Young and Profiting with Hala Taha - How To Level Up Your Life with Hala Taha and Jason Ames | AskHala

Episode Date: August 10, 2022

Join Hala and YAP Media’s production manager, Jason Ames, as they answer questions from Hala’s text community. On this episode of #AskHalaAnything, Hala and Jayson discuss Hala’s fitness routine, some of Hala’s major turning points, her plans for the future, how to give meaningful feedback, and appreciating the journey to success, and so much more!  Sponsored by -  Jordan Harbinger - Check out jordanharbinger.com/start for some episode recommendations Zapier - Try Zapier for free today at zapier.com/YAP Social Media: Follow YAP on IG: www.instagram.com/youngandprofiting Reach out to Hala directly at [e-mail] Follow Hala on Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/htaha/ Follow Hala on Instagram: www.instagram.com/yapwithhala Follow Hala on Clubhouse: @halataha Check out our website to meet the team, view show notes and transcripts: www.youngandprofiting.com

You're listening to Yap, Young and Profiting Podcast, a place where you can listen, learn, and profit. Welcome to the show. I'm your host, Halitaha, and on Young and Profiting Podcast, we investigate a new topic each week and interview some of the brightest minds in the world. My goal is to turn their wisdom into actionable advice that you can use in your everyday life, no matter your age, profession, or industry. There's no fluff on this podcast, and that's on purpose. I'm here to uncover value from my guests by doing the proper research and asking the right questions. If you're new to the show, we've chatted with the likes of ex-FBI agents, real estate moguls, self-made billionaires, CEOs, and best-selling authors. Our subject matter ranges from enhancing productivity, how to gain influence, the art of entrepreneurship, and more. If you're smart and like to continually improve yourself, hit this ability.

button because you'll love it here at Young and Profiting Podcast. What's up, Yap, fam? You are tuning into episode two of Ask Hala Anything, our new segment where we get questions from all of our Yap listeners from the text community, from social media, from all different places. And I try to answer them the best that I can. And I have Jason here, our production director. So what are we talking about today? Okay. So, today we're going to get into some more fun questions about Hala. Ooh. I was hoping we would get into some of these in the last episode, but we went into a lot of

entrepreneurship stuff and only got through like half the questions that we had. So this episode, we're going to get to the other half and get to know some stuff about Holla. Are you ready? Let's do it. Okay. Let's jump straight into it. This is from Marcello. what is one habit that you never want to give up and one habit that you feel like you need to get rid of? Okay. So I am really consistent with working out. And it is a habit. Like I work out almost every night. Actually, it's about to be my workout time in like an hour. And I'm super consistent. It makes me

feel good. It makes me feel smart. It makes me feel sexy. And I love to get my physical exercise. So I would say definitely exercise as a habit I will never, ever stop having. I've been working out consistently since I was 19 at least. Was that a struggle for you to first turn it into a habit? Or was it something that you've always been into? Well, here's something I've never shared. So I actually was my fattest in high school. So I was actually fatter than I am now in high school, which is not something that most people

can say. I wasn't that fat. I was like 118 pounds, but like I'm small. So like that was all. Keep in mind, listeners, that Hala is, how tall are you, Hala? Five foot, five one. And I wasn't even fat. I just had like a little gut, you know.

I wasn't carrying the same type of frame that I have now. I had like more of a gut. And I was fine, but I wanted to change. And so I remember going on Weight Watchers in like my senior year of college and trying to get like fit before college and starting Lucille Roberts, which was like a popular gym at the time. been doing classes and getting really into it. And then in college, I did cheerleading and worked out. And it just became a routine. So I guess it actually started my senior year when I tried to lose

some weight. And then I've literally never gained it back. I just kept consistent. In terms of what if it was hard, no, I feel like I'm the type of person that like if I see a little bit of result, I get like obsessed and like just want to keep going. And it feels good. Once you do it for long enough, like you crave it. Yeah. And the one habit that you think maybe you should get rid of or let go. I think just like sleeping late. I love to sleep late. I'm just like such a night owl. I like don't know how to shut off. I'm like the worst sleeper. I really am. That's why I have all these sleep sponsors because it's like I don't get any sleep. And it's a big problem. And like I try all these pills. I try out. I have like a fancy mattress. Like, I have a temperature controlled mattress that like controls temperature with water and I don't

even use it. Like, I'm just, I don't know. It's just something that I can never just get serious about. And I try and I learn. And I just can't get consistent. So that's definitely something I need to figure out how to create a better habit around my sleep. So this question here is from Sean. So he's got a couple of different questions here. so I'll just rattle these off. Is this Mr. Sean O'Leary? They didn't leave their last name. I love a lot of big fans name Sean, actually. Yeah, I'm going to guess that it's not Sean O'Leary

because I saw that he submitted a couple questions and they all had his last name, but this one doesn't have the last name. This is different, Sean. What's up, Sean? There's another Sean. Hey, Sean. Would you say that you have a clear why?

Yes. My why is to use my voice in a way that impacts the world positively, to use my voice to help others, like, level up in our life. And that's like my audience, my employees, my clients. I feel like I talk a lot in a good way, though. Like, I feel like I give directions to my team and I level up our company and I speak to everybody who listens to my podcast and I level up that way. I've got a platform on social media and I provide value that way.

That's really my purpose is to use my voice for good in the world. Eventually, that's going to probably turn into like human rights causes and even more broad than entrepreneurship and things like that. But that's my why. And I think it's going to evolve. Like I said, I keep it general so that it can evolve and apply to many different things. Yeah. I'm thinking of just the age that we're living in where there's a lot of cancel culture. And I think a lot of people are feeling that it's risky to fully express themselves and to use their voice and to share their truth. And I'm curious if that's something that you've run into with this why that you have.

Yeah, 100%. I'm Palestinian. I've had to bite my tongue so many times, especially now that I have so many sponsors. I feel like there'll be so many bad things happening. that I want to just shout and be like, how is this happening? Why is it anybody say anything? And I'm worried about being canceled. And especially when I have sponsors and other brands that I speak for,

it makes it really difficult to really share how I feel about certain topics. And also, just because people, they grew up learning certain things and people get triggered, even if it's the truth and your words can get misconstrued. And even though, like, for example, my new boyfriend is Jewish. And if I talk about Palestine, people might say, I'm, you know, an anti-Semite or something. And it's like, well, no, my boyfriend's Jewish. My best friend I grew up with is Jewish. So like, what are you talking about? It has nothing to do with that. And so it's just scary. And I try to avoid it right now because I feel like I'm still in this foundational place. Like, yes, I've grown Yap. And yes, I have more of a balanced life now. But I still feel like

I have a long ways to go before I really have a foundation that I can stand on my two feet alone and not be scared. Right now, I got too big of a team, too much responsibility. I don't have enough in the bank to just say whatever I want. And if I got canceled, fuck it, like, I'm good for the rest of my life. So I'm still working towards that point. And I also just, you know, want to be fair. I feel like I've got such a diverse audience. I don't want to isolate anyone. Yeah. I feel like I am really good at not isolating people, which is why most of my listeners are male.

What other female podcaster has a mostly male audience? Like, I literally don't know one. And that's because I never isolated men. I've tried to be diverse. I've never been one to like try to like bucket yap or I just tried to be somebody for everybody. And so that's hard when you're trying to represent every. you want. It's hard to like speak your personal mind because you're like, well, I have to like think

about everybody else I serve all the time. And it's hard because when you know things are wrong in your heart and like you see it and you've seen it with your own eyes. And if you guys listen to my keynote at the gatherings of Titans, which we replayed on the podcast a couple weeks back, you'll hear more specifics of like what I've been through as a Palestinian American woman. And I talk about it here and there, but I really don't ever talk about it because like I said, I don't want to isolate anyone. I do, I am for everyone. And I feel like I can be like the progressive bridge between everyone. That's what I feel like. Because to be honest, I don't get along with the Arab community. Like, I'm not accepted. This is very personal, but like, I don't think any

Arab Muslim guy would like ever marry me. Like, you know what I mean? Because it's like, I'm tainted. I'm bad. I've been Americanized. I had boyfriends. I did whatever the hell I want. I didn't fit into their sexist norms and not all people are sexist in that community, but I was very different. And I feel like at the same time, I didn't quite fit in with the American crowd. And that's why I feel very passionate about like being a voice for everyone and really just staying neutral and showing people that Palestinians are real people and Palestinians are just like you and I and are smart and are pretty and are fine and like normal. I'm trying to normalize being Arabic and Palestinian and not be too radical about anything. So that's my perspective. I don't know if that's helpful.

I appreciate hearing it. Okay. So you have this why of using your voice for good and changing the world. And you said like you feel like you're stepping into that right now, but you're not quite comfortable using it yet in the way in which you imagined yourself using it in the few. future. I'm curious how you'll know when you've reached that point. Do you have an idea? Well, first of all, I think that there needs to be something that I feel so passionate about that I need to kind of like step into this new type of role where my role is more of helping people not only like level up in terms of their financial or personal lives, but like level up the world and make a bigger impact on that level, like all that kind of stuff. I feel like that's what I'll transition.

transition to eventually. Actually, after we keep bringing up this MIT talk, this GOT talk, I had several people come up to me and was like, you need to get into politics. And that's something that like sparked me right away. And I was like, yeah, maybe that's going to be my path. But I don't really look at things that far ahead. Like, I am not the type of person that will even look five years ahead. Like, I'm very much like, what's happening this year, what's happening next year? Because I like to let myself evolve. And I think, like I said, my why is something that can evolve. I have a general idea in terms of when I'll be ready. It's more like, I need to keep continuing building my wealth. I need to make my company run on autopilot. I need to do so much good in the world that nobody can say

I'm bad. Just have all the proof needed to showcase that I'm just a good person who's trying to do good in the world and not have anybody be able to twist that before I've built the foundation that will back me up. And so that's what I'm on right now. Honestly, I'm trying to just do a good job with this podcast, do a good job for my listeners, do a good job for my social communities and impact their lives so positively that they won't turn their backs on me if I'm talking about human rights at some point because I do want to support human rights. Yeah. So it sounds like you imagine it evolving pretty organically. Yeah. So this question is coming in from Colby Marshall, and I'm going to modify it a little bit. Okay. So we've had a number of guests say this. The most

recent one I'm thinking of that really harped on this was Ed Milette and talking about how you're one decision away from changing your life. And Colby's question is along the lines of, can you identify a couple of those decisions in your life up until this point? Like those turning point decisions. Yeah, so cool. What a great question. It's so, so true. So it's like off the bat, working out in high school, getting in shape. That was a good decision. Also, deciding to learn about the law of attraction and to change my mindset when I was about 19. So I got obsessed with the law of attraction. I read like every weirdo book about it. Abraham and Esther Hicks are authors. And they're sort of like they have like a cult following. I used to listen to all their books on tape.

Like I was crazy about it. But it really did change my mindset. I started to believe that everything was possible, which led to a lot of cool opportunities once I started doing what I learned and of putting things into practice with the law of attraction and trying to attract things into my life. So I got this internship at Hot 97. So taking that internship and taking it really seriously was a big decision dropping out of school temporarily to just focus on Hot 97. And that internship was also a major life decision that I made that was pretty difficult to make. And went against my family of doctors. I was completely the black sheep and went against my family and and made that decision and went out on my own, essentially.

And I think going back to school was another major decision and finishing my college, starting my website, Strawberry Blunt, the sorority of hip hop, learning how to blog, honing my social media skills for that endeavor and project totally changed my life. One of the reasons why I'm such a great marketer now is because I've been doing it for 10 years. I started when I was in college and started building websites and blogs when blogs were hot. And I've kind of mastered every huge trend that's come since then. Blogs, podcasts, online radio shows, whatever, social media. And so the decision of staying curious and being a marketing leader and being on the cutting edge of digital marketing, also a great decision.

Getting my MBA was a great decision, starting this podcast and staying consistent, starting the agency. I feel like all these decisions actually came off of usually revenge. Most of these decisions were like revenge stories. All of them were revenge stories somehow. Tell us more about that. It's just like everything was a revenge story. Like whether it was like me getting fired from Hot 97 and so then I started the sorority of hip hop or me getting fired from Hot 87 and going back to school.

Right. So it's like it was like I was trying to level up my life every time. Me not getting the MTV show and that triggered me to go get my MBA. Me not, you know, getting the job I wanted to. in corporate or the specific, it was like an internal thing that I wanted in corporate triggered me to start the podcast. Me not getting the opportunities I wanted at Disney streaming services led to me starting the agency and getting revenge that way. And so it was always like just trying to get more control over my life and also trying to like prove everyone wrong. I feel like I've always had

this chip on my shoulder. I think part of it going back to this brought up the fact that I'm Palestinian, you know, I grew up during 9-11 and I wasn't given a ton of opportunities in high school. It was really difficult for me. And so I feel like I got really used to rejection and wanted to not let like high school define me or my ethnicity define me and my level of success and what I could accomplish. And I didn't want my gender to define me. Like, and like I said, that's why I feel like I'm super relatable to like everyone. I have such a diverse audience. Most people who are like Arabic would have like just an Arabic audience. Or if they're a girl, they just have a girl audience, right? I feel like I just am for everyone. This is the first time I'm actually like acknowledging

this, I feel like. I feel like I never really realized that. So thank you for bringing me to this conclusion. Thank you, Colby. Let's hold that thought and take a quick break with our sponsors. At Yap, we have a super unique company culture. We're all about obsessive excellence. We even call ourselves scrappy hustlers. And I'm really picky when it comes to my employees. My team is growing every day we're 60 people all over the world. And when it comes to hiring, I no longer feel overwhelmed by finding that perfect candidate, even though I'm so picky, because when it comes to hiring, Indeed is all you need. Stop struggling to get your job post noticed. Indeed, sponsored jobs help you stand out and hire fast by boosting your posts to the top relevant candidates. Sponsored

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assets on the page. You make a change, hit publish, and it's live in seconds. Whether you're launching a new site testing landing pages or migrating your full.com, Framer makes going from idea to live site fast and simple. Learn how you can get more out of your dot com from a framer specialist or get started building for free today at framer.com slash profiting for 30% off a framer pro annual plan. That's 30% off in 2026. Again, that's framer.com slash profiting for 30% off.com. slash profiting. Rules and restrictions apply. Yeah, okay, so a couple points I want to pick up on there. I hope that I'm quoting Tom, Billy, you accurately. I believe this is paraphrasing. It's close to what he was saying, but hopefully I'm getting the main idea right. So I've heard him talk about

how he is often driven by darkness and that it's not a popular thing to talk about right now because everyone's about gratitude, like positive thinking and all these things. And I've heard him talk about how he doesn't think people are realistic with themselves about trying to push down the darker things that can drive us and like trying to keep things positive all the time. This is the part I wasn't sure if I have exactly right, but I'm pretty sure it's accurate. I've heard him say that in his darkest moments, when he's struggling the most, it isn't the positivity that keeps him going.

It's the people that told him that he was going to fail. Yeah. It's the darkness. It's the, I'm not good enough and all these other things. It's wanting to prove those things wrong that allows him to push through the hardest points. And so, yeah, I think that's interesting. I love that. Go ahead.

Yeah. I was just going to say, I love that. I feel like that's so smart. It's like acknowledging the fact that sometimes these feelings of rejection, these feelings of failure. They're the things that can feel you to do positive things for yourself. And like you said, when you feel like you have nothing to lean on, you can always lean on the fact that you unprove people wrong, you know? And like sometimes it's like the motivation that you need. Yeah, I think just reflecting on my own life, I think it's when I'm in states of low energy

where that stuff can be really helpful. Like when I just don't have the wherewithal to to tap into that positivity. And I'm just like down and tired and just, yeah. Here's the thing. Sometimes the universe forces you to change. So all these rejections and failures, to me it's like your launch point of change. And then you can fuel that rejection

and the feelings that you felt of being rejected and like into learning something new, starting something new, like actually taking the action to change because it's like nothing pushed you before, you know, you got fired or you, you know, we're knocking on the door, nobody opened it. It got slammed in your face. And then finally you're like, oh, I need to change.

So I just feel like the rejection is what is the cause of you changing. And a lot of people, I think the worst thing to do is to stay in the dark and to be sad and to wallow in the past. But if you use the darkness to motivate you to create something positive, I feel like that's a win-win. And hey, I'm not saying be competitive and ruthless. I actually have like very little competitors. I team up with everyone, right?

But there are villains in your life. There will be villains in your life, people who don't give you things that you deserve, people who for some reason or another don't want to support you, people who just have a bad mentality about life and outlook on life and they're ruthless and competitive. Whatever it is, there are going to be villains in your life. and you can use those people, those experiences to create change and fuel you and instigate you

to create that change. It's just like a launching off point. I'm not saying do it forever, but it can kickstart everything. Yeah. Do you feel like there's been any negative consequences as a result of being driven by what he said was revenge? No, none. Because like I said, It's like short-lived. It's like I was mad about Hot and a 7 for like three days, learned how to build blog sites, started the sorority of hip-hop, and then I was focused on that. Right. But it's the revenge that like fuels you to learn fast, fuels you to pivot,

fuels you to take action, feels you to ask, to take a new opportunity to take a risk, whatever it is. It fuels you because you're like, I can't fail, right? I'm not going to fail. I'm not going to let somebody dictate the future of my life and taking control, taking your control back. Yeah, I think that's a good point, like using that energy as a launching off point and then other things come in as a result of that. And then that starts to fuel you.

Yeah, don't hold on to the past. If you're always holding on to the past, then you're not over what happened, you know, and you can't really focus and continue to move forward. So it's like, don't sit there and keep thinking about the other experience. Take what you learned. stack your skills, keep it pushing, keep it moving, and even try to think back on those negative experiences as positively as you can because you don't want those negative vibrations dragging you down. But like I said, I think it's okay to be angry and use revenge for the first week or month to launch something new.

What do you think of crypto? I wish that I invested in crypto to a degree. Yeah. It feels really volatile, especially these days. So it's like maybe six months ago I wished a lot harder that I really got into it. And I have a lot of content around crypto. But like NFTs, I was really into them. But like, I don't know like if they're really going to pan out long term.

I'm really up in the air about crypto. I feel like I love to learn about it. I think it's important to know about it, to know how it works, to know how to buy crypto, to have experience buying and selling crypto, to keep up with to a degree so you're not totally left behind. but I still feel like it's very, very speculative. And it's very, very confusing. It's evolving very fast.

Some of the NFT stuff feels really scammy and just not logical. Like it just doesn't seem, sometimes it's just like, where's the value here? How is this really going to be sustainable? This feels like a bubble. Like everyone's just in on something to make a few dollars. And yeah, we did a lot of content around NFTs and crypto that I think people will enjoy if they want. Because like I said, I think it's important to stay up to date and to learn about it and to get experience with it.

Now am I going to pour all my life savings into crypto? No, I'm pouring all my life savings into my business and investing in myself and my skills. Great. Thank you for that question. Robert Brannon. Thanks, Robert. Okay. As we start to wrap up here, this is from George P. or Jorge, however you pronounce your name.

What is one piece of advice. that has really impacted you that you carry with you to this day. I'll give you a recent piece of feedback that I feel like I really like. Okay. It's called a feedback sandwich. I'm really direct. Yeah. And I have a big team.

And I have to give feedback all the time. And the bigger the team gets, the more feedback, I often have to give the more stressful things we come. And I end up just like saying a lot of the negative. and I am not really highlighting the positive. And so I learned about this feedback sandwich concept where you pad the beginning of feedback with something good and you pad it at the end with something good. And then you can give your constructive criticism in the middle.

And that ensures that my team doesn't hate me. So I love the feedback sandwich. The other thing that I feel like is really good advice is making connections with people who have already, been where you want to go and only taking advice from people who have only been where you want to go. Because, for example, when I wanted to quit my job and take YAP Media full time, I had a lot of people in my life, my family, my ex-boyfriend telling me that they thought I wasn't cut out for entrepreneurship. I was too nice, they said. They said that I was ruining my life, that I should

stay with my corporate job, that I was making my life harder than it needed to be, that I should just be happy and thankful and that I was being selfish for starting this company. And I had a lot of pushback. And ultimately, I took advice from people like Heather Monaghan and Jordan Harbinger and other entrepreneurs and people who have been where I want to go who are saying like, are you kidding me, Holly, you should have jumped six months ago. Like, let's go. Like, you were born for this. You're doing a great job. Like, you're making a lot of money already. Like, what are you talking about? And so I listened to the people who have been there already and who saw the potential in me, because they had very similar skills.

They were 10 years ahead of me, basically, and saw themselves in me. And I really just feel like people may love you, but they might not have the best actual advice for you at the end of the day. And you need to be able to sift through that advice properly. And to this day, like, a lot of people try to give me advice. Like, I have cousins and family friends from when I was younger

who try to give me, like, advice on how to market myself on social media. Meanwhile, I have. Like 100x times more followers than they do. Like what gives them the right to give me marketing advice? Like people just love to give their advice unsolicited advice that like they think that they're doing it in a caring way. But really like you can't listen to people who don't know what they're talking about. And you need to be able to realize that like you shouldn't take advice from everyone.

And then you should heed advice from the people who are giving it to you that have the experience very seriously. And so I always seek out mentors, Jordan Harbinger. I say it all the time. He's my mentor, like basically advisor at YAP Media and teaches me everything I need to know about podcasting. You know, I have business partners, even you, Jason, helping me with the entrepreneurship stuff. Like, you got to have counsel, you know, sounding boards and shortcuts, right?

Shortcuts to where you want to get to go. And that's by talking to the right people. Yeah. I'm just reflecting on like those life-changing conversations, right, where you talk to somebody who knows more than you know, so they see the things that you're not seeing. And then they're like, oh, A, B, and C. And you take direction on that. And it just changes everything. And honestly, now that I have so much experience, I am starting to do this with some of my friends. So I have one of my best friends, she's a singer. And she's been trying to make it forever. She's got some really big things

in her belt. She's amazing. She's super talented. She deserves to get what she wants. And I'm always giving her advice and she actually implements it and is like starting to crush because now she is interns because I taught her how to get interns. And you can give back too. And that's a really special feeling as well. Like once you actually have the experience to then give advice and help other people along, it's just a great circle, the circle of feedback.

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How would someone, I mean, this might be kind of a basic question. At the end of the day, you just got to start reaching out to people, right? But yeah, if... I know where you're going. How would somebody go get a mentor? Yeah. If someone's feeling like they're stuck in some area and they're wishing that they had some sort of mentorship happening in their life, how would they address that?

work for free. To get Jordan Harbinger, do you want to know what I did? What did you do? First of all, I invited him to my podcast and gave him value that way. Yap wasn't huge.

This was like episode, I think I want to say 57. And so I invited him on the show. I made a good impression. Then I kept following up. I would put him in blogs that I was featured in. And I'd be like,

hey, what's up? I just featured you on good pods. I just featured you here in podcast magazine when I landed podcast magazine. And then I would ask him really smart questions because that showed that I had done my research. I wasn't just up-and-coming podcaster who didn't know what they were doing.

I would ask very specific, very deep, smart questions that would make him realize, like, this girl knows what she's doing. And I would even let him know about innovative things in the space that I heard about and just kept in touch. I thought this was an article you think was interesting, you know, about media buying, which I I know he's really into. And he learned about my marketing services. And eventually one day, he reached out to me and he was like, holla, my producer's sick and I've got to come up with new podcast copy for other podcasters to promote my show.

Can you write it for me? He's in the hospital. It's like, I have a tight turnaround. I'm a terrible writer. And I was like, sure. Now, at the time, I could have charged $1,000 for it. I was an experienced writer, podcaster, already had the app media. Like, I didn't ask for any money.

I just did it right away. and I did like a really good job. And he was so impressed. And then he was like, let's talk more. Let's have a call. Let me see what you're up to. And he started giving me advice because I started doing free work for him. And then little by little, we just grew this relationship.

And I feel like I've done that with so many examples. Heather Monaghan, my first yet media client. I didn't work for free for her, but I worked very, very cheap. I charged her like $500 a month to do all her videos, right? And so building that relationship, showcasing that you're a hard, worker and giving to your mentor in order to receive from them. So it's like me and Jordan, like, Jordan is like my mentor mentor right now because he's literally who I want to be. Like I want to be the female version of Jordan Harbinger, even, sorry Jordan, but bigger than you

eventually. And so like. It's a good club for social media. And yeah. So like I know it's like a give and take relationship. I purposely am always trying to give to him. because I know that one day I'm going to need to get from him again. I'll have a question or a contract that needs to be reviewed or whatever it is. And so I'm always trying to figure out how I can give him values so that I keep that social currency. And mentorship really is a give and take relationship. You've got to put in the work and earn it, especially when you're looking for like,

listen, like there's levels of mentors and you outgrow your mentor sometimes, right? So it's like, I had a mentor in corporate now who I'm like, God bless her, but I'm, way more successful than her now. And you just have to keep leveling up and like earning your stripes in terms of what level of mentor that you have. Now I have the biggest podcaster in the world coaching me as my mentor. But before that, I, you know, reached out to all the up-and-coming podcasters on LinkedIn and started a mastermind and got my mentorship that way. And so you're always leveling up who your mentors are based on the knowledge that you know and what you have to bring the table because like Jeff Bezos, for example, he's not mentoring me, but maybe there is like,

you know, maybe Richard Branson will take me on, you know, like. Love that. Yeah, a couple of thoughts on that. Yeah, definitely finding a way to deliver value. And I think whatever you can do to deliver that tangible value, that's great. But I think even something as simple as being grateful and being kind and following up and And just because people like to help other people. Yeah.

Right. So if someone gives you some time and then you go and do what they told you to do and then you follow up and you're like, thank you so much. I really appreciate that. And then you follow up saying, I did that. These are the results that I'm getting. Thank you so much. Like that's going to make them feel really good and it's going to start to foster that

relationship. So it doesn't have to be like something crazy. Like I'll edit your videos or whatever. It can just be adding value in that way. Yeah, or making introductions, you know, when they're relevant and like trying to like piece together opportunities for them. Yeah, Jordan talks about that in his networking course. Yeah. Doing those introductions.

And I mean, just think about the valuable relationships in your life that like you didn't have at one point, right? And like you had to meet that person or someone introduced you to them and how much value that's added to your life. Gosh, introductions is so underrated. That is like all the greats are constantly doing introductions. That's like the game as you level up. It's just like introducing this person to that person. And then now you've built your social currency with both those people, especially if like you know both people and you know they're trustworthy,

credible people and you're like somebody wants something and you're pairing them with the person who can give it to them, they'll never forget you. And then the next time there's an opportunity, they'll be like, oh, well, why don't I ask college? She's such a nice girl. And she introduced me to so-and-so. And let me return the favor. That is how you level up people. Like introductions are secret sauce in entrepreneurship. Yeah, 100%. And you said, ask deep, smart, meaningful questions. And I'll add to that. It may seem obvious. But I'm still going to add it. Don't ask dumb questions. Questions you can Google. Don't take somebody's time and then come to them and ask them.

something that they could Google and find the answer in a couple of minutes. Oh my gosh. I'm getting riled up about this. Nothing is more annoying than like an up-and-coming podcaster that's like, what mic should I get? It's like, just do your research or like, look at my video and like deduce it. Like those types of things are so obvious. And when you're asking the obvious questions, the person just knows like this person

is not mature. They're not really obsessed. They're not curious. They're not passionate about this. They're doing this because they think they should be doing it, not because they really want to and have fun doing it. Because if you had fun doing it, back to what we were saying before,

like, you'll be curious to learn and to be the best and to keep leveling up and to know everything about it and to read a million blogs and watch a million YouTube videos. And then it's like you ask them the really, like the stuff that's not available on the internet. Yeah. The stuff that maybe like you would have to dig through 10 books

before you found it, right? Mm-hmm. So I would say like, really, you've got to take ownership yourself. And by the way, your mentors at first can be books and people who write their life's work in a book. I always mention this. But Stephen Kotler, he told me that books are the best ROI on your time.

That's a piece of advice that stuck with me so heavy because I didn't quite think about it that way before. You digest people's books in six hours and it may have taken them their whole. life to come up with the content in that book and their life experiences and you get to digest that. And that's how you can learn from the grates without actually being able to touch the grades. And you learn enough from all these grates on your own. Then one day you'll be able to get a mentor who you can communicate one on one with because you've done the work.

You've earned it. And you're somebody who they believe in and who they'd want almost a credit of supporting along the way because they see you as somebody who's going to make it or they see themselves in you know. I have to read from my podcast. I read one or two books every week. And then you guys get to digest really important concepts in 50 minutes, right? Again, ROI on your time podcast. It's amazing. Yeah, as you were talking, I was thinking about Ryan Holiday. And I don't know if there's a bigger advocate for reading than Ryan Holiday. And he makes this point that like particularly around the idea of mentorship,

is a lot of us feel like we're looking for that guidance. We're looking for that mentorship. Well, in reading, we have access to some of the wisest, most successful people that have ever lived. And they took the time to write down the things that they thought were the most important things to communicate. And you can go and spend time with those people and listen to what they have to say by reading and digesting their materials.

The other thing I'll add to this, which I find so unique that a lot of people don't have this skill are so unfortunate that people don't have this skill. And that's the ability to Google and do like investigative research and really find the answers that they're looking for. I feel like I've got this incredible knack for like digging through the internet for like what I'm looking for and all the information that I could possibly get about the topic that I'm trying to figure out or hack. or whatever it is. And like finding, like, even if it's just inspiration for something and being able to scour the internet, because the internet is like where everything is now. Like that everything is at your fingertips. But if you don't know how to use it and find what you're looking for, I feel like some

people just don't have that skill. And that is a skill that you need to have. Get good at investigating and figuring out how to find things that you're looking for on Google. And does that make sense? Like, do you understand what I'm trying to say? Like, I just feel like some people don't understand how to find the things that they're looking for. Yeah, I think we, I've said this often that I know that we are in challenging times right now in a lot of ways.

There's a lot of stuff going on in the world. But I honestly believe that now is the best time ever to be alive. It's better to be alive right now for probably anyone than it has been in history. You could make the argument that we should have never left the hunter-gatherer style living. I understand that. But since like the agricultural revolution in modern society, I don't think that there's a better time to be alive than right now. Yeah. Because of the access to information that we had that has never been alive.

available to just everyday people and the opportunities that it opens up for you. I mean, it's incredible. You could literally go and learn about anything that you want to learn. You can take courses. You could read books. You can go out and learn every skill near, like pretty much for free. There are free resources at this point for probably anything you want to do outside of getting like a certificate to like practice medicine and law and things that you like need to get like certain things to, like a license, you know what I mean? But in terms of just like digital skills, everything is available online. You can change your life if you just focus and like really, really take it seriously. Yeah. And I think that last point, the ability to change your own life,

that is a relatively new freedom that we're experiencing on a mass scale. Yeah. The ability to just move wherever you want, learn about whatever you want. Being an entrepreneur, be a solopreneur. Yeah. All right. Wow. This has been fun. Second episode of Ask Call It Anything and I feel like this is a hit.

So guys, I did want to quickly introduce Jason because we kind of introduced him in the first episode, but like barely any introduction. So Jason is our production director at Yap. He's been with us for a while now. He is one of the most talented producers that I know. He has his own audio agency. He's taking Yap to the next level. He's one of my best friends now. I have so much fun with Jason.

So hopefully you've been enjoying him on the show. Jason, I don't want to steal all your thunders. So what would you like to say? What would I like to say? Okay. I can share a couple of things that have been on my mind recently. Okay. I think that this is particularly relevant for our audience here.

And we got so many questions about entrepreneurship and side hustles and starting a business and starting a podcast and all these things. And one thought that I've been sitting with recently from Alex from Ozzy. Oh my gosh. Alex, come on, yeah podcast. Like how many times have we got to shout you out and hit you up? Like, when are you going to come on? Alex Ramosey, that's like our like fetish here at, yeah. So I heard him say that when he asks young people, you know, what their goals are, what they're trying to achieve, a lot of them say, oh, I want to be a millionaire. I want to have X, Y, and Z and all these things.

And then when he asks millionaires what it is that they wish they could have, they all say I wish I could be young again. Oh, my God. And I've definitely had a lot of fun in my life. You know, I've traveled around a lot and stuff. But I also work extremely hard in the last two and a half. years. I've just been like going hard basically every single day. And sitting with that quote has just reminded me that it's about the journey. Yeah. And not the destination. And that to just find those moments of peace and rest and just enjoy the day and really appreciate the time that I have and

appreciate the little things. And so that's been helping me sleep better at night. I love that. Now, I have something to add to that because I have to say, Like I had a really fun like 19 to 25. Like all I did was just party, have fun, do radio shows. And like, I just like lived. I dated Chris Brown at one point. Like not many people know that. And like just had a wild early to mid-20s.

And then I got really serious. And like maybe that's why I had to do like double time. Because it's like I did take five, six years of just kind of leveling up. but like more party than than leveling up. And I just think it's so interesting that you bring that up in terms of like appreciating the time that you have when you're young. And the other thing I'll say is that you can start anything at any age. Like just because you didn't start a company by the time you were 25 or 30 or 35 or 40

doesn't mean that you can't go and start one now and still be young enough to enjoy your life. Like I love Gary V always says like if you're under 40, you're still young. I think he even says if you're under 50 you're still young. Like we're living long now. Just the older he gets, the number moves. Yeah. And by the way, like 30 is the new 20.

Like, please, I feel like some 30 year olds out there look like they're in their 20s. Like most 30-year-olds look like they're in their 20s now because life has changed. And so just delay gratification when it matters when the timing is right. But don't like delay it forever. Enjoy your life. Make sure what you're doing is

producing fruitful results so that you can slow down and relax. Don't just do the same thing that's not driving results. Like make sure you're pivoting, pivoting, pivoting until you continually are reaching new levels of success so that you can slow down. Yeah. All right. I'll get off my soapbox. That's a good way to close it out.

I feel like it ties in several of the ideas that we've touched on, like the importance of really prioritizing what it is that you're about right now. And like going after that and being a little bit unapologetic in that. And if your season right now is to be having fun and be traveling and learning about yourself and doing that, go for it and love that. And if you're trying to crush it and make money and you're about that and you're working 60, 70 hours a week, be about that. Yeah. Enjoy it. Love it and crush it.

And yeah. And just I think the important prerequisite to. that is the self-awareness to be clear that you really are prioritizing this because this is what you want and for the right reason and you're not chasing this because your parents told you you should do this or the media or whatever it is. Yeah, just like drifting into whatever you're drifting because you got into the school or whatever it is. Yeah. Exactly. Well, I love this. Yeah, this is fun. And if you guys want more Ask Hala anything episodes, all you got to do is text your questions to our text community.

Text Yap YAP to 28046. Any of your questions, I'd love to answer them on the next episode. This is your host, Hala, and our producer, Jason, signing off. Bye, everybody.