We recently connected with Ken Kilday and have shared our conversation below.
Ken, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s talk about social media – do you manage your own or do you have someone or a company that handles it for you? Why did you make the choice you did?
I have hired a team/company to manage my social media after working on myself for the first two to three years of launch. The drive to hire professionals was driven by my desire to be more intentional, consistent, and coordinated with other community involvement. I also retained some elements of my social media presence, yet few know when I’m posting versus the team – and that was always our mission.
I’ve learned that by partnering with professionals who took the time to know me, my business, as well as the mission, purpose, and values, that it’s better than what I could have accomplished alone. I’ve also learned the importance of constant iteration. By paying attention to who engages with different types of content, we can craft our messages to reach our perfect clients.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
As an executive coach, I bring simplicity, clarity, and direction to business leaders with a focus on two dimensions: their leadership and their business operating system (structure). In both my professional career as well as my time as an entrepreneur, I’ve seen hard-working leaders that find success through their work ethic, yet eventually plateau. They find themselves working every bit as hard without getting the results they want.
After a long and successful career in financial services, culminating in executive leadership, I formed my coaching practice, Leader’s Cut, so I could spend my time focused on the aspect of business I loved the most: professional development of others. Though coaching engagements, I work one-on-one with leaders to unlock their leadership genius, uncover obstacles, and focus on their unique gifts. This includes building and managing their teams, which means I’m often asked to expand relationships and work with others in the same organization.
When working with entrepreneurs, I noticed that much of the company’s values, beliefs, mission, and process is kept in the head of the founder. Using my own customizable business operating system, we systematize the business in order to grow and succeed.
The unique quality that I bring and clients love is customization. I believe that there is not a one-size-fits all to running a successful organization, but rather a unique formula of people and process combined in a formula to create profit. Coaching is helping leaders get clarity around those aspects so they can organize and execute around priorities.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
The founding of my coaching practice is itself a career pivot. As an executive leader in a firm I thought I’d retire from doing work I loved, it came as a personal blow that I also had what can only be described as a toxic relationship with my boss. It became so contentious that leaving was a way to protect my career and sanity.
As soon as we announced my departure recruiters began calling and several concurrent interview processes began. Yet, I didn’t feel the enthusiasm or excitement for roles. My last experience left me feeling cynical and unmotivated. One evening at dinner, my husband asked me what aspects of all the roles I’d ever had were most exciting. That was easy. I loved helping people develop to their ability, beyond self-imposed limits. And in that dialogue my entrepreneurship journey began.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
My corporate career taught me how to design, build, and launch a new business – particularly one that would be delivered digitally. In 2018, that was still uncommon. Yet Leader’s Cut would have online scheduling, Zoom calls, and every technology I could think of to support clients (and the business) without requiring me to be physically present in the same geography as the client.
Part of the reason I designed the business this way was because we were planning on selling our primary home and moving to what had been our little vacation home in Sedona, Arizona. That meant I was going to sit in my little office, alone, and prospect like crazy while I got my business off the ground.
I was blessed to have clients immediately, and even more blessed that there has never been a time that I didn’t have paying clients. Yet when COVID hit, like many businesses, it was a little lean for a year or so. Because I stuck with it and kept serving my clients, looking for additional clients, and improving my services, I’m still here five years later.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kenkilday.com
- Instagram: @leaderscut
- Facebook: LeadersCut
- Linkedin: https://LinkedIn.com/in/kenkilday