OPEN TO MARRY - THE VIRAL TREND BY SHUBHAM GUNE

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So my guest today, I'm so excited to talk to him because apparently he's going viral on LinkedIn and he's all the way in India. Thank you so much for joining us.

Shabam, how are you? I'm good. I'm good.
How have you been?

I'm great. Thank you so much for doing this.
It's a pleasure having you here. Pleasure.
So for for people that don't know you, let's explain what's going on. Okay, before we talk about

your LinkedIn post, you are a super successful entrepreneur, correct?

I think we do similar type of work because I have a branding PR and marketing agency, and I was looking at your LinkedIn, and you have something similar, right? Yeah, correct. Really cool.
Yeah.

So it's called Hinglish. I love the name.
Yes. Thank you.

Your English is really good, by the way. And you have a massive LinkedIn following.
You have more than 50,000 followers on LinkedIn. Okay, so guide me through the thought process.

Because I mean, you're a businessman, but apparently, you also want to get married, but you look super young.

Like, I would have thought, like, there are lines and lines and lines of girls that want to date you.

But guide me through the process: how you went from using LinkedIn to work and you built this huge audience and you come up with this idea of doing the post about trying to find somebody to marry you.

Okay, so I've been

running this advertising agency called Hinglish, Hindi, English, and Hinglish.

So now, work keeps me occupied most of the times. I have tried dating apps, I've tried

these matrimony apps, but what happens there is that there is no

human connect. You don't know who you're talking to.
Most of the time is wasted swiping, and there are scams, and you just get fed up after a point in time.

And after getting fed up, I started feeling that LinkedIn has played a huge role in my journey.

It has helped me get clients, it has helped me get students, it has helped me get mentors, also people who wanted to invest in me. Now I thought, what if?

Just what if

we use this open-to-work feature to advertise that, okay, I am a good suit.

And I'm open to marry. Are you? And I was fairly surprised that there are so many people who are in the same boat.

There are so, well, you know, I do the podcast about dating and relationships, and I can tell you, yeah, because we have audiences, I think, in 57 countries now. India is definitely one of them.

And you are absolutely right. People are on the same boat everywhere in the world.
They send messages like dating is so tough. It's a shit show.

I don't know what to do. And then when I saw your post, I'm like, okay, so this is not just the United States.
Obviously,

it's a universal issue that a lot of successful, nice, single people are just fed up with this BS of the dating game. Yeah.
Yeah.

But you would have thought, because let's explain, because a lot of people don't do LinkedIn, right? A lot of people do Instagram, TikTok.

Let's explain the open to work thing because LinkedIn used to be mostly for people that are looking for jobs, correct? And

for businesses that are looking for clients. It was like strictly like a business platform, correct?

Correct, correct. It used to be.

If you say pre-COVID,

it was very uptight.

But the barrage of people who started posting on LinkedIn, it has become a fun working place now. People have started finding co-founders.
People have started also goofing around.

LinkedIn used to be a social, a

corporate

social platform.

But as we are going ahead, it is becoming more fun.

And a part of having fun is also

getting fun people along.

Yeah, so open to work. I'll tell you the open to work part.
Yeah, let's explain to people what that is.

So LinkedIn gives you on your profile picture a badge, which makes people know that, okay, this person has this semicircular badge on the profile picture, which says open to work, which means that this person is ready to work.

Now, I thought of why not, and millions of people have this open to work feature on. Yeah.

Now, open to work is seeking work. I thought if you can seek work, Why can't you seek a bride?

So you're like, I'm going to put a badge on mine that says open to marry, correct?

Absolutely. When you were doing the post, and I just want to read a little chunk of the post for you guys,

but I highly recommend go follow him only on LinkedIn. I actually just started doing my LinkedIn, by the way, because I was kind of ignoring it.
And then I have a friend that has a massive audience.

And I'm like, you know what, I'm going to try this out. And same thing, I realized that you can get so many business, new clients, new friends.
It's really fantastic. I love it.

But just so people understand what we're talking about, you write the sweetest post like you wrote, before you judge me, hear me out.

Because I knew people will judge me.

I love that.

This is my last resort. Oh, my God.

Sammy, you're exaggerating a little bit because you're not old.

I mean,

if you guys are listening to the audio episode go to youtube so you can see his face you look so do you do you can you tell us how old you are no no no never ask a man his age

i i thought it was never asked a woman this age but i thought you asked

you look like you're in your 30s yeah yeah i'm fairly young and fairly old uh but i i i i want to know from you why this podcast why relationship and dating

why my podcast relationship and dating

so my story is kind of like the opposite of yours. I was married for 15 years.

And yeah, it was a very abusive marriage. It was horrible.
It was really tough. My husband became an alcoholic.
And it took me 15 years to get out of the marriage.

So once I got out of the marriage, I started building my life over right from scratch. And one of these things was I had to learn how to date and have relationships all over again.

So I started cat on the Lose just venting. It's kind of similar, like, oh my God, you know, it's so tough.
Like, there are so many players and bullshitters, and people don't want anything serious.

I started venting, and I realized that the same thing with you. There are so many people out there going through the same thing.
And the show grew and grew and grew.

And now we are one of the top relationship podcasts in the United States and the world. And we are this amazing worldwide community.
So I'm like, okay, you fit right in with your story.

But I think you're exaggerating when you say that it's your last resort.

It was also for the chuckles.

And one definitely wants to, you know, write a post which can get the attention.

So that was partly that as well. Yes.
But I'm fairly surprised.

I'm fairly surprised.

I have at least, I am not joking when I say this, I have at least 200 to 300 women in my DMs,

not just for

they want to go out with me, but also resonating the fact that they are in the same boat.

Yeah.

Yeah. Which tells us the present dating scene is not at its best.
I believe. No.
Do you feel technology has ruined it?

For sure. This is what I think, right? I think dating apps, and that's something you wrote.
You're like, I've tried dating apps.

I think dating apps are a necessary evil, so to speak, speak, because you could find your per I know people that got married on dating apps.

So you could find a person that you would never cross paths with. So it can work, yes, but it's kind of like finding the diamond in the sand.
You know what I mean? It's so, so hard.

And I do think that most people on dating apps are just players. I think there are a few people on dating apps that are looking for a relationship, but they're very, very few.

So yeah, it can be exhausting. I definitely get this complaint every day from men and women.
They're like, oh my God, I am so tired. Because I've been on dating apps for so many years.

And especially women, right? Because they don't want to be like, you know, the

fall in the hands of a player. You know what I mean? They want to find a guy like you that is ready for a serious relationship.

And you even took a step further because you said, I'm open to get married.

I also feel, you know, Kat, I also feel that the choice paradox for women, because I felt like a woman when I posted this, when you get a barrage of men or women writing at you, you really feel a little conscious that, okay, should I be engaging with this or not?

And I feel that is what women feel on dating apps. Yeah, no, for sure.

So let me ask you, you said you tried dating apps. Are they the same that we use here in the United States? Like, what's the main dating?

Hange, Tinder,

They're all the same, there is nothing different there, and it's the same shit show.

But you're very young, so

what would be like a deal? Like, what are you looking for in a partner that you have not found?

That because I would have thought when you put yourself on a dating app and you say, I'm a successful guy, I'm good-looking, I'm young, I want to get married.

I would have thought there's lines and lines of girls that want to date you.

See, I'll come back to the same point.

Now, when

I did not say date, I said marriage.

Yeah. That's a reason.

So when it comes to dating, it's a different game.

But wait a second.

Don't you have to date first to see if you like the person? Of course, of course, 100%. There needs to be a courtship.
But the courtship should conclude in something.

It should not conclude in goodbyes.

I agree.

I totally agree. For people that

seriously want a relationship, yeah, if you want to get married, you should end up be being married or or moving together or whatever it is, but you don't think there are a lot of women out there that are serious about being in a serious relationship?

Oh there there must be, but I've not crossed paths with them.

Okay, so you must be super picky as well.

Could be, and also uh I feel one of the things which I also spoke to people and I've started seeing is people don't have the time to invest and you need to invest time in it.

Yeah, you think they don't have the time.

No, even I don't have the time. That's the problem.
And I think any relationship needs that time.

Don't I think, this is my opinion, we make time for what is important to us.

Yeah, yeah. This is what I think.
So, like, if somebody tells you, oh, I'm too busy, I think the end of that phrase is, I am too busy for you.

But, but, but, but, Katie, hear me out. Now, now.
The two people need to find time together, correct?

It's a two-way street. So, like, if you meet someone and you like them,

you can be like a super busy business owner, like you are, like I am.

But if you meet someone and you like them, you are going to find time for like you're gonna go to dinner or breakfast, or you're gonna make plans on the weekend.

So, if you're saying you're too busy, it's because you haven't found somebody that you think it's worth making time for. for.

I also feel, you know, it is also because when you're texting someone, most of the time, the text is, hey, how are you? I'm good. Yeah, how was your day? It is so blah.

Like it does not proceed. So, you think about the matches.
First of all, you don't get matches. You get matches.

You don't convert talking.

It is such a long trail.

It is. Yeah.
But why don't you jump on the phone? Like, because when I'm texting someone on a dating app, I'm like, let's talk on the phone. It's like India is conservative like that.

India is conservative like that. So I believe that's the problem.
And I'm more of a talker than a texter because I write day

out for work. Same.
Yeah, like if I meet someone, I want to talk to you. Like, I want to know what you have to say.
And I maybe do a video call.

And then if you decide it's worth it, then you go and meet the person. Absolutely.
Yeah.

So that, but you wrote on going back back to your post, continuing for the people that didn't read it, you literally wrote, this is my last resort. I've tried dating apps.
I've tried matrimony apps.

I've tried meeting through friends. So your friends try to introduce, you don't like anybody.

I've tried meeting through relatives. Actually, I've tried everything under the sun, but I have not found the one.
And trust me, I'm not the only one. That much I agree with you.

There are so many of us in the right age, right stage of careers, financially independent, emotionally ready, and genuinely looking for a genuine partner to build a life with.

If you can relate to this, here's an experiment. And that's what you suggested LinkedIn.
If LinkedIn can get us jobs, clients, mentors, and investors, why can't it help us find love?

Let's start something called hashtag.

And funny that you did it on LinkedIn because I never heard in my life of a LinkedIn post going viral, but apparently, a lot of media publications picked it up and published about you. Yes, yes, yes.

I was joking with a friend that I've got business out of this post, but not bride.

There are people who have contacted me for business. I am getting into agreements and contracts with them, but I'm not found the one.

But I'm assuming a lot of women are reaching out to you that they want to date you. Yes, yes, yes.
Are you responding?

I am,

but the conversation again, the point is one needs to invest that time. And I genuinely have started, you know, speaking to a few people.

Also, one of my exes has come back.

So, that is also an interesting space to be.

Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait. Now the plot thickens.
So, when you did the post, be honest.

So when you did the post, you were l really, really serious about meeting someone new. Yes, yes, I was, I was.

You were told about this girl.

And then your ex gir somebody you dated before, she found the post.

She found a newspaper clipping. And now she wants to get back together with you? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Do you?

I don't know. I don't know.

I'm not sure.

You seem like you you're not sure about what you wanna do at all with your dating life.

Maybe I think that's the reason I'm still single.

Yeah, because when I saw your post, I'm like, okay, if he's saying he's open to marriage, he's good-looking, he's young, he's successful, there's going to be dozens and dozens of girls.

I would assume you select the ones that have like a similar lifestyle, and where you're looking for a partner, you just go on a bunch of dates and you would find a partner.

But if you're saying you're too busy and you don't want to make time for them, are you really ready for it?

I am, but I don't know. Actually, the point is,

it is complicated. Yeah, so explain what is complicated because you're saying you want to get married.
Now you have all these girls after you, and you're saying you don't have time.

No, I don't know how to. So, for example, a girl texts me, hey, listen, I want to meet you, or I want to talk to you, and I go to her profile and I don't see anything.

Now, there is this girl who's extremely successful and has done things and is also beautiful. Now, she writes in a way which is she is giving me

best wishes for the future. Now, how do I? She's like, I resonate with you, best wishes.
I'm like, okay, dude, thank you. What do I do to that? Yeah, that's weird.
That's just weird. But how many?

Okay,

let's help you figure this out.

And I tell you, Katie, there are around five to six dating apps,

exclusive metrony apps, who want me to be on their platform.

You mean in India? There are apps. No, no, no, no, no, no, not everywhere in the world.
Yes, yes, yes. Okay.

So

do you want to marry someone that is in India and from India?

I'm not I'm not

very you know fixated on that. Okay, you're open-minded too.
So if somebody right now is listening in the United States, anywhere, you'll be open to that.

Now, look, your post got almost 3,000 likes, hearts, reactions, and almost a thousand comments so far.

And it's and like we said, all this

media attention, a bunch of media outlets picked it up, wrote about it.

The Economic Times wrote an article about Mumbai-based CEO calls for open to marriage badge on LinkedIn.

So you're getting a lot of feedback. Is this feeding your ego, or are you really thinking maybe my wife is out there in this ocean of people that are reaching out to me?

I genuinely feel that this has moved the needle for sure. I am talking to people as well as we speak.

not as ego, my posts do get the same traction every week.

So yeah, they might not get picked by media, but traction wise is not the first time i've got distraction yeah but i i genuinely feel the one good part which has happened is that i have people

from

all parts of the world have reached out not just for marrying me but for business collaborations

for friendships so that that that i feel is a good sign It's a fantastic sign. And to talk about business for a second, it shows the power of LinkedIn, right?

Because, like, I find literally, I'm in the United States, and I'm always trying to find interesting people to interview and what's going on.

And when I saw him, I'm like, oh my God, I want to talk to this guy.

That's so cool of you. It's right.
And we are in similar business. So I'm pretty sure there's a lot of things that we can do together.

What do you do? What's your business like, if you could? Yeah, so I, other than doing the podcast, I do PR, marketing, branding, and social media. And I have clients all over the world.

I think similar to what you do, but we can do a business meeting after. Yes, yes, yes, definitely.

So, if I were to ask you, what is the crux of this podcast?

What is the bottom line of this podcast for you? What do you want people to take away from this? Yeah, so a bunch of different things, right?

The very first thing that I always say is, I don't want anybody to give up on love because we were talking about the dating apps, right?

And nowadays, I feel that there are thousands and thousands and thousands of people out there that get so frustrated, so frustrated, they get burned with the wrong people so many times.

That is the problem, yeah. They literally tell you, I'll tell you, Kat, now a girl, I find it very, very now.

I don't want to quote them or name them, but the messages were very fishy also on LinkedIn as well. So, yeah, sure, that makes someone feel, oh, should I be approaching or not?

Is it some international scam I'm getting into? Well, this is what I say, right?

You do your due diligence. That goes for men and women, right?

The number one complaint of men is that, yes, there are a lot of women that are looking for money, that are looking for sugar, that is, all this bullshit.

And the number one complaint of women is that most men are players. They just want like a one-night stand, you know, bullshit.
So I always say, like, do your due diligence.

Ask for a phone call, ask for a video call. LinkedIn is a great example.
Ask the person you're talking to, like, do you have a LinkedIn profile? Let me take a look at you.

Because nowadays, it's almost impossible to hide, right?

If you cannot find, yeah, so, but even if you did get burned before, this is what I always say here on Cat on the Loose, don't let one bad person make you give up on love because there are a lot of nice people out there.

You know, and your person is trying to find you as much as you're trying to find them. So I think my message is always that.
I mean, mean, look at me.

I left a horrible marriage after 15 years and I started my life over. I started a business.
I started a show.

And I just want to empower women and men to go after their dreams and never give up on finding their partner.

Even if they have to, there's like airplanes passing flying by where you are. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I can hear that.

Never been to India, but it's on my bucket list for sure. Yeah, come to Bombay.
I'd love to thank you.

So, yeah, I genuinely feel, you know, one thing which I have come to a conclusion that it is intent-based.

Somewhere I am guilty of the fact that I lack intent because I prioritize work over everything, which is bad. And I started realizing it.
And I am giving it the time and the efforts it needs. Yeah.

But it is still tricky.

No one knows whether. No, absolutely.
Look, for you, for me, and for all the singles in the world, like I said, it's like finding the diamond in the sand. And it's really cool prioritizing work.

I'm all for people working hard and being successful. I'm the same.
I'm a major workaholic. Look, it's Sunday night here in LA, right? It's Monday for you, Sunday night for me.

And I'm working because I love what I do. I'm a major workaholic.
However, just because it's hard, you cannot give up on it. You know, absolutely.

If you really want to get married, if you really want to be in a relationship, just do your due diligence and give a few girls out there that reached out to you a chance. Definitely, definitely.

A big shout out to them. And if you are in my DM, I definitely speak to you.

And don't feel bad if I don't because I can't talk to 200. It's too many, right? You must be how many DMs are you getting a day?

At least, as I said, 200 to 300 at least. A day.
No, no,

in all, in all, no, no, in all,

in these two weeks.

Oh my god, but that's a lot. Now, since you are so good on LinkedIn, let me ask you a question.
Any tips for people out there? They say, oh my god, this is really powerful.

How do you, how does someone grow a LinkedIn? As

yours is huge. Any ideas you can share? Yeah.
Yeah. So LinkedIn, just like

firstly, stop thinking of LinkedIn as a job-seeking website. It is a corporate social networking website or an app.

It is meant for people to connect

on a work bandwidth.

So any work stories, anything related, you can add value, you can add entertainment, you can rant, but it should at the end of the day, somewhere relate to people on a large scale,

mostly work though my post this particular post was not precisely work but still if it resonates to working professionals you can be there second what people don't do is engagement don't post and ghost engage with other people you need to be commenting you need to be liking you need to be

speaking to people in DMs so that you genuinely build a network most people post and host they post and then they disappear algorithm wants you to spend time on the app.

Thirdly, you need to be consistent. And there is any social media app for that matter, if you're not consistent, you cannot grow.
You'll have to post daily.

And there is, and I'm telling you, if you come and analyze what's getting traction, you start writing about those, if you start getting part of those conversations, you will grow. And fifth

point, very important point, try to build your own community.

So I run a community called Hinglish. It is an advertising community.
There are 2,000 writers, marketers,

designers, editors on that. It's on WhatsApp.
So if you're backing, if you're adding value to a community, they will back you.

I love that idea. Also, the last point, do update your profile.
Because when people search, if you have relevant keywords on your profile, it ranks up.

Ah, so pay attention to the profile, like what you do, what are the services, your expertise, all that good stuff. If you want, I can just give you in a minute, I'll tell you.

Cover photo needs to give a story, can be a services, can be the vibe you want to set.

Then, your profile can be formal, can be informal, but you need to look spic and span, and it to look nice. Your headline is very, very important.
I'll tell you why.

Because when you comment, beside your name, there are three things, three to four words which appear from your headline.

So if I see a comment from Catherine, I need to see what exactly Catherine does in those two, three words, so that I can click on her profile and engage with her.

Once you have done that, there are featured sections wherein you star mark the posts which are good, which you want people to see.

If you see my profile, you will see a mix of posts which have got traction and the work I have done for maybe the big government client I got or another startup I've worked with, or other work.

Then you have to post,

and then eventually you need to have testimonials. I have got some 20-plus testimonials with people I've worked with because that brings credibility.

If someone comes to your profile and they see that this person is legit, they would like to interact with you, they would want to grow with you. And yeah, this is

many LinkedIn masterclasses. But I have to thank you.
We appreciate that because I have to say, when I started doing mine, it was about about a year ago. And you are so right.

If you post every single day, it starts growing really fast. And it's amazing how the community on LinkedIn is very engaged.

People, like you said, they respond, they comment, they send DMs. I get a lot of my business just from LinkedIn nowadays.
So, yeah, it's very, very powerful.

And how many years did it take you to get to 60,000, almost 61,000?

Year plus a few months. I would say

15 to 16 months so it was very fast very fast

yeah less than two years you have 60 000 followers holy cow yeah but you post every single day yeah uh sometimes three times a day i i because and it's a job i think i call linkedin a job because i

most of the work comes from linkedin and i take it very seriously yeah i agree you would not have met you not have done this had they not you know

there you go. So, LinkedIn united us.

I do hope you find your bride. I do hope if you do, please let me know so I can let our listeners

100%. We both come to speak to you.
Yes, I appreciate you so much. Good luck.
This was really fun. And, guys, if you're not on LinkedIn, please go for it because it's a very powerful platform.

And if you want to follow him, I'm going to put your LinkedIn link here on this audio episode. So, you guys, how do I pronounce your last name? Gun?

Gune. G-U-N-Gun.

Gune.

Shubham Gune.

Yeah. Yeah.
I'm putting the link here for you guys so you can go and see the open

to marry.

Let's see if more people do that. But you know, even if you don't get married, like you said, at least you're getting a ton of business.
Super clever marketing, by the way.

And I'm sure you're getting a lot of proposals.

Thank you, Shubham. And I'll

talk to you very soon. Guys, be safe out there.
And like I said, never give up on love because the right person for you is out there trying to find you. Absolutely.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

Yes. Have a great rest of your day.
And I'll talk to you very soon. Okay.
Thank you. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.