We recently connected with AmyK Hutchens and have shared our conversation below.

AmyK, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
There’s a trite adage, especially for women: “Find your voice.” Know one needs to find their voice – we all know exactly where it resides. The bigger challenge is using it and using it effectively. The seed for my business was planted earlier than I realized. As a child I was shy and awkward with my peers. I didn’t know what to say, and when I did speak, it came out weird and seemingly “wrong.” I felt left out, excluded, as if I was dumb and no one really liked me. As an elementary school teacher I watched young children struggle to use their voices as well, and I realized it wasn’t just me. It’s painful for so many of us. When I entered the corporate world my job was Director of Education Europe for John Paul Mitchell Systems. I was involved with training salon owners how to run their businesses to drive sales and scalability. They too were challenged with how to communicate confidently. They too wanted to be successful, but didn’t know how. No one was teaching them the skills they truly needed to communicate and collaborate, to share ideas, cast a compelling vision, problem-solve, make others feel significant in their roles, and grow a business. As my experience grew so did my confidence. I learned that I did indeed have a very strong and wise voice, and as I stumbled and honed it and learned from my missteps, my voice blossomed. One day I heard a gentleman say, “Where resides your greatest pain, resides your greatest gift.” The pain of not knowing how to use my voice early on as a child and young adult was indeed my gift now. I understood both the hurt and unintended wounds of not knowing how to use it and the healing that comes from honoring it. I knew I wanted to channel this gift to serve others. When I started my company in 2000 it was under the umbrella of sales and leadership training, but really it was about honoring the worth of your voice and honoring the worth of others’ voices. Learning to use your voice is a skill and learning to honor the worth of your voice is a journey. Since 2000 I’ve been preaching and teaching about taking life one conversation at a time. Whether with prospects, peers, board members, colleagues, direct reports, spouses, children, siblings… to have quality interactions and relationships it was imperative to teach my clients how to communicate to connect. I was approaching the challenges of leadership and sales from a unique perspective – communicating to connect so that people feel, seen, heard and understood. Others were teaching “Sales is a numbers game. How many cold calls can you make?” I was teaching, “Sales is a service game. How many connections can you make?” I was helping leaders be wildly profitable, be in service, and feel good about the way they were playing. To this day I’m still energetic and passionate about what I do. In it’s 22nd year now, my company has evolved into a global speaking and training company focused primarily on Self-leadership, and everything I teach has a foundation in communicating to connect- with yourself and others.

AmyK, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am a super energetic, high-vibe juxtaposition between professional, buttoned-up nerd and irreverent spirit junkie. With an undergrad degree in elementary education and a B.S. from Johns Hopkins in education with an emphasis in cognitive science and metacognition, I’m fascinated about how we learn and behave. I constantly have my nose in a book, the old fashioned kind you hold in your hands, and I’m a big meditator and journaler, and last year in 2021 I started my global movement www.shegetsit.com to help women around the globe elevate and honor the worth of their voices. I coach, consult and speak on the topics of leadership, sales, EQ [Emotional Intelligence], innovation and Self-leadership. All with the common thread of how we communicate about these topics in a way that generates profitable results. Most clients come to me because they need their teams to think and play differently. With a background and life-long passion for critical thinking/learning, my tools and approach are a synergistic fit for leadership and sales teams. When people refer me, I often hear, “I was told you’re super energetic, funny and wicked smart.” I often reply, “I am irreverent!”

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
When the pandemic hit my keynote speaking [the bread & butter of my company] disappeared overnight. Events were canceled around the globe. I went from 76 events in the coming year to 4 virtual ones in a matter of two weeks. I gave myself 4 hours to panic and then asked, “How might I serve best now?” That’s when I went into hyper-activity mode. I created online experiences, upgraded all my at home studio cameras and sound equipment, created a virtual marketing video, updated my website and reached out to my entire community to say, we’re all playing differently right now, but let’s still play successfully. I then offered several free webinars on how to lead in difficult times and over 800 leaders attended. I wasn’t pitching anything. I was serving my community at a time when we all needed support and real tools. I spoke virtually for free to NAMI [National Association of Mental Illness], I spoke for free to various organizations around San Diego, including but not limited to the Solana Beach Chamber of Commerce and Athena. Through service, I demonstrated that my high-energy could translate through a Zoom lens and my proven tools were now even more helpful for everyone working from home. My keynotes took on a much greater blend of communicating professionally and now personally, especially as we managed our own mindsets. I started getting hired for virtual keynotes, I created a membership consulting/coaching Inner Circle for sales leaders that took off and in the midst of the pandemic, missing my own friends, I got the idea for She Gets It. Creating a sacred space for women to connect online to elevate their voices. What started as a passion project for women to have rich, meaningful conversations about art, origin stories, boundary setting, bodies, took off. Women loved the tools I was sharing to increase their communication confidence and to help them feel more energetic, motivated, purpose driven and fulfilled with their own lives. Fun fact: In less than a year since its inception, She Gets It has over 310 women from around the globe — Brazil, India, China, Canada, United States + who have or are currently participating in the She Gets It Mastermind program.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
I connect with my community every single week. I offer substantive content, inspirational resets and tools to help them play full out and expand their capacity. Just two weeks ago I created a brand new resource on dealing with burnout. It was all about what to do and say to be an effective leader during times of weariness and exhaustion – whether you’re leading yourself or others or both. My clients know I offer keynotes, coaching, my Inner Circle Mastermind for Sales leaders and now my She Gets It Mastermind. They know where to find me and they know what I offer. BUT what keeps me top of mind and fosters a real connection is that I show up every week to offer them something of value. I show up to serve them, to connect with them, so that every week they think, ” AmyK sees me. She hears me. She understands me. She gets me!”

Contact Info:

• Website: www.amyk.com and www.shegetsit.com
• Instagram: @amykhutchens
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amykhutchens
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amykhutchens/

Image Credits
CeCe Canton– personal photos