How Asking Every New Person the Same Unlikely Question Changed our Business with Sherisse Hawkins

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation! JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire! Brought to you by the HubSpot podcast network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Truth, Lies, and Work. Today, we'll be breaking down how asking every new person the same unlikely question changed our business. To talk about these value bombs, I have brought Sharice Hawkins and EO Fire Studios. Sharice is an engineer, entrepreneur, and amateur aerialist. She coined the phrase corporate escapee after abruptly quitting her job for startup life. Now she's determined to use AI for good.

0:34In today's foundation, we're going to talk about this social experiment. We'll talk about outlandish answers. We'll talk about asking a simple question to change your business and oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Sharice and our sponsors. The Next Wave, your chief AI officer hosted by Matt Wolf and Nathan Lance is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. AI technology is transforming the way we do business and the media landscape is fragmented. The Next Wave strives to be the leading podcast on AI technology and how you can apply it to growing your business.

1:07Listen to The Next Wave wherever you get your podcasts. Looking for an easier, safer way to manage passwords than a million Post-it notes? Welcome to LastPass, the most accessible and easy-to-use password manager on the planet. Visit lastpass.com slash fire for a free trial and get started today. Every login lives in LastPass. Cherise, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with? The road to success doesn't have to be as painful and treacherous as the movies and the lore lead us to believe. And some of the moments and milestones that we've had have been more effortless and almost magical, and I just didn't think that was possible.

1:55Fire Nation, what a powerful start to what's going to be a powerful interview 10 years later, by the way, April 30th, 2014. I had Sharice on the show. She claims that I was the first podcast that she was on. I'm sure she's been on a ton since then. So as always, I encourage you, Fire Nation, when you type Sharice in the search bar of eofire.com, listen to both episodes. Go back to the 2014 one. It was awesome. That'd be awesome. You should do that, Sharice. You should go back and listen to it. And then listen to this one because it's going to be awesome is we're talking about how asking every new person the same unlikely question changed her business completely.

2:37So let's just start off with a bang because I'm really curious. How did this social experiment even start in the first place? What was the origin story? I think it was 2018. I should go back and look. But, you know, as a founder, there's so many meetings that you attend and conversations you have with new people. And at some point, it just started to feel really predictable, a little bit one-sided. You're pitching and you're doing sales presentations and all that stuff. So I decided to turn things around a little bit and ask everyone I met something more unexpected and just to see what would happen.

3:13Well, I mean, Fire Nation, I know that we're all on the edge of our seat here. So I want to know, what question did you ask? It was really pretty simple. The question is, is there anything you're seeking help with, large or small? Even if it's something as mundane as a ride to the airport, just I would look people in the eye and ask that question. So when you started doing that, like, were people kind of looking at you weird? Or did they immediately just like say, oh, well, thanks for asking. I mean, how did that work out? The interesting thing is that most people are really taken aback. And the question catches them off guard.

3:46And there's this moment of like, like this flicker of, I don't know, gratitude or something where everyone just pauses and says something like, wow, like, thanks for asking. Thanks for seeing me. But the typical requests were like an intro to some elite person in my network or referral of some sort. I think the most, the biggest ask was someone asked me to read the first draft of their book and give feedback. And that's like hours and hours, but why not? Why not? And absolutely no one asked for a ride to the airport. I thought that was going to be like a big one. Why are you in New York City? Is that why?

4:18I'm in Boulder and Denver and DIA is just, it's a whole process to get there. Well, I mean, did you feel compelled to always say yes when they ask something? Or did you kind of open it up like, hey, like, I want to help this person if it's a reasonable ask or were you just willing to do basically or almost anything? The challenge myself was just to really ask genuinely and be prepared to do whatever I could. But like I said, most people just appreciate the question and there hasn't been anything that I felt was like Herculean effort. But I still do it and I still really enjoy. I'm going to have to ask you at the end of this, so be prepared.

5:04Okay, now ask the question again. So I want to hear it one more time. Is there any help that you are seeking, large or small, right now, today? So did you say no to anybody? No. Wow. Wow. Do you think that's because people didn't ask for something super large, except for that, of course, random, like, can you read my whole book and give me feedback? Which, you know, is legitimate when people respect you and they like you. I mean, I asked people to read my book for sure, and they didn't even ask me if they could help me. I just said, can you do this? So I get that. You didn't say no one time, not once?

5:34No, because most people said thank you, or let me put that in my back pocket for later. The number of people that actually asked for something wasn't that large. So the whole experiment was interesting in the reaction, what types of things people asked, and the number of people that just said, I really just appreciate that thoughtfulness in this moment right now. You know, there's a couple of things I like about that because honestly, when you said that, I immediately said, that's what I do every time. Because people say, John, how can I help you? Like, what can I do to help? Like, you just had me on the show.

6:06You just did this, you did that. What can I do to help you? And I'm always like, you know what? Nothing right now. but if something comes up, you know, let me hit you up. And I, I, I mean that like, I'm really receiving like their, their offer, but I don't, I'm not going to force something in the moment. And then, you know, honestly, nothing really ever comes up. I mean, to be honest, like a couple of years ago, I did publish my first book and then I did like really go back and I was like, Hey, I, I, I'm pretty sure that you said you'd help me out, you know, when the time came, cause a lot of people have.

6:36And if you're, you actually did like, Like now's the time I can really help. Like what can we do? Like podcasts, like blog, like email, social media. And that was like a three or four month of like, let me try to really - Cash those in. Yeah. Cash those in, ring in all those favors that I had kind of been pushing in my back pocket, both consciously and subconsciously for, you know, at that point it was, let's see, nine years at that point. So, you know, actually, no, wait, no, yeah, nine years. So, I mean, I really went back in And I remember I ended up doing 354 podcast episodes in three months.

7:10I don't know how you had that stamina. But also love the book. Have the book, love the book. Oh, that's so kind. That's so nice of you. So another thing I want to talk about with this is that I love that because, and again, this isn't your intention, I know, but it's the reality. And it's why I love it personally. is because you get credit for doing a really nice and cool thing without ever doing a nice or cool thing most of the time. Not all the time, because sometimes you're doing that nice and cool thing, and that's awesome. But most of the time, people are walking away from you saying, man, that Sharice is a nice woman.

7:47She's a cool person. And I always go back to that Maya Angelou quote, which is people, they will not remember what you say. They will not remember what you do. But guess what? they will remember how you made them feel. And so people are going to wake up a week later, a month later, a year later, and they're going to say, I don't know why, I just thought about Sharice. Maybe you came off social media or whatever. And they're going to be like, I like her. I don't even know if I can put my finger on it, but she made me feel good. I may not even remember why she made me feel good, but I remember feeling good when I was with her because of something that she may have done.

8:24And that's cool. So you get that. So I do want to really put your feet to the fire. I want to hold you to this. Okay. What was an outlandish answer that you got from somebody? Like, let's talk about this. I think the book one, and that one happened recently, was I kind of went, I didn't show it on my face, but I kind of went, that's like, that's hours, you know, and I don't know what the book's about. I don't know how good it's going to be. So that one, yeah, that's a lot. and maybe you know after all these years it was a time for a big one um so yeah i think that's that one wins the award for now i want to circle back to that because there's actually been a number of times in the past few months where i can remember so specifically like i've like asked kate my wife and i've been like kate like do you want me to do this can i do this can i kind of do that because you know we we have a child now and he's one years old so she's a lot more like hands-on now than she's been you know prior to that obviously because she's like full-time on it and you know i'm pitching in i'm doing what i can as well and i always kind of joke with her because then she's she's always like you know hey like not now but you know thank you for asking i'm like kate you realize i get credit for asking even though i didn't have to do anything she's like no you're right you do so thank you for asking and you know i mean i was genuinely willing and ready to step in and do something but sometimes she's like he just pooped and i'm like okay and you know that's what I got to do.

9:51You're going to get the 13-year-old. Those are going to all come in at the 13-year-old angst. Just wait. We do have a boy, so Bo. And when it comes to all those tough kind of young boy, young adult kind of conversations, I'll probably have to handle a lot of those things. You're going to be on point. Yep. Fire Nation, we have a lot more to talk about. When we get back from thinking our sponsors, picture this. You're at a party and someone asks you what you do as a marketer. How do you even begin to describe it? Not only do you brainstorm new campaigns, create compelling copy, dream up landing pages that will actually convert and generate leads, you also have to gather all the data to make sure it's even working.

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12:21Sharice, we are back in Fire Nation. We are focused on entrepreneurship. So tell us, what did this experiment, this social experiment teach you about entrepreneurship specifically? This is a good one too, because I feel like I've been an entrepreneur quite a while now, longer than I expected when we've had that first call back 10 years ago. But anyway, I've come to understand that true entrepreneurship is about being of service. And that can be like a small day-to-day moment, as well as pursuing the really big idea. But I think it really comes from a place of helping others and making something easier and better, and not just for your own ego.

13:03Again, I think sometimes the view or the cultural norm or stereotype of an entrepreneur is this egotistical money hungry person. And there is ego and hopefully there is money. But I really think that the best part comes from this concept of how can you help others and how can you use something that's gonna make things better. I truly think I've come more around to that viewpoint over time. So this did change your business. It changed your life in some ways. It definitely changed a lot of relationships that I'm sure you have right now. But how specifically did this simple question change your business?

13:42Let's talk about a few examples. Well, the biggest one happened not too long ago. One day I asked the question, you know, what are you seeking help with large or small? And the answer the person gave me was getting the word out about a capital campaign they were doing. and I thought that's sure, I'll help with that. But it made me realize that our company could really help with this problem. So we took our core product and some emerging AI and we developed the solution that I think will have a profound impact on how people raise capital and reach different individuals or donors in this case with really great content.

14:17And it was so exciting. It was completely unexpected. It wasn't a use case I'd ever thought of. and it really became a breakthrough for us that completely, I didn't see that coming at all, not in a million years. Let's talk about something else that maybe, you know, happened even a little bit further back that kind of just surprised you because, you know, you said, hey, like, I was just asking a question, but it changed my business. It changed the way I look at things. It changed my life. Like, what would that be? More of a life-changing, someone confided about challenges. They knew that I have a daughter and she's an only child.

14:55And they asked about communication with their kid. And they were going through some tough things. And that's usually something that you share in a business conversation, right? That's the whole fun part about this. You ask and people kind of like show a little bit more of themselves. And I said, writing had been a really big help for me. And I didn't see that person for a while. And we were right after COVID and they said, I don't know if you remember this, but I started writing with my daughter and it made a difference in how we communicate with each other. I'm like, that's awesome. And what's your name again?

15:33But it was still, it was a beautiful thing that like something, you know, that moment helped in some way with some relationship. And so that was more of a personal one. Yeah. They won't remember what you said and they won't remember what you did. They won't remember your name, but they'll remember how you made them feel. Let's go, Maya. So how has this impacted your role as a leader? You know, I was in corporate for quite a while. I'm pretty sure I coined the phrase corporate escapee, I have to say. But there's this mindset I remember then that was around profit and growth and leading people in support of those things.

16:09And now I see so much more how it can be accomplished through a servant leadership lens. and maybe I'm sounding like more of a bolder person at this point, but I really think that this concept of servant leadership works well. You see the solutions and the problems in a different light and asking how I can help is really the perfect habit to practice. But it definitely changed the way I think about leadership and the way I think about the goals and the priorities. Again, there's profit and there's product, but there's a way to go there that is more enjoyable and I think more impactful in the long run.

16:48So Cherise, this whole conversation was how asking every new person the same unlikely question changed your business. So take this home for us. What do you want Fire Nation to really walk away with from our conversation today? I hope that more people will try this out. Maybe we can start a movement right here. And if there's people that want to do more good, I want to help more people do more good. I'd love for them to reach out. I'd love to know more people in that community. And let's make it happen. Let's make it happen. If people did want to reach out, they do want to connect. What is the best way for them to do so?

17:29What is your call to action for our listeners today? LinkedIn is best. I love the fact that I'm the only Sharice Hawkins the way it's spelled on LinkedIn. So that's really the easiest way to get ahold of me. Well, Fire Nation, you are the average. Of the five people you spend the most time with, you've been hanging out with SH and JLD today. So keep up the heat. And for links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. Type Sharice, that's S-H-E-R-I-S-S-E in the search bar and the show notes page will pop right up. And of course, that's how you spell it on LinkedIn as well. So check that out because she's the only one there with the full name, Sharice Hawkins.

18:07So let's go. And just, you know, for kicks and giggles, what is that question one last time? What are you seeking help with, large or small? Sharice, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thank you. Hey, Fire Nation, A huge thank you to our sponsors and Sharice for sponsoring today's episode. And Fire Nation, are you ready to rock your very own podcast? Check out our free podcasting course where I will teach you how to create and launch your podcast for free, freepodcastcourse.com. I will catch you there or on the flippity flip side.

18:43The next wave, your chief AI officer hosted by Matt Wolf and Nathan Lance is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. AI technology is transforming the way we do business and the media landscape is fragmented. The Next Wave strives to be the leading podcast on AI technology and how you can apply it to growing your business. Listen to The Next Wave wherever you get your podcasts. Looking for an easier, safer way to manage passwords than a million post-it notes? Welcome to LastPass, the most accessible and easy to use password manager on the planet.

19:16Visit lastpass.com slash fire for a free trial and get started today. Every login lives in LastPass.