How To Build Your Personal Brand (using LinkedIn) - w/ Shikhaj

and it worked wonders because I was telling my own story I was telling my own failures it it's not always about posting success like that feels fake I don't know if I want to put myself out there I don't know if any of my posts will actually add value or create your own brand build build authenticity online and let people come to you welcome back to the ready said do podcast where we discuss remarkable stories by Regular People my guest for this episode is shik Jak shik is a technical account manager at Adobe more importantly he's a Trailblazer in the art and as we shall see science of building a personal brand online with a keen focus on authenticity and through insightful storytelling chash has carved out for himself a compelling presence

out for himself a compelling presence online most notably on LinkedIn as someone who has followed his posts for a while now it is rather remarkable that shikar was talking about the importance of building one's personal brand online especially from the perspective of an international student in the US when almost no one else was doing such a thing the fact that he managed to do so from the ground up in parallel to being a master student in the US makes his feat even more commendable we discuss how one can get started with building their personal brand online and explore some of the many benefits and potential motivations behind doing the same shik goes over how he started out and the tools he used to post helpful and engaging content consistently building a follower base slowly and steadily that

follower base slowly and steadily that relies on him for his insightful contribution particularly in the fields of marketing technology and more we go over the rather daunting aspect of finally putting oneself out there and the importance of curating a pure group that enables beneficial habits to tie things up we go over how we can derive Potential synergies from various social medias a personal website as well as our professional organizations and in-person events to make a well-rounded brand for ourselves this discussion is helpful to anybody that's looking to get started with curating their presence online be from scratch or improving upon an already existing brand all sections are time stamped both on YouTube and Spotify or wherever else you get your podcast finally in keeping with our theme of

finally in keeping with our theme of learning from somebody that's just two steps ahead of you instead of an expert this discussion centers on the tools that work successfully for shika my goal is to merely highlight how somebody can get started today towards their own goal of building a personal brand and avoiding some common pitfalls that lie along the way so without further Ado my conversation with shik shik welcome hey thank you uh thanks for having me of course it's my pleasure um I'm really excited to get into some of what will hopefully be a really helpful conversation for our listeners around building their personal Brands online but to get started do you want to kick us off by going over your current role at Adobe and kind of how you got there

at Adobe and kind of how you got there so um how your degree in Engineering Management came to be and you know just your journey up until this point so um talking about my journey so far I came to the US um in Fall 2021 for my MERS in Engineering Management uh at Duke um and then graduated from that in December 2022 uh after which I started full-time at adob as a technical account manager um and uh still working that job but yeah there are a lot of pieces and things that I would love to share uh in with within that Journey as well so yeah uh let me know you know how you want to get started or where exactly do you want to dive into yeah so um you had referenced when we were connecting off

referenced when we were connecting off the Record earlier that you had to defer for a whole year because of covid and that was kind of a sticky situation for you because you were just fresh out of college um from your undergrad degree and obviously hadn't signed up for any placements and such because you had your admit and then Co happened so naturally you were not able to go so can you talk through um that whole year and how you made the most of that year despite starting off at you know such a disadvantage in that just the the fact that time was against you so how did you leverage that still to your advantage in terms of not having it be a blocker absolutely um so as you said like uh I had my duke admit uh in in

like uh I had my duke admit uh in in March uh 2020 uh and I knew that I'm going to go to the US for my master so U I did not pay much attention to the on campus placements back in my undergrad College um so what ended up happening is when Mr covid came uh it came with uh a lot of disappointments like uh I I couldn't go to the uh us that year because uh the Visa appointments embassies were closed or like running at a very less capacity so couldn't get the visa that year uh cannot go uh and on the other side I was like okay if I cannot go for my masters

like okay if I cannot go for my masters but what will I do in India right to to my surprise a lot of opportunities came and to me in that year some which came naturally and some which I had to create starting like with uh the first phase of that covid year was uh learning definitely learning a lot because that gave me uh and all of us a lot of time to actually sit back at home and learn an upskill ourselves um so that was my phase where I learned a lot of things which I always wanted to learn um so I uh I did my engineering in production um so that did not have to do a lot with tech like the way we see it today so

tech like the way we see it today so learned about data science machine learning uh did a lot of online corsera courses even about some some of them were about entrepreneurship so all in all like I just spent my time doing as much as I uh could in terms of learning and upskilling uh and then I was open to Opportunities I was looking for uh some uh freelancing work some startup uh that I could join and while doing so what an idea that hit me and a couple of my other friends was let's start um a marketing agency uh where we work with some of like-minded folks you know maybe plus minus 2 three years of age than that

minus 2 three years of age than that than we are uh work with them understand the problems that uh all these uh small medium business owners are having uh because at that time if you look at the restaurant owners or any other small businesses which did not have online presence at all were struggling because um it was a lockdown and they wanted to have an online presence so what we started doing was uh we spoke to uh some of them understood what their pain point is uh got to know that yeah they have a little money to spend but they do not know they money to spend but they do not know what to do and uh you know who to reach out to so we built out a

who to reach out to so we built out a agency uh trained ourselves in that obviously we were not experts uh we were just all of us were like just College grads um so trained ourselves learned about it on on social media and everything and then um just started out um and all in all as it went uh it went pretty well but uh the main highlight of that Journey was the way we you know understood a problem and trained ourselves to solve it uh because and I think that's that's like true for every other entrepreneurship journey is like you don't start with you know with knowing everything you have to figure it out as you go um so absolutely that I think really uh was a building block in my uh in my mindset of okay whatever happens I know how I can figure it out

happens I know how I can figure it out so would you say the courses that you did that were kind of self-taught that you were you know just doing to just upskill yourself did that help in any way towards that marketing because it sounds like there can be a bunch of things that can go into that so were you mostly just writing content and so like ghost writing or was it also just design or you know graphic design type of stuff can you go over what exactly you know your services included uh with respect to that startup yeah sure so the courses I did were more like on a data perspective an engineering perspective and this was a completely different game like analytical versus creative this uh was a completely uh the agency business was completely creative um and I had to

was completely creative um and I had to dive in I started using canva started using a lot of creative tools which I had no information about earlier uh and then I also started to look out on LinkedIn as a way to go out there and build our brand build our agency and the awareness around it so LinkedIn was kind of our platform to go out there and and show the people that what we can do um and I was looking at um the marketing of our agency as well like in to some extent right so um had to learn about how it's how it's done online and at that time very few companies even like big Brands were not that big on LinkedIn and everything like they were there uh

and everything like they were there uh but not not to an extent what we see today uh that was a very defining phase of digital marketing in general so on that note it so would you say that was your first foray into you know writing on LinkedIn kind of putting yourself out there even though it wasn't under your personal brand it sounds like you were representing the business that you you know that you were working or that you were trying to build at the time and then at some point it sounds like that switched out you almost swapped that out with your yourself and you know you almost started building your own personal brand I think that may have coincided with you coming to the US but can you talk us through um kind of

but can you talk us through um kind of what led you to you know do that make that Swap and how did you go about doing that sure so I mean I I might sound contradictory here but uh when I was actually ghost writing for people I was like you know this doesn't make sense to me because it's not really their original thoughts like oh obviously some people have original thoughts and we just polish it but yeah some of them did not have original thoughts and at you know just zero inputs and all we were doing is like acting as jgbs for them at back back at that time so so were they

back back at that time so so were they giving you prompts at all or was it entirely you were deciding what you wanted to represent them as I mean they had a general idea in mind uh but not like okay you talk about this topic we we you know discussed on what is the objective I mean that's where the discussion where the that's where the discussion starts what's your objective on post about on posting so is it just building awareness do you want to get sales do you want to get leads whatever based on that uh we used to define our social media strategy so um and then um you know we just were discussing amongst ourselves within the company that you know we all can do this it's it it is not a lot we all can do this for

not a lot we all can do this for ourselves which will be very very important in long term uh and we all had ideas we all had our own uh you know uh original thoughts that we could put out there so I just started doing it experimenting with it how how it works uh and it worked wonders because I was telling my own story I was telling my own failures it it's not always about posting success like uh I guess it's there is more love out there than you think obviously and there's much more hatred out there than you think so uh uh it's about like how you take it uh in the end but yeah uh just keeping it very authentic posting about my journey about why I did not do something why I

about why I did not do something why I did do something all of that so were you already in the US at this point or are you still in India I'm still in India still figuring out uh startups everything okay so would you say that once uh 2021 happened once you moved to the US the the type of content that you were putting out changed to some degree and it you were more suited to you know an Indian student an Indian Master students perspective in the US or would you say you were still more more General uh just communicating thoughts and ideas in a you know nonthematic manner so to speak that's a good question now that I think of it I I would say I did not

think of it I I would say I did not think about all of these things like who's my target audience what's my team uh all I was doing was living my life and documenting it online but since my life changed when I moved to the US so did my content um it's not it was not intentional at all because you know when you're in a different setting you're thinking differently because you're thinking of different problems that you're facing so it's it was literally what I was thinking what I was going through and I was just posting it out so starting out when you were let's say let's pretend we are in your first couple months in the US so you've just gotten here still trying to figure out

gotten here still trying to figure out life what were some of the things that you were writing about was it more relatable style content about you know stuff that you were um hoping people might relate to or were you already trying to add value in terms of what you were writing so uh I think the first few months uh was not a lot of posting uh I was still like seeking absorbing in the the envir I meant but yeah I was definitely like doing those kind of post where hey I started my journey would love to connect and then U at that time I was reaching out to a lot of people rather than posting uh because I was still you know coming into the new

still you know coming into the new environment and then I was definitely sharing uh some content around how did I get here type of content because I knew there were folks back in India who were excited about my journey uh and they also wanted to like come to the US and do the same so I thought maybe that type of content might help some of the folks that are following me on LinkedIn um and obviously like LinkedIn was one way Instagram was other where I was just clicking a lot of photos because it's a new country and I'm uh exploring so um I had that travel SL food blogging going on on Instagram to some extent yeah um and and then for specifically for LinkedIn what what was your process like

LinkedIn what what was your process like for you know coming up with these ideas and then communicating them were are you more of a like you know Journal type of person that will write down ideas as when they come to you then structure them out you know make them bigger and before you you know post write them and post them or is it more of you know just ad hoc basis um posting uh that worked well for you so uh yeah I mean I I personally never did any social media planning so to say because um whenever any idea hit me I just used to like write them down on my notes because U you have to write down when it comes to

you have to write down when it comes to you because uh like we think of so many different things uh at the same time uh and in the same day so uh you definitely have to write it down and then like a lot of times what happened was an idea struck me today but then uh another building thought came later in the day or maybe next day uh so I used to have one node for an idea uh in my mobile U and then just had I made sure that I have at least three takeaways or three points because um it's not a tweet it's a LinkedIn post uh so uh I have to be complete it has to be

so uh I have to be complete it has to be comprehensive in its uh own so uh made sure that there are at least three takeaways out of that idea I see so I think that Segways nicely into how I first you know came across your uh posts on LinkedIn so I was a student at the time I think this would be somewhere around late 2021 or early 22 and I realized that I I obviously in my network there's a bunch of uh actually there's a mattering from you know all types of people really but a good chunk of that is you know really just Indian students in the US because that's just kind of the trajectory I followed myself and some something that really stood out to me that um in terms of your post specifically is that you were talking about uh personal brand building at a

about uh personal brand building at a time where it honestly seemed like just um such an unattainable Topic at least from my perspective because obviously at the time I was job hunting and really in my mind LinkedIn the the only reason that it existed or the only time I would ever spend time on LinkedIn would be very laser focused around either reaching out to people you know politely asking for referrals applying to jobs or internships but your posts almost opened that new realm in my mind that you know that's just not all that LinkedIn can be used for you can in fact also use it for this really you know helpful Endeavor which is that of personal brand building

which is that of personal brand building so can you talk us through what your thought process was like when you embarked upon that because I think a lot of students would probably relate to this your at least you know students in the US especially those from India and elsewhere are almost always in such a survival mode really that you never actually get to the higher echelons of that pyramid where you're you know now looking to thrive and not just you know make sure you you can survive so I know that was a a few different questions bunched into one no this is one particular theme uh and I would go back to when I was working U as a ghost writer or as somebody was helping other people build Brands and this came up a lot like you know uh now there are two

lot like you know uh now there are two things that you can do with your time one is reach out to people individually in their inboxes and be ready to be unseen or uh un replied uh whatever or create your own brand bu build build authenticity online and let people come to you you know and there is actual term push versus full marketing sounds like yeah there's a there's a term to it called inbound outbound there you go so you want you you can either write messages and all of that and that is outbound marketing inbound is where you are attracting folks you are building websites you are building portfolios you're building things that people see and then just come to you and uh you know ask you questions so um I was 8020 80 like I

questions so um I was 8020 80 like I never went on LinkedIn and scrolled to read I was more of a uh okay I'm here to post uh and same on Instagram at that moment because now there are two types of people one who will just consume the content and one who would post you will see like uh a lot of people who just post if they start consuming that content they will not be able to actually write something or like come up with something because it's a lot of clutter out there um so uh and it will also take away your authenticity if you start reading other people's content I mean to some extent obviously you should follow uh bunch of people but uh if you start in that loophole uh there's that you will start

loophole uh there's that you will start forming an Eco of whatever you are reading that will also be uh in your post like some something of that sort so uh try to be as authentic and try to post uh and write posts without really reading a lot of different people uh I mean you have to conserve your time it's not that it's not the only thing you're doing as a student in the US so absolutely so that brings me to how about that whole um discussion around that feels fake I don't know if I want to put myself out there I don't know if any of my PS will actually add value you know almost that self-doubt that practically everybody deals with I'm actually curious to know if you ever

actually curious to know if you ever dealt with that to begin with but me personally and a lot of people that I talk to are like yeah I think I have ideas they make sense in my head I'm just really afraid of you know being judged or by my friends or peers or even just under um just have people say that oh that person is really just writing all that for you know clout and for it to somehow um add up to a material benefit that can look look like maybe them getting a job or you know just writing for the sake of writing so did you ever go through that and if so how did how how do you deal with that I mean that happens right uh if you do

that happens right uh if you do something there there'll always be if you do something right or wrong doesn't matter if you do something there'll always be two types of people who one who will be complimenting you or encouraging you the other will obviously try to pull you down it's up to you on who you want to be friends with and I think that was was a really good indicator for me to uh know who I should be friends with and who I should not uh and I think that also helped me build my circle correctly back uh uh when I was doing my master so and definitely like you know uh at at the core of your heart

you know uh at at the core of your heart if you feel that you're not really doing it for material benefits and you're really doing it for something good to help people out and just to document your journey uh like you know you should not care if you're posting your photos on Instagram and uh you know it's because you want to post so that 10 years later you can come back and see what were you doing or how were you looking whatever right or where have you been so so you're saying you almost use Instagram as a personal Journal of sorts almost yeah Instagram as a personal Journal of travel eating LinkedIn as a personal Journal of professional journey of how I uh did uh my Masters or what learnings I had because I mean we are spending so many, um and if we did not document it

many, um and if we did not document it obviously you're not going to go back to your notes in the class and and read all of that you'll just you want a high level executive summary of things that you did and Linkedin is just that for me uh I still go back to my uh posts and read I I also wrote some articles which are there on my website now so I read those articles just when I have time and uh because a lot of time there needs to be reinforcement of those ideas uh over the time you will start forgetting things but these uh assets that I have now help me reinforce those learnings that I had in my uh Masters that's very

that I had in my uh Masters that's very interesting I think there's a couple really good call outs there um I guess the first one that I kind of want to drill down is I know you mentioned peers and the importance of choosing peers or surrounding yourself with people that you know add value instead of taking away value from your experience so and I know personally because I've I was I had multiple phases during my masters and I have been with both those type of peers so I'm really curious to hear your take on what are you know just some quantitative factors that one can you know think about when trying to decide if a certain peer group or really just you know two or three people or even an individual is you know a good type of peer or a bad type of peer because I

peer or a bad type of peer because I know if there's one factor that can that has the most drastic effect on your experience as a master student in the US it is perhaps you know your peer Circle so any tips or any advice on that sure I mean uh for me it just boiled down to one play uh one thing is that uh if you can be fearless or be can if you can be fearless or be uh or if you can know that okay whatever I tell or whatever I do the other person won't judge me definitely they have the right to you know uh like recommend me that okay do this or do not but uh nonetheless they should not be judging

nonetheless they should not be judging me uh at the very least so uh if I know that with somebody and I feel that then I'm I'm I'm My Own right uh I feel uh that okay uh this is a safe space to be in mhm uh but if I'm changing myself if I'm pretending to be somebody I'm not just to be friends with some folks definitely not you know I don't have the time to do it neither neither do you so absolutely it it sounds like what you're saying is that if you can't be authentic around somebody you're probably better off not being around that person to begin with which I really like because it's so actionable um it it just you

it's so actionable um it it just you know intuitively makes sense so um really appreciate that the second uh question I had around that was around your personal website so um can you talk us through what what motivated you to do that and just you know an overview of what's an easy way to go about doing that because I've actually personally have been trying to build my own and I'm just honestly I don't really know where to start and I know a few people might also have that question so would appreciate any ins on me it was more of a uh thing for applying to internships because I saw in a lot of workday applications and other applications that I saw that they ask for if you have a

I saw that they ask for if you have a website and there was a field to and I it really you know got to me that I not keeping this blank I mean if there is a question around it it let's just build one on one and it's not a big interesting because I just used to post my LinkedIn profile link which seems not very smart at this point respect but yeah I I I guess clearly we reacted to that same field in very different way yeah I was like uh let me build one and uh like I had my birthday coming up in in a few weeks so I was like uh let me launch this site on my

like uh let me launch this site on my birthday and just just did like I think it was not more than a couple of weeks effort to be honest because I had already built sites earlier uh in my digital marketing um business so uh I was like okay I can do it I just had to like come up with the content that I did and Linkedin post which I did help me I kind of uh leaned on them and uh built it and then um used all the professional experiences uh and wrote about them in a in a bullet manner so that everything is documented and is is in one place um so yeah uh you can use vix uh that's what I

yeah uh you can use vix uh that's what I used uh but uh it's been two plus years now uh and a lot of that has changed like it's very easy to build site now you have ai to do it so it's much easier of course so um with that I think it makes sense for us to perhaps go over on the topic of personal branding again um what are some right motivations to do that what should somebody you know Aspire for when they start going down that route um in terms of perhaps both quantitative and qualitative benefits but not in a way that it's completely driven by you know greed um as such but

driven by you know greed um as such but yeah what are some you know markers along the way that help to determine the right motivations for doing that uh to me I mean I see it just like any other good habit that you have going to the gym you're not like you know not not the teenagers trying to impress people around but like when you're old enough you're not going to gym to impress people around you're going there for yourself for your own benefit um and just the way how any good habit works you will not see uh the outcomes in days it will take months maybe years to actually see some benefits out of it uh it's the same with LinkedIn uh it is something you're doing it for your own benefit and not just LinkedIn I mean in general personal brand uh it's

mean in general personal brand uh it's something you're doing it for your own like and it's fine a lot of people don't do it which is fine because not a lot of not everybody has same goals in life right uh for me uh like it actually makes me happy to be able to help out somebody uh and I would do that anyways so in instead of people coming out reaching out to me and asking that question if I see a pattern in that question I'll will just write a post about it so that I know this is a question that people have let me just write a post and scale myself I wanted to scale myself to be able to help a lot more people than I could by a phone call

more people than I could by a phone call or by a text so uh it was just a way for me to scale myself and and I think to add to that in the current really digital era that we live in it almost feels like a no-brainer to have that presence online because it's really our entire all of our lives are now s so deeply intertwined with you know the internet really that it almost makes sense to have your own um Town Square for for lack of a better term where when people pass through that square they kind of know what to expect around these parts like this person talks about such and such that's what they represent um these are the values that they stand for and and it sounds like for you that value system was really um helping people in

system was really um helping people in in different ways through your thoughts and ideas and the things that you were doing so really appreciate you you know laying that out so well and so thoroughly for us um up next I kind of want to jump into the three it sounds like there's three avenues for uh personal Brands so the first would just be online and it sounds like two and three would be wherever so if you're currently employed your um organ ization would be kind of a different avenue because these are people you interact with that know you personally and then finally the third would be perhaps really you know just your social life um so can you walk us through I guess we've been over the so the online bit a fair

been over the so the online bit a fair amount but can you walk us through how one can go about you know building that brand within their organization as well as outside of it just in your daily life um I think you mentioned there's some events or some tech tech social meetups that you like to go to so any direction on that front I think would be really appreciated by people that are looking to you know get out there and you know put themselves out there in not just more than in just really more than one way sure um and I would say all of this started back in my undergrad um I was uh leading the technical exhibition uh for

leading the technical exhibition uh for my uh College Fest and because I was in that role U I had to go to a lot of exhibitions meet up s and meet startup Founders meet some tech enthusiasts to invite them to come to my Fest right and that's how I saw that okay a normal average college student versus me if I'm going out there and meeting these people it is opening up so many different opportunities SL learnings uh you know for me that I could not have if I did not go to these things uh you know I would just be in that bubble of college and what whatnot so I knew since then that it it has to

so I knew since then that it it has to be uh about going out to these events and and conferences or whatever uh so um I do that I try to go to some of the local events happening in my city uh to just see what what's happening around uh this whole Tech theme and it's not just Tech I mean it can be anything that you are passionate about that you want to learn about absolutely uh just maybe taking a painting class out there just like just like that right uh because you want to uh append on what you have so uh yeah that is one one case and the other is um as you spoke about organizational uh in in organizational capacity how you build your brand right

capacity how you build your brand right so um it's really boil it really boils down to uh the motiv of helping people around you because uh if you are if you're seeing a pattern of problems or issues um maybe document it raise it with the right team and and provide Solutions uh or give ideas uh and there is no cost to give ideas like people will appreciate it yeah to mostly people will appreciate it uh if it's if it's delivered right uh and not just to sound over smart but uh if you are giving genuine feedback to people around you uh it it is definitely um welcome um and always say what you want like uh you know I whenever I talk to some some people uh I tell them that hey this is

people uh I tell them that hey this is what I'm doing and this is what I want to do this is what I would love to do but maybe that opportunity or that thing is not there yet but if that comes up later down the the line they will know oh yeah shik reached out to me and he mentioned that he wanted to do this let me you know bring him so um and that has helped me like to some extent uh within my organization of because I let people know I let people in on my dreams so that they can help me achieve it because if you are just sitting uh uh on your own with your with

sitting uh uh on your own with your with your vision and not sharing it with the world outside how will the World help you mhm it yeah it almost sounds like that you know old adage where um closed mouths don't get fed it's it really sounds like that's really kind of what you're getting at so on that same note in terms of um what what are some benefits that you achieved by you know doing almost curating putting in so much work really in the type of content that you put out there how has that positively impacted your life both in qualitative as well as Maybe perhaps more material benefit uh types of ways so I mean uh the first would be definitely learning and self-awareness uh because there's this one quote uh it says uh you don't learn from experiences you learn from reflecting on those experiences uh and that reflection uh

experiences uh and that reflection uh was a major part of my content creation Journey um and like after doing that I knew knew what my thought process is what my ideals are what my opinions are and I'm definitely posting out there with an open mind of okay I'm okay if people think otherwise and I'm open to their opinions and maybe adapt my mindset because our I mean it's just a very defining phase of our life and we can change our mindset we can change our opinions right now um and this is one thing like my dad told me like you know work and uh do stupidest stuff out there right now because you won't be able to do it once you are uh you know somebody's dad like you can't you can't do you can't be stupid after you are uh

do you can't be stupid after you are uh some age right so uh very true be stupid now and and be ready to be called stupid uh because the moment you start taking it negatively and think about oh what will they think of me and all of that you stop growing in a sense so um that's it that's there and so would you say somebody that's you know starting to do that on LinkedIn and such can expect to be benefited in their job search perhaps by having that presence or that brand online at all or would you say that that's not something really that one should be banking upon I mean definitely there is a uh a very good chance of uh a

there is a uh a very good chance of uh a recruiter looking at your profile and if you have been posting regularly uh building a community around you uh that's one important uh you know Factor while selecting candidates for interviews and whatnot but it's not really just about your first job or job search it's also about your entire professional career uh because the job is not what defines us it is also maybe being called up as a uh thought leader on a particular topic maybe like if you want to be a Ted speaker tomorrow uh you have to have some brand outside so uh there is a lot of other things than just job job definitely if you are doing it for job then maybe do it completely because

then maybe do it completely because there are 10 other benefits waiting for you apart from that job uh so uh job is not the only thing uh that it brings I I really like that call out for multiple reasons and yeah the the biggest reason that comes to mind is you're you're almost saying that that you have bigger fish to fry than to just get employment you know as a consequence of um putting content out there putting your thoughts and ideas out there and hoping that it you know helps somebody because clearly and hopefully you've put thought into that and you know you've spent time um and effort coming up with that so on that same note um when we were connecting earlier of the record

were connecting earlier of the record you shared that you've um well not drastically but have somewhat reduced the amount of content that you've been putting out in LinkedIn and you referen that there's almost too much of content now going around um and a lot of that is driven by Ai and you know the quick proliferation that has come about because of these you know really accessible AI tools so what does that do you have any um takes on what the you know near future looks like in terms of that landscape around you know content at least let's just say for on LinkedIn for now sure I mean the Dynamics keep on changing uh year on year uh right uh before the pandemic nobody was on LinkedIn talking posting and there was I think the ratio which I

and there was I think the ratio which I remember was 1 is 1 is to 99 1% people used to post because obviously it used to take time uh and money to do it uh if you're if you're uh uh recruiting agencies to do it so uh definitely right now you can just go on uh any AI assistant and write it can write a post for you with just few prompts um so it has really become easy to write something uh and because of that a lot of people are writing which is good uh I mean they are working on their ideas but not for me as a reader I would not say LinkedIn has grown uh in a way that

say LinkedIn has grown uh in a way that I would want to um so I have kind of uh taken that time out and I'm reading some books uh some self-help books uh which are helping me build that uh knowledge ecosystem for myself yeah so right now if you want to build an authentic brand out there maybe things like podcasting or even YouTube videos one where you actually uh show the human uh behind the screens uh and um or maybe inperson events inperson networking uh going to the office uh whatever right so uh there are a lot of different Avenues but um writing without a face online is not what I would call the number one today uh that that was a thing of maybe two years years before right at least you know non-effortful or non um laser focused

non-effortful or non um laser focused writing on a given subject and you know just really writing for the sake of writing so um from what you reference it sounds like you're Now setting your sites elsewhere you're now probably looking at greener pastures so um for you personally you know um what does the future look like do you have any upcoming projects that you think you would be spending your time on um as a as a you know subdirectory of your brand that you've already obviously built so well and that exists online right now or are you looking to mostly you know stay dormant for now and just wait it out until you kind of have your plan figured out yeah I mean I'm still figuring it out uh definitely I have a few ideas in

out uh definitely I have a few ideas in my mind uh I definitely want to dive in on the mtech and the mtech uh marketing advertisement Tech uh domain interesting uh and that's where I'm kind of networking with folks around uh seeing what what is a good way to actually learn about that and also help people around me to learn about it because it's a new every Everything has Tech to it like every industry you see ftech Tech insure Tech uh med tech everything has Tech to it uh but I want to dive deeper on the marketing Tech of of all of this and uh see what I can do to kind of uplift the whole community at large because because uh that is a very quick way of learning

uh that is a very quick way of learning something uh if you actually explain it to others you learn you learn things a lot better and a lot faster wow um I think that brings us to the end of you know the topics that I wanted to cover here I'm really grateful for you taking the time today to uh join us and share your journey and not just your journey but also your knowhow that you've accumulated on this subject and I wish you the very best for any and all your future endeavors and I'm sure that you will be that I will be seeing you you know blow up even more than you already have and also while continuing to help people out there so really really

people out there so really really appreciate you taking the time today sh thank you so much for having me and N uh very great uh initiative with this podcast I mean uh definitely something that a lot of folks out there who are still trying to figure it out will look up to and see you grow as a podcaster so all the best to you as well thank you I really appreciate that all right bye-bye that brings us to the end of episode four of the Ready Set do podcast I trust this discussion was beneficial for you in your Endeavor of curating your own personal brand if you did find this discussion helpful please consider

discussion helpful please consider subscribing to The Ready Set do Channel on YouTube and giving me up to a FST star rating on Spotify it is the best and easiest way to support this podcast I cannot thank you all for sharing these conversations with those that continue to benefit from them if you would like to get in touch with any suggestions or to nominate a guest for the podcast please feel free to comment under the like button on this YouTube video alternatively please feel free to reach out to me over Instagram as a final note remember that whatever it is that you want to do it is possible if you just Ready Set