Why the Smartest Entrepreneurs Are Choosing Community Over AI | Heather Simpson

The Entrepreneur DNA

In this episode of The Entrepreneur DNA, Heather Simpson discusses her pivot from real estate to building physical community spaces for wome

Key takeaways

• Heather Simpson warns that over-reliance on AI leads to a loss of individual thought processes and intellectual property.
• Successful entrepreneurs often possess a 'no Plan B' mentality and refuse to seek external permission for their visions.

Main topics

• AI vs. Human Connectivity
• Women's Entrepreneurship

Notable quotes

Too many people are outsourcing their thinking.

Conclusion

True entrepreneurial growth comes from leaning into human connection a

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) For many of us, going further isn't a choice. It's a feeling we can't ignore. Because ambition has a way of outgrowing where it began. Turning dreams into direction. Every journey brings us closer to the life we imagine. So, where will your journey take you? Etihad. Beyond Borders. Speaker 2 (0:30) What is up, The Entrepreneur? DNA, AI, AI. It's all anyone can talk about. Now, this is going to be a great topic because everyone wants to talk about AI, except for my next guest. We might talk about it, but she cares more about human connectivity, communities, clubs. Heather Simpson is here. How are you? Speaker 3 (0:49) Hi, I'm so great. Thanks for having me this morning. Speaker 2 (0:53) Yeah, I'm excited about it. And you have a wealth of resume. Obviously, we can go into all that. But I really wanted to start out out of the gates. Everyone and their mother wants to talk about the new AI thing. And you're leaning in to connectivity. Yes. Speaker 3 (1:09) Yeah. Because I think that far too many people are outsourcing their thinking. And that's becoming a really big problem. And the more disconnected. The more plugged in we become, we become disconnected in person. So that has a ripple effect of things that don't impact us as humans very positively and can actually bring on a lot of negative things into our world. As I think we're continuing to see more and more, it's hard to know what's real when you're online, but it's. It's so easy to actually like tune in, read body language, read tone and connect with people face to face and be able to tell what's real. And so I think that now more than any time in the pandemic era, I think that now bringing people together and having connectivity in person is more valuable and important than it's ever been before. Speaker 2 (2:06) Now, let's take a step back. You started in the real estate space. I did. Speaker 3 (2:11) Like most of us awesome entrepreneurs. Speaker 2 (2:14) Amen, girl. Amen. Right. And so I think my audience knows I have 20 years in the real estate space. And so you made a very brave decision. Right. You stood up for what you actually believed in, what you wanted to do. I actually used the. Speaker 2 (2:29) I don't like the people to say what's your why and follow your passion. I think that's a little cliche and over delivered. I actually like to think about what's going to actually be the longevity of your business. And you're only going to have longevity of your business if you actually enjoy what you do or at least believe in what you're doing. Hard to believe in real estate, right? Like I didn't wake up for 20 years and I'm sure you didn't like, God, Speaker 3 (2:51) I love Speaker 2 (2:51) real estate. It drives my, you know, you never have those days, right? So, but you did, you said, you know what? I'm going to make a hard pivot. I'm going to make the choice to go into a direction that I actually desire to go into. Did you get any blowback from some of the closest people around you? Speaker 3 (3:08) I think I've always just taken a different path. And so, yes, the people closest to me have always been concerned with the choices that I have made because they rather we take the safer route. And, you know, what I was really doing in real estate at the time was very like agent focused. Like, yes, I did do. Speaker 3 (3:29) property development, I did do help clients buy and sell, but mostly where I found my greatest like gifting and joy was really helping agents behind the scene and develop their brand, eventually help start a couple of brokerages and really be kind of the first one, at least in our area, back in like 2010, where it was like very agent focused instead of brokerage focused. And so deciding to kind of remove just the real estate umbrella from that and see how I can do that just for entrepreneurs in general. And specifically for me, my audience is women. That was a very important shift. And I think it was, yes, like, what is Heather doing now? But also when you see now and you look back the trajectory of like all of the things that I was doing in real estate and helping build brokerages and helping build people's careers. And now what I'm doing, the common thread is still there. It just changed from just real estate specific to to be like, why don't we do this for all businesses? Why don't we help people really develop? And then now, you know, everybody has a personal brand and. And that's not a new thing. But at the time, it really was. And it was about a company more than it was about an individual and a person. And so that transition felt very natural to me. Speaker 3 (4:52) Yes, I'm always used to people questioning my decisions and not being able to really understand the scope of where I'm going. I've accepted that. I now know that that's called being a really strong visionary. And not everybody is like that. A very small percentage of the world is. And so I've just really embraced that. Yeah. Speaker 2 (5:13) And Speaker 3 (5:13) still do it anyways. Speaker 2 (5:15) Well, you know, I have a coach and he talks about more doing, you know, following your burn. And again, not to use the cliche of like, what's your why? Because anyone listening as a parent is going to say their kids or their family. Like that's, it's an easy answer, but what's your burn, right? And how do you wake up every single day and connect to it? And I think that's the brand difference in who you are today versus when you're in real estate is now women know you predominantly, that audience is your audience as someone who can help propel them into their burn. And what they really should be doing and what is their voice and what is their brand going out there and doing? Now, just out of curiosity, why did you choose to specifically focus on the women community? Speaker 3 (5:58) I found this really interesting gap when I was specifically in the real estate space and helping build these companies. I worked with a lot of really incredible men. I vibe really well with high producers. I have a high drive. And then there was this interesting juxtaposition between what was available as far as like now sometimes what is referred to as like toxic masculinity. But I really, I actually. Speaker 3 (6:30) I don't think I think that demonizing hustle culture is actually like not a great thing. I thrive off of hustle culture. It's one of my best friends and it's actually helped me produce a lot. And in the women's space, there was this gap that was just like so the opposite of not really tapping into strength as a woman, but like more into softness and balance. And I just that's not. anything I really relate to. Speaker 2 (7:00) I Speaker 3 (7:01) know what I'm wired for. I know what I feel like my mission is that God has put on my heart and in my life. And I am going for that and going for it pretty rapidly. And I think that there was this missing kind of storyline of Well, hey, you don't have to be this extreme or this extreme. Like there is times where it is absolutely necessary for you to hustle. There are times where it's like normal for you to be tired because you're working towards something greater than you. And that's going to come along with the territory. And there was this missing. component of the story that wasn't being told. So on one hand, it's like, you know, hustle culture, and on the other hand, it's like, I'm making a million dollars from a beach. And there was nothing in the middle there specifically that was speaking to women. And so I saw these really like, energetic, high charged women that are very strong, struggling with like, I want to tap into my femininity. I want to be able to like use my strength and my power. But I really don't relate to this what's being sold to us as women. Where is the part in the middle? And so I felt like that was very important. I still feel like it's very important because. Everything on a pendulum swings back and forth pretty rapidly. And I think that somewhere in the middle, there is a solid truth for a very specific type of person that I am speaking to that are builders that do really want to change certain elements of their world or the world. And that comes with a lot of elements of hard work that isn't really discussed and talked about to the brevity that I think that it should. Speaker 2 (8:50) So you are looking for your avatar of who you'd like to make an impact with is the woman who knows that they can push harder. They're not okay with just being feminine and empathetic and a stay-at-home mom. And by the way, my wife is a stay-at-home mom, so there's nothing wrong with that. But you're looking to try to make an impact on the woman that's like, man, I not just deserve more, but I can do more. I'm more than this, right? I'm meant for her. Speaker 3 (9:16) Wire for it. Yes. Like so wired for it. It's not going against the grain. It's actually going with the grain. Speaker 1 (9:23) And Speaker 3 (9:24) that, yeah, it's just, I think, been a missing piece. I Speaker 2 (9:29) would agree. The rhetoric out there is almost this. You either have this really far pendulum. Right. And they're definitely I think there's a truth of being in the middle. You know, you've worked with some really smart women and. What would take one very smart woman versus another smart woman? What would be the reason why one wins and succeeds and then one fails at their attempt to go crush it? Speaker 1 (9:56) For many of us, going further isn't a choice. It's a feeling we can't ignore because ambition has a way of outgrowing where it began, turning dreams into direction. Every journey brings us closer to the life we imagine. Speaker 1 (10:19) So, where will your journey take you? Etihad. Beyond Borders. Speaker 3 (10:28) There's a couple of things that come to mind initially. I think just the drive and the commitment to not have a plan B is number one. That no matter what kind of comes up in front of you as a barrier, you realize as you go on the path further and further that there's always a solution even when it seems like there isn't. And of course, you also learn