THE LINKEDIN STRATEGY THAT MAKES $10K A MONTH || SIMI ARORA || EPISODE 086

0:00How important is LinkedIn today? I'd say it's a game changer. It has been a game changer for many, many, many people that I've coached mercenely and I've done more than a thousand, you know, coaching sessions so far. And one of the fundamental things about LinkedIn is that it is a very simple platform to share what you want to share. And all you need to follow is a particular process of the content that is going to be easily accepted and understood by people. And specifically, your ICPs, which is your ideal client profile. For businesses, let's say if you are a startup and you want to get your first three clients, who pay your $10,000 a month each, there's no better platform than LinkedIn to do that. Because all you need to do is craft a content strategy that speaks of your expertise, that shows your identity, that shows your journey and experience, and shows the offer and the process that you put in place to bring that transformation. Whenever I go on LinkedIn, I actually love it because it'll be like 10 steps of how to grow your podcast or like 15 steps on how to grow your businesses. And it's actually very enlightening

1:03and educational concept of how you can actually grow and build something. One of the things about LinkedIn is engagement. So for example on Instagram, you can just put a real out there and I'll go to the museum and pick it up. If it is worth showing to your first thousand contacts, if they like it, and then it's going to continue to push it out there, LinkedIn works a little bit differently. LinkedIn wants your cooperation in helping other people rise as well, which means that it wants you to spend time after you made a post for like at least 60 to 80 minutes and support other creators too, which means that you are going to have like a whole engagement strategy where you have about 100 people that you really like and you love their content and you go to their profiles and drop a comment. And then they're going to drop a comment back to your profile as well. And also if the content is really good, the algorithm is going to push it out further and then you're going to find new audiences liking your post as well. So is the platform really want you to stay on the platform and also just read and like other people's work as well because it's not about just absorbing like short-form content but also like participating in

2:05the conversation. The code to winning insights you need today to seize the world tomorrow. If you are curious in learning about building trust and authority and of course your presence online, this is the episode for you. A story I can resonate with a lot. Myself being an immigrant, we have an immigrant story very, very inspiring. I'm going to have the founder of Brands scale talk a bit more about like the entire purpose of how it's important for you to be able to build your presence today. So without further ado, we have a wonderful lady in the studio today, Seemee Aurora. Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you for having me. Awesome stuff. Yes, I want to just kind of like dive in. I want to talk a bit more about the importance of building trust and authority online. I think it's such an underrated thing, especially in 2020, 60 day. But before then, can we just have a brief overview, you know, just about your story like the beginning. How did this all start for you?

3:07Well, it all started when I incidentally landed in America. Which year was that? It was 2012. Okay. And prior to that, I was living in Dubai for a bit and I grew up in India. So, you know, many people dream of going to the US, which is still a lot of people's dream, because it's a land of opportunity. But for me, it was a personal decision because I decided to get married to somebody who was living here and it wasn't forced. It was my own choice. And I feel like some parts of this whole story, when I look back now, I reflect upon all the choices that I made. I do see a role of destiny. I see that everything happened for a purpose, because when you don't want something, but something comes in front of you and you're like, okay, I want to just blunge into it. I want to make this choice. And you are a little bit more impulsive while making the choice. It's destiny calling for you. So I feel that I was supposed to be

4:11here and didn't want to be here, but I'm here. And for the last 15 years, I've been here and I built from ground up like because of some of the setbacks that happened in my life and in my personal space, in my relationship, in my marriage and also with my mental health. So for me, the journey was really, really hard. And I do see that to be a blessing in disguise now. Now, I love that so much. 15 years, my story was more, I think, 2017. So just, no, 2016, exactly 10 years. It's been 10 years as well. Obviously came here for college. But the reason I say I often love immigrant story, we often, there's always a chip on your shoulder. You know, I feel like there's, you have to try and prove to yourself, your family. There's a lot of people that are counting on you. And I feel like starting from the ground up is something that's very underrated because there, it comes with a lot of loneliness comes with a lot of like bad

5:13decisions we make sometimes. It comes, I mean, I wouldn't even say bad decisions. It comes with like more learning experiences. I should, I should rephrase that better as well. What would you say was the probably the biggest learning curve in your experience looking back at the last 15 years or so personally for your life? I strongly feel there's purpose and pain. And I do feel that you are destined to play a certain role. And sometimes life has to put you through different challenges to evoke that potential. I believe that if I wasn't India, I would have been a different person. I would have been maybe more successful at a fast pace because I had the network. I was making a lot more money in my early 20s. And I had the opportunities. I was dropping the world while I was in India. So there wasn't like a need to prove a point because it was even that

6:15important to me at that time. I knew that I'm going to be successful in life in general. But I had expectations along with there's just like sense of limited exposure of my own potential. So I was sensing that for sure. Like there was something that was telling me that I need to step out. But I didn't know what exactly that meant. So when I came here, obviously, the first thing that taught was like, I'm going to climb the corporate ladder. You know, I had an MBA. I'm going to do another MBA. I am going to apply for all the great jobs here because in 2012, that was a norm. I mean, it wasn't the world of entrepreneurship or anything like that. And also it's barely like getting to know people and getting to sense the environment. But because of what happened in my personal life, the setback of a failed marriage like within one year of being together, then getting into anxiety disorder, like which was a very, very hard thing that I managed and

7:19managed it alone because there wasn't even a single family member of friend that was close to me in New York. So it was kind of really crazy, right? But never did I think of going back. So that was one thing I wanted to mention about the idea that if you are a little bit more self-aware of the place that you are in and you kind of like dive deeper into awareness and ask yourself, why am I here? What is this pain teaching me? What is the purpose of all the experiences that I'm going through? Whether they are failures in the business or like losing a partnership, losing a relationship, whatever that is, it's asking you to go deeper. It's asking you to change or to do things differently. So I mean, I had this awareness at that time as well that I'm not going back and I have to further this out because going back would be easier because I do have a support system. Nobody's going to say me no, I'll get a job. I'll restart my life back in India. It's just

8:20been one year. But I was like, I think I have to do this journey. Otherwise, why would I even come here? Love that so much. I'm a region from South Africa, born and raised. So India is a rival in cricket. I don't know if you like that. When you said India, thought of a cricket, that's one thing I think about cricket and Bhriani. That's one thing because I mean, I love that's my favorite is the absolutely, especially like Iran, New Jersey, when you go to like, I think it's not Trenton, it's Edison. There's a place in Edison that I usually go to constantly and get the best food. But I'm looking back at that when you spoke about the corporate letter. Similar example with me as well as well came for college, you know, graduated. But at the same time, New York has always been, even though I live completely like in Salt Lake, we're in New York, it was always like the beacon of hope for me when I saw that because I did twin internships here actually by Lexington Avenue with Bloomberg. I applied Bloomberg, NASDAQ and Goldman. NASDAQ and Bloomberg both accepted, got the full time off. Everything

9:23was super excited. It's now about like focusing entirely going on your goal and journey, trying to take the risk. And I think the risk is, is whether award comes in, but it also comes to the point where you get to learn so much about yourself. Listen to what you're saying and reading about your story. All these setbacks kind of determine the person that you are today, you know. And so when you look at back at like immigrant stories or an immigrant story or an experience like yourself, what two most people don't fully understand if they haven't lived as an immigrant in the United States? Oh, it's a day and nine difference. First of all, I feel there's a sense of unsettling feelings. Like, you know, there's like, you don't belong anywhere. You're trying to fit in because you want to succeed. And at the same time, you know, you don't get that space. I mean, you have to create that space. It took me a while to really understand that properly,

10:25because I was like, okay, we're global citizens, you know, we can create our place anywhere, but I did realize that there was a comfort that people have around their own people, the people that they already know of of years of experiences or journey with each other, right? Like, if I go back to India, I have my friends that I grew up with. I have network. I have people that I know I've worked in a bank. I've worked with another startup that made me travel all across the world. So I have this big comfort, big network. That's what I earlier said that I would have probably grown faster when it comes to money. I can't say that necessarily true for my personal potential exploration or being the person that I am today because of all the struggles that I went through. So definitely, I'll tell you, for sure, there are two ways to look at it. One is that you are going to find it hard to, you know, get that support initially. But also, I feel this is that's really the space, really the place where you can go all in, meaning like,

11:27as you said, that, you know, your appetite for risk is higher. It's because you're already here. And you have made it through a couple of months, a couple of years. So what else? Like, if not right now, then when? So I believe that you take that risk. And that's why more immigrants, especially when, you know, more of the Indians that I see are entrepreneurs. Because they're like, okay, we're just here anyways. We're away from our families. I mean, the easiest thing to do is to go back, but I don't want to go back. So then why not to make the use of the best opportunities that I can find anywhere? So that's what I did. I got my first client who was an Indian client, of course, because he's the one who gave me break after that. Obviously, I had many all ethnicities of, you know, clients and our agency, but our agency business. But, you know, I feel like it's just the way you want to look at it. Things are anyway, it's going to be hard if somebody from here goes to India,

12:28and they start a build their career there. I think it's going to be the same thing. It's just the comfort of knowing each other. It's just, you know, getting to know how the system works, how you, you know, kind of like build relationship with people, but because those nuances from cultural point of view are also very different. You know, you don't want to just like cross your line or like say something that people don't like because culturally also it may sound a little more aggressive than you are meaning to be. So I feel like those are things that I learned over the time. And the more I spoke their language, the more I kind of like try to make more friends outside of my comfort zone of being an Indian. I think it just slowly kind of, you know, try to like blend in with the, with the whole culture as well as just getting to know how people operate. So it takes time, I suppose. And then now when you make the discovery of social media, when was that? If you can just run through like that whole experience because I feel like social media, obviously we look at pre-COVID and post-COVID,

13:34but then you have like your Gary Vee's that were doing social media 2007 and you know, and stuff like that. When was your, the time you realize the social media was like a beacon of hope or was the trajectory shift or that, you know, the paradigm shift for you as well? Sure. I was working with Time on a cable. That was my first gig after I moved to the US and I'm thankful to them for giving me the job because it was a great job and I made really good money. And I just started to feel because of my inner journey and self-awareness because of the you know, mental stresses and the diagnosis that I was dealing with, excited disorder and panic attacks and stuff. I think I just kind of like felt there was something happening with me inside out. Like I started to feel the disc content, it was a right word. Am I saying the right word? I think so. Yeah. So I started to feel like lack of contentment. I would look around, you know, everywhere and I would like, I don't think I belong here, but there was a risk because I had been

14:39freshly divorced. I had panic attacks. I was going through mental issues and on top of that, I'm feeling dissatisfied and I'm like, I don't want to do this. So I broke it. I said it like, you know, talked about this to my family and they're like, you know, I think this is completely wrong. You should not leave your job because it's not going to work out. But I was feeling that ache of doing something that was going to give me the sense of fulfillment or at least give me an opportunity to bring out the real me in the world. So I quit my job one day and I took the license of real estate and I started to do real estate on the side and became a certified life coach. So I did the process of like about one year of life coaching because it was also healing me, helping me with my mental health issues because I didn't want to just depend on medications for the rest of my life. I really wanted to find a solution so I could take care of myself and especially being alone here. And I didn't want to jump into another relationship. They want to get married again.

15:41So I really wanted to first work on myself. So coming back to the social media part, that was the time around 2018 when I started talking about my journey and experiences on LinkedIn through the video format. And also obviously, you know, the format on LinkedIn at that time was video as well as the text which is very easy to pull through, you know, especially if you are somebody who really wants to share the authentic side of you. And I think there was something that was connecting with people a lot more and I started working with executives and entrepreneurs who were going through similar journey of stresses and losing, you know, their own identity or not feeling good enough or having too much of stress or managing teams. So that was my actually first business because it was so real so true. And I was documenting my journey of healing along with putting on my offer, of high ticket offer or working with these executives. So I didn't know what

16:43I was doing honestly. I think my couple of my videos were like eight minutes long. Like who would make an eight minute long video on LinkedIn. But people would reach out and it's like, I think you should make shorter videos. I was like, I'm getting business. Like I'm actually making some money while I'm documenting a journey and I'm not even it wasn't even edited. It was just like completely raw videos just like cut in the beginning and the end and I would just put it out there. So it gave me a perspective that I didn't have to go out of home to seek a job. I didn't have to do another MBA. I didn't even have to apply for any jobs because I was making almost similar amount of money that I was making with time on a cable. So it was a game changer. But I didn't know the gravity of that until then. I mean, until like a couple of few years that I spent more on building my brand and eventually building an agency business, which is literally sitting on the foundation. I mean, I get reached out by people who have seen my videos like seven years ago. And they're like, oh, I have been following you for the last seven years and I've seen your journey.

17:46So congratulations. You've come so far. Well, you know, it's crazy. It's not just you. I have a mentor and I have many people that have stressed that I look up to as well that stress the importance of LinkedIn. One of the things I do it made I struggle with with LinkedIn. I used to use it a lot in college during college graduation and all that, you know, finding internships. One of the things I've just struggled with a lot. I felt like Linton was just like slitting people know exactly where you are in life. Like congratulations. I've just been promoted to so and so like, oh, I'm now the new CEO of that. And I just feel like it was a thing where people were just trying to gain recognition, give recognition without utilizing the tools and fully understanding the potential it has for outreach as well. Can you just try and like just help restore that understanding or you understand of

18:48LinkedIn? Like how important is LinkedIn today? I'd say it's a game changer. It has been a game changer for many, many, many people that I've coached personally and I've done more than a thousand you know, coaching sessions so far. And one of the fundamental things about LinkedIn is that it is a very simple platform to share what you want to share. And all you need to follow is a particular process of the content that is that is going to be easily accepted and understood by people and specifically your ICPs, which is your ideal client profile. So for mass marketing purposes, I'd still say Instagram is the best channel. Like if you just want to make a motivational video or if you want to talk about something just more generalized. And it still works on LinkedIn really well as well. I mean, you can really build a brand for yourself within six months of posting the content with a similar fundamental, like similar pillars over

19:53and over and over again. So you can build your identity for that specific type of content. And that specific association of the brand with what you stand for your value system, your beliefs and ideologies, right? For businesses, let's say if you are a startup and you want to get your first three clients will pay your $10,000 a month each. There's no better platform than LinkedIn to do that. Because all you need to do is craft a content strategy that speaks of your expertise, that shows your identity, that shows your journey and experience, and shows the offer and the process that you put in place to bring that transformation. And that's all. That's pretty much it. And you can use carousels. You can use just a basic selfie. Like I literally built my brand using selfies because at that time, LinkedIn was pushing that format out like crazy. And like every other platform, the format keeps on shifting a little bit because they're making algorithm changes and stuff. Eventually, they kind of like now solidified or focused a little more attention on

21:01ICP segmented content. Like if I'm a personal branding coach, they're going to show it to more people who are seeking that kind of content. Right? So I'll stain my niche, which is easier for me. And I'll still have clients literally inbound leads coming to me every single month. So I haven't done any paid ads for the last 10 years. Maybe 70 to half years. Maybe I did it like when I started my life coaching business and I got really burnt out. But from my agency business and scaling it up, I didn't do even a single dollar ad and everything happened on LinkedIn. You can use some outreach mechanisms. Like there are some automations that you can run, some sequences that you can run. But inbound, if there is best inbound possibility on like literally on any platform possible, it's LinkedIn that would actually help you build your brand and get your first three clients paying you $10,000 a month on LinkedIn. So that would be the best way. I'm so glad you mentioned that. Like I think I told you before we started the podcast, in our earlier conversation that a lot of

22:05my stuff goes in and paid ads. It's such a big thing on paid ads. But it's almost like it breaks even because I also do a lot of sponsorship kits. I do like a lot of stuff with a variety of different guests that request because we get a lot of people that request more like West Coastside as well, because of like the reach that we do in terms of our ads. So it does balance that out. But one thing I do like about LinkedIn though is when somebody does like something, it shows the entire following or like the the connection that you have what they end up liking, which is is one of a very powerful tool. I feel like that's one of the most powerful likes in all of like social media or social networking than anything because it just literally lets me know, hey, listen. So and so that's like your first connection like this post and then pops up automatically at your algorithm as well. Would you say LinkedIn's algorithm is slightly separate to obviously, I mean, would you recommend people posting regularly like a daily for LinkedIn or how would you say? I have done three to

23:07four posts in a week at the max. Okay. Ideally, I'd say at least four pieces of content is a must because one of the things about LinkedIn is engagement. So for example on Instagram, you can just put a real out there and algorithm is gonna pick it up if it is worth showing to your first thousand contacts if they like it and then it's gonna continue to push it out there. LinkedIn works a little bit differently. LinkedIn wants your cooperation in helping other people rise as well which means that it wants you to spend time after you made a post for like at least 60 to 80 minutes and support other creators too, which means that you are going to have like a whole engagement strategy where you have about 100 people that you really like and you love their content and you go to the profiles and drop a comment and then they're gonna drop a comment back to your profile as well. And also if the content is really good, the algorithm is gonna push it out further and then you're gonna find new audiences liking your post as well. So it's the platform really wants you to

24:10stay on the platform and also just read and like other people's work as well because it's not about just absorbing like short-form content but also like participating in the conversation. So it wants you to have the conversation on other people's content as well. So that is very very important factor because with our agency business we see that many people now have started to believe that okay, I do have AI now. We don't need the we don't need agency people to write for us because now I can train my claw, I can train my chat GP to write the content but do you have the time to sit down and participate in the conversation which they don't. So and you cannot automate that because it's something you have to do. You have to see what other people are writing, especially if you have a certain type of ICP, complimentary businesses, affiliate businesses, partners that you want to attract to your profile, you have to play the game. I love this so much. I'm glad you mentioned that because I'll be honest, whenever I go on LinkedIn, I actually love it because it'll be like

25:1410 steps of how to grow your podcast or like 15 steps on how to grow your businesses and it's actually very enlightening and educational concepts of how you can actually grow and build something. My algorithm on LinkedIn is the best thing. I wasn't trying to be, I was just letting you know from my experience by then but I love LinkedIn for the me effect that it's very educational. But now I think I lack the knowledge in how to utilize that for leads and like you know, Ganyg lead flow in business in high ticket sales, low ticket sales. I mentioned to you with the mentor that I met in Vegas and how we strategizing things as of next year where it's going to be very specific on how we do our low ticket sales, how we're going to do multiple different stuff, how we're going to do more sponsorship kits rather than just packages to make it very suitable for people and you know, to show a bit of value in that, how we're going to make it more. So all these different things, I feel like LinkedIn could potentially be a good tool for that, which you agree? 100%. Okay, awesome stuff. All right. Now, can you walk me through identification, or identity

26:23activation? What does the process actually look like for somebody who is terrified to be visible? All right. So this is a loaded question and it is something that I've spent a lot of time diving into the nuances of what makes a great personal brand versus somebody who's just posting content for the sake of posting content because most of the people, but they think about their personal brand, they're thinking about content. Okay, whether it's a podcast, whether it's a YouTube, whether it is LinkedIn posts or whatever that is. Outcomes are important. Of course, we want to make sure that we get the right ROI of the time and energy investment that we're making, but when people want to want to build their personal brand, the first thing they miss out and not many gurus talk about this is identity aspect of your personal brand. What it means is who you are in the picture

27:24of creating this perception for yourself in the marketplace and how authentic you are about your representation. Because now we're loaded with content. There's going to be content everywhere. Okay. And more so because of AI, more and more people are plunging into entrepreneurship and it's just going to rise like crazy in the next couple of years. So the truth is the personal brands that are going to stand out are the brands where people have the sense of connection, really, to ability and feeling a sense of feeling of knowing that I get this person, right? That I understand where they're coming from. What's the story? What's the what's the what do they believe in? And all the big brands that you see right now, they're they're basically built on this principle of identity. So what is identity activation? This is it's a process that I coach all my

28:27clients who are wanting to build a person brand who have a person brand which is not working, they're posting content, they're getting leads as well. But it's not something that is true to their heart. I mean, they're burnt out. They feel that, okay, I have to put content. I have to do this. I have to, you know, when you do this, have to, it means something is wrong because you're not in a state of flow. It's not something that you wake up to and realize, oh, I'm so excited to put this piece of content on. I'm so excited through this interface or through this medium I'm connecting with the people in the world. And when people don't do that, eventually, first of all, the person brand dies down because people don't have a reason to come back to because they're not able to connect with you at a deeper level. They're able to see your content, they resonate with the ideas, but they're not held, bend with your presence. It's not like they're not connected with you at a deeper level. So the activation process is very simple. It's a five-step process. It's called Warve. W is Vune. A is Enkel. R is Reframe. And we is Voice. And A is Attract. So Vune, Enkel,

29:40Reframe, Voice Attract. So this is a framework that I teach. Primarily, it takes you on a journey of recognizing your Vunes. And it doesn't necessarily mean that the Vunes of your personal life, like I have had a lot of Vunes, but business life failed businesses, lost partnerships, trying to build business for the last three years, not able to succeed. But eventually, you had a breakthrough anchor that those wins, those lessons, reframe it in a form of actionable ideas that you can then share with people. And the Voice is basically authentically, like creating your own association with creating the pairing with some value system ideologies, believes that are unique to you in your authentic voice. And thereby attracting the right tribe,

30:41people, because you don't want to serve everybody and everybody in the world. It's not even important. If you can't build a relationship, it's only maybe 500,000 people to a million people who rave about you, who are really connected deeply with you, that's a successful personal brand. And it requires you to first of all embrace the version of you that you believe your personal brand should look like. So if I want to look like, if I want to be perceived as somebody who's inspirational, somebody who's a game changer, somebody who's giving people voice, then I have to first share my journey, my own life. I have to be a little wonderable of sharing what I all I went through because of my experiences, I have credibility. And that credibility is a part of your wound. And people who are just behind you on the journey are the people who want to work with you, are the people who want to associate with you. And it

31:45doesn't matter whether it's just like a typical technical SaaS business or a creative business. It doesn't matter what kind of business that is because those stories are what people connect with. And in our agency, obviously, we focus on building personal brands like that, but also the people that I'm working with as a coach, they're finding tremendous amount of value. They're like, okay, I'm not even thinking about content anymore. I'm thinking about the whole foundation of the content. I love that so much, which kind of kind of segues through this because I feel like sometimes people are obsessed with the metric of the followers rather than actually understanding the value there is in trying to convert that into a customer as well, which kind of leads to this question. You say people follow people they trust, not just content they consume. What's the fastest way someone can destroy the trust even unintentionally? Wow. The fastest way to destroy the trust is

32:50by copying the trends and using someone else's story or their own their narrative, like basically just not being authentic because people will remember something that you said five years ago. As I just told you with my own experience, it was just a pose that 500 people liked, but truth to be told, I have had people like wanting to connect with me for the last couple of years and sharing their experience of the journey that I took them out with my experiences with my learnings and how I was able to express that. Now, if you flip this and make this like, okay, the experience that you are now sharing with people is like changing faster because now one day you said something the other day you copied somebody's style because it would probably help you break through the algorithm or give you more views and stuff, but it is not true to you.

33:55People can sense it. So I mean, if we look at ourselves how we consume content or the people that you love consuming content from, what is one thing that stood out for you? What is one thing that made you go back to them again and again? Are you asking me a question right now? Also personally, some people are following, I follow like that, you know, your Alex and Rosie, I like your Cody Sanchez, even like Argin, New York, Vivian, Fou, they all have different stories. The reason I like the two ladies is they also had that Wall Street background, which was a background I was pursuing before they ended up like following a pattern of on-trop and your ship, but the reason why I like what they teach is they're very consistent in what they're doing. Like the the the gentleman I mentioned in Vegas with acquisitions is good at making profound topics simple, and I think that's a very big thing right now. People also are still trying to be like the smart person rather than really simplifying like topics and we go to fully consumer understand,

35:00and I think that's why I mean, I like the value system. Exactly. Value is not bad. The association that you have. So what you're saying is that I associate value and trust with this brand. Exactly. And what if they do something which is opposite of it, you know, what if they create a piece of content that is contradictory to what they have been teaching? They're naturally you just end up like just repelling because you don't want to consume the kind of stuff because you like somebody because of the value they bring, but the minute they go against their principles, then you just naturally end up repelling and retracting that. Yeah, consistency and authenticity are the building blocks of a trusting brand. I love that so much. And I think how can people be more authentic in themselves? That's the problem. I think people want to try and do it. That's why I think people follow the trends. There's a video I saw two days ago. It's like girls, she was crying. It's obviously fake crying, but like she was saying, now I'm going to have to try and like dance,

36:02sell my product online. It just starts like it was the funniest thing ever. It was a funny kind of thing making a joke trying to insult off like what the new trends are as always kind of goes to what you're saying. And I think people want to be authentic, but I think people feel like they need to follow the trends as well. There's just that fine line between the two. Yeah. What's your opinion on that? It's great to know what's happening. It's great to follow the trends when it is completely in alignment with what you are, who you are, and what you want to project on in the world. And it's really hard to be original. It's scary to be original because you're afraid to not be accepted as well. You're afraid that people aren't going to connect with it. That is why people want to jump on the trends because it's easier because it's proven. Only the rare thinkers and acutely original people are the ones who build brands that stand the test of time. Okay. And it takes courage. It takes some sense of deeper intention tied to your presence, your self-confidence

37:12and knowing that you're not here to please people. Personal branding is not about just achieving things in life. Personal branding is a responsibility. Personal branding is about expressing your truth so that somebody who is somehow landing up on a piece of content, they're just finding that strength, that clarity, that value with what you have projected up there, and literally doing something with it. I feel like people are using personal brand. It's like monetizing your personal brand and there's nothing wrong with it. I use this term all the time with my clients. But in reality, if you ask me, what is personal brand is your courageous self that you express out there with something significant that is useful for people to use, to apply or to take value from. And it is rare. And the people who have done it, there are people who are unforgettable.

38:12And it's not just related to making money. It could be just something that you're called to share with the world because you feel this is that's the reality of your experience of this life. And you just want to share it. And you just want to be original because it matters to you. I think I've fallen that category. So that's why I'm very passionate about that subject. I love that. And from your experience and the people that you work with, what's a success story of somebody that you built from nothing to a big personal or a very successful personal brand? Normally, the people that we work with from the agency side are the people, they're the out desired outcome for them is to build the brand that is unique, taught leadership in their space, but relating to growing their business. And that's the ROI for them. So it takes me a while to make them understand that what I'm creating for you or what we are building here is just not about

39:14business. I know that business is the outcome. But somehow, if you're putting a piece of content out there, it's a moral obligation to make sure that is real to you. So our job is to capture the voice that they talk with and the real expression of their being. And I think part of the work that I do with them is having them have built like deep self-awareness. And trust me, that's a reason why people love to work with us because we're not just an agency or I'm not just a coach who will be like, okay, I'll have to build your personal brand so that you can just achieve your outcomes. It will make you a better person. It will make you a stronger person. It will make you a better communicator, more courageous in your space and have this real self-confidence that I'm doing something that is worth building. So making people see the value in their own creativity, in their own business, and the impact they're creating in that space is amazing. That's actually, that part is the biggest breakthrough for me. Like I love that when people tell me, you know what, you change me as a

40:16person. This has changed me as a human being. So those are the wins that I look at. Awesome. What's the first step of somebody right now? Zero social media, they opening up an account, they want to try and like, what social media platforms should they focused on and what's the most important thing right now? Again, loaded question. It really depends on the format that you enjoy the most because if you enjoy a particular format, you would like to create content in that format. And all formats are great. If you're a great writer, if you're comfortable writing more because you feel that it comes natural to you, it's not a burden. You substack, you's LinkedIn. If you love yapping on camera, yeah, yeah, factor. Then are you targeting me right now? What would you do? Well, yeah, we're getting personal right now. So yeah, make videos. If you are somebody who's just

41:16trying to like explore what is the right medium for you, do both and then see what you can stick with. But have some outcome. Three things that I also just forced is like, why am I doing this? What's the why? And try to have like at least three, four deeper questions around it. One is like, I want to build a business. I want to build a business. I want to gain clients. Okay, that's wonderful. Use the platform to gain clients. But why this particular platform, you think would be more suitable. Then why this one format is more comfortable? And why is this important for me to do this? Because there are other ways to grow business than to build your personal brand. There are many of the ways to grow business. Okay, because personal brand, as I said, comes with a responsibility. And I strongly want to re-emphasize this part because I want more people to see the gravity of the work that do because the work is going to stay. It's just going to stay all always, you know. And the truth is

42:16that if you do something and people are finding it 10 years on the line and finding it valuable, I think you're winning at it because it's a long journey. Like I listened to some of the teachers and mentors who are dead like 50 years ago, died like 50 years ago. But I still listen to those ideas because they're so applicable in my personal life, in my business life, even today. So I feel like starting is easy, staying consistent is hard. So choosing the right platform, medium and having the clear why is very important. I absolutely love that last part you said, starting is obviously easier than it is staying consistent because staying consistent is sometimes can get very discouraging because now you've started the process and it's super exciting and now the stepping stone is there. But then we often want to see quick results. We often want instant gratification, you know, like, oh my gosh, that first post that's super well or whatever, you know, really like

43:19captured the algorithm. It's super exciting. And then you start plateauing and you're like, oh my gosh, what's going down? What's going down? Then before you know, it's somebody's been posted for like 10, like I mean, 10 months or so. And I think that's where the grind comes in. You know, I start watching, start seeing, I mean, you know, the Gary Vee, even the school hard knocks, everyone keeps talking about the consistency and something because it's almost it doesn't mean that you have to post content every day. Exactly. Send the right expectations with your audience. If you want to do it once on a week, so be it. But make sure that it's it's a great, great piece of content. And that's all. And post just every week, just once on a week. So more is not important, but great content, authentic content with value and impact is more important. Love that, love that so much. Which kind of just dials into like this one last section, we're going to talk about right now is our podcasting. I look at my podcast for the last two years has been the leading source of building relationships

44:20and building credibility and capturing business and attention as well. However, I look at it. Podcasting it. It's such an underrated thing right now. What would you say has helped build relationships for you and also business? Yeah, it's such a great journey for me. I started podcasting about four months ago. And I believe it's I could only tell myself why did I start sooner? Because one, it is such a great way to build relationships, as you said, if you want to reach out of somebody and you just don't have a reason to reach out of them, especially if there are somebody you revered, you really wanted to build some sort of relationship it. Like, you know, I brought in Mr. Kamal Raky on the podcast, who was the first Indian entrepreneur who got a company listed on NASDAQ back in I think 1980s. He's the pioneer of Indian Entrepreneurship

45:27in the US. But I just didn't know what else like how else I'd build relationship with him. And I had a podcast, so I just requested him to come on the podcast. I was at his book launch and he said, okay, yes. And like, you know, we talked so much, I learned so much from him and also build a relationship because I podcasted it really, really well as well. So I believe that it opens the doors for many, many opportunities for you. But I also feel that intention matters. For everything that you do in your life, you need to have a long term plan and the right intention. And so I feel that I always had the intention, but I didn't know, no, clearly, whether I wanted to do this for the longest time or I could be consistent in doing this. So, you know, you have to be real with yourself because there are so many other factors, there are so many other responsibilities. And if you want to start something, you want to make sure that you continue to build on it. So

46:32then I tell myself that it's the right time because I think I was already maybe last year or in before that. It was the right time because I'm already I have an approach to it. I know who I am going to interview, why I'm doing what I'm doing. There's a real connection of the podcast in terms of the value that it offers. And who does it offer to? No, I think I couldn't agree more. And just to add on that as well, intention is so big. I've done it for two years, but then it was just trying to get guests to share a story and try and build a connection. And then later on, you start like just diversifying and try to like manage relationships and try to also add value back to them because they added value. Like you adding value to me by coming to my audience as well. And so it's trying to leverage and understand what they can gain out of it as well. Because I think it's such a mutual thing when it's a women's scenario, not only for my audience or for me, but also

47:32for yourself. Like are you going to the right audience? It has to be I've realized that over time that I just want this to be a women's scenario for everyone. Because I think relationship is so important. You know, this often say you want handshake away from a completely different lifestyle. And over time networking has just been the biggest biggest most important attribute that I feel like I have, but I need to utilize it and leverage it a bit more to the point where it's like a women's scenario for more people. So I wanted to just add that real quickly there. What's the step moving forward right now with brand scale? What's the trajectory for the next five years? You definitely see me doing a lot more podcasts. And I realized that I'm passionate about it. Like it really came in my life at the right time. And I feel that having the right team is important. And a lot of many people when they start podcasting, they just, you know, record a couple of episodes. And then they just go out of the loop. You know, they're

48:37not visible anywhere. Right distribution system is important. Having a great team is important. You've got to invest in it. You have to invest in it. And the reason I'm saying this upfront is because sometimes people believe that they can just have like something very simple, like a phone recorder and having a guest on the show. I mean, it could work out for some people, but for majority of the people, podcasting success involves some sort of investment. And that means that you have to be very calculated and very intentional about it. So I believe that I'm going to talk a lot more about it because many of my clients want to jump into podcasting, especially now. AI is coming. The content, you know, is going to be everywhere. They're going to be AI avatars talking. There are going to be people using AI avatars to make videos. Podcasting is the only thing that's going to left, which is completely original. So many people want to start their podcast. Many businesses want to start their podcast. So there would be a space

49:38for an agency like me to become a podcasting agency, which is what we are working on now. The podcasting management agency. That's the thing that I'm building right now because we do have the right distribution team. We do have the right systems in place. We know what we're doing. And I've have had millions and millions of views on my reels collectively and also YouTube is also growing super fast. So we know what we're doing. So I wanted to replicate that system for other podcasters and also people want to jump into the podcasting. And alongside, obviously, the brand scale will continue to do what is doing, scaling it further to more businesses and wanting to build their personal brand. I think in next 20 years, I mean, that's going to be the name of the game, you know, everybody will have a personal brand because AI is taking up the jobs. I get about 20 to 30 applications every single month where people are looking for a job. Lead managers, project managers, creatives, you know, people who are, you know, they have no choice,

50:40but to pivot into being an entrepreneur. So personal branding is going to help them do that for themselves. Love that so much. Obviously, one of the last questions right now, the term winning is so different for every single person I've come across. And obviously, with your story, the trials, the tribulations that you overcame. And to be where you are at right now, for semi-errora, what does the term winning mean to you? Wow. That's so loaded right? That's really loaded. I want to talk about this. Like it could be many different things that I look at as winning to be. But honestly, if there's one word, it's peace. Peace, because all the choices and actions that you are taking every day, either they are taking you away from peace or they're bringing you closer to peace.

51:43Rest everything is a byproduct. The byproduct is money. The byproduct is fame. The byproduct is success, validation, recognition, all of these things that we desire are really what are they telling us about our personalities, our vision is feeling joyful or happy because I have achieved so much of success and so much of validation and recognition. These are all external things, okay? Which somehow make us believe that we will find fulfillment in those acquisitions. But in reality, what we are really seeking is the self-recognition of our own being, feeling joyful, while pursuing all these goals and activities, and feeling fulfilled and peaceful within ourselves. Okay, you know what? Everything that I did today brought me peace and joy.

52:44So for me, if I can get to that state of mind, as much as possible in my life, I'll call myself winning it life. Powerful. If you could let our viewers know where they could get a hold of you, if they want to try and build trust, authority, or even try and upscale their podcasts or stop one, if you let our viewers know as well. Sure. The easiest place to find me is on LinkedIn. It's semi-arurra or you can always come to my Instagram handle semi-arurra official. I mean, these are the two best places otherwise you can go to my website gobrandskill.com and I'll be happy to connect with you as well. The code to winning insights you need today to seize the world tomorrow, semi-arurra. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure. Thank you.