We recently connected with J. Kyle Owens and have shared our conversation below.

J. Kyle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Great question. I believe success comes from a number of factors, 3 to be exact.

The first factor to having success is having a clear goal.

Without a destination, all transportation is pointless and wasteful. What you do and how you do it doesn’t matter if it’s not pointed toward a distinct target. I think a lot of people in life struggle with success on a personal and business level because their destination, their goal, is either undefined or not specific enough. You can’t score a touchdown in football if there’s no endzone. You can’t determine the winner of any race if there’s no finish line. This was my challenge when I first started my lifecoaching firm.

I KINDA knew what I wanted to do, I knew that I wanted to help everyone and sure that sounds great but it’s too general and honestly unrealistic. I can help some, even many but I can’t help EVERYONE! So I had to learn how to “drill down” until I found my specific target market and specific goals for that specific market. My business coach told me that I would not be able to make any other moves until I figured that out and boy was he right! I was stuck! Nothing aligned. It was more of a process than I realized but when I finally figured it out… EVERYTHING else clicked and began to make sense.

So yeah… establishing a clear goal first, is a major factor in being successful.

I’d say the second factor is having a plan.

Ok so, you know where you want to go… awesome! But how are you getting there? What mode of transportation is best according to your journey?… (not the journey of others). How much will it cost you? How long will it take? Planning is essential to all success, why? Because if you fail to plan, then you subsequently plan to fail (go back and read that again slowly). You can’t plan for EVERYTHING because you don’t know the future, but you can plan for all that you know and all that you can imagine.

Without a plan, you’ll spend countless hours on the hamster wheel of life, exerting a lot of ambitious energy but going absolutely no where. This is where burnout creeps through the back door of desire. Discouragement stands boldly at the intersections of let downs & disappointments, while comparison settles in like an unwanted family member who stays at the cookout too long, waiting for the moment to knock the remaining hope you have, right off your shoulder… all because you didn’t plan or you planned very poorly. Life is full of detours, so there is no need to be worried when they come because a plan acts as a beacon of light when all seems dark and lost. Without a proper plan, your performance is sure to be poor, but if you spend quality time in the planning stage then the next part is much easier to accomplish.

The final factor in what it takes to be successful is execution.

Once you know where youre going, and have created a plan to get there. There’s nothing left to do but execute according to the plan. Don’t waiver in your execution, trust the process and dont let time trick you into believing that you need to do something different. If it seems like your behind or ahead of schedule, go back and assess the plan you created, if there’s nothing to change then keep your execution aligned to the plan.

There was a time when I thought that skill and heart was all that was needed to be successful, but after countless failed attempts and losing out on opportunities, I had to slow down, look at myself and accept that I was the problem. I hadn’t put in the work that was necessary to really be as succesful as I felt I should’ve been. I had to learn to stop comparing myself to others and take accountability (and a few doses of humility). I had to get help and guidance. Skill and heart alone was not and is not enough for sustainable, scalable and measurable growth.

Today I implement the very stages I speak of to create, cultivate, maintain and expand my success, as a man and as a owner of 3 businesses.

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?

My name is Justin Kyle Owens, but im known as J. Kyle.

I am is an entrepreneur, published author and a business owner. I am the Founder & Director of Re:BrandTheMan, a non profit organization whose mission is to fight against the terrible spread of fatherlessness in this country by helping the men who have been absent as well as the young men who are affected by the absence of a father figure in their lives. We aim to reveal the true essence within every man young and old alike, fostering healing and growth by creating safe spaces for men to share their stories and understand their emotions in a way that embraces vulnerability, promotes the growth of confidence and comfort within the boundaries of their identities.

I am also the CEO of 2 companies. the first being J.KylePhotography, a multimedia production company that utilizes the mediums of photography, videography & podcasting to produce content for a wide range of clients while also specializing in educational content creation for companies and educators within the beauty industry. I had been freelancing as a semi-professional for just over a decade when I decide to take it on full time in 2023. I created this company initially to feed my creative itch and now I do it as a means to help others express their truth in visual form.

It started when I went to production school in 2009 to be an audio engineer. I finished the top of my class and was given an opportunity to enroll in a new type of class that was starting the following semester. The class taught video production using DSLR cameras which were photography styled cameras. So I was taught both photography and videography at the same time. 14 years later here I am still pressing that shutter button and yelling “quiet on the set”…lol

As time went on I started doing work for models and agencies and I began to see this odd phenomenon where the model was stressed or even sad, but as soon as the camera came out so did this other personality and all of a sudden frowns were gone and smile were present. The person who wore insecurity better than the outfit they had on their bodies, all of a sudden were beaming with “confidence”. It began to dawn on me how photography in most cases helped people hide their truth.

Ever since then I wanted to use the art as a means to tell the truth as opposed to covering it. So now when im not doing commercial work for companies, I use my camera to bring out what would otherwise not be seen, into focus. I have been looking into phototherapy and plan to roll out some fun and helpful initiatives in 2025 through my non profit to help men see themselves in ways they never have through a camera’s lens.

The second company I run is called, “The LifeGrooming Company”. It is my life coaching firm and that came into existence after a long tumultuous season in my life when I was lost and couldn’t find me or my purpose. I ended up in therapy while at the same time, having my own life coach. God used these 2 individuals to transform my way of thinking and seeing. It was so impactful that I wanted to become a life coach. So I enrolled in school 3 years ago and became CTACC certified as a life coach. My coaching style is what’s known as transformative coaching… where transformation is the goal, if you’re inspired and motivated along the way, great. If youre not… that’s ok too.. what we want is change. My area of focus is in human identity, where I help people understand who they are, where they are in life and why they exist in life aka purpose.

Lastly, I am an internationally published author through Trilogy Publishing, the publishing arm of the Trinity Broadcast Network. They are the largest christian tv broadcast network in the world. I wrote my first book called “I am H.I.S. : Becoming the man for God’s plan. It can be purchased directly from me or on amazon. The book is a story form of how God lead me on a journey to help me discover who I was and who He intended for me to be.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Sheesh…the question is can I keep from writing a book about resilience!

I guess I’ll give you my most recent valley season that took the majority of 2024 to get out of. At the time of me answering this question, we are about to walk into October 2024. In January OF THIS YEAR!!!… I was homeless… yes you read that correctly… homeless!

It came by surprise as I was out of town visiting family for the 2023 Christmas/New Year Holiday. I received a text message from my now former spouse that she (& her 2 sons) had moved out of the house we were renting, while I was out of town… no warning and no follow up.

To avoid being tossed out on the street via an eviction, I was forced to move out and unfortunately I didn’t have a place to go or call home. I ended up on a friends couch for about a week and even had to sleep in my car for a night because I couldn’t get into my friends place. Mind you I had to do all this while still showing up to class/work (I was a teacher) with a smile on my face to hide what was really going on internally. It was NOTHING BUT THE GRACE OF GOD that kept me from losing my mind.

I can remember one night, before I had to leave what was once my home. I was laying in the middle of an empty living room and an old church hymn entitled, “It Is Well With My Soul” popped into my mind and the first verse says:

“When peace like a river, attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well, with my soul”

I believe God planted that song in my soul to remind me that He was with me.

The following months were beyond difficult, had to borrow money that I didn’t have to do the simplest of things. Eventually I was able to get into an apartment (I wish I had time to tell you the miracle of that, but maybe in another issue of this publication… if they invite me back).

I was also trying to get my business growing through all of this… but somehow by God’s strength I kept moving. I just wouldn’t let myself believe that God had allowed this to happen to me without a lesson to learn from and a promise to grow to. My faith kept me moving, even at times when I couldn’t understand how I was moving. but it was worth it. I grew in ways I never could. My faith grew in ways I had never imagined because I saw God do miracles and open doors for me that were UNDENIABLY because of Him, NO COINCIDENCES…NO CHANCES… ALL GOD.

I had many days where I was in tears but they didn’t take me out. I had learned how give space to my feelings and my logic and my faith. I learned how to acknowledge them all and submit the sovereignty of my circumstances to God.

Now here I am looking at October, 8 months later, in the best version of life ive ever lived.

Businesses are running successfully, acquiring new clients in and out of state, paying bills, saving money, got a passport for the first time and preparing to travel internationally for the first time ever in my life! Making the most money I’ve ever made and it’s all because I never let my faith and obedience in God die. I never let my emotions make decisions for me, I forgave my ex and moved on. I learned to trust God even when things were the most difficult and he showed me just how resilient He had actually made me.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

This is a great question!

A lesson I had to unlearn was, “just because it worked before, doesn’t mean that it’s going to automatically work today.” I have too many stories to remember just one and too many times of not applying this lesson and feelings its impact before finally getting it for me to have a particular backstory but I will say this, you can’t expect to have new growth with old effort. You can’t drive down a new road as if you’ve driven it before and think that you won’t crash into something. Every change in life is a new season and requires something new from you… and at minimum it requires a new self- check in to see what’s being required of you in this new season of life.

So yeah, remember that just because it worked before, doesn’t mean that it’s going to automatically work today.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mylifegrooming.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifegrooming_/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/j-kyle-ctacc-7770b0197/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lifegroomingthechannel3451
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/@ReBrandTheMan https://rebrandtheman.orghttps://www.instagram.com/_rebrandtheman/

Image Credits

Pictures taken by J.Kyle of J.KylePhotography