Krista Williams & Lindsey Simcik: When Friendship Is a Business Superpower | Entrepreneurship | E353

Starting a business with your best friend might sound like a recipe for disaster to many entrepreneurs. But for Krista Williams and Lindsey Simcik, that’s exactly how their journey into entrepreneurship began. With just a $15 recorder and a tiny closet, they launched Almost 30, a podcast that quickly grew from a side hustle to a thriving business. In this episode, Krista and Lindsey reveal how they navigate their “business marriage,” scale their podcast, and achieve lasting success as both entrepreneurs and friends. In this episode, Hala, Krista, and Lindsey will discuss: (00:00) Introduction (01:12) The “Business-Marriage” Dynamic in Partnerships (07:12) Building Healthy Communication as Entrepreneurs (13:45) Almost 30: Scaling a Podcast from Scratch (19:39) Balancing a Side Hustle With Full-Time Work (27:13) The Power of Community in Podcast Success (37:47) What Is the Saturn Return? (41:55) Navigating Friendships in Entrepreneurship (45:41) Pivoting Your Career With Purpose and Clarity (56:26) Shifting Your Money Mindset for Financial Freedom Krista Williams and Lindsey Simcik are the co-founders and co-hosts of Almost 30, a top-rated podcast focused on personal development, relationships, wellness, and spirituality. Individually, Krista leads It’s Krista, an online business with coaching services for women, while Lindsey runs New Mom on the Block, a platform dedicated to supporting new moms on their motherhood journey. Their debut book, Almost 30, offers practical tools for navigating change with confidence. Sponsored By: Shopify - Start your $1/month trial at Shopify.com/profiting. Indeed - Get a $75 sponsored job credit to boost your job's visibility at Indeed.com/PROFITING Mercury - Streamline your banking and finances in one place. Learn more at mercury.com/profiting OpenPhone - Get 20% off your first 6 months at OpenPhone.com/profiting. Bilt - Start paying rent through Bilt and take advantage of your Neighborhood Benefits by going to joinbilt.com/profiting. Airbnb - Find a co-host at airbnb.com/host Boulevard - Get 10% off your first year at joinblvd.com/profiting when you book a demo Resources Mentioned: Krista and Lindsey’s Book, Almost 30: bit.ly/Almost30-LK Krista and Lindsey’s Podcast, Almost 30: bit.ly/Almost30-apple A Happy Pocket Full of Money by D. C Gikandi: bit.ly/AHappyPocket Active Deals - youngandprofiting.com/deals Key YAP Links Reviews - ratethispodcast.com/yap Youtube - youtube.com/c/YoungandProfiting LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/htaha/ Instagram - instagram.com/yapwithhala/ Social + Podcast Services: yapmedia.com Transcripts - youngandprofiting.com/episodes-new Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Podcast, Business, Business Podcast, Self Improvement, Self-Improvement, Personal Development, Starting a Business, Strategy, Investing, Sales, Selling, Psychology, Productivity, Entrepreneurs, AI, Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Marketing, Negotiation, Money, Finance, Side Hustle, Mental Health, Career, Leadership, Mindset, Health, Growth Mindset, Startup, Passive income, Solopreneur, Founder, Networking.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  How did being an entrepreneur like change you on your journey? Being an entrepreneur is not easy. The entrepreneur has a different type of mindset. The number one thing that you can remember and accept in life is that your friendships are going to change. And that's okay.

• 0:12Speaker 01

  We started recording on our closet floors. It was not perfect. It was not organized. It was a mess, but it felt so right. So if we had waited to start until we got a studio, had the business all set up and the strategy right, like we would have never started.

• 0:26Speaker 00

  A lot of people want to be an entrepreneur for the idea of what being an entrepreneur is. They kind of see what's happening online on social media. They're like, oh, you work from home or you work on the beach or it's sexy. It's not like that. Why do you feel like most of these business marriages don't work? If we just love each other, this will be fine, right? But then you get into the marriage and you're like, oh, this is a lot of work. The most important thing that people need to look for in relationship for entrepreneurs is...

• 0:52Speaker 01

  When we first started, I was so insecure about it. But I think what I realized was that as an entrepreneur, you're meant to...

• 0:59Speaker 00

  I know if I can make this much here, if you give me 40 hours a week, like, watch me. Like, there's no limits how much money I can make. If you guys go do your own things, do you get jealous or competitive ever? It's all gonna come out right now.

• 1:29Hala Taha?

  Young and profiteers, welcome back to the show. Today, we've got an in-person episode with Krista Williams and Lindsay Simcik, who are the hosts of the Almost 30 Podcast. Now, this is a podcast that they started nine years ago on their closet floor. Now, it's one of the top podcasts in the world. They've got a thriving online community. They've got so many different revenue streams. They've built an incredible business around their podcast. So in this episode, we're going to talk all about that. We're going to talk about career pivots, the pivotal period of your Saturn return right before your 30s and how you can navigate that. We're also going to talk about relationships, work marriages, and so much more. We get really deep in this conversation. I think you guys are gonna love it.

• 2:12Hala Taha?

  Without further delay, here's my conversation with Krista and Lindsay. Welcome to Young and Profiting Podcast, Krista and Lindsay.

• 2:19Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 2:19Hala Taha?

  We're excited to have you guys.

• 2:21Speaker 01

  So excited.

• 2:22Hala Taha?

  So as I was researching for this interview, I found out that you guys say that you're in a marriage. And you guys recently joined the App Media Network. You know that I also have a business partner, Jason. I always feel like we're married, even though we're not romantically married. But talk to me about why you guys call yourself a marriage and what does that really entail?

• 2:43Speaker 01

  When you're in business with your best friend, especially, there are so many layers to the dynamic. And in a marriage, as you know, when you get married, you share finances, you share just deep growth and learning in all aspects of your life. And when you become entrepreneurs as best friends, you start to share finances first and foremost. And then you get into the deep work of becoming confident, successful entrepreneurs, which requires you to really look at every aspect of yourself and every aspect of how you are in a relationship. So Krista and I have been through therapy.

• 3:22Hala Taha?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 3:24Speaker 01

  Coaching. We have had really, really hard conversations about finances, about our vision for the future, about what's working and what's not working.

• 3:34Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 3:35Speaker 01

  And so there have been many times where like the lines are blurred. I'm like, I kind of want to be more of your friend right now. But we're in a business conversation.

• 3:44Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 3:45Speaker 01

  And vice versa. So it's been something we always have to actively participate in and actively work on.

• 3:52Speaker 00

  Yeah. If you think about our marriage, almost 30 is our baby.

• 3:55Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 3:55Speaker 00

  So with parents, sometimes we prioritize almost 30, our baby, over our relationship. And so we're more in that role of the parents of our baby than we are as friends. And so it's sometimes felt like we've lost sight of friendship because we're so focused on the business and the growth of the business. And we also have to focus on aligning our dreams and visions for the future.

• 4:14Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 4:15Speaker 00

  In a marriage, you have to continue to come back to like, where are we going? How are you feeling? Where are we going? And we have to do that all the time. So whenever people want to start businesses with their best friends, I'm always. Hesitant to tell them to do so because most of the time it fails when people do that. And we've been really lucky. We put in the work during the process and it's been the most beautiful relationship of my life, but it's not easy.

• 4:36Hala Taha?

  Wow. I love that you guys are sharing this with us because it's so interesting. Why do you feel like most of these business marriages with your best friends don't work? What makes you guys work?

• 4:48Speaker 00

  So I think for most of us, the ideas that we were told about marriage were from Disney movies, were from media, were these ideas of marriage and relationships that are not actually real or supportive of healthy dynamics in relationships. You know, we could essentially be in an unhealthy marriage forever, she and I. But what we want for our lives is to be happy, to be fulfilled, to do something great. So now we came into our relationship, our marriage with the idea of marriage being something where you sacrifice, you're not in alignment, you don't speak your truth, you don't ask for what you want, you don't create something amazing. And so a lot of people go in with that thought, like this will just work without work.

• 5:26Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 5:26Speaker 00

  I went into my previous marriage, I was married and I kind of had that idea. If we just love each other, this will be fine, right? But then you get into the marriage and you're like, oh, this is a lot of work, a lot of checking in with myself, checking in with you, realigning our values. And so if you go into a business partnership without checking in on the relationship, checking in on the values, checking in on the direction of where you're going, it's not going to work.

• 5:48Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 5:49Speaker 00

  Something's going to happen. You're going to build up resentment and you're probably going to end up breaking up. I think the most important thing that people need to look for in relationship for entrepreneurs is being able to communicate.

• 5:59Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 5:59Speaker 00

  Just like a marriage, the number one thing in relationship is communication.

• 6:02Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 6:03Speaker 00

  You need to be talking about how you're feeling, what's coming up for you, what you want, where you want to go, what works for you, what doesn't work for you. And we've really focused on our communication and communicating respectfully and with love and with intention. And that's been the biggest thing that's really kept us together.

• 6:18Hala Taha?

  That's so interesting. Talk to me about the communicating with love and respect. So if you guys are having a disagreement, how do you guys approach it?

• 6:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, we coined this phrase called clearing conversations. So this practice where there's usually something funky in the air. We're kind of feeling like something is off. And we will schedule a walk and a walk because I think sitting down across from each other staring into each other's eyes can be very intense and kind of activate the body in a way that doesn't really support honesty and flow on a conversation. So oftentimes we'll go on a walk. We're removing our bodies. We're next to each other and we're able to look at each other, but also like give each other a break. And our intention in these

• 7:04Speaker 01

  clearing conversations is to bring truth and respect to be a great listener and really have it be an experience of us against the problem rather than Krista's the issue. We got to get to the bottom of it. And that's really helped us because we all have egos. It's a thing.

• 7:22Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 7:23Speaker 01

  And so when you approach a problem, it's easy to be like, you know, you did this to me and you made me feel this way. But in these clearing conversations, we are very intentional to use I statements. The story I'm telling myself is that you don't care about this part of the business and I have to take it all on by myself. And in sharing these I statements, I'm able to see under the hood of like what's been turning in Krista's mind. And then I'm able to say, oh, wow, if I believe that, I would be feeling that way, too. And it just gives us an opportunity to not only share our experience, but then to listen.

• 7:59Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 8:00Speaker 01

  I think both of us are really great listeners and we listen with our heart rather than our minds thinking of what to say next. So the clearing conversation, I think, is essential for any friendship, any business partnership, any marriage as a standard in a relationship.

• 8:13Hala Taha?

  So I got a chance to get to know you guys because we were doing negotiations for Yap Media. You just joined my network, which is just so exciting.

• 8:21Speaker 01

  We're so excited.

• 8:22Hala Taha?

  And it seems like you guys wear totally different hats. Like I remember at one point, Lindsay was like, I'm going to handle the contract stuff and you have your own stuff that you're handling. So talk to us about how you divide the labor and how you think of that with your company.

• 8:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think getting clarity on that is really important for any business in general and for really any business partners especially. For us, the way that we delegated roles happened naturally.

• 8:46Speaker 00

  But happened very early on. So my experience was in the corporate. I worked in finance management consulting. And I actually was doing some brand deals on the side as a blogger. And Lindsay was an actress. She worked at SoulCycle. She was an amazing performer. She knew a lot about production. She knew a lot about performance. She brought a lot to the table from the aspects of the business of creativity that I didn't really have access to. So early on, I was like, I'm going to take on more of the business strategic part because that's where I was living.

• 9:12Hala Taha?

  So I actually had it backwards. You're more of the business. Got it. Okay.

• 9:16Speaker 00

  And then Lindsay brought more of the creativity. So when we started building the business, it was like both of us working together and then we saw where we were fitting naturally and we claimed the domains. And over the years, we had to reclaim domains of where we are and where we work. Because we were trying to overlap for quite a bit and that doesn't really support us. You know, it doesn't really help for us to both be two cooks in the kitchen. So I'm more strategy. I'm more of the partnerships. I'm more of the overall ideas that we have that move the business forward. And Lindsay is so helpful with the creativity. She's so helpful with the relationship with the team. She's a great communicator with the team. So there's just stuff that she's naturally good at that she brings to the business.

• 9:53Hala Taha?

  Yeah. Do you guys, have you ever heard of Mind Pump, the podcast?

• 9:56Speaker 00

  Yeah, of course.

• 9:57Hala Taha?

  Okay, so Adam Schaefer came on my show.

• 9:59Speaker 00

  Love them.

• 9:59Hala Taha?

  And it's four guys that talk about fitness, health. And he was telling me that they're invested in all of their businesses together outside of just the podcast. So they all invest in real estate, stocks. One of them wrote a book. They all get royalties even though they did nothing for the book and they're just embedded in business together, no matter what the endeavor is. So how do you guys look at it? I saw you have like a new YouTube channel. If you guys go do your own things, how do you think about it? And do you get jealous or competitive ever?

• 10:31Speaker 01

  It's all going to come out right now.

• 10:32Hala Taha?

  I know, honestly. You know, I've been thinking about this.

• 10:36Speaker 00

  Well, I think what's so interesting, you know, when we started Almost 30, we were going through a very specific time in our life and the show has evolved as we have evolved. And I think with that evolution too, comes our own very unique gifts and how they want to be expressed in the world. So Krista has an incredibly successful coaching business, retreat business and

• 10:57Speaker 01

  So many of her gifts that could not be truly, fully expressed in Almost 30 are now being expressed through those businesses. And I'm exploring this new season of my life of motherhood and what that might look like in a community and brand sense. So thankfully, we've always just been very, very supportive of the other. I think where the conversation comes in between us is, okay, we're in a season right now, currently, in real time, of being very full-on with book and Almost 30. And candidly, I don't have a lot of energy to pour into New Mom on the Block or anything like that. And so we've had moments where we're like, okay, we're deciding to be full-on. We're gonna kind of pull back on our other things a little bit and just really

• 11:39Speaker 01

  be focused here. And I think that's important and important to share what's tough about this and what you're struggling with in your own lanes of your own business.

• 11:48Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 11:49Speaker 01

  Because I think we can create stories in our heads about, do they want to like, go pursue that fully? And like, what's gonna happen with Almost 30? Or, you know, there's just a lot of stories we can create or meaning that we can make out of something that is not really true. So again, it all comes back to that communication around this.

• 12:06Speaker 00

  Yeah. And I feel like it would only benefit the business. You know, Yeah. her succeeding or me succeeding is only benefits our business that we have together. But I think what's been really beautiful about the way that we've evolved is we've always been like sovereign. You know, I think early on, we were just doing everything together. We were so just embedded in one another. And we kind of had moments where we're like, okay, we are aware that this could be for a season, this could be for a time period in our life. We don't want to be so naive to think that we're gonna want to be in business and financial business together for the rest of our lives. So investing in each other's businesses in that way, we have put money into things together. We have made investments in businesses together that are longstanding. But it's like, I don't think for me personally, it feels truthful

• 12:49Speaker 00

  for me to be embedded with one person forever, financially or dream-wise. I just like to do a lot of things. I like to create a lot of different things. I like to be my own person. I never want to be boxed in anywhere. So that type of business model wouldn't really feel good for me.

• 13:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 13:03Speaker 00

  But Almost 30 has helped us as a foundation. Show us what we're good at. And show us what our audience wants more of for motherhood. Obviously, they're going to see her. She's an amazing mother. She's built an amazing family around that. So they want more from her in that. So she's like, okay, cool. I'm noticing this thing that almost thirty is providing for me. What can I do more of in that?

• 13:20Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 13:21Speaker 00

  For me, it's the coaching and retreats. How can I build more of this? And so it just allows us to be more robust of who we are and evolve in the business and pour more into the business because we're happier.

• 13:30Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 13:30Speaker 00

  You know, if you're kind of just looking to the business to feed and satisfy every one of your creative needs or pursuits, that doesn't feel true for me. I think having creativity spark and then going where it needs to go is what I like to do instead.

• 13:43Hala Taha?

  Yeah, I like that you guys are doing your own things outside of just almost thirty because you have been doing this for what nine years now? Has there ever been a moment where you're like, I just don't think we can do this anymore? Was there ever like a struggling point? Because I know in entrepreneurship around the seven year mark gets really tough. Did you guys have a tough moment?

• 14:03Speaker 00

  You know what's funny is we've been honest with each other about what life looks like past almost thirty, but we've never had a moment where we fought or something happened where we wanted to throw in the towel. Like, we've always been very conscious about where this process is. And thankfully, we have a book coming out. So like, the book feels like such a beautiful rounding of the ten years we've been doing this. It's like all of our life's work. So we've really trusted that. And I think it's normal to feel like quitting, but it's actually just weird. I think that's what happens for me when I'm expressing myself creatively in other aspects of my life. And I'm not holding this relationship to be the only thing that sustains me. It's just like romantic relationships. If she's supposed to be everything to me, if almost thirty is supposed to be everything to me, I'm not going to be satisfied.

• 14:46Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 14:46Speaker 00

  I need other things. I need other people. I need other creative outlets. And because we've both done that, we both feel satisfied and we come back to the relationship excited to be here.

• 14:54Hala Taha?

  Yeah. So let's talk about how almost thirty started because I think there's a lot of life lessons that we can learn in that in itself. So tell me about how you guys first met and came up with the idea to start the podcast.

• 15:06Speaker 00

  Yeah, so we crossed paths at around twenty seven in our late twenties. We were going through it.

• 15:12Speaker 01

  The story goes that a mutual friend of ours introduced Krista and I because Krista wanted to audition for SoulCycle. SoulCycle was a very popular trendy workout at the time. I was an instructor and we got connected. And I remember the day we scheduled a FaceTime, Krista scheduled a FaceTime and said, you know, I want to audition for SoulCycle. I would love to just pick your brain, understand the process. And I was happy to do it. I was really loving my time at Soul and just for anyone to want to do it, I was like, yeah, it's amazing. Let's do this. So when we had our FaceTime, I was like, she's cool. Like this felt natural. This felt like flow, you know? And that didn't happen for me.

• 15:55Speaker 01

  And so we stayed in touch and through her process of auditioning, she didn't end up getting it, but it connected us. And then eventually she moved to LA where we could see more of each other and really understand on a deeper level what each other was going through. And it was a lot. We were having relationship reckonings. We were at war with our bodies in different ways. We were running ourselves into the ground. We were individuating from our family and some of our friend groups that we no longer really felt aligned with. It was this upheaval that felt like everything was crumbling, to be honest with you. And a lot of people go through this in their late twenties. He wrote a book about it. It's no joke.

• 16:37Speaker 01

  And what we found in our friendship was this comfort and just this healing and being able to talk about it. And so Krista came to me one day, we were at Bulletproof Coffee, which is a cafe. Love Daybest for you. That was one of my favorite spots, but. Unfortunately, it does not exist anymore. And she was like, you know, I feel like we could start a podcast, talking about the things that we've been talking about just on a daily basis. I was like, yeah, I'm so down. I've always been someone that. If you bring me a creative project, I'm like, let's do it. And I never really think about if it's going to be a thing. If it lights me up, I'm down. So we started recording on our closet floors, sometimes in Krista's studio apartment in Venice, next to like laundry and whatever.

• 17:21Speaker 01

  And there was no, was there a light in there? There was no oxygen.

• 17:24Hala Taha?

  Cause it wasn't video back then.

• 17:26Speaker 01

  No.

• 17:27Hala Taha?

  Even when I started in 2018, no video.

• 17:29Speaker 00

  No video, which was the dream.

• 17:30Hala Taha?

  Yeah, it was so much better.

• 17:32Speaker 00

  I missed that so much.

• 17:33Hala Taha?

  Cause you just got to focus on the content.

• 17:34Speaker 00

  Same.

• 17:35Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 17:35Speaker 00

  And you just get to rip.

• 17:36Hala Taha?

  Yep.

• 17:37Speaker 00

  Like, I really miss those days.

• 17:39Speaker 01

  And we were on like a $15 recorder, just thinking like, okay.

• 17:42Speaker 00

  Sometimes we would record on the Notes app on our phone.

• 17:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:45Speaker 00

  Just have like full episodes on the Notes app on our phone.

• 17:48Hala Taha?

  Mm hmm.

• 17:49Speaker 00

  I was listening the other day to like one and then they were just, we'd have friends fake call in to the podcast and ask for advice. Like they'd be like, someone would be like, ask about this. And they'd be like, hey, I'm Lauren, I'm a listener. And they were like, not a listener. It was like someone that we paid, like the guest was like my ex and his friends. And we would just sit in these horribly sounding conference rooms with the worst sound ever, just echoing, everyone's all over the place.

• 18:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, dude, it was crazy.

• 18:14Speaker 00

  And just like talk.

• 18:15Speaker 01

  It was not perfect. It was not organized. It was very just.

• 18:18Speaker 00

  Mess.

• 18:19Speaker 01

  It was a mess, but it felt so right. We were just moving, we were being moved by the experience itself. So if we had waited, we had waited to start until we got a studio and like, you know, had the business all set up and the strategy right, we would have never started.

• 18:36Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 18:36Speaker 01

  And so as we took action, that moved us. We were like, oh, this feels good or oh, this doesn't feel good. Then we took another step. So it was really imperative that we started before we were ready.

• 18:46Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 18:47Speaker 01

  Because we got so much intel. And in 2016, September 2016, we launched the podcast.

• 18:52Hala Taha?

  Amazing.

• 18:53Speaker 01

  It is very different than it is today, but that's the story of things.

• 18:57Hala Taha?

  People don't realize that you can just evolve over time. Like my podcast cover has changed 10 times.

• 19:03Speaker 00

  Oh, I want to see it.

• 19:04Hala Taha?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 19:05Speaker 00

  Well, it was the worst.

• 19:06Hala Taha?

  I used to have like these cartoons of me.

• 19:08Speaker 00

  And he did say, we had a season, we had two seasons of cartoons.

• 19:12Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 19:13Speaker 00

  Two cartoons. The one was like creepy. Yeah, one was like alien. Well, I don't even.

• 19:17Hala Taha?

  Cause those were hot back in the day. This was real innovative.

• 19:21Speaker 00

  Oh, my gosh. Your costume was probably so cute.

• 19:23Hala Taha?

  It was cute, but like, yeah, I had crazy colors at one point. Even the topic evolved. It went from careers to entrepreneurship. And your story reminds me of Jenna Kutcher, who's also in my network. She started her podcast in her car.

• 19:36Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 19:36Hala Taha?

  Because it was the only quiet place because she had dogs and they would bark in the house. So she used to record her episodes in her car with her Apple iPods.

• 19:45Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 19:46Hala Taha?

  Same with you guys. One of the top female podcasters in the world now, and you guys started in your closet. Right? So you can evolve over time. It doesn't have to be perfect. You don't need perfect equipment or even a perfect idea.

• 19:58Speaker 00

  Yeah. I think that's what, when I work with women or any business owners, I'm oftentimes when they're showing me everything that they're like, here's my Pinterest board. I've got the Instagram handle. I've got this and they've got all the aesthetic and I'm like, I love you girlies, but oftentimes that's procrastination for actually doing the thing. And I'm like, you can have the full package, the perfect package. But if you don't have the audience, if you don't have the consumer, like, what are we even doing here?

• 20:21Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 20:22Speaker 00

  And I think I'm always someone that's a fan of building, building it while and getting the reactions from peoples. Cause you're like, okay, what do people, I'm gonna build it. What do you guys feel about this? Okay, cool. We're gonna go here. We're gonna go here. Like on the beginning of the business, people wanted to be in person. So we went on tour. We did live in-person events and then we like evolved from there. And so rather than just staying in your house and building something, how can you really bring it out into the world and be with it as it's evolving and be okay with that process?

• 20:48Hala Taha?

  Get your reps in.

• 20:48Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 20:49Hala Taha?

  So you guys were working full-time jobs when you started the podcast. How did you balance your time and what advice do you have for other people who want to start a side hustle, podcast, whatever it is while they're working?

• 21:01Speaker 00

  I have so much respect and love. So for anyone, this is me talking to you. I love you so much. That's working a full-time job and wanting to pursue your passion and your business and that thing that you're doing because for me and most of my life in the corporate world, I had this burning sensation and desire to do something with my life, to be creative, to create, to be my own boss, to live a life that felt different, that felt different than the corporate life was giving me. And so when I moved to Los Angeles, I had quit to pursue blogging full-time. So I was like, I'm gonna be a blogger full-time. I had no plan, no purpose. I wasn't making money. And that, obviously, you don't start making money from not making money. So I had to get a serving job. I was babysitting. I was nannying. I was doing odds and ends jobs at like eighty hours a week.

• 21:46Speaker 00

  I was like, okay, I can't do eighty hours a week and make so little. So I was like, I have to go back to the corporate world. I failed at being a blogger. I failed at doing entrepreneurship and I was really bummed. And it took me a long time to find another job. I'd been in debt at that point, but I was like, okay, let's do this. So I got back to working in the corporate world. That's when I met Lindsay at that, uh, beginning of that point. And it was beautiful because that job in the corporate world that I worked in digital marketing, not only supported me financially, but supported me in learning skills that I could apply to almost thirty. But just really was something that I'm so grateful for. I don't think I showed up as the best employee. I wasn't someone that I don't think you'd want to hire because I was so obsessed with almost thirty. Yeah.

• 22:28Speaker 00

  But it was such a beautiful aspect of what we did. But what we would do is in the morning, Lindsay and I would talk on my way to work to downtown Aland Traffic. We'd plan for the day. We'd talk about things that were going on, social media, planning for the podcast. At my lunch break, I would answer almost thirty emails. I would do almost thirty social. We would figure out what we were doing with guests. At the end of the day, either she and I would meet and record or we would do something related to the podcast. So it was really something that on the weekends, during the week, we were just fully immersed and focused in the business. And it was just giving us so much life. Like it was just feeding us in this way that I had never been fed before. So while I was definitely burning myself out and I wasn't very healthy at that point, it just felt really right and it felt really good. And it was sustaining me in a way,

• 23:10Speaker 00

  in a purpose way that I wanted so badly to be sustained in. So even though I was just going so hard, I felt this feeling that I hadn't felt ever. And I felt this drive to purpose that just felt and moved me in a way I hadn't been. Yeah.

• 23:25Hala Taha?

  Sometimes you need to sacrifice and work really hard and it's just for a season.

• 23:29Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 23:30Hala Taha?

  I also started my podcast as a side hustle. So I was working two years in corporate while starting this podcast. I started my company as a side hustle and I didn't quit my job. I had thirty employees all around the world and I still didn't quit my job.

• 23:43Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 23:44Hala Taha?

  It was during COVID, so I got away with a lot. So it was like the summer of COVID, the first summer. And I just built this business. I was making over six figures a month in my agency, my social agency at first. And I still was nervous to be an entrepreneur again. So I didn't quit my job until I was like really knew that I was going to be safe and that everything would be okay. When did you guys feel like, oh my gosh, we don't need to work full-time jobs anymore? This is really taking off. When was that moment for you guys?

• 24:14Speaker 01

  For two years, we juggled our full-time jobs with building almost thirty. And in the beginning, Krista had these existing relationships with brands because of her blog, which was amazing. And really taught us how to build a working relationship with a brand and really make it personal. And I don't think that exists as much in podcasting anymore. But it was a beautiful time where we could talk to a brand and say, what are your goals? You know, how can we help you with your goals and really make it collaborative? And so after two years of being in that flow, we were able to sustain ourselves. It was scary definitely to quit. I think you quit in June, I quit in December.

• 24:55Speaker 01

  So six months later, I quit and we had a team to sustain. Like, these are things that we definitely had to plan for. And we would tell any, anyone who's building a business on the side that not to take the leap, not to just do it without understanding the financial consequences or the risk. Because if you are focused on surviving and like making money to support your team or the resources, then you're probably not going to be creating in a way that feels. Really in flow or aligned because you're coming from that place of fear.

• 25:35Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 25:35Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 25:35Speaker 01

  So it was important for us.

• 25:37Speaker 00

  I think when I first quit my job to pursue blogging full time, I just thought it was like cute. I was like, oh, I'm just gonna see what happens. I'm gonna see where the universe meets me. And then in the second part, I was like, you know what's cute? Forecasting. And like seeing how much revenue we have coming in for the next six months and seeing how much we're spending and seeing how much I need to earn to feel good and seeing how much you need to earn. It's like, I think it really asked and called for me to step into a new level of truth and a new level of clarity that I didn't really give myself before. With money, I was just, I didn't wanna look at it. And now I was like, how can I really see clearly what we're doing?

• 26:11Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 26:11Speaker 00

  And how we wanna do this and how we wanna live? Because if you wanna plan, you have to be able to be with money in a way that's neutral, be in a money in a way that's loving, be in with money in a way that's supportive of your goals. And I think my reframe of that of being like, this money is what's gonna sustain my life. How can I look at it with respect? And get really clear about what's going on rather than just putting it to the wind.

• 26:34Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 26:34Speaker 00

  But there was one moment I remember, we were in our full-time jobs. We got asked to speak at this event and we hosted the event the full day. And I remember the amount that they paid us to speak at one session was the same as my bi-weekly paycheck. And I was like, in this one hour, I was myself. I had so much fun. I didn't have to put on, I wasn't faking it. And in the corporate world, I felt like I was faking it. I felt like I was putting on a mask every day. I felt like I had to be someone I wasn't. And I was like, I know if I can make this much here, if you give me 40 hours a week, watch me. There's no limits how much money I can make. And so that moment for me was like the unlock where I was like, no, it's time.

• 27:10Hala Taha?

  I love that.

• 27:11Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm. What was your moment?

• 27:13Hala Taha?

  For me?

• 27:14Speaker 00

  Yeah, when you were like, it's time.

• 27:15Hala Taha?

  I remember that I found out I was gonna be on the cover of Podcast Magazine. It was January 2021. And I was like, oh my God, people know me so much in my podcast that they want me to be on the cover of Podcast Magazine. And I was like, I have all these employees. The other moment was I hired my first US full-time employee and she quit her job to work for me. And I was like, I gotta at least quit my job now. Out of respect. Yeah. So it was an amazing moment. Being an entrepreneur is so awesome, but to your point, knowing that you can actually sustain yourself and not just like jumping out the window.

• 27:57Hala Taha?

  And sometimes that takes a season of sacrifice and a season of just waking up super early and working late nights. And then you'll be safe and to your point, be able to create without all this stress because you're living paycheck to paycheck. Now, you guys have done an incredible job growing a loyal audience. Like it is not normal to achieve the type of success that you guys have achieved in podcasting. So how do you think about your audience?

• 28:25Speaker 01

  I think we've aligned this community because we were able to be so open from the get. You know, we were ourselves, probably to a fault, if you listen back to old episodes. But I don't think a lot of people were doing that back then in the podcasting space. And especially speaking to women our age who were just going through so much and feeling alone. You know, I think we were speaking to that experience. We were speaking to the highs and the lows and to give them the resources and the confidence to take the next step forward, I think was probably more powerful than we could ever truly comprehend.

• 29:04Speaker 01

  And what we found was that our ability to be more than a podcast was very important in our growth. So what that looked like was hosting events early on and saying, hey, if we're going to be hosting an event at the SoulCycle in Santa Monica, we want all of our listeners in the local area to come. We would sell it out. We would hang out afterwards. And slowly but surely, this in-person effect.

• 29:32Speaker 00

  We started to understand the power of it. We were able to hear their stories. We were able to hug them. We were able to really understand the impact of the show. And that would then influence the show. So they've always been a part of our success. And not in that literal sense of, yeah, they're our listeners. They're the numbers. But it's more so they've influenced the type of content that we create. They influence our next decision and what we want to provide for them. So they have been integral. And I think they feel that. I think they feel that in the way that we talk to them on the show, in our content.

• 30:06Hala Taha?

  Do you think the events help spread word of mouth? Because I feel like

• 30:09Speaker 00

  Huge, of course.

• 30:10Hala Taha?

  There's so much connection, even with me, when I do webinars. And even though it's virtual, I feel like I get super fans. So I couldn't even imagine if I had my listeners in a live event, like what kind of

• 30:21Speaker 00

  The best.

• 30:22Hala Taha?

  So do you feel like that really helped you guys grow in the beginning?

• 30:25Speaker 00

  I think, you know, people, it's not like we were the first people to tour. But like, it was just in 2016, 2017, 2018, it was just a different world.

• 30:32Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 30:33Speaker 00

  Like podcasting really from 2020 has started to become what it is. Where it's more like show-based, it's more touring.

• 30:38Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 30:39Speaker 00

  And so we were touring just in this really native way. Like it was a world tour, but it was just super native. We'd bring on guests, we'd talk to people in person. And having that in-person connection was so instrumental. Not only because we could learn from them and be with them and listen to them. But it was also like created this social media moment online that was growing us in a way, in a marketing way, that I don't think we would have had before. And it was creating this moment for people that were almost 30, that were struggling, that were like having their time. So I think that was instrumental to our growth. I think what we did there is, what I always say with audience growth is you always want to lead and listen. So we led by being like, you know, we're going to go on tour. And then we listened to them, like, what do you guys want to see from us? What do you want more of? You can't be fully listening all the time to your audience.

• 31:24Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 31:25Speaker 00

  Because then you're not who you are. The reason why your audience is with you is because you're a leader and you are someone that is leading in culture, you're leading in whatever it is that you're an expert in, but you do have to listen to them because they're incredibly important. They are the reason why you exist and why you are making money in the way that you are. So it's such a balance of just finding that balance between leading and listening with your audience so that you can stay in your sovereignty and who you are, but also really connect with them in a real and genuine way.

• 31:50Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 31:54Hala Taha?

  Yeah fam, I've interviewed some of the world's leading health experts and those conversations have really changed how I think about my health. I stay active and I eat well, but you know what I realized? There's still so much I don't know about what's actually going on inside my body. And I've been hearing so much about body scans lately, so I finally did it. I got my whole body MRI at Prenuvo. The scan is radiation free, which I love. There's no needles and it takes just about an hour. Prenuvo evaluates major organs and systems, including your brain, spine, abdomen, pelvis, and more, and they give you a full, detailed picture of your health. I just got my results back and nothing serious, thankfully, just a little scoliosis. I'm looking forward to reviewing my results with my Prenuvo provider,

• 32:36Hala Taha?

  where I can ask questions and better understand all my results and what's going on in my body. So I'm really curious about that and I'll keep you guys posted. To learn more about Prenuvo and get $300 off your whole body MRI, go to prenuvo.com/hala and use code HALA. That's prenuvo, P-R-E-N-U-V-O dot com slash HALA, H-A-L-A. Terms and conditions apply. Receive $300 off Prenuvo whole body scans and executive and comprehensive memberships through January 31st. For full details, visit Prenuvo's website to read their terms and conditions and privacy notice. Prenuvo gifted me a whole body scan. A Prenuvo scan is a screening service, not diagnostic. Diagnosis and treatment are determined by your healthcare provider.

• 33:19Hala Taha?

  Yeah fam, I have an expensive confession. I need an outfit for practically every interview. And I love designer clothes, so you can imagine what that does to my budget. And after talking to Haley Sachs, who's a financial expert, I was unfortunately reminded that I can't just assume that every outfit is a business expense. You guys know that I love hosting live streams and webinars and I love selling. So I'm planning on opening up a pre-owned designer shop on Whatnot. Whatnot is a live shopping app where you can show off products, interact with buyers in real time, and turn shopping into a fun, interactive experience. And you absolutely do not need designer clothes to get started. People sell everything from sneakers and beauty products to sports cards, Pokemon cards, and collectibles. All you need are your products and your phone. Whatnot handles payments and provides shipping labels.

• 34:04Hala Taha?

  So I recommend you take a shopping trip through a few live shows, see how it works, and maybe you'll be inspired to start selling too. Search Whatnot, W-H-A-T-N-O-T, in the App Store. Download and start selling right away.

• 34:19Hala Taha?

  Hello, young and profiteers. Black Friday is almost here and customers are ready to buy. The only thing standing between them and your business are all those steps you keep overthinking before your launch. And I get it. When I launched the App Academy, I was thinking about everything. How should the website look? How are people going to pay? How was supposed to build all that? I'm not a web developer. I don't know how to build websites. So I built my storefront on Shopify. Their ready-made themes helped me get up in just a few days without needing to be an e-commerce expert or a web developer. And the Shopify checkout made it really easy for people to pay. And with the holidays coming up, Shopify even has an AI assistant called Sidekick that can help you plan promotions and get ready for the rush. So if that business idea is still sitting in your notes app, maybe it's time to give it a storefront.

• 35:04Hala Taha?

  If you're ready to launch your business before Black Friday, go to Shopify.com/profitting to start your free trial. That's Shopify.com/profitting. Go to Shopify.com/profitting today and hear your first.

• 35:17Hala Taha?

  I got a chance to interview Mel Robbins in person a few months ago. And she does this incredible job of making it seem on her podcast that she's only speaking to one person. And she's always telling her listeners, I love you. You're my friend. She really cares about simplicity. And she says that if you try to act too complex or intellectual, you come off as elitist and superior. So she tries to make everything like really simple with her audience. Is there anything in terms of the way that you speak to your audience that you guys are really intentional about?

• 35:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, I love that. I feel like we learned so much from her.

• 35:57Speaker 00

  There's just small indicators that she does that creates that intimacy with people. And she's amazing, friend of the pod, just an incredible speaker in that way. She finds her lane and just really knows it. It's like, how can I make this simple, clear, relatable for people that's also impactful? But for me, that's not my style. I'm like so out there mentally in the way that I think. I think when people can find their lane of what's working for them and really lean in on that and really dial in on that, that's what people should do instead of trying to be other people. But I think there's such a beauty to the simplicity. But I think what's worked for us is really staying authentic to who we are. You know, in the moments where I was going through my divorce or in the moments where we were really struggling with various aspects of our lives and even in our relationship, we've been really honest about it.

• 36:40Speaker 00

  And there's a magnetism to authenticity because you don't know what's going to happen next. You know it's true. There's this energy around it of truth of happening in the moment of relatability, of curiosity, of intention. And I still think it's us just staying as authentic as we can to who we are in the moment. And hoping that people can really see themselves in us and our struggle and what we're going through and find relatability in it and find inspiration where they can, but overall feel less alone.

• 37:06Hala Taha?

  Mm hmm. So something that happens to me, which I think we probably have in common is my show name will sometimes cause confusion with my audience. So people will be like,

• 37:16Speaker 00

  Don't get me started.

• 37:17Hala Taha?

  I'm too old to listen to Young Improvoting. And I'm like, no, we've got listeners of all ages. It's just young at heart and I have to kind of explain, or even guests will be like, well, I'm not young. And I'm like, if you've seen any of my shows, almost nobody is like under forty years old who I interview, you know? So it's not really about being young, but sometimes like, oh, man, I think my name is holding me back or is turning people off. And I often think about rebranding. Have you guys thought about that at all, especially as you are getting older and or your audience? Do you worry that they're not evolving with you or like, talk to me about that?

• 37:52Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, it's the most common question that we get.

• 37:54Speaker 00

  Yeah. What's your podcast? I'm like, I'm almost fifty. What about me? I know. And everyone thinks they're just as clever each time they say the joke.

• 38:04Speaker 01

  So we have to laugh. We have to laugh as if it's the first time we're hearing it.

• 38:07Speaker 00

  And also I bought every domain that's almost forty. Every domain, almost forty, almost yes, every single one.

• 38:12Hala Taha?

  Oh, I love that. I love that.

• 38:13Speaker 00

  I'm a domain shark. It's like my pastime.

• 38:17Speaker 01

  I think we obviously did not think about it when we named the show that it would be as successful as it is and live the life that it's lived. But like you, we've just thought about it as this is such a metaphor. You know, we're all almost something and that period of being almost thirty. Is a foundational time to just build your relationship with change in a really healthy way. So you don't have to be almost thirty to listen to Almost Thirty, but I think it is such a potent time that I hope that, especially in talking about the book now, like, people will think about that time, even if they've already been through it.

• 38:53Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 38:53Speaker 01

  And see it as such an impactful reckoning in the grand scheme of their life. But yeah, we've, we've had moments where we're like, should we rename it? Should we totally rebrand it?

• 39:03Hala Taha?

  What do you think about it all the time?

• 39:05Speaker 01

  Yeah. What's your yes and what's your no?

• 39:07Hala Taha?

  I think that I will rebrand my podcasts in the next year and a half, probably, even though so many know, know the name, but now Yap has kind of taken over and I feel like I could just call it Yap with Holla.

• 39:17Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh, that's true. Yap.

• 39:19Hala Taha?

  And then that's it, you know?

• 39:20Speaker 01

  That's true.

• 39:21Hala Taha?

  So I think I'm slowly rebranding Yap. So like our logo used to say Young and Profiting. Now it just says Yap Media.

• 39:27Speaker 01

  Totally.

• 39:28Hala Taha?

  So kind of rebranding to that. I could see you guys rebranding. You're allowed to evolve.

• 39:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:33Hala Taha?

  It is. It's like years, you know?

• 39:34Speaker 01

  It's like the two things. It's like, and this is what's hard as an entrepreneur. You're like, okay, we have Almost Thirty. There's a whole audience of people to serve. Do we want to serve the Almost Thirty audience forever with the tools, research, insights, support for this pivotal time period, you know, that we talk about in our book and that we experienced ourselves? Or is it something that we do kind of try to reach a new audience with a different name change and it's tough?

• 39:55Hala Taha?

  I don't know if it's reaching a new audience. I think it's allowing your audience maybe to grow with you guys.

• 40:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:00Hala Taha?

  Cause do you feel like you're getting new audience people like in and out? Or do you feel like they're just growing with you?

• 40:07Speaker 01

  I don't know. Both. I think it's both.

• 40:09Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 40:09Speaker 01

  You know, I think, I think especially with the book, we're gonna get that influx of like

• 40:14Hala Taha?

  Definitely.

• 40:14Speaker 01

  kind of new, actual Almost Thirties, people going through that time. But people have grown with us. I mean, we hear all the time, I've been with you since the beginning. And they've been through so much with us. So it's both.

• 40:26Hala Taha?

  Well, I feel like with podcasting, you can definitely speak to a range of people. So I feel like it's safe to say that you guys would be able to cater to people who are in their mid twenties till their early sixties and still be relevant, right?

• 40:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:39Hala Taha?

  The broader, the better, in my opinion.

• 40:40Speaker 01

  When I have a man DM me that listens to the pod, like I'll have

• 40:44Speaker 00

  That are like, what's your outfit or what are you wearing for and I'm like, ignore. And then a man, I'm like, I really love that relationship episode. I will spend my whole day like, just like when the unexpected people listen, it's just my dream. I'm like, oh, this is my like.

• 40:58Speaker 01

  And like you, we have an age range. Totally.

• 41:00Hala Taha?

  You definitely have an age range, I'm sure. Well, you guys have done such a great job. So speaking of almost thirty, you've got this new book coming out, which I loved. Thank you for giving me a copy of it. So what was the idea behind this book? What did you want to share with the world?

• 41:15Speaker 00

  Think we wanted to first culminate and put together everything that we've learned in the process of the rock bottom that we started at where we met and to building two sovereign, amazing lives that we love. In your late twenties, it's such a pivotal portal in time and we realized that you're not lost, you're just becoming. And that in the process of this growth and transformation period, how can we approach it with excitement? And with looking forward to the change and transformation. And I think if I would have had everything in this book, when I was struggling so much with my mental health in my late twenties, I would have been so much happier. I'd be so much further in life and I would have felt so much more at peace. That age in your twenties is unhappier and more anxious and depressed than ever.

• 41:59Speaker 00

  People are struggling more with their mental health than ever before. People are feeling more lonely. And our goal is to help people feel less alone in their process of awakening. And so in the book, we talk about how to support yourself through times of change and transformation. And we have research from studies, we have guests that we had on the show, sharing insights and inspiration. And it's just the guidebook for anyone going through their process.

• 42:20Hala Taha?

  Yeah, you guys talk about this concept called Saturn return. Now, this is a very like nerdy entrepreneurship show. We usually don't get too like spiritual or into astrology. But I was telling you guys, I want my listeners to learn something new. I never knew about this. So talk to us about Saturn return.

• 42:36Speaker 01

  Yeah. So when we learned about this, I mean, it unlocked everything. We were like, wait, actually, what? We were going through that and everyone does. So the Saturn return is an astrological transit that happens for everyone. Where Saturn comes back to the place in your chart it was when you were born. And Saturn is the planet, think of it as like the dad comes in and is like, yo, this is not working. This is not aligned. We got to look at this. We have to be truthful and honest about this and make changes. And it can feel like your life is falling apart. It can feel like everything you've known to be true is actually coming up for questioning in a really big way. So whether it's your career, your relationships, your relationship with yourself, where you

• 43:20Speaker 01

  want to live, what you want to do, what your purpose is, it's a very existential crisis type season. But it is also probably your greatest opportunity yet in your life to get to know yourself in a way that will be a foundation for the rest of your life. So for Chris and I, we had themes of relationships come up where I was going through a really intense breakup and I thought I was going to marry this person. I thought I would be married by the time I was 27, have kids by the time I was 29, and then we'd walk off into the sunset, whatever. And that didn't happen. And I was like, wait, so now what? You know, who am I then? Who am I without him? Who am I if this isn't the plan?

• 44:05Speaker 01

  But I think what Saturn has the opportunity to show you is that, yeah, we can have a plan based on how we grew up and all the things, but there is a much more expansive plan and life for you if you lean into the unknown. So, you know, it's a practice. It's a practice to be able to have faith in something that you don't know what the next step is. But I think Saturn will really teach you that that is the way, you know? That is truly the way.

• 44:38Hala Taha?

  And that's something that just happens every 28, 29 years. So it's like just a few pivotal points in your life.

• 44:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:45Hala Taha?

  Maybe just two or three.

• 44:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:47Hala Taha?

  Hopefully three.

• 44:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:48Hala Taha?

  Yeah, hopefully three times if you live a long enough.

• 44:50Speaker 01

  Brian Johnson, you're four.

• 44:51Hala Taha?

  I'm kind of like sad that I missed mine and I didn't know about it, you know?

• 44:54Speaker 01

  I wonder what was, what was happening when you were 27 to 30?

• 44:57Hala Taha?

  I shut down my blog and got my MBA and went into corporate.

• 45:00Speaker 01

  There you go.

• 45:01Hala Taha?

  Cause I felt like I needed to grow up. I felt like, oh, I needed to grow up. I need to like. Take care of myself.

• 45:07Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 45:08Hala Taha?

  No more games.

• 45:08Speaker 00

  Your prefrontal cortex is also coming online during that time. So your prefrontal cortex is actually responsible for you making decisions like that. Where you're like, I'm going to be more thoughtful. I'm going to be more strategic. I'm going to be more diplomatic about how I'm spending my time. So it's not only like the Saturn return period, but there's a lot of brain development that's happening that changes how you operate with life in the world. Where you're like, okay, now with my prefrontal cortex online and becoming conscious, how am I going to approach relationships?

• 45:35Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 45:35Speaker 00

  How am I going to approach my career? How am I going to approach my friendships? And there's just so much change happening that it's just can feel like a washing machine if you're not really being mindful of it. And if you don't have the permission to see it as an opportunity to lead you to a better life.

• 45:50Hala Taha?

  Yeah, you were just talking about friendships. And I know in your book, you talk a lot about making sure you've got the right people around you. Talk to us about your advice related to that.

• 46:00Speaker 00

  Yeah, I think especially for entrepreneurs. I mean, the entrepreneur journey, you, in my perspective, and this could be wrong. So I was in corporate and being an entrepreneur. The entrepreneur has a different type of mindset. You have a different type of set of values and priorities. And so it can be hard actually as an entrepreneur to relate to people in the corporate world, I think. Um, so just thinking about that for your entrepreneur audience, just really understanding that your friendships are going to change. I think the number one thing that you can remember and accept in life is that your friendships are going to change and that's okay. I think for me for so long, I felt so much shame that I didn't have the same four girlfriends that I grew up with. And it wasn't Sex and the City and it wasn't Girls. And it wasn't like every movie that I saw where everyone was best friends with the same

• 46:44Speaker 00

  people for their entire lives.

• 46:46Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 46:46Speaker 00

  I had friends come in and out. I had changes, I had transitions and that actually was a good thing. That was showing how I was changing, how I was evolving.

• 46:54Hala Taha?

  Yep.

• 46:54Speaker 00

  How I was prioritizing different things like not drinking or partying or my business or spirituality. And so accepting that friendships will change is number one. I think number two, seeing friendships as a vehicle for your growth, just as deep as your romantic relationships is huge. My romantic relationships have been so powerful for me, but my friendships have been such a place for growth and support and love. And now I see my friendships as equal to my romantic relationships. They really see me, they hear me, they've been with me. And women, especially in women relationships.

• 47:27Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 47:27Speaker 00

  The way that we can see and support one another is just next level.

• 47:31Hala Taha?

  Yeah, I love that you're saying that because I know that in my twenties, when I was in relationships, I'd be the type of girl that would be not prioritizing my friendships. I would just get sucked into my relationship. I'm sorry, I'm with him.

• 47:44Speaker 00

  We all have to do that.

• 47:45Hala Taha?

  You know, and then you lose your friendships, then you break up and then you realize like, oh crap.

• 47:50Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 47:50Hala Taha?

  I did not do a good job being a good friend and now I don't have any friends because I was prioritizing my boyfriend and all this kind of stuff. And now I look at my girlfriend relationships as actually sometimes more important than my romantic relationships because they'll be with me no matter what. They're not gonna go fall in love with somebody else.

• 48:12Speaker 00

  They can't cheat though, they'll hang out with the other girlfriend. You're like, what are you guys doing? I'll never forget that my mom, after getting divorced, she was like, you know, never lose your girlfriends. She's like, your girlfriends are just so important and you know, I love men so much, but the texture and richness of my life has been so benefited by deep female friendships and relationships. And being an entrepreneur is not easy. You meet up against limiting beliefs and mindset, like setbacks all of the time. You have fear, you have overwhelm, you have stress, you're putting yourselves out there, you're doing cringe things. And so to have cheerleaders in your corner or have people that really see you and support you has kept me going 100% of the way.

• 48:51Speaker 01

  And I think in the Saturn return period, for those friendships that are for that lifetime vibe, they require that update, you know, because you're kind of working on like old patterns. You're working on old everything. And so if you feel like you're changing, most likely your friend is changing too. We both are holding on to how the friendship has always been. So I think with the select few in my life, I've had to just have like a come to Jesus moment of like, hey, this is actually what's important to me right now, or this is what I have capacity for. Cause sometimes, for example, in friendships, you don't see each other as much. Maybe because you've gotten married or maybe you've moved, maybe you don't touch bases often. And we can make so much meaning out of that.

• 49:33Speaker 01

  And so if you have a conversation where it's like, listen, I would love for when we connect, it's just really quality and we're able to be really present.

• 49:40Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 49:41Speaker 01

  I think that is super, super important because. I don't know about you, but anytime I would change within a romantic relationship, my then boyfriend would be like, man, you've changed, you know, would have such a problem with change.

• 49:57Speaker 01

  And then with friendships, I always felt like, oh gosh, I can't change because then they're going to feel a type of way. So I'm just giving people permission to change within their relationships and have actual conversations about it.

• 50:10Hala Taha?

  For everybody tuning in, whether they're a man, I actually have a lot of male listeners.

• 50:14Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 50:16Hala Taha?

  They're men, women, if they're thinking about a career change, a career pivot, how should they think about it?

• 50:24Speaker 01

  I think that rumbling happens for a lot of people where like you are at a job that you've been at for a while. Maybe most likely you're really good at what you do. You get rewarded for that. You are maybe on a path where you have an upward trajectory, but there's something within you that just says, I think there's something more and I think I want to pursue something else or you know, something else does light me up and I would love to see what would happen. And so I think first of all, you have to get really clear about that. Is there an opportunity to pivot within the actual company that you're in? Because it's maybe just a feeling of what you're doing. Is it no longer aligned? Is there another position at the company?

• 51:06Speaker 01

  If it's a bit more than that and you actually want to pursue something else, which we both have done many times over, I think it's getting clear about how do I want to feel on a day to day basis? What really lights me up? Asking those questions about the feeling part of it, logistics will come in, but I had to get clear that what was moving me in that direction came from like this place rather than the over analyzing of everything, if that makes sense.

• 51:34Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 51:35Speaker 01

  So when I pivoted, for example, from pursuing my acting career,

• 51:40Speaker 00

  To the podcast, I had to make a conscious pivot. I could no longer do both. And I think for me, the question was, how do you want to feel on a day to day basis? And I wanted to feel like I was creating. I was creating literally something, but also my future. And with acting, I was waiting to be chosen. So it made it so clear that that pivot was right for me to completely let go of the acting and pursue the podcast full time and let that go.

• 52:08Hala Taha?

  Something that you just said like really spoke to me, the fact that you were basically saying, I'm in control now. I'm not going to wait to get chosen. And I feel like with entrepreneurship, that is such an amazing part of entrepreneurship that you get to control your life. I dealt with like a lot of rejection. I was rejected by radio and TV and satellite radio. And then I started my podcast and did great, you know? And so I'd love to hear from you of how did being an entrepreneur change you mentally, spiritually? How did it change you on your journey?

• 52:41Speaker 00

  It helped me become more of who I came here to be, to be honest. It gave me the tools, it gave me the friction, it gave me the feedback to allow me to be who I came here to be. And that was someone that's using her voice, someone that's standing in her power, someone that knows what she wants, someone that's clear on where she's going and someone that has to meet every growth edge. I feel like in the corporate world, I was just spending a lot of my time and my energy towards someone else's vision that I didn't really even align with in the first place. And I was there for money, probably out of fear of not having money or not having purpose. And when you're an entrepreneur, you're putting all your eggs in your own basket, I guess. And I feel like it's really just helped to develop me as a better person because the

• 53:23Speaker 00

  more clear I am with my relationships within business, within my personal life, the more business I'll get, the more business will grow. And it's been so powerful. You know, I couldn't see my life being any other way but self-led and self-made through entrepreneurship and I'm so glad for it.

• 53:40Hala Taha?

  What about you, Lindsay?

• 53:42Speaker 01

  To be honest, when we first started, I was so insecure about it because I didn't have a corporate background. I came from being my own, I suppose, entrepreneur in my acting life, where even though I was waiting to be chosen, I was having to self motivate every day to go on auditions, to meet agents, meet casting directors. So I had that experience within me as far as entrepreneurship goes. But when it came to the business side, I just felt so insecure. But I think what I realized was that as an entrepreneur, you're meant to really double down on your gifts, you know, and you will learn everything else along the way. You know, I've learned so much about business and just doing it and

• 54:25Speaker 01

  making mistakes and learning from Krista. So it's been really important for me to acknowledge the insecurities around what I don't know. But actually, that's not where my focus is meant to go. You know, my focus is meant to double down on what I'm really good at and really step in there because especially in a partnership, you know, we've come together so well, like a puzzle, where like my strengths are something that fit perfectly in the puzzle. And then Krista fills in her strengths where I'm kind of like lacking. So it's been really, really beautiful. But entrepreneurship has given me just a lot of confidence in every aspect of my life. You know, I think when I think about starting over in any way, I

• 55:08Speaker 01

  think about almost 30. You know, I just always reference that experience of just building something from nothing, building it from an idea. And I'm like, oh yeah, I can do this. Yeah. You know, it's like, it really adds to that well of confidence that you have for the rest of your life. I love that.

• 55:28Hala Taha?

  So one of my last questions for you guys, if somebody is almost an entrepreneur, they have the idea of becoming an entrepreneur, they're in this transition period, they might be working a corporate job, what is your advice to how they should treat this period and their next steps?

• 55:45Speaker 00

  This is my personal belief, but I feel like a lot of people want to be an entrepreneur for the idea of what being an entrepreneur is. They kind of see what's happening online, on social media. They're like, oh, you work from home, or you work on the beach, or it's sexy. Like, there's a lot of entrepreneurship, I think especially too, earlier in the previous times that was like girl bossy. Yep. And made everything really, really sexy and fun and like really Instagrammy and marketing. And it's not like that. It's the most challenging thing that you'll do. And it has made me so insecure at times and so low at times and so unsure of myself at times. But it's also been so powerful. So I would check first, what is the actual desire? Because I think entrepreneurship doesn't happen. I think your creativity and your idea happens.

• 56:27Speaker 00

  I think you build what you want to do, you become who you want to be, you create what you're here to do, and then you become an entrepreneur. So I think it should be led by something that comes internally, like something that you feel like has to exist in the world. So I think waiting until you have that calling, that like desire, that thing. Like you feel it in your gut. Yes, you're like, this needs to exist. I need to create this thing because it doesn't exist. And I feel like my life sucks without it, my life isn't as good without it. So I think waiting until you're so cold that the things that come up and the how of it all just goes away. So when your why is so strong, your how, just it doesn't even matter how it happens. Like, our passion and obsession with our connection and really finding this reason

• 57:09Speaker 00

  to help people feel less alone drove us to like stay up late at night, invest money in, take the risk. And so what I would say is find that thing or wait for that thing, or look intently at the world a little differently with a different lens to see what is needed and then create that. Any thoughts, Lindsay?

• 57:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think, I mean, your business that you start will be your mirror. And so it's, I think, imperative from the get to understand that this will bring up a lot about you and what you are bringing to the table. And so for me, it's about having a therapist, you know, having like resources and tools so that I can come to each moment as aware and as conscious as possible. It's not always going to be perfect, but how you do one thing is how you do everything. And I think with a business. For me, it was showing me where I could really step into my worth. It was showing me, you know, how I could become a better communicator in all aspects of my life. So I think to be prepared for that and maybe even set yourself up by having a coach or a therapist

• 58:12Speaker 01

  from the get. I know it's an investment, but it's the most worthwhile investment I've ever made and helps me both in business and personal. Yeah, it's a good one.

• 58:20Hala Taha?

  Such good advice. So somebody's about to become an entrepreneur. I really like your advice of why are you doing this? Is it because you just want to make money? Is it because you feel like being an entrepreneur has some clout with it? I feel like you need to really understand if you have a good business idea.

• 58:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 58:39Hala Taha?

  So like for me, the big thing is can you make money? Can you get customers? Will people pay for this thing? Cause a lot of people have these ideas that nobody wants. And I see that time and time again. I remember one time somebody was like on a webinar with me and she was talking about how she's like building an app, something about like naming your star sign or something like this. And it was such a far out there idea. Maybe it's because I'm not into astrology or whatever it is. But to me, I was like, okay, is that something that you want or that other people want? And so for me, it's about channeling demand, not trying to create demand. So find something that people already have a problem with, like in a lot of people.

• 59:22Hala Taha?

  And a problem where you know how to find these people. Like they label themselves something. They're all hanging out in the same places. They have the same titles. They've gone to the same schools or they work at the same places. Because then your job is easy. You just find those people that have that problem and you sell to them. But I find time and time again, people have solutions to problems that don't exist. Or you can't find any customers. So I just feel like you have to know that your customers exist and that they actually have a problem that they're willing to spend their money on. And, and this solution also has to somehow increase their status. In some way, you know, because people just buy based on increasing their status.

• 1:00:06Hala Taha?

  Whatever it is, they make every decision based on if it's going to increase my status or not. So is it going to improve my wealth? Are people going to think more highly of me if I have this thing? Or if I fix this problem, right? So it's all based on status. So it's how does it impact their status?

• 1:00:23Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 1:00:25Speaker 00

  People are great. I just, sometimes they're like, wow, we're doing that? You know, I do that, of course. Some do stuff like that, but it's like- Beauty, it's- Yeah. Health. Exactly. Yeah, wow. Yes.

• 1:00:39Hala Taha?

  Yeah fam, I've interviewed some of the world's leading health experts and those conversations have really changed how I think about my health. I stay active and I eat well, but you know what I realized? There's still so much I don't know about what's actually going on inside my body. And I've been hearing so much about body scans lately, so I finally did it. I got my whole body MRI at Prenuvo. The scan is radiation free, which I love. There's no needles and it takes just about an hour. Prenuvo evaluates major organs and systems, including your brain, spine, abdomen, pelvis, and more. And they give you a full, detailed picture of your health. I just got my results back and nothing serious, thankfully, just a little scoliosis. I'm looking forward to reviewing my results with my Prenuvo provider, where I can ask questions and better understand all my results and what's going on in my body.

• 1:01:24Hala Taha?

  So I'm really curious about that and I'll keep you guys posted. To learn more about Prenuvo and get $300 off your whole body MRI, go to prenuvo.com/hala and use code HALA. That's prenuvo, P-R-E-N-U-V-O dot com slash HALA, H-A-L-A. Terms and conditions apply. Receive $300 off Prenuvo whole body scans and executive and comprehensive memberships through January 31st. For full details, visit Prenuvo's website to read their terms and conditions and privacy notice. Prenuvo gifted me a whole body scan. A Prenuvo scan is a screening service, not diagnostic. Diagnosis and treatment are determined by your healthcare provider.

• 1:02:03Hala Taha?

  Yeah fam, I have an expensive confession. I need an outfit for practically every interview and I love designer clothes, so you can imagine what that does to my budget. And after talking to Haley Sachs, who's a financial expert, I was unfortunately reminded that I can't just assume that every outfit is a business expense. You guys know that I love hosting live streams and webinars and I love selling, so I'm planning on opening up a pre-owned designer shop on Whatnot. Whatnot is a live shopping app where you can show off products, interact with buyers in real time, and turn shopping into a fun- Interactive experience and you absolutely do not need designer clothes to get started. People sell everything from sneakers and beauty products to sports cards, Pokemon cards, and collectibles. All you need are your products and your phone.

• 1:02:46Hala Taha?

  Whatnot handles payments and provides shipping labels. So I recommend you take a shopping trip through a few live shows, see how it works, and maybe you'll be inspired to start selling too. Search Whatnot, W H A T N O T, in the App Store. Download and start selling right away.

• 1:03:04Hala Taha?

  Hello, young and profiteers. Black Friday is almost here and customers are ready to buy. The only thing standing between them and your business are all those steps you keep overthinking before your launch. And I get it. When I launched the App Academy, I was thinking about everything. How should the website look? How are people going to pay? How was supposed to build all that? I'm not a web developer. I don't know how to build websites. So I built my storefront on Shopify. Their ready-made themes helped me get up in just a few days without needing to be an e-commerce expert or a web developer. And the Shopify checkout made it really easy for people to pay. And with the holidays coming up, Shopify even has an AI assistant called Sidekick that can help you plan promotions and get ready for the rush. So if that business idea is still sitting in your notes app, maybe it's time to give it a storefront.

• 1:03:49Hala Taha?

  If you're ready to launch your business before Black Friday, go to Shopify.com/profitting to start your free trial. That's Shopify.com/profitting. Go to Shopify.com/profitting today and hear your first.

• 1:04:02Hala Taha?

  Okay, so my last question that I ask all of my guests, you can just answer from your heart. You both can answer each one. So what is one actionable thing our young and profiteers can do today to become more profitable? Let's go with the business mind first.

• 1:04:17Speaker 00

  I think to become more profitable, a book that I love that I recommend is called A Happy Pocket Full of Money. Have you read that? It's really, really good about the relationship you can have to money and the energetics of money. And it's been incredibly profound and transformative for me. I think when you think about becoming more profitable, there's so many different aspects of it related to your business. But if the foundational relationship you have to the energetics of money isn't there, you're never going to become more profitable. So getting your relationship right, the energetic frequency and the connection you have with money is going to be incredibly helpful. When I could finally meet money and respect and love money in the way that I do, I'm so grateful for the way money moves in my life.

• 1:04:57Speaker 00

  I'm so grateful for the way money gives me freedom, for the way money supports my health, for the way money supports my family. Like, I have so much respect and love for money. So money loves to work with me. Money loves to be around me. Money loves to hang out with me. Money loves to move through me. And once you can have that, you can really see how money can move more in your business.

• 1:05:17Hala Taha?

  Can we actually stick on this for a little bit? I feel like I have an incredible relationship with money. Sometimes I wonder, I'm like, how do people not make money? Like, I feel like I just attract money left and right, right?

• 1:05:31Speaker 00

  Where do you think that comes from?

• 1:05:33Hala Taha?

  My dad was a surgeon.

• 1:05:34Speaker 00

  Cool.

• 1:05:35Hala Taha?

  But he grew up super poor. So my dad grew up in Palestine, Palestinian. So he grew up with no running water. He was dirt poor. He became a surgeon. And then when I was growing up, he never wanted me to feel like money was an obstacle because it was for him.

• 1:05:50Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 1:05:51Hala Taha?

  So like, if I wanted to buy anything, I remember one time he bought me like a thousand dollar Furby. You know, like on QVC when it was really popular.

• 1:05:59Speaker 00

  To the dreams.

• 1:05:59Hala Taha?

  You know, and he spent a thousand dollars to get me this Furby. His phrase was, if something was a hundred dollars, he'd be like, oh, that's free. I'm obsessed. And he would always just tell me, that's free, that's free. Oh, can dad, can I have this money? Oh, sure, no problem. So he made me feel like money was just so easy.

• 1:06:17Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 1:06:18Hala Taha?

  And so my whole life, I just thought money is easy.

• 1:06:20Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 1:06:21Hala Taha?

  And now I just make a lot of money all the time, you know, like we just like have these huge deals. And then sometimes I think when people like make such little money, I'm like, how, how are they making such little money? You know, so I have a really good, but I have bad relationships with other things. You know what I'm saying? So like money is just happens to be good for me. But talk to me about your relationship with money. And I think a lot of people have things with money in terms of their beliefs.

• 1:06:48Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah, I mean. It's so much, it's the hierarchy of money. Money means worth. Money means safety. Money means security. Money means you're bad. Like if we look at the media programming, a lot of the media programming, the villains are rich. So we have this idea that having money is bad. Jesus had no money, you know, like the gurus and the saints and the cultural leaders from a religious perspective were usually poor. So we have this embedded idea around money and the relationship to money in our lives. And I think so many of us have grown up with money is shameful. You don't talk about it. You don't talk about money. You don't talk about sex. You don't talk about religion. So not only are we not talking about it, but we're living in a society that's telling us that money is bad, but yet all the people at the top are figuring out ways to get money.

• 1:07:28Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 1:07:29Speaker 00

  So I think when we can really take our power back and have a beautiful relationship with money, money actually isn't anything. It's like paper.

• 1:07:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:07:35Speaker 00

  So we're actually placing all this energy and value and thought and meaning to paper. So like, how are we, can we take the power back and be like, this is a tool for me to live my life in the way that I want. This is something I deserve. This is something that I can move through me energetically and become something that can be supportive of the life that I want.

• 1:07:53Speaker 01

  And I think so many people take what they learned or did not learn when they were younger from their parents and use it as like an excuse not to rewrite their relationship with money. So it's like, my parents never taught me about, this is something I've done.

• 1:08:09Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:08:10Speaker 01

  My parents, this, this girl, my parents never taught me about balancing my checkbook or like how to manage money or how to invest or how to work with a credit card, like never, none of that. And there was always stress around money. There was always fights were started over money, always. So I really had this stiff arm approach to money where I'm like, money's over here. I don't really want to look at it. I don't really want to talk about it. I've had very, very abundant times in my life and usually that's because I am not connecting money to my worth and I am just living in a way that's like incredibly aligned. I'm using my gifts and that's usually when I have a lot of money coming in. But

• 1:08:54Speaker 01

  any period of time where I've Literally held money as I'm going to feel okay today if I have this amount in my bank account. It's faded me at all costs. So it's just really interesting. Like Krista said, the relationship with money on an energetic level, I think is important, but also looking at where did your money story come from?

• 1:09:14Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:09:14Speaker 01

  You know, just being really honest about it and knowing that you can rewrite it right now.

• 1:09:18Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:09:18Speaker 01

  In this moment, you can start rewriting it. You don't have the like scarlet letter on you for the rest of your life. You can absolutely rewrite this. And I think for me, it helped to understand why my parents had the beliefs that they did. I just had more compassion. I didn't have as much resentment towards them.

• 1:09:33Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:09:33Speaker 01

  So, um, yeah, I just think it's so important that we kind of detangle that before we rewrite them.

• 1:09:38Speaker 00

  We talk about that in the book, cause I mean, especially in your late twenties, like 60% of people have student debt. You start to make more money in your late twenties. You're changing jobs. Like a lot of people are getting married for the first time. They're having children. So there's so many different financial things that are happening to people during that time. So I think for me, the rebel part of me is always like, I just want to somehow take the power back from the system and like figure out how to live my life outside of it, live my life freely. And it doesn't mean I'm buying a yacht or a private jet. It means I'm living in a way that feels luxurious and free to me.

• 1:10:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:10:11Speaker 00

  That feels expansive to me and I want that for everyone. Like we all humans deserve that. And the more we can break outside of the systems that we're in and really see, first of all, our inherent worth for money, then money comes to us, like what you have already.

• 1:10:24Hala Taha?

  I love that.

• 1:10:24Speaker 00

  I love your dad.

• 1:10:25Hala Taha?

  Yeah, my dad was awesome. He was also really generous. So taught me that too. Like he would spend all his money just sending kids to college.

• 1:10:33Speaker 00

  Like, there you go.

• 1:10:34Hala Taha?

  You know what I mean? So I got both being super generous and then getting the money, right?

• 1:10:38Speaker 00

  That is so beautiful.

• 1:10:40Hala Taha?

  How about you? What is one actionable thing our young improfitters can do to become more profitable tomorrow?

• 1:10:46Speaker 01

  Oh, boy. I think it's about relationships. So in terms of your audience, your customer, like how can you be come even more human with them, even more connected to them. And oftentimes that means vulnerability from you as the founder, or more vulnerability in the intention or the process and creating the product. It could come in different forms, but I think that vulnerable storytelling and that honesty is something that differentiates you. And I think really

• 1:11:18Speaker 00

  Makes people buy in, you know, they want to support a brand or a product that has a story. I do. I just think in this day and age, there's so many things that we can buy. There's so many things we can invest in and it's like, at a point, it just kind of hurts. You're just like, okay, there's just so much stuff. But when I find a brand where the story is just so impactful and so moving, I'm like, I want to, I want to support that. Let me put my dollars there. So I think bringing in more storytelling about your story or just the path of creating this product, um, I think could be really, really profound.

• 1:11:52Hala Taha?

  Something that you said really spoke to me and that was caring about your customers. I don't remember who told me this, but they were saying, you've got to love your customers. Because if you love them, they'll feel that love. And people refer something based on what it's going to make them look like. They'll refer you and put their own brand reputation on the line. And they'll only do that if they feel like they love you so much that they're willing to put their reputation on the line. And they'll only feel that way if you actually love and really care about your clients.

• 1:12:28Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's so true.

• 1:12:29Hala Taha?

  You know what I mean? So you really need to care about your clients, love your clients, think about them. How can you do the best job possible, no matter what you sell or what you do, right?

• 1:12:37Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:12:38Hala Taha?

  Okay, last question. Okay.

• 1:12:41Hala Taha?

  This is really fun. Thank you guys for joining.

• 1:12:43Speaker 00

  We're in a little portal.

• 1:12:44Hala Taha?

  I know.

• 1:12:47Hala Taha?

  Okay. What is your secret to profiting in life? And this can go beyond business.

• 1:12:52Speaker 00

  Prayer and God. That's just my vibe. I feel like having a spiritual foundation or having a foundation of like an anchor point for my life has just been exponentially beneficial to all my relationships, to the way that I move, to what I prioritize, to what I want to create. And I feel like, you know, it might not be for everyone, but for me, it's been what's really given me abundance in ways that are not just financial, but spiritual and meaningful in my life.

• 1:13:22Hala Taha?

  Yeah. Were you always religious?

• 1:13:24Speaker 00

  So I grew up Catholic. I grew up in a small town in Ohio, and so it was very religious. It's very conservative and I kind of lost my way, you know, I was like nihilistic for a while. I was like just figuring things out and I kind of re-found my faith in the past couple of years, probably five, six, seven years. And it doesn't mean that it's religiously attached or connotated. I wouldn't say that I'm attached to any religion, but it's something that feels like really perfect for my algorithm, perfect for my type of spirituality and the way that I move. But yeah, I grew up religious and had to refine it.

• 1:14:00Hala Taha?

  I'm asking personally, because I'm not connected to any religion personally. But I always think, oh, my gosh, I really want to have religion. So what did you do to get connected to your spirituality?

• 1:14:11Speaker 00

  So I think I had a rock bottom humbling event. I think Lindsay and I both had this moment of humbling. And then we also had an amazing coach that we worked with that brought God back into our life in a way that was very offering and helped us metabolize the idea of just sort of naming the Creator, naming this infinite source of love and support and helping me re-approach God in a way where it wasn't a man in the sky that was punishing me or had this idea of how I should live or hated me if I did this and didn't like me if I did this. It was like, what if there was this benevolent co-creator of life that you had that loved you endlessly? And that was there for you endlessly and that was just a guiding partner for everything that you do.

• 1:14:55Speaker 00

  And so there was a lot of my spiritual practice and process that kind of led to this. I had been done so much energy work. I had done so much study of different religions and spirituality through the podcast. But it was really that coach and a rock bottom moment that was like, you know what? I give up all of this to like one Creator and that's sort of how I'm going to build my foundation. I still do a lot of different spiritual tools and practices. I'm very open, but having the anchor is the most supportive for me.

• 1:15:20Hala Taha?

  I find that almost every successful person that I meet. Is grounded in that way.

• 1:15:25Speaker 00

  A hun- I've actually, that's crazy because I've noticed that too.

• 1:15:28Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 1:15:28Speaker 00

  The people that I see at the the level that I want to be.

• 1:15:32Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 1:15:32Speaker 00

  They're anchored.

• 1:15:33Hala Taha?

  Yeah.

• 1:15:33Speaker 00

  Because you could get blown in the wind. You could go fall for this, fall for that, fall like there's a lot of things here that could pull you off of your path and your truth and having just something where I'm like, okay, what am I working towards? Who am I working with? What are like my guiding principles for how I want to live? And it just helped so much.

• 1:15:53Hala Taha?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:15:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, I have to second it. I'll be, I'll be boring inside me too. It's been, I had obviously a similar experience with Krista, with our coach. But my now husband also came into my life around that same time.

• 1:16:07Speaker 00

  Mm hmm.

• 1:16:08Speaker 01

  A little bit after. And he's also brought that aspect of faith into my life and to be able to connect so intimately on faith with someone that you love in that way, was something I've never experienced. And just opens up this whole realm of possibility when it comes to, yeah, just being a human on earth. You know, it's like, we don't have to shoulder everything. You know, I think that's what I saw growing up. I saw my parents shouldering everything, even though my mom was spiritual, like they just shouldered so much. And now it's just my greatest joy to be able to like, just give things up to God and just be like, I trust you.

• 1:16:50Speaker 01

  You know, like, I don't know what's next. I trust you and thank you. And yeah, there's just this experience of gratitude in my life now that I feel so much more than I ever have before. And I think that's been the fuel. Cause even when things are hard and I'm like, man, this is like a really hard season. I'm always just like, but I'm so grateful. I'm so grateful.

• 1:17:16Speaker 01

  For this pruning season, this, I know you're working on me and I trust it. And so, yeah, I think for me, someone who does take on a lot and can overanalyze things, it's been the greatest gift to just be like, God, I, I totally trust you.

• 1:17:31Hala Taha?

  That's so beautiful. You guys are inspiring me.

• 1:17:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, and it can look like the way you want it to look, you know, I think we think of, and honestly, let's just say, we name God in the book. We say God. And we say like, you call it whatever you want to call it, but it was actually a choice.

• 1:17:48Speaker 00

  Yeah, there's a lot of names people have for God and it could be really triggering. I think people have a lot of religious deprogramming that I think we kind of have to do as a culture and society, but I reclaimed God in a way that feels a little rebellious to the way that I was taken away from God through religion.

• 1:18:03Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:18:04Hala Taha?

  Do you mean like when people say like source energy and stuff like that?

• 1:18:08Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 1:18:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, I mean, source energy works. Whatever works for people, that gets them anchored in there. For me, I just felt like God was presented as something that was not loving and was not the way that I wanted. And for me to be like, actually, it's not, that's the church, that's man.

• 1:18:23Hala Taha?

  God.

• 1:18:24Speaker 00

  What you're talking about is man, what my God is all loving, my God is all knowing, my God is with me. So it's like, oh, actually, I just, I was kind of looking at it through this religious lens that like I don't.

• 1:18:33Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:18:34Hala Taha?

  And you had to unlearn that.

• 1:18:35Speaker 00

  Yes. Yeah, yeah. How do you see it?

• 1:18:38Hala Taha?

  That's how I feel. I feel like God is really loving. I feel like there is something out there. I grew up Muslim. So, but I don't feel like aligned to that religion, but I think it's primarily because I just don't really understand Arabic.

• 1:18:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:18:53Hala Taha?

  I didn't understand anything.

• 1:18:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:18:55Hala Taha?

  Right? And so like I always connected with Christianity more because all my boyfriends were Christian. And I go to church and understand what was going on.

• 1:19:03Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:19:03Hala Taha?

  So I think it's just more of like, because it's all the same stories. It's, it's really, really similar. So I think it's just a matter of feeling connected just because I can actually understand it. And I know there's translations and stuff, but still like, you pray in Arabic and I don't understand what I'm saying. So it's, it's just, it's hard to feel connected if you don't understand what you're saying.

• 1:19:23Speaker 01

  For sure. A hundred percent.

• 1:19:24Hala Taha?

  So that's something I'm looking forward to exploring.

• 1:19:27Speaker 00

  There's a book called Secrets of Divine Love.

• 1:19:29Hala Taha?

  I'm almost Christian.

• 1:19:30Speaker 01

  I know, literally, literally.

• 1:19:34Speaker 00

  Sorry, Mom. My religion is. Sorry, Mom, don't be mad at me.

• 1:19:38Hala Taha?

  Yeah. This is so fun, guys. Thank you guys so much for joining us. You did such a great job. Thank you.

• 1:19:44Speaker 00

  Thank you. Bye, guys. Bye.

• 1:19:50Hala Taha?

  Well, yap, gang. We're closing out today's episode with so much to reflect on, thanks to Krista and Lindsay. We talked a lot about that special kind of transformation that happens when you stop waiting to be chosen and start building a future on purpose. For many of us, that pivot happens when we're in our late twenties or early thirties. That's when, for example, I decided to shut down my blog, get an MBA, enter the corporate world, and get more serious about achieving the future that I really wanted. As Krista pointed out, it's not just an emotional shift that happens during those years. It's actually biological. It's our fully-developed prefrontal cortex making us more strategic, intentional, and future-focused. But it still takes a lot of courage to pivot, to stop waiting to be chosen, and instead

• 1:20:35Hala Taha?

  choose yourself. Lindsay's story about leaving acting to pursue podcasting full-time reminded us that the most important question isn't what you do, but how you want to feel doing it. For her, the answer was simple: I wanted to create. Striking out on your own takes time, though, and it can be a rough ride. Like Krista said, being an entrepreneur or running a business can look sexy from the outside, but getting started will probably be the hardest thing you ever do in your life. Entrepreneurship isn't glamorous. It's hard, humbling, and deeply personal. But when your idea is rooted in purpose and your why, when you feel that something is missing from the world and you just have to create it, that's when you're ready to get started.

• 1:21:16Hala Taha?

  So whatever age you are right now, if you're in that in-between space between identities and careers, let this episode be a reminder. You don't have to have it all figured out, but you do have to listen for that internal pull, and when it comes, be ready to follow it. Thanks for listening to this episode of Young and Profiting. If you learned something today, and if you felt seen or inspired, share this episode with somebody who needs to hear it. And don't forget to leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Wherever you listen to the show, your reviews help us reach more listeners who are ready to profit from powerful conversations like this one. If you want to check us out on YouTube and watch our episodes on video, all of our episodes are on YouTube. Just search Young and Profiting. You can also connect with me on Instagram at Yap with Hala

• 1:22:00Hala Taha?

  or LinkedIn. Just search for my name. It's Hala Taha. And my Yap team is absolutely amazing. I cannot go an episode without thanking them. So thank you guys for all your hard work and dedication. It really shows. This is your host, Hala Taha, AKA The Podcast Princess, signing off.