Jasmine Star 00:00:00  Welcome to the Jasmine Star show, where today we talk about business mindset and closing the racial inequality gap by running a very successful business. I couldn't be more excited to be joined by somebody who I deeply respect, and we met each other online and subsequently we're able to meet each other in person. Now, I have to tell you that I was at a mastermind in Beverly Hills, and I ran into her, and I happened to sit right behind her when the event had started. And so the Queen is sitting in the front row and she's asking amazing questions. And there's things that I find myself attracted to in other people that I don't naturally possess. And whenever that happens, I want to get close to that person because maybe by like human osmosis, they might rub off on me. And so Daria Hawke is one of those people. So she raises her hand and she's talking about how she, as a by and large solopreneur at the time, had created a seven figure business on coaching. And that kind of silenced the room because there was other seven figure business owners.

Jasmine Star 00:01:00  But to hear that a single person had done that by sheer chutzpah and will and brilliance. And then she talked about how she built systems within that. I thought to myself, now, here is a person who I think would be so good as a juxtaposition. On the podcast, we talk about go to market strategies, and we talk about growth, and we talk about seven figure businesses. And we think sometimes it has to look a certain way. And I couldn't be more excited to have Tricia come in and talk about the business of her business, talk about the resilience, and then just get a spark of her like she carries an energy that I am so excited to share. Tricia, thank you for being on the Jasmin Starr Show. I'm honored.

Jereshia Hawk 00:01:32  I'm so excited to be here. So thanks for the invite.

Jasmine Star 00:01:35  Yes, I mean, we've been waiting for a minute to have this happen and this is the perfect timing, so Thank you. Yeah. I'm pumped. Okay, so let's get a little bit of a background so people now know like they've established you.

Jasmine Star 00:01:46  Like clearly you are successful entrepreneur. But prior to getting to this point, what were the things that you did to actually build your business? And then we'll get into the business of the business. But how do we hit the ground running and saying, okay, this is how she got there?

Jereshia Hawk 00:01:58  Yeah, I mean, my background is I'm a civil engineer by degree. I was a pipeline engineer working in corporate America, and one of my most recent jobs that I had before leaving was I had to go out into like rural neighborhoods and convince people why they should get on natural gas, because at the time, I was in Michigan and customers had to pay a portion of the pipeline for us to build it out there. So, I mean, I was like knocking doors, okay? Trying to convince homeowners why they should make a massive investment over a ten, 20 year period.

Jasmine Star 00:02:25  But if you're a civil engineer by training and you're door knocking, that means you got into sales. And that's what I'm saying.

Jasmine Star 00:02:30  Like, okay. Exactly.

Jereshia Hawk 00:02:32  Okay. So yes, like my I have like ten years of experience doing sales in like random roles or non-traditional sales jobs. Okay. So I used to do auto shows for Chrysler. I would travel around the country in college and like had to sell. I mean, you weren't like necessarily selling a car on the showroom floor, but I mean, I'm interacting with thousands of people on a day learning like, okay, what's your family dynamic? What do you guys need in a vehicle? Let me show you the car that's going to be the best for you. Okay, so I have been really reflecting on like, how did I end up in this world? And it's like all these micro moments of knocking doors, trying to convince people to get natural gas to selling cars on auto show floors, to even selling ice cream. I used to work at cold Stone. That was my first real job, and at the time, cold Stone was the most like expensive ice cream on the market And it just helped me understand, like psychology in a different way, just through experience.

Jereshia Hawk 00:03:21  But all of those sales experiences really, I think allow me when I step into entrepreneurship and with my engineering background, it was just like, you need to focus on human contact, real human relationships and really understand what is the essence of this person like what aspect of their identity are they trying to actually solve a problem for, And how can I align what I have with what they deeply desire? And I think when I started in the coaching business, I mean, I didn't know this world existed. I feel like we're like an underground economy. And then you get in it and it's like, oh, okay. There's like a lot here. Yes. But doing all those experiences gave me the courage to start recording live videos on Facebook, because my peers were asking me, how are you getting promoted? Like, how are you getting all these mentors? How are you getting these up? Okay, so.

Jasmine Star 00:04:04  I'm here, I'm here. You went from cold stone to cold knocking. Yes.

Jereshia Hawk 00:04:07  Okay okay, okay.

Jereshia Hawk 00:04:10  And then from there.

Jasmine Star 00:04:11  People are seeing this ascension because you're understanding psychology and because you're understanding like literally grassroots sales. Yeah. And you're getting comfortable with people saying no to you.

Jereshia Hawk 00:04:22  Oh yeah. I mean I mean I'm a little black girl in like, rural Michigan. I mean, I knew nothing I didn't know people didn't have natural gas. I didn't know I'm in cornfields. Like it was very stark difference, reality. So it's like it also teaches you how do you find a common ground with somebody who looks nothing like you, doesn't come from where you come from. But we're all human at the end of the day. Like there's some commonality we can find here. And that's what helped me establish and build relationships. And it's just like all those micro moments of learning how to connect with people that you look nothing like learning how to connect with people who come from a totally different world from you. Cole knocking on doors. I mean, I had started a business in college because I ran out of financial aid and started an e-commerce business.

Jereshia Hawk 00:05:04  That's what got me on Instagram in the first place. So it's like all these.

Jasmine Star 00:05:07  Like, what were you selling?

Jereshia Hawk 00:05:08  Bandage dresses. This is at the time where, like, the Kardashians were wearing these like super fitted, you know, suck everything, lift everything up. But they were by, like, Hervé Leger. Those are like $1,000 dresses. I found a manufacturer out of Thailand who would let me buy the dress after I had already sold it, because I was. Oh.

Jasmine Star 00:05:26  Oh, so you don't have to worry about inventory. I don't have.

Jereshia Hawk 00:05:28  To worry about inventory. I'm like, I have to make money fast, legally, okay?

Jasmine Star 00:05:33  I need to.

Jereshia Hawk 00:05:33  Make money fast. I was like, I can maybe do amateur night. You know, I ain't got a lot of assets, and I really am. Like, I might lose my black car for my dancing ability. So, like, it's like I had to get creative.

Jasmine Star 00:05:44  I'm dancing to dresses. I know I never danced.

Jereshia Hawk 00:05:47  I lost my mind. I'm like, even at the frat party. So I, you know, I just my charisma and my mouth is, you know, I could talk. I'm dancing was not the thing that drew the attention.

Jasmine Star 00:05:59  So you were able to sell dresses and.

Jereshia Hawk 00:06:01  Then off of Instagram. So this is back in like 2014. And I had bought inventory at first and it was like $2,000 worth of inventory. I'm like, this is not going to work out because I don't have enough money to keep buying products and I'm not moving it fast enough. Yes. So that's when I found the manufacturer. This was early on where you could, like, pay people 50 bucks, and they had like those massive fashion accounts, like I found somebody that had like a million followers and she would charge me $50 per post to, oh.

Jasmine Star 00:06:28  The good old days, I wish.

Jereshia Hawk 00:06:30  And that's how I like, got my footing. Okay. And that's the only reason why I got on Instagram. I never used social media prior to that.

Jasmine Star 00:06:37  So then after the dresses, you got into cold knocking because you did the.

Jereshia Hawk 00:06:41  Cold, not cold knocking was happening simultaneously. So that was like my that was my first like one of my major, like my first internship when I was in corporate. So when I was at my utility, I was cold knocking, going around asking people to like get on natural gas. And at the same time, I was in my senior year of college trying to get my engineering degree. So I'm like, I'm making really good money as an intern. I was cold knocking going around neighborhoods to get them on natural gas, and at the same time, I started the business because I was making enough money from my job to cover my bills, like my rent or whatever, but not enough to cover the 14 grand for tuition.

Jasmine Star 00:07:15  Got it.

Jereshia Hawk 00:07:16  So that kept that business only for a year and made $50,000. I literally shut it down because I started my my like big girl job the next day. And then as I'm in corporate, I was in still as a pipeline engineer, but for four years and I was in a leadership track for the first two.

Jereshia Hawk 00:07:31  So they rotated us every six months. And then the last two years I was promoted to head engineer of a $400 million pipeline project. And it's just like even back then, a lot of my peers like, how did you get this job? Because I was not qualified. I mean, I'm 20 something years old, like 24, $400 million. I mean, I know how to read my drawing sheets and stuff like that, but I don't have the experience to necessarily be on this project. But I was really good at like connecting with all of our crew. So, I mean, you go out these pipe yards and you know, you have welders, you have people from all like union workers. I was really good at, like rallying everybody together, getting the information that I needed from different departments to help move our project forward. And I was really good at understanding what management wanted out of us. And I knew how to articulate that back. And that's what they told me why I got the job.

Jereshia Hawk 00:08:17  It's all these random hodgepodge experiences.

Jasmine Star 00:08:20  So you get promoted and then you start going online, teaching people how you made that happen.

Jereshia Hawk 00:08:25  Well, how I was doing well in my job because at the time people knew me from like they knew I had a business from college, like some of my friends. Okay. And then people was like, dude, you're just like crushing it in corporate, which I was. I mean, I had a really great team of mentors. I call them my personal board of advisors. It was like 12 of them. I did a really good job networking. Everybody knew who I was. They're just like, who are you? Like? You are just thriving.

Jasmine Star 00:08:49  Got it?

Jereshia Hawk 00:08:50  And so many people at my job were asking me questions. I'm like, I'm going to just start going on Facebook and answering questions on my lunch break every day.

Jasmine Star 00:08:56  What year is.

Jereshia Hawk 00:08:57  This? This is like 2016. Okay, okay. So I started answering questions and then like, friends of friends would be like, my friend told me you had a business in like you are just a go getter.

Jereshia Hawk 00:09:08  Like, can you help me accomplish my goals? And I was like, sure. So I would just like talk to people. And then sometimes like, can I pay you? I was like, I don't know, like how to charge. Like I didn't know coaching was a thing. But that's how it kind of slowly matriculated into this. And then my first client was $180. It was $60 a month for three months. We met every single week. And then I got like, somebody was like, have you ever heard of? I went to some event and there was another coach there, and she was like, what the heck? You charged how much? I said $180 for my first client. And that's when I got introduced to the digital marketing world in the online education space. And I hired a private one on one coach. And then it's just like you get sucked into the the wormhole of our online space.

Jasmine Star 00:09:54  Interesting.

Jereshia Hawk 00:09:55  I don't think I've ever actually articulated like all those little micro moments.

Jereshia Hawk 00:09:59  So thanks for asking that.

Jasmine Star 00:10:00  But yeah, no, because it's super helpful because one of the big focus is right now is understanding scale. Yeah. And so a lot of times what we have seen and experienced is scale happens in a very formulaic way. And it could be true. And in your situation, what did your scaling look like? Because from my perspective and from what I know, it wasn't traditional. Like I'm going to build out a team of 12 people to get me to. It was like, so when did you start scaling and how were you able to do it? In a very small way. People want to look at your story and say, okay, I get her, and I think that I can do. I think I could scale to seven on my own, seven figures, my own.

Jereshia Hawk 00:10:32  I mean, I think that coming from an engineering background gave me a really, I think, advantage as an entrepreneur because I was trained like educationally. And then in my job, like, these are the resources we have.

Jereshia Hawk 00:10:44  This is the outcome we need to get. This is all you have. The you need to make that work. So I mean, that's just like my default mode of thinking. Yeah. So when I get into business, I mean, there was never, like, a moment in time. I never thought I would even quit my job like I loved. Nobody thinks about electricity and natural gas until it doesn't come on. It gets very rewarding. I felt the impact of it. I never thought I would leave, but when I had sold $60,000 in sales in one month, I was like, oh, I can always go back and get a job. I'm gonna like, see what's available here, okay? It was never like, I'm going to scale to seven figures. I was never like an initial goal.

Jasmine Star 00:11:20  What was your first goal?

Jereshia Hawk 00:11:21  My first goal? Well, the $60,000 blew my mind. Like in one month. I was like, this is bananas. Like, at the time, I think I was making $85,000 a year.

Jereshia Hawk 00:11:29  So I was like, this is insane. So I was like, let's see if I can do $100,000 in a year. If I did 60 grand in a month, I can close the gap for another 40. K got it. And I remember I made the first $100,000 and was like, I went and did all my favorite things. I went and got my cold stone ice cream. I went to Olive garden, like I called my best friend, and then I was like, okay, let me see if I can take home 15 K a month because I'm like, if I take that's going to be astronomical. Like living in Detroit, the most expensive apartment at the time, downtown Detroit, was $2,000 a month, and it was floor to ceiling windows. It was on my vision board. I wanted a goldendoodle dog. And yeah, I just wanted to make 15 grand take home.

Jasmine Star 00:12:07  Okay, so what I want to do is and I'm using your story because if people can interject themselves in your story, then they see a path for them.

Jasmine Star 00:12:14  So we get into the nitty gritty of the business of the business. Now, at the time somebody hears you say, I close 60,000 in sales. Number one, how was that accomplished? And when you had said, I'm wondering if I can hit 15 K per month, what did that look like then? And then later in the conversation, I want to be like, well, what does it look like now? And how has this structure changed?

Jereshia Hawk 00:12:29  So when I think about back then, a lot of the same principles that I used to get to seven figures is what I got to six, which is what got me to my first $10,000 is like I stopped doing what I saw everybody in the online space doing, because selling $27, $97, like $1,000 digital courses did not make sense for what capacity I had currently built out for myself. So when I first started the business, I'm still working 40 50 hours a week. Got it? I don't have money for ad spend and I'm like, I don't have the skill set of paid media.

Jereshia Hawk 00:12:57  And I'm like, I don't know if I'm going to figure that out right now. And also, at the time, I did not have an existing audience to sell to, and that was really the first like wake up moment for me is that you are not an online influencer. You are a coach or a service provider that is leveraging social media to build trust and build affinity with an audience. You're not looking to grow a large audience to then sell products to you. And that was like, I think a really big lesson I had to learn early on is still something you struggle with, because every time you go online, it's so easy of like, I want to go viral, why am I not getting enough views? Why don't I have millions of followers? And it's like you have to understand what model are you actually building? So that was probably lesson number one that I got early on. And then from there it's like you don't need a ton of leads. You need more relationships because I stopped I guess like flip the funnel, I focus on a four figure offer out of the gate versus trying to sell a $37 like membership out of the gate because the math didn't make sense.

Jereshia Hawk 00:13:55  I'm like, just run the numbers. You're going to need thousands of leads every month in order for you to hit five figure months. Take home pay. What if you only had four clients paying you 3 or $4000 each?

Jasmine Star 00:14:05  Okay. And so I want to pause here because when you say you want to flip the funnel, like you and I might understand that, but there's somebody here who's like on the journey of saying, okay, what does that funnel mean? And so a quick breakdown, digital marketing, you look at it as a funnel. And what you want to do at the top of the funnel is have your free content that becomes the largest point of attraction for people. And then as you descend down the funnel, what is happening is you're making lower ticket offers in a product suite that ultimately leads you to the apex of the pyramid, which is your highest price point. And in the coaching sphere, that's usually a one on one. So what I decided to do was flip the funnel, which meant that the triangle from upside down went right side up.

Jasmine Star 00:14:41  So we're looking at a pyramid and she's like, instead of starting at the bottom, I'm probably going to make an offer somewhere in the mid to high range, maybe not at the pinnacle quite yet.

Jereshia Hawk 00:14:49  At the time, the first offer I sold was 3000. This offer that I sold that got me a 60 K month was nine grand. Yeah. So it was like that 3 to $10,000 range. And honestly, from my experience, it was easier for me to convey value selling a higher ticket offer or maybe a more premium offer, one that prospect uses more discernment when they're making the investment. Okay, but.

Jasmine Star 00:15:11  We need to pause there because Okay, well, finish your thought because I don't want people being like you. Cut her off. Finish your thought. No.

Jereshia Hawk 00:15:18  It's okay. I mean, I think it's a different way of approaching it. I mean, think about it. My experience, even at cold Stone, that was more of a premium priced product in that category.

Jasmine Star 00:15:26  Okay, okay.

Jereshia Hawk 00:15:26  Selling natural gas is a more premium price product in its category of energy. You know, you could use pellets, you can use wood burning. There's different ways to heat your home. Even when I used to do auto shows, I used to always sell. The more expensive, the more luxury, the more expensive product in that market category, because.

Jasmine Star 00:15:42  We're margins in that game. Yeah, there.

Jereshia Hawk 00:15:44  Are margins in that game. The psychology of the buyer is totally different.

Jasmine Star 00:15:47  Okay okay okay. Yeah. We can pause here. Okay. See this is why we get along girl. This is why. Like we go like like together. We gotta slow it down because most people don't drink like our, you know, Mountain Dew, our business, Mountain Dew. Okay, so what I want to do first, because far before we can actually talk about the margins and far before we talk about the psychology of that luxury buyer and far before we step into that, how did you just say, I'm a new coach? I'm gonna go here.

Jasmine Star 00:16:17  What is the mindset?

Jereshia Hawk 00:16:17  I never looked at myself as new. And I think the reason for that, I came from one of my mentors always told me this too. He's like, because I remember when I got promoted, I was like, I can't do this. Like, this is $400 million. I'm part of the largest budget program in the entire company. He was like, I don't care. You don't need to know how to do every single thing. You need to know how to ask the right questions. You need to know how to identify what problem matters for you to solve right now. And you need to know that if you don't have the answer, you need to go like know and yourself that you can go figure out the solution. And I remember him telling me that he's like, you have experience. You just may be new in this role, but that doesn't mean you are like brand new to what you're doing. Like, you have transferable skills that can allow you to succeed here.

Jereshia Hawk 00:16:59  Leverage those transferable skills and ask the questions. Meet the people. Rely on your mentors to close the learning gap that you don't have. So when I entered in the coaching space, I mean, obviously, I mean, I think it's natural. I'm like, I've never done this before, but I remembered that I'm like, Trisha, you may never have presented and package yourself this way before, but you've built a business that did 50 grand in a year on a whim. Like in college. You've had experience. I think it was maybe $30 million in sales that I did knocking doors. I'm like, girl, you know what you're doing? It's just I had to learn. How do I effectively articulate that? And who is the right person that I can work with, where my skillset is going to be applicable to the solution that I'm trying to help them get.

Jasmine Star 00:17:41  And so what did you do first? Did you figure out how do I effectively convey or how do I find my person?

Jereshia Hawk 00:17:45  It was like a both and like, okay, that was like, I knew that if I just kept talking, I'm like, I need to show up.

Jereshia Hawk 00:17:51  Like I need to put in your reps. And I remember sitting down with myself saying, because I had made like maybe six grand hodgepodge things like trying to sell different stuff. At the very beginning, it was like a nine month period. I had made like $6,300 selling just whatever I could sell. And I was like in.

Jasmine Star 00:18:07  Terms of coaching, in.

Jereshia Hawk 00:18:07  Terms of coaching. So I had tried a $37 membership. I had tied like a $7 e-book. I had tried like the one off session for like 80 bucks or something. And I was like, you need to sit down and decide, are you actually going to try to make this a business? Or like, is this just fun money? And I told myself, I'm going to give myself three years. I'm going to go all in for three years and I'm going to commit to three years of me consistently showing up before I even give myself an option to quit. And I remember that because I think I was reading Millionaire Next Door or some book back then, and I was like looking at what is the timeline that it takes for a business to typically become profitable? And they're like at least three years.

Jereshia Hawk 00:18:43  So I was like, if it takes the average human being in America three years to get a business profitable, can you make that commitment to yourself? I remember sitting down telling myself that, and I was like, okay, you're going to show up on live stream on Facebook every single week and you're going to just share what you know.

Jasmine Star 00:18:57  So your messaging confidence came from talking. It wasn't like you did a master plan or hired somebody. It was you just got in front of people and you spoke.

Jereshia Hawk 00:19:06  That's it. And I think that it sounds so simple, but think about I mean, I think about even you like go to your Instagram or go to your YouTube or go to your podcast. You've been showing up consistently talking for years. I think it can be easy for somebody looking at somebody now. It's like, oh, well, Jasmine was an overnight success. It's like, do you know how long she's been putting in her reps? Like, and I think that is something that I really understood the value of.

Jereshia Hawk 00:19:28  Like I used to love watching documentaries on like Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan or like star athletes, and it's like they would go to the gym every single day and just put the reps in. And I knew for me, I'm like, I'm an external processor. I'm like, I know that if I continue to talk, like if I'm in the room with somebody or if I'm having conversation with somebody, I may not know, you know, the perfect way to articulate it in the three second soundbite, but in a 30 minute conversation like, we'll be able to find the harmony and figure out whether or not we can work together. So I'm like, if I'm going to just consistently keep showing up and I'm going to just answer the questions that people keep asking me, or I'm going to document my journey if I don't have questions to answer, because there's a lot to learn and just sharing the what am I learning? What am I struggling with? How am I figuring it out? That's right. That's what I would publicly share.

Jereshia Hawk 00:20:13  So that was the beginning.

Jasmine Star 00:20:15  So before we actually get into identifying the market that you wanted to serve and your thoughts to that, there are somebody who's listening and says, well, maybe I am not an external processor, maybe I am not. And I don't know if you're an introvert or an extrovert, but you have even if you're an introvert, you have outgoing personality, and you do have a series of sales for somebody who says, well, that's just for Grisha. I'm sure you've coached other people through this. So what do you say to that?

Jereshia Hawk 00:20:39  And most of my clients are the complete opposite of me. They are. I tell them, the idea of going on camera, they're like.

Jasmine Star 00:20:45  No, thank you.

Jereshia Hawk 00:20:46  I mean, I think that in today's age, if you want to build a business where you are selling your intellectual property, becoming a public figure in some capacity is a requirement. And I think that is just it's just a one of those things. It's just a cost of doing business.

Jereshia Hawk 00:21:03  And I think that that is something that more of us need to just come to terms with sooner or maybe faster, because I think that's what prevents a lot of potential from turning into profitability is because of this fear of I mean, I think public speaking is maybe the the number one or second most feared thing outside of more than.

Jasmine Star 00:21:23  Death, right?

Jereshia Hawk 00:21:24  So I'm not saying this is like a walk in the park.

Jasmine Star 00:21:27  Right.

Jereshia Hawk 00:21:27  But it's like if you are selling your intellectual property based off. So I'm selling coaching or consulting or whatever based off of results I've gotten, experience that I've gained. They're buying my IP. I have to show up like I have to be willing to be a public figure, to share my perspective publicly and to show up on a consistent basis to build that trust. Because when you are selling a more premium priced offer, people, again, their discernment is different when they're making that buying decision. So they're buying not off of it's not an impulse purchase. It's not because, you know, it's just the proximity is the first thing that came up on their feed.

Jereshia Hawk 00:22:02  Like too many times I buy stuff off on Instagram ads. Same. It's like.

Jasmine Star 00:22:05  Same, but they.

Jereshia Hawk 00:22:06  Keep showing it to you. The threshold to purchase it isn't too high. My discernment isn't super high and you'll just swipe the card. That's very different. When you want somebody to come in and you're asking your client to be vulnerable with you. Absolutely. In a coaching dynamic, slightly.

Jasmine Star 00:22:20  But can I pause? Because I had a conversation yesterday. We were doing consulting, And she's not a coach, she's an accountant. And I was really encouraging her that she's doing tax strategy. She is doing not just tax computation. And I'm like, these are people who have the means and are trying to look for ways they can pick you, or they can pick another tax strategist. But why on paper would they pick one or the other? But if you can go out and really show your differences, your systems, your team, then that becomes a defining factor. And so it's not for people who are listening and be like, okay, well, I'm not trying to build a personal brand.

Jasmine Star 00:22:53  I'm not a coach, I'm not selling my IP. But in a way you are.

Jereshia Hawk 00:22:57  I mean, I'm not sitting here. This again, goes back to the point of I'm not asking you to become a famous influencer, right? You are not looking to be. You don't have to be famous. You don't have to be an influencer. I'm not asking you to try to go build an audience of millions, but I am asking you to make it easy for a prospect to discover what your values are. Make it easy for a prospect to have an opportunity to create a transference of trust before they pull out their credit card to purchase with you, and give them the opportunity to understand what your perspective is. Because again, going to the tax strategist example, if I have three tax strategies that I could be hiring. That's right. Say it like they all are technically delivering the same function of the job, but the experience of working with them is going to be night and day, from person to person, and who you choose to hire.

Jereshia Hawk 00:23:43  You want somebody who has a line values with you, who you respect, their perspective. And most of the time, and this is what I tell my clients, is that your clients don't get the opportunity to discover your perspective until either after they've paid you or behind some gateway, like they've had a book of sales call. They've had to, you know, already pay you to discover that. Yes.

Jasmine Star 00:24:05  Which is.

Jereshia Hawk 00:24:06  Can work. I'm not saying that it can't, but I imagine that you're it takes a lot longer to get a yes versus all that stuff you're doing privately. Bring it public. It's going to shorten your sales cycle. You're going to be able to charge more. You're going to be able to differentiate either pre-qualified. You're exactly like use your free content to pre-qualify your leads versus using your free content to build a mass audience of influence. And I think that's the difference. Like you're a service or coaching or consulting. It's a relationship. Yep. You cannot automate human connection. Like I think there's a non-negotiable.

Jereshia Hawk 00:24:37  And I think that video particularly is one of the best ways to create that transference of trust in a digital medium. That's right outside of, you know, in person. I mean, that's like the best.

Jasmine Star 00:24:47  But and even beyond that, like, just as the final nail in the coffin, it's not just that video is the most effective. It's also what is indexed in the algorithm right now. Yes. So if you're going to be spending time you might as well. That's right. It's like triple dip. Can you please just try to do one thing that's going to be favorable? Okay. So what we went through was really identifying how you found your voice and how you've built that business. And we spoke to the person who says it doesn't come natural. And then you made a case for it, and you followed it up with facts and not feelings. And so now when we go to identify, you are going after a very particular person. Yes. And you made that. And that's something that's a little bit rare and a lot of people would not do.

Jasmine Star 00:25:25  How did you go in and say, I'm going to identify this audience? What was that work like?

Jereshia Hawk 00:25:28  Well, identifying the audience was something that I always struggled with, but I was really clear on what is the problem that I saw, what is the promise that I can deliver? So I think that when I'm even coaching clients on like niching down, I like to think about it as just where can you specialize in this? Again, goes back from corporate experience in getting my degree. It's like, look at the people who got paid the most. Typically, if you look at doctors, a brain surgeon is going to get paid more than a general physician in the engineering space, like a biomedical engineer is going to get paid more than a civil engineer because their area of expertise is more specialized. And I thought about that the same way in my business. I'm like, okay, how can I specialize the promise that I can deliver based off of results that I have seen and the pattern of results that I'm getting with clients, or the pattern of results that I've been able to get for myself.

Jereshia Hawk 00:26:13  And that was a process. It's still a process. Like I think that you have to get some practice, whether you're doing it on your own or whether you start working with clients and you start to notice patterns once you start to notice those patterns from client to client, like I keep repeating myself 80% of the time in these areas, or I keep seeing clients get these similar type of results. 80% of the time I'm like, that's golden. Now we know that patterns. How can we define a promise around that so that we can specialize you based off of the experience that you have and the results that you've seen? It's a really iterative process you're going to continuously be refining over the years. But that's kind of was my approach. I'm like, people who are specialized get paid more. I feel like that'll be the same way in this coaching space. So just where can I specialize based off of what I know right now? Continue to get more results than refine my specialty, get more results, refine my specialty.

Jereshia Hawk 00:27:02  And that was like a rinse and repeat system I did over and over again over the years.

Jasmine Star 00:27:05  How long did it take for you to get to the six figures? 18 months. Wow.

Jereshia Hawk 00:27:10  So it was 18 months. Nine months. Still working in corporate. And then I had my corporate drop out date and my hock hustle. Independence day. And I quit my job. And then it was another nine months. Then I got that was when I made my first hundred and $50,000 in a calendar year. And then from there was 150 to 3 3330 to like eight 4840 to what.

Jasmine Star 00:27:33  Happened from the 330 to 840, what happened?

Jereshia Hawk 00:27:35  They leveraged. So to get me to 300 grand. I ran it as a group coaching program at the time, and I was still doing some private one on one. And out of all the clients that I had to work with in private, one on one and in the the coaching program at the time, that was two grand. I'm like all of these people, the ones that are succeeding, like my outliers, they're like, they're ready now to take their private one on one and document all the patterns that they're noticing and turn it into a group program.

Jereshia Hawk 00:28:00  And I remembered when I was selling my nine K offer, I'm like, that thing sold like hotcakes. It was easy to sell, you know? I'm like, okay, I'm gonna try to figure out how I can make another five figure offer. And around the 300 grand mark is when I went all in, I got rid of all my other offers. I decommissioned them, and I was like, I'm going to just create this one program called leverage. And leverage was helping individuals who have been selling private one on one or coaching or offering a service one on one had got rid success from it and wanted to document that and turn that into a good program.

Jasmine Star 00:28:28  Interesting. So you specialize I.

Jereshia Hawk 00:28:31  Specialized again.

Jasmine Star 00:28:32  Yeah.

Jereshia Hawk 00:28:33  And I always say use your clients feedback to inform your frameworks moving forward. So it was never like I never was pulling things out of a hat just randomly. Right? I was really good at listening to what are my clients telling me? Where do they start? Where do they end? I think every great program solves one problem and creates a new one.

Jasmine Star 00:28:53  That's right.

Jereshia Hawk 00:28:54  It like so I'm like, pay attention to that. Like, what is the problem that this one solved? What new problem is created because they've achieved a new level of success. Is that a problem that you want to anchor your messaging against? Is that a problem that you want to monetize and to solve? And that 300 grand mark, I think is a really pivotal point in anybody's business, because I feel like it's one of those defining moment periods, because a lot of what I did that made me successful. Things would have to change in order for me to get from 300 grand to a million. Explain that.

Jasmine Star 00:29:22  Like what? Let's get into the nitty gritty.

Jereshia Hawk 00:29:24  I think that you can get to 300 grand, like, without a lot of standardization. Like you, I think you can get there just out of sheer hustle. I mean, you can get to a million off of sheer hustle and real power. I think, you know, cap out and burn out shortly after.

Jereshia Hawk 00:29:37  But 300 grand? I think that you can sell probably 3 or 4 different offers. And just, like, muster your way up with sales activities to get there, I think that is very difficult to do beyond 300 grand. From my own experience. And what I see with clients, especially when you layer in their mothers or they're going through tough financial, you know, stuff with their partners or like with life happening. So that was like a moment in time where I was like, what is your model going to be? What is the model that you're going to use to get to a million with? I'm like, I can either double down on this $2,000 offer and get that to a million. And the thing that I asked myself is, okay, Jay, you could sell anything. Get that off the table. What do you want to anchor your messaging around? What psychology of buyer do you want to talk to for the next three years? And that was what influenced me to say. I can either try to sell to the newbies in the industry, and I had to play a different lead generation game at the play.

Jereshia Hawk 00:30:31  It's a different way to evaluate the business. The volume game, I was like, am I going to play the volume game? Or I'm going to play like the deep value close relationship game? And I think that's the decision you have to make at 300 grand. That's right. And that was a decision that I made. I was like, where has it been easiest for you to sell? And again, what psychology of buyer do you want to market towards on a consistent basis? And I was like, I'd rather market to the person that is more sophisticated, uses more discernment in their decision making, but is also looking for a more specialized solution to the problem that they have.

Jasmine Star 00:31:01  Oh, that's beautiful.

Jereshia Hawk 00:31:02  And it went like hotcakes. Then Covid happened and then it went like hotcakes again.

Jasmine Star 00:31:07  Why do you think.

Jereshia Hawk 00:31:08  I think that because of economic sentiment, like I think during Covid, even though we were going through a massive, you know, global pandemic and people are like freaking out, there was a flood of cash in the American market.

Jereshia Hawk 00:31:19  There was, and I think because there was a flood of cash and a lot of people didn't have to work. I mean, the I shouldn't say have to they couldn't go into work. People were laid off, but also there was a lot of stimulus built into the economy at the time, which is I don't know if this has happened in another point in history, to my knowledge, but during Covid, I feel like the buyer sentiment while we're going through a global crisis, people had this feeling of opportunity. Yes, housing a fresh start. It was. Yes, you can see that in how prices, even in real estate, went like, yes, people were paying hundreds of thousands of dollars over asking price. And it's like where people getting all this money from and it's like interest rates were stupid low. So like, I think there was a lot of overall sentiment of like hope, possibility I can do anything.

Jasmine Star 00:32:03  That's right.

Jereshia Hawk 00:32:03  And people this is the first time I think as a, as a halt that all of us had.

Jereshia Hawk 00:32:07  People had a moment to stop. Yes we were. I think a lot of people were keeping themselves busy and distracting themselves from the internal discomfort that they were feeling, like dissatisfaction in their jobs. Yes, dissatisfaction in their relationships. It was like a wake up call. Yes. And I think that when you have that global moment in time that pauses all of us and it's like, what do I really want? So many people were like, I want to grow my business. I want to start a business. And at the time, my ex-husband, he's a hedge fund manager, and he was like, milk this? And I said, say less. He's like, this is a very rare moment in time. I really do appreciate him because he helped me understand macroeconomics in a way that I didn't have exposure to.

Jasmine Star 00:32:45  So he's playing it for us right now for people who are oh, I'm.

Jereshia Hawk 00:32:48  Going to explain it at the golden retriever level that I know.

Jasmine Star 00:32:50  That's great.

Jasmine Star 00:32:51  That's great because, well, what happens is because history repeats itself 100%.

Jasmine Star 00:32:54  We hope and praise that there's not a global pandemic, but people will at some point in time realize that they want something else in the relationship, in their life, in their business, in their professional life, whatever the case may be, and they will have their own personal Covid. And so when another person can meet them, when the nail goes through their foot, meet them right when they're experiencing their own personal Covid. How do we milk it for what it is teaches that.

Jereshia Hawk 00:33:15  He explained it to me in a macro economic standpoint, like there is every industry has a cycle, and it's important for you to understand based off the industry you're in, what is your cycle? There's always going to be an ebb and flow. Ray Dalio talks about this in the book principles too. And if you look at real estate like zero eight was a massive boom. A lot of people lost a lot of money. But that's where a lot, a lot of wealth is created during those tough times. So what we were noticing, he's like, this is probably going to last like nine months to maybe two years.

Jereshia Hawk 00:33:41  We don't know how long it's going to last, obviously. But like there's a flood of money in the economy right now. There's a lot people have opportunity to spend that money right now. And for your industry in particular, like people want new businesses, new job opportunities, they want to create their own career paths, like they want that type of freedom. If you can have the capacity to be able to serve the demand when the demand is, or I don't have to manufacture the demand, demand is there. These people are going to be buying regardless. So who are they going to buy from? And that's where I was like, okay, he's like, this might not last that long. So go for the next 18 months and like just go ham. And I was like, okay, I'm going to go for the next.

Jasmine Star 00:34:18  So what did Ham look like for you?

Jereshia Hawk 00:34:19  Ham looked like for me specialize my offer. And again, like that was when I. Yes, I decommissioned the old program.

Jereshia Hawk 00:34:26  I was like, double down on where you see the biggest opportunity right now. And if people have the money, which they do. And I also look at like discretionary spending. Yeah. So if you look at the type of consumer that you typically attract and out at the time I had a good enough data to look at like my top 20% of clients. And the way that I kind of do this, it's not like a pure science, but I go into my stripe account. And what type of credit card or debit card are my clients paying for my services with? And that gives me some level of insight. The majority of my clients are like either Chase or Amex cardholders, which if you're an Amex cardholder that lets me know that you have, I would guess you have a larger threshold for what you can like purchase on that card lets me know your credit score is probably a little bit higher. That person probably has maybe a little bit more discretionary spending. That's not like a science, but like that's when I talk about know your customer.

Jereshia Hawk 00:35:17  Those are like little just things that I pay attention to. And at the time I was like, okay, I'm going to specialize again based off of the best results my clients are getting. Let's pause here for a second.

Jasmine Star 00:35:27  You enter in with A2K or more or less. When you realize that you have a bona fide business, you have your two K offer.

Jereshia Hawk 00:35:33  That's what got me to 300 grand, right?

Jasmine Star 00:35:35  And then at 300 grand, you decide to decommission those. Go to a 10-K offer that gets you to what point? 800.

Jereshia Hawk 00:35:42  Yeah, I've sold that program for the next three years. So that program got me from 333,000 or something to the next year, 840 grand. The next year was like, I think 1.2 million and 1.4 million, something like that. That was the only that that was the main offer I specialized from.

Jasmine Star 00:35:57  Like I been taking my one on one client. I'm going to teach those people how they take their one on one clients and build a group coaching group.

Jasmine Star 00:36:03  And then you specialized again from that group. Yes.

Jereshia Hawk 00:36:06  Okay. So like services that sell was the two K offer that I sold to get me 300 grand. And I was helping anybody that wanted to sell their first four figure offer. It could be coaches or service providers. Okay. So there was a little bit of generalization on who there was like, and it was still kind of like a newer business on it. And then from there I was like, do I want to keep serving the newbies, which I love? Y'all, we all got to start there. Or do I want to anchor my business against something more sophisticated? So I was like, okay, I'm going to work with people who are already making close to 100 grand, somewhere between 50 and 100,000. They've seen results and they need help now, like multiplying those results. And that's where I knew my sweet spot was. I think like that's also important for me to layer in this conversation. I'm really good at optimizing something that exists in like taking it to the next level.

Jereshia Hawk 00:36:52  I think there's a lot of entrepreneurs who are really good at like getting a business off the ground. Then there are some entrepreneurs who are really good at once a business is off the ground. They're really good at, like growing it and scaling it. And I think I read maybe E-myth. It might have been that book that was like, help me. I'm like, I'm really good. If something already exists, I can optimize it. I can look for profit opportunities, I can reduce overhead. I'm really good at that. So that was also like, okay, that's where I thrive coaching. That's where it's easiest for me to coach. And I'm like, quite honestly, there's more money to be made there. So that's when I specialize. I'm like, I'm not going to bank my messaging, my marketing, my business model for newbies. I'm going to bank it towards somebody who's a little bit further on. And that offer was ten K. I started with ten people to validate it and make sure the process was tight, figure out the messaging and then continue to refine it, refine the promise.

Jereshia Hawk 00:37:43  So it was really helping people get beyond their first $200,000 in revenue with a leveraged group program by helping them reduce their number of private one on one hours and turning 15 one on one hours into two calls a month type of thing.

Jasmine Star 00:37:55  Then you refined it again going into Covid. And what did that change look like?

Jereshia Hawk 00:37:59  Well, during Covid, the benefit of why I was able to capture so much cash during Covid is because my delivery was tight, delivery was standardized, the promise was clear. All the aspects of my client delivery were documented, standardized. I was able to bring in program coaches without diminishing or my client results. So like the offer was solid. So during Covid, what happens even with like the Oprah effect when people go on Oprah and you get on her wish list. So many businesses had gone bankrupt because of that, because they get all this attention, but they can't handle the demand, they cannot fulfill it. And I was really good at the fulfillment. And so during Covid, I was like, Jay, just go ham on the marketing, go ham on your messaging.

Jereshia Hawk 00:38:40  And that's when I started to launch my podcast. So at the time, all of my sales really came from live video and I would show up live pretty much every time I went live, I'd make a sale, but I was like, I need to figure out a way to leverage my marketing content and create more of, like, my own internal Netflix. I need like bingeable content for people. So I started my podcast. Podcast might have started maybe right before Covid, but I actually like put effort into it. I prioritize the platform because I notice a lot of my clients would find me on Instagram. They would binge my podcast. They were private lurkers. They were not public engaged. They were silent and private decision makers. So that's something else I noticed too, from my data. And I was like, okay, I knew if somebody consumed at least four hours of my content, they'd be ready to make a buying decision. Not to say they'd be a yes, but they'd be like primed enough.

Jereshia Hawk 00:39:28  So I was like, you just need to create long form bingeable content. And all of my messaging was 100% tailored to the promise of the program that I was selling. And I think, again, that's a differentiation in marketing from I'm being an influencer and want to go viral. I mean, no podcasts have ever published has gotten more than 2000 downloads. But if you have 1000 people who are.

Jasmine Star 00:39:49  Mostly.

Jereshia Hawk 00:39:49  Qualified that are listening, you can make millions.

Jasmine Star 00:39:52  Yes.

Jereshia Hawk 00:39:53  And I think that was again, like another I'm not chasing the masses like my free content became my church. It was like my free content was how do I get you to $100,000? You can listen to my podcast and get to 100 grand, because that's what I need you to be pre-qualified before you can even work with me. So good. So all my free content was, how do I get you pre-qualified so that you can even be eligible?

Jasmine Star 00:40:13  So good.

Jereshia Hawk 00:40:14  And you know what I'm saying will make sense at the right time for you.

Jereshia Hawk 00:40:18  And then I would document every objection I got on the sales call, and two weeks later that would turn into marketing content. So all of my marketing content was its only job was to pre-qualify leads, help over, you know, address objections, introduce a new perspective, shift a belief that aligned with the offer that I was selling.

Jasmine Star 00:40:36  So when we talk about shifting beliefs, this is where I kind of want to loop it kind of like close the conversation because we've gone through so much when there's somebody who's hearing this, how do you shift the beliefs for somebody who says, that will just never be me? I will never be that for the person. What do you say to that person? Well, you.

Jereshia Hawk 00:40:55  Can't convince somebody like, of anything. Like, I know that in my work, I'm like, people can borrow my belief for a short period of time, but like their essence, you can't force somebody to do anything. But when I think about shifting a belief, like I used to have a belief that I have to run paid advertising in order to get in front of new leads for my business.

Jereshia Hawk 00:41:16  So when I think about a belief, I'm not necessarily trying to, like, change their character, but I am trying to help them think differently about how they approach solving that, the problem that they have, or being able to properly identify what their problem actually is. Because nine times out of ten people come to me, it's like, oh, my business needs to grow, I need more leads. I need to go viral. I need to run ads. I'm like, that could be the case. And also like, you could double your revenue right now because you're under charging and we just need to increase your price. We could create more profitability in the business because, you know, by reducing some of your overhead, because you're overspending, because your client delivery is too customized from client to client. If we standardize your delivery, you don't need three people to be manually customizing every client relationship. So I mean, like that's what I mean by shifting a belief. I was really just introducing new variables on how they can approach solving their problem and being able to properly analyze what their problem actually is.

Jereshia Hawk 00:42:10  I remember in the early days, I mean, I spent so much time trying to convince people of like that you can make thousands of dollars. And I'm like, Jay, you're losing out on money trying to like. And I think that's a tough thing for like, a woman of color. I thought this was very true to. And I have clients that are like immigrants. I'm like the first in my family to do a lot. I think when you're one of the first, it's very natural to like, I got to bring everybody along with me and, you know, everybody is not. The thing that I've learned in coaching is that I want for you what you want for you. I can't want for you more than you want for yourself. And it's not my responsibility to project what I think you should want because of, you know, I don't know what my own beliefs are. So I think that's a detachment thing. I've had to learn over the years that, like, I only can want for somebody ultimately what they deeply desire and want for themselves.

Jereshia Hawk 00:43:00  Now, a lot of times we lie to ourselves about what we want, which I'm like, we can we can work through that. But at the essence, I'm hoping you materialize. You know what your heart desire is? What assignment God has, you know, attached on your heart that you believe is available for you. So I mean, so when I say convincing or shifting a belief, I want to make sure I'm clear. I'm like, I'm not trying to change this person's character or I'm not trying to project my beliefs onto them. I'm just trying to help them properly diagnosed with their issue in their businesses, and also introduce new variables that they haven't considered to get to their outcome.

Jasmine Star 00:43:32  And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I wanted to talk on the show. One thing she just said. I'm here to introduce new variables to solve an old problem. I am hoping that at some point in this conversation, you were able to apply a new belief, not changing who you are, but simply saying there is a different way to look at what is going on in my business.

Jasmine Star 00:43:53  I hope that you understand that what she did to got to where she's going and where she is is she stopped doing what everybody else was doing and she used skills within restrictions. She basically said, you must take what you have and make it work. And she learned that in corn fields and that somehow, you know, from Detroit to the cornfields to, you know, La Jolla, California, this is what she's been doing. And, you know, she flipped her funnel. She realized that she can play the small game with newbies, or she can simply say, I have a skill set. I need to define my message, I need to define who it's for, and then I need to be able to say, I can go out and strategically build out a funnel that leads the right people to me. Now, one of the things that her mentors had said when she felt unqualified. So if you are in the place of feeling unqualified, number one, you don't need to know everything. Number two, you know how to ask the right questions in number three.

Jasmine Star 00:44:47  You can ask for help. Thank you for being here and helping us ask for help, helping us ask better questions. How do people go deeper with you? Where are we sending them? I mean, you have a podcast, you have a website. Let's give it a little shout out. Let's give a shout out.

Jereshia Hawk 00:45:01  Yeah, definitely. Come check out the podcast. It's called Grisha Said. You can listen to it on iTunes, Spotify or wherever. I'm just in the middle right now of doing a season of like, talking about taking seven months off from my sabbatical, how I'm re-entering my business, how I'm rethinking about business. So it's really juicy right now. I feel like.

Jasmine Star 00:45:19  Yeah, just even.

Jereshia Hawk 00:45:19  Being able to afford to take a sabbatical and.

Jasmine Star 00:45:22  Just seven months sabbatical.

Jereshia Hawk 00:45:23  Seven months sabbatical without having to change the quality of my life. And like, I mean, the dope part about it is and I think maybe the thing that I want to drive home is just remember what you started your business.

Jereshia Hawk 00:45:34  Like many of us who are starting online, businesses are so that we can create a certain lifestyle for ourselves and for our family, and make sure that you are leveraging the profit from your business to build your personal net worth. I cannot emphasize that enough. I think it's very easy to get in our space and get distracted by big launch numbers and big revenue numbers and like, focus everything on that. And then you might have had the biggest launch of your life, but you didn't pay yourself last month.

Jasmine Star 00:45:59  Right.

Jereshia Hawk 00:46:00  And it's like the piece that I have right now is because of this last eight years of how I manage my profit. And I'm deeply grateful for that and deeply grateful for the Instagram and Facebook and the internet because of that. But that's a lot of what I've been talking about in this season of the podcast is just how to make sure that you're clear on what your owner's intent is, how to align your business model with that intent so that when you're operating your business, your profit that you take home and that you keep is actually aligned with what you ultimately want and desire.

Jereshia Hawk 00:46:27  So come on over to the podcast and Amen.

Jasmine Star 00:46:30  Jerry said Andrew's a hawk.com. Yep. Driscoll hawk.com I love it.

Jereshia Hawk 00:46:33  Signing my DMs on Instagram.

Jasmine Star 00:46:35  Yeah you know she's there I am.

Jasmine Star 00:46:36  There she's.

Jereshia Hawk 00:46:37  There. Tell me what you enjoyed from this episode. I would love to please continue the conversation.

Jasmine Star 00:46:41  At Jasmine Star. We create this show for people who are ready to uplevel their lives. Talk about scaling and look at different business models. Because there is not one size business. She is living proof that a very smart, brilliant, strong woman can find a way to build a life that she loves. A seven figure business, while also creating an intention for wealth to be able to do things that empower her. Take a seven month sabbatical and then share what she knows with others. Thank you for listening and watching to the Jasmine Star Show.