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Power Your Research w/ Dr. Sheena Howard
Welcome to Power Your Research w/ Dr. Sheena Howard, hosted by professor, author, TEDx speaker, ghostwriter, and academic brand expert Dr. Sheena Howard. On this podcast, you'll hear how to build a big brand, build a community, and leave a legacy, as well as the many failures and lessons Dr. Howard is learning on her path from building a 6-figure business to $1M in net worth.
Power Your Research w/ Dr. Sheena Howard
Staying Motivated
Leverage your personal strengths and maximize your existing resources.
Follow Dr. Sheena Howards' socials:
@drsheenahoward | Power Your Research
When you think about all the things that you do creativity, your intellectual capital, your passion. What drives all of that?
Speaker 2:Oh, I want to be successful.
Speaker 1:Period, that's it. You know what you want, and that's it.
Speaker 2:I know that I haven't reached my full potential. Yeah, and because of that, I need to reach my work. To be stuck behind an academic paywall. I want to leave a legacy, I want to reach my potential and I want to change lives. This podcast, power your Research, is my attempt to help the smartest people in the world do that very thing. My hope is that you use the lessons I share to make more money than what your higher ed job can ever pay you.
Speaker 1:I've done it.
Speaker 2:My clients have done it and so can you. My hope is that you'll apply what you learn here and one day join the Power, your Research program where you can work with me one on one.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining me on this episode of For Our Edification. I'm Eddie Francis, and so I have to tell you. First of all, I am not in my normal habitat right now. Usually I'm at home doing this thing, but I'm on a lovely campus of Xavier University of Louisiana All kinds of stuff happening today, so you're going to hear some foot traffic and some voices in the background. Don't worry, there's Xavier rights. They're harmless. So I am pleased to be joined by. Dr. Sheena Howard Got to tell you about this. Last year I had the opportunity to join an organization, a speaker bureau, called Greek University. A group of people got up told their stories. One of the people who stood out immediately was Sheena Howard, because it's the story that you have, Sheena. And then also it is the dogged determination that you have to really really get stuff done, if nothing else. And I really have a thing about personal leadership and I thought about you and I'm like, yeah, yeah, I think this sister is going to be able to give us some good stuff. So how are you doing?
Speaker 2:I'm great. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. It means a lot.
Speaker 1:I'm humbled because when I learned about where you had done a lot of interviews of course I've seen Breakfast Club and I was just like good, I feel legit now. So first of all, let me just start with this, because you have so many cool things that you do, talk about what it is that you do and why it's important to you, because the work that you do is very important to you. So tell us about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so two things really. So I have a company called Nerdworks, which is really just my personal brand, but it's a image activism and diverse storytelling company where I write for celebrities, CEOs and I used to say social impact companies, but really it's just organizations that can reach a big population across the world. So under NerdWorks I've written for the New York State Department of Health, I've written for DMC from Run DMC, I've written for huge international nonprofits. And then I also have an academic branding company called Power your Research, which teaches people with PhDs how to build big brands and monetize and leave a legacy. All that good stuff.
Speaker 1:I'm laughing because I used to do higher ed marcom, so I can only imagine how interesting that work is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and as the years go on, like you know, just PhDs have a lot of limiting self-beliefs, a lot of roadblocks and mindset and just a lot of really things that are actually you know, I don't know, they just have a lot of work to do. So those are the two primary things I do. So of course under NerdWorks there's just kind of a lot of different monetization avenues, but yeah.
Speaker 1:And you're a professor.
Speaker 2:Correct, yes, that's a day job.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly. Why is it that what you do is so important to you? Because when people take a look at your social media, they can tell that what you do is extremely important. So why is it so important to you?
Speaker 2:people see my content. I want them to see the content on the day that they are second guessing themselves or feeling like giving up, or feeling not showing up, or feeling like they don't feel like showing up to this podcast, that they feel like nobody is listening to.
Speaker 2:And so if I can motivate somebody to keep going on the day that they want to give up, I feel like I'm doing all of us a service to the world, because I feel like a lot of people are unhappy because they are not pursuing the dreams and goals that they actually want to be pursuing, and so. I'm here to say that you can continue to pursue your goals, and you should, and here's why.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know I I have to tell I have been personally touched by a lot of your content, because there are so many times when, after leaving my last nine to five over a year ago, and I've been out doing business on my own for the first time, starting a company, the whole deal it has been terrifying and there have been times.
Speaker 1:I'll be going through Instagram and then I'll see that Sheena Howard post and I'm sitting there going huh. Ok, ok, all right, ok, let me. Let me make this next phone call, you know.
Speaker 2:Exactly. Yes, that means I'm doing my job.
Speaker 1:You are. You are really, really doing it. It makes a big difference. Now, the reason that I have been so impressed by you, though, is because, when I got a chance to meet you in the summer of 23, and we met with Greek University and everybody was telling their stories. You told your stories, and one of the things that you talked about was having endured domestic abuse, and I was just like oh, okay, Okay, she is coming back from a lot.
Speaker 1:I was just like oh, OK, OK she, she is coming back from a lot, doing a lot.
Speaker 2:And you talked about it in a TED talk that you did in 2021. How did you make it through that? Yeah, so in that TED talk it's called Three Truths of Self-Empowerment that Will Set you Free, and those three truths are really how I made it out of it. And then everything that comes with leaving an abuser and some people. You know a lot of people have interactions with toxic people, right? Whether it's actually being in a relationship with them or just being with a toxic coworker, and you just know how draining that is Right. So I think just I've reported to several.
Speaker 2:Yes, Right, and it's like you know how it messes with your mind mentally, and so I think these three truths of self-empowerment are what I learned through coming through the situation, and I do think they're relatable to a lot of people. So it was just really me understanding that this is not the end of my story. I had to remind myself of that every day. Sometimes, when we're going through things, we just have this cloud over us and it seems like that cloud will never leave.
Speaker 2:But if you can just wake up every day if you're going through something tough and be like this is not the end of the story, right? That was super helpful and instructive to me, taking my power back by defining my own story. A lot of people have a lot of opinions and they say a lot of negative things to you in your lifetime and sometimes these things are impactful. Even negative things that strangers might say to you that catch you off guard can be something that lingers. And just the other truth of self-empowerment is defining your own story.
Speaker 2:Nobody gets to define your stories, and so in the TED Talk I give an example of being on a date with this guy. I don't even know this dude and we're just doing the kind of hey, where are you from? Questions and I mentioned that my mother raised me and my brother and he looks at me and says I don't date people from single parent households. And it caught me off guard because I was like 23 around that time and I just I never thought about the fact that I was from a single parent household, like it never was the thing.
Speaker 2:It was just like I had a loving parent, a great childhood. I don't have a single parent story of lights being off or right. I was raised in a house, right it was. My childhood was great, and so the reason why that comment impacted me so much is because it was something different than what I like. Nobody ever had pointed out to me that this should be a problem at all.
Speaker 2:So when you have something that makes you stop and think like what? Like I never. That really sent me down a negative path, because it made me think about oh, is there something wrong with me?
Speaker 1:Yeah, right.
Speaker 2:And then I started to pay attention to all of the messaging around, the way people talk about Some people talk about single parent households. So this is why defining your own story is so important, because one stranger's comment should have never made me question everything, right, but it was so foreign that it stood out. So it did, and I think that just comes down to boundaries, right? Self-esteem boundaries, just boundaries period, even when you're in these social media streets you can't let the things people say impact you.
Speaker 2:right, people have different lives, different stories, period. And then the other thing is being the hero of your own story, which this just means we're all going to go through things and we have to be the hero of whatever the things are that we go through, because the other choice is just to be the villain. So how do you want to deal with the adversity? Do you want to be the villain or do you want to be the hero? I think being the hero and empowering yourself to be the hero is the better option.
Speaker 1:So that's an interesting point. How do you know the difference, though, between being the hero of your own story and believing your own hype?
Speaker 2:Oh well, I think you get to believe your hype when you have evidence that you are who you say you are.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So nobody can tell me that I'm not a good writer.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Because I've written at the highest levels. I think you have to outwork your self-doubt and have evidence that you are who you say you are, and you do that by just showing up every day and doing the work.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, that makes sense Because, look, being from New Orleans, I always have this joke that in New Orleans we are the heroes of our own story. But a lot of times it's hype. It is like straight hype, with some folks Like therefore, I've had people tell me like Eddie, you walk in a room, you need to let them know you own the room. And I'm just like, okay, well, okay, that's cool, I don't have a problem with that. What does that mean? And what it means a lot of times is people are just like you need to walk in and you need to tell people. And they really mean that I need to walk in and tell people something that's going to make them know that I own the room and I'm going.
Speaker 1:But if I own the room, I shouldn't have to. I'm not going to have to tell anybody. That's going to come from me. So to me, that's the hero of my own story. But then to me, you believe in your own hype. When you have to actually tell people, you're the hero, and that's why I always wonder about that.
Speaker 2:I'm like what is that fine line for folks, man? I think if you're grounded, you can be grounded in confidence without being grounded in ego. Yes, yes, ego is not even going to allow you to collaborate with people in a healthy way.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Right, and so I think it is just not allowing ego to take over, because while I know I'm a good, here's the difference. While I know I'm a good writer and storyteller, I know that there's so much for me to learn, so nobody can tell me I'm not a good writer, or storyteller, but I also know, oh my goodness, I still have to study storytelling. I still got so much to learn. I still have so far to go and growing as a writer. So I think you need those two things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like. It's like one of my favorite Eric about do lyrics. The man who knows something knows he knows nothing at all.
Speaker 2:Exactly Like it was just, you know, I meet. I used to make content for writers specifically and my page wasn't growing and I realized it's because, unfortunately, writers think they know everything, like if you, if they published a book, they think they know everything they need to know, even though he's only sold like a hundred books, right. And so I had to open up my content not to just them, cause I realized, like they're not, like like I'm, I still take writing classes.
Speaker 2:I still take right, even right, and a lot of writers, they're not still investing in the education of it, and so for me, there's no ego here. Where I try, I don't let ego get in the way of things. Hey everyone, real quick. I don't run any ads on this podcast, so I have to rely on word of mouth. If this podcast has helped you in any way, please share it with a friend and follow me, dr Sheena Howard, on LinkedIn, where I give more free content on building your brand as an academic. If you tell me you came to my LinkedIn from the podcast, I'll make sure I accept your request.
Speaker 1:So, with all of the things that you do, all of the creative work, because your creative output is just ridiculous. And so, with all the creative work, how do you keep yourself going?
Speaker 2:I think that I don't overwork myself.
Speaker 1:That's interesting because it looks like you do. I think if people look at it that's because people think social media is reality.
Speaker 2:Yep yep, and so I listen to these podcasts of these really successful people who talk about 12 hour work days, and I just listened to a podcast with Simon Cowell, who he was saying like he would just work into the middle of the night and wake up and work.
Speaker 1:And one of the things that these type of people always say.
Speaker 2:If you notice when they get older they'll say I wish I didn't work so much. People ask me all the time how I get so much done. It's because I get eight hours of sleep and I don't work. I try as hard as possible not to work after 5 pm. First, of all my brain shuts off after 5. Like.
Speaker 2:I can't do anything serious after 5 pm. I have a child. I want to spend that time with him. So if I work for six hours, it's six hours like in the flow state. I don't need to work for 12, because the six hours I'm committed and focused and probably getting as much done of quality as you would get in 12 hours Right, and this is something that I've always been good at. If I got three hours of time, it's focused, dedicated, quality time, uninterrupted, and that's the difference.
Speaker 2:It's just that people on social media don't get the benefit of me sharing a lot of my personal life, the tea time that I do, the playing board games with my son, because that's just not a part of my content.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, you mentioned the flow state. Talk about the flow state.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just when you're really in it and you lose track of time and you're in a flow state. You might not even stop to eat. You got to remind yourself to eat. So I'm in the flow state most days because I also have dedicated time that I can work because I'm a parent and so I don't my brain again. My brain just shuts off after 5 PM and so get into the flow state during the day is important.
Speaker 2:I know the times of the day that I am the most creative and can get the most output. If you don't know your times a day, you're pushing a boulder up a mountain, like. My time to be most creative is 10 AM to 2 30 PM. If I try to write something at midnight, it's not going to work. I'm going to feel like I have creators blocking writers blocking all of those things that I don't ascribe to, because I don't get those things, because I have a creator user's manual that has all this stuff written down, so I'm not doing things that are preventing me from getting into that state of complete concentration.
Speaker 1:And you know you, you remind me of. I saw a keynote address, uh, from a guy named Andrew Davis, a marketing professional, and one of the things that he talked about was don't work so hard to think outside the box. Figure out how you can think inside the box.
Speaker 2:So how do you?
Speaker 1:how do you maximize what you already have, the resources that you already have with you, resources that you already have With you? One of the things I picked up from you is that time is an extraordinarily precious resource. Yeah, don't waste my time.
Speaker 2:Also, I don't waste time, Eddie. I don't waste time and I don't like people wasting my time.
Speaker 1:Right, right right.
Speaker 2:And also some of the things. If people can lean into the things that are natural to them, that would be sacrifices to other people they would get really further ahead quicker. There are some things that are natural to you that I might think is a sacrifice, and so if you can lean into that thing and use that as leverage, then you can get really really far ahead. I can give you a couple of examples if you want, but I think that's really important.
Speaker 1:I was going to bring up one of your Instagram posts. You talked about how much just a one-hour walk does for you. I'm just like huh she's working within her time and it makes her productive. I mean, is that one of your examples?
Speaker 2:For sure, because I can write a whole book in my head on a one hour walk. So when I come back from the walk all I'm doing is writing. I'm not thinking about what to write and I need to walk alone. So me going on walks with somebody else is annoying to me because I want to be alone, thinking that's not fun because now I got to talk.
Speaker 2:If I'm walking with somebody else is annoying to me because I want to be alone. Thinking like that's not fun, because now I got to talk. If I'm walking with somebody else, I got to talk to them, so that's just me. But I know all of these things about me, so I do a lot of walking, miles, miles every day. I'm walking miles every day, yeah, because when I get to the computer it all comes out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because when I get to the stuff out and I'm just taking notes, or even if I'm watching a movie or listen to a podcast episode, I'm just like, ooh, something will pop up, and then I'll get my phone and just start getting notes in there, or something like that.
Speaker 2:That's a good example. That's a good example of something you should leverage. Me getting on a plane is a sacrifice for me. I hate it. I will avoid flying at all costs. But if that's something that works for you, all right. So maximize flying and then maximize putting those headphones in so you can get the work done.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right.
Speaker 2:That's something that would be a sacrifice to me, but that is an area of strength that you can leverage for you.
Speaker 1:And I really appreciate the fact that the way you frame it is what works for you is a sacrifice to somebody else. I think too many times, going back to social media, we will look at a social media post or we will look at some documentary and then we'll say, okay, that's what I got to do, not realizing that, well, that's what works for that person realizing that, well, that's what works for that person.
Speaker 2:Exactly, yeah, exactly, and I feel like we try to replicate these other people's success plans and morning routines and like you got to create your own.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, yeah, like the people, like, if you're not up by 430, you are a failure, and it's just like well, there are people who don't wake up at 430, no matter what you do Exactly. My wife being one of them. Okay, that sister is not waking up at 430 to do anything.
Speaker 2:Exactly so. You got to lean into your strengths.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Speaking of strengths, when you think about all the things that you do creativity, your intellectual capital, your passion, what drives all of that?
Speaker 2:Oh, I want to period.
Speaker 1:You know what you want and that's it.
Speaker 2:I know that I haven't reached my full potential and because of that, I need to reach my full potential. I don't want to not reach my full potential, and I know I'm nowhere near that, and so that keeps me going every day.
Speaker 1:But then at the same time again, this is one of those things where you really have to kind of separate one thing from the other, because your version of success isn't somebody else's version of success.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:And some people may not want necessarily success. They just say hey, you know what, I just want to be with my family and I just want that to be fun.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:And that's it. And if I can achieve that. I've achieved everything. Exactly Very important to create your own metrics of success. You know when you so, when you work with folks, especially when you work with PhDs. Are these the kinds of conversations you find yourself having with them Sometimes, when you say, hey, listen, whoa, whoa, you have your thing, let's work within your thing. Do you find that happening?
Speaker 2:The biggest part is mindset stuff for the people with PhDs. They don't feel like they have value outside of higher ed.
Speaker 2:They're scared to ask for money. They're scared to charge what they're worth for speaking engagements. There's just a lot of fear because that's how the educational system trains you, and the longer you are in the educational system, the more you have to unlearn things if you want to go on this journey of doing things outside of higher ed and I don't say that as someone that doesn't believe in education, because obviously I have a PhD I absolutely believe in education, but I also believe in you doing the other education, of unlearning some of the things that the system is going to teach you, because I don't think they're helpful to you in terms of being a full human being.
Speaker 1:Which is so ironic to me, because I mean, what less than 2% of the population has PhDs, and so you're talking about people with some of the most valuable intellectual resources and stuff that our society needs desperately, and yet they're sitting there going. Well, can I really do that? And you're going? Please do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and this is getting a little more frustrating to me over time. I'm not going to lie. I've been running my Power your Research company for four years now and I am feeling a little fatigue around just constantly. You know every, every client that I work with is different, so they're all pretty much starting at the same point as the client I worked with before, but the, the, the, the levels of fear that they have are so significant and it bothers me because this is urgent, like we are in a time right now where, if you start your brand, you could really make it out here.
Speaker 2:You can make more money than any university can ever pay you. The barriers of entry are so low. It's so much easier right now and it's just frustrating for me that I keep dealing with these PhDs, with these mindsets that are in the toilet because of higher ed, like I'm telling you, like I'm just like it's. It's very, it's very frustrating to y'all.
Speaker 1:Not just. My wife has a PhD, so we have these conversations and I'm like you can do whatever you want. You really can.
Speaker 2:They will come up with a bunch of reasons why they can't.
Speaker 1:Yep, I have heard it. I have definitely heard it. So last question, this is something that I love to ask folks Um, and so let's say that, um, you are a sky writer.
Speaker 2:Okay, and a sky writer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you get to write a message in the sky for the edification of the nation. Whatever, whatever message you want. What would Dr Sheena Howard's message be?
Speaker 2:Be kind.
Speaker 1:You're the second person who said that. That's pretty cool. I love the consistency among the folks I'm having on the podcast right now. That makes me feel special. That is awesome, isn't it so appropriate for where we are right now? That makes me feel special, that that that.
Speaker 1:That is awesome and um, isn't it so appropriate for where we are right now, like, yeah, just just be nice to somebody, act like you were raised right, just be kind yeah, and like um, I, I just, I even think just being kind is, we don't all have the same definition of that. True, true.
Speaker 2:Or we're purposely not having the same. People are in such a dark place sometimes that they purposely create a different definition for something that is common sense.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, Absolutely Well, Dr Sheen Howard, you know speaker, writer, author, culture critic, professor, all of that good stuff. Thank you so much for joining me for our edification. I really appreciate your time.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me you.