Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kali Kirkland. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Kali thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

Earning a full-time living from creative work can be really daunting at first. The first time I ever experienced the backlash of going into a creative field was in high school. When I made the decision to go to Fashion School, many guidance counselors and teachers told me that it would take years of work and I wouldn’t make that much money. They really discouraged the idea and told me that the safer option would be health care or finance.

Thankfully, I had parents that encouraged me to do what I wanted to do despite the “statistics”.
I did not listen to these people, and 10+ years later I have no cap on what I can make per month or per year and I am doing what I love.

The journey that lead up to starting my own branding and website design business was a pretty typical experience. Burn out from my corporate job, climbing the NYC ladder, zero work-life balance, mentally unhealthy, and completely fed up repeating the same story every year.
In the Fall of 2018 a year before I started my business I started to listen to self-help podcasts, I quit drinking alcohol, and I started to learn about this other more abundant side of life “outside the matrix” if you will. I took a business course and learned that everything started with your mindset. Still, l was working at my corporate job, I continued on my mindset path of an inner knowing that eventually I would start my own company.

Fast forward to 2019, I was laid off from my “dream job”, and I went all in on my creative business. I leveraged my vast NYC network and booked clients to help fill the first 3-month gap.

One of the major things that helped my business to grow exponentially was my networking skills but also investing in a coach, leaning into mindset practices like meditation, manifestation, scripting, and subconscious rewiring, and spending time with people who were doing the same things.

That is what I can say changed the game for me and allowed me to expand and grow faster than most of my peers. It was really to lean into the subconsious mindset work. For anyone who is looking to start a business or who has that. “ping” take a minute, listen to your intuition, and back yourself by doing some personal development, reading books like “Think and Grow Rich” and doing a ton of mindset practices. I gauruntee you will see some miracles happen.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

For those who do not know me, I got into my business with a leap of faith. I was working for what I would have called my dream job. I worked for a billionaire in the Hamptons and was back and forth from Manhattan to the Hamptons on a regular basis. During that time, we had an internal setback happen which caused my job to be forfeited. I was very lucky that my bosses gave me a 3-month full salary severance. I decided that there was no time like now to start my business.

At first, I was going to start a brand and event business, but as the first month of networking started I realized that friends needed branding/websites and an online presence. So I immersed myself in learning the digital marketing space and self-taught myself UX/UI and web development over a course of 3 months. I had 2 friends who took a chance with me, my friend who was a florist and a friend who was well-known and was on Master Chef. That lead me into meeting a friend who had a great coaching business and referred me to other clients.

In March 2020, I decided at the height of COVID to listen to my intuition and go on my Bali trip. My friend planned a retreat and even though all of the participants canceled and 3 other of my friends decided to continue on. This decision was the catalyst of my growth. I was scared but I knew that if I didn’t do this I would be holding myself back. I stayed and grew my business in Bali for 2 years, leaving my 10-year life in NYC behind.

The main thing I am proud of is helping my clients find themselves and grow/sell from their authentic selves. I had to learn this at the beginning of my career. If you do not know about human design, I highly suggest diving into it. Anyone who is an entrepreneur will benefit greatly from learning human design. I am a projector, so I am an innovator and someone who thrives on helping others. I achieved success by not focusing on monetary value but on what value I could provide for my clients,

Now, this is not to say I didn’t have setbacks and learning experiences. 2020-2021 showed me so much growth. I made mistakes. There is a sense of spirituality that you want to bring into business but also there are real-life factors that create a business. I made business mistakes and ended up having to apologize, own up, and refund clients. I am very thankful for these times because if I had not had them I would not be the type of business owner I am today.

Today my vision for my business is beyond monetary, I go into every inquiry and business decision questioning how can I help this person achieve their goals. Am I the right fit? Can I truly help them?
If those questions don’t align, and I do not feel I can help I will refer them elsewhere or respectfully decline

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

A few main things I wish I knew when starting was actually doing things right. For the first 3 months, I didn’t register my business and took everything via Venmo.

BAD!

Here is a list of things that will get you AHEAD!

Business Plan – If you think and plan to make over 100K in revenue, file an LLC/S corp. An S CORP is going to give you better tax benefits.
Look up if your business name is taken, then file a trademark.

Open a business bank account. Then sign up for quick books.
Hire a CPA. Honestly, there are a ton of CPAs that will charge $50 a month to bookkeep and help you with quarterly taxes. It is worth it. Getting ahead of this is super important. One it shows that you are serious about your business, and two it energetically shows the universe you are ready for the next level.

Set up contracts, set up boundaries for your business, and decide how and when you want to work. Decide who your audience is. Stick to that and market to that. Don’t take people for the sake of it, but also take clients who may have a lower budget. This is a give-and-take method. Some of my clients don’t have the budget but are aligned so I accommodate.
Do things that feel right FOR YOU! Selling is not one size fits. It’s about how you feel and how you can help your clients achieve their goals.

I’ve seen so many peers in my space burn out heavily because their clients are not aligned, work for less, and end up hating their business. I’ve also seen peers go off of what other coaches say and miss out on money and opportunities because they don’t listen to their intuition.
This doesn’t have to be you!! When you are starting out, the more clients you take the more you learn. You will have high paying and low paying and that is OK! It’s all about the value you bring. Your goal is always to help your clients do better, be better, and achieve better.

If you set your boundaries up front, know your worth, and decide how and when you want to work you will be successful!

And remember MINDSET IS EVERYTHING.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The biggest lesson I had to unlearn is looking at other people in my business space. Those who were selling a certain way, making 30K + a month by doing XYZ, and realizing this is not the only way.

I see so many women entrepreneurs get stuck because of comparison. And I was there. I had to relearn and unlearn that just because someone does something THIS WAY it is not the ONLY WAY. There are billions of people in this world. Your people will find you. Marketing will always come back to the basis and key that people purchase from connection and emotion. This is why platforms like Tik Tok have been so successful with User Generated Content – because people are ready for authenticity. If you market from your soul and who you are you will be successful.

You can hire marketing people all day long, but people can tell if you are faking it.

Trust yourself, and your intuition, and trust that you have been lead to do this business now the way you feel deep down.
Again, this is not to say you shouldn’t have a strong marketing/business plan but do this in a way that is authentic to you!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.aneandartherstudios.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aneandartherstudios/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aneandartherdesigns
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kalikirkland

Image Credits
https://www.lkcreativeco.com/ Lk Creative Co