Hala Taha: How to Crush Rejections and Scale a Multi-Million-Dollar Business | Entrepreneurship | YAPLive

25:03And my dad was nice enough to pay for my MBA. So again, saved me again. So you decided to go get your MBA at that time? I decided I was, oh, I shut down my blog. Sorry. It's a big part. And so this is like a total reinvention. You're like, I'm going into corporate? Yeah. It was so shocking to everybody who was, because my blog was big. We were like pretty famous in the tri-state area. And literally I just shut it down. Why did you shut it down? because I was like I can't do this anymore if I can't take care of myself how am I going to take care of fit there was 50 girls in the organization 50 to 150 girls at any given time and I was just like I just keep doing everything for everybody else and it's like if I can't be successful myself how am I going to help everybody else I've got to like figure it out on my own and I was like you know what I I this is not good enough for me like this isn't working like and sometimes the best thing you could do is actually quit.

25:55You know, and I just knew like this is I don't want to be in this industry anymore. I don't feel appreciated in this industry. I don't feel like I I feel like I learned a lot. And now I'm making so much money on all the skills that I learned in that time in my life. But it was like, I don't want to be a part of this industry anymore. And I want more control, you know, over my life. And so I decided I was going to go get my MBA. I basically had to beg to get into school and I had to basically promise that I would get a 4.0 because I had a 2.3 GPA in college. But I did. I got a 4.0. I graduated number one in my class.

26:32I got an internship at Hewlett Packard. That turned into a job. And then my last year at Hewlett Packard, I basically started my podcast. So I'll pause there. Yeah. The Young and Profitable podcast. Young Profiting, yeah. Profiting. And that was last year at Hewlett Packard. Yeah. So it was four years into my corporate career. So four years at Hewlett Packard. And then I know after that, you shifted into another corporate role at Disney Streaming. Yeah. Right. Let's talk about that. Yeah. So basically, Hewlett Packard was awesome. I was an entrepreneur at the company. And basically, I approached everything so differently.

27:04And I thought that I was going to enter corporate and I was going to be like this big failure because all my friends had already been in corporate for many years. I was, I think I was 28 years old in my first corporate job. Okay. So when you started at Hewlett Packard? Yeah. And my resume looked crazy. It was like intern at Hot 97, blogger at the sorority of hip hop, you know, but they took a chance on me. And then like, I crushed it. I was so much more tech savvy than everybody else. I could graphic design. I could video edit. I was a good salesperson. Like I just had all these skills and I ended up - All these skills you had developed, like by doing your own entrepreneurial stuff where you had to do everything on your own.

27:41Yeah. And by the end of it or throughout it, I would say I became like the chief of staff for the C-suite. Like I had a really big position at Hewlett Packard and was like super respected and was like leading people who were like double my age, you know? And so it was really cool. And I loved working at Hewlett Packard. I had such a great experience. And I was actually the face of the young employees. I was president of the Young Employee Network. And I was like, you know, running all the different local chapters for New New York, New Jersey. And then I was on the global board. And then I was supposed to be, in my opinion, the global young employee president.

28:17And I didn't get that. And that's actually, you know, it was something where the HR director put somebody in the role who had no, who had never done anything with the organization. And here I was like essentially working a part-time job for free within Hewlett Packard to help the company culture. That's exactly what that was. And then they literally gave it to a man who wasn't even involved. And it was like that same feeling at Hot 97 when that guy got the job that didn't deserve it. And I was like, why does this keep happening? I was like, I can't keep having people control my destiny. And that was when I was like, okay, I'm going to start Young and Profiting podcast instead of leading 7 ,000 young employees at Hewlett Packard, maybe I'll lead 7 million online.

29:02And that's when I started my LinkedIn journey and started the podcast. And at the same time, I was ready to make a move because I felt like Hewlett Packard had kind of disrespected me like for basically working a free part-time job and then not giving me the role that I did deserve. And so I moved to Disney streaming services, but I did not love that job. How long were you there? I was there for two years. It was fine. It was just like a boys club. So Hewlett Packard looking back had like a really great company culture and like really respected women. And when I went to Disney, I was treated like I was an intern again.

29:33And so it was just like I was paid better, but that wasn't enough for me. Like I wanted the respect and I felt like I didn't have the respect. And that's why I kind of decided I was going to start my side hustle. And so was that 2018 that you started the Young and Profiting podcast? Yes. Okay. And what was the, talk about that podcast. So why did you start a podcast, by the way, of all the things you could have done? That was seven years ago. So podcasts were, you know well it's because i had so much radio background so all throughout um hot 97 and the sorority of hip-hop i always had online radio shows so while i was working at hot 97 i had online radio shows with the up-and-coming djs while i had the sorority of hip-hop i but it was just a different type of show i would interview musicians and things like this um and online radio was basically the precursor of podcasts you'd be like go to alistradio.net listen at three o 'clock, like DTF radio, listen at whatever time.

30:25And so I knew how to do everything. And when I saw podcasts actually becoming popular, because when I had been doing these online radio shows, podcasts existed, but they were really hard to do. It was like really, it was like too technical for me. Like I didn't know how to do it. And then I saw like, oh, like there's these platforms like Podbean now where you just like. Yeah. Plug and play. Yeah. You just like start a podcast. I was like, I could do this. And so one day I remember it was like a new year's resolution, um, end of 2017 or like beginning of 2018. And I was like, I'm going to start a podcast.

30:57I told my team at Hewlett Packard and because I told everybody in real life, I was like, okay, I guess I got to figure this out. And by April I launched one. Wow. Wow. Okay. Fast forward to 2020. Yeah. Um, you've said that was a pivotal year in your life. And I've heard you say it was both like the first half was the hardest year of your life. Second half was the best year of your life. So it was like a real dichotomy. Talk about 2020 for you. So 2020 was probably a tough year for a lot of people. I remember I was with my ex-boyfriend living in Brooklyn and it was March, right at the beginning of COVID.

31:30I was working at Disney streaming services. People were just starting to wear masks. And I think that was the first week that I was actually working from home. and I remember my sister calling me up and she's like, she's like, mom, dad, your aunt and uncle down the street and your brother have COVID. And this was like mortifying because at the time like COVID was - We didn't know what it was. We thought everybody was dying from it. Yeah, a lot of people weren't dying from it, right? It was really like a bad strain. She's like, mom, dad, your aunt and uncle down the street, your brother, they all have COVID.

32:03I'm going home and I didn't have a car at the time. She's like, can you be ready in 30 minutes? Like, do you want to come? And I was like, I guess I'm coming. So she comes. We have full hazmat suits on because she's a doctor. So we were so scared. We were mortified. So we put on full hazmat suits. Everybody is so sick. Like we walk in the house and you can smell the sickness. It was crazy. So me and my sister basically went into the basement and we camped out in the basement and we would go up in our hazmat suits and try to help everybody and cook. and I was like cooking like everybody's soup and my sister and I was she was like the doctor.

32:42So she was responsible for the doctor stuff. Yeah. And then we were scared to send anybody to the hospital because it was so packed at that time, the hospital. And basically everybody was saying if you send it to the hospital, it's like a death wish. Right. So even my brother, who is so fit, he's like like the ideal like man, you know, he was super sick. My dad has diabetes. So he was like we were most worried about him um eventually though me and my sister were like this like my dad was getting so sick we were like okay forget these hazmatuts forget everything like let's just try to save dad and so we were just like doing everything like foonspeeding him like doing whatever we could there's things i don't even want to talk about like what we had to do and you know my dad ended up going to the hospital.

33:30And I remember when he said like, oh, if I go to the hospital, you guys aren't going to see me again. And he was right. Like, and I remember him being wheeled out and we had to call the ambulance and like, uh, he ended up going to the hospital and he ended up staying in the hospital for basically two months. Okay. Um, and because I got COVID, of course I got COVID, right. I didn't get very sick at all. Um, I got COVID and then suddenly I had like the cooties to everyone, right? So my boyfriend that I was with for like seven years, didn't see him for three months. None of my friends didn't see my friends, even my dad's funeral, like barely anyone came to the funeral because they were, everyone was just so scared of getting COVID and like our family got the cooties, you know?

34:11So I was in isolation essentially for three months. And when I started my podcast, something we didn't talk about is that I had a volunteer team. So I had 20 people who worked for free for me for two years while I was working full time. So I was a scarred entrepreneur. I had failed as an entrepreneur. And so I was like really set on working a corporate job. Like I thought I was just going to be the CMO of Hewlett-Packard, the CMO of Disney. That was what I thought I was going to be. And I thought my podcast was just a hobby. Okay. So I had all these volunteers helping me with my mission of this hobby podcast.

34:49and I had trained them all. I would teach somebody how to do audio editing, somebody had to do video editing, somebody to run my socials, to run my website. And I basically trained everybody. And essentially I had a company. So I interviewed Heather Monaghan about like, right before COVID happened, I interviewed her in February. And - Who's Heather Monaghan? Heather Monaghan is like a big podcaster. She's an author. She's a huge LinkedIn influencer. And I had become a LinkedIn influencer. So I, when I started my podcast, I started posting on LinkedIn and I actually became a big LinkedIn influencer before my podcast got big.

35:24Okay. Okay. So Heather came on my show. I interviewed her. I remember in a phone booth at Disney and she, at the end of the show, she was like, Holly, your videos are so good on LinkedIn. Can you, can you do this for me? Like, can you, can you help me do my videos? And I was like, I wanted her to be my mentor because she was like exactly who I wanted to be when I grew up. She's like 10 years older than me. and I was like I'll teach you how to do it but like I can't do it for you but like and I started taking like these Saturday calls with her and we became really close and she was really really helpful for me when my dad was sick and she was like became like my my mentor my therapist and I would teach her how to make videos and try to teach her and you were right around 30 at this time or a little I was 30 yeah okay okay so teach her how to make these videos and then I remember I showed her like my we had a slack channel that's now like basically my company I would show her all my folders all our processes she's like holla I just had a call with VaynerMedia she's like I could give them my money I could give you my money she's like I want to be your first client she's like you hate your job it doesn't because I would tell her everything she's like you you're not appreciated at Disney you've got nothing to lose you have 20 people who work for you already like come on I'll be your first client wow and so I was like okay fine and I didn't quit my job I did it as like a side hustle.

36:41So my second client was a billionaire and he actually invited me on his podcast. His name was Jason Waller and he had this true underdog podcast. And at the end of the show, he was like, hey, like, how'd you like, could you do your LinkedIn? Could you do podcasts for me? And I was like, yeah, I can, you know? And so I pitched him and he was a$30 ,000 a month client. Wow. So Heather paid me like a thousand bucks a month. And my second client was$30 ,000 a month. It's a nice increase. So then everything changes. Then I started hiring people in the Philippines and putting people on payroll. And, you know, I was still scared of quitting my job.

37:16So it took me six months to quit my job. I got two other huge clients. The CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK, Brian Scudamore, you probably know him. Oh, wow. Kara Golden of Hint Water became my client. I started running all her stuff, all Hint Water stuff. And we were making like well over six figures a month as an agency. Wow. I actually got a couple U.S. hires and then I quit my full-time job. Disney job. Yeah. So it just kind of like skyrocketed. And that was the second half of 2020 when that all started to happen. Yeah. And then because I started making real money, I figured out how to grow my podcast.

37:50So because I started making real money and I started just kind of thinking about like, what are the like, what is success to me? Success doesn't mean that I have to be the biggest podcaster on Apple for a long time. I was like, in order to be successful, I need to be as big as Tim Ferriss on Apple, as big as Jenna Kutcher on Apple. And I was just, you know, treading water, treading water, trying to compete with people that I could not compete with. And I decided to start thinking outside of the box. So it's like, what other apps are out there? There's CastBox, there's Player FM, there's Podbean.

38:24I have this LinkedIn profile that, and I'm one of the biggest podcasters on LinkedIn now. How can I trade my audience with these other platforms? So I started an initiative that summer where I reached out to every single platform, every single player. There's like 70 of them in the world, right? 70 different players outside of Apple. And I was like, hey, like I've got LinkedIn, this LinkedIn profile. I'll post about you if you put me on your blog, if you blast me out in your email blast, if you feature me in your apps. And so CastBox, for example, sponsored me. And now my partnership with CastBox is so huge.

38:59I have like 6 million subscribers just on CastBox. Wow. And I'm like one of their biggest podcasters. I get like 50 % of my downloads to this day are from CastBox. I haven't even heard of that. Yeah. So it's the biggest like Android app, right? Wow. Okay. And so like I've got a ton of subscribers on Player FM and Podbean and all these different apps. Yeah. And I just grew as a successful podcaster way differently than everybody else. And then I realized that you could pay for these types of media buys. So I started making money. And instead of just doing these trades, I was like, hey, Gasbox, let me get a 10K media buy.

39:32And I started investing in myself. And then my podcast grew. And now I'm bigger on Apple, but it took a long time. Like I succeeded in another way first. So in 2021, January of 2021, I got on the cover of Podcast Magazine. And that's when I decided to quit my job. I was like, OK, like I'm on the cover of Podcast Magazine. I'm making over six figures in my agency. It's time to quit my job. Yeah. Yeah. So that's when you quit Disney. Yeah. And so to your point, worst year of my life, father dying. But by the end of the year, it was the best thing because it's like I basically created my own freedom.

40:09And now I've got it was like, you know, the precursor to the empire that Yap Media is today.

40:18Happy New Year, Yap Gang. I just love the unique energy of the new year. It's all about fresh starts. And fresh starts not only feel possible, but also feel encouraged. And if you've been thinking about starting a business, this is your sign. There's no better time than right now. 2026 can be the year that you build something that is truly yours. The year where you take control over your career. And it starts with Shopify. I've built plenty of my own businesses on Shopify, including my LinkedIn Secrets Masterclass. So it's a two-day workshop. People buy their tickets on Shopify. And then my Mastermind subscription is also on Shopify.

40:53I built my site quickly in just a couple of days. Payments were set up super easily. And none of the technical stuff slowed me down like it usually does because Shopify is just so intuitive. And this choice of using Shopify helped me scale my masterclass to over$500 ,000 in revenue in our first year. And I'm launching some new podcast courses and can't wait to launch them on Shopify. Shopify gives you everything you need to sell online and in person, just like the millions of entrepreneurs that they power. You can build your dream story using hundreds of beautiful templates and set up as fast with built-in AI tools that help you write product descriptions and edit photos.

41:29Plus marketing is built in so you can create email and social campaigns easily. And as you grow, Shopify can scale right along with your business. In 2026, stop waiting and start selling with Shopify. Sign up for your$1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com slash profiting. Go to shopify.com slash profiting. That's shopify.com slash profiting. Yap fam, hear your first. This new year with Shopify by your side.

42:00What's up young and profiters. I remember when I first started Yap, I used to dread missing important calls. I remember I lost a huge potential partnership because the follow-up thread got completely lost in my messy communication system. Well, this year, I'm focused on not missing any opportunities, and that starts with your business communications. A missed call is money and growth out the door. That's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo, spelled Q-U-O, the smarter way to run your business communications. Quo is the number one rated business phone system on G2, and it works right from an app on your phone or computer.

42:33The way Quo works is magic for team alignment. Your whole team can handle calls and texts from one shared number, and everyone sees the full conversation. It's like having access to a shared email inbox, but on a phone. And also, Quo's AI can even qualify leads or respond after hours, ensuring your business stays responsive, even when you've finally logged off. It makes doing business so much easier. Make this the year where no opportunity and no customer slips away. Try Quo for free, plus get 20 % off your first six months when you go to Quo.com slash profiting. That's q-u-o dot com slash profiting.

43:06Quo, no missed calls, no missed customers.

43:13Hello, young and profiters. Running my own business has been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. But I won't lie to you. In those early days of setting it up, I feel like I was jumping on a cliff with no parachute. I'm not really good at that kind of stuff. I'm really good at marketing, sales, growing a business, offers. but I had so many questions and zero idea where to find the answers when it came to starting an official business. I wish I had known about Northwest Registered Agent back when I was starting Yap Media. And if you're an entrepreneur, you need to know what Northwest Registered Agent is.

43:43They've been helping small business owners launch and grow businesses for nearly 30 years. They literally make life easy for entrepreneurs. They don't just help you form your business. They give you the free tools you need after you form it, like operating agreements and thousands of how-to guides that explain the complicated ins and outs of running a business. And guys, it can get really complicated, but Northwest Registered Agent just makes it all easy and breaks it down for you. So when you want more for your business, more privacy, more guidance, more free resources, Northwest Registered Agent is where you should go.

44:15Don't wait and protect your privacy. Build your brand and get your complete business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Visit NorthwestRegisteredAgent.com slash yap free and start building something amazing. Get more with Northwest Registered Agent at NorthwestRegisteredAgent.com slash yap free. You said that your dad was the only one that believed in you and didn't and said, follow your dreams, right? It's like you manifested or you made happen what he would have wanted for you, I can imagine. Definitely. And like I said, the turning point was when he was in the hospital when I was like, all right, I'm just going to go all in.

44:51Like I've been kind of like dabbling here and there, but it's time to just go all in and see if I could make something really happen and be a role model to other ethnic women and people out there, you know? So anyone listening to this, right, is, you know, they're, if they're thinking in their head, wow, Hala is like incredible, again, tenacious, you know, hardworking, all of these words that come up. If you were observing yourself, if you're analyzing yourself, what are the qualities that have enabled you to persevere through failure and setback and doubt and just keep going? I mean, creativity comes to mind.

45:28You're constantly trying to think of how do I take advantage of this opportunity or create an opportunity? So how would you evaluate your own superpowers and abilities? I would say a lot of it was just like obsession. So there's so many podcasters in the world, but nobody knows podcasting more than me. Like nobody knows how to grow a podcast more than me. Nobody knows how to monetize podcasts more than me. So it's like, I wanted to be a podcaster. And instead of just focusing on like the content, I focused on the marketing, the growth, the tactics, the like, how can I maximize all these things?

46:04That's why they call me the podcast princess now. Right. So it was like an obsession of just knowing every nook and cranny that I needed to know and experimentation and realizing that like there's no straight path to being a successful podcaster i took a zigzag path and like a very untraditional path to becoming a top podcaster so i feel like that's number one number two is whenever somebody tells me no i try to create my own lane right so if a gatekeeper tells me no which i had so much of in my life yeah um you know from hot any seven to i almost got a i almost was swaying the mornings co-host on sirius xm which is like a huge show and i didn't get that um i didn't get the mtv show i didn't you know get promoted at disney i didn't get the i i always got rejected yeah i was always like not i never got on the team i never like i was always getting rejected and the podcast was the first time that i decided, you know what, instead of me just like wanting to get chosen, I'm going to choose myself and I'm going to be an entrepreneur and create my own lane and just do it myself.

47:14Because I feel like when you're the owner, nobody can take it away from you. And especially like before, before I didn't really understand what I was building. I was building a personal brand. And your personal brand is a transferable asset that you take no matter how your career evolves. And I decided to invest in my own personal brand. And like that was just so powerful. So it was like investing in myself, taking control over things, not waiting for somebody to give me permission or to pick me and just choosing myself. incredible you so since you were 19 you believed in manifestation the law of attraction utilized affirmations how do you apply that now having you know back then you were using it to create something out of nothing now you've created so much how do those tools still serve you i still manifest all the time uh we've got this meeting that we do every single monday with my and it's called G90.

48:11Actually, Darius, our mutual friend, is the one that kind of instilled this with us. He's got a lot of different processes for companies. And one of the things that I added to it was weekly wishes. Oh, I love that. So in the beginning of our session, we're saying affirmations, like I want Hal Elrod to close this week so that he can join us at Yap Media and we can monetize his show. You know, I want this deal to close. I want to make this new hire and want to find the perfect candidate. And we actually make affirmations. And all three of my business partners and I have three wishes every week that we try to manifest.

48:47Because I find that when I'm in a positive mindset, everything goes well for my business. Everything is effortless. People can feel that energy, even if it's just made up, like even if it's not true. It's my energy that changes. So it's my energy on the calls because I made these affirmations. And so I use it in that way to manifest the things that we want in our business. I also use it to prepare myself for really big experiences, whether I'm guesting on a big show or having a big sales call. Speaking on a big stage. Speaking on a big stage. Yeah. I tell my like literally like I'll tell myself I earned this spot.

49:30I'm talking to this person because I've been working so hard for 20 years. And I like, you know, just trying to get that imposter syndrome out of my head. And I'll tell myself, like, I'm the best salesperson. Nobody else knows more than podcasting than me. And I try to just like build myself up. And again, it's more about the energy shift and the confidence that it brings me and getting myself confident than me actually believing those things. Yeah. Yeah. It's not magic, right? It's not the manifestation. It's you're optimizing your mental and emotional state so that you can show up at your best, which then increases the likelihood that you get the outcome that you're after.

50:05Yeah. And I know that you're all you're you're you always talk about like having your affirmations based in reality, based in truth. That's literally what I'm doing. I'm saying like, Hala, you worked for 20 years. Like, that's why you're here. Like you've, you know, sold millions of dollars or whatever. So I try to tell myself, like remind myself of like, this is why you're here. Yeah. So you seem to have and seem is the wrong word because you have a seemingly have an unstoppable mindset, an unstoppable mindset. And you just mentioned imposter syndrome a minute ago. Do you face imposter syndrome still?

50:39Have you overcome it? The only time I face imposter syndrome are like the really, really huge moments. Like I was telling you, I think in the last podcast that we did that I spoke at Funnel Hacking Live. Yeah. And it was in front of 6 ,000 people. And Russell Brunson, who's my client, put me on that stage. And I have a lot of speaker friends who really deserve to be on that stage. Like I have this friend, Phil, who actually helped me with my presentation. And he speaks all over. And it's like his dream to be on that stage. Phil Stringer. I don't know Phil now. Yeah. He speaks about AI and sales.

51:10And I remember I told him he was like, what? And I was like, yeah, I know I don't really deserve it. You know, and like, so it's like, that's kind of like what I felt is like, I don't deserve to be on this stage. Like people have been working a lot harder than me to be a speaker. But he chose me to speak about podcasting. And that you're very qualified. And, you know, and like that's he needed a speaker on podcasting and he decided I was the most qualified. And I was like, you know what? It's true. There's nobody who knows more than me about podcast growth and monetization. So like I do earn I did earn my spot.

51:43Yeah. But I just got to make sure that I do a great job and I don't let anybody down and that I can show that I deserved this spot, you know? Yeah. And I think that what came up for me as you said, that is the imposter syndrome that we deal with is it's when we're seeing ourselves as who we used to be. Right. Often that's like childhood. Like I was, you know, if we were bullied as a kid or we weren't accepted or we weren't good at things or whatever, the imposter syndrome comes from us identifying as the child in us. Right. Whereas what you're doing is reminding myself, well, no, no, no. What's happened since then in the last 20 years is I've actually earned the right to be on this day, but I've earned the right to succeed at this level.

52:23Right. I'm not that kid anymore. I'm who I am now. I think that's the that's the separate. The only other example that I can think of where I felt like an imposter was actually interviewing Tom Bilyeu. And I talked about this on my podcast. I love Tom. So I love Tom. When we had this interview, I like just looked up to him so much and he's such an accomplished podcaster so i kept thinking like man he's probably thinking about like he would ask this question better like he doesn't like a lot of the times when i interview people like i could tell they're really enjoying the conversation and like i didn't really feel that from him and i was like oh i feel like i'm bombing this yeah so i got in my head but i remember mid-interview the after like i've just been around this rodeo too much so in my head it was like holla you've interviewed gary v you've interviewed matthew mcconaughey like he's not bigger than your other guests.

53:11Like he might just be having a bad day, like snap out of it. You're the podcast princess. So it's like the affirmations came back to give me the confidence to do a good job, at least second half. Yeah. I love it. And again, what you affirm repeatedly becomes your reality. So when you're telling yourself, I am capable, I am the podcast princess. I, right. Like I got this that bit, you, you create your interstate, you create your reality. Yeah. Um, what do you most want to teach people about building the life and the career of their dreams or the business, their dreams, like you have done it, right?

53:41You went from asking people for permission, right? Angie, what's her name? Angie, what? Angie Martinez. Angie Martinez. Give me a chance. Angie, right? I want to be the next Angie Martinez, right? MTV, give me a reality show, right? You used to ask for permission for what you wanted. And now you're like, no, I'm done with asking. I'm going to create what I want in my life. And you've, yeah, media, you have a marketing agency, which people might not even know about, right? Your podcasting network. You have multiple businesses. You have a team that you employ. So all of that to say, what do you want to teach people about building the life and business or career on their terms?

54:19I think it boils down to skills. Skills? Skills. When I talk to entrepreneurs and everybody that I know that's really successful is obsessed with being the smartest, most competent expert in their field. OK, like obsession and studying and learning and reps and doing the grunt work and building things up from scratch. And everybody's going to have a different experience. But for me, everything I've mastered on my own is what I then turned into services. OK, I figured out LinkedIn. We're the number one LinkedIn marketing agency. We figured out podcast production. I have an amazing podcast. We started offering it to other people.

55:03I figured out how to grow podcasts. Then we started growing people's podcasts. I figured out how to monetize my podcast. Then I started a network where I've got 35 other shows like Russell Brunson and Jenna Kutcher and Amy Porterfield and Trent Shelton, where I grow and I'm the sole person responsible to monetize all their shows, right? And it's all because I did it for myself first. And until I know that I can do it for myself exceptionally and I know everything I need to know about that thing, I'm not going to sell it. Yeah. because my reputation is on the line and the way that I get customers is through referrals and by doing an excellent job you know and I just feel like people just don't have that sense of like excellence anymore and a lot of people just like want the quick and easy way to do it but I feel like to have a great foundation as an entrepreneur like nowadays sometimes I wake up and I was like I'm like I don't have anything to do like I've got a team of 60 people they got it all everybody knows what to do.

56:00It's like a well-oiled machine and my life is changing now as an entrepreneur. It's not the same. But when I was first starting, it's like I was really, really involved, you know? And now I'm only involved on the new things and I'm innovating, right? I'm really involved on the network side, on the sales side. And I really just have like a smaller focus, but I'm still obsessed with it, you know? So I think, long story short, like obsession, gaining skills, putting in the rep, doing the hard things that scare you, and then stacking those skills. I heard you talk about that. You talked about it's a concept you learned from somebody else.

56:34Scott Adams, he talks about skill stacking. Yeah. And basically, he's this very, very world-famous cartoonist. And he has got a cartoon about corporate life. And so he was in corporate. He wasn't like the most successful corporate person. He's pretty funny. He's a decent drawer. He put all those things together and he became one of the most famous, like super, super accomplished cartoonists in the world. Yeah. Same thing with me being a podcaster. I don't think I'm the best host in the world, but I'm extremely good at marketing. I'm extremely creative. I'm a great writer. I knew how to audio edit.

57:10I knew how to delegate. I put all these things together and I have a top 100 podcast. Right. But I'm not the I'm not Tom Bilyeu. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Nobody's Tom Bilyeu. Yeah. So I just feel like all these experiences that you get in your life really add up later. Like even me working at the mall when I was like throughout high school and college, those types of skills, just selling people in real life have helped me now sell millions of dollars in sponsorships for my podcasters. Right. So I just feel like every skill matters. And working hard is super important, especially in your 20s, in your teens, 20s, 30s.

57:48So that when you're 30, 40 years old, you can try to think of, OK, what can I put together to create an exceptional offer for people based on all the things that I've learned and put my hard work towards over the years? But so many people just like stay doing the same thing and not learning anything new and not feeling passionate about their career. And if there's no passion, you're not going to learn everything you need to learn. So if you're not passionate, that's probably why you can't become a successful entrepreneur, in my opinion. Yeah. Well, yeah. And you, you know, your one thing you did, I think courage just came up for me as another word to describe you, right?

58:23Courageously leaving one thing, trying something new, starting a new thing. And, and you diversified your skill sets, right? You, like you said, this key is if it's building skills, you're building a wide variety of skills that you, you can stack. And I relate to that. Like I look at why my Cutco sales experience. Okay, great. Got that under my belt. Started speaking at Cutco conferences. Okay, now I can speak, wrote my first book, right? And then it's like, yeah, just keep stacking those up. And, you know, and I love that you went from being radio to podcast because it's like podcasting is the new radio.

58:53Exactly. Exactly. So and it's also just understanding the opportunities at hand. When somebody asked me when I first started my podcast, they were like, why are you starting this podcast? You've got a great job. Like, what is the vision? Where do you see yourself in five years? And I'd always say I'm going to have the number one self-improvement podcast network. I never said I'm going to have a social agency and a podcast agency, but that opportunity was so obvious. And I was open and I started realizing everybody's asking me the same thing. Everybody wants this from me. Same thing with my LinkedIn masterclass.

59:24I've made half a million dollars on that pure profit. And that was people asking me for a course. So I also am like open to what people want from me. And being open has then allowed me to make money to actually create my dream. because I used all that money to bootstrap what eventually became YAP Media Network, you know? So it's also just understanding your opportunities and taking them. What would you tell someone who is stuck between playing it safe, right? Keeping the status quo going out of fear of the unknown and then going after what they really want in their lives? You don't have to do it all at once.

1:00:00You just don't have to do it all at once. If you feel really passionate about starting something on the side, start it on the side, right? We waste so much time. I, like, for example, I don't watch any TV. Wow. And that habit started when I started my podcast because I remember having to evaluate, well, I have a full-time job and I'm also in a very serious relationship and I got to cook dinner every night and I got to work out and I got to see my friends and my family and my mom. And where am I going to get this time? And I was like, well, I don't need to watch an hour of TV every day or two hours of TV every day.

1:00:36That's a waste of time. So I stopped watching TV and instead I used that time to build my company on the side and to build my podcast on the side initially. So think about where are you actually wasting your time and can your time be used somewhere else? And you have to be really intentional and be willing to sacrifice that. I have to be the one when everyone's talking about all these TV shows and like, yeah, I don't know what you're talking about. Yeah, that's true. I don't watch TV only as like a date with my partner. I'll watch a movie or something like that. But I will not I don't even know how to turn on the TV in my house, you know.

1:01:10So it's just a matter of prioritizing your time and things will open up. So that story I add intentional to the list of adjectives to describe Hala. Yeah. Yeah. Just be intentional going, OK, wait, this watching television does not move me closer to my goals and dreams. No. So I'm going to cut it out. Yeah, I'm similar. I do watch. I only watch. I watch YouTube while I eat my lunch. It's like my decompression in the middle of the day. Yeah. But I'm eating the lunch anyway, right? But in the evening, no TV. And it's all about balance, right? So it's like instead of maybe like the way that I do that is like online shopping.

1:01:43I'm like very fashionable, right? So it's like I don't watch TV, but I online shop, but I don't do both. We all have our vices. Yeah. Right. You pick what or. Yeah. Yeah. Don't indulge. What's the big vision for Yap Media in the next one, two, three, four, five years? So like you mentioned, I have two companies. I have my social media and podcast agency. And then now I have the App Media Podcast Network, which is really my main focus. We've got 35 shows. And my job now is just to recruit as many awesome podcasters like yourself as possible and just do a great job selling and growing their show.

1:02:14So that's my main focus. I hope we get 100 podcasters in the network. We're already competing with all the major networks. We're like number 17 in the U.S. Nice. So we're just going to keep on going. We just relocated to Austin, as you know. I'm excited. And we're building a creator house. So we're going to have a creator house with studios and it's just going to be awesome. Amazing. With you at the helm, Hala, I have no doubt. I have no doubt. Oh, thank you. That's the beauty of it is you meet the person and you're like, oh, this is a person. I see how you've gotten to where you are. And I can't imagine anyone listening or including me to go, well, there's a ceiling for her.

1:02:51Like, what's the ceiling? I can't imagine what it would be. Thank you. All right. Let's wrap up with this question. if you get a billboard, it's got one message that you want to leave with people, what would it say? The first thing that came up is how you do anything is how you do everything. I love that. Yeah. So just excellence, back to excellence, right? I don't put anything out in the world that I don't think is excellent. Yeah. And I feel like that's how my whole team operates. That's how me and my business partners think about everything that we do. it's never about a quick buck um it's always about like integrity is this the best for everybody involved including our team and um just putting our 100 effort awesome well you are doing exactly that thank you appreciate you what's the best way for people to get in touch with you uh the podcast young and profiting is awesome uh we've got you know nearly a million subscribers now across all the different apps so go check out young and profiting podcasts i interview so many people that you always talk about, so many of the brightest minds in the world, you can go to yapmedia.com if you want to learn about the agency, if you want to learn about the network.

1:03:59Amazing. Hala, it is such a pleasure. I'm so grateful you're in Austin and I am so excited to just keep getting to know you even better. Thanks, Hal. All right, take care. What an amazing experience it was to be on Hal Elrod's podcast. I hope my story motivated you to bet on yourself and create a life that you've always dreamed of. If there's one lesson I hope you take away from today, it's this. Setbacks are not stop signs. Every rejection, every no, every door that's closed on me became fuel to create my own legacy. Being fired at Hot 97 to losing the MTV show to being overlooked in corporate America, I learned that the real power comes when you stop waiting for permission and start choosing yourself.

1:04:38And if you're on the fence about going after your dreams, remember, you don't have to do it all at once. Start small. Stack your skills. Use your evenings, your weekends, and even the time you'd spend watching TV to invest in yourself. Over time, those skills compound into opportunities and opportunities turn into success. And the key to sustaining that success is excellence because the way that you do anything sets the standard for how you do everything. That's a core value for me and my company and it's a principle that guides every single action that I take. And at the heart of it all is mindset because your mindset is one of the most powerful assets.

1:05:12If you can change the way that you think, you can change your entire life. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Young and Profiting. If you listened, learned, and profited from this conversation, please share it with a friend who needs to hear this message. Your support helps me continue to bring these conversations to the world. And if you got value today, I'd love if you left me a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. To watch this episode, head over to YouTube. You'll find all of our episodes on there. You can also connect with me on Instagram at Yap with Hala or LinkedIn.

1:05:43Just search for my name. It's Halataha. I want to give a big thank you to Hal for having me on his show. It was an honor. This is Halataha, the podcast princess, signing off.