Young and Profiting with Hala Taha - Hala Taha: I Failed Three Times Before I Found Success (Be Better Podcast)

Episode Date: October 28, 2022

Are you scared of failure or rejection? Do you hold yourself back from following your dreams because you don’t want to fail?  Hala Taha is proof that having a fear of failure is detrimental to success. After getting fired from two jobs and losing her opportunity to become a reality TV star, she focused her energy on hosting the Young and Profiting podcast, which is now a #1 Education podcast across all platforms.  Today, we are listening to her tell her story on the Be Better podcast with Donald C. Kelly, a Top 29 Salesforce Influencer. Hala and Donald discuss Hala’s background in radio and her first entrepreneurial venture, The Sorority of Hip Hop. They talk about why Young and Profiting grew so quickly and how Hala willed Jordan Harbinger of The Art of Charm to become her mentor. Hala also reveals how she leveraged LinkedIn to grow her podcast.  Topics Include: - Hala’s background in radio  - Transitioning into blogging  - Getting scouted by MTV - Quitting the entertainment industry  - Leveraging entrepreneurial skills to become an intrapreneur  - Why did Hala want to run Young and Profiting alone at first?  - Why did Young and Profiting blow up?  - Leveraging LinkedIn to grow YAP  - Landing YAP’s first client, Heather Monahan  - How did Jordan Harbinger become Hala’s mentor?  - And other topics… Hala Taha is the host of Young and Profiting Podcast, frequently ranked as a #1 Education podcast across all apps. Hala is also the CEO of YAP Media, a full-service social media and podcast marketing agency for top podcasters, celebrities, and CEOs. She is well-known for her engaged following and influence on Linkedin, and she landed the January 2021 cover of Podcast Magazine. Donald C. Kelly is the Founder and Chief Sales Evangelist of The Sales Evangelist, which aims to eliminate confusion from B2B selling so sales professionals can consistently hit their target each month. The Sales Evangelist offers instruction and courses on proven sales strategies. He hosts the Be Better podcast and The Sales Evangelist podcast.  Sponsored By: The Jordan Harbinger Show - Search for The Jordan Harbinger Show (that’s H-A-R-B-(as in boy)-I-N-(as in nancy)-G-E-R) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts Connect With Donald C. Kelly: Be Better Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/be-better-bhgre/id1611029996  The Sales Evangelist’s Website: https://thesalesevangelist.com/  The Sales Evangelist’s Podcast: https://thesalesevangelist.com/the-sales-evangelist-podcast/  Donald’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donaldckelly/  Donald’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/DonaldCKelly?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor  Donald’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/donaldckelly/?hl=en  More About Young and Profiting Download Transcripts - youngandprofiting.com   Get Sponsorship Deals - youngandprofiting.com/sponsorships Leave a Review -  ratethispodcast.com/yap Watch Videos - youtube.com/c/YoungandProfiting Follow Hala Taha LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/htaha/ Instagram - instagram.com/yapwithhala/ TikTok - tiktok.com/@yapwithhala Twitter - twitter.com/yapwithhala Learn more about YAP Media Agency Services - yapmedia.io/ Join Hala's LinkedIn Masterclass - yapmedia.io/course Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode of YAP is sponsored in part by Shopify. Shopify simplifies selling online and in-person so you can focus on successfully growing your business. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com-profiting. What's up, young improvfitters. Today on YAPP, we're replaying an interview I had on the Bbetter podcast hosted by Donald C. Kelly. In this episode, we talk all about failure. Now, guys, I only play the best guest interviews that I've done.

I do about two or three a week. And so this one's really good. We go into all my failures like getting fired from hot 97. MTV pulling the plug on my reality TV show right before it was supposed to air and not getting an opportunity. I wanted at Hewlett Packard, which ultimately led me to the biggest success of my life. Young and profiting podcast. I have to say I'm super thankful for all my notes. Rejection can be a beautiful redirection. And I'm so happy I ended up where I am today. There's no one straight past to success, young and profiter. So without further ado, here's my interview with Donald C. Kelly on the B better podcast.

How did you get started with the industry or in the business because I know this had just happened overnight? Yeah, 100%. So I started my career in radio in broadcasting. I worked at Hot 97 when I was 19 years old. I actually dropped out of college to intern for Angie Martinez, who is the voice of New York. And so I was the associate producer of her show for three years, didn't get paid a dime and just worked at the studio every day, yes.

Even worked at nights on the weekends. You name it. I would host parties with the DJs and was this, you know, little rising star at Hot 97. They were priming me to be the next Angie Martinez. And so I would do commercials on the radio. I love that job. I really fell in love with radio.

And at the same time, I would host online radio shows with the upcoming DJs on the side. That's the precursor of podcasts. So I used to have a radio show on a list radio.net, DTFRadio.net, bought a music radio.net and I had these little music shows and with other girls and DJs from hot 97 and would interview celebrities and so that's when I first started figuring out that like I really liked this space. Now I really liked this space. Now I do something totally different. I have a business podcast. It's way different.

But it's the same transferable scale. So that's what when I first fell in love with radio to answer your question. So with this idea, you built this empire essentially. What made you design? I mean, because you started doing, like you said, radio. I started going down this path. But I can, I know a lot of people who try to go down on entrepreneur path, and a lot of people are listening to this episode today. They're thinking, you know, I want to do an entrepreneur, I want to be an entrepreneur, I want to be an influencer.

I'd love to do that stuff, but I know it takes like, there's a, I'll just say here, what did you do exactly to get to that point? So when you started a radio show, how did that start, you know, making money from that stuff? You left a radio industry. Oh, it was such a long journey. And such an up and down journey, like this did not happen overnight.

So just giving you the very high level milestones. So I internet hot 97 for three years. I ended up getting fired once I asked for a paying job, right? When I put my foot down and I was like, listen, I'm working literally more than 40 hours a week. I should get paid at least minimum wage. And they're like, goodbye, Holly, you're a liability now. What? And yes, so they fired me.

And I was devastated because everybody knew, I dropped out of school for this. So all my siblings were in my school. Like it was a really big deal on my family. And I had like chose hot 97 over my family basically. And like, I, not literally, but like you know what I mean. I went against everyone's wishes. I was a black sheep as a family.

And because I loved radio so much, but then they slapped me in the face when they fired me. And all of a sudden my identity was shattered because I thought of myself as Holla from Hot 97. And I thought I was gonna, like the DJ stay there for 30 years. So I thought this was gonna be my forever career and I was gonna be the next Angie Martinez

didn't happen that way. I had to start over from scratch, but I was used to rejection. I think we don't have time to cover that today. I don't think it's today's podcast, but I'm Arabic. So like I grew up during 9-11 and so like, I got rejected left and right when I was younger

because people were racist essentially in my white town. And so I was really used to rejection at this point. So as soon as hot 97 fired me, I got fired on a Thursday by Sunday I was working on my next idea. So I went back to college but immediately after I got fired, I started this thing called the sorority of hip hop strawberry blunt.com. And I ended up going on Twitter. I had a master Twitter following from hot 97 and recruiting girls on Twitter and Craigslist. And two weeks later, I had 14 girls

in my first board meeting for the sorority of hip hop. And I had girls from deaf gym and I hard and VHW. What? Yeah, all like young girls. And we started this blog site. I had been blogging for the DJs at Hot 97 and learned how to do WordPress sites and stuff and I figured out how to build a WordPress site, start a blog, taught the other girls and we called it strawberryblunt.com, the sororityofhiphop.com,

we had two different names and we blew up within three months. We were one of the most popular hip hop and entertainment sites because I was very tech savvy and I kind of just like figured things out I figured out how to basically hack Twitter So that every time we wrote a blog we would at mention a celebrity and there'd be like, you know Within two months or one month I had 50 girls. It'd be like 50 girls tweeting Drake Drake would retweet us and we'd go viral and so my podcast blue I was sorry my blog blew up and It was just being really creative and scrappy.

And basically saying, no, I'm not going to get blackballed from this industry because then the same DJs who wouldn't pay me minimum wage, who I used to get coffee for and feed their meters and just be their little like grant worker, they sort of paying me to host parties with them. And so I was hosting all these cool parties in the city, getting shouted out on the radio more than I worked there. Angie Martinez was trying to be nice

to me again. Everybody was just like, you know, I just like skipped over my role, you know, what I mean? And just like became equals with the DJs at Han and E7. And so I did that for three years. Well, I finished, you know, got my undercut. I kept going, uh, working on strawberry ones calm and the sorority of hip hop and MTV scoured at us. So MTV scoured at us three months after I launched. They did a very small pilot, nothing happened, but I didn't care. I was like, well, it's just been three months,

what's gonna happen a year from now? Like who cares, let's keep going. But three years into it, I was kind of getting like, itchy to be like, all right, I want my big break now. You know, I had, we were hosting parties, but there was 50 girls, so many mouths to feed. I didn't quite figure out how to monetize the blog. It was such, and it was a very expensive to run.

I used to have multiple servers that I had to pay for and all this stuff to keep this blog up. Until I didn't, I was really young, first of all. So I didn't have the quite, like, the right mindset or financial acumen I hadn't gotten my MBA yet. And so I was like, just a young girl trying to figure out like this fame that like kind of dropped in my lap from me being tech savvy, right?

And so anyway, MTV scouted us a second time. And this time around they're like, this is just after Jersey Shore ended. They're like, we're gonna make you a star. Like, we signed paperwork. They signed six of the girls. We had to like go into the empty office, they got us a studio on Broadway,

they filmed us all summer, I was 25 years old, about to be the next snookie. And I was so... I was so... I was so... I was so... I was so excited. Like, I thought I had made it, so think about it.

It basically was six years in the entertainment industry of barely getting paid. I would work like side social media jobs to like get money for the website. And like so I was like always just like hustling to like keep everything afloat. And everybody like thought we were doing really well with this whole industry radio hip hop,

all smokes and mirrors. So finally, I thought I was gonna make it. MTV was gonna give me a big fat check every episode. We filmed this all summer. Like I said, got us a studio on Broadway. They must have invested, I think at was going to make it. MTV was going to give me a big fat check every episode. We filmed this all summer. Like I said, got us a studio on Broadway. They must have invested, I think, at least $300,000, if not more, into this pilot. And so I assumed everything was going to happen. And so two weeks before we were supposed to air, the producer calls me and says,

I'm so sorry, we're moving in another direction. We're not doing this, and they pull the plug. So I was devastated. So this is now times two where a gatekeeper told me no after basically working for three years, both times. So I was like, oh my god, this is obviously not for me. And the shame I felt with my immigrant parents was insane because I was like, see, told you I'm gonna be famous. It was all worth it. And they were getting proud of me too. And then I was like, see, told you I'm gonna be famous, it was all worth it.

And they were getting proud of me too. And then I was like, oh my God, I failed again. And by the way, I also was supposed to be the co-host on swaying the morning while I was working at Strawberry Blunt. Angie Martinez plugged me in with swaying the morning. And I literally was his co-host for two weeks. And then they fired.

And so three times I got rejected from radio, satellite radio, and TV. And I said, well, it looks like no one's gonna open the door for this little Palestinian girl. And by the way, I was a smart girl, so I don't think my work ethic or how smart I was, had to do with me getting Lego from any of these things, was I little vein at the time, and thought I was, had to do with me getting Lego from any of these things, was I little vein at the time

and thought I was hot shit, yes. So I was like, I think there was some things I had to learn, but I was a really ambitious smart girl. So it wasn't like my smarts or anything like that. Who knows why they didn't pick me, but they didn't, right? And so I found myself at the end of Strawberry Want getting rejected by MTV, just feeling like kind of hopeless and that I just wanted to be normal.

I wanted to make my parents proud. I wanted to get more education. I felt like how could I be successful myself and help 50 other girls become successful if I'm not even making enough money myself? If I'm not, you know, young and profiting myself, how can I expect to help other people? So I decided that I was gonna just quit

this whole entertainment thing, put it behind me. I did really bad in my undergrad. So 2.3 GPA, I was totally focused on sorority, you know, plays and hot 97, I dropped out of school temporarily. So terrible in my undergrad. So I had to do a lot of convincing to get into, I went and got my MBA. I literally had to go. I had to go. I had to go to my MIT, my alma mater. I went and got my MBA. I literally had to go.

Where'd you go? NGIT, my alma mater. I could only go there. I ended up having to beg them, telling them my whole story, and then finally, I was like, all right, we'll give you a shot. And I remember the director of the executive MBA was like, Hala, you can only stay if you get a 4.0. And I was like, that wasn't true, but she told me that.

And so I was like, I'm gonna do it it, you know, like, I got you. And I got a four point. No, I graduated number one in my class. And at the same time, I went and got an internship at Hewlett Packard. And that was my first like real corporate job. And I was getting paid 70K a year. And to me, that was a ton of money at the time. As an intern. As an intern.

As an intern. Getting my MBA. That's great, right? Yeah. So I was like so thankful for this job because first of all, my resume looked absolutely crazy. You know, intern at hot 97 and you know, president of the sorority of hip-hop. Like, I thought I was going to be so behind everybody in corporate, but I was actually so much more technically advanced than everyone.

And so I was like, this little tech-wiz kid in the marketing department, and I got promoted left and right. I was an intern, like leading teams. I was president of the Young Employee Network. I became face of the Young Employees at Hula Packard. And I essentially, like, leveraged all I took as an entrepreneur and became an entrepreneur and I really appreciate it. So this goes back to your original question when you're like entrepreneurship people are

interested in this. Honestly, I don't think I would be in a successful entrepreneur today had I not had a really great corporate experience at Hewlett Packard. I ended up working there for four years. I learned how to do power points. I learned how to do presentations. I learned how to be a professional, talk to professionals,

convince the CEO to give me money to launch the summer picnic or whatever I needed to do at HP. And it really helped me set me up for my future. And so I definitely recommend people to get many experiences. And you can jump into entrepreneurship and don't feel bad to have to go get a regular job and then jump back to entrepreneurship.

So I ended up working at Hula Packet for four years. I like really leveled up in terms of like my job title there and basically ran the marketing department by the time I was like, you know, finished my tenure there. I was there for like almost five years. And my last year at Hula Packard, I decided to go back to my love of podcasting or broadcasting, because podcasts didn't really exist before.

So this was like five years ago, I started a young and profiting four and a half years ago. And so I remember just, I didn't get some internal opportunity that I wanted. That story doesn't matter. It's just, I didn't get something that I wanted. And I thought, you know, I to go back to my dreams. I want to not only be a voice for the you know 10,000 young employees at Hula

Packard. I want to be a voice for all the young people and I feel like I can finally get back. I'm finally young and profiting. I was making over six figures. I like was a little boss and I wanted to kind of share that with the world. And I thought that I had all the knowledge to put on a podcast. I was like, I have audio editing experience. I've ran social media sites now for Fortune 50 companies. I did a thousand or 2000 blogs.

I know how to write. I can graphic design, I can video edit. Like, I'm just gonna do this by myself, right? And I thought I was gonna do it by myself because I was like, I don't wanna have a big team again. That was so much drama. You know, 50 caddy girls never again. And so I thought I was gonna do this by myself because I was like, I don't wanna have a big team again. That was so much drama, you know, 50 caddy girls never again. And so I thought I was gonna do this by myself,

but by episode two, I had my first volunteer by episode eight, I had 10 volunteers in the Slack channel. They were all super fans that reached out to me on LinkedIn wanting to help me build the show. What? That is absolutely amazing. There's so many points I have here that I'm like, I need to...

I know, I was like, I'm like, I need to... I know, I was like, let me pass. I've been talking for a while. I feel free to, you don't have to run this 20, but you could go longer if you want. Is it fun? Hold tight everyone. Let's take a quick break and hear from our sponsors. Young and profitors, do you have a brilliant business idea but you don't know how to move forward with it? Going into debt for a four-year degree isn't the only path to success.

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And then with the challenges that come when I understand some of the challenges for women in some of these male dominated industries and how you've been able to break through it to make that happen. And the things you've accomplished is just like, this is awesome. And I want everyone in our audience, all the folks listening to just kind of, you know, feel the moment here of what you've done. And it's like, you know, sometimes people just get deflated when they lose out and miss out on opportunities, you just kept going. And I'm just like, dang it, man, I'm listening to this episode every day now. I'll go and get me pumped up every day.

Thank you. Thank you. And it's funny because at the time, you know, I took a four-year hiatus from my dreams to working corporate, but I don't regret it because I learned so much. because at the time, I took a four year hiatus from my dreams to working corporate, but I don't regret it because I learned so much. But at the time, I felt like I was letting go of my dreams. But looking back, it all stacked up, all the skills stacked up and I wouldn't be who I am, what I am, how did I not have that experience?

So it's okay to kind of zigzag your way to the top. That's what I want everybody to know. And I feel that's, and it's one of the things I wrote down to entrepreneur versus entrepreneur, because I think I had that my route started off. I dabbled at some stuff in like college and try to do some more hustle. But then I told myself, you know what,

I'm gonna go to go into work in a professional world, and here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna consider that as my MBA. Just like think about that in your mind. If you go for it, because I was planning to go for one of the, you know, an MBA to one of the other schools, and I was like, you know, TSC becomes, I mean, if I, if I start up, happens,

I'll be my MBA or just go back for it. And I went in a professional world, and exactly what you said, I learned how to present in those meetings, I learned how to interact with like executives, and all of those things, it shaped me for when the opportunity came and the opportunity knocked and I decided to jump ship in 2015 for the, you know, and do this, but it's like what you're sharing.

And like, don't be afraid of changing course. And I think that's, it's so motivating to hear that in his part. And it's also like insanity to keep trying the same thing. So I, I wasn't to try that same thing again. Like, all right, like you obviously need to work on yourself, Hala. Get more educated, get more experience, work on yourself. And I never thought I would go back.

So I don't like, you know, in hindsight, if I look back at who I was, like, you know, when I first quit, you know, entertainment, I never thought I would get back on the mic, but I'm so thankful that I didn't think like, oh, you're too old for this or it's too late because I had a lot of people literally telling me that, not even 30 years old, you're too old to start a podcast. Like, excuse me, you're never too old

to start something new or go back to your dream. So that's another point, you know, like, I'm so, I always think about that and like, I always want to cry when I think about it, because I'm like, thank God, you just did it, and you kept going, even when you got had no results in the beginning. It took me two years to blow up.

And so it was just slow and steady, and then took off. I think that's another important part. There are two years. Two years, when we say two years, it sounds quick. But when you're doing, that's 24 months of, you know, doing your thing in, in and out of your craft and trying to make things happen. And I love how you mentioned, like, you know, people, the community started to help out. You started to crowd source this thing essentially where people started to volunteer and help out with that. That's so powerful. And that's

when you know you have like a movement, right you know people are behind you on that well that transitioned So this is a upgoing now or I mean I guess you're going up the hill of great things that we we had three failure three situations We wanted to heal it. We learned we started this started to grow How did it difference of why this time it worked? Yeah? Like owned it. It was me. There was no gatekeeper anymore How did it? How did it? How did it? How did it? How did it? How did it? How did it? How did it? How did it?

How did it? How did it? How did it? How did it? How did it? How did it? How did it? How did it?

How did it? How did it? How did it? How did it? How did it? How did it? How did it? How did it?

How did it? How did it? How did it? How did it's easy, it is not, it is not easy at all. But I had figured out a little niche for myself, I got onto this new media five years ago. So that was not in the very beginning. So I wasn't an early adopter, Jordan Harvanger, or Lewis Hous, right? I was right in the middle, but I was still really innovative.

It was very unique for a young woman to be talking about business on a podcast. I also decided that I was going to promote myself on LinkedIn, which was like wide open for young professionals. And I became the biggest podcaster on LinkedIn. Then I leveraged that to grow my podcast, the LinkedIn blew up first, not my podcast. And then I leveraged that to blow up my podcast, which was my true dream. So, it's just about being creative. It's all about these creative solutions and really going after it. Oh, I love it. I love this. We need to talk a little bit more after this too. I have an idea. I want to share with you. Yeah, of course.

And you probably have done it before already. But let's continue the story on that side. Sure. You know, this worked because I owned it. It was you, no gatekeeper at this point. Like, what happened next in that journey? Like, how did that lead to where you are right now? Yeah.

So, okay. So, I had this team of volunteers, which enabled me to work young and profiting as a side hustle. Right? And so, all the while I had a corporate job. So, as a Hewlett Packard started the podcast, I think like eight months the while I had a corporate job. So I was at a Hula Package, started the podcast. I think like eight months later, I got a job at Disney Streaming and started working the podcast.

So from the very beginning, I was getting big guests, okay? My first guest was Dr. Jack Schaefer, who was the author of the Light Switch and Dory Clark. And those were two huge authors at the time. My fifth guest was David Allen. My 23rd guest was Christopher Voss, who's like the world's number one negotiation expert. I was interviewing Robert Green by my 40th episode, right? My 100th episode was Matthew McConaughey. So I was interviewing celebrities

from the start, but the reason why is because I was innovative in terms of the way that I reached out to them or whatever we can get into that if you want to. But nonetheless, I was growing pretty fast, but at the end of the day, I was way more of a LinkedIn influencer than a podcast influencer in terms of my downloads at first. So I started realizing that Apple is not the only game in town. So I was always focused on my Apple Apple. I want to be number one. And I would always push people to Apple, they'd say,

I don't have an iPhone or, you know, I don't listen on Apple or I don't know how to listen to podcasts. And I started doing more research and really trying to figure out how I can get this nut to crack, right? And so I decided that I was going to reach out to every single podcast brand that I knew,

every app, every recording software, hosting software, everything that I used for my own podcast, plus every platform. And I was a K with up my name is Hala, on the biggest podcaster on LinkedIn. At the time I had like 50,000 followers, 60,000 followers, on the biggest podcaster on LinkedIn. I'd love to collaborate.

I'll do a post about your app in return of you writing a blog or about me. In return of you featuring me on your website, in return of you posting me on your social media, in return of you promoting me in your app, right? So a lot of these people said yes, because it wasn't often that there was a podcaster from LinkedIn reaching out,

and I was a big, they had a lot of engagement. So I started doing all this collab. So CastBox sponsored me, and now I have 260,000 subscribers on Castbox and over 3 million downloads on that alone. You know what I mean? So Castbox sponsored me, Player of Fame sponsored me, and good pods, like all these different apps,

Riverside.fm, like every app you can think of. I got sponsored in a blog post and all the sudden I went from getting 3,000 to 5,000 downloads a month to like 10,000 downloads in episode, 200,000 downloads a month, 200,000 downloads a month and it just kept skyrocketing. And it was like so fast, but it was because I had figured it out. If you want to grow as a podcast,

you have to be visible in the podcast apps. Then I figured out that people actually pay for this and there's advertising opportunities within the podcast apps. Now this is common knowledge is called in-app media buying, but I was like one of the first people that was an independent podcast or not an I-heart radio or whatever that was privy to this. And I was actually like helping these apps develop their advertising because I got so good at it and was like the girl that was like getting sponsored by all the podcast apps And so now I'm like a media buying guru in the space and one of like the five people who do it the most and like you know

Broker all these deals for people and so anyway, I grew my show that way. That's how the podcast blew up at the same time The guests that would come on my show. I had I'd acquired this volunteer team So I started launching an internship program So I probably like this is two years into it, I probably had 20 volunteers at this time, maybe 25 volunteers. I had some paid people in the Philippines that was doing my video editing. I paid an audio guide.

Everybody else was just like a free intern volunteer. I would teach people how to do stuff. We started getting more sophisticated, you know, how to select channel, all that. So the guests that would come on my show, at the end of the show, they'd say to me, Hala, how'd you do this? How'd you grow on LinkedIn? How'd you grow such a big podcast?

Can you do this for me? And I'd always just say, like, no, no, I have a corporate job. This is just for fun. It's just a hobby. I have a volunteer team. Nobody gets paid. I don't have a company. I'm sorry, I can't help you.

And it wasn't until Heather Monahan, who's a very huge LinkedIn influencer, also a podcaster, was basically like hounding me. I tried to put her off, I was like, I'll train you how to do your own videos and stuff. And she was like, I was in a training session with her on the weekend one day. And she was like, I know you've been trying to teach me how to do these videos.

I'm never gonna be able to do it myself. And she's like, I have to be your first client. I just got off a call with VaynerMedia. Your stuff is better than theirs. I don't wanna pay them. I wanna pay you. Let me be your first client. You can't say no.

So then I Heather Monahan became my first client and she was a huge social proof. At the time, I had like 60,000 followers. She had like 150,000 on LinkedIn. She was like huge already. And so she started touting me from the rooftops. How is doing amazing? How has saved me 20 hours a week?

And I started getting more inquiries for clients. My second client was a billionaire and his retainer was $30,000 a month. A month. So all this, my whole life changed, right? All of a sudden, we went from literally making nothing to $30,000 a month with one client. And so everything that I did for myself, I did for him.

I did a great job with him. He became a top three. He's still a true underdog podcast, Jason Waller, top three entrepreneurship podcast group from nothing. And then I got the next client, Cara Gold in the CEO of Hint Water, then a CEO of one in Hitter God junk, Brittner in a Britain Co. And all these huge CEOs, all these guests who come on my show ended up becoming my client.

And now we're like a number one LinkedIn agency where we were voted best podcast agency of 2022. And so the social agency basically blew up. So six months after launching the agency, I quit my corporate job. I had 30 employees, like paid employees all around the world by the time I quit. And I had my first couple US hires, like real hires.

And I was like, all right, I should probably quit. I have like other US hires now. When I had international hires, I didn't feel like real yet. And then as soon as I had my first US hires, I was like, okay, other people are quitting their jobs before I am, I better quit my job. And that was it.

It's a rest of history. Now, 60 employees strong, the podcast is doing amazing, keeps growing, and I launched a podcast network earlier this year. So now I'm focused on Yap Media Network. I'm growing and monetizing podcasts. Congratulations on that. That is just so awesome.

I love everything with it, the the whole like Shabang. And I love the creative side of it. Like, you know, how you were able just to, you know, as a sales guy, one of the things that we, you know, you want to look at is how can I bring value? And everything you shared was like, I connected with these apps and figured out how it can bring them value. And because of that, that led to us having, you know,

an opportunity or whatnot. And I think that, that led to us having an opportunity or what not. I think that's just a key. That's a powerful piece to it. So anyways, I love it. Absolutely. Thank you. I really enjoyed this conversation. And just to add to your point there about bringing value and how it will return to you, one of my biggest mentors in this space, and this might be interesting since he said a lot of your listeners, like, want to start a podcast or have a podcast, is Jordan Harbinger.

So he's my mentor, he was always my idol, right? And one of the reasons why I'm so successful is because I made it a point to make sure that he would become my mentor. He came on my podcast, and I started just like featuring him in articles. I got on the cover of Podcast Magazine, I put him as the number one podcast I listened to,

or like, you know, got featured on good pods and put him in the playlist. And he asked me one time, he was like, how I need you to do some ad copy for me. My producer is sick. I know you're a marketer. Can you do this for me? And I didn't ask for money. I didn't ask for anything in return.

I was like, sure, I did it that second, you know, and tried to do the best job I could. And he used it. He was like, this is incredible. And then we started having more conversations. He started realizing how much like grid I had and just believing in me more. And then he now he's in my Slack channel and one of our biggest advisors and has helped me grow everything like exponentially because he's been in this game for 12 to 14 years, I think 14 years. So he knows everything inside out. And now I have somebody I can just ask any podcasting question and he's literally like the most knowledgeable guy because he's been around to say it all.

So it's also important to find mentors and know how to get one. Let's hold that thought and take a quick break with our sponsors. Hear that sound, young and profitors. You should know that sound by now, but in case you don't, that's the sound of another sale on Shopify. Shopify is the commerce platform that's revolutionizing millions of businesses worldwide. Whether you sell edgy t-shirts or offer an educational course like me, Shopify simplifies selling online and in person so you can focus on successfully growing your business.

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Setting up my Shopify store just took me a few days. I didn't have to worry about my website and how I was gonna click Payments and how I was gonna trigger abandoned cart emails and all these things that Shopify does for me was just a click of a button. Even setting up my chat bot was just a click of a button. It was so easy to do. Like I said, just took a couple of days. And so it just allowed me to focus on my actual product and making sure my LinkedIn masterclass was the best it could be. And

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Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com slashfiting. Again, go to shopfide.com-profiting all lower case to take your business to the next level today. Again, that shopfide.com-profiting shopfide.com-profiting all lower case. This is possibility powered by shopfifife. Yeah, bam. If you're ready to take your business to new heights, break through to the 6 or 7 figure mark or learn from the world's most successful people, look no further because the Kelly Roach show has got you covered. Kelly Roach is a best-selling author, a top-ranked podcast host and an extremely talented marketer. She's the owner of NotOne, but 6th thriving companies, and now she's ready to share her knowledge and experience with you on the Kelly Roach show.

Kelly is an inspirational entrepreneur, and I highly respect her. She's been a guest on YAP. She was a former social client. She's a podcast client. And I remember when she came on young and profiting and she talked about her conviction marketing framework. It was like mind blowing to me. I remember immediately implementing what she taught me in the interview in my company and the marketing efforts that we were doing. And as a marketer, I really, really respect all Kelly has done, all Kelly has built. In the corporate world, Kelly secured seven promotions in just eight years, but she didn't just stop there. She was working in nine to five.

And at the same time, she built her eight figure company as a side hustle and eventually took it and made it her full time hustle. And her strategic business goals led her to win the prestigious Inc. 500 award for the fastest growing business in the United States. She's built an empire she's earned a life-changing wealth. And on top of all that she maintains a happy marriage and healthy home life. On the Kelly Road show, you'll learn that it's possible to have it all. Tune into the Kelly Road show as she unveils her secrets for growing your business. It doesn't matter if you're just starting out in your career or if you're already a have it all. Tune into the Kelly Road Show as she unveils her secrets for growing your business.

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I have 16 employees, so it's a lot of people to try to rally and motivate, and I recently had best-selling author Kim Scott on the show. And after previewing her content in our conversation, I just knew I had to take her class on masterclass, tackle the hard conversations with radical candor to really absorb all she has to offer. And now I'm using her radical candor method every day with my team to give in solicit feedback, to cultivate a more inclusive culture, and to every day with my team to give in solicit feedback, to cultivate a more inclusive culture, and to empower them with my honesty. And I can see my team feeling more motivated and energized already. They are really receptive to this framework and I'm so happy

because I really needed this class. With Masterclass, you can learn from the best to become your best, anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace. And we all know that profiting in life doesn't just mean thriving in business. With Masterclass, you can brush up on your art skills or your cooking skills, or even your modeling skills, with over 180 classes from a range of world-class instructors. That thing you've always wanted to do better

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That's masterclass.com-profiting for 15% off an annual membership. masterclass.com.sashprofiting for 15% off an annual membership. Masterclass.com.sashprofiting. I'm a big fan of Jordan as well. We had him on our show a while back on the sales evangelist and we had a chat because I'm connected with him from, well, through my network, didn't know him per se like you do on that level, but it was just like, what you said,

because all of his things is really around that idea, right? You know, like how you can network and connect with people and just, and be a value, and that's this whole mentorized idea. I just, it's critical, and I think so often, I spine people who, like they'll utilize, or young adults sometimes, they want to get to the top right away,

and it's like, you know, look for ways that you can bring up value and help other people. And I think it was a Dale Carnegie, if you, or whoever's in Zig Ziglar, kind of said this bunch, people will say it, but it's like, if you want to get successful, basically help everyone else to get successful, help other people. And if you do that as a natural byproduct,

it's going to happen to you. And that's a perfect example. Oh my goodness, I love it. Yeah, thank you. I want to respect your time, man, Aala. I would happen to you. And that's a perfect example. Oh my goodness. I love it. Yeah. Thank you. I want to respect your time, man. I would love to hear. If you would have boiled down into like one major takeaway, the folks who are listening to this episode to walk away with, what's that one major piece of advice? Okay. So my piece of advice for you would be to A, believe in yourself, believe that there's endless possibilities in this life. Life is limitless.

Your death is inevitable, right? So use that as motivation to fulfill your dreams. Don't wait until something really bad happens for you to have that realization. Realize that life is short and you should follow your dreams no matter how old you are, no matter what your resource situation is or financial situations, start to follow your dreams no matter how old you are, no matter what your resource situation is or financial situation, start to follow your dreams. You can do it in a risk-free way like I did. Start a side hustle. Use your time.

You don't have money. Use your time. Right? So that's number one. Number two is if a gatekeeper tells you no, you're going to want to think about what they're actually saying no to and figure out how you can go about it in another way. There's so many different paths to success. I thought that the only way to be successful was to be a singer first in my life.

Then I thought I could only be successful in the radio. Then I could only be successful on TV, right? But no, you can be successful doing many different things. And really what I wanted to do was be a voice of positivity to my generation. I could have done that as a host, as a TV personality, I could do that as a podcast host. One day I might do it as a politician, right? Yeah. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what the platform is. There's other avenues towards

what you want. You need to really think about what your objective is and your priorities are and what you truly want. And not get so fixated on like that specific thing that you wanted. Don't get so down about on like that specific thing that you wanted. Don't get so down about your failures. Figure out a way to get what you want that you have more agency and control over and just go for it, right? Do whatever you can to make those incremental gains to go for it. And yeah, so that those would be my main takeaways today.

Oh, I love it. It's so, so good. If folks out there listening to this want to get in touch with y'all, how did it go about doing so? Well, first of all, I would love it if you guys took a listen to Young and Profiting podcast for a number one Entrepreneurship podcast number one education podcast. I've interviewed people like Matthew McConaughey, Deepak Shopee, Seth Godin, Ed Mylett. Would you great work so much research? It's just as good as Donald's podcast. So I hope you guys take a listen to it. You can find it on all the major podcast platforms.

Again, that's a young and profiting. I love it. And I highly recommend it, guys. We have a link down in the show notes. So please go and do so. And let's help you out. Allah, thank you so much for coming on the show today. Truly appreciate it.

Thank you so much. It was so much fun. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ Are you looking for ways to be happier, healthier, more productive, and more creative? I'm Gretchen Ruben, the number one best-selling author of the Happiness Project. And every week, we share ideas and practical solutions on the Happier with Gretchen Ruben podcast. My co-host and Happiness Guinea Pig is my sister Elizabeth Kraft. That's me Elizabeth Kraft, a TV writer and producer and Hollywood. Join us as we explore fresh insights from cutting-edge science, ancient wisdom,

pop culture, and our own experiences about cultivating happiness and good habits. Every week we offer a try this at home tip you can use to boost your happiness without spending a lot of time, energy, or money. Suggestions such as follow the one-minute rule. Choose a one-word theme for the year or design your summer. We also feature segments like know yourself better where we discuss questions like are you an over buyer or an under buyer? Morning person or night person, abundance lever or simplicity lever? And every episode includes a happiness hack, a quick easy shortcut to more happy. Listen and follow the podcast happier with Gretchen Rubin.

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