, my brand right now is super business professional. So, like, I didn't feel comfortable, like, going all out, posting about all the political stuff that was going on. But it's an extremely hot topic that so many people are obsessed with. I started an Instagram page that literally,gets millions of views and it's my same team.
45:59It's the same people running it.And it's the topic that changed.Entrepreneurship is only going to get so far on Instagram.It's just not a hot topic that people want to like share and feel like it.It's just not a hot topic.I love it.It's my like passion.I'm going to do it forever.
46:18But there's other topics that people care about.What are the topics that people care about that you?you care about too that you can attach yourself to because that's going to do it's going to besuch a downstream experience because even if you don't have the best videos the best whatever peoplejust want to talk about that thing yeah so it's like politics are just it's just such a hot topicthere's certain topics that are just so like even like stuff like health is extremely popularand people want to talk about it like peptides everybody wants to talk about peptides so it's likewhat do people actually want to talk about and can you
46:53you attach yourself to that? Because you can always branch out and change later on. But how can youactually attach yourself to a topic that everybody wants to share and talk about? That's going tomake your life so much easier. And that to me was like just super eye-opening because I was like,damn, like maybe I should switch my topic. It would be a lot easier. Yeah, I think that's,that's really actionable because it's like what is going on in the zeitgeist of the world that youcan pull into your content. So that might be like is something is going to, is goingon with a celebrity and this celebrity is like what everyone's talking about right now like bad bunny right nowand mid-February everyone is talking about bad bunny can you make a post about bad bunny that relates to
47:34fashion because that's what you post about yeah that relates to personal brand because that's whatyou post about that relate to this or that and i've seen 500 posts about bad bunny of all differenttopic yeah i've seen like literally peptide bad bunny and i've seen fashion bad money and i've seenpolitics bad bunny literally anything but but yeah you're so right like is it politics isit news? Is it a celebrity? Is it news that's going on in your industry? Is it a certain person? Like for me,when I post about Oprah's personal brand, Sarah Blakely's personal brand, Gary V's personal brand,I'm like kind of riding the wave of people talking about Oprah at the moment, right? So, yeah,I think this is a great tip. So how our audience can implement this is think about what's in the zeitgeist
48:15around your topic or not. Yeah. And talk about that. Yeah. It's like, what's your end? What's yourend to your dream? You can't just keep doing the same thing and expectinglike something to change or somebody to like like we were talking about my podcast like something's just going tolike pluck you out and give you your dream like that's not going to happen so like what's your in what are yougoing to do differently to stand out and to get noticed and get visibility yeah and what what strengthdo you have to everybody had their own unique little strength it could be something i had a client one timewhose grandma lived on a farm with a bunch of like really weird cows and like the cow like you have togo film in front of those cows like your grandma having a farm
48:53is like your unique thing right yeah maybe it's that someone has like really beautiful hair and it alwayslooks really crazy like everybody has that unique thing for me i actually got started because my houseis like a tree a tree house has a tram like a finicular you have to ride to get to my house i was i went on itbefore oh you did yeah you did it was so scary that was fun so i like rode that for a long timeit's like oh this is like a really unique thing and for some people it might be like yeah your crazyhouse, you have a weird background, like, there's something really unique about you. So also,like, lean into that. Yeah, your story, yeah. Yeah, like, another one of my clients, like, her background,she's like this beautiful, like, like, woman. And her background was, like, really intense military
49:38and it just doesn't go together. And I'm like, you got to bring that in. Like, this was me in themilitary. And like, it just, it's like, oh, it makes you double take. Like, what? That's crazy.So culturally relevant, unique things. Love it. Yeah. Okay. One more question.What is your prediction for the future of personal brand?Oh, my God.This is a good one.What is my prediction for the future of personal brand?So I think personal brand is going to be more important than ever.
50:05AI is making it so easy to post online.But AI is, it's, you know, it can replicate what humans do, but not quite.Like people are going to crave human experience.People are going to crave real people, real stories.things that AI cannot replicate.So I think that's going to become more and more important.I also think in terms of like livelihood,because AI, I think, is going to take over a lot of entry-level jobs.
50:36I feel like the people who are going to stay in corporateare going to be like the 30-year-olds now, the 40-year-olds who have the experiencethat are going to be able to train AI agents and like lower-level AIbasically to do what they would have hired somebody younger for.So I'm really scared for young people in terms of like their inability to actually acquire skills.And I think if you can acquire your skills online and, you know, with content creation and becoming a creator entrepreneur and designing your dream career based on your passion and building your own audience and having an audience-based business, I feel like that is the way to future prove yourself, especially if you're younger.Because I do feel like AI is going to make it really difficult for people to get these entry-level jobs and kind of like grow.in their career. So it's like, again, like, how do you get what you want on your own and not having
51:28to navigate through the gatekeepers? If you want to avoid all of this, just the personal brand.Although it's helpful for personal brand too, but I love it. Yeah. Both the gatekeepers,personal brand is your, it's your golden ticket around the gatekeepers to whatever your dream is.Yeah. So beautiful. Well, hall out where can people find you and follow you? And I want to,I want you to share about your podcast course too.Yeah.So if you guys want to follow me, you can check out Young and Profiting Podcasts.It's on Apple, Spotify, CastBox, wherever you listen to your podcasts.
52:02You can also check out my new creator course on school.So if you want to check it out, it's on school.So basically what I'm doing is a community on school where I give exclusive webinars on how to scale, build a creator-led business.Oh, love that. So beyond podcasts.Beyond podcast. So it would be like how to grow on LinkedIn, podcast, YouTube, and how to monetize it all.Oh, that's so great. Yeah. Amazing. Well, thank you, Hala. Yeah, this is so awesome. Thanks, Courtney.I do have an ask for you guys before we go. If this podcast has benefited you in any way, if you have gotten a tip that you've really loved and you've implemented it, if it's given you some sort of inspiration, if it's given you some sort of motivation or clarity. My ask is that you leave a five-starreview. I would appreciate it so much. It helps spread the message. It really helps the show grow,
52:56and it helps more people get access to this information. My deepest desire is ungatekeeping shit.I want to ungate keep information. So anybody that desires to build a personal brand,to build a business, to create this success in their life and to live their dream, I want them tohave all of the information and I don't hold shit back on the show. Okay, we are not holding shit back.So in order to get this message to more people, in order to get these resources and tips to more people, your reviews go a long way.I appreciate you so much. Thank you.
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