Young and Profiting with Hala Taha - YAPLive: The Story Behind Young and Profiting Podcast with TechUnited NJ | Uncut Version | Entrepreneurship

Episode Date: August 24, 2020

The tables are turned and Hala gets interviewed by Aaron Price, the CEO of Tech United, NJ.  In the interview, Hala shares how she ended up starting Young and Profiting Podcast, and some of the tactics she used to grow YAP to become a top 10 how-to podcast on Apple and a major podcast on other platforms like Castbox.   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 Check out our website to meet the team, view show notes and transcripts: www.youngandprofiting.com

Hey, young and profiters, it's Hala. This week's episode is a little different. Instead of interviewing one of the brightest minds in the world, the tables are turned and I'm getting interviewed. Last week, I did a LinkedIn live interview with Aaron Price, the CEO of Tech United, New Jersey. In the interview, I shared how I ended up starting a young and profiting podcast and some of the tactics I've used to grow Yap to become a top 10 how-to podcast on Apple and a major podcast on other platforms like CastBox. I'm sure a lot of you who listen to the show may not know much about me. I tend to make my episodes all about my guests and their expertise.

So I hope you enjoy the show. Without further ado, here's my interview with Aaron. Hey, everybody. Welcome to my LinkedIn Live. I am here today with Aaron Price from Techie. United, and we are streaming live on my social channels as well as Tech United's social channels. So today's going to be a fun, interactive discussion. We're going to talk everything, podcasting, LinkedIn, and how to just amplify your brand in

general. So with that, I'll let Aaron introduce himself as well. I'm excited to turn the tables on you a little bit and hear more about your story and how you build your presence on social, in particular on LinkedIn. For those of you don't know me, my name is Aaron Price. I'm the CEO of a company called Tech United, New Jersey. we help empower entrepreneurs and innovators to build a better future for all. And I've gotten to know how a little bit over the last many months

but watching your own brand grow and your own story unfold. And so I thought it would be interesting to introduce you a bit to the Tech United, New Jersey community and learn a bit about how you ended up growing such a big following. But before we start talking about LinkedIn, tell me about, I know you've had a reality show almost happen, a college dropout, like what got you to this place? Let's start with what was the first time you thought that you would? wanted to get into any kinds of entertainment and content production. Yeah, I love that question, and I love being on the flip side of getting interviewed. So I loved radio since I was growing up.

You know, I used to always listen to the different radio stations while I was in the car and things like that. I actually was a great singer. And so I started off, like at 18, 19 in college, like really wanting to be a singer. And I was songwriting and I was spending all my free time writing music. I have so many different songs out there. And I was a really talented singer. I always had like a solo in my chorus concerts in college. I was like the lead in the plays. And that was a really big passion for me. You know, I wasn't really that good in school in undergrad. I was really focused on a lot of activities like being in the sorority, being on the cheerleading team, singing, being in plays. And I wasn't really focused on school. And I remember learning that like

you can get an internship. And so like my sophomore year or my junior, year, I can't remember, I saw this internship for Hot 97, a radio station. And I originally thought, like, hey, why don't I get this job at the radio station? And then I'll have more music connections for my singing career. That's what I was originally thinking. And then I started this internship at the radio station, and I was like really good at it. And I started on the production side, which was like the corporate side. And then Angie Martinez, who was the number one radio personality in New York, in America, really, Hot 97, for those who don't know, is like the number one hip-hop station, at least at the time, in the world. And so it was like a big deal to work there.

And so Angie Martinez, like, kind of recruited me to be her intern. And so I ended up being her intern slash assistant. And I ended up actually dropping out of school because I just fell in love with radio. And so I would be singing on the side. Actually, my, my boyfriend is Harry Fraud right now. He's a super famous music producer. He's still, I've been with him for 10 years. And so, like, we recorded a whole album at that time. But anyway, I ended up dropping out of school. And working at Hot 97 as an intern for free, that's what a lot of people on radio do full time for for almost two years. And so I took a break from school and concentrated on that. And I had all these different online radio shows on the side. And so a lot of the people that you hear on

the radio now, like DJ Druski, if you're from New York, these are people I used to have, and DJ Juanito, I used to have these shows with them at like smaller radio stations on the side while I was working at Hot 97 where I would be the personality and they would be the DJ, you know? And so it's really cool because it's like I almost had that career. You know, I almost was like going to be the next Angie Martinez on Hot 97 or Nessa or whoever that is now. Like that really could have been me had I just. So I was immature. So I was really young. I was still in college. I had dropped out of school. At the time, all of my siblings were in med school. I have three siblings. And so imagine this. Your father's a doctor. All your siblings are

in med school or in residency or doctors already or whatever it is. And you're a college dropout who works for free at a radio station. Imagine like explaining that every day to your parents. Like that's what I'm doing and this is what I'm choosing for my life. And so like- How do you can relate to this issue? I have many doctors and family. I am not one. And as you may have heard. How did your family feel about this situation? Well, they were really, they knew that like I wasn't going to be a doctor, but like they wanted me to be a lawyer or they had more high hopes for me. And they and they didn't really see the full picture. And so while they were still supportive, it was really hard like to like come to family dinners and like everybody talking about med school and me like not even making an income and

like it was really tough. And so I had a lot of pressure, probably a lot more pressure than the other people who were working for free at the station. I don't think they had the same amount of pressure that I did. So long story short, actually one of the DJs who's like a really popular DJ now, Angie Martinez fired one of her producers and I was basically filling in their shoes and I was the assistant producer by this time and I was basically doing the job. And she had wanted me to train this new guy who, like, worked on videos, but he was, like, at the station for a little longer. He was a little older than me who was going to be her new producer. And he was my friend. I'm not going to name his name, but he was my good friend. And I remember being really upset that I didn't get this job because I was

like, damn, like, how did they not choose me? Like, I worked for free for three years. I'm doing the job already. Like, why wouldn't they just hire me? I was really confused. I was really upset. And so I just didn't feel good that day. And I texted him. And I was like, you know what? I'm not coming into work today. It was his first day. And I was like, if you want to be the producer, like, you figure it out. And I was like just some immature thing, you know? And it's a lesson that I learned that like never say anything when you're mad, right? Like don't write anything down when you're mad. Don't send a message or an email when you're mad. So anyway, he showed that to Angie. And even though I wasn't technically working there, I wasn't even on the books, she cut my key cards and she fired me.

And we're all good now. And since then, she's brought me other opportunities and we're cool. But right then she was really mad at me. And I guess because she, you know, I had this huge. huge opportunity. I was meeting celebrities every day. I was getting an experience. So many people my age would have died for. And I think she felt like I was unappreciative. And she fired me. And so- You think she was right? Were you unappreciative? Did you deserve to be fired? I think I deserved a slap on the wrist. I don't think I should have been fired for good. I gave up my whole life to work at Hot 97. And it was like ingrained in me. I loved it so much. And I was such a hard worker. So like, no, I really don't think she should have fired me. But I think it

actually worked out for my advantage in the long term, and I think I'm going to be bigger than I ever would have been and generate more income than I ever would have had I stayed in that position. A lot of people who I kind of came up with at that time, they're kind of still doing the same thing, whereas I've gone on, had a corporate career, have like this amazing corporate career, honestly, and this big podcast now, and I've done other things. And so I don't regret it, but I did learn a big lesson that you should never say anything when you're mad. So anyway, I left the station. What did you tell your parents about this, about this job after they were already not so sure,

and then you get fired. I'm sure that wasn't a- Well, they were happy. They're like, great, you're going back to school. And so that's what I did. I immediately enrolled back into school. And since then, I had stray days in school. So it was like, I did like one last year of school.

I got straight days. And I was like a different person. When I came back to school, before that, I was so immature. I didn't know how to study. I didn't know how to focus. Then I came back to school and I, like, rocked it because. it's like I could just do anything because I just learned so much from all my experiences. And I had really matured and learned how to work hard and under pressure and fast,

fast-paced work environment, stuff like that. And so I came back and I was like a killer at school. And so I ended up doing well. Anyway, just to share like the rest of the journey in terms of how I ended up with this podcast and where I am today, once I left 1007, I literally felt like somebody died. I was so upset. I felt like my identity was taken away from me because everything. that I did represented Hot 97. I was hosting parties at night. My whole Twitter was like all about

Hot 97, all my friends. Everything revolved around being, working at Hot 97 and having this cool job. So when it was taken away from me, I was like, oh my God, I have nothing. I'm just like this big loser. Like, what am I going to do with my life? And so I immediately channeled that negative energy into something positive. And so I decided that, you know what, nobody's going to blackball me from the hip-hop entertainment industry. I'm going to do it myself. I'm going to start my own platform. I felt like at the time,

a lot of women weren't given any opportunities. And so I decided I was going to start the sorority of hip-hop, and I was going to recruit other girls in the area who were working in the entertainment broadcasting hip-hop industries and bring them on board. And I learned how to build websites. I just went to YouTube school and went to town. And I had a little bit of money that I saved up

from like working at the station and pulling in money from hosting parties and things like that. And I started this website. And I went on Craigslist and Twitter and I recruited all these girls. I was like, send me your pictures, send me your bio, tell me where you work. And let's get going. And in like two weeks, I had 14 girls in the sorority of hip hop who worked at like VH1 and complex and all these cool. You know, we had all these cool brands. I was like formerly at Hot 97. And I started this website. And within three months, we were like the 30, thousandth most popular hip-hop website in the world. And I just used some really cool Twitter strategies to kind of blow up there. And one thing led to another. We almost got a show on MTV, twice. And I was the star. And we used to be like, you know, at one point, I left Hot 97. Then all

a sudden, the dynamic shift. And the DJs wanted me to promote their parties and host their parties. And they would shout me out on the radio more than I was when I worked there. And so like all the sudden I became like their peers rather than like, you know, the little intern. And they respected me more. And all those girls that worked in the sorority of hip hop now have like super cool jobs and got all this cool experience. And it was like honestly the most fun time in my life. Like those three years were like just so much fun. And I built so much of my skills and foundation during those three years. And we had online radio shows and like I said, hosted parties, hosted concerts. And so that was a big foundation. So I'm talking a lot. There's a lot more

to the story. I don't know if you want to dig into specific parts or have me just keep going. I want to dig into some parts, but you know, you're on a role. But at some point, you take a corporate job and then you start a podcast and obviously start building a big LinkedIn following, right? Yeah. What was the inspiration for building the podcast? Yeah. So I did go back into corporate. So after the second time MTV, we shot this big pilot, right? And it was like a whole summer of them shooting. They shot us hosting concerts. They shot me with my family with my boyfriend. They followed us around. They did her makeup every day. Like, it was like,

they were like, you're going to be the next Jersey Shore. Like, are you ready for it? And so we were so hyped about being the next Jersey Shore and the amount of attention and investment that they put on us really blew our heads up. And so, like, we were so hung up on having this show on MTV. They got us a studio on Broadway. They hooked it up. It was like, imagine like the real world kind of look and feel. Like they did the whole nine for us. And so, and this was a second pilot that they shot with and they really told, like, they were already paying us, and we signed all these huge contracts, and it was such a big deal. And then after it all, they didn't give us the show.

And it was the second time. And again, I felt like somebody died. And I was like, I can't do this anymore. I have 50 girls in the sorority of hip-hop looking to me as the president and the founder to bring them fame, to make everybody's dreams come true. I couldn't take the pressure anymore. You know, the website was doing great, but we didn't really know how to monetize. The blog site boom was slowing down.

So I just shut it down. I shut it down. I told everybody sorry. Some of the girls still hate me for it. I love them all, though. And I shut it down and I went and got my MBA. And so I got a, I got my MBA. Like I said, at that point, I was mature. I was a killer in school. I got a 4.0. And at that point, while I was getting my MBA, I applied for an internship at Hewlett-Packard. I got it. And then I just kept getting promoted there and stayed there for like four years. At my last year at Hewlett-Packard, I started to get like really itching to get back into broadcasting. I was. really into like volunteer work at Hewlett-Packard. And so like all this energy that I have, I would power it in, I was like an entrepreneur in the company. And so I started this young employee network at our office and started all these company traditions like our summer picnics and holiday parties and toy drives. And they're still doing those things today. It's like become these annual traditions that I started the templates for. And then I started this like global young employee network. And I was about to be the global young employee network president.

I would have led like 7,000 people. I was like really the face of the young employees at Hewlett-Packard. I had all this experience and I was definitely like the next one to be that position and all my peers wanted me to have that position. And there was like 30 people who took videos to nominate me to be that position. And for some reason, HR didn't pick me. So again, a gatekeeper kind of like blocked me out from a dream that I had. And that's when I decided to start Young and Profiting Podcasts.

I didn't get this position internally in the company and I had all this free time. so I decided I'm going to, again, channel this into something positive. I'm going to start my own platform. Instead of being a voice for 7,000 people at Hewlett-Packard, let me be a voice for 700,000 people in the world, and start my own podcast. And I knew audio production. I had radio experience. I had marketing experience.

I had connections. And I was like, I'm just going to do this. And so I learned how to figure out podcasting and I just went for it. Yeah. So, Hallie, you start this podcast, obviously inspiring. by wanting to figure this out regardless of whether our HP was going to enable you to do it. So let's start about that the day of the start, right? Because I think it's very easy to look at someone when they've got a good following and it builds momentum.

But the day, the zero to one issue is very challenging. So I want you to tell me specifically, like, did you launch it on Anchor? Did you build a website? How did you get your first guest? Tell me like the day one issues you dealt with to get this off the ground. Yeah. So when I first started the podcast, I was rusty. I hadn't been doing radio for four years.

It felt like I never did it before. And I had a really complex format. I decided I was going to interview two to four people per episode. I was going to interview them on the same topic and then chop it up, let it flow together, even though they weren't even in the same conversation, add narration. And so it was really complex. They actually are amazing episodes. And a lot of my diehard fans are obsessed with episodes one through three because they were

this really complex project that I did. with music throughout the whole thing. And so it was like a big deal. And so I just started. I was so nervous. My voice, it was almost all of it. I like re-recorded everything that I did. What was the topic of the first episode? The first episode was about first impressions. And so I did that because that was my first episode. And so I reached out to Dr. Jack Schaefer and Dory Clark. Dr. Josh Schaefer wrote my favorite book called The Like Switch, and Dory Clark is a big author who wrote Standout. And from the beginning, I wasn't shy to kind of reach for the stars in terms of the guests that I wanted. I reached out to like 20 people who wrote books about first impressions, who were experts on first

impressions. A lot of people said no. A lot of people didn't respond. But Dory Clark and Jack Schaefer said, yes. And so I basically begged them to come on my show. I said, listen, this is my first podcast episode. I have no proof that this is going to go well. I used to have a website. that actually did really well. I used to have radio experience, so I'm not a total rookie at this, and I have marketing skills, so I promise that I'm going to promote the heck out of this. Yeah, I want to get into some of those details real quick, because I think this is such an important issue, especially for entrepreneurs, where people are frequently asking, how do I get some of our big name speakers to show up and how does that work? And it's not a dissimilar

process where we ask dozens, hundreds of people, and many say no, but it's just a few that say yes, and it build relationships when we move from there. But, Like specifically, did you go to their website, look at the about page and hit the like contact us button? Did you go through friends who knew them? This issue comes up with me quite a bit. I know you have a lot of really interesting guests on. I want to share with people a little bit behind the scenes of how this process works. Yeah, of course.

So now our process is more advanced. So I'll tell you what I did then and I'll tell you what I do now because it's different because now I have some credibility, right? So when I had no credibility, what I did is I wrote out my experiences that related to what I was doing. So I found out their emails through their websites or contact forms. I also reached out via LinkedIn. And so you can write a personalized note on LinkedIn to your second and third connections. And that's a great way to reach out to people who you don't know and to give them like a snapshot of what you're about. Ask them to accept your invitation if they're interested.

And then you can give them more detail about your request. So that's a great way to reach out to people you don't know. So yeah, I would find their information off their website. And I would write them an email. That's how I started with my first guests. And I would let them know about my past experiences that relate, the mission of my podcast, why I want to do this, how I'm going to promote it, and basically how I'm going to make it worth their while.

And asking them, like, you know, take a chance on me. I've got potential. That's like the general gist of what I was asking them. And so that's how I got all my first guests. Then once you have that credibility that, like, by episode five, I had David Allen on my show, who's the author of GTT. He's like this huge, he's like the productivity goat, greatest of all time. and big guests, you know, so then by that time, then I could always refer back to, you know,

I've had David Allen on my show. Then other big authors would be interested because they say, well, David Allen, you know, thought it was a good idea. Why wouldn't I think it's a good idea? And so you kind of just build up that credibility by having past guests of a certain caliber. So it's like I never was just like, nobody can just come on my show. Nobody can pay to come on my show. You have to be an expert. And I need to know that, A, you speak really well. B, you have some sort of expertise to share to the world, and C, you've got your own platform and audience and have built that credibility in your space. So, like, those are the main things that I look for. And so, yeah, that's pretty much how I started reaching out to people. It's

mostly like outreach, but it's really about the passion that you show with your messaging. 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 jobs on Indeed get 45% more applications than non-sponsored ones according to Indeed data worldwide. I'm so glad I found

Indeed when I did because hiring is so much easier now. In fact, in the minute we've been talking, 23 hires were made on Indeed according to Indeed data worldwide. Plus, there's no subscriptions or long-term contracts. You literally just pay for your results. You pay for the people that you hire. There's no need to wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed. And listeners of this show will get a $75-sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at Indeed.com slash profiting. Just go to Indeed.com slash profiting right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash profiting. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring, Indeed is all you need. And so what year did you start the podcast? In 2018. And so where is it now?

Remind people who aren't aware how far it's come. Sure. So Young and Profiting podcast is a number one how to podcast on Apple. We're also really big on CastBox and SoundCloud. You know, we've got thousands of subscribers, like 30,000 subscribers at least across all platforms. It's really hard to actually tell exactly how many subscribers you have on all the different channels. I also have a very big LinkedIn presence. I have almost 60,000 followers on LinkedIn in a very active and engaged community. And my podcast is, you know, five stars. If you look through our reviews, we've got really like diehard fans who listen to like every single episode. And so our download numbers are really high because we have a high retention rate in terms of our listeners. That's awesome. So let's

talk about LinkedIn specifically. How have you leveraged LinkedIn to grow the young and profiting brand and how you differentiate it from your own personal brand? Sure. So LinkedIn has greatly helped me promote young and profiting. I think one of the main reasons is because there's not many podcasters who are really promoting on LinkedIn. A lot of podcasters focus on YouTube and Instagram. And so it was easier to stand out in this space. Also, I've really utilized DMs as a way to grow my podcast and also utilized other competitors'

following. So, for example, when I first started, I grew a lot of my following from Gary V. And so Gary V has a podcast that's very similar to mine. And so what I would do is anybody who liked or commented on his post, I would invite them to connect. I would send them a friendly message like, hey, it's Halle, nice to meet you. I notice you like Gary V's content and podcast. I think you'll like mine too. I'm looking forward to provide value on your feed. And nine out of ten times, those people would accept that connection. And I ended up growing an engagement. And I ended up growing an engaged community on LinkedIn who was interested in self-improvement content, which is the type of content that I promote. And so the first step that I did was really build that engaged following.

A lot of people miss that step. They focus all in the content and they forget about their community and the network that they actually need to build with people that are interested in the type of content that they post. And so the key to the strategy is actually engaging and inviting people to connect who like and comment on recent stuff, not just anybody who follows Gary Vee, because people could join LinkedIn and then get a job and never come back on. They could not be interested in commenting and liking. You want those really engaged people who go on the platform every day, and that's the benefit of really targeting just people who like and comment on your competitors' posts.

And so that's what I did. That's how I grew my following. Is LinkedIn your main distribution channel for, especially for video? Do you promote the content? What's your most successful channel, including all the podcast channels? For video, I have YouTube and LinkedIn, but I get much more views on LinkedIn than I do YouTube. My videos on LinkedIn usually get like 4,000 views at minimum. If it goes viral, it's a lot more than that.

And also, like, the way that LinkedIn counts views is not actually the truth. Like, you can times that by four if you want to know, like, the impressions. So, like, 15,000 people see my video every time I posted on LinkedIn. And I post one every day. So that really accumulates over time in terms of my. brand awareness on this platform and in general. So yeah, LinkedIn has helped. Do you get more reach there than you do through SoundCloud and the other podcasting platforms? No, I wouldn't say that. I think it's equal in terms of like Apple and Cas Fox as like really big platforms. But yeah, I would say my biggest

reach is probably LinkedIn if that's what you're asking. Like if I had to like choose one or something like that or like it would be LinkedIn. That's my biggest reach. I think I I think there's a lot of people on LinkedIn who know who I am and who have seen my video. and have never listened to the podcast. And so that's why I think that LinkedIn is probably my biggest platform. Yeah. When you say, and I want to just clarify something, because you said before you DM certain people who like his content,

you met specifically on LinkedIn, correct? Yes. So direct message on LinkedIn, correct? Yeah. So you start posting your content on LinkedIn. A lot of people talk about LinkedIn primarily as a job search platform. You know, maybe it's just B2B, it's not B2C. I'm curious if you've had that same experience.

How have you found you've driven engagement beyond just a job? search and for business business. Yeah, I think LinkedIn is so much more than just a B2B platform. First of all, if you're active on LinkedIn, you'll probably notice that company profiles don't actually perform that well. People really are on this platform to engage, to learn. And there's like four, I think almost 500 million people on this platform right now. And those are people that, although they might work corporate jobs, there are still people who have opinions, who have perspectives, who like content. And so I really think that LinkedIn is. is ripe for content creators to create a following, create a network of people, especially if

what you do is something that helps people grow professionally, financially, or is like specific to some sort of industry, like real estate or something like that. I think LinkedIn is a great platform to start your community. And did you find that, and by the way, it's over 700 million on LinkedIn. Did you find that, that you have to make an investment, that you actually have to spend dollars to grow your reach? No, everything was creative strategy. So, I, I told you that creative strategy about Gary Vee. One of the other benefits of kind of targeting your competitors' followers is that once you actually start building, like, let's say I was doing that Gary V strategy for like two months.

I had like 7,000 of the same followers as him very quickly, right? And so then every time I commented on his post, I would become the top comment. And then the 100,000 people who saw his post would see my comment and who would proactively then connect with me. And so it starts this big circle effect. where even though you're not engaging them and proactively finding them, people start to find you because you're becoming visible and you're active on other people's posts. And so it was creative strategies like that.

I can list so many different ways. I chose really bright colors for my content. You know, my favorite colors aren't like neon green and yellow and hot pink like I put on my stuff. I love pastels. But to stand out on LinkedIn, I chose really bright patterns and bold colors to stand out. And I decided, you know, once I started doing human videos, like, so I did a lot of, like, cartoons, which also helped me stand out. But then, you know, I realized that every time I did like a selfie video, it would go viral

and I would get so many followers. And I was like, okay, people want to see my face. I can't be like hiding behind the computer anymore. They don't want to just hear my voice. They want to see me on video. So I started doing more of that. So it was creative strategies, experimentation. It wasn't paid at all.

It was totally organic. And the best way to grow a community is to do it organically because that way it's not just this race of putting in money, putting in money to get views. It just happens naturally and it grows naturally. And that's really how you want to do it. So again, like I mentioned before, growing your network and targeting a network that would be interested in your content is definitely always step number one when you're trying to grow a brand. You talked about before how you had some pretty good success with the, I forgot the name of the hip-hop story. I'm not that cool. so I don't know these things.

But now you've gotten some really solid traction on young and profiting. Have you been able to turn that into traction for revenue? In terms of the podcast, yeah. So I've had lots of different sponsorship opportunities. And so that's helpful. Lots of different affiliate deals that I've done. By far, the most value that I get from my podcast specifically is definitely the connections that I make.

And so some of the guests that I came on my show ended up being clients of mine. I just started a podcast marketing agency. I haven't even advertised for it, and I have a waiting list, and I have more work than I can even deal with. And it's because I have this, like, lead generating magnet, and I've got the social proof that my marketing for podcasting really works. And so all these different top podcasters that I interview now want my services, even though I never even formally offered them, it's just like word of mouth.

So that's definitely one way that I've generated revenue off my brand is because the people that I interview end up being my clients and also the social proof of what I'm doing. Yeah. Yeah. I want to talk back. I want to get back towards the early, the process. You know, you obviously host a guest. Do you record it? Do you run them live? Do you produce them, you know, do you add them afterwards? And what would you recommend to someone just getting started and what tools to use to manage all this? Yeah. So my podcast, I record them both ways. So I either record them not live or live. I personally like to do them not live because I research so much for my guests.

I like to just be in the zone. And sometimes all the comments flying by is very distracting. And I find that I have a better show when it's not live. But I do it both ways. It just depends on the topic. And if I think that it will be good for an interactive discussion or not. And yeah, we do post-production. I've gotten really good where we barely have any editing in the beginning.

You know, I would like stutter a lot. I used to say, um, and a lot. I was just like a little rusty. And now, you know, I just do the intro and the outro. My editor pieces it together with a full interview of maybe edits it just a tiny bit. Maybe I said something where I'm like, can you cut that out? I think that wasn't that great. But for the most part, it's just kind of barely edited and put up there.

I think people kind of get obsessed with being perfect. And when it comes to podcasting, people want you to be natural. And so like I've learned that kind of just letting go, whatever kind of. of however the conversation went, it always went better than I think it did. Sometimes I put out episodes and I think I'm going to get a really poor response and people love it. And so I've learned that it doesn't really matter what I think. If I do, if I try my best in terms of the research and do my best job, usually my listeners like love the show. Yeah. Do you use, you know, we obviously create lots of content ourselves as well. We use tools like Video Husky and Canva and a variety of other

services. Do you outsource to any of those sorts of, like especially Video Husky? Do you use any of those kinds of platforms to do it all yourself. That's so funny that you said video husky. I used to have an affiliate deal with video husky. I did use video husky in the beginning. Now I have my own team. And so I have a team of video editors and designers and copywriters that are helping with my staff and my client work. And so I basically started my own team to do all that stuff. I have a lot of graphic design and video editing experience myself. And so I end up designing a lot of these video templates that you guys see on my profile myself, I kind of templatize what I want them to look like and then train my team and then they replicate and scale. And so that's,

that's really how I do it. Yeah. So where does this go from here? Right. Like it sounds like there was, and I'm curious of your thoughts on this. It sounds like you've been chasing something. And I'm curious if you figured out what that is. That's a good question. I don't know if I know what that is. I'm just kidding. I want to be like the Tim Ferriss of podcasting, the female Tim Fares. Like, I want to be the biggest podcaster in the world. That's my number one goal. Everybody says that I'm like an upcoming Oprah and that I could be the next Oprah. Maybe TV is in my future. I really love podcasting and vlogging. And my trips are on YouTube this year. So I'm going to go super hard when it comes to YouTube and try to get exposure to there. And I just want to keep growing.

You know, Young and Profiting podcast is, it's growing so fast. I'm getting bigger and bigger guests. We're getting more and more subscribers. And so I just can't even imagine what it's going to be like a year from now. And I'm just excited for that. I still love working my corporate job. I still love working at Disney streaming. I love taking on all this client work. And I'm just seeing where it goes.

Yeah. You described two scenarios using the same word. When you lost your job at 9-97 and when you shut down the website for the sorority of hip-hop as devastating moments. And that's what struck me as you chasing. something. And I'm wondering if you had to shut down young and profiting tomorrow, would you feel that same way? Or are you able to lean in on some of the successes that you've had and be proud of that? Yeah. I mean, I could never, like, if somebody was to like, you have to choose young and profiting or something else, I would definitely choose young and profiting. Like, I love my podcast and, like, I would

never stop doing my podcast. So, like, that's my passion. Like, at the end of the day, everything else could go away. As long as I had my podcast, I know I'd be okay. And I know I'd be able to generate money with whatever I was selling because I have an audience that trust me, you know? And so I would never shut down Young and Profiting podcast. At least not yet, you know, unless I was going to start like the Halitaha show, which is something that I do want to do in the future. I don't want to be host of Young and Profiting podcast forever. But I still think that Young and Profiting has a bit of time left on this earth. Is there a reason you didn't call it the Halitaha show to begin with? Yeah, because I don't think anybody cares who Halitaha is, to be quite honest.

Maybe now, just now, people are starting to carry, you know, 10 years later. But before that, they didn't. And so I wanted something that would resonate with everyone. And that's why I chose that name. I love to- I don't know about the name behind us. How to land on that? Yeah. So, Yap is the abbreviation. And I loved the connotation that has with, you know, speaking and kind of speaking freely and things like that. And so I loved that. And, you know, at the time, I had five X to my income in like four years. Like, think about it.

I was hosting parties when I was right out of college. I was a college dropout. And in four years, I was like, you know, caught up with all my peers, even though they were in the corporate industry, like five years longer than I was. And so I felt like I had a lot of things to say. And I had actually made a lot of money on the stock market, too, at that time. And so I did feel like I was young in profiting. And I was like, you know what? I'm young in profiting.

I remember being lost. I remember being broke, not knowing. knowing like how I'm going to pay rent and these things. And now I have a financially secure future. And I'd love to share this with some of these folks and interview people who are a lot smarter than me and share their insight with the world. And so that's really why I started it. I thought people would resonate with wanting to be young and profiting. It's funny now because I have listeners of all ages, completely all ages. And I interview people who are in their 50s and 60s. And so I think branding-wise, if I could do it all over again, I would do something more like, you know, I have a friend.

He's got a podcast called Self-improvement Daily and he gets millions of downloads just from having like a keyword-rich name. So if I could do it all over again, it wouldn't be like a catchy name. It would be a keyword rich name. But you do what you do. Now everybody knows young and profiting. I can't change it now. I do want to put me in on one issue you just brought up, though, because I don't want to oversimplify or don't want to listeners to think that just a good keyword will get you millions of listeners. I'm sure that's attached to really fantastic content. Yeah, I mean, he's got a great show,

but I think it does have a lot to do with his keywords. And then he also posts every single day. And so when it comes to podcasting, the more frequency you have, the more you'll be able to maintain a ranking on Apple and the more visibility your podcast will have. So he posts every single day, plus his keyword rich title, he's got a lot of listeners, even though he doesn't have much of a social media presence yet. So it's just really interesting. to see the different ways that you can kind of get visibility on your podcast. Young and Profiters. I know there's so many people tuning in right now that end their workday wondering why certain tasks take forever, why they're procrastinating certain things, why they don't

feel confident in their work, why they feel drained and frustrated and unfulfilled. But here's the thing you need to know. It's not a character flaw that you're feeling this way. It's actually your natural wiring. And here's the thing. When it comes to burnout, it's really about the type of work that you're doing. Some work gives you energy and some work simply drains you. So it's key to understand your six types of working genius. The working genius assessment or the six types of working genius framework was created by Patrick Lensione and he is a business influencer and author. And the working genius framework helps you identify what you're actually built for and the work that you're not. Now, let me tell you a story. Before I uncovered my

working genius, which is galvanizing and invention. So I like to rally people. and I like to invent new things. I used to be really shameful and had a lot of guilt around the fact that I didn't like enablement, which is one of my working frustrations. So I actually don't like to support people one-on-one. I don't like it when people slow me down.

I don't like handholding. I like to move fast, invent, rally people, inspire. But what I do need to do is ensure that somebody else can fill the enablement role, which I do have, K on my team. So working genius helps you uncover these genius gaps, helps you work better with your team, helps you reduce friction,

helps you collaborate better, understand why people are the way that they are. It's helped me restructure my team, put people in the spots that they're going to really excel, and it's also helped me in hiring. Working Genius is absolutely amazing. I'm obsessed with this model. So if you guys want to take the Working Genius assessment and get 20% off, you can use code profiting. Go to WorkingGenius.com. Again, that's workinggenius.com.

Stop guessing. Start working in your genius. Yeah. Someone commented that smart, but you focus on your branding, and I would agree with that. I think there's other ways. ways to hack the system. And speaking of which, when someone posts on LinkedIn, what are some of the most effective ways to make sure you get traction that you don't over tag and over hashtag so that you get kicked out of the algorithm? What's the most effective way to get reach and post when you go on

LinkedIn? Yeah. So I think there's like lots of different ways. It depends what your objectives are. I think text posts, just plain text posts do really well on LinkedIn. I have a theory on hashtags. I have a feeling that they don't work. I think after four or five hashtags, you actually get suppressed in the feed. And so I would stick to like three hashtags max. I also think that you should use hashtags just for branding. So for me, I use Young and Profiting, Yap, and Podcasts. Those are the three tags that I usually only use.

Sometimes I experiment because I don't like to just like believe one thing and think it's always true. I like to always experiment. But for the most part, I use hashtags for just branding. And so my theory is that using too many hashtags, actually decreases your engagement rate. So if you think about it, when you used hashtags, you are, so let's use the hashtag coronavirus, right?

Let's say I do a post that's relevant, that is somewhat related to coronavirus, and I hashtag that word. Now, everybody is searching for posts or were at one point on coronavirus. And so now you've got all this competition. They're scrolling through their feed. They might be looking for something really specific, and they have no idea who you are. So their chances of engaging on you are really low. So now you've got all these impressions and very low engagement.

And so your post in general has a low engagement rate because you have lots of views and low engagement because people don't know you. They don't connect with you. They might not be searching exactly for what you're writing about. And so you actually shoot yourself in the foot. Now, if you did the same post and didn't put any hashtags, only your network will see that post. And so then they engage and then their second and third connections will see it.

And you'll have a higher engagement rate because it started like more organically where it was your following who are more likely to engage. So that's kind of my theory on hashtags and why I think only like three or four is the way to go. Yeah. There was a while when I started with LinkedIn where I would private message people and asking them to like things. I don't think people will really recognize the power of the second degree engagement is very, very significant. Do you still, or do you you use that technique at all to ask people to engage your posts at all directly? To engage with my, like, give me an example. Like to comment to any of those things where then it, you know, in the LinkedIn feed it will then show up as a recommended

to someone who's outside your network, where I might message someone who's in my network and ask them to like or to engage with my post. Got it. So like direct messaging someone a link to your post. I actually hate that strategy. When people send that to me, I feel like that's like a little desperate. I think it could work because it works the same as engagement pods. And so on LinkedIn, you really want your post to get as much likes and comments as you

can within like the first 30 minutes. And so I think a better strategy, instead of randomly messaging somebody you don't know, to like and comment on your post, which I think will decrease your credibility to them, start a group with your friends, start a WhatsApp chat with your friends and anybody who wants to grow their stuff on LinkedIn. Find other content creators who have a similar amount of audience as you and start a WhatsApp group and start an engagement pod and put your links on there and have people like and comment and support each other. And so that's a great way. If you need to get that initial boost, that's a great way. But a better way and how I did it when I first started was to proactively find people who might like my content like I told you that Gary Vee story. And so I would really suggest that that's what you do to actually get natural engagement

rather than messaging people one-on-one to like and comment on a recent post through direct messages. I think direct messages you should promote something a little bit more valuable, like listen to your podcast or, you know, read this article, whatever it is, I think pointing them to their post is a little cheesy, in my opinion. To be clear, the strategy to work for me is actually direct messaging people who I know, not called the people who I've had on a show and asked them to engage. Oh, yeah, that's definitely a great strategy.

If you know them, that's a whole different story. I get a lot of people who don't know me who are like, can you like this post? And it's like just really random. Yeah, agree. You know, I also get an unending number of LinkedIn messages, got a rather large, probably myself and I ignore most of them. You talk about direct messaging as a strategy I do as well. How do you find you can break through the noise? With direct messaging? Yeah. I'm in particular. Yeah. So I like to make it about them. So and I always, I don't offer anything that is a service that

they have to pay for. Everything is free. And so the way that I approach it is, hey, like you may be interested in my content. I think it's interesting to you. This is, We're about like entrepreneurship, how to gain influence, how to, you know, start a side hustle. My latest episode is XYZ. You know, if this interests you, here's the links to check it out. I'd love to hear your feedback. And so it's really all about them. Like, are you interested in the show?

Would you give your feedback? And people really love that. They really love to be seen as like, oh, yeah, I'd love to listen and give you my thoughts, you know. And that's how I grew a lot of my listeners, making them feel valued. And then the other thing is I have real conversations with people. It's not all about me. I ask them, you know, what they do for a living. I try to really nurture my network because it's not only about growing new connections.

It's about retaining your existing connections too. Yeah, agreed. I would say, Ed, this thing that's worked well for me, both in the receiving end and for sending the other people, is having done a little bit of research on that person and, you know, referencing some common connection who I actually know and something personal about them or some project that that other individual might be working on that I have some insight. on, I found that when you show that it's not a mass message, makes an enormous difference, and I get dramatically higher response rates from similarly high-profile people who are hard to pin down. Yeah, that's great.

Where do you go from here? How do you get to the next level of what you're trying to grow? I really think it's YouTube. So I think it's YouTube, and I think now, just now, I'm starting experimenting with paid ads now that my podcast is generating income. And so paid ads on the podcast platforms, really investing. I think I have great content. I think it's worth investing in.

And so I'm pumping in money back into advertising on different podcast platforms and growing my YouTube strategy. I've got a YouTube coach now and very excited to really, really try to turn that up. Where does one find a YouTube coach? They're everywhere. You could just search for them. Let me rephrase that question. Where does one find a legitimate and actually pretty good?

YouTube coach versus the thousands that claim to be. I would find somebody who's really, really got it rocking on YouTube and ask them, like, do you work with anyone? Is there anybody who could train me or can you train me? So the YouTube coach that I'm working with, he's got his own YouTube channel and then he started being a YouTube coach in a lot of people. Same way that like when there's a big LinkedIn influencer, they usually end up being a LinkedIn coach.

It's usually what happens, right? Yeah. These things are tough to monetize. For those who are watching, since you're building your YouTube presence, where can they go, subscribe so that they can be early adopters to see what's happening. Yeah, you just search for young and profiting on YouTube and you'll find us. Awesome. So I, you know, I'm with the Tech United New Jersey organization. I know you're not currently in New Jersey, but you do have some New Jersey roots, right? Yes, I grew up my whole life in Jersey and my mom's out in Jersey and I visit her all

the time. We get, we get made fun of a lot in the Jersey community, especially being in the, sometimes the shadow of the New York market, but it's people like you and the amazing talent around the state that we want to highlight to showcase that there's some really great things happening here and great people here. Is there something positive you could say? We get made fun of actually because of the hot 97s of the world. So I'm wondering if there's something you could say positive about your experience,

maybe at MJAC you're growing up in the kind of talent that's in New Jersey that people should give us a second look. Oh, yeah. I think New Jersey is super talented. I find that people from New Jersey are really bright. We have amazing school systems, like really top-notch school systems. You know, I also think that we're really energetic. You know, a lot of people from New Jersey were positive.

I think we're rather bubbly compared to, like, New York and other states. And we also have nature, you know. So it's not just this metropolitan area. We've got lots of nature, and it's really great. Turns out we have also pretty good places for social distancing. A lot of major organizations are used to people in New York City now actually have a seriously work for tech, primarily here in New Jersey. That's pretty awesome.

So my last question is, the community people that we work with as part of the Tech United community starts with how do we help one another. So what would be something that our community can do to help you? Yeah, I mean, I would love it if you guys can connect with me on LinkedIn. Halitaha is how you can find me. I'd also really appreciate it if you guys could check out Young and Profiting Podcasts, not for me, but because I know that Young and Profiting Podcasts, changes lives. We talk about so many different topics that can help elevate you financially or

professionally. How to be a better public speaker was my last topic. How to grow your business like Amazon. I interviewed top CEOs and bestselling authors. It's really interesting stuff. So I'd love for you guys to check it out. Awesome. Well, it's been really awesome to have you today. I really appreciate you sharing your story. Best of luck as this thing as this grows. Check out Yonge Profiting. Check out Techunited.com and our social is at We Are Tech United. If you're not already with us, healthy will join us. And I look forward to seeing you soon on some of the Young and Profiting channels. Thanks so much, Aaron. Really love this chat. Thanks a lot. Thanks for listening to Young and Profiting Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review on Apple

podcast or comment on YouTube, SoundCloud, or your favorite platform. Reviews make all the hard work worth it. They're the ultimate thank you to me and the Yap team. The other way to support us is by word of mouth. Share this podcast with a friend or family member who may find it valuable. Follow Yap on Instagram at Young and Profiting and check us out at young and profiting.com. You can find me on Instagram at Yap with Hala or LinkedIn. Just search for my name, Hala Taha. Until next time, this is Hala, signing off.