002 make the ask

Good morning. It is a beautiful day here in Buckeye, Arizona. I'm Kim Gaskill, and this is the Daily Spark. Last night was Halloween here in the United States. The ghosts, goblins, and superheroes were out in force looking for goodies at every door. I went over to a friend's and sat in the driveway with them as the kids and parents alike approached the driveway looking for the candy and being on their way to the next door. It was pretty fun, and it was cute to see some of the kids come up in the costumes, and some of them excited, some of them scared. Reminded me when I was a kid trick-or-treating and all the lessons that I actually learned trick-or-treating. Because kids can learn lessons. Lessons about making good choices, you know, the right costume, the right house, who gives the best treats, being safe crossing the street, not getting hit by a car or bit by a dog. All those things that we have to run through our head to have a fun, safe evening. Were you one of those people on Halloween that had to take your little sister or your little brother with you? I did. You know, you're devastated. You're all excited, you're going out with your friends, and then all of a sudden your parent says, "Oh, and you gotta take little Johnny with you." And you're like, "Oh, really, Mom? That's so embarrassing." But you know, it teaches you responsibility. It teaches you to care about other people. And you're actually— it— I did have fun. And so it is a blessing, even though you don't see it in the beginning, uh, it makes for a pretty cool experience and memory. So I wouldn't change any of it. But it was fun to see the groups of kids come up, and we sat out in the driveway. My friend's sister bought like 10 pizzas and, uh, for all the friends and family that came over. So it was a fun night. But one of the things that stood out for me is a group of kids came over and they were probably young adults, you know, 14, 15 years old. And the one kid, he was dressed like a bush. He had wires all over him and leaves all over the wire so you couldn't see him. I don't know how he could see to walk around, but, uh, he comes up and he sarcastically says he sees the pizza on the table and he sarcastically says, yeah, I'm going to tell a joke so I can get a slice pizza. And everybody kind of laughed. And so they get their candy, get their handfuls of candy thrown into their bags, and he kind of turns to leave. And we're like, you're going to tell the joke. So he turns back around, he tells the joke, we all laugh, and then he goes to leave. And somebody made the comment, did you want a piece of pizza? And he turned around, he's like, yeah, surprisingly. He said, yes, can I have one? And they're like, sure, do you want cheese or pepperoni? And he was totally surprised that by asking, she said yes. And so he got the piece of pizza. And of course, me being the, you know, elder of the group and the teacher, I always have to learn, have the lesson in it, right? So I tell him, I tell all the kids, this is a good lesson for you kids to understand. You never know what you're going to get. If you don't ask. And you'll learn later in life that asking is very important to get what you want. You're going to miss a lot of opportunities if you don't ask. And that's true. Are you asking the question? Are you asking for what you want? Are you missing opportunities because you don't ask? So today, think about that. Ask. Make the ask. If you're in marketing, ask your customers what they want so you can give them exactly what they want. If you're a leader, ask good questions. There's a great book by John Maxwell called "Good Leaders Ask Great Questions." I recommend that you read that. There's also, if you're in marketing, there's a book called "Ask" by Ray— no, it's Who was it? Uh, Ryan Levesque, Ask. It's a good book on asking in marketing. So today, that challenge for you, make the ask. I'll see you next time on the Daily Spark.