IAM2550 – Podcaster and Co-owner Helps Businesses Grow Their Customer Base and Increase Sales

I AM CEO Handbook Volume 3 is HERE and it's FREE. Get your copy here: http://cbnation.co/iamceo3. Get the 100+ things that you can learn from 1600 business podcasts we recorded. Hear Gresh's story, learn the 16 business pillars from the podcast, find out about CBNation Architects and why you might be one and so much more. Did we mention it was FREE? Download it today!

Transcription:

The full transcription is only available to CBNation Library Members. Sign up today!

Hadeel Ghaida Teaser 00:00

But with our company, we really heavily focus on lead gen. So, we actually recently niched down to roofing, and we've been really focusing on roofers, and it's been fantastic.

I mean, when you focus on an industry specifically and you figure out a problem they have and then find a solution, it really helps not only the business side, but also just your product itself.

We were able to really perfect our product to the point where now our clients are just extremely happy working with us.

Intro 00:29

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 00:56

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Hadeel Ghaida of Spotlight Revenue and the Warriorz Podcast. Hadeel, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Hadeel Ghaida 01:06

Having me, Gresh, I'm really excited to be on here.

Gresham Harkless 01:09

Definitely super excited to have you on. And what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Hadeel, so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Hadeel is the co-owner of Spotlight Revenue.

And when she's not working on her business, she also runs her own podcast called The Warriorz Podcast, where she interviews top-producing CEOs and finds out what drives their success and what impact they can make. Hadeel, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Hadeel Ghaida 01:32

Yes, I am. Awesome.

[restrict paid=”true”]

Gresham Harkless 01:34

Let's do it. So, they kick everything off. I wanted to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. What led you to start your business?

Hadeel Ghaida 01:40

That's a great question. What led me to summer in business, actually, a soccer injury. That's what led me to start my business. I was, I was growing up.

I really wanted to be a professional woman, soccer player for the national team. And when I scored the winning goal and that was the, that was the game that was going to recruit me for college and then lead me to go into my profession for soccer. Right.

I scored the winning goal and I completely like, well what happened was when I scored the winning goal, I celebrated and all my teammates came running with me.

When I jumped up to celebrate with them, one teammate of mine who actually assisted me in the goal, her knee hit my knee when she jumped on me.

Gresham Harkless 02:18

Oh no.

Hadeel Ghaida 02:19

Then that just tore my ACL and ruined my career. And I was like, okay, well, what's the next thing I'm going to do?

So, it led to me actually, it led to entrepreneurship and a series of events happened. I started an app company, didn't work out. And then that led to my marketing agency. So started off with an injury.

Gresham Harkless 02:36

I'm sorry to hear that. And it's funny enough, when I started my blog and all this stuff, I started, I wasn't nearly as close as you were to getting a college degree, but I was playing basketball and actually tore my Achilles tendon, and it made me stuck in bed.

And I was doing a bunch of stuff with the blog, but it was largely because of that. Cause I probably wouldn't have been able to sit still any other way.

So, hate when those things happen, but sometimes they happen for great reasons.

Hadeel Ghaida 02:58

Yeah, it's the worst feeling, but you know what? They're blessing in disguise.

Gresham Harkless 03:01

Exactly, exactly, exactly. So, I wanted to drill a little bit deeper here, a little bit more about what you're doing with your business and in your podcast, of course.

Hadeel Ghaida 03:09

Of course, yeah. So, with my business, I mean, we focus mainly on helping businesses grow their customer base and increase their sales revenue.

A lot of marketing agencies either focus on branding or getting you more followers, whatever it may be.

There's always a different type of marketing specialty each agency does. But with our company, we really heavily focus on lead gen.

So, we actually recently niched down to roofing, and we've been really focusing on roofers, and it's been fantastic.

When you focus on an industry specifically and you figure out a problem they have and then find a solution, it really helps not only the business side, but also just your product itself. We were able to really perfect our product to the point where now our clients are just extremely happy working with us.

And you learn a lot, and it's I mean, obviously we provide other services for any other industry that comes our way, but roofing has been our like sweet spot recently and it's been it's been a lot of fun learning about that industry and what goes down in the home improvement world.

Alongside with that, you also asked about my podcast. The Warriorz podcast actually has been one of the best networking for me.

I love it so much because I get to meet not only CEOs, but I also get to meet leaders, any type of leader in any industry, whether it's for a nonprofit, or maybe an organization they're trying to establish for building schools, or just any, any type of leader usually I get run into lately has been someone who's trying to tackle world conflict, and trying to find solutions for it.

And it's been really, it's been really cool meeting all these different phenomenal people. They have amazing stories.

And the reason why it's called the Warriorz podcast is because I always, I mean, like I'm a huge problem. I do it a lot during the week. It's a type of self-defense, if no one knows what it is.

It's an Israeli self-defense. It keeps me on my toes. It's obviously self-defense, so it allows me to protect myself. When you put yourself in something like that, you're constantly getting beaten up.

It's not a very friendly sport. I wouldn't say sport, but martial arts, right? It's not very friendly. It makes you feel fearless.

But ever since I started doing that, it's taught me what it truly means to be a warrior, right? My instructors are really adamant about, hey, listen, we're teaching you how to fight to kill, but you're not going to kill.

That's just not allowed. We're teaching you how to fight that may, if it does lead to that point, then you'll know how to protect yourself.

But the whole point of all of this is just to hit and run and just go find help because none of the day killing is not the solution to any of your problems.

And when I really started digging deep into it, and then spiritually and everything, I really realized what it means to be a true warrior, and to fight, and to fight for things for a good cause and a good reason.

So, I called the podcast The Warriorz Podcast, and now I just interview a ton of Warriorz, and they tell me their story, which is phenomenal, and I get to share it with my viewers, and they get to learn something.

It's something that means a lot to me, because I'm able to give back to the community in a way where it's not just giving them money or clothes, it's giving them an inspiration or an idea, a thought, that allows them to achieve their own version of greatness.

Gresham Harkless 06:19

Absolutely. I love that. And I love, definitely the name of it, especially because, I think a lot of times whenever you're training, whether it be like Crown McGraw or anything, in business, whatever, you always want to have a more intense kind of training regimen so that it prepares you for whatever happens in life.

So, when you are able to prepare, like you said, if it comes to extreme situations where it is life or death, you're prepared for that.

But even the smaller things, you're already prepared to be able to handle just because you've been through the most intense kind of training period. It sounds like.

Hadeel Ghaida 06:49

Yeah, it's 100%. I'm with you on that. It's a, it really puts you in a place. I don't know how to describe it.

It's just that I'm with you 100% with everything you've just said.

Gresham Harkless 07:01

That makes perfect sense. And so, now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce, and this could be for you or your organization.

You might've already touched on this or your podcast, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique? Is this kind of like your super sauce?

Hadeel Ghaida 07:14

That's a good question. My super sauce, to be honest, It's something that everyone can have, but it's going to be different for everybody. So, what I mean by that is that it's knowing who I am.

Now, I may not know who I am fully to the most, right? I'm still learning. It's still a journey.

But being able to constantly be aware of myself and what I like and what I dislike, what are my strengths and what are my weaknesses, and really focusing on that, I think that's my secret sauce superpower in my business and my life, and anything that I'm trying to achieve.

Because what people fail to realize, and I was one of them, I would read a ton of self-help books.

All the time. Any spiritual thing, you know, immersing myself in the faith, everything, right?

And what I found to be true was that no one truly knows how to fix themselves if they don't know anything about themselves.

You do so much research on how to be a better conversationalist, how to be happy, how to live a life of peace, all these things are how-to's, I call them.

But what you fail to really research and study is yourself. How can you improve yourself if you don't even know yourself, right?

And that's really, that requires sitting with yourself, that requires maybe stopping what you're doing sometimes, and just like allowing yourself to have that time and moment.

And then when you kind of have an idea, then you'll know, you'll figure out your purpose through that, right? And then from there, I think personally, that's the driver for most people.

If you know who you are and you figure out your purpose in the process of that, and then going to the source, right?

So, I actually stopped reading a lot of self-help books. I call them self-help, but just books in general that are focusing on that side. And I actually started reading more philosophy and science, like physics.

I've been immersing myself a lot in this because what I found, especially the greats like Albert Einstein, just all of them, Plato or Mies, like Aristotle, all these guys, they really understood how the world works and the universe and how it all started.

And they really had a good understanding of science itself to then bring in philosophy and wisdom, right?

And what's so beautiful about what they what they teach or what it's all facts, you know, it's not, it's never really telling you what to do. It's really just questioning yourself. They really actually say a lot of questions.

They put you in a place of questioning right and reflecting, and that's I think what what's my super my superpower, my secret sauce, because it's knowing who I am and putting the work to figuring that out, then being able to say, okay, maybe now I'll learn how to be a better CEO how to do this how did that because it becomes easier because who you are and say and you can catch yourself in any way you're lying to yourself, but you're not so I That's very true and it's very powerful.

Gresham Harkless 09:59

Like you said, I love the fact that you said that in order to improve yourself, you have to know yourself.

And we somehow always gloss over that part where we're actually understanding who we are, what we like, what we don't like, what we're good at, what we're not good at.

And it never ever seems to be a time where it's dedicated or there's a kind of point in your life where you're supposed to learn about yourself.

You sometimes just have to create that space in order to do that. So, it's great to hear you're doing that, and great to hear you're kind of reminding us to do that as well too.

I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Hadeel Ghaida 10:35

It's actually my gratitude journal. Two things, actually. That really allows me to be the best CEO as I can be, right? It's my gratitude journal and my just journal in general where I write down my thoughts or poetry.

I really, I spend a lot of time writing poems just because I have a hard time articulating myself. So, if I'm here trying to write a journal, it's not gonna work.

But poems make it short and sweet, and it allows me to bring my creative brain out. A huge inspiration of that actually was Tupac, so I really like Tupac stuff.

Gresham Harkless 11:08

Yeah, nice. I definitely appreciate that and I think that anytime, and I'm a real big writer as well too, so I think that anytime you're able to express yourself and to get a lot of things out because there's especially when you're running a business and you haven't been juggling a lot of things, there's always things coming and going and there's always things that are moving.

So, to be able to take out and have that time to express yourself in a gratitude journal or even in just in a journal itself is definitely a great hack.

So, I appreciate you for sharing that with us. Now, I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And you might have already touched on this, but this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Hadeel Ghaida 11:44

Well, that's a question. What would I tell my younger business self? I would tell myself, just to listen to your intuition and yourself more.

I think when you're young and you're hungry, you tend to want things to come fast, so therefore you reach, you tend to study people a lot, right?

In the greats, that's what I did, because I said, okay, I don't know how to get there, so let me study who's already done it.

I took it to the extreme as a kid. I would like, like I even have my walls, I would like research them and I would try to do everything. I was trying to be someone I wasn't basically.

And I was trying every way to achieve it as fast as I can. But when I what I now know that I wish I knew back then is that it's going to take time. It's a journey.

So, I wish I, when I was younger, you know, probably didn't go to college. I wish I didn't go to college. I wish bigger risks now. I mean, I'm only 24 now, so I'm taking as much risks as I can that I didn't do when I was like 17. Right.

But, if I could tell my younger self, it would be, hey, you know what you really want? Just go after it.

Don't be afraid of it. Don't do something else because you think this is going to get you there faster.

Do what you actually love and you're passionate about, and it will come. Just give it time, it will come.

But as long as you're doing what you love and you're passionate about it, which everyone knows it, even though when they say they don't, they know it just takes a bit of time, right?

And even if you don't know it, like, it's like, flat out right there, clarity, right?

Just do more towards it, and you'll figure it out what it actually is. So, I think that's what I would tell myself.

Gresham Harkless 13:14

Nice. I definitely appreciate that. And I think it goes back to what you said, kind of in the beginning, because I always say, if you are running your own race, you'll never lose because it's your race.

But a lot of times, because there's so much noise in this day and age, you're hearing you should be doing this, or you should be doing that, or this is the way this person did X, Y, and Z that sometimes you can kind of lose that quiet voice, that intuition that you spoke to.

And maybe even having that dialed into who you are and what you're great at and knowing yourself like you touched on earlier.

But I think when you are able to do that, then it's very hard to lose, to not be successful because you are running your race, you're staying true to thyself.

So definitely appreciate that perspective. And I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO.

And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So, Hadeel, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Hadeel Ghaida 14:01

It means to be someone who is open-minded, loving, and understanding of everyone around them in order to be influential. I think that's what a CEO is.

Someone who truly is at internal peace with themself. And you don't find that in many CEOs, by the way.

So, someone who's successful, but truly, and what I mean by successful is that truly have internal peace within themselves have no worries inside them that will stop them from being a great leader.

Because what really means being a great leader is someone who can be loving, kind, and understanding of the people that are around them.

And that's, to me, what truly a good leader and a CEO is, because that leads to greatness.

Because not only are you leading a crowd of people, but you're also leading them with your heart. And that leads to great success, I think.

Gresham Harkless 14:53

Absolutely. And like, definitely been the theme of what we've been talking about is true to yourself.

So, it's whatever your heart shows. And a lot of times, the more you rise up, or the more people you have, that are in your ear, so to speak, whether that be shareholders, whatever, it's harder and harder to do that.

So, you have to have that internal piece and that measure by which you should be successful. So definitely appreciate that definition.

And what I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know.

And then, of course, how best they can get a hold of you and subscribe to your podcast.

Hadeel Ghaida 15:25

If you want to start small and you really want to immerse yourself in figuring out who you are, there's this book called Seven Basic Lessons of Physics. Also, there's another book that's called The Perennial Philosophy.

It's a heavy book, but it's a really good book. I think it goes down to the source and studying everything, and it gives you a different perspective.

And if you want to find me, my podcast is The Warriorz Podcast, Warriorz, without the S, it's a Z instead.

And my handle is at TheRealHadeel_. You'll find me on Instagram. The Real Hadeel is like my stage name.

So that's that. And if you want to look me up, my company's called spotlightrevenue.com. So that's where you can find me.

Gresham Harkless 16:05

Awesome. Awesome. I truly appreciate your time. Appreciate all the insight you gave Hadeel. We'll make sure to have the links in the show notes as well, but thank you so much again. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Hadeel Ghaida 16:14

Thank you, Gresham, and thank you for having me on here. I appreciate it.

Outro 16:17

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase; it's a community.

Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Subscribe and leave us a five-star rating. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.

[/restrict]