31K followers surpass her lawyer salary

(4 min read) Ling Yah’s counterintuitive strategy to building trust and landing high-value executive clients. Featuring Red Circle, Opus, and Calendly.

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Ling Yah - So This Is My Why

I will always reference the podcast, and I will go, “This is how I'm going to analyze your life and extract stories from you.”

One year ago, Ling Yah left her job as a corporate litigator for an American law firm in Malaysia to go full-time as a solopreneur. 

Today, she’s making more than her corporate lawyer salary.

Her podcast, So This Is My Why, features interviews with VIPs about “their journey to discovering & living their why”. While she makes no money directly from it, the podcast helps her get executive clients who hire her to do ghostwriting and personal brand development for them on LinkedIn.

How does that funnel work?

Let’s get into it!

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Together With

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The Business

.Highlights.

.Breakdown.

.Observations.

Most clients listen to the podcast. They really like the questions, the way I extract information. That’s how they find out the way that I think. 

Ling Yah’s premium service - personal branding and ghostwriting for LinkedIn - has a premium price tag. As a result, building trust is critical to converting her audience into high-ticket buyers.

The first way she builds trust is organic - via her background.

People will come and say… “I see that you are a lawyer, therefore I trust you to write on my behalf because I'm a C-suite executive and I don't want someone who just graduated with a Comms degree to be writing for me. You understand where I'm coming from. You have worked on hotel acquisitions and power plant M&As. You can speak the language that I am used to.”

A legal background doesn’t scream “personal branding consultant”, but her executive clients are willing to pay a premium to hire someone who understands their worlds, as that’s the first step to showcasing them in the best possible light.

Of course, her podcast also plays a huge role in building trust with these high-value clients:

The extraction of stories from people is something most people struggle with. Most people will come and say, “I'm a very boring person, I have nothing interesting to say.”

And I'll come in and say, “Well, that's my job, to ask the right questions, to get the right interesting stories out. And if you don't trust me, just listen to any of the 140+ episodes and you will see the style that I use.” 

Her clients know from her background that Ling Yah will understand their world; from her podcast, they learn that Ling Yah will get to understand them - another step towards building trust.

The final way Ling Yah builds trust with potential clients probably sounds counterintuitive - she doesn’t apply pressure.

I tend to tell them to really think about whether they really want to proceed, as opposed to trying to sign them. So for me, it's always asking questions like, “Are you sure you want to be on LinkedIn? Are you sure your target customers are here? Are you sure this is the right timing?”

Remember, her customers are high-powered executives - that means that someone always wants something from them - usually money. By showing that she is less interested in their money than in doing what’s right for them, she’s cementing the trust she’s built through her background and her content. 

I always say that it's important for me, because, “The last thing I want for you is to spend your time here when you could spend it somewhere else.” 

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The Stack

Website - Wordpress + Bluehost

Email - ConvertKit

I was looking around and Pat Flynn [of Smart Passive Income] kept on talking about Convertkit, so I just ended up using it. 

Project Management - Notion + Google Docs

Scheduling - Calendly

Storefront - DM + Call

It's very high-touch. They DM and I'll respond, and my response is always, “Let's jump on a call.” 

It tends to be half an hour, sometimes an hour, and from there, I really explain what I do. I get to understand where they are coming from and then decide whether to move forward or not. 

I will always ask them the question, “Why do you want to be on LinkedIn?” 

If I get an answer like, “Oh, I just want to be famous,” then I'll just come out and say, “We are probably not in the right space at the right time right now.”

Payment Processing - Wires through HSBC or Wise for US payments

I'm not the one making the payment. I just leave it up to them and I just say, “This is my account.”

Membership - Not currently, exploring Nas.io

For me it was just the fact that they are so much closer to me, and also that I liaise with people in Nas.io and they are very available on WhatsApp. 

They will follow up and say, “Hey, do you want me to be an accountability partner? Have you been working on this? I will help you to upload all your information to set it up, and all you have to do is just click launch.” 

I like that kind of really personal touch.

Finances - Accountant + HSBC

Video Production - Shure Mic + whatever camera the studio has

Video Distribution - Direct to platform

Podcast Production - Descript + Auphonics + Opus

Podcast Distribution - Red Circle

At the time, when I started in 2020, I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue the podcast - and their hosting is completely free. The only risk I could find was that they were small and they might just shut down. 

It's been four years and they're still there and going strong. I like them because it's very easy. I just upload it and it's out to all platforms without me having to think about it. Never had an issue.

Graphic Design - Canva

Operations - Her + Production Assistant + Mom edits

My mom edits. She's really good at it.

Relevant Previous Interviews

LinkedIn Roundup

I write about the Creator Economy on LinkedIn! Here are a few highlights from the last week:

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Written by Avi Gandhi, edited by Melody Song,
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