Overcoming Adversity, Finding Your Power and Building an Empire with Hala Taha

Welcome to True Grit and Grace, a podcast designed to empower you to claim your resilience and thrive through life's challenges. I am Amberly Lago, a mindset coach, fitness expert, and bestselling author. Each week, I'll dive deep with the world's brightest thought leaders and elite performers to share tangible tools and practical advice to inspire you to keep your eyes on the prize and forge ahead. So get ready to conquer your fears, heal any trauma, lead with your heart, and elevate your life with grit and grace. Hey, y', all, it's Amberly Lago.

Thank you for being here.

If this is your first time listening, I'm so glad you stopped in to listen to True Grit and Grace. And if you're back for more, well, I sure appreciate it. And I also appreciate your feedback through a review. I read every single one of those reviews and it really helps me to be able to provide more value for the show and to you. So I just wanted to say thank you. Those. Those reviews on app mean so much and Apple also really likes it too. So if you've taken some time to leave a review, I sure appreciate you. And if you haven't, I would love to hear from you. I also love being an entrepreneur. I mean, it can be an exciting and liberating endeavor. I mean, so many people have great ideas for a business or a product, but only if you take the leap and open a new business or really go for their big dreams and ideas. It takes courage. It takes grit, passion, along with a lot of long hours, especially when you're first getting started. It takes commitment, tenacity, discipline, and creative ways of looking at things. Especially during COVID I have to say it, a lot of us have been changing things around, doing more things online. Some people have even completely pivoted their businesses. You have to be a good problem solver, a collaborator, and most of all, you absolutely have to be resilient. And today's guest is just that. Hala Taha is with us today. And I don't usually say this, but I'm telling you right now that you will absolutely want to go grab a pen and paper so you can take some notes because she shares all her secrets with us that have taken her to the top of the charts, landed her on the COVID of magazines and made her videos go viral. She's experienced her fair share of failures. She's struggled, she's had hardships, she's had letdowns. But the passion in her far outweighed her fears and she was determined to Build something bigger and be the best. She is the host of Young and Profiting Podcast, which is ranked number one in education and has over 1.5 million downloads. I am talking about she's got huge guests like, Matthew McConaughey and I mean, I am honored I get to be on her show coming up. So y' all check out her podcast. It is incredible. She really, I mean, every episode is so informative. She has a company that she just developed over Covid. I mean, unfortunately, she lost her dad during COVID due to Covid, and she could have easily given up on her dreams and instead she decided to never give up and she became the CEO of YAP Media. Her company is a full service podcast production and marketing agency for top podcasters and celebrities and CEOs, and it's projected to generate over a million dollars in revenue in its first year. I mean, she has exploded this business. And if you're on LinkedIn, then you already know Hala because she' known for being the queen of LinkedIn with the most engaged following on the platform. She shares her secrets that she spent years learning and she shares her passion. And most of all, she shares her heart. So I'm so excited to introduce you to her. So let's get to it.

Hello. Hello. Welcome to True Grit and Grace Podcast. I've been so excited to have you on the show. I actually had a dream about you last night. I was dreaming about you that you had a new book. Are you thinking about writing a new book or anything?

Oh, my gosh. I am going to write a new book. I haven't started anything in regards to the process, but it's one of my goals for 2021 to at least have the outline or the concept of my book determined by the end of the year. And then I think it will be writing in 2022 and maybe releasing it in 2023. So that's. That's kind of my overall plan.

Wow. Well, it was such a vivid dream that when I woke up, wow, she's got a book. Well, I gotta see that book. And so that just popped in my head right now. But I am so inspired by you and your journey and your wild success. I mean, it's unbelievable. When I first found you on LinkedIn. Well, first of all, our friend Heather Monahan was like, you gotta meet my girl. She's amazing. And I was like, who is this queen? She is like a boss babe. I was like, I gotta know her. And then I started listening to your podcast, which is, oh, my gosh you've been on the podcast magazine, your top podcast. I mean, millions of downloads. It's crazy, but there's been, like, it's been, like, a lot of hard work, a lot of grit, and. And I would love if you could just tell us a little bit about some of the challenges that you have had to overcome to get to the success. And also if we could start to by just sharing what kind of led you into really, the drive that you had to reach this success. Because I know it has been a tough year with COVID If you wouldn't mind sharing some of that.

Of course, of course. And first of all, Amberly, I just want to say thank you for having me on your show. I've been so impressed with your journey. I love hanging out with you on Clubhouse, and I just feel like our. Our, you know, paths were meant to cross. So I'm just so happy to, like, start this friendship with you and be on your show.

Me too. Thank you.

Of course. Okay, so in terms of my journey, a lot of people, you know, I just recently interviewed Matthew McConaughey, and a lot of people, I was freaked out. They were like, oh, my gosh, you're so lucky. You know, how did you pull this off? You're so lucky. And what I was thinking is, man, if you guys only knew how long it took to get and how hard I've worked. It's been nothing like an overnight success. It's been the complete opposite. And so I started my career in radio when I was in college 10 years ago, and I worked at Hot 97, it's number one hip hop and R and B station. And I interned there for free for three years. For three entire years. And I worked for Angie Martinez. She's known as the voice of New York. And I was the assistant producer. Even though I was working for free, I went there every day. I actually dropped out of school for this opportunity. And when a paying job opened up, they didn't give me the job. They gave it to somebody else who was a little bit older than me. And I ended up leaving the station because I felt like I was working for free for so long. And I did everything right in terms of, you know, being a really hard worker. I would feed the meters, I would buy the DJs, coffee, whatever anybody would want me to do. I would come into the station at 2 o' clock in the morning and work the delete boards. I did all their commercials, and I didn't get paid a dime from the station. Right. And so they didn't give me the job. I was quite devastated. And that was one of my first real big failures, because my whole identity was tied to HOT 97, this radio station. And everybody knew me as a girl who dropped out of school and is hanging out with all these celebrities now. And. And then that was taken away from me. And in fact, I wasn't just. I didn't just leave the station. The people at the station weren't allowed to talk to me anymore. And so essentially, this whole network that I had created for three years and really busted my butt for Vanish, vanished, taken away from me, pulled the plug. They left me for dead, you know, and so I was like, okay, I got to go back to school, right? So I went back to college. But immediately I realized that the way to succeed was to do it on my own. And so right away, that weekend, when I basically got, quote, unquote, fired, where I think that they wanted me to grovel back and come back to the station, but I didn't. I decided I would do my own thing. So I learned how to create websites and I just googled it and I started a blog. And I created this concept of the sorority of hip hop. And I wanted to be a platform for all these females in the industry that were kind of being mistreated, weren't given opportunities. Like, look at me, I worked for three years and I got kicked to the curb, right? And so I started this group. We. I recruited 14 girls right away, and within three months, we were one of the most popular hip hop and entertainment news sites. And MTV caught wind of us and they wanted to shoot a reality TV show. So they shot a very.

And how old were you at this point?

I was still in college. I was in my senior year of college, so I was maybe 24, 20, or 23 or something like that because I had taken a break from college, so I was a little older to be a senior in college. And so MTV scouted us. We didn't get the pilot, but we thought, oh, my gosh, it's been three months. Who cares what's going to happen in six months? So we just kept going. I ended up growing this, this website and this community to 50 female bloggers. And everybody was either, like, worked at VH1 or Def Jam or MT, like, all these different places. And we were like powerhouse women altogether. We had millions of followers, all pretty talented girl. And we blew up because when we'd blog something, we would tweet like Drake and Wiz Khalifa, and they would retweet us, because they'd get 50 girls tweeting one blog, mentioning people, and then they'd retweet us. And so we blew up that way and we got a lot of attention and we started hosting all these parties. We started hosting concerts and radio shows. And all of a sudden the DJs who wouldn't pay me minimum wage now were hiring me to host parties with them. And I was side by side on the flyers with them. And I essentially, like seeing skipped seven levels because I decided to go out on my own. And that was one of the first big lessons I ever learned, is that I have a lot of power. I can create teams and lead teams and I can do it on my own. I do not need a gatekeeper to say yes or no. Hot 97 said no. I said, okay, I'm going to do it my own way. And then I ended up being as popular as the DJs that I was interning for. Right. And so that was amazing. And then, I mean, good for you

though, because a lot of times if something like that happened, people would just give up on their dreams. They would just say, well, they would let them being fired or they weren't the one that got chosen to be paid for the job make them feel, well, I'm just not worthy.

Oh yeah.

What do you think it was in you that instead of thinking I'm not worthy, see, they aren't even going to pay me to. I got this. I'm going to do something bigger and better. I'm not going to go back to them, you know, and begging for that.

I mean, what exactly I think was in you? I think it has to do with me being Arabic. Because when I was in middle school, high school, 911 was still really fresh and I never got any opportunities. Nobody ever gave me a handout, even to this day. Like, my name is strange. My name is Hala Taha. It's not Stacy Smith. You know, I love your name, though. Thank you. Thank you. But. But it's not the first. Like, people don't want to do favors for me, really. And there's not a lot of Arabic people in very high power places in America yet. And so I never get a handout. Never. You know, I don't get. I don't get to pull those minority cards the same way that everybody else does. There's not really a place for Arabic people in that way right now. Not yet. Right. And so I really always had to pave my own way. And I remember I have such a great singing voice. And I always did. And before 911 I would, you know, get the leads in the plays and solos in every concert and all that kind of thing. As soon as 911 happened, the school wouldn't even put me in the talent show. They wouldn't even let me be in the talent show.

That makes me want to cry.

Yeah. And serious.

That just makes me want, want to cry. I didn't, you know, I didn't even know this part of your story.

Yeah.

That is just crazy.

Yeah. And so, so the benefit of it all is that I really learned how to handle rejection. Because in high school I got zero opportunities. Tried up for the volleyball team. No. Tried it for the cheerleading team. No. No talent show, no plays, nothing. Like nobody wanted to give me a shot. But I, for some reason I wanted to be successful. You know, I had great parents and great people to look up to and know that success is possible. And I just, for some reason I had that grit in me to just keep going. And I think those early failures really helped because I wasn't scared of getting no. Because my whole life everyone told me no. And so when Hot 97 told me no, yes, it was a blow. But I had a. I was really used to being rejected and used to having to always take matters into my own hands and still try. Right. And so that's what I did with the sorority of hip hop. And another failure came along my way. MTV reached out to us again and this time they were like, hey, like we're definitely 100% going to do your show. They signed us. I was the lead, I was getting paid. They filmed us all summer. They got us a studio on Broadway as if it was Real World. It was right after Jersey Shores. I was like, oh my gosh, we're going to be the next Jersey shore. MTV was huge at this time. Like the biggest. It was like the coolest thing, you know. They filmed us all summer. They did my makeup every day. They filmed me at restaurants, at my parents house. We thought we were famous, you know.

Yeah.

MTV at the same time was poking holes in my event business and into my sorority. It was the sorority of hip hop. They would. They were putting girls who didn't deserve it at the top and on the show with me and some of the other main girls. But then some of the lead girls got upset. So essentially what happened is we filmed all summer and then MTV pulls the plug. They decide not to air the show again. Could have been because I'm Arabic. I have no idea. They pulled the show. They couldn't give us any reason why. And that was that. And all of a sudden, I was left, you know, with 50 girls so upset. And I was the president of the Sorority of Hip Hop, the CEO of the company. And I was like, okay, like, now this was like our one way to kind of monetize and really blow this out of the water. Oxygen was approaching us for a show, but I just was so turned off and I just. I just tanked. I was like, I can't do this anymore. And I shut down the website, I shut down the sorority. A lot of the girls were really pissed at me, but I was like, listen, guys, like, I can't take this pressure anymore. I kind of had a breakdown. And I was like, I need to go back to school. I want to get my mba. I want to be normal. I can't do this entertainment industry anymore. Every time I put in all this work, somebody tells me no. And I just want to be successful. And I just kind of was like, I can't bring everybody along this journey anymore. I felt like I was carrying the weight of 50 girls on my back. And I was like, I need to succeed myself before I can actually help everybody else, right? And so I shut it down. I closed it. Every. Everybody was like, where the hell did the Sorority of Hip Hop go? We disappear. And I just decided I was going to go into corporate. I just shut it down. I just shut down the website. I stopped posting on social media. I actually went to the store.

That must have been wild, though, because I mean, social media, it's a full. Well, you know, that full time job. And so to have that. And also I know how that is. When I used to be in the entertainment industry and I was a professional dancer or. And I would go away for jobs and be treated like royalty and have my hair and makeup done and every day and be taken to the most extravagant places and chauffeured and have guards. And then I would come back to my tiny little apartment in North Hollywood and be like, okay, this is real life. And so it's a very. It's a drastic change. But, you know, good for you for really knowing that for your mental health, for your sanity, for your wellness, that you were like, I need to take care of me because we really can't take care of anyone else until we're taking care of ourselves first. So good for you for recognizing that and going after that instead of trying to go. But, you know, you do have grit. And I think that you said something. I want to just really reflect on that you took failures to make you better and you learned from your failures and it really developed more grit in you and it helps you. It's helped you become stronger. Instead of letting that take you down, take you down. You're like, okay, this isn't working. I'll do this. This isn't working. I'll do this. You've just been able to be so resilient and how you have changed things up. So you go back to get your mba.

Yeah. So I basically decided that, like, hey, you know, I'm a certain age. I can't do the sorority of hip hop forever. And I gave myself kind of like a cutoff date. And I was like, MTV was going to be like our last hurrah. We almost got show. And then my plan was to like, get this show, blow up, pivot into something else. And I was like, this show didn't happen. I don't want to go number two on Oxygen or like, you know, that's definitely not as cool as mtv. I'm done. I want to do my own thing. So I went and got my mba. And the thing is, is I did terrible in my undergrad because I was so focused on Hot 97 and I was on the cheerleading team again. I was given no opportunities in high school. All of a sudden, I was the most popular girl in college. I was very distracted, like, you know, and so I just, just, you know, did terrible. So I knew I had to get like a 4.0 if I wanted to get a real job in corporate. So I did. I got a 4.0 in my MBA. I graduated number one in my class, the only one to do so. And then I gave me an opportunity to get a job at Hewlett Packard. I actually started working there while I was still getting my mba. And so because I had all these experiences, I was an entrepreneur straight out of college. I thought that I was going to be behind everybody else. I thought, you know, all the 27 year olds who were working at HP were a lot higher than me. They were all managers already. And I was like, here I am starting off as an intern, right? But turns out because I had so many digital skills and so much networking skills, I, like, skyrocketed at hp. I was promoted four times in four years. I skyrocketed past all my peers, right? And I was really into employee resource groups and creating culture at the organization. And I caught the eye of the CEO, the cmo, and like, really was working directly for the highest level people in the company and did really Great there. And, you know, one thing led to another. I don't want to go into too much detail, but I wasn't given an opportunity at HP that I really deserved. It was another one of those situations where I was basically side hustling for free in the company with the Young Employee Network and I was supposed to be the president of the Global Young Employee network and lead 7,000 people in the organization. They didn't give me that role. They gave it to somebody else who didn't deserve it. When I had paid my dues and really worked, basically worked for free within the company to help their culture for three years, then same thing happened. I wasn't given an opportunity. It was some HR person who didn't like me. They gave it to somebody with no experience. And here I was again feeling like, damn it, I did it again. I worked for free and didn't get the opportunity. Right. Yeah.

Well, I was going to ask you, what do you think when something like that goes through your mind? Like, here I've done it again. I have worked and worked and worked and I didn't get the job. And I mean, I have people ask me all the time, they're like, how did you get that speaking job? How did you get to share the stage with Mel Robbins? How did you get that TEDx? How did you get another TEDx? Like, all these different things and I'm like, I spoke for free for years before I finally started getting paid to speak. I mean, for years it's. And a lot of times people don't see when you're, you're doing all that work, but totally beforehand. But the third time, this is like,

okay, I've, I've worked my ass off again and again. I was old enough. Yeah, yeah. This time I was old enough to start to realize the pattern. And I was like, wow, all these terrible things that have happened in my life in terms of like these major failures and rejections. This was like my third major one. I was like, it's because I'm putting everything, all my eggs in one basket into one gatekeeper. And it's something that I actually don't own or control. Like, I didn't own the Young Employee Network. I did everything for it. I laid all the foundations. They're still doing all the events and using the templates I set out four years ago. They're still using it at the company. It's like they used me, right? And then they left me to, left me to like, you know, die or whatever, whatever you want to say it they left me for dust. And. And so again I realized this time I'm going to do it like I did with the sorority of hip hop. I'm going to start my own thing. That's what motivated me to start young and profiting podcast. And it was four years into my journey at hp, I had already been making six figures. I really learned how to financially make money, how to succeed. I was number one in my class, all those kind of things. And I just decided, like, hey, I have somebody to teach now. I want to teach other people who are young how they can make it in life as either an entrepreneur or in corporate. I have both experience. Right. And I want to grow my network. And Instead of leading 7,000 people at HP, I'm going to lead 7 million people. Why not, right? And so four years into it, I thought I was never going to get back on a mic. I had totally left the entertainment industry. Nobody remembered who I was. I had no more following on Twitter, nothing. I had to start from scratch. But I decided I'm going to start on LinkedIn, started my LinkedIn journey. Now I'm. One of the biggest things two and

a half years ago was that that

you started two and a half years ago.

That was only two and a half years ago that you started on LinkedIn.

I started my podcast April of 2018, and that's when I started LinkedIn and everything.

You blow me away on LinkedIn. I. You have hundreds of thousands of followers. How many I have.

I have. I just have 80,000 followers. But my engagement is like, I have a hundred, like hundreds of thousands of followers. Like, I get a ton of engagement on that.

Yeah, I thought you had more than that.

Different. It's not like Instagram. It's not like Instagram having 80,000 followers on LinkedIn is having like 500,000 followers on Instagram. Yeah, it's. It's way different because it's all real people. There's no bots. It's just all real. And that's why real.

And you know what? You're right. You have an engaged audience because super engaged. It's crazy. I started LinkedIn and then I did not know. Still really don't know what I'm doing. But I just do my best. Then, you know, Facebook, Facebook, business page, then the Instagram and now all the other things. But where I kind of stuck to was Instagram because that's where my engagement seemed to be, was more on Instagram. But I have to say, you really inspired me. After meeting you and after meeting Heather, and talking to Heather, I'm like, I need to be on LinkedIn more.

You will crush it on LinkedIn one day. I'm going to help you crush it on LinkedIn, Amber.

I'm serious. I can't wait to work with you. I'm not kidding with your media team, because you are crushing it on LinkedIn. And it's so inspiring to see that. That took two and a half years for you to do that. And you have grown your business and

with no money, nothing. Just pure talent, girl. It's great.

It's your. It's your passion, it's your perseverance, your dedication, your belief in yourself. You are just so driven. But then you had a rough year with.

Yeah, 2020 was crazy with COVID and

we were in a clubhouse room together with, gosh, just a few other women talking about, like, turning adversity, really turning tragedy into triumph and what you had to overcome, and you just lost your. Your father and that just. I am so sorry for your loss.

Thank you.

And if you could take us through that and how. What could have been, you know, really, you could have just said, screw it, I'm done. I'm just taking a break from everything. You didn't.

Yeah. So 2020 was a crazy crazier and just so. So to kind of get everybody up to speed to 2021. So I started my podcast and my LinkedIn journey in April of 2018. Everything was great, like, just steady growth, you know what I mean? Nothing. No hockey stick growth, but it was just steady growth, you know, it's like every month I grew 5,000 followers and my podcast grew and grew. And so by the time, you know, 2020 hit, I had a decently big podcast. I was interviewing famous people. People knew who I was on LinkedIn. All of that with, like, going right. But it wasn't accelerating or anything like that. So in January, my dad had diabetes and my dad started having some health problems and he had to get his toe amputated right? And so that was really difficult. He ended up getting pneumonia, and I was back and forth in the hospital, everything like that. At the time, I was working at Disney streaming services. I left HP and I was still working my podcast. And so it was very difficult having to go from the hospital, manage my huge podcast, and work full time as an executive, as at Disney. But I. I was managing it all. Then March comes around. My dad was in and out of the hospital, and because of that, he caught Covid and he gave it to my mom and my brother, who were Living at home. And so my sister calls me and she goes, holla. Like, you know, where are you? I was in Brooklyn. I didn't have a car at the time because I was commuting to the city. She's like, I'm going to mom, Dad's house. Mom and dad have Covid. So does your brother. Like, you have a couple hours to let me know if you're coming or not. And I was like, okay. So I was like, of course I'm coming. I gotta help mom and dad. Like, this is my. My responsibility. So I basically had an hour or so to pack. I didn't end up going back to my apartment for three months.

Wow.

Right? So I got in the car, I come home, and it's like, you could smell the sickness in the house. I was like, oh, my God. I had a mask and sunglasses and everything. And I could still feel that. It was like, oh, my gosh, like, everyone is so sick, and everyone was so sick. And so my sister's a doctor, luckily, and so she was kind of taking care of my dad. And my job was essentially to be the janitor of the house. I was just cleaning constantly. We were wearing our masks 24 hours a day. We weren't eating until midnight in the basement. Me and my sister lived on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for two weeks while we were trying to take care of everyone. But my dad was, like, quickly, quickly deteriorating, like we were doing. We tried everything. We. We had an oxygen machine. We just tried everything to keep him at home because we knew that if he was to go to the hospital, like, we wouldn't see him. And we just had no idea. It was just. It was so new. Nobody at that time had Covid. I was the first person I knew who. Whose family had Covid. Everyone was scared to even, like, be. Of course, like, nobody was coming to visit us, but even months after, nobody, like, my friends were scared to see me, right? And I had to deal with all of that by myself and basically just, like, with my immediate family, right? And so my dad started deteriorating, and, you know, one thing led to another, and we had to call the ambulance. And I knew that, like, you know, and my dad knew we're like, this might be the last time we see each other, you know, and it was just like. I just. All I keep seeing is, like, him being wheeled away in the ambulance, like, over and over in my head. But, like, anyway, so he. He stayed in the hospital for a month, and we weren't allowed to visit him, even though me and My sister had come, got caught Covid, and basically, like, by. While he was still in the hospital, had already, you know, stopped having Covid symptoms and basically was immune.

Did have Covid.

I did get Covid. Yeah. Me and my sister got Covid because we were around my dad. And, you know, at a certain point, you're not going to be able to avoid it if you're just helping somebody who's really, like, can't function on their own. You know what I mean? And so I ended up getting Covid. But the worst part is, is that they wouldn't let me see my dad in the hospital. And so I'd be working. Working at Disney, and then I'd have, like, my. My iPad right next to me with my dad, who was basically unconscious the whole time. I'd try to sing to him all the time, talk to him all the time, but all we had was Zoom. And the hospital wouldn't let us see him until he died. And so, like, that was crazy. It's like he died alone. You know what I mean? This guy was the most generous man. He was a surgeon. He put all my cousins through school. He was just such a good guy. And. And to have to die alone, like, that's another thing that just, like, eats me up inside that we had no power about. Then when it came to his funeral, there was all these restrictions. Only six people allowed. It was, like, so fast. Like, nothing special. Like, it was just the worst. Like, it was the worst experience in terms of a death. Like, for him to have been so alone that even the nurses weren't even really allowed to be in the icu. Like, it was just alone and was it. It just drives me mad that, like, his last month, he was so alone. But it's like, I use that again. It's like, I think for most people that would, like, just crush your soul. Like, life is unfair. Why me? Why my family? Nobody else got affected. Here. Here I am, my friends are partying in Miami and whatever, and. And doing whatever they want, and.

And you're eating peanut butter jelly sandwich in the basement with a mess with your dad. Exactly.

Yeah, exactly. And it's just like, why is this happening to me? We were super safe. I have been super safe. My family was trying to be super safe, but it just happened to us, you know, and it could happen to anyone. So anyway, you know, I used it to my advantage. I was stuck at my mom's house for three months, and so what did I do? I started a business. And while my dad was in the hospital. I started YAP Media, and now six months later, we're approaching a million dollars in recurring annual revenue and I have 40 employees. And I started that six months ago while my dad was dying in the hospital because I just had this free time all of a sudden because I had no commute, nobody wanted to talk to me because I had Covid. And so I just had time. And I was like, I'll start a company. Why not? And actually, Heather Monahan was the one who inspired me. She saw what I was doing and she was like, hala, you've got something going on. I had a team of volunteers from the start. Young and profiting podcast from episode two. I had fans who volunteered to work on the show. So I started a Slack channel two years ago and started building these work streams. Little did I know that two years later, all my volunteers would become team leads and have a team under them and I'd be able to pay everyone. Like, you know, that's incredible. Yeah, so just. It just happens so organically. Honestly, I haven't done any advertising. It's all word of mouth, it's all referrals, and it's all social proof that we have out there. And it just. It just happened so organically. And I think that for me is one of the things I'm most proud about is the fact that, like, I started this company and it's just almost felt effortless. Like it's been a lot of hard work, but it just feels like the product market fit is so strong that it just feels like sky is the limit.

And everything that you have been through prepared you for this success. If you wouldn't have gone through everything you had been through with learning how to build websites, with learning how to run a team, with learning, rejoicing rejections, and everything that made you stronger and developed that grit even more. And then had started your journey on LinkedIn and you got the social proof, because how many times do you get. I get people that reach out to me all the time and they're like, would you like to build your social media here on Instagram? And I look and I'm like, you

don't even have a following. Yeah, exactly.

Why would I hire you?

Exactly, exactly. People don't understand that it's all about the social proof. So for me, it was so, so easy because I was like, yeah, I am an influencer on LinkedIn and I have a number one podcast and check out some of my clients who are crushing it on Instagram or Clubhouse or the other platforms. That we manage. Right. So I totally agree. Social proof is so important, and some people don't realize that you need to do it yourself before you can claim that you can go do it for others.

That's exactly right. I want to go back to something you said you were working at Disney.

Yeah.

Helping with your dad and doing a podcast.

Yeah.

And a successful podcast at that. And now I don't think when I started my podcast, I remember telling my husband, oh, you know, I want to do a podcast. He goes, you don't even have time to go take a bathroom break. When are you going to do a podcast? And I'm like, oh, but I really want to do it. And then I started talking to people like, well, it's a lot of work. And I'm like, well, how much work can it be? You know, it's a lot of work. I love it. And this is the best part. This is like, I. Shoot, girl, I was dreaming about you last night. I was so excited about getting to talk to you. But it's not just this part. It's, you know, prepping for it, getting all the social media to go out, because I'm big on promoting the podcast, and I know a lot of people. People don't even promote their podcasts, and I guess maybe their podcast is so big that they don't need to do that. I don't know. But for me, I, like, put it on LinkedIn, put it on Twitter, put it on Instagram. I have a separate page for my podcast. And it really is a game of just being consistent. And every week, you know, at first I thought I was going to do two episodes a week, but I just. There's. I would need to quit my other job coaching people to do that.

Yeah.

So I'm sticking to one. Yeah. But what. When you started, did you. Were you doing the podcast all by yourself? Just you and booking your guests and doing everything on your own?

Yeah. So I started with an advantage. So I think one thing that I didn't point out is that I had that radio experience. And then all throughout my 20s, I basically always had some sort of a shift show. So young and profiting podcast is like my fifth show by now. I always had online radio shows. Yeah. And so when I started young and profiting podcast, it was a totally different genre. I didn't do music or celebrity interviews anymore, which is what I did before. It was really educational. And so I did have to learn a new skill because I never had that piece. But I knew how to audio edit. I knew how to produce a show. I could put two and two together to figure out guest pitches and things like that. And so that really helped me stand out. And so by episode one, two, three, I had like avid fans that were like obsessed with the show. And what happened is that these fans would reach out and be like, hey, I'm a web designer. Like, do you need help with your website? I just want to help, right? Hey, like I want to help you with your graphics. Can I just help you? And so I just recruited all these people. I didn't actually reach out. It was. Everybody reached out to me and I started this Slack channel. And then I just got to know these people more and more. And then I had somebody who would take over the website, and then I had somebody who would take over guest outreach and then somebody who's helping me with audio grams each Week and. Or YouTube, whatever it was. And. And I just started building this team who felt very invested in our brand. And now fast forward two years later. These are literally the team leads on my YAP media who are leading their respective work streams. And it's like I had built that out all as volunteers. And I had a lot of experience with volunteers because I was president of my alumni association. I was the sorority of hip hop, basically was volunteers. Like, I just had so much experience motivating volunteers that it came so naturally, even though my plan was to do young and profiting podcasts on my own. But bringing in those team members is what really helped accelerate me because in the beginning I was pushing out one episode a month because I was doing it all by myself. And it was a different format as well, and very complex with music and narration and all this stuff. And then I started doing one on one interviews to make it a little bit more scalable. Then with all this help, I started putting out one episode a week. Then I started outsourcing my audio engineering and kind of hiring people for the first time. And then it just kept building and building, building. So I would say that I was on my own in the very, very beginning. But quickly I started growing a team and I think that's key, especially if you're getting any sort of momentum. There's people out there that just want to learn, especially if you have something to teach. For me, it was really easy to get volunteers because I had a lot of experience and people really wanted to learn.

And I think that's valuable when you can teach someone and it's hard to find sometimes a good team. And I have learned to ask better questions. How I started building my team was. I too, had, like, my graphics designer just started making stuff. Hey, I hope you like this. Here's what I made for you. Like, just making stuff for free. And then I was like, wow, this is amazing, because I sure don't know how to do that. So I was like, how about I pay you to do this for me? And then after about a year of doing little jobs here and there, he. He's full time. He's just with me. He gets amazing monthly check. You know, I'm like, he's on my team. But I have come across people who are like, oh, yeah, I do this, this, and this. And then you're like, great. And I didn't do a background check, and I hire them. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, this? No, you. What? Who are you? So I've learned, like, really to ask the right questions, to get the right team. It's hard. And to grow your business to scale, you have to let go. Like, I had to let go and think, okay, I need to let go of my perfectionist ways, because, you know, I have a team that helps me build the show notes and all that, but it's like, I gotta let it go. Let them do their job.

Yeah. You know, And I think what was key for me and the reason why we've been able to scale so fast is because I trained those initial volunteers so closely that they know exactly how I think, you know what I mean? And I've set up processes where I just have invested so much in these volunteers in terms of my training with them, that now they can then train the next group of people. And I don't necessarily need to be involved because I trust the people that I had initially trained. And so I think that model really works. The other thing that we do is we have, like, a very consistent internship program. Program where every single semester, we recruit, like, 10 interns. We put them through a boot camp. They essentially work for free for us for months until they're done with their internship. And if they did a great job and they're ready to go, we then hire them. So it's like everybody goes through this very formal internship process that we've implemented. And it's really helping us because it's like, essentially every time I get a new client, it's like, I can take some of my experienced people and then kind of hire some of the interns that have been working for free and give them that opportunity. And it makes me feel really good because I has been a free intern before and didn't get hired. And so when I get to hire an intern after a couple months, it makes me feel so great that I can give somebody that opportunity instead of doing what people had done to me in the past, which is basically just use unpaid interns, which I don't do.

Yeah, I mean, you have, because you've been there, done that. Well, I guess some people would turn around and do that to other people. But you, you have such a beautiful heart and you're just, you're such an amazing person in every way. I mean, from everything you've shared, from showing up to take care of your dad and here he passed away and you were like, I'm not going to let this bring me down. I'm going to use this to propel me forward. And I know he is just, you know, watching over you. So proud of all you've done. I mean, I just so blown away by all that you've done and all your success. If you could give some people some tips today who really want to grow their LinkedIn.

Yeah.

What would you suggest that they start doing? Like right now? To start, especially as an entrepreneur, do you think that LinkedIn is the place for people to be or wherever their engagement is?

Well, here's the thing. I think it's a multi pronged approach that you need to look at. I think you need to look at where your audience is and you need to get super clear about who your audience is. Right. And then you can make the decision. When I first started my journey, I was posting equally on Instagram as LinkedIn. And I realized that on Instagram, people really wanted to see, like, me in a cute outfit and that kind of stuff. But whenever I posted something educational or motivational, it didn't really take off. And I was like, okay. Plus, I had a lot of old followers from my old life who didn't want to see this business side of Holla. They wanted party entertainment. Holla, right. And so LinkedIn was my chance to be someone knew, right? And so I was like, okay. And I know that people definitely like self improvement. People are on LinkedIn, they're educated, they have a lot of money, they want to learn, they want to improve their life. So what I did is I found my competitors and I noticed that Gary V. Had an enormous following on LinkedIn and he has a podcast that's self improvement related. And so I decided I would target Gary V's fans. And this is something anybody can do. It's platform agnostic, you can do it on Any platform, look at your competition and their recent posts and see who is liking and commenting on those posts.

Right? Oh, I see that there are people that do that to my page, actually. Like, I know there's one person in particular, I'm like, anytime I do a podcast interview or a show or connect with something, the next thing I know this person is doing the same thing. It's like, it's like, I don't care. It just, I see that.

Yeah. So it's not only just doing what they post, it's actually reaching out to their followers, especially on LinkedIn. So anybody who liked or commented on Gary Vee's post, I shoot them an invite. And on LinkedIn you have 30,000 invite connections. You have to use those really strategically. That is the foundation of your community.

Right.

And so I would reach out to Gary Vee fans and I'd say, hey, I noticed you recently like Gary Vee's posts. If you like like his content and podcast, you're going to like mine too. I'd love to provide value on your feed. Right? So this did a couple things. First of all, it showed relevancy to the algorithm. So on all these social media networks, if you DM someone, it makes it that you guys are friends. It shows that your content is relevant, right? So my content started showing up more in the people's feeds who I was DMing and inviting to connect, right. Once they I sent that invite, nine out of 10 people would connect with me and accept it. Then I'd send them a follow up message about my podcast so they felt invested in my journey. I just launched a podcast. Here's the link, let me know your feedback. People were usually saying thank you, it's so incredible. And then I'd say, okay, please leave me an Apple podcast review. I kept the conversation going right? After a while, like let's say three months, I am asked like 9,000 of Gary Vee's fans. And every time I commented on Gary Vee stuff, I'd be the top comment with a hundred likes. If that post got a hundred thousand views, a hundred thousand people saw my comment, right? And so that, that just also kept feeding people to my page, right? And then everybody was like, who is this girl that's getting all this engagement around Gary Vee and Tony Robbins and all these influencers that I basically targeted their following and it helped me launch my following. Now I do none of that, all of this happened. I just go viral all the time because my community is active. On LinkedIn, there's a ton of people who go on LinkedIn to find a job and then they never come back. So everybody I connected with was super active and already commenting and liking on self improvement content. So they did the same stuff on mine. And so my stuff goes viral quite more easily than most people's because I was really strategic. I didn't just hit the follow button on everybody. It was super strategic in terms of who I was connecting with. And then Now I have 80,000 followers like we said. And that just grows every, every, every single day. And so I do this for my clients all the time in terms of this strategy. And the key here, the theme is you need to proactively build your community. It's not enough to just, just post content. If people say content is king, then distribution is queen. And distribution means getting that proactive following that proactive community. So on Instagram now, the Instagram hack for this is Clubhouse, right? So on Clubhouse, the only thing you can link to is Instagram. So when you do those events, you get all these Instagram followers organically and you're proactively building your community by getting them from Clubhouse and funneling them to your Instagram Instagram. Right? And then you can engage them in the DMs and same thing, kind of increase your engagement on Instagram. So there's multiple ways that you can do this, but the key here is that you have to be the one who proactively brings your community in. It's not going to happen very often where your content is going to be compelling enough that it just goes viral or your hashtag is going to get picked up.

Oh yeah. Especially on Instagram. I feel like it's harder and, and harder because unless you just get lucky or you have a reels that goes viral or you know your content is that good and it just got pushed up to the top of the feed. But I have a very engaged audience on Instagram. But still, some days I'm like, what the heck happened to that post? How did that one do so bad? And then I'll get one. I'm like, how did this one do, do so well? Like, it's, it's kind of sporadic. Yeah, but I think it is. I have people that ask me all the time, want to buy, followers want to buy. And I'm like, no, I do not

want to buy the worst thing that you could do. It's, it's not sustainable. It's not sustainable because it's not real. You want to grow.

You want to know who your audience is. So exactly to launch a course, you're going to have no idea how many people are going to buy your course, because are they real or fake? I mean, that doesn't make sense.

I think it's way better to have a small, engaged community that's real than one that's just inflated. It's not something you can sustain or retain. If you don't mind, I'd love to go back to this summer to kind of teach your audience a lesson in terms of grit, because I know that's like a huge, huge component of your podcast.

Yeah.

So like I said, my father passed away in May. Right. The funeral was terrible. Anybody would kind of shut the door and say, I give up again. Right. For me, it gave me a sense of motivation because I realized that life is really limited. Right. And it's either now or never. And like I said, it was a slow and steady approach for me with young and profiting in terms of our growth, like, we definitely were a big podcast. But this summer, I achieved hockey stick growth to the point where I was getting 4,000 downloads a month. Now I'm getting like 12,000, 15,000 downloads a day.

Wow. You know what I mean?

And it's like, just crazy. If you saw my charts, it's just like, hockey stick growth. And the reason why is because I had this belief all of a sudden that, like, I don't care what I have to do, I'm going to be the next female Tim Ferriss. Like, this is happening, right? I'm at this point where it's like, I'm getting some momentum. If I don't turn it up, that's it. I can't let this affect me. I can't, like, turn this down. So I started this business. It's started getting successful right away, like I said. So now I had all this kind of money that I could start investing in. The other thing is that I started to realize that Apple is not the only game in town. Right. And that's a podcast big thing. It's a big thing. It's huge. So I always thought that Apple was the only game in town. And I would message everyone, please follow me on Apple. I'd say, apple link. Then they would say, I don't listen on Apple. You know, I watch on YouTube or I don't have Spotify or Apple. Right, right. So what I realized is that when you look at the market, 40% of people are listening on Apple, 20% are on Spotify, but there's 40% of people who are listening on all these other Apps. And then I realized that I was the biggest podcaster on LinkedIn and I had all this leverage. I was like, wow. Like if anybody goes on my page, they look at Lewis Howes. I have more engagement than him. I'm literally the biggest podcaster on LinkedIn. And so I decided to shoot my shot and to ask and to really believe in myself. And I started reaching out to all these podcast apps like Kids Cast Box, Overcast. And I would say, hey, like, what's going on? My name is Holla. I have this podcast, I have a huge LinkedIn following. I would love to promote you in return for you guys promoting me an app. Right? And everyone said yes, you're brilliant. Thank you, thank you. Everyone said yes. So I got sponsored by Castbox, I got sponsored by Podbean, Potasy, Good Pods, Podcast Republic, you name it, I was sponsored by everyone. All the substance. Sudden, in a three month span, my download skyrocketed because my success rate to promote was much, much higher. Because on social media, 50% of people don't listen to podcasts, 25% of people in America don't even know what a podcast is. Okay, so when you're promoting your podcast on social media, you're promoting to all these people who don't like podcasts, right? They might.

It's hard to get people to go to a different look at my swipe swipe ups and see how many people have swiped up to go listen to the podcast. And the other day I was like, that's it?

Yeah, it's really hard because you don't know where people are listening, you don't know how they like to listen. And I had so many fans who love to watch my videos on LinkedIn but will never go to the podcast. And you have to convince them twice like podcasts and like, like, like the form format of a podcast, like consume audio content and consume my show. You have to convince them twice, right? With promoting in app, in the podcast apps, I only had to convince them once. Just listen to my show. You're already in the podcast app, right? And so I flipped everything on its head. I feel like I'm one of the first podcasters who ever did that. And it just now I'm one of the top podcasts. I'm always trending number one across all apps. I'm not the number one Apple podcast, but across all apps I'm always number one in education, which is huge. And now I can use this as leverage for other other things, you know, and it's all about Using your leverage. I guess that's the lesson that I wanted to teach everyone. It's like I built LinkedIn. My podcast was doing well, but could have been doing better. I leveraged LinkedIn to kind of trade my audiences. And the other lesson in there is that I wasn't afraid to ask. Right. A lot of people are just afraid of asking. I just did the work. I found out the context that I needed to. I put together a well put email and I shot my shot and everybody said yes. And it literally changed my life. I landed the COVID of podcast magazine in January 2021. I basically went from worst year ever for six months to best year of my life. Launched a million dollar company while still working at Disney. I had 35 employees. I had people quitting their full time jobs before I even quit my full time job. Like all my volunteers started quitting their jobs to work for me. And then finally I became a full time entrepreneur February 1st of this year. And I had built all of this while still working full time. And so I definitely just want people to understand that it's, it is possible if you believe in yourself. But I think for me, once my dad died, I really turned it up and I really decided that like, it's now or never. I'm going for it. I've been steadily working towards it, but I'm turning it up and no one's going to tell me no, now you know. And so I just wanted to share that because I feel like it is really inspiring and you do not have to wait until somebody is sick or dying to realize that life is limitless and you can achieve all your dreams, dreams. And so I wanted to share that lesson with everyone.

Yeah. And you know what, your, your hard work puts you where your blessings can find you and you've definitely worked hard for this. And I think you've been given the gift of perspective and like, yeah, it is time to ask, you know, we're not guaranteed tomorrow. We may as well live full out. And I just really applaud your courage and your grace, grit for all that you've done and your creativity and being able to do things differently, think outside the box and use leverage. And also to not even like reinvent the wheel on some things. Like you're like, hey, Gary Vee successful. He's created all this. I'm going to go see what his. I'm going to go like, I think his fans will like me to too. That's, that's brilliant. To build your real engaged followers.

Yeah.

Now do you Are You Big on YouTube? Do you think as an entrepreneur you have to be big everywhere?

LinkedIn, YouTube, I think that's a great question. So I think right now YouTube is really mature and very, very difficult. I have 40 employees, right? I have hundreds of thousands of subscribers from my audio podcast. I just, I have under 2,000 subscribers on YouTube and I have a whole team and we spend a lot of money and resources on it. It is not easy to do without paid ads. And so YouTube, I feel, is very, very hard to get into at this stage. They have a new feature called YouTube Shorts which can provide some organic engagement. But in terms of your time, your money and your resources, YouTube is not the place you want to play. Especially if you're an amateur and you have no experience in that space. It's not the same. Even you can't even convert your podcast easily on there. It's. People like to consume content very differently on YouTube. It's very uphill battle. I would say that if you're looking for a video type platform, focus on TikTok. TikTok has a ton of organic growth. It's really where it's at in terms of getting those organic eyeballs. Also Clubhouse is another app that has amazing organic growth right now. And basically you want to find, focus your time on the places that are going to give you the most reward for your resources and time and that's where you want to focus. So LinkedIn, again, that is getting more mature, but there is still some organic growth that's available to you because not everybody knows about these strategies that I taught you guys today in terms of like how to kind of grow an engaged following. And so LinkedIn still has that opportunity. Instagram is rather difficult right now, right? But the key is, is that whatever platform you decide to concentrate on, focus on that one platform, build it really well, feed all the different features. These apps, they come out with new features every day and they prioritize people who use these new features. So on Instagram, for instance, they came out with reels, right? It's their version of TikTok to compete with TikTok. And so if you use that feature, they're going to promote your profile, right? If you use their new stickers and things, they're going to promote your profile. And so you always want to feed the new features and use all the different features of the platform. And you won't be able to do. If you're spread too thin, you're going to do everything mediocre. And then when you go to use Leverage, you're going to have none, because none of your platforms stand out. For me, I literally just started on Instagram. I know that sounds crazy, given my age and everything like that, but it's because I needed to double down on LinkedIn, otherwise I wouldn't be the biggest podcaster on LinkedIn right now. And that's what has fueled all of my success almost. You know, it's just having that one. One major platform where I'm the clear dominant leader. You know, if I had grown to 80,000 on Instagram, nobody would care, because everyone has 80,000 followers on Instagram.

And that's what's crazy. You know, when I started on Instagram a few years ago, so it was a few years ago, maybe four years ago, I started, but I didn't really post. It was mostly to stalk my oldest daughter and see what she was up to. Then I was like, oh, I'm going to do my business on here. And I started getting serious and intentional about posting. And back then, 100,000 followers was a lot.

Yeah.

Now a million is a lot.

Exactly, exactly.

And so it's just like. And it's. I think it's harder to tell also if, you know, is that real? Is that fake? Is that.

You know, there's so much garbage on Instagram in terms of bots and all that kind of stuff.

Oh, my goodness. I had to turn my profile to private one day because all of a sudden I was getting bots following me.

Yeah, me too. I'm having now where. Where it's all these, like, weird comments, and I get. And I'm like, how do I turn this off? It's so strange.

So I was like, I don't know what to do about this. And I had a friend reach out, and she's like, you shouldn't buy followers. And I'm like, oh, I know that's a bad idea. And she goes, no, you shouldn't. And I'm like, what are you talking about? Like, I was so confused, and I. She was paying attention to my following more than I was. I was not paying attention to exact numbers of what. What numbers I had. Like, I'm. I've got so many different things going. I'm, like, not paying attention to sometimes all. Even my notifications and stuff. And I looked and I was glad. At first I was a little offended, honestly. And then I was glad that she told me because I was getting fake bot followers. And the only way I fixed it was I had to change my profile to private for, like, two days. And Then it finally stopped, but it's just crazy. So I'm inspired by you to start building on LinkedIn more. More.

Yeah.

But I wanted to ask you about Clubhouse. So do you have some boundaries that you set with yourself about Clubhouse? Because I literally had to turn my notifications off because I was like, I'm getting pinged to come in a room every second, and I want to go in there. Like, I have this FOMO of I want to be in that room or I want to go, yes, I want to be on that panel. Yes. And I'm like, but I have have to do these other things. I need to get to. To work.

Honestly, I was slowed down on it.

Or you still on there a lot.

One of the reasons. So I quit my job. I was an executive at Disney Streaming Services in. In February. February 1st. I was my last day at work. And one of the reasons why I quit was because of Clubhouse, because I knew that I had to invest my time there, and I didn't have the time. I spend two hours a day. Day, at least on Clubhouse.

You do?

I do. Because you know what? I've been tracking analytics and two hours on clubhouse. I'm reaching 3,000 people directly. If I, you know, do guest interviews and things like that, It's. It's way less. Like, I'm sure you guessed on a lot of podcast interviews, not yours. So I'm sure when you come on my show and when I come on your show, we're going to get a lot out of it, right? But there's some shows that invite me on that probably get 50, like, listeners, right? And it's not live listeners or not super engaged. It doesn't go to my Instagram or trickle down in any way. I never really see the benefit of it. So I'm like, I'm gonna stop doing so many guest interviews. I'm only gonna do the really good shows, and I'm gonna try to spend a lot more of my time on Clubhouse. So it's a lot about thinking about what is actually going to move the needle. The other thing to think about is that Clubhouse has extreme organic growth. I have almost. Almost 8,000 followers on there now, and that's not a whole ton. Some of my really great friends have a hundred thousand followers because they've been living on the app, literally. I have a friend, Lauren Tickner. She's huge on the app, but she, for the first three months, didn't sleep like, she was just on the app 24 7. And that's what she did. But it worked out great. Now she's like, top influencer on the platform. Here's the thing. Clubhouse is only going to get harder and harder to grow a font. Following it is invest your time now. It's not sacrificing your time, it's investing your time right now. That's how I think about it, because it's such good organic growth. You never know when it's going to stop linking out to only Instagram and then you lose that piece. That's huge for you, for me, for everybody who's in our space. That link to Instagram is huge. And so you never know when they're going to turn that off. You never know when it's going to get so saturated that you can't grow. So it's like, I would do everything you can to rearrange your schedule right now to do the really good Clubhouse rooms, because you're growing, you're following, and in 10 months from now, it might take you three times as long or as much investment to get the same results. And so you need to think about, like, now is the time to strike when it comes to Clubhouse.

Yeah, I know. It's like, I was on it for, like, a lot when it first came out, and then it. It is a lot to, you know, run a business, be a mom, be a wife.

It's distracting because even if. Even if you're just on stage, it's like, I'm trying to do work and I'm on stage, and it's just like, you feel. Sometimes I feel like I spent my whole day on Clubhouse distracted. But then, you know, I look at my numbers and I'm like, okay, like, I think I will be happy I did this two months from now, three months from now. It's just really tough right now. And.

And it's very. Being intentional about the rooms that you go. Because, you know, I was in a room last week, week, and I was on a panel, and there were literally like 25 people.

And I was like, I know that sucks. And then you feel like you can't leave.

And then I was like, I'm the guest speak. I thought there were going to be more than 20. I mean, not. Look, if I can help 25 people, that's great. But time is.

So you gotta scale your conversations, especially when you're trying to reach mass. The masses. It's all about scaling our conversations. The worst feeling is when you do something like that and you're like, oof. But that's what I'm saying. Like, maybe I'M not sure if you're doing guest interviews, another podcast, but.

Well, that's where I'm starting to cut down because, I mean, and even, you know, my podcast is booked out until like July now, but I have started to scale down and really take a break from things because I just. There's. You have to really know what your intentions are, what your priorities are, and then. And look at what is moving the needle on your business. And I can see that Clubhouse, like, I'm like, wow, my newsletter is like, my mailchimp subscriptions have grown so much. And it's because on my clubhouse, I say, I put together this free course and I'm like, you know, download your free thing. DME Clubhouse on Instagram, and I'm telling you, I send it to them and I'm just to going, getting so many more people sign up for my newsletter. And thank goodness we own that. We own our new, you know, our subscription. So, yeah, that has been a big thing. A big. I see the difference there too.

Yeah, I would say definitely invest your time in Clubhouse. Whatever you can do to kind of rearrange where you're focusing on, like, forget about YouTube going on clubhouse. Forget about these crappy shows that you've been interviewing on, if you have, and spend your time on Clubhouse. The other thing that I'm doing is actually recording my clubhouse events. Like, you were just on one, and so I get to use it twice. And that really helps because that is like, yeah, more podcasts is better ranking, more downloads. And so I've just been recording my clubhouse and then uploading it to my podcast. And it serves a dual purpose. So I think keep thinking of those synergies.

That's the thing that I was like, okay, how can I reprogram purpose this? But because, you know, like, our interview here, it will be in post, it'll be on YouTube, it'll be on the podcast platforms, all on the website. But when I was on Clubhouse, I'm like, okay, that was two hours gone.

Poof.

You know.

Exactly. I know, that's tough. Yes.

And then I was on Clubhouse one day for three hours. I was on the panel and it was like three hours on a Saturday. But it was. Was with Vera Wang. And I'm like, well, I can't leave. This is Vera Wang.

I know. And then it's so much pressure when the room blows up because you're like, I had my whole day and now I'm stuck here. And it's, It's. It's really a really new space. We're all getting used to it. I think people are going to cool down in terms of the frequency and it will be less pressure eventually, but I think everyone is trying to capitalize right now.

Yeah. I noticed when I first got on Club Clubhouse, people were following a lot easier. You know, you. Everybody was following each other and now people are a little bit more like, no, I don't think I want to follow you. Oh, yeah, I'll follow you.

You know.

Yeah. More choices.

Yeah. So what would be one tip you could give someone about Clubhouse as far as, like getting into good rooms and being called up on the stage?

Yeah. So I would say, like, network work like crazy. I've met so many amazing women. I met you on Clubhouse. Yeah, I can't even. I feel like almost all of my girlfriends right now at the moment other than like, you know, who I grew up with, I've met them on Clubhouse. Other women with similar interests, and it's all because I wasn't shy. Raise your hand. You know, don't be shy. Provide your expertise, open up your own rooms, get to know the different club owners, ask them if you can open rooms. Become an administrator in. Another thing is to just find your tribe and create like a back channel. So I have a lot of different back channels. I have a back channel of podcasters that I open up rooms with. I have a back channel of women that I open up rooms with who are good on social media, where influencers all in our same right. Depending on the platform. And so start your communities, start your back channels, be that conduit, be the networker who actually brings all these people together. And even if you don't have expertise because you're the glue and you started the chat or whatever it was, you'll be exposed and you'll get that exposure and visibility. And so I think that's my number one tip is like, start some sort of a community, see who's active in your space and then reach out to them. Hey, like, want to join my WhatsApp channel? We can keep in touch about the rooms that we open and moderate together and just team up with people and then you'll keep building your following and so on.

Yeah, I think that's great advice. And you are a very good networker and very good at breaking, bringing people together. Yeah, you're really, you have such a gift for that. I'm just so excited about all that you shared today. It's really been eye opening about like, okay, I guess I need to get on Clubhouse more and LinkedIn more and forget YouTube.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, well, my 12 year old is the one that's like, mom, you gotta be on YouTube. YouTube's where it's. It's at. And then she was like, mom, you're too old for TikTok. Don't go on TikTok. Well, the first video I uploaded on TikTok has like 600,000 views.

Oh, my gosh. You would do amazing on TikTok. You are such an attractive woman and you have so much inspiration and motivation. Like, you will crush on TikTok. It's not for little kids. It's not just for dancing. I also have to start my TikTok journey. That's like a whole priority for me in 2021.

And girl, I have it written on a sticky note today.

It is important. Like, TikTok is where it's at and especially for people our age, it's like now it's like it's hit the masses and it's like, it's either now or never or we're going to be in the same boat next year talking about TikTok, like, it's YouTube, right? So I think it's like now or never.

I started and then it's like, I get to other things and it's like, okay, I just need to do.

Yeah, forget about. I would definitely, in my professional opinion, forget about YouTube. It's so expensive. It is such a battle. TikTok, your regular iPhone videos will perform. It's so much easier. It's shorter, it's quicker. It's just way less work.

So way less work and more fun. And you know what? I'm just about having more fun.

Yeah.

Having fun along the journey because it can be a lot of work. And so, you know, my. My daughter came in and I was like, writing a to do list and she could tell I was a little overwhelmed and she said, well, my to do list is to have fun. And she makes fun. She makes her own fun. And I'm like, you know, we can make our own fun. We can make, you know, TikTok fun and all that. So I just appreciate having you here. I value your time and your wisdom so much and I'm just so blessed to get you to call you my friend and so grateful we met.

Thanks to her.

I'm gonna just tell her thank you again. I want people to listen. Y' all listen to her podcast and check her out, not just on LinkedIn, but on Instagram and all her social. If you're listening to this and you're Driving or something. Go to the Show Notes. It'll all be there so you can follow her and check her out. But definitely listen, tell us the best place where people can find you. Listen to your podcast and if they want to hire you and your team for your expertise like I do someday soon, where they can find you.

Of course, of course. So, first of all, Amberly, I can't wait till you come on Young and Profiting Podcast. I can't remember when we're scheduled. It's a couple months from now. But I'm going to replace. If you give me permission, I'm going to replay this episode on Young and Profiting because I think you did such a great job. You were an amazing interviewer. So I'd love to put you on my podcast and replay the episode so you get some followers.

Oh, I would love that.

Yeah. Call it done. Done deal. So let me know when it goes out and you have the MP3 and I'll put it up so you guys can tune into Young and Profiting Podcast. We're on all the major platforms. Apple, Spotify, Castbox, Overcast, wherever you listen to your podcast. We're also on YouTube. Um, you can follow me on LinkedIn. Just search for my name. It's Hala Taha. I'm on Instagram @Yap with Holla. And for everything else, you can go to my website, young and profiting. In terms of my podcast, I do so much research and I interview the brightest minds in the world. I've interviewed Matthew McConaughey, Seth Godin, Robert Greene, Mark Manson. So, so many great people. There's so much amazing content. I have an entire research team and we go crazy in terms of the value and the gems that you're going to get from this podcast. You're never going to walk away feeling like it was a waste of time. Similar to. And if you like Amberly stuff, you're going to like my stuff. I can guarantee it. So definitely check out the podcast. I would say that's number one priority for me. And then in terms of YAP Media, check out, you know, we've got our page, Yap Media, on the Young and Profiting website if you want to learn more about that. We're really like a white glove social media agency for CEOs, bestselling authors, podcasters.

It's the real deal.

Yeah, it's like a white glove, you know, ghost writing for you, publishing for you, doing all the engagement, guaranteeing the growth, all of that kind of a thing. And then we also support everything to do with podcasting. So we're really into LinkedIn management, Instagram, YouTube, Clubhouse House, we do clubhouse event management as well. And then everything having to do with your podcast, whether that's getting you on podcast, booking, guests, audio production, micro content, all of that. So we're an amazing team. And yeah, if you guys are interested, check out young and profiting dot com.

Yeah, and you know, I would definitely say because there's a lot of people that want to start a podcast, if you are thinking about starting a podcast, really reach out. She's who you are want on your team.

So thank you.

Thank you so much. I can't wait to talk to you again and I'll see you on Clubhouse.

Oh yeah, we're on Clubhouse all the time.

Oh, well, thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks so much for joining us this week on True Britain Grace Podcast it. If you like it, please rate it

or share it with your friends.

That would help too. If you're not yet on the newsletter list, come over to amberlylogo.com and jump on it. While you're there, you can grab a free downloadable gratitude journal. And you might just want to check out my book or even check out my monthly motivational membership. Thanks again for tuning in and we'll

see you next week.

Sam.