Nida Akmal 🇦🇪

Nida Akmal 🇦🇪Sep 20, 2026

2025: Struggling to get a job in almost any department in Dubai. September 2026: Bought myself a new phone with money I earned. Because I can. And this post is not about the phone. Around this time last year, I was running around Dubai trying to get hired. 3–4 interviews some days. Bus → metro → long walks. A bottle of water in my hand. Hope in my pocket. I did 40+ interviews. I still remember sitting at random metro stations after some of them, just trying to collect myself before going to the next one. I heard everything. “Everyone has done that. You’re not special.” “Keep struggling.” “You shouldn’t enjoy weekends.” “The job market isn’t for people like you.” At that point, I wasn’t even asking for much. I just wanted someone to choose me. So I learned. Practised. Started showing up on LinkedIn where literally nobody knew me. Every person was a stranger. Every post felt risky. And somewhere in those months, I stopped waiting to be chosen. I started building something of my own. It’s still small. Still messy. Still very much in the making. But this month, I bought myself a new iPhone. Not because I desperately needed one. Not because buying a phone means I’ve “made it.” I could actually afford it a few months ago. But I kept delaying it. Thinking twice. Calculating. Asking myself whether I really needed it. This time, I just thought: “Yes, I can buy it. And I know I can make the money again.” That feeling was new. A year ago, I was walking from one interview to another hoping someone would see enough value in me to give me an opportunity. Today, I know I can create some of those opportunities for myself. I’m not successful yet. I’m still building. Still learning. Still making beginner mistakes. But I trust my skills more. I trust my ability to earn more. And I trust myself more. So no. This isn’t about the phone. It’s about the freedom to know I can. Whatever you are doing, keep doing it! Believe it you can, and you are halfway done

Nida Akmal 🇦🇪Sep 17, 2026

I’ll be replaced by AI in the next 10 years and I’m so ready for it. Lately, one objection keeps coming up in my conversations with real estate professionals: “AI will replace brokers.” “Properties will be sold by AI.” “Even governments will be run by AI.” Basically, in 10 years humans will just: Eat. Sleep. Travel. Repeat. And AI will keep filling our bank accounts for us. Honestly? I’m ready for that version too. 😂 Maybe one AI assistant really will sell a property to another AI assistant. Maybe AI will qualify the lead, recommend the property, follow up, analyse the numbers, prepare the documents and move the whole transaction forward. But here’s my question: If you genuinely believe AI will replace most of what you do in the next 10 years… What are you planning to do during those 10 years? Wait? Stay invisible? Avoid building anything because “AI is coming anyway”? That makes no sense to me. Because right now, people still don’t hand over millions simply because an algorithm recommended a property. High-stakes decisions still need: Trust. Judgement. Context. Accountability. Reputation. And this is where I think people misunderstand personal branding. It is not just about getting leads from LinkedIn. It is about making your name valuable beyond the job you do today. Today, you’re a broker in Dubai. Two years later, you own the brokerage. Five years later, you’re selling in Turkey, Australia, Saudi Arabia — or building something completely different. Your listings may not travel with you. Your company title may not travel with you. Your current leads may not travel with you. Your reputation does. Call it what it is: The Portable Asset. The only thing you own that survives every title, every listing, every market you move into, the one thing AI can generate leads for but can never build for you. So yes. AI may transform of what we do in the next 10 years. I’m ready for that. Until then, I’m building the one thing I can carry into every market, every business model and every version of my career: My name., Nida Akmal , Personal brand Strategist for UAE real estate professionals What are you building today that AI can't replace as a real estate professional ? P.S : Appreciate my ChatGPT created picture , it has done justice !

Nida Akmal 🇦🇪Sep 18, 2026

I went bannerless on LinkedIn because a surprising number of Dubai real estate profiles I audit are bannerless too. So I decided to test it on myself. 18 days. No banner. And I still gained 600+ followers. Mostly founders. Mostly real estate. Mostly from Dubai and Lahore. So the banner clearly was not responsible for my growth. My content was still doing its job. But I noticed something else: My profile-view-to-follower ratio weakened. People were discovering me in the feed and following me there. But once they actually clicked through to my profile, the conversion was not as strong. That is the part I cared about. Because content can get you attention. Your profile still has to make that attention make sense. And removing the banner took away one of the clearest positioning spaces on the page. So after 18 days, the experiment is over. I need a banner again. But I do not want to brief every word myself. I want a designer who can look at my profile, understand Dubai real estate, understand my voice around personal branding, and come back with a point of view. If you design LinkedIn banners with positioning in mind, message me. Or tag someone I am very open to ideas.