Erica: Hey, girl. By now, you know I have Her Collective, my online community for ambitious women who are done doing it alone. Her Collective is for the women who are smart, capable, and driven, but they find themselves stuck on the sticky floors like self doubt, burnout, and waiting for permission that quite honestly never comes. Inside HER, you get more than motivation. You get real support, real strategies, and real momentum.

Erica: We work on things like clarifying what you want now and what's coming next, building confidence without burning yourself out, navigating hard conversations, career moves, and leadership moments with clarity, and surrounding yourself with women who actually get it. This isn't about hustling harder. It's about moving intentionally with the right tools and the right people in your corner. If you're ready to stop spinning, start choosing yourself, and build a career in life that actually feels aligned, I'd love to welcome you inside her collective. You can learn more and join us at www.joinhercollective.com.

Erica: Because honestly, girl, you were never meant to do this alone. Listen up. This is the one question you need to answer this year. What would it look like if I took a little bit of time to spruce up my LinkedIn and go all out on this professional social media platform?

Hala: Could I

Erica: land my dream job? Get a nice salary increase? Make some new friends and connections? What about launch your dream career? Now my life in business totally changed when I did go all in on LinkedIn, and I am forever grateful because we have the LinkedIn queen here with us today.

Erica: Hala Taha, dubbed the podcast princess, is the host of the Young and Profiting Podcast, a frequently named number one business and entrepreneurship podcast across all apps. She is the founder and CEO of Gap Media, a business podcast network with an award winning social media podcast marketing agency for top podcasters, celebrities, and CEOs. And we are going to talk about all of the things that Hala is an expert on. Networking, marketing, social media, personal branding, side hustles, entrepreneurship, and podcasting. And of course, Hala is no stranger to sticky floors and breaking free from them.

Erica: Are you ready? Welcome to the podcast from now to next. Hala, how are you?

Erica: I am so excited for this conversation.

Hala: I'm doing great, Erica. I'm looking forward to speaking with you as well.

Erica: Oh my goodness. Well, you are so crazy busy. You are the host of the podcast Young and Profiting. You are the CEO of Yap Media, and you are doing all of the things. You have almost 230,000 followers on LinkedIn that gets over 8,000,000 expressions, impressions, likes, comments a month.

Erica: So I cannot wait to hear some of your wisdom, but I would love to just kick off for those of my audience who might not know who you are and your come up story. Who is Hawataha, and how did we get here?

Hala: I love this question. So let me start with who I am now. Like you mentioned, I'm the CEO of Yap Media. That's an award winning social media and podcast production agency, and then I'm also running the number one self self improvement and business podcast network where I grow and monetize shows. I basically get all these top business podcast sponsorships.

Hala: So that those are my main businesses. I also run the Yap Academy, which is my LinkedIn master class, and soon we're gonna be rolling out a podcast master class. So it's like my educational arm of my business. And this all started from me being the host of Young and Profiting Podcast. So I've been the host of this podcast for almost six years.

Hala: I started in April 2018, and I started it as a side hustle. Previous to starting the podcast, I actually started my career in radio. I worked at Hot ninety seven, the number one hip hop and R and B station in the world. I worked on the Angie Martinez Show as the assistant producer, started as an intern who worked for free basically for three years. I never got paid at that station.

Hala: Actually, the whole time I was there, I was technically an unpaid intern for three years. And I just, like, learned everything about broadcasting and really fell in love. At the same time, while working at the station, I had side projects. I would basically host these online radio shows at the time, which were basically the precursors of podcasts. It was it was before podcast was really a thing.

Hala: And I'd go to an actual physical studio with some of the upcoming DJs, many of whom are really famous now. And I used to host these radio shows and interview people like Chris Brown and Fabulous, and I would just do this on the side of me working at Hot ninety seven. So then I basically grew my chops as an on air personality. I started doing commercials on Hot ninety seven. They started bringing me on air at Hot ninety seven, you know, as, like, a guest sometimes on the shows.

Hala: And then I really fell in love. I ended up leaving Hot ninety seven, and I started this blog site called the Sorority of Hip Hop. I was upset with Hot ninety seven for not giving me a paying job after three years and and, dropping out of college for that job and everything like that. So I left. I started this blog, and it blew up.

Hala: I went back to school, finished my undergrad, and within three months, we were one of the most popular hip hop and r and b entertainment sites in the world. And, basically, I recruited all these female bloggers who are around my age, in their twenties, who were in other organizations that weren't giving them opportunities. So I recruited people from iHeart, Def Jam, VH1, MTV, all these young ladies, I taught them how to blog. I learned how to build websites. And then we ended up becoming basically an events organization where we'd host parties, and we had this blog.

Hala: And I did that for about three years until MTV basically reached out to us for a reality TV show. It was right after the Jersey Shore had ended, and they filmed us all summer. They must have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into us at the time. They got us a studio on Broadway. And we basically filmed the whole summer, and I was so excited because, essentially, for three years, I was an unpaid intern at hunt ninety seven.

Hala: Then for the next three years, I was building this website, and I'd have odd jobs and things like that. But I, again, was just investing everything in into some opportunity where I wasn't really getting compensated even though I was working so hard. And, MTV, two weeks before they were supposed to air the show, pulled the plug. And at that point, I had basically gotten rejected from, terrestrial radio. I also had an opportunity at SiriusXM where I was basically hired for two weeks and then fired after two weeks.

Hala: I have no idea why. And then I was, not chosen for MTV, so I was also rejected by TV. So I was just down in the dumps. I I totally felt like, okay. This is not for me.

Hala: I guess I gotta go get a normal job. Let me just go get my MBA, go into corporate. And so then I ended up going into corporate and literally thought I was gonna stay there for the rest of my life. I did really well in corporate. I worked at Hewlett Packard, and I got promoted, like, five times in four years.

Hala: But luckily, in my last year at Hewlett Packard, I got bored. I essentially didn't get this internal opportunity that I wanted. I used to volunteer at HP for their, like, youth organizations and things like that. I didn't get this, like, global presidential role that I wanted. I was essentially the young, the face of the young employees at Hewlett Packard.

Hala: I was very popular at that organization. I didn't get something that I wanted, and then I found myself with all this free time. And I was like, well, I was like, why don't I start a podcast? Because I know how to do this. I know how to do social media.

Hala: I know how to produce. Now podcasts are a thing. It seems accessible now. Previous to that, it this was 2018. So podcasts have been around since, like, 2012, but it was really technical and complicated.

Hala: And in 2018, I was like, well, it's I thought everybody told me it was too late to start a podcast, which is just so funny. And and people were, like, really against it. They're like, you already did this. Like, they're saturated. Don't start it.

Hala: And I was like, well, I I can do this, so let me just start it. And then I just built it on the side, and that's how I started Young and Profiting podcast. So why don't I stop there because I know that was quite a long story. Oh, I love that.

Erica: And one of my favorite things here, and I'm looking through is it through all of this is, number one, this was six years ago. So that is a big chunk of time where you had what I like to call a bunch of fresh starts. A lot of people might call them a little bit failures or bumps in the road. My very first question then following all of that is, how did you continuously find the confidence to keep showing up and trying new things?

Hala: Well, because I was getting really cool opportunities. Right? So I knew that I was not dumb or untalented or anything like this because if you're those things, you don't get opportunities. You don't get to work at ninety seven and be the assistant of Angie Martinez for three years. You don't get your TV show on MTV and get filmed for a month, you know, with just some website idea that you had if you're not talented.

Hala: You know what I'm saying? So I had all these at bats. It's just sometimes I'd swing and hit a little run, and sometimes I'd swing and miss. And it was only until I just missed consecutively, and I felt like time was running out. After the m after the MTV thing, I just felt really just down about myself and about my future and more so that I wanted to improve myself.

Hala: Like, I needed to invest in myself. I kept putting myself out there for other people. I built this website, and I had 50 girls that were under me. I was at Hewlett Packard, and I was running all these youth youth organizations, and I had people under me. And I just constantly felt like I was putting everybody first before myself.

Hala: And then finally, I was like, okay. Let me invest in myself. Let me get my MBA. Let me go into corporate, make my own salary, reach 6 figures, like, which was, like, my goal at the time. And, you know, then I went from there.

Hala: So I just needed to work on myself for a few years, and sometimes that's okay. It's like I took a break from my dream for about four years, but I learned so much in the process. And I'm actually really happy that I did that because I don't think I'd be as successful as I am today as a business owner had I not had my corporate experience at HP and then later Disney Streaming services because I did have Yap as a side hustle for three years before I took it full time and started my own businesses.

Erica: Well, I love this story because it just shows how you are consistently showing up even though it's not taking off. And I think a lot of people will look at a woman like you, and they're like, well, she's so successful, and she's done all these things, and it's just been so easy for her. That's why she's got it this way. For all of those people that would say it's just been so easy, what would you say back?

Hala: Oh, it's not been so easy at all. So I would say that, honestly, once you have an idea that's hit, it could get pretty easy and accelerate really fast. So Young and Profiting, if you think about it, was my fifth or sixth show. And even with Young and Profiting, it took two years before we skyrocketed. It was two years of, like, I was growing on LinkedIn.

Hala: Certain things were really popping off. Like, I became an influencer on LinkedIn first. My podcast for two years was big. We were technically a top 10 how to podcast, but the downloads were stagnant. I was getting, like, 3,000 to 5,000 downloads a month, which in the grand scheme of things now is, like, nothing.

Hala: Back then, I was proud of that and happy with that, and that kept me going. But to have consistent downloads for two years, I was, I was doing the same things over and over again and not thinking outside of the box. And it was only until I started realizing, it was, like, really one moment. I kept trying to grow on Apple, and that was my only focus for a long time. Today, I'm doing great on Apple.

Hala: I'm always top 10 entrepreneurship, top 10 business on Apple. So my podcast is huge on Apple now, but for a long time, it wasn't. And that's because a lot of the legacy podcasters that have been there since, like, 2012, they were getting all the listeners, and it was really hard for me to get discovered on that app. And I kept just trying to do the same things over and over again, and it wasn't working. It wasn't until I realized that there's 70 different apps out there.

Hala: There's Castbox. There's Player FM. There's Google Play. And then I started teaming up with those apps because those apps needed users. I had a following on LinkedIn, and I'd basically trade my following on LinkedIn to get promoted on those apps.

Hala: And that's when I first blew up after two years. It was me getting creative and thinking outside the box and realizing, alright. I'm not gonna make it on Apple right now. How can I become a big podcaster and make noise in this industry and be relevant without being huge on Apple? Because that seems impossible.

Hala: Now it's, like, the same thing with YouTube. It's pretty much impossible to get big on YouTube. Right? So what are the other things that I can do to get relevancy? And it was becoming the number one podcaster on Castbox.

Hala: Now I think I have, like, 300,000 subscribers on Castbox. I'm one of the biggest podcasters on that Android app, and it's that's the top Android app. Right? So I figured out other avenues to sort of, establish my presence as a top podcaster.

Erica: I love this. And I keep hearing LinkedIn come in here, and one of my favorite listening moments that I heard when I was listening to a podcast with you on it was where you talked about somebody mentioned that you had more followers than the CEO of HP at one time. Is that correct?

Hala: Yeah. Yeah. I remember when I started my LinkedIn journey in corporate, at first, I thought, like, I was gonna get a lot of, you know, eye rolling and people would would get upset. And at first, they did. Like, my colleagues' peers would be like, why are you doing this?

Hala: Like, aren't you scared that, people are gonna think, like, that you're trying to get another job or, like, what are you doing? And then as I started getting more followers, actually, the opposite happened. The executives at HP wanted me to train their sales leaders on LinkedIn. They would then start inviting me to all the conferences to, like, you know, host their booths or interview the CEO or CMO on stage at the town halls or whatever it would be, and then also take pictures with the CEO on my LinkedIn and promote the conferences and things like that on my LinkedIn because they knew that I had a a large following. And same thing with Disney Streaming Services.

Hala: They actually poached me because of my presence on LinkedIn, and I got a great job over there. And then same thing, they wanted me to leverage my LinkedIn for for their, promotions and things like that.

Erica: I love it. And I love LinkedIn. It is my favorite social media platform out there as a chief people officer. It's kind of a no brainer. But why are you so passionate about LinkedIn?

Erica: What is it about that platform in all of the other platforms that we have today that makes it so amazing?

Hala: Well, I think people on LinkedIn are really trying to improve their lives. They're trying to level up their careers. They're trying to, learn more about self improvement, educate themselves. Whereas other platforms are really for entertainment, like Instagram, TikTok. People wanna lose themselves, get entertained.

Hala: On LinkedIn, people wanna learn and improve their careers in businesses. So people are primed for sales conversations. Everybody on LinkedIn, for the most part, is, college educated. Most people make over $75,000 a year so they can afford your services. So if you're an entrepreneur or small business owner, LinkedIn is such a great place to be.

Hala: And my favorite part about LinkedIn is that there's still so much opportunity. There's a 135,000,000 daily active users on LinkedIn, and only 6% of those people are content creators. So there's so much opportunity to be the lead in your niche on LinkedIn. The other thing I'll say is that there's still lots of organic reach. So on Instagram, you really gotta use, like, boosting services.

Hala: On YouTube, you've really gotta do paid ads if you wanna get anywhere. On LinkedIn, you don't have to spend any money. You just need to understand how the algorithm works. And I personally am always giving out free tips, free webinars, and things like that where I go over the LinkedIn algorithm and teach people how they can go viral on LinkedIn and get the visibility that they deserve.

Erica: Absolutely. And I have sat in on a couple of your master classes. You did one for my group chief, and then you just host all of these ones on LinkedIn for free, and you give away so much information. And I would love to dive into that. If if you are looking to grow your audience or your should you focus on audience?

Erica: Should you focus on followers, engagement? What is it? Hey there, listeners. If you have ever felt like you're stuck in a place, held back by self doubt, perfectionism, or that pesky inner critic, you're not alone. We all face those sticky floors that keep us from reaching the heights we dream of.

Erica: But guess what? It's time to shatter those limiting beliefs and toxic behaviors to uncover infinite possibilities. My book, Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors, is your ultimate guide to smashing through barriers, overcoming limiting beliefs, and stepping into your full potential. This book has been endorsed by none other than the great Mel Robbins, best selling author and motivational powerhouse. It's also been featured in Success Magazine, so you know it's packed with insights that work.

Erica: Inside, you'll find real life sticky floor stories, practical strategies to help you navigate your own sticky floor moments, and a whole lot of inspiration to keep you climbing. This isn't just a book. It's your roadmap to success, confidence, and freedom. Grab your copy of Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors today at www.ericaandersonrooney.com. Whether you're in the boardroom, the classroom, or just starting out, this book is for you because no one, and I mean no one, deserves to stay stuck, no one deserves to feel small, and you have glass ceilings to shatter.

Erica: Let's do this.

Hala: Yeah. So, really, on LinkedIn, it's understanding the tactics. It's not necessarily about your content. It's understanding how the algorithm works and the tactics and understanding the different viral actions that people take on LinkedIn and how those viral actions are weighted differently. So for example, on LinkedIn, there's a number of viral actions that people can take, like, comment, share, DM.

Hala: Right? Those are all the different viral actions, and they're all weighted differently. So if somebody comments on your stuff, that is about one point. If somebody, sorry. If somebody likes your stuff, that's one point.

Hala: If somebody comments two points, a share is four points, a DM is worth even more points. Why am I saying this? Because the the the way that the algorithm works is that they're going to judge whether or not they send your post to users based on historical affinity to your post. So have they liked, commented, shared? Have they DM ed you?

Hala: And, basically, the scale is like, comment, share, DM. So if somebody DM'd you, that is the highest viral action that they can take. They're almost 90% guaranteed to see your post the next time that you post something. They'll start seeing it at the top of their feed. If they share something, they're also highly likely to see it at the top of your feed.

Hala: So if you know those things, you know that you need to constantly be engaging your first connections that you can DM so they continually see your content. Right? So a lot of people come to me, and they're like, hey, Hala. I've got 10,000 followers. I've been on LinkedIn for five years.

Hala: I get no engagement even though I have all these followers. And my number one thing is, okay. You need to go reinvigorate your first connections. You need to start a campaign where you're giving your first connection some sort of value. You're DMing them so they DM you back.

Hala: Then they're gonna start seeing your stuff at the top of your feed. Right? The other thing you can do is make sure that people who are your first connections actually are active on LinkedIn. Have they logged on in the last thirty days? Do they take viral action?

Hala: You can see their activity. Do they take viral action? Would they be interested in your services or the topics that you speak about? If not, unfollow them because the second stage of the algorithm is basically sharing your post to a subset of your first connections. And if nobody engages, LinkedIn's gonna think that your post sucks.

Hala: They're not gonna keep showing it to other people. So it's all these, like, little nuances. Right? I could go on and on about the different, algorithm hacks, but there's so many of them, and you need to understand them in order to succeed on that platform.

Erica: Oh my gosh. It's super fascinating. Super fascinating. Now if you are not very active on LinkedIn, you're not very passionate, and I've worked with so many women who just they can't stand the thought of marketing themselves or, you know, bragging about themselves, sharing all about that. What is the first thing that they should do when they get onto LinkedIn and they're like, okay.

Erica: I'm gonna do this?

Hala: Yeah. So I think, number one, they really need to establish their voice guide. And so I have a LinkedIn master class that I do every few months. And, basically, I take people through this process a to z to basically align on their personal brand and define it. And so some of the things you need to think about is what are your values?

Hala: What is your personality type? What audience are you trying to target? Are they male, female? What are their interests? What are their age?

Hala: What's their income? What are their titles? Where do they hang out in mass? There's lots of things that you need to figure out about your audience so that you know how to properly target them. Then it's the four or five messages that transform your audience, make an impact on your audience, improve their lives in some way.

Hala: The four or five messages that you're gonna repeat over and over and over again because branding is consistency. That's all branding is. So you want people to understand what you stand for so that they auto share your stuff. If they people don't wanna share. They don't care about.

Hala: They wanna share what I represent, which is you're never too old to try something new. You know, life is limitless. Go after your dreams. If you fail, learn from it and move on. Right?

Hala: So there's all these different messages that I always say over and over and over again. Right? So what are your five, four or five messages that you say over and over again? And then how are you gonna deliver on those messages? And when you're thinking about your delivery method, you need to understand the platform, what features work and what don't what doesn't work, and, also, what is available to you?

Hala: Do you have a book? Do you have original, articles that you can chop up? Do you have a podcast that you're gonna, create microclips from? So your delivery method is basically how you're able to deliver that impact with the resources that you have. How are you gonna turn your long form content into short form viral content?

Hala: So that's basically what I walk people through. And through that exercise, you can get your personal branding statement, your brand persona, every relation, your your brand relationship. So this is something else, that's really important, I think, that your listeners need to know about is that a lot of people are scared to start their personal brand because they think they have to be the expert. And they're like, well, I'm not ready to be an expert. But you have to understand that there's so many different relationships that you can make with your audience and have with your audience that doesn't have to be expert, and you can always evolve to that.

Hala: But for now, you could be a cheerleader. You could be a reporter. You could be, a coordinator. Right? So you don't have to be the expert speaking about a certain topic as if you're the, like, know it all of that topic.

Hala: You can be a reporter and interview people on that topic as you learn instead. Right? So there's lots of different ways that you can basically have a relationship with your audience, and that's also something that you should determine before you start. So once you have all that outlined, now you basically have your template to get started. Right?

Hala: You know what you're gonna speak about. You know the the things that you're gonna pull from in order to generate your content. Hopefully, you've learned about the algorithm, learned about the features and everything that you need to know before you get started so that you are ahead of the curve from the start. Then you've gotta update your your, profile. This is really important because when you post, the first things people are gonna do is click on your profile and see, are you worth following?

Hala: Right? Do you have credibility? Do you have social proof? So make sure you update your LinkedIn banner, because that is a huge piece of real estate that is easily updated. And for my LinkedIn banner, I always say this is something that you can update all the time.

Hala: So for example, if I've got my LinkedIn Academy going on, I'm promoting that. When that's not going on, I'm promoting my podcast. If I've got a book, I'm gonna promote my book up there. Right? So it's like whenever you're promoting something new, it should be up there.

Hala: There's a new hyperlink on your profile called the work with me link. That is something that gets clicked a lot. So, typically, in your post, you get penalized for pointing to external third party websites because LinkedIn wants to keep people on LinkedIn for as long as possible, but that work with me link is not penalized. So go ahead and link to your lead form or whatever it is in your profile and then update your profile and brag. Show your credibility.

Hala: Show the brands that you've worked with in the past and associate yourself with powerful brands. Like, if you've worked with Forbes or, you know, Disney or whatever it is, show those brands. Show your accolades because this is where people are going to, determine if you're the real deal or not. So put your testimonials up there and show your credibility.

Erica: I love that, and I really love this concept of taking on a multitude of there's a multitude of options of roles that you could take on. You said the reporter, you don't have to be the expert. You don't have to be the best at something, but you can engage people and build your brand based off of the type of role. And you alluded a little bit to this, but why would somebody need to differentiate how they show up on LinkedIn versus how they show up on TikTok or Instagram? And can they post the exact same content in the exact in different platforms?

Hala: You can post the same ideas and concepts and material, but the way that you post is gonna be different. Because every platform is totally different in terms of the way that the algorithm works and the features that they're pushing. Right? So on Instagram, IG Reels are all the rage. IG Reels is really the only way to get organic reach because Instagram is, trying to be video first competing with TikTok.

Hala: LinkedIn does not have that initiative. They are not trying to be video first. In fact, IG Reels, if you posted it on LinkedIn, would do terrible. They don't do well on LinkedIn. Right?

Hala: The the best type of video feature to use is LinkedIn livestream. That performs a lot better than a short video clip. And, on LinkedIn, for example, if I was to take an IG Reel concept and I wanted to put it on LinkedIn, I would turn it into a story with a photo on LinkedIn because that's what performs on LinkedIn. But on Instagram, I would do it as a thirty second reel, especially if it was, like, some sort of educational post. Now motivational videos that are thirty seconds that stand out in the feed that are vertical and take up a lot of real estate actually do well on LinkedIn.

Hala: So if it's a motivational video with, like, kids running or, like, kids outside or people running a race or something that's gonna really stand out on the LinkedIn feed, and it's easy to understand with the sound off So this is a key thing. On LinkedIn, many people are working while they're on LinkedIn. So this is why videos don't do that well. Also, it's because it's not kids. It's adults who are at work working, and they're engaging with their stuff in between meetings.

Hala: They don't necessarily have the sound on their videos. So they're watching a lot of this with the sound off. So if it's engaging with the sound off and motivational, it could also work well as the video on LinkedIn. So you just gotta understand the features of every platform, and it's definitely not something you can just copy paste. Almost it's never like that on almost any social platform.

Hala: You can't just really copy and paste. You've gotta be, pretty, intentional about what you're posting.

Erica: Yeah. It's very strategic nowadays. I will say that for sure.

Hala: Yeah.

Erica: But I wanna kinda switch gears on you because you teach all of this information in your free master classes. I wanna direct people over there. But when I see you, when other people see you, they see this woman who is put together. She is crushing it. She's got her own business, this very successful podcast.

Erica: How did we get to this place? Because I feel like this can't be all of it. And I think that there's a sticky floor, which those are the limiting beliefs, the toxic behaviors, imposter syndrome, perfectionism, fear, burnout that might have been in your life somewhere. Did you experience a sticky floor before you really just boomed into this amazing successful woman?

Hala: Yeah. I mean, I would say, like, I I think my four years in corporate where I let go of my dream. Like, there was four years after I got rejected from MTV, and I got I went and got my MBA and started working at Hewlett Packard at the same time. I literally never thought I would get on a mic again. I and this was my dream from when I was little.

Hala: Like, I remember being, like, a young girl, and my dad would tell me, I think you're gonna be a news anchor. And my brother would tell me, I think you're gonna be a sportscaster. Like, everybody thought that I was gonna be in this world, which I ended up being in this world. Right? And for four years, I totally let go of my dream, and it's because I just didn't think that I was good enough and that it it just seemed impossible.

Hala: Right? But for some reason, I was able to get back on my feet, and I think it was really just me just, again, listening to my heart. Right? I was going against my intuition for four years, and I started listening to my heart again. And I decided with really pure intentions.

Hala: I had this great career. I was, like, making well over 6 figures at HP, and then I moved to Disney Streaming, started making even more money. And I was leading teams at Disney and everything like this. And I literally started my podcast with the purest intentions. I I thought it was gonna be a hobby.

Hala: I for literally two years, one of the reasons why I had stagnant growth probably also is because I didn't wanna monetize it. I I was only doing it to just help other people and to satisfy my dreams that I thought would never come true. So I started this podcast to serve other people, to be able to meet really successful people and learn from them, and mostly to just help other people because I had succeeded in corporate. I had failed failed as an entrepreneur, and I thought I could speak to both types of people and just help young people level up their lives. And because I had really pure intentions, from the start, I had a volunteer team.

Hala: For two years, I had 20 people who worked for free for me and for the podcast. So that's how I was able to do the podcast, have this top podcast as a side hustle for two years and work full time was because I had people from all over the world that were literally helping me for free because they also wanted to support the mission of helping people, improve their careers and businesses with me. And so I would just teach and train these interns to help me with videos or social media or whatever. And then that actually evolved into my company now. And so, basically, two years into the podcast, I had grown on LinkedIn, and I became, like, one of the biggest influencers on LinkedIn.

Hala: I had this great podcast that was produced super well, had a lot of listeners, had a lot of credibility. I wasn't a huge podcaster yet, but everybody thought I was a huge podcaster. And these guests would come on my show. And at the end of the show, they'd always say to me the same thing. Hala, who does your LinkedIn?

Hala: Who did your podcast? Can you help me? And for the longest time, I would just say, no. I'm so sorry. I have a volunteer team.

Hala: I can't help you. I've got this great career. I I this is just a hobby. And I would always just give some excuse. No.

Hala: I can't help you. This is a hobby. Thank you very much. Right? And then finally, when COVID happened, I found myself with more free time because I didn't have a commute anymore.

Hala: And I was going through some personal stuff as well, so I just found myself with more free time. And then I decided that I was gonna start this company, and I turned my volunteers into, paid employees. And I started to scale my company. That's when everything really blew up. Six months later, I was making well over a $100 a month, then I finally quit my job.

Hala: Imagine. I had 30 people all around the world working for me. I was making, like, a $120,000 a month already with my agency, and I was still working at Disney because I was so afraid of actually taking this full time and and really just pivoting. But then I did, and that's when everything really skyrocketed because I had my full focus on the podcast and growth. I started to monetize my podcast.

Hala: I started to build this agency, build the processes, hire a bigger team, hire more of an executive leadership team. And then a year and a half ago, I started my podcast network because, essentially, I figured out how to monetize my shows and the other shows that I produced, and I realized I had built a podcast network. So then I started just recruiting more shows to help them grow and monetize. So now we've got, like, this whole podcast empire, and it had just really pure organic beginnings. So you just were a podcast trying to help people.

Erica: So, Hala, what I find so fascinating about this is it seems like you had all of these little signs guiding you along the way almost, and you just trusted in them, and you took the steps, and you took the action. But how did you find the courage to truly make that leap and walk away from corporate and go all in on your business?

Hala: It wasn't alone. It was, listening to a mentor. So Heather Monahan is my first client, and she was really the bug in my ear to start my business and to quit my job. And I had a lot of naysayers in my life. I when I started my business, I left my partner of twelve years, who was basically my husband, but we were not married, and he did not want me to start this business.

Hala: He was very against it. And so for six months, also one of the reasons why I didn't quit my job at Disney, I was basically doing this all at night almost behind his back because he was so against it and was just, like, so mean to me whenever I'd bring up my business or whatever it was. And so I had to break up with him in order to actually take this full time. So that was one thing. My mom was scared because she's just an immigrant that thinks that the only way you can be successful is, like, being a doctor or a lawyer, and I already was in corporate and not following her dreams.

Hala: So she, like, she was against it. You know? So it's and, like, my best friends were really against it. They thought they they were, like, basically making fun of me. Why are you doing this?

Hala: Like, you're too old. I was told I was too old. I wasn't even 30 years old. You're too old to start a podcast. And so, like, I had everybody was against me doing this, even starting my podcast, let alone starting my business.

Hala: So I had to learn really fast that you can't take advice from people even if they love you so much, even if they mean well. You can't take advice from people who don't have the same dreams as you or have achieved what you wanna achieve. Right? And so all these people who have never achieved anything in the same realm are trying to give me advice on what to do and what not to do. And then I have Heather Monahan, who's literally, like, who I wanna be in ten years at the time telling me, Hala, you've got an amazing podcast.

Hala: You've gotta focus on this. Hala, you have an agency that's better than VaynerMedia. It's a volunteer group, but you can turn this into an agency. Let me be your first client. You can test bed it with me.

Hala: Hala, you're making a $100 a month now. You gotta quit your job at Disney. Like, she was in my ear. I remember I called her up. She was in the grocery store, and Disney didn't want me to leave.

Hala: And I was like, hey. I think I'm not gonna leave. Like, they offered me more pay. They wanna do this, this, and that. And And she was in the grocery store, like, yelling at me.

Hala: Like, you better quit your job today. How long is that? Like and she really pushed me. And thank god. You know?

Hala: Thank god because she was the only one who I could trust, who's Heather Monhan, for anybody who doesn't know, is a top podcaster. She's a huge LinkedIn influencer. She's a speaker. She's an entrepreneur. All these things.

Hala: Right? And she was like, Hala, please. Like, you've got this. Trust yourself. Go for it.

Hala: And it was with her guidance that I, started my business and was able to quit my job because I didn't have anybody else to talk to or who was supporting me. So it was a mentor.

Erica: What I have found is that most people who are projecting those types of fears and worries are because those are the fears that they have themselves because they are in a much smaller box than where you want to go, where I want to go. So I completely resonate, and I I really resonate with that. One of the things that you touched on is the mentor, and I think community is such a big piece of keeping that momentum, trusting your faith, and putting in the work even when you are not seeing the output. What are your thoughts on community?

Hala: Community is so important. I mean, one of the reasons why for years, I was able to just do my podcast consistently every single week even without getting money or results is the fact that we were changing so many lives and that my fans would reach out and, you know, tell me how much, the show meant to them. A lot of those fans were actually the volunteers. All the volunteers for the podcast were actually fans who reached out and was like, you've changed my life so much. How can I help?

Hala: How can I spread this message? And then I would bring them onto my team if they were interested. Right? So community for me is just so important. And to this day, I am so obsessed with community.

Hala: So whether that's creating it for my mastermind, for LinkedIn and helping people level up on LinkedIn, or for my podcast, I'm always all about talking to my fans, talking to listeners, getting their feedback. And, really, as a as somebody who's who's an expert on building personal brands, you've gotta bring people along your journey. Right? You can't just talk down to people. It's gotta be two way communication.

Hala: So I'm always hopping on live streams, having webinars, and I really like to talk to my community.

Erica: I love that. And I usually wrap up my podcast, Hala, with always asking what is the one piece of advice that you would give the Hala from years ago, but I'm gonna steal something from your playbook. And I'm gonna say, what is your secret to profiting in life?

Hala: Oh, I love that. So I think my secret to profiting in life is to truly believe that anything is possible. Right? I think that a lot of people are just getting in their own way. They've got these limiting beliefs.

Hala: They don't try before they're like, they feel that they're a 100% ready. And what I'm gonna tell you now is that no one's a 100% ready. No one is a 100% ready. Nobody is perfect, but you've just gotta start. I think a lot of people have a problem with just starting and figuring it out.

Hala: It's always gonna feel bad at first. It's always gonna feel like you it it it it sucks to feel like you suck at something. Right? But the more that you try and get better, there's a motivation loop that happens. You you try, you get better, and because you got better, you are more likely to try again and keep going and keep going.

Hala: So it's like starting is the hardest part. So try your best if you wanna do something to get started and understand that it's going to feel bad at first and try to push through that because, eventually, as you get better at something, it feels better to do it. And so I think, you know, for a lot of people, just getting started is the hardest part. So believe in yourself that you can actually do the thing that you wanna do, and then really push yourself to get started and give yourself some sort of timeline or or deliverable that you've gotta achieve to really give it a shot, and keep going even when it doesn't feel like you're not getting any results because that's when the magic happens. Right?

Hala: Nothing happens without hard work and consistency, and I think people give up way too fast.

Erica: Yes. And nothing happens inside your comfort zone. And I think this is the perfect segue to say, if you do want some help getting started, again, you offer so many amazing resources. How can people find you, work with you, get in a master class, and join your community?

Hala: Sure. So if you guys are specifically interested in LinkedIn, you can go to yapmedia.io/course, and that will have information about my next LinkedIn master class, which is gonna be in December. And if, Erica, you wanna give your, community 30% off, I'm happy to do that. We can use, what code do you like to use, Erica?

Erica: We can use it I don't know. I'll think of one. Erica Rocks. How about that?

Hala: Erica Rocks would be perfect for 30% off at yapmedia.io/course for my December class. So, we'll stick that information in the show notes. I'll give more information to Erica. And, support Erica because she'll get some compensation if any of you guys, sign up. And, you can also follow me on my podcast.

Hala: It's called Young and Profiting. It's a top 10 business podcast on Apple. I've interviewed people like Matthew McConaughey, Alex Jermosey, Grant Cardone, Daymond John. So it's an amazing show. I work really, really hard at it.

Hala: I think you guys are gonna love it. It's called Young and Profiting. And you guys can also find me on LinkedIn by searching my name. It's Hala Taha and Instagram at Yap, y a p, with Hala, h a l a. Thanks, Erica.

Erica: It. Thank you so much, Hala. I truly believe that time is the most valuable resource that we have, so thank you for spending your time with us today. I appreciate it.

Hala: Thank you.

Erica: Hala is the expert that you want to listen to y'all, and I have learned so much from but if you aren't quite at the level of Hala yet, you can take my free twenty three minute level up your LinkedIn course. I am going to drop the link in the show notes. It's quick. It's easy. It's gonna get you up and running and get you started.

Erica: But this is your reminder. It's time for you to stop putting a ceiling on what is possible and start breaking through them. I'll see you next time.