Live With the Community: Clarify Your Why

Assalamu alaykum. Welcome to the Baraka Blueprint podcast. My name is Ibraim Sharif. I am a graphic designer, brand strategist, project manager, and alhamdulillah, I'm a of the Quran. The reason why I started this podcast is mainly because I believe that every single Muslim should become the best version of themselves and the optimal version of themselves. And I believe I am far away from that if I'm going to be completely honest. So this is why I started this podcast to document my journey to present the journey or the documentation of a path to improvement and using myself as a test subject. Today's episode is going to be a very special one because this is where I open up to the school community to join to have any inputs in case there is going to be any joiner. And at the very same time I do have the Tik Tok comment section as well in case there is anybody who wants to add anything or to raise any questions. So this is going to be a live episode inshallah tala. Maybe someone joins up. Maybe that is not the case. But uh I was thinking long and hard about the topic of today because I didn't fully want to rely on the school community membership uh or the school community uh participation I should say. A and you as well. Uh so to those of you that are listening on Spotify or those of you that are watching this on YouTube when it is eventually out inshallah, [sighs and gasps] keep in mind and bear in mind that I am going to be taking some tangents sometimes because I'm going to be addressing the comment section and the uh meeting room inshallah tala. So uh I was thinking about the topic for quite some time and in the last let's see here episode 32 I believe it was I did talk about the uh journey that I've been going through when it comes to opening the companies in the UAE uh when it comes to my journey for the brand identity brand strategy uh projects that I was doing and what lessons leson I have learned from the stakeholders and people that I have consulted with and one of the things that I have learned subhan Allah is that sometimes the pass the path forward is taking multiple steps back which seems kind of counterproductive if I'm going to be completely honest and the reason why I say that subhan allah is well primarily because the the the path to opening or starting or creating something successful is supposed to break people break those that well aren't capable to take the journey. For example, if you want to start a company that is a 7 to 9 figure generating business, the path is obviously not it's not supposed to be easy. It's not a handout job. It's not supposed to be a handout situation. It's it's something that is going to take a lot of work and it requires a certain character. It requires a certain disciplinarian. So if you don't have the discipline and if you don't have the mindset, you're going to quit somewhere along the line, be it midway or at the very beginning. And there is a there's a very deep pit where many people fall at the very beginning. And mainly it's because the lack of consistency or the inconsistency rather. So, with that being said, I Subhan Allah. I um I was editing an episode or not an episode, sorry. I was editing one of the clips from the podcast that I've had with Abu Bakr the Mustafer on Tik Tok, Abu Bakr the Muhajer on Instagram and YouTube. uh he had a podcast or he has this podcast called Road to Hijab and I recommend watching it if you search for it on YouTube. And one of the clips that I was editing was when we were talking about the path to that end goal that many many people desire which is the path to hijra because I mean the the this is this is the very topic of the uh of the podcast the road to hijra as as it is called. So he asked me the question, what is your advice to someone who doesn't know where to start or feels stuck in the journey? what someone like me who has gone through that journey would advise that person to which I said this is th this is a journey of self assessment. It's a journey of self assessment in so many ways because you need to understand who are you relocating, right? Because think about it this way, if we're going to take it to a practical level, you want to relocate somewhere where you can live. If you're going to live somewhere, you need to afford the place you're going to live in. So, what are you going to be doing to afford that place? Are you intending to have uh a business that you're going to start? Are you intending to work within a certain role or in a certain company or in a certain industry? So, if that is going to be the case, okay, what are the characteristics of that person? What skills does that person need to have? What uh pitfalls have people gone through that you're going to be required to avoid? And I believe I should put this on do not disturb so that the notifications do do not disturb the recording. Okay. Um, as I was saying, when you do that, this assessment will suddenly eliminate so [snorts] many paths. And subh one thing that I really like, I really love the analogy of what you call uh this the storytelling analogies. I like it a lot. I think it's very rel relatable to many or most people. I use the analogy of a knight riding to the castle or to his end goal. What insert whatever end goal you want. If you understand the path and you understand your capabilities and well what armor are you having? What um what are you are you walking on foot? Are you riding on a horse? Whatever it is, this will help you eliminate certain paths that you aren't going to be ready to tackle or that you eventually are going to fail so that you don't set yourself up for failure. with that being said, subhan Allah, uh by by by taking by taking the process of elimination, you you will suddenly find that one path that is designed for your particular character sheet. And also in case there are any gaps, let's say you so desire to pick one path and that one path is going to come with some pretty high obstacles. Then either you're going to be required to climb or or you're going to be required to well get a resource, acquire a resource like a horse for example, so that you're going to be able to climb or jump over the fence or jump over the obstacles at hand. let's just see if we're gonna in and the calendar there we Perfect. Let's post this. And here we are. Cool. Let's get back to Do we have any messages here? H. Ah, I understand. Looks like there is a pin code, but this shouldn't be the case. Interesting. H. How do I do this? And here we have the first joiner. As you know, as you can see, I was eager to get in. >> I could see that. How you doing, bro? I'm very well. I'm very well. I'm liking the I'm liking the sound. >> Yeah. Alhamdulillah. Homemade fits perfectly. Uh 30 episodes later, here we are. >> Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Amazing. >> Amin you as well. I love the th by the way. Suits you very well. >> Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Nice. I mean from Bangladesh where I'm originally from I was actually going to ask. Mah, you read my mind. >> Alhamdulillah. I don't know if you've heard this, but you do not look like uh the typical brother from Bangladesh. >> Yes, I normally get the Are you from Yemen? Are you from Saudi? Are you from Pakistan? >> Okay. Okay. Mah, very valid guesses, I got to say. >> Yeah, they are. They are. What about yourself originally? Where you from? >> Iraqi. >> Also something that people barely guess. >> Yeah. Yeah. No, I can imagine. I would never guess Iraqi. Absolutely. Um I actually actually came through you through Abu Bakr's podcast. Abu Bakr Muaj. >> Yes. I was just mentioning him. Subhan Allah. In the uh in the live. >> It was nice. Yeah. Yeah. No, it was really good. You had some really powerful insights and especially the right expectations to have about hijra which is something that's where my heart is placed at the moment. Inshallah I'm working towards that. I really want to get there. trying to get married first, get the the Zaj first inshallah and soon soon after I want to be I want to be coming to Medina. I want to fly off to Medina inshallah. Okay. Alhamdulillah. So yeah, I mean normally do we give an introduction about ourselves? Do you want me to give an introduction? >> I'll tell you this. Uh so for someone who has never met you like myself for example or someone who is not uh familiar with the output that you're uh putting out or what you are building if you were to give a summarized presentation of yourself what would that be? >> I would say um well first and foremost my name is Akib. I'm from 2 I'm 27 years old living here residing in the UK. Um I've been in sales for an extensive part of my life for the last three to four about four years and been been through v variety of different roles. Alhamdulillah I'm on my spiritual journey now and essentially uh my mission is to help Muslims. Muslims are struggling today. You know Muslims are struggling today and I also was part of that struggle when I first came out of my 9 to5 life. And today we see Muslims who have a 9 to5 life or they're working they're working very hard and they don't have that time freedom location freedom that financial freedom and most importantly that freedom for their dean. So I've worked towards building a business and agency where the mission is very simple. We want to help Muslims achieve freedom in all parts of that of their life you know and help them see what so many people are sleeping on and overlooking. So my goal, my mission is to actually go on a a journey to help as many Muslims as possible, especially with facilitating that move towards hijra. >> Um, and I want to be a leader. I want to be someone who benefits the ummah because at the end of the day, Allah has roles and responsibilities for everyone. But I feel like he's selected me especially as part of my family comes at the back end of what I've done with my family which is I am more or less the main bread winner and I try to be the leader of the house. I try instill discipline and Islamic morals and principles into my brothers. So essentially um I'm just your average guy, workingass lad where where I once was and essentially now I want to take the industry and the Muslim market by storm and actually help as many Muslims as possible. >> Okay. So you've been through a journey and you are on a journey as well. >> Yes, I've been through a journey that I left behind and now I've kickstarted a new journey. Alhamdulillah. where it's at the forefront of the journey is there's is the real brotherhood building a real brotherhood you know exceeding people's >> mean sorry >> I mean because at the at the same time I mean um you know in in Islam right now there's a lot of divisions you know um a lot of divisions and everyone has their own own motive they're they're quite selfish you know but what I've been able to naturally build out and it came from the blessings of Allah Wala is that we now have instilled a very uh very good culture where we have a shared vision. You know the students that we that we help essentially and this is in remote sales by the way. Sorry I may may or may not have given you context around the actual niche that I operate in which is remote appointment setting. Okay, >> remote appointment setting. And essentially, I mean, we can get into that in in a second, but I'm I want to build a brotherhood of where we have a shared vision. And similarly to what Imran Masur is doing, you know, building a network that a legacy where I can, you know, regardless of where I go, that that has had an impact on the um and even when I'm gone, I've I've worked and built something that has lasting impact in the dunya inshall. >> Okay? See when I say brotherhood I mean that type of brotherhood where you know we have that shared vision we have that shared mission we working towards the same goal in building a powerful network of appointment setters and closers that's where remote sales really comes into appointment setting closing and hiring managers sales managers and inshallah owning the market because the Muslims are sadly playing the catch-up game as they are with things like AI where non-Muslims are far far ahead of them you know And we we want to we want to we're playing the catchup game right now. And inshallah there's a short shortage of really high quality remote sale sales appointment set sorry. And I want to be able to help Muslims upskill develop. And what I talk about in some of my content is that this remote sales industry has a very knock on effect with the deen because when you when you're in remote sales, right, it's a performance-based role. It's all based on your skills. It's not about the hours which you work. It's about your output. It's about your performance. It's about your skill, right? It's about how good you are at the job. People monetize their knowledge. Well, you're monetizing your skill, right? And that's where people fail to understand that there's a there's a market out there. There's a niche out there that you're based you you're pay you get you're getting paid based on exactly that rather than you know going through a business model and you know all the all the the kind of stress that comes with actually building a business model and having some upfront capital and having a set amount of skills and other areas of like for example if you had to do ecom you know so that's the kind of narrative and that's the kind of push that I'm pushing for you know and try and reach as many Muslims as possible in that inshallah >> okay I have many follow-up questions. >> That's great. Sorry. I probably gave a bit too much. >> It's It's not because you gave a bit too much or you gave a bit too little. It's because I happen to be a very curious person. >> That's good. That's good. >> I happen to be if uh if if if you're in this podcasting journey, right? Uh but the Okay. One. Okay. Let's start with this. Okay. Can you tell me a bit about your journey towards business ownership? >> Yeah, absolutely. I'd love to. I'd love to. So um I originally came out of uh of graduation. Sadly at that time I wasn't really knowledgeable, didn't really know much. I wasn't really in touch with my dean. Um I was very far off that and uh went through university which proved to be absolutely useless for me. Um and I did business and law there and I earned a bachelor's degree there. I came out and I always had a a thing for communication. I was always I was always good at it. I was I I I was I ranked like the top 3% in when I did when I came out high school I ranked in the top 3% for English language and literature. So I was always fond of communication because today communication as believers as believers we need to be eloquent in our speech. We need to be we need to have that persuasive communication but we do it in the right ethical manner. Right? So I I've always loved to communicate whether that be with prospects whether that be with customers with friends with family with giving that as well that's the most important part of communication right being eloquent in that speech just like the Sahabs Sahabas was sahabas were sorry so I went into uh sales and I landed a sales development role and it was very it was a very testing role it was a cold calling role right and you need to be cut from a different cloth when you're doing cold calling right you need to be someone who is is is a different version of themselves. You know, you need to be have to have an impenetrable mindset, one that will not break. So, you come in >> resilience. >> Yeah. You come in every single day with the same level of work ethic, same level of consistency and nothing faces you, right? And alhamdulillah, like that's exactly what happened. Like for me, I wasn't phased. For me, I was I didn't see as pressure. I saw as opportunity, right? So, alhamdulillah, like I went through cold calling. I went through a number of different roles. And slowly but surely I alhamdulillah Allah guided me and I became more very in touch with my spiritual side of things. And this is when you know as they say um I remember someone telling me um about spiritual journey the first two years it's like a marathon run and then once once that two years is over it's like you're starting to walk or jog a little bit you know. So I was on this marathon run with my with my spiritual journey and I never had contentment like I was I always had this dream of of reaching a senior position a position of seniority you know management position leading people influencing and lo and behold like right now alhamdulillah I am but in a in a different way not by working under someone else's roof not by not by helping other non-Muslims achieve their goals benefiting the umah so um I I never had that contentment the 9 to5 life was constrained it was you know perpetual motion taking each day as it comes. So I went through a number of different roads and at the same time I had a I had a I fell into a personal problem and I actually had a bit of a had a bit of scrutiny on my personal record and um L subhan Allah like I was working my way up you know I secured an account manager position where I was managing a base of 150 150 accounts and I never had contentment though that's the problem like I was in touch with my dean I was growing in the dean spiritually on the spiritual journey but things that not going to the jama Uh-uh. Things like not being able to be dutiful to my parents as much as I would like and things like seeking knowledge cuz I started the knowledge the the journey to seek knowledge. Alhamdulillah. So I just didn't have the contentment. I didn't have that satisfactory although that satisfaction although I knew that you know I was always trying to work towards a big position. I just felt like you know the it was like a short-term gain and a long-term pain. It was it was going towards that you know. So alhamdulillah like um Allah actually opened the doors for me like I literally because I had the right intention and Allah knew the intention in my heart which was I would rather be working remotely you know um owning my decision making why do I have to ask to go pray why do I have to think in the back of my head while I'm praying oh what are they thinking about me do I need to rush back >> and open the door >> yeah ex one yeah so I had that in the back of my head subconsciously like why do I need to go go back and feel this and ruin my in the process you know so exactly these little things like they were adding up it's like you know a a mountain of pebbles you know pebbles just just adding up and then you know you get the big bang so I uh transitioned and I had the urgency in my life to transition out of and pivot out of a 9 to5 life so I went to went on exploring mission you know I went on some factf finding missions exploring I uh went through right and rich which is Imran community. I started watching a lot of his content about course creators and and alhamdulillah like I could see myself doing this like I could genuinely see myself creating a course you know running a program helping other Muslims actually providing really good fulfillment and alhamdulillah after doing a lot of you know studying and researching I met a brother who was who became a mentor to me um and I invested in his program invested in his program and alhamdulillah like I [clears throat] fell into higher ticket sales which is something I always wanted to do because I had a lot of transferable skills. Not to say you don't not to say um you need sales experience but all your transferable skills they're very much relevant in sales. >> It gives you an unfair advantage. I mean and you take all of them you can. Of course. >> Exactly. Exactly. So instead of you know some people here I always tell them like it's not about your experience but I'm sure from your roles, your life experiences, your work experiences, you've been resilient, you've been disciplined, you've you've you've had customer service, you've you've had to deal with problems and these are all relevant to sales. But I had the I had the bonus which Allah bless me which I had the sales experience. So I came in I went into remote high ticket sales appointment setting. I had a number of different roles and I performed very well. Performed very well. I hit some really good results and alhamdulillah I realized you know this is a overlooked industry. People are sleeping on it. So let me go ahead and create my own program because I was good at it and you monetize what you're good at and what you have really good knowledge around. And I knew that inshallah that I could actually help more Muslims feel and experience what I felt. May Allah and blessings in your path to success, in your wealth, and in your health. >> And guess what? This this Iraqi is of course going to have so many follow-up questions again. [laughter] Come on. Right. Uh but but but I can see it's a it's a passion topic of yours. So uh I I I hope I'm I'm yet to bore you. All right. Okay. >> Fine. No problem. It's just we are I I am I am very very short on the time. I tell you why. Because I got m in 5 minutes sadly course and and not sadly but I got in 5 minutes. Subhan Allah. That's that didn't come out right. >> No that's okay. I got you. I got you. >> You know what I meant. You know what I meant. You know what you mean. >> End this conversation. Absolutely. >> No. No. Of course I understand. I mean hey I I'll take the credit that the Barakab blueprint is a wonderful podcast. Right. Okay. But jokes aside look um Okay. Well, first of all, obvious thing uh out of the bag. Uh you you join when you want and you leave when you want. Like there's no um there's no formality, so to speak, right? Uh you're just giving me the how do you say this is this is sort of the teaser for the next uh recording. Let's put it like this. Of course. >> Uh and still Okay, I'll tell you what. Since you're running short on time, there's one thing that caught my attention and I did want to I just want to double check if I heard this correctly. Did I hear correctly that you were comparing between uh let's see here uh payment or uh outcome based on knowledge versus based on skill. you I think you mentioned this comparison that some people pay for knowledge or like they they they reward for knowledge as in like an employer rewards for knowledge others reward for the skill or the performance. Did I hear that correctly? >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And others you know just um are paid based on the hours that they work. >> Okay. So time and material I I understand that. I just want to ask okay how how is um reward based on knowledge and reward based on performance any difference? Uh sorry reward as knowledge versus skill. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I understand where you're coming from. So for for me it's it is slightly different because for example like um right now myself like I'm providing a lot of knowledge to a lot of the students but at the same time when it comes to the actual skill right they say that 20% of the the skill is actually just setting you know 80% is the rest when I say the rest I mean the external factor I'm talking about the the the division between your personal and professional life the daily routine the daily habits, the sleep, you know, uh your your your habits and all these other your mental frame, you know, how intact are you on a day-to-day basis, your consistency. So when you talk about this skill, it actually warrants other skills >> that need to be present. >> So for me in this particular niche, yes, knowledge is one thing, but knowledge is only beneficial when you implement the knowledge, right? And of course when you implement this knowledge that I'm teaching brothers there's a lot of other things that I can't teach them that they have to bring to the table right you know being coachable having the right mindset being a continuous learner bringing the right attitude I can't teach those things right >> discipline for example is something that is non- transferable >> that's not transferable they have to come with that so this skill in a setting it's broader than they think it's not simply and I can tell you a simple definition of appointment setting it's booking calls for agencies, interested prospects, speaking to them, qualifying them and booking them into the calendar for a commission as long as that deal closes. Now, the skill itself, it's just so much broad. You have to come with a lot of other things and this is what people miss. People have this misconception about the industry and that's why we teach this before they even get in the basics, getting that right, before you even go into the playing field or before you even start doing mock sessions, before you start doing role play, you know. So for me that's the in this particular niche it might not apply to every single one right but for me in this particular kind of area I think there is a little bit of a difference between the knowledge that they pick up and the skill that they need to bring to the playing field. >> Okay. Um you know what I I I think from that mindset uh I can I I I can see how there can be a distinction. Now I I I think subjectively speaking I think this could be different from one niche or one industry to another because in many a times those two can be synonymous. But I think and I think you mentioned it very well uh base knowledge can qualify you to upskill yourself in certain areas. So I mean and and like you said I mean having the knowledge and not acting on it is I mean figuratively speaking it's a waste of time. It's a waste of bandwidth. Right. So I'll tell you what because you're is coming up for you. I don't I don't want to keep you up more than necessary or I I don't want you to be be delayed for salah. So I think until the next conversation and I of course uh invite you to stay as long as you want. Uh, so this is this is not me kicking you out. I would be more direct if I was to do that. >> So, okay, you you have a person in front of you. All right, this person is stuck on their journey to uh well, first of all, find out what is their profile, what is that character? Do they want to uh land a particular high-paying role? Do they want to open up a business? Do they be it ecom? be it service based, professional services, whatnot, right? Uh because I'm not that opposed to a 9-to-five life as long as it fits the character sheet, right? But also I encourage people to monetize their skill set under their ownership because at the end of the day we as an ummah out to be high value producers and we need to keep the money within ourselves so that we grow as a financial power. Uh but to the question, so you have that person in front of you, right? They don't know what they're doing. They when they have their sip of coffee, they're they're talking to their friends about, hey, eventually I'm going to start a business, right? But in reality or in practicality, they're confused or because genuinely they want to do it, but they have no idea, right? So you've gone through this journey. You're I'm assuming like any business owner, you're far from done because the only satisfaction you get from reaching level two is that now you can see what level three looks like. You see the horizon, you want to climb to the next step. So you have that person in front of you. What are you going to tell them? >> So what I would what I would tell them is you know first and foremost whatever you want to do right why do you want to do it? Why? Like is that that's that's the most important thing for me because at the end of the day I would I would have not even got into the industry had it not been for the intention and the deep line why as to why I want to get into it. You know there needs to be a vision there needs to be a purpose. There needs to be a mission behind it. And you know which is you know the common theme that's in all these books that they talk about know obstacles and things like that. They talk about how, you know, the bigger the why, the easier the how, you know, and um so that's one thing that I'll ask them like, what why do you want to do this? Why? Because it's the why that will make everything else easier. It's the why that will push you. It's the why that will help you defy the odds, you know? And [clears throat] also, it's the beliefs because for me as a business owner, right, if I'm doing 10K a month, uh or even Yeah. If if I'm doing if I want to let's say I I want to get into a market and it's saturated you know and you know you're asking yourself and you're having this this imposter syndrome about okay you know there's too many in there's too many people doing the same thing as me but that's a belief system that will only will only lead to you being met with that reality you know and there's a way to there's a way to reframe that you know if even in in if I apply it to the scenario of remote appointment setting some people say oh it's a [laughter] it's a saturated market there's There's a lot of u there's a lot of setters out here. >> Yes. >> But at the same time, if you reframe it, there's not many setters like me, >> you know, >> and that's that's a completely different mindset just like there's this market is too saturated. Well, there's space for me, you know, there's space for me in this market and if you if you change that belief, you're simply going to be met with that new reality, right? And and I explain this a lot, especially with people who come in who have this no experience mindset. Oh, I don't have no experience. was who [clears throat] h who hasn't who hasn't gone through transitions in their life maybe going from engineering to sales or from you know from journaling to engineering for example how do they do it how do they do it I mean they had the beliefs that they could do it and they had the trans some of the transferable skills they knew that they could yield that they could they knew they could cultivate that you know it's like if you don't have commitment I one thing I say in all my closing calls to a lot of brothers when they're talking about why they couldn't really make this change in their life oh I wasn't really committed or I didn't I just procrastinate a lot >> so what do you think you need to do in this very moment in time to change that. You simply need to change the way you behave, the way you think, your decision-m process. That is what's going to lead you to change everything. So for me, I would get an understanding of why they want to do it. I'd get an understanding of any self-limiting beliefs because if you don't if if you don't have a strong why, then there's no endurance. There's no longevity. If you don't have the wrong beliefs, then you're simply going to be met with the the real reality of that belief. So for me, that's that's that's the way I would kind of help them paint that picture. And some people, some Muslims have these shallow goals, you know, and it's about really getting them to open up, asking some questions, being a bit consultative, and actually helping them paint their own picture with your help. >> If the Y is shallow, meaningful work will feel a bit meaningless. No. >> Yeah, absolutely. That's the way I see it. I mean, the reason why I mean, look, from my business owner perspective, I have my ups and downs. I have my ups and downs, but I link it back to the why. Why am I doing this? I know I want to make hij and I also want to help as many Muslims as possible do the same thing. I mean, from our program, we've had two brothers make hijra from this program, you know, within within three to four months. That's like one of the biggest wins. I was just speaking to a brother who said to me, Akib, you need to get to Medina. You need to sponsor me. I said I said okay that would be the biggest win for me if I came to Medina set up shop there set up my my company there and I was able to sponsor three to five people from my from from my student bro from my program that would be the biggest win yet for remote which is our company you know mashallah are you going to meet the Medina project by the way >> uh yeah I'm trying to get in there because we've got one brother who's actually part of Medina project in my program >> really wow okay small world >> Abdullah Abdul Shak who you probably see him on the on the podcast with Abd Abu Abdullah. Funny enough, I actually closed deals for Abu Abdullah with Billman. >> Ibrahim, I am going to run. >> Of course you have to. >> Until next time. All right. >> Yeah. Until next time. Absolutely. It's been absolute pleasure. >> Next time hopefully we can spend an hour more than that. >> I'm I'm looking forward to the next time. Let's have a oneonone inshallah at your convenience. And thank you for blessing the baraka blueprint. I'll see you on the next one. Okay. What a uh what a participation. Uh I don't know if you guys in the Tik Tok have caught this, but uh because I'm I'm wearing this mic. So, I did check the um I did check the voice level and some it looked like it was caught. I don't know if it was. If it wasn't, then I do apologize. But you are going to see this inshallah in the baraka blueprint episode that is going to come out in welcome. Um, alhamdulillah. Uh this is and sub this is something that we've talked about in so many episodes that I'm very very happy that we've gotten to hear a new perspective uh when it comes to the clarification of the why. Everything starts with why not just to copy Simon Synynic but he's right and and subh the thing is like like I mentioned to you guys before it's it's not like we don't have Quran and Sunnah uh so that we have to go for better material but the baraka blueprint or the blessed blueprint is that which Allah subhana t has given us already all of this is already clarified it's just rebranded and repackaged to us and I'm very happy subhan Allah to see brothers uh ancestors thriving uh building expanding scaling and subhan allah everybody started clueless so I don't know who's listening to this uh I don't know who you are what you're going through when you're listening to this be it on your way to that dead-end job or if you feel stuck when you're listening to this hey if you feel demotivated or if you feel like hey this is whatever you're doing is not going to work clarify your Why? Really, if you feel that what you're doing is meaningless, clarify your why. This is something that is set and guaranteed with the permission of Allah subhana wa ta'ala to ease that path for you and to present you this clear blueprint of what meaningful work you ought to do. Now, I I'm not going to lie to you guys and say that I I was there and now it's fully clear. No, I feel like I still am. I'm going to be very honest with you guys. I feel many a times and Tik Tok guys I do apologize. It looks like soon my gimbal is going to die. So I'm going to place the phone differently if something weird happens with the phone. Anyway, um I was definitely in a less clearer state in my journey in life. Be it when it comes to my location, when it comes to my career, when it comes to my business, uh I'm I'm at the starting stage in so many things that I'm doing. Subhan Allah. And many a times I feel clueless. I'm not going to lie. But the key is that you clarify your why. You get the blueprint of the tasks at hand that you that you complete or the activities that you need to complete or the road map that you need to follow and suddenly you will have your meaningful work. Everything else comes to discipline. Everything after that is discipline and consistency. So you put in the work, the necessary work, the necessary volume of work so that failure is an unreasonable outcome. Again to copy some of our former guests as well and now including our brother, may Allah bless him and bless uh all of you guys that are listening to this or that have participated in the Baraka Blueprint podcast. Hey, what more can I share? This has been very fun. This is I think this is the first ever live school community event that uh well I mean it's it's the second one in total. Uh the first one I messed up with the link and and the recording so I couldn't share the presentation unfortunately. But um this one I would call a success. Honestly I would call this a great success. we had participation and we were able to learn from our brother Mahabarakman. I'm also looking forward to the next episode that I'm going to have with our dear respected brother and all of you guys over there that are watching on Tik Tok or those of you that are watching uh the uh episode on YouTube or Spotify or Apple podcast or whichever platform you're listening to. if you want to join the school community and participate in the in events like this. And by the way, now we have a we had a brother Allah who has and we ask Allah to bless his path to success. Uh we have someone who has gone through this journey and comes to us with lessons learned. Right? If you're not that person, that's completely fine. Literally, I mean, I'm I've I've opened the community event for people that want to come and even share their struggles. Let's say if if if if one is comfortable enough to do that, I'm assuming that's fine. Or people that just want to participate and just ask questions live uh like uh we've had over here in the in the different chats that were going on. So, you're welcome as well to join. Hey, and if you didn't if you don't even want to join the live events, I I I still have my free resources that I'm giving out. Be it the uh the project planning uh artifacts, the resources, the whichever whichever templates at your behest. Uh all of this is available in my school community. Make sure to click the link in the uh be if you guys over to o over at the over at the short form socials, you have the link in the bio as well to join the school community and you also have the link in the show notes if you're watching on YouTube, Spotify, listening to this on on the other platforms as well. Where was I? Yes. Um so yeah, reflecting on this, alhamdulillah, uh we it looks like we're having a 100% increase in participation for every event that we've had. So positive track record. Uh, one thing that I need to do a bit of a better job in, if I'm going to be very honest, is I mean, it looks like the produ I'm not going to I'm not going to give myself, but it looks like the production quality is good, is solid, but for some reason, what I need to work on is the is the outreach because that part I still haven't figured out. Uh so any of you guys that have tips when it comes to outreach uh for podcast uh participation or engagement or uh even long form engagement or short form engagement. Uh I am a person that is coachable and I do definitely take constructive feedback and criticism. So hit me up. But those of you as well that are listening on Spotify, uh, highly urge you and request you very very kindly of course if you can rate the podcast so that I know what I am doing that is good and beneficial so that I can keep it up or what I should do less of or none of what I should do to improve the delivery of this very important message and to deliver the lessons learned from my dear respected guests. like the brother that just joined or uh the other guests that we have had and the guests that we will have inshallah in the bar blueprint. I noticed we had the same uh microphone as well. That was very cool. This this one was recently acquired by the way. Uh so now I'm much more confident in my choice. But by the way, I mean I like the I like the quality anyway. So and I've I've been a fan of this this particular brand. So yeah. Uh let's see what do we have over here on Tik Tok. We have people joining and leaving at the same time. That's that's cool. I guess that's all right. Uh hey, we've had people coming and going, but we haven't had that many uh chat messages. We did have lots of salams. Uh and I did not mean to ignore any of your salams, guys. Uh it it is my duty to respond to them. Uh I was paying uh ad and respect to the guest that I had earlier in the community call but tell me uh Tik Tok family what's up. If you have any questions in this very live recording that you're seeing do feel free to raise them. I see my Swedish community as well is joining Allah. This is a this is a blast. I mean, we're having uh we're we're we're switching languages like a like what? Like a Swiss Army knife. Uh or I don't know if I'm supposed to say that word in a TikTok so that I don't get banned, but anyway. Um what takeaways do I bring with me inshallah? There's actually one thing that I wish I would have done differently, which is I should have considered the different time zones better. I just considered what? central European time and um any well I mean UAE timing of course but one thing that I didn't take into account subhan Allah is prayer times because maybe the maybe the cases people didn't join because I mean it was uh it was clashing with other commitments subhan Allah I do however raise polls on school and I do get a fair amount of engagement so um I'll Take that with me until the next one. Inshallah. Everyone else, welcome. Welcome to the live. I think this is the first ever time I have a Tik Tok live while I am recording a baraka blueprint podcast. I'll see how much Actually, you know what? Oh, I'm going to follow just Omar's advice from the earlier ep watch the earlier episodes by the way, especially the one with just Omar, brother Omar Sadik. Uh, he did give me a that I I did promise to follow. So, I am going to follow it inshallah. None of this is cut. All of this is coming to the podcast. Of course, uh, because we work with transparency. There is always a bit of performance, but it shouldn't be that much. It shouldn't be that performative or that edited or that we he said another word other than beautified because beautifification is good. Beautify what you're doing and it's a part of it's a part ofan that you beautify whatever you're doing to please Allah subhana wa ta'ala. Uh let's invite more people here to the live. There we go. Let's see. Maybe with the with with the additional shares it gives me some bonus points for the algorithm. Why not? As you can see, subh many of this I'm still many a lot of this is Hello. Okay. Uh, a lot of this is something that I'm still trying to figure out if I'm going to be completely honest, especially when it comes to uh, Dermoleius. Welcome, welcome. Uh, especially when it comes to the marketing side of things, I I've noticed, subhan Allah, that when it comes to the marketing uh, stuff, weakness, weakness. Subhan Allah. Uh we do have in the live we do have a brother that is very experienced with audio editing. So speaking of which speaking of which so he can definitely be the judge if the audio quality in the podcast has developed and has improved but still outreach is something that I still need to work on. So again, anyone who has any experience in the in the field or anyone who doesn't have experience in the field but has something of benefit and value to say, I do accept, like I said, I do accept constructive criticism. So please feel free to share it. Those of you that haven't subscribed to the YouTube channel as well, the link is in the bio. You can just write Sharifico or you can even write the Baraka Blueprint podcast. I'm assuming the former is much easier to write. YouTube family, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm just assuming that is the case. But people have been used to writing the Baraka blueprint uh which is a bit of a tedious process. And yeah, make sure to subscribe and uh leave a comment as well so that I know what I am doing that is beneficial and good and what I can do to to further develop the delivery of this or improve the delivery of this crucial and important message. Now, like I said before, Subhan Allah, uh those of you that haven't really uh interacted with the Baka Blueprint podcast before, I've said this before, Subhan Allah, and I'll I'll say it again because really and truly, I mean this uh this is not some uh coach or mentor that is supposed to coach and mentor people. This is not me. I'm far away from this. I'm learning, by the way. But one thing I can say for sure and thank you for the follow by the way. One thing I can say for sure is I believe in transparent content. I believe that transparency and honesty is something that's well it doesn't need to sell. I'm going to be very honest. It doesn't it doesn't need to sell. It doesn't need to uh get clicks and views as much as I want it. If I'm going to be honest, I definitely want engagement. I definitely want uh out expanded outreach or scaled outreach. Absolutely. Whoever creates content and tells you otherwise. I don't know how truthful that would be at least momentarily. It it could be momentarily truthful but not in the long term. But what I'm trying to say is I'm much more focused in creating value because I am very sure and I'm very very confident that the material that is being shared here not so very much the material that is authored by Ibraim because very little is authored by Ibraim the vast majority is lessons learned from other people more knowledgeable more beneficial and people that bring much more value to the table and I want to take that value for myself and I believe the best form of learning learning is compound learning or compounded learning learning together with people. I don't know if uh we have the No, they haven't joined yet. Uh back when I was in high school and I was struggling with uh my academic performance after the first year for many people the first year is a dip and then the second uh the second and third year in high school we have three years of in Sweden we have three years of high school. uh well except if technically IB is what two years and one year is preIB but anyway let's not get too technical what I'm trying to say is after this academic performance uh and the dip in which me and a couple of friends decided to launch this homework club that we called it right imagine this this guy giving homework club like what uh and the sole purpose was actually no there were two reasons. Reason number one is to hang out with people honestly and hang out with friends and sometimes play CSR racing uh on the Mac and sometimes watch Formula 1 highlights but also to learn. You learn when you teach if I'm going to be very very honest. You learn when you teach. So, while my performance in physics wasn't the best and that one civics test that I had to retake, civics is a subject that I didn't like in high school. Now is is a little bit more interesting, but back then it wasn't really. So, one way to improve my my academic performance was to partake in this homework club that we founded and created. So that when we were explaining things to people, we were forced to learn along the way. And I feel like you can do a lot of this at a much larger level or I mean in a in a much more advanced level in your career or in your business ownership or when you're building your brand, whatever it may be. If you're doing it this way, you're I would say semi- guaranteed because full guarantee is only from Allah subhana wa ta'ala. You're semi- guaranteed an improved performance. I mean it's a sunnah of life. A sunnah of life. Why? Okay. Why do you think Allah subhana wa tala blesses the reward of Jama? Let's put it this way. Okay. prayer in Jama is rewarded far more than singular prayer or solo prayer. Right? Right. That's the case. Correct. Because I don't remember the numbers. I believe it was in the 30s and when we're talking multipliers and God multiplies their word to whomever he wills and pleases. everything that is in Jama has a compound reward. Compound reward equals compound effect. So because reward is value. So it tells you automatically when there is an activity in and it is in and it is in it is it is an act of worship the the value is going to compound. The value is going to multiply. And like we mentioned before, any action that as long as it is within the frame and limits of that which Allah subhana t has placed in his so you you I mean you can't tell me you're going to open a nightclub and say for the sake of no it's not going to work. But if you're launching your business, your product, your uh brand and you are within those constraints that Allahh has placed and has ordered and you're doing it for the sake of God Almighty in whichever way you're doing it to feed your family. You're doing it to impact the um indirectly or directly. Okay? It becomes an act of worship. So when you involve the Jama and when you involve a group be it for example through mentorship or be it for example through outsourcing a task or outsourcing an activity or or a subject matter expertise. Why did the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam say why did the prophet sallallahu alaihi food for one will suffice two and food for two will suffice three again because there's blessings in the jama of course we're going to talk about baraka and the baraka blueprint I mean come on guys of course let's see what what we missed here subhan allah doing a great The quality of sound is up there. Hey, may Allah bless you, brother Durmolius. Okay, this means a lot coming from the subject matter expert satisfied. your person means a lot man means a lot thank you so very much welcome welcome welcome so yes what I'm trying to say with all of this is the compound effect of jama is real it's real so I I think subh that is one of the reasons why I started this podcast and why I'm still continuing with So even if we have like I said even if I have limited engagement even if I have limited views I really I really couldn't care less to a certain extent and then to another extent I'm going to say what do I need to do I need to improve of course we have to climb always but at the end of the day it's not going to affect the consistency. Alhamdulillah what is this? This is I think I mean I've released 32 episodes at this moment. This is the 33rd episode that I'm recording. I don't know if this is going to be episode 33 upon release. Uh because I do have other episodes in the pipeline as well. Uh and the plan is to have roughly what 20 episodes before we go on a seasonal break. So season 2 will have 20 episodes season 3 and so inshallah if Allahh puts um baraka in our years and age then we'll see inshallah where this takes us. What what I'm trying to say is I think this is my why and to to address the former uh what's it called? to address the uh the former comment, Subhan Allah, that was made on on the podcast with our brotherh bless him the f and he he he really nailed it when he said and I'm trying to verify myself on TikTok. Here we go. Of course. I don't know why it keeps giving me these puzzles to say to me because people are doing lives far longer than myself and they don't seem to have this problem. But anyway, we talked about the importance that the first question we ask is about the why. Why does the person want to reach a certain destination? Why are they stuck? Why are I mean like the all of the wise in business? You ask five W. Here we ask many more. So I think my why subhan Allah really is this. My why is genuinely when it comes to when it comes to the baraka blueprint. Now, when it comes to the personal brand as a whole, Allah, we'll see. I'm still learning. Uh when it comes to the Bodaka Blueprint podcasts, uh for me the most important thing is to realize the effect of compound value and to generate as much value as I possibly can to uh the audience or to whomever listens to the even if it's just one person who takes benefit and from whatever is being said and they are able to make their hijra or they're able to um start their business successfully or they become multi-millionaires. May Allah bless all of your wealth and health. Uh that that that alone is a win. That alone is a win because at the end of the day the ultimate reward and we talked about this in episode 32. The ultimate reward no episode 31 sorry we talked the ultimate reward is what? What is the ultimate reward? Allah subh says that in surah al chapter number three first he talks about perceived reward okay there's perceived reward when he says in the second page in the penultimate verse of the second page he says so Allah says and I'm going paraphrase here and I apologize for this. Uh certain things, rewards and incentives have been beautified for mankind. What has been beautified? All right. Uh for the masculine gender for example women first thing women status and offspring wealth although it specifically mentions gold and silver and vehicles back then horses camels today supercars. So all of these have been beautified, okay? And like let's not kid ourselves. You you you you scroll through the occasional short clip or real. All right? And then you see whatever incentive and reward in front of you and it's going to be tempting and it's not haram to drive supercars necessarily. All right? Or to be super wealthy. has absolutely no problem with that as long as it doesn't corrupt you as a person. But I mean there's nothing wrong with that technically. So there's nothing wrong in desiring that as well like our brother who was in front of Ka saying fus I mean like nothing wrong with it technically. If you want to have wealth sure absolutely but what what what I'm trying to say is it has been made beautified and incentivized for people. Why am I saying all of this like why is this dude rambling for so long? Because God says in the very next verse, now let me tell you about something that is better. It's the ultimate reward. What is the ultimate reward? So what do you get? You get this ultimate reward of paradise and the reward that follows paradise and pleasure from Allah. So this is the ultimate reward at the end of the day. Okay. And like I said, subhan Allah and he just like Allahh mentions the beautifification of status. Status has been beautified and incentivized to people. And now in the age of content and be especially short form content and the short attention span people are flocking for views. Well, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna lie to you. The other day when uh when my video hits soon to soon to hit 300K I think it's going to hit 300K soon. Well, I was very happy. I was I was euphoric. I was super happy. Still am honestly. I'm I'm still going on this high if I'm going to be very honest. I'm not going to lie. Let's be very honest. These things that have been incentivized and God Almighty knows us. He created us. He knows our nature, right? So, I'm not necessarily demonizing these incentives, okay? I'm saying while they exist, we cannot get our eyes off the price. We can't. Impossible. We cannot drop the ball. Okay? We can't we we can't fumble the ball any when you're the last defender or when you're about to uh score the winning goal. You can't fumble. Don't fumble. Why? Because the ultimate reward is none of these incentives. These are incentives. It's cool to have them. Okay? It's nice. But if it distracts you from the main goal, you've lost. So I'm using this as a reminder to myself first and foremost. And I have a brother, Subhan Allah, he always used to say in da whenever you point a finger to someone, you've got three that point back to you. And suddenly one of the brothers said, "No, but they don't point back. They're curved. See, they're pointing sideways. So, I'm going to judge everyone [laughter] any fun memories from Dawa. But anyway, uh why why am I still saying all of this, right? I'm saying because this is a reminder to myself first and before I give it to my audience, be it live, be it recorded, be it people who watch it later. Um the ultimate reward is paradise. So whatever brings you to that goal is valuable and is part of that value automatically that includes for example whatever you're doing for the sake of Allah if you don't get any of those incentives remember as long as the intention is pure and you have your eyes on the price may Allah accept that's all we can say may Allah accept from us consistency is key. Exactly. Exactly. Mr. Dermaldius, consistency is key. Subh it's consistency no matter the results, no matter your feelings, no matter your emotions, no matter the noise, no matter the obstacles. You know Ryan Holiday has this book was it obstacle is the way the entire book is a summary of you don't need you don't need like I said that's why I'm saying it's not like we don't have Quran and that is that that is lacking value you know sure read it's good and read read other literature and expand your knowledge a kid Most of this, if not all of this, I would even make the claim that all of this self-help stuff is just repackaged, rebranded and recolored. Seriously, it is right. Obstacle is the way. And Allah says, with hardship comes ease. Not after hardship, not with the hardship, with the obstacle you'll get the way. with the obstacle you will get the solution. Why did I enter preacher mode man? Why? This is supposed to be a friendly conversation. It's not why is this the case? Reach an audience is really about opportunity. Tell them, bro. Tell him. Wait, Mr. Dermolius. Subhan Allah. I should I and I I I don't know why you haven't joined any of my lives because this guy Allahabak he he's he's he's dropping knowledge ladies and gentlemen this guy is dropping knowledgeab I just spent so long talking about this and reformulated all of this and the brother hit the hit the nail with this one Allah subhana t gives And when you're consistent, you can grab it. Yes. All of this is from Allahh. The wealth, the health. If you want attention, attention. This guy, this guy is saying he doesn't want attention. He But he says he wants views and engagement. Yi, which technically is attention. So in a way, attention seek. What is happening? Subhan Allah. Hey Mr. Dermoleius, we need space boys, man. We need to have a jamai. We need to have this uh um this jama live, bro. Live. Remember you talked about the uh podcast production and like like I I remember all the conversations that we had. Subhan Allah. And [laughter] but it's happening now. There is a podcast. Now there is a platform. So I'm waiting for all of you. I'm just I'm I'm I'm preparing the water for you Why is everything [sighs] okay? There's one there's one major issue that I'm having with this Tik Tok live and I do apologize again YouTube family. Uh that is subhan Allah the fact that every single notification is just popping up like it is. So, with that being said, with that being said, the Tik Tok live is going to continue inshallah. Although, I'm going to do a quick check here. I need to see if uh if if the language of choice is still going to be English or on the again YouTube, apologies, and Spotify and all of you guys. Anyway, so that being said, uh we'll end with the following takeaway. Remember that everything is from Allahhaala. Ending with YouTube, not with Tik Tok, by the way. Everything is from Allahhaala. Literally the incentives while they're good and they will serve a certain shortterm purpose, it's not the end goal because Allah subhana wa tala says let me tell you that which is better. Okay, but there's one thing I do want to add also to this and to you guys inshallah if the camera battery is still going to be um there. So who is going to get this ultimate reward? Who is it? The verse after directly says okay then again who are these people who said I believe he mentions and describes their characteristics. follow the characteristics from the blessed blueprint, the blueprint from Allah subhana wa ta'ala. That being said, thank you for watching this episode of the Baraka Blueprint podcast. Remember to subscribe, like, uh turn on the uh notifications to be notified for the next episode release. And remember to stay focused, keep your eyes on the prize and style.