5 Lessons From One Year of Content Creation

Bismillah, assalamualaikum. I am today alhamdulillah in the Pod Studio. They have they have this fantastic pop-up in the 1 Billion Followers Summit. And Subhanallah, they have the chance I got the chance to come in here and just record a quick session. I mean, the opportunity presented itself and as a person who well, today it's the 10th of January and marks the 1-year anniversary of when I started with with YouTube particularly. And as somebody who never says no to a content creation opportunity, I'm like, why not? So um this is very very spontaneous and I I still wanted to do this because one thing I can talk about is the following. What has happened so far? 2026, Itqan has launched in its social media. And for those of you who are very new to my channel, Itqan is the branding agency that I started together with my two co-founding partners. Other than that, Baraka Blueprint season 2 has come to its end and wrap after a total of 40 episodes in the podcast, alhamdulillah. And what else have I realized during all of this? While I'm also here in the 1 Billion Followers Summit to try and get as much value as I possibly can to well give better content, create better. Get more fulfillment for myself because those of you who have watched me from day one you know that I've been very very clear with one thing. What I am creating here in the content that I'm delivering to you guys is a wider experiment with myself as a test subject. Basically, I want to show everybody the steps that I am trying to follow to build the end product. The end product is very simple. A person who does his absolute best to live according to the Quranic blueprint. And this is actually the reason why the Baraka Blueprint was named the Baraka Blueprint and started as the one main source of content. See, I've had many consultation sessions and met very, very interesting and inspirational creatives. And subhanallah uh one thing I have taken away from is or one thing I've taken away from all of this is And this is also something that you're going to find, I believe, very experienced people in any industry, in any field. And the more they the more knowledge they gather in whichever industry, the more they realize they have a longer way to go. Um Uh like for example, a a scholarly quotation and I at this very point I at this very moment I can't really remember who, but he used to say is that to is that to be jolly. How however much my knowledge has increased, my knowledge of my own ignorance has increased simultaneously. And I think this is very true, subhanallah. Uh obviously, I don't have many years on my shoulders and neck. It's just one year of one particular thing, content creation, right? I've said this as well in the season 2 finale. I said that I think this year has been or the the former past year has been very overwhelming. It actually was because you think you're doing something right and you get distracted by any which noise, right? You start comparing yourself to people in your network, people that you just met by the way, and suddenly you start you start to contradict every line in the very same mission that you shared with your audience. Don't compare yourself to others. He said while comparing himself to others. one thing I also realized subhanallah, as much as I wanted to pivot to different areas in my content, things I could potentially monetize or hopefully could monetize, I learned something. I learned that the most important thing is the thing that gives you the most value to your investment, and the value to my investment is metaphysical. It's not something tangible. Our main goal as Muslims and people of any spirituality, more often than not, is extra material. It's outside of whatever this material world can provide you. Things like this, attending events like this, however much of an achievement it can seem to someone who, let's say, spent the vast majority of his life in Sweden, in a very different domain, in very different circles, in the grand scheme of things it still means nothing. If we're going to be harsh and real, with that being said, I think, and this is subhanallah, this is the remind That's why I say, every single reminder I give is a reminder to myself, from myself. And every single piece of advice should reach the ears of the person who speaks before the ears of the people he speaks to. I truly mean this when I say this, there is absolutely nothing in this world that is more important than following the Quranic compass. This is the reason why I started content creation. This is the reason why I stuck with the consistency. And alhamdulillah, it's also what allowed me to improve in my delivery. Be it presentational rhetorical skill set or learning this new trick in Adobe Premiere Pro. Like literally whatever it is. The gradient is wide. The spectrum is wide of things that you will learn. Success in whichever paradigm is inevitable when you are consistent. But the only thing that matters is sticking to your core mission. And subhanallah, this actually applies to people who want to do any type of content, even mindless [clears throat] entertainment. Not that all entertainment is mindless. Don't get me wrong. What I'm saying here is for any which type of journey you want to take, the only way to success is consistency and consistently improving. success in that form is inevitable. Now, success doesn't necessarily have to mean a seven-figure, eight-figure, nine-figure income. Okay? While that is definitely a way to measure success. And those of you who who watched the podcast episode with uh Brother Canyon in season 1, uh officially the first guest of the Baraka Blueprint, um we did talk about uh the measurement of success. And he said something and we talked about uh how success is measured very subjectively. And success could mean to to one person a list of material things and to another person intentionality with family and building a household and building a successful household and being a successful parent. So yeah, sure. You're you can definitely divide define your own KPIs and then you can take the conclusion that you haven't achieved success. Now, if we're going to take a look at the objective side of things, you will definitely succeed in things when you are consistent in your journey. And when you're sticking through the tough times. But even if your success is multi-multiplied I think I just made up a term. ultimately if your journey is not aligned with the path that God intends to his creation ultimately it's pointless. Even if it momentarily seems to be fulfilling. with this I believe I think this is a I think this is a fantastic way to conclude this reminder to myself, honestly. I think so because as much as I feel behind in this entire ordeal, right? As much as I feel that is as is overwhelming. Like for example, right now I'm in the 1 billion followers summit. This is this is day two. I I've attended two workshops. Two Actually, no, three. One with TikTok, one in the Sony Pavilion with Timothy Matthews, and one just now with Work Heath. And in every single one of them, I've realized that, "Oh my days, I have a long way to go." If I'm going to be very honest, Ibrahim 2025 actually and even before Salah before it's it's not even a question. There's no doubt about it. Um would feel very very very overwhelmed and not know what to do with all of this. Now I while I still feel conclusively that I am very very behind and there is a long way to go, and there are many more mistakes that we have to make in this journey, I am actually more okay with that now. And you will be if you stick to your mission. And with that, let's wrap up this quick rapid-fire Baraka Blueprint episode. Thank you very much for tuning in. And if this affected you, please implement the knowledge. Please implement it in your life. Perhaps share some takeaways with your network. And like, follow, subscribe in Baraka style, of course. I mean, I I I literally can't end an episode without this. [laughter] >> [gasps] >> But seriously, if you like if you if if if you like this and if you like the type of content and this style of content, um make sure to let me know and feedback me so that I know what I am doing that is beneficial or what I can do to further improve the delivery of this core message. So, until next time, remember your mission, stay focused, stay faithful, and in Baraka style. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi Cool. Great. >> Nice. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate that. >> Yeah, pretty heartfelt. >> Most of Most of them are. >> Oh, really?