Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kellen Kacal. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kellen, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned while working at a prior job?
I’ve been incredibly fortunate in the ways The Lord has provided for me in my past work experiences. But one experience in particular has been most valuable. At the time I just started growing in my career as a regional sales liaison with a home health company when I was offered an opportunity to move into management at 23. The experience gained from that position, and my business mentor at the time, was nothing short of Gods’ work. I was afforded opportunities to sit in growth strategy meetings and provide input through my area of strength in analytics. I was gifted meetings with my mentor to go over hard lessons learned in previous industries he had been apart of. But most importantly, I was given the freedom to implement these strategies and apply learned lessons through my position in management, out of the spirit of innovation and desire for growth. I think this is where the bulk of my business education really took place.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I grew up in a middle class suburban family, south of Houston. I was hyper competitive in anything I felt like I could win, with the exception to school. The Lord really gifted me in sports, and I excelled from a young age. When I was about 9 or 10 years old my dad started a youth flag football league, with inspiration coming from his passion for the sport. From there I fell in love with the sport. When my dad finally sold his league at the beginning of covid, I felt like there was an opportunity to start a business doing what I have loved for all of my life, with a unique closeness to the industry through my dads’ career. I had worked in sales, management, and business development prior to starting K5, so I felt like it was a natural progression to start a company. In terms of problems we solve with the company and what I’m most proud of: I think it’s that we help parents to give their kids an opportunity to grow their communication skills, work on conflict resolution, and to put to practice the art of long term gratification. At the moment what has me most excited is the partnership we’re getting ready to announce, the changes that we’ll be able to make to improve our service as a result of it are going to be absolutely incredible.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
I think this is a fascinating question. It’s already lead me to start another company, Kacal Consulting, and has inspired me to dream up a third one out of the same vein. By The Lords grace my business started as a self funded career, as I left my previous job in Business Development with a small amount of money set aside for K5. The key milestone for K5 was our first camp back in 22′, it gave us the base needed to build a sustainable business on top of and create future opportunities to scale.
I think this is a fascinating question though, because startups generally all have a need for at least 2 of the 4 following: funding, broader network, organizational structure/process, or finance/bookkeeping expertise. I think we’re entering a very unique time for investment because of high rates, inflation, and excessive overfunding of businesses. I think lending will be harder to obtain and I think because of this there is a niche in the small business market that is waiting to be taken advantage of by people with experience in bootstrapping companies that have a broad network.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
There are countless books, podcasts, talks, and stories that I’ve come across that have impacted my entrepreneurial thinking. I’d say Bill Gurley has some great thoughts that I’ve drawn from on risk tolerance, growth multipliers, and willingness to change course without fear of failure. The podcast, “Founders,” has gone over great books about the Rockefeller family and Jeff Bezos in my opinion. The couple of books that the host has studied on the Rockefellers, I’ve found interesting. John D Rockefellers’ competitiveness and passion for business that was rooted out of a desire to earn money to give back to be used for The Lord, I’ve found very relatable. In terms of Bezos, his long term approach to business and dedication to innovation and frugality, I think is a very clear blueprint to sustainability. His desire to always take a customer first approach, willingness to fail and change course, and to do so while maintaining direction towards the companies vision, makes him a model for how to lead a business.
Contact Info:
- Website: k5sports.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kellenkacal
Image Credits
Phoebe Sung https://sungphoto.mypixieset.com