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Join NABR in partnership with Corp! Magazine for our CEO & Executive Thought Leadership Series, where Jennifer Kluge sits down with C-Suite Leaders to get their insight and expertise.
NABR is a service organization igniting greatness in companies and their people.
00:00:00:12 - 00:00:29:22
Jennifer
Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of CEO Thought Leadership. I'm your host, Jennifer Kluge, and our guest today is Ken Lehrer, founder and CEO of 2313 Inc. Ken founded the organization 21 years ago and specializes in skills and marketing. many of your clients, Ken, are fortune 100 companies, and they're across various industries across the nation.
00:00:29:24 - 00:00:43:12
Jennifer
And your unique services offer, building an in person relationship with customers, while fulfilling the essential sales needed for a company. It's a pleasure to have you here.
00:00:43:14 - 00:00:46:00
Ken
I'm excited to be here. Thanks for having me.
00:00:46:02 - 00:00:58:10
Jennifer
So for those, listening that don't know about your organization, can you give a brief overview and, let us know what key endeavors you're working on?
00:00:58:12 - 00:01:23:19
Ken
Sure. yeah. So if you asked one of my employees or someone in our company, you know what? What do you do for a living, right? What do you do for work? they they'd probably tell you they work in a sales company. They do retail sales and big box stores. Right? If you go into a target or a Costco, there is AT&T kiosks where they have cell phones and wireless services.
00:01:23:21 - 00:01:43:22
Ken
they, they would say that's what they do day to day. but if you ask them, you know, why do you work there? You know, you have a nice background, maybe you're a Big Ten graduate or a master's degree. What is it about that organization or that company? and I believe they would tell you a lot about our corporate values.
00:01:43:24 - 00:02:08:08
Ken
You know, just to point out, two of them, were, people before profit, company, people helping people. And what that means is. And what that, that, the core of that is that we focus on our people. we know that growing people. people that are learning about life and business and skills are are happy people.
00:02:08:10 - 00:02:34:11
Ken
and happy people are performing. so but, but I was just fundamentally we get contracted by companies represent their brands. We take on that. The heavy lifting, the training, the hiring process. Then we put them in a retail store, or in another, you know, event or something. And we actually do the sales for that organization for AT&T as an example.
00:02:34:13 - 00:02:36:19
Ken
and the most most recent project.
00:02:36:21 - 00:03:05:04
Jennifer
Out in the field, so to speak, we see them, we interact with them. yeah. Is sales is such a broad scope. So I'm glad you said that because, you know, it's tricky in sales right now. you've attended some of our, discussion roundtables and, some of the biggest issues we're hearing is, making a sale happen in is not economic.
00:03:05:06 - 00:03:33:19
Jennifer
It's more tactical. The world has changed. The hybrid world is real. getting people's attention is very, very difficult. in. And we're flooded with, with alerts and notifications and what have you. And, a lot of CEOs are frustrated. what advice would you give to an organization trying to grow and trying to get people's attention right now?
00:03:33:21 - 00:03:55:13
Ken
my advice is watch the masses and do the opposite. I'm all about being unique. I'm all about doing things differently. I believe that if you want to make a difference and you should be in person, you should shake someone's hand, you should have a smile, or you have that that personal connection. and maybe I'm a little biased.
00:03:55:14 - 00:04:17:23
Ken
You know, I started my career in sales myself, and I was an outside salesperson going out and meeting small companies and interacting with CEOs, interacting with office managers. so I've always kind of stayed to, to, to my roots in a way, and encourage, encourage people to do it. I think in the world that the cell phone is, you know, everything's more automated.
00:04:18:00 - 00:04:38:01
Ken
That, that that is the difference maker. It's it's the people. people work with people that they know. people work with people that they like, and a lot of major decisions. You know, if we were to go land the the Google account or the Amazon account, we're not going to do it over an email. We're not going to do it over a phone call.
00:04:38:03 - 00:04:52:09
Ken
It's going to be a team of people that build relationships, not just at the conference table, but it's it's at a dinner. It's it's in other events, you know, networking team, team type events. And so that that's what makes us different.
00:04:52:11 - 00:05:17:22
Jennifer
Ken, I'm sorry to interrupt you so when you are describing is how I was raised in business as well. And there's an entire generation, people who have entered the workforce in the last five, six years have no clue what you're talking about. having literally to go door to door or showing up in an event in and reaching out to, you know, 100 people.
00:05:17:22 - 00:05:24:23
Jennifer
And it's, old school, but I do think is making a comeback. Would you agree with that?
00:05:25:00 - 00:05:55:04
Ken
I agree 100%. You know, I'll tell you in the industry that that we're in, and you're seeing the trends and the new opportunities. I think, you want one thing you're going to see over the next six, 12, 18 months, is, you know, in the space that we're in with the big box retailer, the targets, the Costcos, the Sam's Clubs, these organizations, you already kind of seeing it with, like Starbucks being an a target, with also being a target and, you know, Walmart has a subway like that.
00:05:55:04 - 00:06:21:15
Ken
These these organizations are looking at these big box retailers are moving towards becoming the one stop shop for everything that a consumer needs. And so it makes our positioning with an AT&T or with these, these, wireless companies very unique. And on the other side of things, it also as they focus on, you know, they're just like any organization.
00:06:21:15 - 00:06:51:09
Ken
They have budgets, they have targets, they have revenue. You're going to see their corporate stores, their corporate locations, which if you drive by any T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T corporate store, they're they're not booming necessarily with foot traffic and with customers. And, my professional opinion, you're going to see those start decreasing and closing because they're putting more into opportunities like we're involved with.
00:06:51:11 - 00:06:54:16
Ken
Yeah. because they just they just simply get more foot traffic.
00:06:54:18 - 00:07:16:20
Jennifer
That's absolutely good knowledge. Can, to share with our audience today because we're all trying to predict the future. We're all trying to put our strategic planning together. And there has been so much change, with in-person activities, with retail and what have you. I mean, we're seeing malls close up left and right and then some malls are opening.
00:07:16:20 - 00:07:20:15
Jennifer
It's it's kind of a bizarro world right now. Yeah.
00:07:20:16 - 00:07:22:12
Ken
It's it's it's it's a it's.
00:07:22:14 - 00:07:25:17
Jennifer
It's brands is is really interesting.
00:07:25:19 - 00:07:48:06
Ken
And in my opinion it's like it's about the experience. Right. It's it's you look at Topgolf, the you have driving ranges that are going out of business left and right. And then you have this organization that comes in and creates this. Again, it's a driving range, but it's an experience. It's getting the people together and they're having fun.
00:07:48:06 - 00:08:04:13
Ken
And it's not just the golf. There is the, you know, the bar, there's the restaurant, there's the games that people can play. and I think that's, if people think about that experience and whatever organization they're in and, I think that can be a big difference maker.
00:08:04:15 - 00:08:29:06
Jennifer
That's great. That's great. you're the founder of your company that that takes a certain something special right there. Right. you know, usually I say, why lead? But in your cuz and you want to ask why start? Why? Why did you start your own organized session? We love to hear founders stories. Tell us your founders story.
00:08:29:08 - 00:08:52:03
Ken
Sure. you know, I'll tell you, I, I was just kind of chatting earlier with the team, you know, I grew up in South Florida. I went to Penn State. I played college soccer. hence somewhere, my Columbian jersey today. A little bit of heartbreak for me. The last few days. That a great tournament. But I don't know if my heart can take that much longer right at the Copa America, but,
00:08:52:05 - 00:09:16:04
Ken
But yeah, I went to college, played soccer. Penn State, graduated with a business and marketing degree. I graduated 20, 2001, three months after September 11th. My my career fair day at Penn State was September 11th. Kind of crazy timing. You know, I thought I was going to be in pharmaceutical sales. That was what my degree kind of prepared me for.
00:09:16:06 - 00:09:33:04
Ken
But I found myself, like a lot of graduates where there wasn't, a lot of opportunities for recent grads. Companies are saying, get two years of sales experience, get experience, and we'll look at your resume and we and I was kind of caught in that world of, well, how am I supposed to get that experience if you're not willing to offer the experience?
00:09:33:06 - 00:09:59:15
Ken
So I fell into a small company in new Jersey. and, you know, the the owner of the company was in his late 20s and he was doing outside sales. He's like, I'm looking for salespeople. I'm looking and I'm like, I'm looking for a job. You know, I just need to get my foot the door somewhere. And so he gave me a shot, you know, he said, listen, you don't have a lot of experience, but you got a nice background in sports, so I'll do a lot of training and, you know, kind of see how it goes.
00:09:59:17 - 00:10:25:04
Ken
And, leaning on my work ethic, leaning on how I was raised in, my people skills, I kind of got started in his company in sales, and over the course of a year, year and a half, I became one of his top salespeople. I mentored and trained a small group of, team members and staff, and, and over time, he was talking about his organization and the business concept growing and scaling.
00:10:25:06 - 00:10:46:12
Ken
and at 20, 22, 23 years old, we sat down a few different times and he said, hey, we're looking for partners, in this concept, and we'd be willing to invest the capital to get you started just based on your performance with integrity. and I, you know, 23 I was like, let's go for it.
00:10:46:14 - 00:10:49:13
Ken
Like that would. I don't even know what that means, you know?
00:10:49:15 - 00:10:51:10
Jennifer
Yes. Of course. Yeah.
00:10:51:10 - 00:11:20:16
Ken
Yes. For sure. And so I moved to Columbus, Ohio, with five salespeople that worked in his company that then moved to my company, with $15,000. I'm sorry, no, $10,000 in my corporate account to get started. AT&T was my first client. and, I, we were selling it, yeah. Thankfully, through his through his relationships and his partners got me, got me.
00:11:20:18 - 00:11:46:12
Ken
And so we were doing business, the business sales for AT&T. So this isn't, again, 2003 and, the, the interesting thing about the, the, the timeline is this is when dial up was actually a thing for businesses. so we were going to small businesses and telling them that, hey, by the way, you don't have to use this phone line anymore.
00:11:46:12 - 00:12:08:20
Ken
You can move over to this thing called DSL file and three megs of DSL. You don't you can talk on the phone and be on the internet at the same time. You don't have to hear that. People pick people, you know, and, and we had to we had to convince business owners that this was do it like, this is a thing, like, hey, you're going to come in and dig up the building like it's going to be a big no no.
00:12:08:20 - 00:12:19:06
Ken
It's all through the phone, you know? Yeah. But we they were struggling to get to the business owner through a phone call or an email. You know, we went out and built relationships in person.
00:12:19:08 - 00:12:33:20
Jennifer
again, old school building relationships. And that really is what sales is. It's a nice reminder. Sales is building relationships in and it's I personally think it's better face to face.
00:12:33:22 - 00:12:35:10
Ken
I'm I'm biased, but I.
00:12:35:10 - 00:13:05:14
Jennifer
Agree, I am biased to anyone that opposes us. But you're the chair that you want to, you know, it brings up another interesting, piece of, debate. you fell into your company in your career. you followed the path that was put in front of you and you went for it. I think so many young professionals.
00:13:05:14 - 00:13:33:10
Jennifer
And we can talk about them next. they had this vision of what they're told, businesses and what opportunity is and what success looks like. And then you get out there and unfortunately, sometimes they get lucky. But most of the time, unfortunately, that's a misnomer that you don't always go on the path as described in college or in your education or what have you.
00:13:33:12 - 00:13:57:17
Jennifer
so that's a nice reminder for that. What other advice would you give to young people, entering the business world and when you were young, when you started your business very successfully. So, you know, how how would you advise young people now versus when you started?
00:13:57:19 - 00:14:23:08
Ken
so I tell, I like to do a breakfast or a dinner and the first 30 days when somebody joins my company, and I again, I'm all about relationship and building that connection and having the open door. but I tell people every time the same three things, that I've learned over my career. And the first thing I tell someone is, is be careful who you take advice from.
00:14:23:10 - 00:14:45:02
Ken
you know, I think, you know, there's in the world that we're in and, in the world of social media, there's a lot of people that have opinions, and not not all of them are qualified to give advice. and, and so I just try to, you know, teach people a life lesson about take advice from qualified people.
00:14:45:04 - 00:15:13:19
Ken
first and foremost, and then secondly, I tell people about how being a humble student and having a humble swagger, humble confidence will serve you in your life, and serve you as you are, learning new skills and getting your foot in the door and a career. and, you know, obviously, if you if you back that up with a strong work ethic, you know, and especially in sales, you know, efforts equals rewards.
00:15:13:21 - 00:15:34:12
Ken
and then lastly, you know, I just kind of let the news staff know if, if, if it was easy to be successful, then everyone would do it. and so there's got to be a challenge. There's got to be some toughness. There's got to be some grit that, people have to put into their career if they want to accomplish goals and they want to get ahead.
00:15:34:14 - 00:15:58:10
Ken
but, you know, I've found that, you know, especially taking the advice, you know, I can tell you just in my own experience, my parents were engineers. My mom was an architect. My father was a civil engineer who designed roads. And you know, and never worked in a in an industry like sales where there's commission and there's incentives, and there was more salary, more salary based than it is commission based.
00:15:58:10 - 00:16:09:06
Ken
Sometimes. and so that that world was, uncomfortable for them. But and again, they're just looking out for me out of love. They're trying to protect me. And my mom even said, you know.
00:16:09:08 - 00:16:10:10
Jennifer
Win. What are you.
00:16:10:10 - 00:16:31:06
Ken
Yeah, exactly. I remember my mom saying to me, you have no car because I just graduated college. My grandma, you had no apartment. I was living in my grandmother's apartment. you have no salary. Like you're crazy. Like, what is wrong with you? And then, of course, just out of love. Right out of love and looking out.
00:16:31:08 - 00:16:41:24
Ken
but, you know, I just felt really good about it, and obviously. So just be careful. You take advice from and and efforts. see, everyone wants to be successful. Last time I checked.
00:16:42:01 - 00:17:13:02
Jennifer
Yeah. And I think, one of the things that we discussed, in my world is what is what is work ethic look like, and what does grit look like and what I view as a work ethic and what you view as worth that work ethic might be very different. yeah. So I think that's the thing for leaders to really focus on is defining what elbow grease is, what, getting through hard times is to find success.
00:17:13:02 - 00:17:25:16
Jennifer
And I think that's something that has been lacking in the last five years is, defining grit and defining work ethic. Do you want to expand on that?
00:17:25:18 - 00:17:54:18
Ken
Yeah. I think, I think my role as a coach and a leader, is to, is to help people get what they want. Right? So whatever, whatever it is they want, whatever their goal is, whatever their vision is, wherever they want to go, I think people need to start there and then take a few steps backwards, like begin with the end in mind and then take steps backwards and ask themselves, okay, what is it going to take to get there?
00:17:54:18 - 00:18:13:11
Ken
You know, there's some people that have goals. And you know, when I sit with them, I say, tell me about life in 15 years, like paint a picture for me. If you hit the ball out of the park, you know, grand slam, World Series walk off. What? That feeling, what is it look like? And, you know, some people say things like, hey, I want to live here in Michigan.
00:18:13:13 - 00:18:37:00
Ken
you know, locally and, and, you know, there, there and, and a nice home and a nice community, etc.. And then there's other people that say things like, you know, I want to travel the world. I want to live on the beach. I want to have a $10 million home. I want to have multiple rental properties. And so the the, the goals are all those similar could be very different, you know, as far as intensity and scope.
00:18:37:02 - 00:18:57:03
Ken
And so I try to get a feel for where they want to go. And then I again, I do my best to tell them what it takes from, from my opinion, meeting people that are in that that world of accomplish those goals. but I think at the end of the day that the to your point, the work ethic has to match the goal.
00:18:57:06 - 00:19:13:18
Ken
You know, I again, I have I have young boys and and there's certain things they want to accomplish in their sports and certain things they want to do. I can only think of like this year, one of the big goals my son had we do vision boards is a family, every new year. And so, so.
00:19:13:20 - 00:19:32:17
Jennifer
and I consider up to you for a second for the list being is very obvious. His leadership style as you're listening to this, because it is very apparent, and I'm not surprised that you're a best and brightest company to work for. But we'll get to that in just a second. Tell us about your leader. Leader.
00:19:32:19 - 00:19:48:10
Ken
Awesome. So so yeah, we do. We do a vision board as a family. It's our New Year's thing we do every year. I've been doing it for years. And, you know, my, my boys and I well enough to kind of understand or kind of be involved. My wife and I drove together and, Yeah, so we did.
00:19:48:10 - 00:20:07:08
Ken
I did my vision board, and I had the kids and they kind of did theirs. And my, my oldest son vision board, he had a soccer goal and State Cup and, you know, free kick specialist. Right. because last year they lost in the quarterfinals and State Cup and it was like the worst pain a ten year old could feel.
00:20:07:08 - 00:20:24:04
Ken
It cried for an hour and a half back in Saginaw. Like mommy had to even get in the back seat kind of thing to help them. And, and so, you know, in February, March, when, when, you know, the season was starting up, I kind of said no. And I said, Brady, I know you said you want to win State Cup.
00:20:24:06 - 00:20:42:21
Ken
I mean, that's going to take a lot, to be honest. You know, you in the most important games, you're probably going to play the whole game. You're not going to get subbed off. You got to be in shape if you want to get in shape. I go to the gym in the morning, you know, 630, 7:00 mommy goes before I do, right?
00:20:42:21 - 00:20:58:03
Ken
So you can get up and go to the gym with mommy, or you can go, it's me. But you may want to start running. And by the way, I'm not going to wake you up. You need to set your own alarm and be ready. If you're in the car when I'm leaving, then you'll come with me. no big deal.
00:20:58:05 - 00:21:18:24
Ken
And sure enough, over the next few weeks, he was up multiple times and a couple times a week with mommy or daddy, going to the gym, getting in shape. And so it's like, it's what he had to do to to get to that point. And the, the part about. Yeah, the neat part about that story is they actually that once they cut was the only thing.
00:21:19:05 - 00:21:19:14
Jennifer
That's.
00:21:19:16 - 00:21:23:14
Ken
Me and me. yeah. He and his little buddies had a really.
00:21:23:16 - 00:21:26:12
Jennifer
Fantastic no crying that year.
00:21:26:14 - 00:21:34:24
Ken
Now, there's there's videos, videos of tears, among a lot of parents. So it's fun.
00:21:35:01 - 00:22:05:06
Jennifer
I want to make sure we cover monumental moments, you know, as, entrepreneur, business founder, now successfully run business leader. there's all these monumental moments, some of them shape us from a negative experience. Some of them shape us from a positive experience. Let's go to your career. What were your monumental moments and how did you have to modify yourself as a result of.
00:22:05:08 - 00:22:29:00
Ken
So I'll tell you, some of it has to do with work and some of it has to do with life. you know, the story behind I rebranded the whole company in 2013, to be two three, one three. and this story is unfortunately in 2011, as my wife and I were, you know, getting engaged and getting married, my mom came to me and told us she had breast cancer.
00:22:29:02 - 00:22:50:07
Ken
and, she went through that for, for a year's time. And, you know, the wedding in 2011, we were dancing. She says to me, you know, the the wedding was a big reason why she she had to do it. She had to do. And it went into remission. Thankfully, at that time. and then within a few months of that, it came back as bone cancer.
00:22:50:09 - 00:23:21:19
Ken
and, you know, unfortunately, in 2012, November 15th, my mom passed away, at the same at the same time, my wife and I were pregnant with Brady. and so that was kind of happening. And that same year earlier, when my mom was getting really sick, my father told us that he had liver cancer. and so, like, the whole world of mom being sick, not knowing it's happening, the dad mom passes away.
00:23:21:21 - 00:23:40:14
Ken
dad sick. I took some time off in December of 2012 to spend time with my father, and he said things like, build that business so big that you have time. It's not about money, it's about time. And, And we moved him to Connecticut. Have some of the best care in Boston between my brother and I, and I moved.
00:23:40:14 - 00:24:05:09
Ken
I was in LA at the time, so I had to go back. And we're eight months pregnant at this point. and, the unfortunately unfortunate part of the story is in 2012, February 2nd, 2012, my father passed away. and then on February 3rd, two, three, one three, my son was born. And so, you know, I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
00:24:05:11 - 00:24:28:02
Ken
that pain, that not not only I went through, but my family's been through. And, you know, I think you never get over that kind of stuff. and I'll tell you, I looked at and and now we're, you know, ten, 12 years later, I've gone back through some therapy and coaching and other things. I've looked at that part of my life and I'm trying to like, look at what did I learn.
00:24:28:02 - 00:24:55:20
Ken
To your point, what are the what what what is the the silver lining? If there is one and my business revenue literally you could see it go like this. And so 2012, 2013 and going like this and all the way to 2018. And then it went like this and it's like gone, gone even higher. And in 2018, my, you know, when you marry up, things, things help, people, people help you in a lot of ways.
00:24:55:20 - 00:25:18:13
Ken
And I'm, I'm, I'm okay saying that. I know legally I married up. So my wife says to me, in 2018, you know, business was still kind of rough. And again, we're doing our best for so to, to keep that, alive and keep things on, she says to me one time, and I'll never forget where we were, upstairs in the house.
00:25:18:13 - 00:25:36:11
Ken
And she looks at me dead in the eye, and she says, and keep in mind, she tried to kind of do like a vision board for me and goals and accountability, things that she she knows the business. She she's been in Port Orange for a while to. And I wasn't doing all the things I needed to do. I was doing it, but not like playing or out.
00:25:36:13 - 00:26:05:05
Ken
And she stops me dead in my tracks, looks me dead in the eye, and she says, hey, are you going to do the things that you need to do? Or are you going to tell the boys about the life they could have had in ten years? because I'm not going to do that. That's on you. Wow. And with tears in my eyes, I just gave her a hug and I said, I got it, I got it.
00:26:05:07 - 00:26:31:21
Ken
And, and to be fair, I got to work. And so what I decided at that moment with the business, and now it's like I it's turning the pain into purpose. I was turning the victim into action. And, interesting enough, so as I started getting busy, I start work and I started changing my mentality, and I started really honing in on my, the things that I needed to change inside.
00:26:31:23 - 00:26:56:07
Ken
Interesting that there is opportunities that started coming our way and the energy in the universe, was taking care of me, you know, in different ways. And in 2020, we landed this kind of retail opportunity. And, you know, it's just very, very interesting how, you know, I got a lot of pace and how that, you know, and how when I, when I got better inside, so did my business.
00:26:56:09 - 00:27:34:10
Jennifer
Well, we are humans and that's the whole reason why we work is to lend a quality life and to enjoy our families. And, the very wise words, there's so many takeaways from like what you just said, obviously turning victim into action is one of them. That's very important. and taking care of yourself, too, right? Not going through the motions and taking care of yourself and holding, yourself accountable through the the care of a loved one to kind of shake us silly.
00:27:34:10 - 00:28:03:08
Jennifer
And sometimes we push back our loved ones and say, stop, don't tell me what to do. But they're the ones that can help us the most. Some very, very wise words. And I love what your dad said about, it's not about money. It's about time. And that's why we work hard to have a time with our family and time to play soccer and time to enjoy doing, vision boarding with our families and whatnot.
00:28:03:08 - 00:28:18:07
Jennifer
So, can. Amazing advice. Amazing advice. And I hope, the leaders out there take at least 1 or 2 takeaways from you. what I like to do before we wrap up this, do some rapid fire questions.
00:28:18:09 - 00:28:20:20
Ken
Sharks.
00:28:20:22 - 00:28:27:19
Jennifer
do you have any daily rituals? I know you mentioned that you, work out in the morning. What else do you do?
00:28:27:21 - 00:28:53:22
Ken
Yeah, yeah. So I'm a bit of a maniac when it comes to, making sure that my mental health is, is is, in the right spot. So, again, keep in mind, I married, a woman, a young lady, that's, my wife, who was a college athlete as well. She was a heptathlete at Rutgers. So she can run a six minute mile kind of stuff.
00:28:53:22 - 00:29:12:07
Ken
Still now she's nuts. Yeah. Absolutely nuts. and she's the one who got us into this, and. And so we have an ice baths. we have one a big tub in the backyard that there's. We put ice in in whatever and fill it up with water, and we sit in it for 3 minutes to 5 minutes a day.
00:29:12:09 - 00:29:34:08
Ken
During the winter in Michigan, there's getting the hammer out and getting the ice going and getting in it. And she she's the one that was able to stay in there for 3 or 4 minutes. I was like, I was a chicken compared to her for a minute. but nowadays, you know, in the summertime when it's like 45 degrees, I guess in the water, I can get in five minutes, but I'm doing an ice bath on a daily basis.
00:29:34:14 - 00:29:58:10
Ken
my son is actually doing it now. I did it this morning out of an a coincidence. but, yeah, when I, when I go to the gym, I do finish my workout with time and, a sauna. Take my five minutes to, to build my, my own, mental strength and capacity. And I see some crazy things like, I'm confident, I'm inspiring.
00:29:58:10 - 00:30:24:08
Ken
I'm strong. I'm a great leader. I care like, I build myself and my self-confidence. most of the time, out loud. But depending if there's a lot of people in there, I do it quietly. but, But, yeah, that's a big one. Is is my morning routine. and from my office, they know I walk in with this smoothie and, you know, tropical smoothie on a daily basis, like, it's it's just a part of me.
00:30:24:10 - 00:30:32:14
Jennifer
Yeah. That's wonderful. Wonderful. tell us more about soccer. Are you still playing?
00:30:32:16 - 00:31:04:03
Ken
I don't know. If you asked my teammates, they'd say, hey, good day or good season. You know, it's funny, I see I got a game this Sunday night. I thought maybe, you know, it's funny because it takes so long to recover a 90 minute game. I'm like, recovery five days later, still so, so hurting. But, yes, to an extent, I do enjoy coaching Brady and Mason soccer team a lot more than I enjoy playing, you know, because I love the joy that they get out of it.
00:31:04:05 - 00:31:20:14
Ken
And, and they have the bug, you know, they have, the inkling we got a little bit of a soccer field in the backyard, old, you know, so, you know, almost on a nightly basis, they're asking questions around, hey, can we go back and play? Can we play some soccer? So, but not as much as I'd like to.
00:31:20:14 - 00:31:22:09
Ken
I'd say that. Yeah.
00:31:22:11 - 00:31:32:23
Jennifer
So I think you've already covered this, but let let's end today's discussion. with how you define happiness.
00:31:33:00 - 00:31:59:10
Ken
Happiness? it's, it's when you have the freedom to choose to do what you want to do. and there isn't a, a strain on the bank account. I, I choose to, to, work, to live, not live to work. You know, I heard that a long time ago. I remember my brother telling me when I was job searching come out of college.
00:31:59:10 - 00:32:23:23
Ken
He said, if you find a job you love to do, you never work a day in your life. thankfully, and full of gratitude, I. I feel like I've done that. and, and so. Yeah, so that, I mean, that the neat part about, again, being an entrepreneur and making the changes I needed to make, because there was a time in my life where I couldn't do that kind of stuff.
00:32:24:00 - 00:32:46:18
Ken
You know, I, I enjoy going to the World Cup every four years. And now Copa America, I just went to a couple of games in Atlanta, and Charlotte took some team members. My wife and I are flying out to Paris and two weeks from yesterday to go to the Olympics. because again, she loves track and field. yeah, I I'm, I'm all about all about doing that stuff and experiences for sure.
00:32:46:18 - 00:33:10:24
Jennifer
Experience. That's wonderful. And and you know, our organization is very involved in wellness, health, wellness and well-being in the workplace. And you did bring up a very important topic we don't have time for today, but about financial wellness in health, financial wellness and mental, wellness go hand in hand. And that is something that we are focusing on as an organization.
00:33:10:24 - 00:33:32:24
Jennifer
Sounds like you're doing it as a leader as well. and I really want to thank you as the CEO and business founder, to focus on wellness. and the holistic person in the workplace. And, you know, I am not surprised why people want to work for you. So thank you so much for being on the show.
00:33:33:01 - 00:33:37:24
Jennifer
Keep shining bright ten and thank you for being with us today.
00:33:38:01 - 00:33:40:03
Ken
Thank you. It's been awesome.
00:33:40:05 - 00:33:44:01
Jennifer
All right, everyone, that wraps this episode. We'll see you next time.