How Hala Taha Turned a Free Podcast into a Multi-Million Dollar Business

Her first client paid her $700. Her second paid her $30,000. She didn't even have a website.

Hala Taha, aka 'The Podcast Princess', started her career as Angie Martinez's assistant at Hot 97, spent years trying to make it online before anyone used the word "influencer," and finally found her breakthrough on LinkedIn when everyone told her it wasn't the place for that kind of content. She launched Young and Profiting as a free podcast with a volunteer team of 10 in a Slack channel. Today she runs a 60-person company, the #1 self-improvement podcast network, and makes $1.5M a year in podcast sponsorships alone.

In this episode, Hala breaks down exactly how she built it all. We get into why she turns podcast guests into paying clients, how she hired her first video editor by poaching them from the company that fired her, why trades and engagement pods were her secret growth weapons when she had zero budget, and why the last thing you should ever outsource is your original thinking.

If you've been waiting until you have a website, a logo, a team, or a plan before you start… Hala had none of that. And she's making MILLIONS.

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02:32 Hala's origin story: Hot 97, Angie Martinez, and trying to make it online since 18
05:28 Why she never tried to do it alone and how she recruited her first volunteer team
07:07 The spicy case for free internships and why her earliest interns are now business partners
09:48 How trades and audience swaps grew her brand with zero budget
11:50 Posting on LinkedIn when everyone said not to, and why that was her biggest break
16:28 The first hire every creator should make and the last thing you should ever outsource
20:51 You cannot scale to elite level without a team. Period.
32:43 Your brand enables you to charge more: the power of social proof
35:39 The best decision she ever made and why she's thankful she showed up every day brick by brick
43:59 Why AI is coming for entry-level jobs and how personal brand is the way to future-proof yourself

About Hala Taha
Hala Taha, known as “The Podcast Princess,” is the host of Young and Profiting (YAP) Podcast, a #1 Entrepreneurship podcast with over 30 million downloads. A Top 100 podcast globally, YAP features star-studded guests like Matthew McConaughey, Gary Vee, Alex Hormozi, Deepak Chopra, Daymond John, Mel Robbins, and countless others. The show was recognized as a 2022 Webby Honoree, and Hala graced the cover of Podcast Magazine in January 2021.

Hala is also the Founder and CEO of YAP Media, an award-winning, premier white-glove social media and podcast production agency for CEOs, celebrities, and top podcasters. With nearly 60 employees and a dozen high-profile clients, YAP Media was named the #1 LinkedIn Marketing Agency and voted Best Podcast Agency of 2022.

In 2022, Hala launched the YAP Media Network, a podcast network that helps top podcasts land sponsorship deals with major brands like LinkedIn, Airbnb, and Shopify. YAP Media is pacing to hit 8-figures in 2025, and represents some of the most popular business podcasters in the world including Jenna Kutcher, Amy Porterfield, Tori Dunlap and John Lee Dumas.

Connect with Hala
👍 Instagram: @yapwithhala
💼 LinkedIn: Hala Taha
🎙️ Podcast: Young And Profiting
🌐 youngandprofiting.com/

Stay connected with me
📧 Contact: courtney@smoothmedia.co
👍 Instagram: @builtinpublicpod
👍 Instagram: @courtlynnjohnson
💼 LinkedIn: Courtney Johnson
🎶 TikTok: @courtney..johnson