How to Turn Your Passion into Profit

Hey, can you flip that out for me? Swim in shallow waters. Okay, let's go a little deeper. Let's get into it. Hey everyone, welcome to the Listen Then Speak podcast where we get into the podcast where we get into it, not to break someone down, but to build them up. I'm your host Jamal Marshall, tackling burnout at the root with proven methods to do extra time and maximize your productivity. Certified counselor and mental health practitioner, counselor, podcast host, and public speaker. But this is not about me. This is about my guest, Jenaid Ahmed, founder of Home Studio Mastery, host of Home Studio Mastery, podcast hacks and hobbies, chief technology officer, and author of seven stages of Home Studio Evolution. Is there anything you can't do, Jenaid? I can't swim yet. We'll work on that. How you doing, man? I'm doing good, Jamal. It's been a long time coming, you know, getting to connect, especially because we both live in the same place. And it took podcast movement for us to actually connect in person a few weeks ago. And I'm so glad that we did. We've been on this journey, I think, together for about three and a half years, observing each other from a distance, support one of those content. But it was such a blessing to observe you in person. And I want to talk a little bit about some of those observations I had later, as well as your upcoming book, which is out now. But I have a few questions I want to ask you first. So one question that I asked each of the guests that come into the Listen to Speak studio is, what is your favorite genre of music? And how does it inform the way you do life both professionally and personally? Man, that's a fun question I've never been asked before because I do love music. My favorite type of music that I grew up listening was Alternative Rock or Rock and Roll, Classic Rock. I even sang Ben Bon Jovi. I used to sing along with Bon Jovi, I used to sing along with Michael Jackson. Those were some of the most popular ones. The reason for that is because, number one, I grew up in Saudi Arabia. And grew up in Saudi Arabia, you don't have a lot of music options, but because I visited the states when I was younger, those were the music genres that my uncles were listening to. People now call them Dad Rock because their dads are listening to that music. But that's the stuff that I was listening to. So Bon Jovi, Michael Jackson, Richard Marks, like Brian Adams, those are still songs that I listen to. Phillip Collins is another one, but I love that music. And in fact, I was also in a band where I would sing Rock and Roll. And we mostly focused on music for Pakistan because I'm from Pakistan. So again, and even Pakistani music has a lot of influence from Rock and Roll. A lot of the songs have a lot of that Rock and Roll just into it. So my favorite bands from Pakistan were Janoon, Junaid Jamsheid, Math. But my own name, Junaid Jamsheid was a popular actor, not a singer. Before he was solo singing his own music, he was part of a band called Vital Signs. So Vital Signs, Janoon were two of the top bands that I still listened to and sing along with them. And then over time, there was new music from Pakistan also coming out all the time. So yeah, I'm a huge, huge music nerd myself. I would not have known that unless you told me. So I'm glad I asked that question. And just to see your face light up, I, man, that says a lot just about the way you carry yourself. And I want to talk about that a little bit. In reading your book in one of the early parts, there's quite a few quotes obviously from people you work with and you work with some of the best in the industry, not only in podcasting but in building their brands and business. But the author of Cloud9, Jordan Gross, he said this about you and I want to quote, I love to work with Junaid and Junaid in any capacity because of his emotional intelligence. Perfectly compliments his technical and business acumen. And I wanted to highlight that because I got to see you at work in person. And I want to define because we're hearing a lot about EQ all over the industry. And I want to define just briefly emotional intelligence is the ability to manage your own emotions and to manage the emotions of others. And one thing we know with technology, technology is going to technology. It will not work perfectly at the moment you want something to go right, something is going to go wrong. The moment you want the mic to sound this way, there's going to be a glitch. The moment the AV has the whole setup and the rundown of the hour long program, something is off or there's a misspelling. All sorts of things can happen. And I've observed that you have the ability to not get flustered and it has a common effect on your team and those around you. Talk to me a little bit of how you develop that. Man, that's a powerful question. And I think there's a lot of different ways that you developed that. Number one, you got to have the understanding of what's actually happening with the technology. If we get frustrated, well, you're automatically clouding anything or any ability for your brain to come up with a solution. So again, staying calm is absolutely important and understanding what is actually happening. So over the past many years that have been around, number one, I'm a huge tech nerd. In fact, I have a website called Techno Junkie where we talked about tech for many, many years. And so I researched in detail whenever I was building computers, when I was building systems, gaming machines and whatnot. So understanding technology is a huge aspect that I proud myself into figuring things out. So that's number one. Number two, being a parent for kids, you eventually develop, you know, you parenting doesn't mean that you already know everything. It means that you are growing along the way. So as a parent, you have to build this patience level into yourself because if you're losing patience, they're learning to lose patience as well. So again, having those multiple tracks, you know, bringing those things together is absolutely important. Now, number three, I come from a user experience background. Meaning I did a lot of research, I talked to a lot of people to understand what problem they're facing so that I can create a solution for them. I was mentioning to you earlier how I'm doing, researching this one plugin for a website because I help people build websites as well. And doing the research and understanding the technology, like that's innate in me. So having patience and having that calming effect is like, okay, I'm trying to calm myself down so I can understand. And it in turn, other people start reflecting it off of you as well. So you again become a mirror for other people to reflect off of. That's a lot to unpack. I love the way you talked in threes because it makes it bite-size and for the listener to speak audience, it also makes it practical and applicable. Many times when people are breaking down a question, it can be so ethereal and very like, can I even use that or where can I apply that? How can I do that? And so you made a very just bite-size. And I love the way you gave the example of parents because there's plenty of parents who listen to this podcast. We got everybody from, I would say, 29 to 65, 70. We got busy professionals. We got VPs, senior leaders, CEOs. We also got solo pernures. We have moms. We got dads who listen to this podcast. And so there's something for everyone there. But even when you talk about being a parent, just that practical aspect of mirroring calm and coming up with a solution in the midst of a lot of chaos. Having four children, I know you have some small children too. There's just an organized chaos that comes with that. Everything is not going to go perfectly. And so I want people to really hear that. But also you speaking from a user experience, that is so transactional to so many different careers. And businesses because you want to speak the language of the person who is experienced. You want to put yourself in their shoes. And that's your life every day. And so the ability to not panic in the midst of that, I think is rare. And that's part of what makes you who you are. Yeah. And it's been, it's taken a lot of time to develop that, right? I'm approaching 50, right? So I don't know if it shows, but you know, I don't feel it, but I'm continuing to learn every single day, you know, learning about AI, learning about different technologies. Again, keeping that mind fresh, keeping that the concept of, you know, being that young person because as a young person, you're absorbing so much more information than when you're older and you graduated school. You're like, well, I'm done learning, but that's, that's a fallacy because we're constantly learning. In fact, our brain generates 1700 new brain cells every single day. So if you don't learn anything new, those brain cells are going to die. They're going to go to nowhere. So I think it's absolutely important to continue learning. Ooh, my job for that. And speaking of learning, we've been talking a little bit about emotional intelligence and, you know, we both run in some of the same circles business wise and, you know, you're active in a lot of different spaces because obviously you're in the tech world. I'm primarily active mostly on LinkedIn and starting to expand that industry. There's some other apps, you know, as far as professional mentoring apps such as Tiger Hall that, you know, I've built a brand and a presence in and built a space in the human resources and people development and leadership industry. But there was a story about you that I heard where a cab driver, you were at an event and your name got passed around in a good way. And I had the chance to just observe you. I mean, we are around some of the power players in the podcast industry and just the way you treat people, you know, in some of the spaces we run in, we hear constantly, this is how many followers I have and this is my revenue and how much money I make. Who really cares? I think what endears a lot of people to you and withdraws people to you, Genade, is the way that you treat people and the way you make a person matter, no matter what their external status may be. Where did that originate from? You know, that's a really powerful question and I didn't know this till two years ago, like the origin of it. And I'm going to go into a space that I don't know, most people might know about it and might not know about it. And I didn't know this about myself till I went through this explanation of what is actually happening. So two years ago, I was hanging out in the clubhouse, maybe three years ago, and in the clubhouse, my friend was like, hey, I do human design readings. You're energetic here. Type. I'm like, oh, that's interesting. What is it? She's like, well, all I need is disinformation. And once you share with me, I'll send you an hour long recording reading your chart. I'm like, okay, sure, sounds good. So a few weeks later, maybe a couple days later, she sent me the thing and I listened to this. I'm like, wow, this is really interesting. It tells exactly who I am and how I have been in the past many years. And the more I listened to it, I was like, wow, whenever I was in alignment with who I am, it made sense. But whenever I tried to be somebody else, it didn't work for me. And the deeper I went into it, I was like, wow, this is really powerful. So what is human design or what is your energetic type? Now, there are four types or there are four energetic types that human design talks about. And these are the type of people that are in the entire world. So four types, 70% of the energetic type people are known as generators. They create the life force that the entire population runs on. Now, you might be wondering, what are you talking about, Jenaid? That's cuckoo. Well, if you think about it, when you talk about the mind versus the brain, those are two different things. One is the physical and the other is the software. So I like to call it hardware and software. So when the phone doesn't work and it's like black screen, you call it dead. But as soon as you touch the screen and something comes on, that's the life. So the soul or the mind is the software and our brain is the hardware. So what does that all mean and what does that have to do with the energetic type? So these four different energetic types, so one of them is the generators. They create the energy of the entire world. Then there's 20% of the population that is projectors. 10% of the population are manifestors and there's only 1% of the population that are reflectors. So I fall into the 20% projector types and it made a lot of sense when people were, when I was reading, when I was listening to the breakdown of what that means. And what that really means is that you're able to engage with people on their level and focus on who they are and help them see themselves in much better light. So that's what I'm able to do and that's what I try to focus on. And I did not know that I was doing this till I was, I was read my report. I'm like, oh my God. And so the piece of information that my friend asked for was your date of birth, your place of birth, and your time of birth. That's it. These three pieces of information. So human design is actually a combination of astrology, quantum physics, Kabbalah and I Ching. Basically, this gentleman combined education from four, five different places and put it together. And the reason that he created this platform is because he wanted to give a tool for parents so they can understand their kids better on, hey, which type of learning experience are they, you know, more aligned to, like, what type of person this is. And based on knowing that, I can provide them with the proper level of experience and knowledge and teaching instruments. So when I learned about that, I'm like, holy shit, this makes so much sense. This is, this is so cool. So that's how I'm able to be present and able to help people look at themselves in a better light. So I'm always shining the light back, even brighter. Hey, what's up everybody? I got a quick word for you. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast in 2026, don't wing it. I cannot tell you how many people I come across, whether it's in my neighborhood, at my gym, at my church, when I'm out doing keynoting, you name it, I'm there. Somebody says, you know, I need to start a podcast too. Even other business owners podcast principles is a team that I trust. If you want to start a podcast, these are the kind. It's the best part. Even if you don't want to launch a full podcast, they got to work around to still get you the benefit. They'll help you record and turn it into a bunch of high quality video clips that you can post anywhere. Think about branding, whether you're active on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, people still want to see you. They want to see you in mode. And I know some of you are like, man, I'm not wanting to get on camera. Let me tell you, they make it easy. They will take your stuff and make you look the best thing since sliced bread. So you have very little work to do. For those of you that know me, that have seen me outside this podcast, know I love being on camera. That's not everybody's gifting or everybody's calling. Even if you can't stand being on camera, I'm telling you, contact these people. One thing I wish I did when I started was the strategy. That's where they come in. You don't want to do anything going forward without road mapping it. We hear so much about, well, just do this, do that. You can't road map it. If you want to try, book a call with their team using this link below in the show notes. Take care. Great. That is interesting, man. I want to thank you for all that context. And it makes for me, at least right now, some sense. That's why you carry yourself the way you do. I know we both come from different backgrounds, different faiths. Everybody knows I'm a Christian. It's no secret. And I've been able to learn a bit about what my archetype is. So one of them was pretty common. I wasn't surprised. The other one, I was like, what is that? It was the sage. I was like, okay, well, I've heard that for the better part of my young adult to adult life. The other one was magician. I was like, what's a magician? I don't know if I like the sound of that. And the magician is a bit of like the rebel, you know, if everyone's wearing baby boo, I'm like, God, I think I want to wear white. And it's not that I'm trying to stand out. I've just always been that way. I've always gone against the grain. And it's just, I know no other way than to go against the grain. And it, you know, when I look at the figures in the Bible, the greatest leaders were those who just did not go with, they went against the grain. Yeah, it's the purple cow, right? You're different. You're unique. And it doesn't mean that all cows are different. It just means that as human beings, we bring our individuality and our authenticity is in that individualism in the paths that we've taken over time. To become who we are. Speaking of that, and just, you know, I want to slowly switch a little bit of gears into your book, you know, Seven Stage, a Studio Home Evolution, and often, so say to my clients and everyone in this podcast, it's hurt this time and time again, the very thing that annoys you the most or bothers you is the problem that you created to solve. And you're obviously solving a lot of problems, but delving into the user experience of your clients, whether it's individual or collective, and getting them results that matter to them that set them up for sustainable success. What about seeing people struggle to build their brand and build their presence was problematic for you? You already have the emotional intelligence to honor the person where they are, but what made you want to take it to the level where, okay, let me give you some accessibility to actually build your presence on and offline, but also build a presence that is reputable. That's an excellent question, Jamal, and I didn't start from that questioning, right? It all started with, hey, I'm trying to solve a problem for myself. Right. And again, because of how my energetic type and my alignment is, it's all through invitation. Like I have to be invited to help people. I can't be like, hey, I need to help you this. No, that doesn't work for me. So while it was all I was doing was I was solving my own problem. And on 2019, I tried to create a course around mobile video production, and I set up the cameras because number one, I've been behind cameras for more years than I've been in front of cameras. So when I set up the stage for me to record a video course, I stumped, I froze. I didn't know where to start. I had no idea what to start with, even though I had a low transcript, not a transcript, but I had a bullet point, hey, here's the different topics that I want to start with. And I was like, okay, I need to work on myself. I need to work on better public speaking skills. So I joined, I had, I mean, I was like, wait, I can always speak publicly better, but I need to figure out the story aspect of it. What's the story, am I telling? Why do they even care about recording video on their phones? So I went to deep work and to myself, I continued my podcasting. I interviewed a ton of people on the podcast. I think I did about 100 episodes in 2019. And as I'm going through these episodes, as I'm learning, listening to the stories from other people, and that's how we learn to speak and tell stories by listening to others. So to date, I think I've interviewed over 500 guests on my own podcast. And as I'm listening to these stories, I'm able to now see a pattern. How do you tell story? How do you blah, blah, blah. So in 2020, we were, I was already working from home, or sorry, when the pandemic hit, I was already working from home. And as I am showing up on camera on different Zoom calls for podcasting or work meetings and whatnot, I keep looking at myself and I'm like, I don't like what I see. And if I want to create a course, I need to like what I see. So I'm in more confident, I feel more confident. So I delved into a scale, brought out the gear that I had and I start putting it together. And that happened after, after two weeks into me watching Pat Flynn do live streams every day on YouTube. He put a blog post out, here's all the gear in my studio. I'm like, wait, I have 90% of this here. So I started setting it up for myself, where I wanted to show more authentically using the gear that I have. And as I showed up on these meetings on day after day, people started to notice the level of video correction that I had, the quality of camera and the lighting stuff that I had. Right. So as they saw that, they're like, hey, Jeanette, can you help? I'm like, sure. So I started helping and it started, you know, putting this program together and that's how really came together. Now, the reason why I wrote the book is because I get the same question every day. I've done over 200 consults and I get the same question every day. People are messaging me around and like, hey, what camera should I buy? What camera are you using? And so like, this book will be a really good to answer all of those questions and more because, you know, you only have so much time in the day. You can't be answering the same question over and over like, hey, just go get the book. It'll have everything you need. And then if you, if that doesn't answer, then we can jump on the call and, you know, go deeper into the thing. So that's, that's a little origin story of why I did the thing that I did and why I wrote the book and what solutions it or problems it solves. Now, I love how you make a lot of areas in the book very practical, applicable and doable. And you and I were both at the same conference. And especially as, as podcasters, the funny thing is that people should never be nervous at a podcast conference because you're around people who like to talk to people. And the one thing about people who talk to people is that they talk amongst themselves. And so long before there's any survey that goes out, we're already giving feedback of like, what do you think about that session? Or it could have gone this way or what if they said this? And it was one of the sessions. I'm not going to name who the keynote was. Great keynote, but a keynote that went over a lot of people's heads because, you know, you have a room full of hundreds to nearly a thousand people. Many of who, even if they're six-figure earners, they still aren't in that millionaire billionaire status where they can afford a team that is that large. And so there's an ancient scripture in the book of Corinthians that says they compare themselves amongst themselves and they weren't wise. And sometimes when we see brands and even interacting with a brand like yours, I'll tell you, you go on LinkedIn, you go to Gennade's website, you go to his Facebook, you're like, man, this brother has got it going on. He believes in excellence. He delivers on excellence. He's worked with some of the best entrepreneurs in the business. He's actually built Studio for Hala Taha from Young and Profiting. I mean, I can name a ton of folks that he's worked with. And so what I love about your book is that it says, let me give you tips on how to start where you are with what you have. Because a lot of times, whether it's a person who's a business owner, entrepreneur, or working a full-time job and wanting to develop a side gig and explore their passion, people typically tend to bite off more than they can chew. You know, I work in the area of anti-burnout and stress and root causes. It's just like, okay, let's give you what can we do now? So talk to the audience. If they're even thinking about, I want to get into production. I actually want to do a bit of a home shield. I don't like the way that I appear. I know that I can level up in this area. What are a few tips that are bite-sized that people can do now from your knowledge? Absolutely. So I'll focus on three things just to keep it really straight. Number one thing that you want to focus on is the camera framing and angling. Right? So a lot of times we're using laptops, webcams and whatnot, and we end up looking down at the laptop. You know, it's positioned up. So for example, if I were to look at and critique your setup, right? I can see two blades of the fan. I can see the ceiling and the wall behind you, right? So it clearly tells me that the camera is pointing up and looking back at there. Whereas if the proper way to do it is to have the camera eye-line level. So the camera is basically wherever you're sitting, eye-line, that's where you want the camera to be sitting at, looking directly straight back at you. So that's number one. Number two is the lighting that you have in your setup. The light should focus on you as a talent, and the more light that you have on you, the camera has to work a lot less harder. Because again, it's really hard to look in the dark. And when you don't provide proper lighting for the cameras, for the webcams or whatnot, it's having trouble to see and basically it will introduce a lot of noise. Now, a lot of the new cameras do have the ability to have much more higher sensitivity for low light. But again, what happens is it introduces noise and pixelation. And you just don't have... You want to do good from the beginning instead of trying to fix it at the back end. So that's number two. Good lighting, framing. And number three should be actually number one, which is audio. Making sure that your audio is sharp and clean because people can't hear you, and I'm dismalding it, right? People can't hear you. Your message won't be listened to. And people have a lot more options. Listening to the book by Gary Vaynerchuk, his latest book, Day Trading Attention. There's so much more content being produced. And if your video doesn't compete with all the other video quality that other people are posting on, they have other options. They can easily swipe up to the next video. You know, we have that option like literally every single app that I'm looking at right now, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, even Pinterest and Twitter. You all have these videos that you can swipe up to go to the next one, YouTube even. So again, you want to make sure that you're bringing a compelling look that can keep the people on your video for longer than five seconds, for longer than 10 seconds. So those are the three tips that I would focus on. Good lighting, good audio, and good framing so that people feel that you're right next to them. You heard it here first, folks. Good lighting, good audio, good framing. And Jenae even came for me. Which is okay. I take that. I'm not... I don't know, you all know me. I'm a master of the mind and the heart man. So I'm always open. I would say this, one of the things that you skill stack be teachable. And I'm not here to highlight because this episode isn't about me, but that is one of my greatest strengths is remaining teachable. And knowing that I'm ever a learner. I learned that from one of my mentors, Billy Samoa Salibi. Oh my God, I love that guy. Yeah, he's one of the best in the business, but he's somebody who I know is very teachable. And whether it's your career, whether it's your business, your side gig, even your marriage or romantic life, please remain teachable. Never balk at advice that you're given and feedback you're given because it's going to help you level up. So next podcast, you will definitely see my framing improve. Yeah. So I want to thank you for that because that is just a foretaste of some of the things that are in your book. Because I just know how some of us recovering perfectionists typically tend to think and reason naturally that let me do all of this at once. And then let me go out and invest thousands of dollars in all this. One, I'm going to go back to where you were 20 minutes ago without even having a story. Your story powers your brand. If you don't have a story, people don't really care. Well, people don't know how your story helps them from a user standpoint. And so one, figure that out first. And then two, what are the bite size things that you can do because I don't want my audience, certainly not my clients and prospects to burn out while trying to have this great, perfect presentation. I came on the map walking through the woods and sweaty under armor and built a global brand. And nearly two years ago, I left my corporate job. Here we are. So again, what can you do? 100%. I love that, Jamal. Thank you so much, man. This has been an amazing opportunity to come and gloat about me because, you know, who doesn't like to talk about themselves. But you brought some really good questions that helped me to, you know, consolidate and be concise in answering those questions and bringing a good backstory. Because I'm all about backstory. I love history and people love history too. So the one thing that you talked about, talked about, you know, the messaging, you know, how do you get to the messaging part? How do you get the story part? I struggled with that. And my first season on the podcast that you can go listen to was just me talking to myself, documenting my beekeeping journey. And as I did that, I learned to be better at speaking and talking to people. So again, even if you're doing in the dark, doing it by yourself, just practice those things and that's how we get better. That is a mind-draw moment that I don't want. We hear it so much that we can become inoculated to the weight of it. And practice doesn't make perfect perfection as a fallacy. Listen, hear that, listen to this big family. But practice does produce progress and it helps us to level up. I say this time and time again, I love the sport of tennis. I'm not an expert at it. I'm fairly decent at it. But of course, right now, I don't know when we play, but the U.S. Open is playing right now up in Flushing Meadows. And of course, it's nothing to see somebody blast 125 mile per hour serve and blast backhands and forehands in 90 miles per hour. But go on YouTube and look at a video of Roger Federer, Serena and the dog, joke of it, when they're practicing. It can almost put you to sleep, but they do these shots over and over and over again, no matter how long they've been playing the sport to perfect it and to make progress. So that when the ball is coming at them, there's an automatic reaction. And so you heard from Genade, he was just actually just on his own going live, doing his beekeeping journey, but he was putting in the reps and look at what the reps have done to this point. He's been rewarded with a very global and reputable brand and is one of the best in the business. Not just when it comes to marketing, but when it comes to building out, not just a home studio for his client, but building out systems and processes that help them shine. So, man, I just want to say, Genade, I'm so grateful to have you on today. I'm going to have all your links in the show notes, but anything you want to leave with the Listen to Speak audience, just so we can find what your latest initiative are and support you. 100%. So the book that we talked about seven stages of home studio evolution, you can grab a copy at homestudiobook.com. It'll take you directly to my site. But if you want to buy a copy tomorrow, go to the Amazon link that Jamal will have in the link. So that's the main thing that I'm focused on right now. Awesome, folks. If any of this is resonating with you, and I'm sure plenty of it is, go out and get that book. Especially no matter where you are, whether you have a whole, you want to build out a whole home studio, or you just have your phone. You want to build a brand from there. There's something in this book for everyone. I'm one who is a bit of a nerd and loves practical and applicable takeaways. I don't really have a flair for the ethereal, and there's a lot of that in the market today. It's so, I'm too excited just about this interview and just what's going to come out of this and what people are going to be able to receive. So, Genade, thank you so much for coming on the Listen to Speak podcast and blessing the Listen to Speak family, not just with your acumen, but more importantly with your character. Thanks so much, Jamal, for having me. Take care, man. Hey, if you're listening to Listen to Speak, and I should be creating content in 2026, let me tell you this. The creator economy is huge. It boomed in 2020, and it's growing even larger and larger. Don't let what they say about the economy. Fool you, trust me. The creator economy is huge. Start with podcast principles. If you want to start a podcast, these are the guys. And if you don't, they got to work around and still get you content. One recording session turned into 12 days of content. Link the book of call that is right down in the show notes. Thank you so much, and we'll see you next week.