We were lucky to catch up with Kasey Luft recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kasey, thanks for joining us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

I have this thought every day! If I’m not second guessing myself daily, am I even doing it right?! I’m joking… but there is some truth to that.

I believe all entrepreneurs face some sort of existential question on a daily basis. It’s the ability to continue pushing through when the going get’s tough. As an employee you don’t have to worry so much about the things an owner does. An employee can take time off on holidays, vacation, sick days, mental health days. The sad truth is that most entrepreneurs don’t get the opportunity to take time off or near as much time as they need, if at all! I can tell you I’ve been through it all.

The thoughts that have gone through my brain in the past:

Where am I going to get the next client?
Is my team happy?
Will I have enough money to make payroll this month?
What happens if someone leaves?
Am I a good leader?
Is my team doing the work?
Where are we failing and how can we do better?
Is this worth it?
What do I even want anymore?

These are just a small sample of the questions I ask myself and I’m sure most business owners can relate. However, there is one time in particular I had this specific thought and it took me months to really answer. I don’t like to talk about it much as it’s tough for me to think about still, but, my partner and I lost our unborn son at 15 weeks. We had already had a miscarriage with a previous pregnancy so we went in with hopeful skepticism, but it’s really hard not to get excited, so when it didn’t work like we expected – it broke us both.

I was heart broken, I was hurt, I was damaged, and still am, for the most part. I had a terrible time getting out of the grief and depression. It took me months to even understand that I was depressed and it took my business coach to actually tell me that I was. Once I had that realization, it took me months to get back on track and a lot of personal time to sift through what I wanted and cared about. I can tell you my business was not one of them.

All I wanted was to be able to take sick time and disappear, but I wasn’t able too. I took some time, but probably not as much as I could have. You see, I’m what one would call a workaholic. I’m great at compartmentalizing everything and focusing on one thing at a time. The problem? I didn’t give myself enough time. I forced a smile on my face to talk with clients, I became so good at “forcing” it hardly anyone could I was truly depressed because I could turn it on and off at will. That actually started to scare me when I realized how easy it was to fake.

At this point though, my team was 3 people and I struggled. I did all the daily things I could to continue to move forward but had zero motivation. I continued to hire more people while in this depression and train them to the best I could at the time. I also checked out a fair bit and just did the bare minimum. It was during this time that I truly contemplated whether what I wanted was a business.

I told myself, how nice it would be if I could just take a vacation, take some time off, sick days, etc. As an employee I’d be making more than I was as a business owner, so why was I punishing myself to build something that I didn’t believe in anymore? It was incredibly tough to come back from.

However, in the end I couldn’t let myself quit, or cave, or however you look at it. I knew that ultimately, I would never be happy in a traditional 9-5 job and regret the decision and be even more disappointed in myself. I just knew deep down I could never go back to that and I would never truly be happy. It may have taken me 6 months to work through. But everyday I did what I had to and I’m proud of that.

I look back now and realize how pivotal of a time it was for me and for the business. I’m still not healed from that experience, and never will be – I recognize that. But it does make everything I have even sweater, especially my healthy and happy 11 week old son that is currently laying in my arms as I type this. Nothing will ever be taken for granted again…

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.

This is a loaded question!

Who am I? Well, I’m Kasey, and I help people Untangle the Chaos in their business to give them more control. How do I do it? We implement software solutions that simplify and automate sales, marketing, and operations activities using the Zoho software suite.

I got into this quite accidentally. My background is actually a Bachelors of Science in Physics, but I didn’t particularly want to spend the next 10 years of my life in post-graduate work so I decided to enter industry, but had very little practical experience. So I ended up becoming a self-taught Data Engineer. I started freelancing on UpWork, and realized I enjoyed that and I had a talent working with clients, solving problems, and communicating with them. The bar is surprisingly low, as most people don’t really know how to communicate. A friend actually introduced me to the software we know utilize and I realized I loved solving business problems with it.

One thing in particular I enjoy the most is designing our clients solutions. We have what we call an Implementation Design service. This is where we map out what they are currently doing and create a translation layer to get where they want. The coolest part of this process is the fact that I get to see each business owners eyes light up once they realize the potential and how much we will impacted their business. Whether that’s time, revenue, employee satisfaction, or more likely all of the above!

I’m proud of the fact that we are an education first company. People come to us and we provide and unbiased opinion and our clients appreciate that. Coupled with the fact that we will do whatever we can to help someone, that is the core of who we are. Even if we can’t help you, we will point you in the right direction, having a help-first mentality has opened so many opportunities.

What sets us apart is the fact that we are a help first company and actively train our clients how to use the system that is created. We believe that you should not be dependent on our company to maintain your system if you don’t want. That should be a red flag and a huge concern for any business if they are choosing someone to work with.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

YouTube! To this day, as a consulting company, YouTube has been one of the driving forces for our lead generation. I highly recommend every business to start a YouTube channel and get a following going. It takes time to build and you don’t have to be a “streamer” just get on camera, start getting used to it and putting out content that is helpful to someone.

You’ll be amazed at the responses and opportunities that come your way because of it. Most business owners struggle being on camera and I still do, but I’ve found my work arounds. The more you can get on camera and be yourself, the more you are going to build that know, like, trust factor that people talk about.

People buy based on emotion more than anything else, we’re only human afterall!

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Treat them like human beings and listen to them! If your people are not one of the assets in your business, you won’t have a business for long.

When I hear someone say “no one wants to work these days…” I generally just smile and nod my head, but that mentality is bullshit. It’s also a very clear sign that you do not treat employees how they want to be treated, causing low morale and high turnover, but don’t realize you or the team is the cause.

If you treat your team how you would want to be treated as an employee then you won’t fail. Just be real, help them grow, tell them your fears, your dreams, your failures, your successes.

As a leader it’s your job to shape your employee’s and make them the next set of leaders in your organization. If you are open and honest with them you will be amazed at what they will be able to do and what they will be able to accomplish.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.clientric.co
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/k.luft/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kasey.luft
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kasey-luft-49660a2a/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/clientric