E278 – Hani Mourra – How to build applications that solve your own problem and help others in the process

Junaid Ahmed 0:10
Thank you for tuning in to hacks and hobbies with your host Junaid in season two of hacks and hobbies were visited by our amazing guests coming from all walks of life want to learn their story, their struggles and their journey on how they got to where they are today. So stick around.

And this episode, I get to speak with honey Mora. He's the creator and founder@repurpose.io. And what is repurpose repurpose, it enables you to automatically publish audios and videos to multiple platforms. And I've been using it with hacks and hobbies for some time. And what's funny is I discovered honey through Angel Jones. And that was an excellent exercise a episode or a experience. And I got to be a guest on Angel Jones episode. And he he at the end of the episode he mentioned he's he's like he totally need to connect with honey. He's got this really cool vibe around animals. And I was like, You know what, let's do this. And he's been doing content marketing, automation, live video podcasting. And, and as you guys all know, me, I'm all about that content marketing, content, automation. And hence here we are talking to honey, honey, thank you so much for taking the time to come on to the podcast.

Hani Mourra 1:46
My pleasure. Thanks for having me here.

Junaid Ahmed 1:49
You're welcome in. So once I discovered you about you through Angel, I think I might have connected with you before mentioned, but you know how our connections go on on LinkedIn, you see the initial Connect fitness and then like, oh, there's again, make a connection there can learn, we can do so much more. From there. And then it just kind of goes under the radar unless you have a good CRM system. And this is what I'm doing. I'm going to be on point and connecting. So learning about you back in, think it was either February or before that maybe January when and learn about local stuff and about you, and how you just you know, stumbled upon this. Software partnership and building building plugins for WordPress. So, you know, how did that all started before that? What were you doing?

Hani Mourra 2:56
Yeah, I went to school, while University from computer engineering

always been like a geeky,

geeky,

nerdy or techie kind of guy.

And guy, computer engineering degree, got a job working in software, and quickly became like, in that role being like a product project manager kind of role. It's fun, I enjoy. I realized I didn't enjoy the coding as much. But I enjoyed the creation and kind of seeing things come to life like the execution piece. So I got involved in that role. And but then I just kept getting this itch. Like I've besides being a techies software guy, I've always been a video guy, even as a kid, that was always the guy spent like, five days editing a video family video from a family vacation. Yeah, we're all together. So we can all sit down and watch it and enjoy the final product. And I love that journey of just taking video and editing and putting into a story. Anyway, so one day, I was just sitting there, I said, You know what, you know, I first I started blogging about video, because that was my passion on the side. And then one day I just said, you know, you have a passion for video, video Flash content, you have a skill set that's for the software, you know, you can manage teams, and you have a little bit software, engineering coding experience, why don't you put them together? And that was an exciting moment. I didn't know what it was. But I knew that moment was exciting like that. Yeah, that I have to, I gotta follow this and see you kind of where it leads me. Yeah, so at that point, I didn't know what I was going to create. But I knew I had to create a software related video. And those were like, the two kind of like guiding lights for me at that moment. And that was probably around 2012 ish, maybe? Around 12. So I've been blogging for a couple years, and then had a bit of an email list, but not much. But so anyway, so I basically took this idea of I said, you know, what do I do every day, or every week when I produce content for my blog, the adult like that I can automate. And at that time, it was taking YouTube videos, I'll make a video for you to upload it to YouTube, till the SEO and title description everything. And then sometimes I forget to put on my blog, because I just moved on, right, move on. There's just a lot of effort making the content and then you put on YouTube and you move on. Yeah, I think I forgot to put my blog and go copy the embed code, make a blog post, like, Man, I wish I could automate that stuff because I just want to put the content out and move on to the next piece of content. So that's how the first idea was, well, my first WordPress plugin was me kind of solving my own problem, which was

annoying

task of copying embed code and making a blog post pasting it into my blog. So I wrote I hired somebody to help me build this Well, first, kind of prototype WordPress plugin that take videos and put them on your blog automatically.

Junaid Ahmed 5:52
Yeah, that's really cool. And a lot of lot of people you know, they, whenever you come up with idea, it's because you're, you're scratching your own itch. You know, the guy who came up with the little stick with a low hand on the back of it was trying to scratch his own back.

Literally.

x like, I can't get back there. Maybe I can use something. So that's really cool. And now he's out there making millions selling those backs.

Hani Mourra 6:27
That's true, literally, yeah, he's scratching his own edge. Literally, that's I never heard that. That example. So true.

Junaid Ahmed 6:35
And so so I really like that, you know, and I see that, you know, you're you're doing online video coaching, which is really, which is really funny, because you started this back in 2009. And this is something that I'm trying to get into, but focusing on on focusing on iPhone or smartphone, my friend. Yeah,

Hani Mourra 7:01
but I'll be honest with you, I struggled. I started blogging in 2009. Yeah. And about video, and I'm making every week I put up content, but teaching something about video editing, video marketing. And then I struggled for a few years because I didn't know how to monetize it. Now I'd run ads and do like affiliate promotion, but whatever it small stuff there from Yeah, that's exciting. And then I'm everyone's telling me the natural path is to make a course and teach it sell it. And, and not, you know, that made a lot of sense. But I wasn't never excited about it. Yeah, I tried coaching. And I've tried a little bit of coaching. And now we got results that up. I didn't enjoy that process. And then when I, when I said, Oh, create a software for video. To me, that was like, wow, you know, this is my, that's my zone of sense. I just, that's what I love. And then that's why I was excited. Even though I didn't know what the product was, I knew this is what I need to be doing all this blogging for a couple years, and understanding SEO and video market, all that stuff is going to come in handy and building a little bit of an audience. But I was meant to create software for the space. And I felt that felt right. And that's when I pursued it. It wasn't. I wasn't pushing hard. My Video Marketing. I never made a course I never sold the program. Yeah, I could have I knew a lot I could have bought it put it together. But it didn't feel right to me. And then software was just bam, light bulb moment. That's when I was like, I was excited. Like I knew. I didn't know like how far it's going to go. But I knew

that I

Junaid Ahmed 8:34
know this, this really, just really powerful because you're, you're combining two different things into one thing we love for doing blogging, but then you're also creating content, but then combining that with software development. And that's, I mean, that's what you went to school for

Hani Mourra 8:55
passion and skill. I look like I had a passion for this video and skill set for, you know, engineering coding architect thing. So kind of put those together. And that's when I was like, wow, this is exciting. You know, like, I got to do two things I like doing and I'm good at I like doing at the same time, which is, you know, I was that I remember that day, I was like no specific day. But remember that feeling of just being so excited. Even though I didn't have an idea. I didn't have an idea. I didn't know what it was. But I just knew it was the right thing. I was so like, fired up. And yeah, and that's when I just push for that I just kind of went nice. Make this make this happen. Let's hire somebody work with me. Let's architect something I was sitting my parents house had the young daughter, but back then they were couple years old. And I was like why do I parents house one weekend I remember she was my mom was watching and playing with my daughter. And I sat on the couch. I still remember I was sitting like in a most awkward

position on my parents couch

had a big piece of paper. And I was literally drawing block diagram. Yeah, I want this and I want to talk to this API. I want to grab this kind of data. And I was listening like everything so detailed. I would literally building it like Legos in my mind. And yeah. And I was like when I saw the final paper like, yeah, this is it. Now I need some help to build this big. I know, I could code it, but it was ever a plus, I wouldn't do it. Right?

Junaid Ahmed 10:18
Yeah. It always helps when you have a concrete idea. And you're able to write it, you know, you're able to dry it. And then get help. Because it's exciting. I mean, at that moment of creation, you're super hyped up and super excited. And you think that you can get it done. But then if you don't go out and get help, you know, that's where a lot of people fall down. Like, okay, I've got this excellent idea. I've got it down on paper. What's the next step? Yeah, well, you gotta you gotta connect with other people that are also in the same boat, or how are maybe one or two steps ahead of you. And then like, all right, you got to do this, you gotta do this, you gotta do this, boom, you're done. And you know, and that's, that's where you you're able to find it, somebody. And so how many, how many different people did you go through?

Hani Mourra 11:13
Yeah, it's a great question. Actually. I first I went through it, I was excited. I wanted to get started right away. So went back then it was called the call now it's called upward. But anyway, I forgot what it was. I think it was called something else. Anyway. Long story short, it was like I went through somebody, I didn't do a lot of vetting. I just posted my requirements. Here's what I want to kind of skill set. And then I said, you know, first bunch of people applied. Now I listed I basically said it and I already had the full. I know I was going to build as described it. They talked to a few people is okay, you, you're hired. And I said, I said he pretty much said here you go. Here's my idea. Make it happen. Now was, that was the biggest mistake.

Junaid Ahmed 12:01
That was the biggest mistake.

Hani Mourra 12:02
And that I just said, Here you go, Oh, can you build this? And it's like, of course, yeah. Yeah, no problem. We'll build it. And then like, weeks go by? And okay, what's going on? What's going on? Can I see something? Oh, no, this and that an excuse after excuse. And after about a month, I've already paid about half the amount? Try, I got pretty much nothing. And I'm like, you know, I just not working out. Just give me what you have. Yeah, whatever state it's in. And then you know, we're going to go our separate ways. Obviously, we're not compatible. So I lost some money on that. Yeah, I got pretty much nothing. But I was like, I learned the lesson. As you know, it is not that I rushed in hiring right away, it was more about I handed the whole thing off. As one project, as I hear you take this and it was a big project. It's not like, you know, build a plugin that does one little thing, it was pretty hot, a lot of features. And

next guy interview a little bit better.

But also, on my side, I did a little lot of a lot of little tests. I said, Okay, let's build this piece where I connect my YouTube account to the WordPress plugin. Let's deliver that delivers that I would pay. Now, let's build a piece where we you know, get a list of all your YouTube videos. Okay, so incrementally I was handing off. And I think that worked out better for both of us. Because the person who was developing it, they had a little more clarity to hang out piece by piece they got they got the whole picture by they were building it by piece was testing it piece by piece. So the my approach was a lot different. And it worked out a lot better. And we're still working on same person, how many years? years later.

Junaid Ahmed 13:44
It's crazy, right? And that makes sense. Because developers do want concrete and and I've worked with the developers, myself being in user experience, area for so many years. It's very hard to like, tell one person, hey, this is the whole thing I want to done. So you had to basically break it down into sprints. And that's what you essentially did, right? Basically, yeah.

Hani Mourra 14:09
And it was just like, this is the first sprint, get this done, then we'll go to the next level. Even though in my mind, I was like, so excited. I wanted to see the final product. But I know, the first mistake I did is like, let's test it make sure that we're compatible, like, indicate, well, you know, he's enjoying himself. And you know, I'm getting good results. So we did in a whole different approach. And that was both like, you know, the biggest mistake turned into the best thing that ever happened, because that was only the WordPress plugin. I only got more complicated as we build more software. So

that sounds happening.

Yeah. Happy to make that mistake early.

Junaid Ahmed 14:50
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Because you do learn from those mistakes. And if you don't make it mean, if you had success the first time around, then you're in this bubble, like, okay, everything works this specific way. Yeah.

Hani Mourra 15:05
Yeah. And the other area of help, which is something that really helped, like help me grow quickly, not only grow and grow as a software printer, I guess, you know, the person who's creating software in this business. Yeah, was

Unknown Speaker 15:17
not.

Hani Mourra 15:18
I had a small email list of video, people, like people follow my blog, and they're on my email list. And then you I'm a video guy, right? I know what I'm talking about when it comes to video. Yeah. But it's a very small list, maybe under 1000 people. So big. It's Yeah, I mean, not.

Junaid Ahmed 15:38
Yeah. But for somebody who's starting out,

Hani Mourra 15:40
yeah, I was starting out, I was happy with it. But I knew if I lost that software to those people,

it wouldn't be enough, they wouldn't get a lot of traction. So we ended up doing, it's a bit of a story. I want to get too much into it. But basically, I met somebody by helping somebody I was helping somebody out, edit some videos. And that person turned out to he was responsible for event video marketing course, I understand part of his company. And so a long story short, one day would help him edit some videos because he was actually making a podcast which comes in interesting. But I didn't know what a podcast was back then. It was editing a video and he said, Yeah, I'm going to rip the audio and make a podcast. Sure, whatever podcast I don't know what that is. But ok. Anyway, then we started chatting, and I'm like, let me show you something. We're on Skype. Let me show you something. And I showed him the plugin. And he's like, Whoa, what's this? I'm like, this is something I'm kind of building on the site is like off. This is awesome. And I have a customer base of like, 10s of thousands of people who have bought video marketing courses from us. You know, why don't we partner up? And you know, we can promote this together?

Yeah. Oh, alright.

Sounds good. Right on very targeted audience.

tv. Yeah, well, no, we went in like, I know,

JV but it's like, we're a business partner wasn't even like an affiliate thing. It was like everybody what business will own this product? Like you'll sell it like it's yours. Development, you take care of the marketing. And yeah, and so two good things happen that one is, I just focused on development. I didn't have to worry about marketing something. Because he took care of that he had the experience he had he had the audience. So it got me to focus on just building a second. We got in front of a lot of people quickly, like we had a beta group. Very quickly that we, for the day, we launched it. Yeah, we are not a lot of glitches with the beta group. But I was nervous today. We launched it. We put a cat he was smart. He said, you know, as a first time launching a software, let's put a cap of 100 people. Okay, yeah. So capital is good for marketing as well. But it's also good for like, let's not go out there and like, explode all these people's was WordPress sites and crush them. And one day we got it out. So we got it out there. And hundred he sold 100, like, a couple of the day or two. Like it was gone quickly. So exciting. Yeah, then the support tickets came in. Oh, man, that's when I was like, Holy smokes. This when you build software, it's about support. Yeah. You gotta have be able to support especially on WordPress, because WordPress is a very dynamic platform. Everyone's got different plugins and different themes. And you know,

Junaid Ahmed 18:17
yeah,

Hani Mourra 18:18
it's great. You don't know what's compatible with what right so many combinations out there. So boom, sold 200 a bunch of support tickets came in were like, up, I was up all night, doing support tickets, it's, you know, a couple of websites went down, I went in, fix them. A little bit of a chaos, I learned a lesson all right before lunch, and hire somebody else and get them trained. The two of us got on there, we launched it for another hundred sold another hundred. It was more stable. But then, but I guess the point is, the point of that lesson was a partnering up with somebody was very good for me. Because I was not only financially that, you know, financially was good, but it was more like, gave me confidence to say, Okay, well, I'm something that all these people are, are spending money on? Was and then we're getting a lot of good feedback. And I was like, wow, you know, like, it gives you a confidence. Well, man, I came up with this idea that's just solve the pain point. Exactly. I did it to my own audience, it would have been very small and not have given me the confidence to build the next plugin, which basically evolved from the first plugin. Yeah, so and then support aspect, I learned quickly, like you got to get support people trained. And, and available to help. And those are the two lessons that kind of helped me get the confidence and also get comfortable launching another software. Yeah, that's basically a year later is, you know, through my business partner, and we learn I learned about podcasting. And I got involved in that. But this time, I said, You know, I wanted to do, I wanted to learn the other side. So not just a development side, I wanted to, I wanted to do the marketing side and kind of no mess up and then figure out and just kind of be more the face of the product. Yeah. And so when I launched the podcasting plugin,

which was

almost like a spin off of the of the YouTube plugin that we did almost a similar concept, obviously, different, does something different. It was a learning experience, because I had to do all the marketing as well. Which is great. Like, I love that part of enjoying more being interacting with people and talking about it. And then I got invited to podcast movement, the first year ever opened. And then I, you know, I give a 30 minute demo there of that plugin, I just launched it. So I started realizing why I'm enjoying more this kind of being, not say marketing, but kind of being high, it is marketing being the face of the product out there with the customers, like, you know, face to face in person at conferences. So I really enjoyed that partner, if I did with my business partner, we would, I wouldn't have had that opportunity to try that out. But if I didn't partner within the first time, I wouldn't have the confidence to launch a second soft. That's right. Like every experience, you learn something from it, and you build up some kind of some kind of skill set or some kind of confidence to do the next step. So it was all all incremental, like small increments, literally small increments.

Junaid Ahmed 21:16
But you took the baby steps, right? Yes. races, take new steps, finding the going through the trouble of finding the right developer, you know, building that rapport, then finding somebody. And like it all comes down to Okay, who's your friend? And how, you know, how are you interacting with people, because a lot of times we have a lot of friends, but we only talk about sports or movies or whatever. But anytime we work together is when the mind opens up. Like Wait, what what are you doing again? Wow, that's crazy. I can totally market it to my audience. Yeah, the list goes on. And you know, just your story is is all about that. And that's, that's really awesome. Yeah. And it's about like, taking a steps

Hani Mourra 22:08
and not knowing like, I knew I wanted to build that first plugin. Even before I met my business partner, I just knew I had to build that. And then I was looking around and look like there was some other things that we're doing similar.

Junaid Ahmed 22:21
Yeah.

Hani Mourra 22:22
out there battling You know what? I the way I'm doing it. I'm very comfortable with it. It's not sleazy. It's like not ripping out other people's videos. It's just yeah, so I'm, you know, marketing your own videos, all legit. You know, and anyway, I said, Just do it. And what's the worst case you spend some money and you have a tool that, hey, I use for myself, and nobody else uses it. But at least I feel something that still benefiting me?

Junaid Ahmed 22:47
Exactly.

Hani Mourra 22:48
But it was but it was more I knew I had to do it. If I didn't do it, I would have had this kind of void and like regret. I should have tried this.

Junaid Ahmed 22:55
Yeah.

Hani Mourra 22:56
So it wasn't a huge moneymaker. When I started, it wasn't, that wasn't even the point at that, to me. was fulfilling this need to create something of my own.

Junaid Ahmed 23:08
totally get it. Yeah. There's a there's a book I've been reading called die empty. Men, the author is talking about, you know, the one of the most expensive lands that you can think of, are the graveyards, because people, you know, a lot of people on their deathbed, they won't be like, Oh, I wish I had another day to work. Those have dreamed Oh, I wish I did that. I wish I did that. Right. So given it all that you've got in this life is totally worth every penny that you can spend on.

Hani Mourra 23:50
Yeah, and this is it's one of those things where you don't know, you don't know the way like I didn't know how to sell you build a WordPress plugin, know how to support it. I didn't know, I didn't, I didn't know, I just know that I had to build it. And then we'll kind of figure out the pieces as we go along. Because you can't have all the answers in front of you. Otherwise, everyone would be doing it would be too easy.

Junaid Ahmed 24:14
Too easy. And then. And then what was great is, you know, having that problem to solve. Yeah, once you once you see the problem from both sides, like oh, this is what I want done. And this is where I'm at. So having that starting point also definitely helps taking a course right now. That's all about, you know, using Instagram, to get clients as a coaching clients or whatever service you might be offering. And she's like, all right, this is this is a course about Instagram. But before you even get to how to use Instagram, you get to know what you're about, right? Know what you're about as a person, and what business and what town you can bring. So then you can be very specific about what you're offering. So people know, okay, I want somebody, like, anytime you're all over the place, it's hard for somebody to recommend you. But anytime you're like, Oh, this person can teach me how to lose weight. I'm using yoga. And I have these specific conditions or you know, for example, being super niche, I went to example she was giving is helping mothers lose weight, who just given birth, using yoga, and who are also working. So that's super niche. Right? And once you figured that out, now you know exactly who your target audiences and you can seek out and market to those people. What you're offering

Hani Mourra 26:01
now, is true.

And for me, it involves like, I didn't know, yeah, new video, people create video online, right? Want to market with video, those were kind of my initial people. But as the years went by, I released podcast plugin. And, you know, you might think, oh, wow, it's podcasting I do with video. But it's about what I kind of what I kind of learned about myself through his process is like I loved helping content creators, whether you're creating content via podcasting, the video, the live video now, like in the past couple years, it doesn't matter, you're creating content, you want to put it out to the world. And basically, I build software tools to help you automate that. That's kind of my specialty. Yeah, automation of their content. Because, I mean, I didn't know that when I first put my plugin, but yeah, but it's just how became from the YouTube plugin to the podcasting plugin a year later to Facebook Live plugin. And then a couple years later was the repurpose, which is all content, the platform that takes all those puts them on different platforms for you. So they all are really tied together. And all the tools complement each other very nicely. I didn't, I didn't know, I was going to build, repurpose, you know, like 10 years later.

Exactly. At that time that I had to, you know,

build something that was

exciting for me, I just, you know,

enter into this world of creating I was I've always been a creator, but I created videos now creating software.

Junaid Ahmed 27:39
It's like an evolution of your own mind and your own abilities and how you are as a person because we're constantly growing.

Hani Mourra 27:47
Yeah, yeah. And I guess my point was, nobody knows when they ventured or something. They don't know where it's going to lead them. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try.

Junaid Ahmed 27:57
Yeah, absolutely. You You definitely you need to take that leap of faith that what you're thinking is going to help others as well as, and if it doesn't help others, you know, you're learning a lesson through that process. Yes, what's going to work and what's not going to work? And then you can tweak it, and then and then you know, turn around and continue tweaking. Because a an airplane leaving airport in York going to California won't be facing or going to LA won't be facing la the whole time. You make adjustments.

Hani Mourra 28:39
Exactly. Interesting. Yeah, you're right. That's so interesting.

Junaid Ahmed 28:44
reading all these books over over the years, there's they have so many different analogies that talk about the same thing. It's like, oh, okay, that's, that's pretty good. I'm great. Yeah. Okay. That's really cool, man, I love that. I love that journey. And, and, in some ways, and I can relate in other ways, it's like, wow, I would never had become a beekeeper if I had never thought put into my head by our allergist, that, you know, local honey, is really good for seasonal allergies. And I never connected the dots. But then, you know, he told me, you know, the doctor told us about it. And then I finally just got to thinking, Okay, it's just in the back of my mind, you know, gotta get into beekeeping somehow. And then there was a Kickstarter project called Flow Hive, which made it super easy to extract honey. Like, you don't have to pull a frames out, you don't have to bother the bees, you just click, you know, click and you know, you have your money flowing directly into a jar. Like what? A series? Yes, this is a father and son, but done Australia, they spent over 10 years perfecting this, this product. And then they finally you know, had a Kickstarter project. And I was like, All right, I'm keeping an eye on this thing. Or area to you know, get into beekeeping right now. And finally, two years ago, I was like, All right, I'm ready. You can let's get this rolling. And then I started, you know, watch more more videos and learning about beekeeping. Like, well, first of all, you need to, you know, connect with local beekeepers. So, kind of like the same, you know, figuring out that, you know, you have to do you want to do this one thing, create something of your own, have something of your own, you know, have beehive or, or have your, you know, career into whatever it is you just got to take that first step. And trust yourself. Yeah, if you're excited about it, it's usually

Hani Mourra 31:01
good. Like, it's, you're going to learn something, you're going to reach your goal. And if you don't reach your goal, you're gonna learn something. But if you're not excited about it, don't bother. Yeah. don't pursue it if you're not excited about it, because it's you're going to have a lot of up and downs, ups and downs very quickly. I know. Like, for example, like my first step I took, I hire somebody and I lost a couple thousand dollars, and I'm nothing. And I'm like, Well, I should stop now. My time, but if I stopped, I wouldn't have five sophomores you know, in the next five years after so Exactly. Like that was a roadblock, bombed. I mean, I was making, it was just, you know, that's my own money I invested yet.

But I knew like I still I still wanted to

kinda want to pursue it. Like it was still excited about the idea not discouraged by a stepping stone, a roadblock? I mean, so yeah, if you're excited. That's a sign it was a fire the fire there. Just pursue it. Take the

Junaid Ahmed 32:00
first step. No, no. The other thing that I noticed, like is, you know, so you had a fire within you, you were able to find somebody fail, find another person. Do it a different way. Now, from a support perspective. Sure. You had your own support, but you also have external support from your family, from your wife, from your kids, etc. Right. So that's also important.

Hani Mourra 32:27
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, maybe I my parents, my wife didn't really know what you're taking me. They know what I'm doing. But then, like,

they don't understand the scope of it. Sure. was hard, right? We just had our first daughter first star. Yeah. Young and yes, putting late nights and, and you know, the family is always first but my wife, can you like to tell me sometimes like you're, I don't know what you're doing. But you're excited about it. So just do it. Like, just keep it all you

excited for you? Right?

Yeah. Shouldn't have to understand what I was doing. But you can feel the excitement. I remember. I'll tell you the funny story. I remember.

I maybe.

I don't know how many years ago, but there's a platform called blab. I don't know if you've heard about it, or you came out maybe a year or two before Facebook Live. And this was video. A lot of people connect to our video live stream together at the same time. And we really cool for Yeah, it came online. And then I already had two WordPress plugins on the podcast, one for YouTube.

And then one day, I was like, man,

it would be cool if I could just take all those recordings and put them on your blog. Yeah, automatically. I was all excited. And then

I was looking to him at all. I found the way. I was like, so excited. I'm like, I told my wife, I'm going to do this. And she's like, I don't know what you're saying. But I could feel her energy. Just do it. And then literally, like, in two days,

I hammered out the whole plugin, like I took out, I took the existing plugin, I reworked into a new whole new plugin. And the today's myself and I had, my team helped me kind of clean it up a little bit, but I was still excited. She's just like, I don't know, whatever you're on this. Just

do what you gotta do you know how before you go, yeah, you need that support. If you're gonna have conflict.

Um, you know, from family and stuff, you gotta be also responsible, right?

Always Family First, no matter what. So if something happens, you know, you feel like you're spending too much time on this. You think I spent time with the people that are more important than any business in the world?

Junaid Ahmed 34:33
Exactly.

Hani Mourra 34:35
As long as you're not using it, and you're getting your, you're giving your time that your family, your heart to not just your time, like you're

physically and mentally they're there,

then you know, they'll return the favor back. Whenever you're up to something that's, that excites you.

Junaid Ahmed 34:54
Absolutely. And, and the reason the reason I brought that up is because I love it time, you know, people will be like, you know, you don't really need to go into that because it's not going to work sleep, you'll find a lot of people in that boat also, like telling you not to do it. Because either they're afraid that they're going to lose the person that you are or they just not going to have enough time with you. So that's another problem. A lot of people face getting into something like this.

Hani Mourra 35:27
Well, I'll tell you a funny story. Because you know, this person. When I launched my WordPress blog, and the podcasting one, Pat Flynn had launched has just a

month or two before my,

yeah, I was working all this girl and I'm ready. All of a sudden, I got an email from Pat, they come on to the email list and said, Oh, yeah, new software. We're going to demo it live. And I'm like, starting to sweat a little bit. Okay.

So I attended, I was like, Oh, my God. Like,

essentially pretty much direct competitor, right? Didn't have all the same principle. There was a podcast player. Yeah. And my approach is a little different. But anyway, so I was like, Oh, okay. And one of my wife, I'm like, I'm done. Like, why would I bother? Like, nobody knows. podcasters big Pat Flynn, lots something? What am I? Why would I, you know, why would I do this?

anyway? She said, he doesn't know Pat Flynn is. So she's like, Who's this Pat Flynn.

She's like, don't worry about it.

Just do just, you know, here, almost there. Just finish it. Just keep doing what you're doing. Yeah. You know, like, you're right. You know, like, we're not it's not, there are similar software's. Yeah. But, you know, my, the way I do things is different.

And some people are gonna like this Marina like that. So I literally put my blinders on. I think I even unsubscribed from the email list.

Not because I didn't want to I

Junaid Ahmed 36:48
just wanted to, I just want

Hani Mourra 36:50
like not to be distracted by this. And just follow my path that was about a month or so away. Like it was almost done. Why stopped me? Yeah, exactly. Put my blinders on. I got it out. And, you know, it was it was a struggle. But yeah, it's like, I learned that there's a lot of people who like one thing, a lot of people like another thing is just one is already done it. Even if they're popular in that space, doesn't mean you shouldn't do it resonated more with me in the way my software was doing. And some people resonate with more with the other software. And yeah, and sometimes it's with the people to its it. Don't be discouraged by competition. I I almost gave up on my wife's like,

he didn't know

how much impact the impact that has on on this kind of audience. Yeah. It's like, it doesn't matter. You just do

thing. And I'm like, Well, I needed to hear that, you know, I need someone to tell me that. Oh, absolutely.

Junaid Ahmed 37:44
It's It's so important when you hear that because, and the example that I give that I give whenever people ask me know, why should I go into this when somebody's already doing like, Well, Mr. Walmart didn't say, oh, Kmart doing all this business session should totally not do it. Yeah, right. So, so many stores, we have Target, WalMart, we have Kmart is gone. You know, Toys R Us is gone. There's, there's so many stores. And there's so many grocery stores, there's so many rental car companies, there's so many card companies. And essentially, we're a small company that's competing with another company, it's it means that there's a market for that service that you're providing. Yeah, just new people to go around.

Hani Mourra 38:31
And especially if you're doing a coaching business, like when there's a personal level, like you're working with somebody,

you have an advantage there, because

you can't, like you're putting your heart and soul into, and passion into teaching or coaching them through something. And that can be compared to somebody else. So if someone resonates with your style, with the way you talk with just the sound of your voice, or just

how you teach the knowledge,

it's hard to say, Oh, I'm going to compare you to somebody else, because they don't get that same connection. So you almost have a little bit of an advantage, because it's like, everyone's got their own unique way of teaching and will follow you whether they watch your live stream, listen to your podcast. Yeah, people already like your style, or resonate with your style. So to get them to come client to some point, it's going to be a lot easier if that if you are in a coaching kind of business, because they already know you. They've been following you. They listen to you every week, or they watch your Facebook Lives every week. So yeah, and so don't Yeah, don't be just some just because someone else is doing it. Don't be discouraged. It's hard. I know I did it myself, like I released a podcast plugin. When I was doing the video plugin. I'm like, oh, there's another plugin out there to do something similar. Why am I doing this? Why am I spending all this energy and money on this? And he kind of talked yourself out of it?

Junaid Ahmed 39:53
Yes, yes. And that's a funny thing to write. Once you start doing something very specific, you start seeing that exact stuff for everyone.

Hani Mourra 40:04
Everywhere. I'm like, No, I come. I never seen this before. But your mind your focus is on that one thing. So you're going to start noticing it more? Is it

scary? It is it's intimidating. But it's it It happened? You focus when you're trying to buy a new car.

Junaid Ahmed 40:20
Yeah, you see the same car every

Hani Mourra 40:22
time. I never seen this car before all of a sudden it's everywhere. Right? It's kind of your mind is getting more attentive to these things.

So yeah, I don't, it's normal for anybody.

Junaid Ahmed 40:32
What's funny is, so for the longest time, I really like Tony Horton of, you know, p90x, like, like his style. And a lot of people like, you know, he's just guy. He's so like, why is he talking random teaching you like. And it's funny, you know, that's why that's why beach body has so many different instructors, because every instructor has a totally different way of teaching. And you're totally right, you know, people resonate with that style. And, you know, they'll go with what they know and what what resonates with them. So I was like, I like his style. I'm going to stick with what he's teaching. And then there's Shaun t came out with his insanity workout. Sounds like he's pretty good. But he's now Tony Horton. I'll go back to Tony Horton anytime any day. Right? So that's pretty interesting. Cool, man. Great points. Well, I really love listening to your journey and stories, lots of funny stories, you know, really driving the point of gotta stick to your guns, and stick to your goals. And, you know, to achieve your goals, you gotta stick to your path and just keep going, you know, plowing through.

Hani Mourra 41:50
Now, your passion either way.

Junaid Ahmed 41:52
Yes, the passion lead your way. Let it be your guiding light guiding away. Yeah. Alright, so, at this point, when we have you know, we've got your journey and story, I've got a few question that I like to ask my guests. What is one hobby that you wish you got into? And you know, you mentioned a lot of different things. But I'm sure there's a hobby out there that you didn't have enough time to put into

Hani Mourra 42:21
a good question, I would say. I mean, as a kid, even now, I wish I'd learned how to play the drums. Oh, man, why something about the drums is it's, it's cool. I don't know. I always wish I wish, but not not musically inclined in any way. not terrible. But I'm not like I never really took I took piano lessons when I was young

Junaid Ahmed 42:43
server,

Hani Mourra 42:44
small period. But drums always intrigued me

Junaid Ahmed 42:47
to learn things. I wish I wish I had disconnected rhythm, rhythm bodies to be able to play drums and things, but met one of my managers. One of my jobs, he was a drummer, and he's like, I can teach you how to play drums. And he's like, basically tapping on my fingers like the different beats and I was like, Dude, this is easy. taught me a totally different way of like, dude, I need to learn some drum skills, which would never happened. All right. Next question. What is your favorite movie or TV show?

Hani Mourra 43:25
Favorite movie of all time is the matrix. Oh, yes. awesome movie. Right? I just watched that recently.

I just I love that movie. More you watch you like, Oh, wow.

Junaid Ahmed 43:39
It's my blood.

Hani Mourra 43:40
Yeah.

Junaid Ahmed 43:42
So all right. So who is your favorite superhero? And we've got a lot of superheroes going around this time around.

Hani Mourra 43:48
Yeah, to be honest, I was never big superhero guy. I can never be not a big sci fi. I know. I love the matrix, but not a big like sci fi superhero kind of guy. So I wouldn't turn. What is your favorite super? You? Yeah, I guess I guess. There you go. All right.

Junaid Ahmed 44:06
Nice. Alright, if you are a board game voted be

Hani Mourra 44:11
board game, huh. I would probably be

I don't know. I think interesting question. I'll say Connect for. For all that's still a challenging game. I love that game.

Junaid Ahmed 44:28
Nice. Very cool. All right. Where can my audience find you?

Hani Mourra 44:35
Actually, if you just go to Hani Mora calm say, hey, Mara, Mo, you r Ra. Yeah. And it's got links to my Facebook and server,

Junaid Ahmed 44:43
blog as all one page, simple one pager. Awesome. I'll be sure to include those links to the podcast, show notes. And this was a this is a great conversation. Man. Thanks so much for your time. My pleasure. Thanks for

Hani Mourra 44:57
having me on the show.

Junaid Ahmed 44:58
Awesome. Have a good day. Thank you for listening to hacks and hobbies. You can find additional information on the guest today on their website, hacks and hobbies. com. Please feel free to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss out on upcoming interviews with amazing guests.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai