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

Kevin , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

With the topic of taking risk, it is important to understand the difference between taking risk and risky behavior. One of these can elevate us the other can lead to our demise. We might over look the difference between taking risk and risky behavior. The 2 can seem the same but can be vastly different. In taking a risk, this are things needed to do to “level up” or increase ourselves. We we first tried to ride a bike or walk we were taking a risk. Anything new or unknown can be a risk. The difference is for a greater gain down the line. Risky behavior would be doing things with no possibility of future gain. If we were driving down the freeway drinking alcohol and getting high, this would be consider risky behavior (no real world gain). On the other hand applying for a job we might not be fully qualified for or asking someone out, can be considered taking a risk. This is due to not knowing what the outcome would be, this would be considered taking a risk. As you can see for us in life it is important to take calculated risk to evaluate ourselves and minimize/eliminate risky behaviors.

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?

I would first like to thank you all for the opportunity to reach your audience and possibly help them live more fulfilling, loving lives. Something that lead me to the industry is when I saw a disparaging number of counselors that looked like me. When I was in high school, I felt I never got the encouragement from school officials that I could do anything I put my mind to. Instead I was told that I wasn’t smart enough and probably needed to go to a trade school. As a 17 year old African American Male growing up in Southern California, this was devastating to me. Then I started to ask myself why not my? Why can’t I be the person for others, that I might not of had growing up. I’m currently the lead therapist at Mack Counseling. We currently have 8 Therapist and 8 Case Managers in the grater Houston area serving the communities needs. I have been in the field for 15 years, recently opened our own group practice Mack Counseling 3 years ago. We offer in office appointments, virtual sessions, community based services (in-home), Couple Counseling, Group Counseling, and Individual Counseling. What sets us apart from from others is our matching process and quick initial sessions. We take pride in linking clients not just to any available therapist but the one that would be the best fit. We use several different measure to make sure our clients and therapist are good matches. We try to have initial session done with in a few days of contact. Usually when people are reaching out it is a pressing issues so we would like to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. I’m most proud of my All-Star team, each one of my clinicians have been hand picked and trained by myself in the therapeutic principles that are the corner stone for human growth and development. We do not go of the one size fits all model and provide individualized treatment based on the individual needs. We do not believe int he one size fits all model. :

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

If I could go back, I would defiantly choose that same profession and speciality. A change I would have made was to go straight into my Masters program after undergrad. I think I ended up taking a almost 10 year hiatus. I think getting my license soner could have awarded me the opportunity to but more impactful on people lives earlier on. I also believe we need to grown into what God created us to be. There for my route took a little longer because I needed to be chiseled and defined before reaching the place of impacting others.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

There are many books that have impacted me along my journey. I will share a few the come to mind and define some of what I took form them.

1. Eat the Frog (prioritize things that will be most impactful in your life/do higher level items before doing lower level ones)
2. Strengths Finder (I learned how to identify strengths in people and learn how to build on individualized strengths)
3. 5 Second Rule (Take initiative and don’t wait)
4. Men are from Mars Women are From Venus (Communication and how different parties communicate differently)
5. The power of 1 more (Do more! We can all don 1 more)
6. Million Dollar Habits (Routines/routines/routines)

Contact Info:

• Website: mackcounseling.com
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• Twitter: [email protected]