We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kristy Gayton. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kristy below.
Kristy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?
There was no overnight “success”. There was no one thing that allowed expansion, and scaling up also can be interpreted in different ways. What are you looking to scale? Impact? Freedom? Finances? Net profit? Love? The cool thing about life is we all have the ability to make those choices. I have been in seasons of aligned business growth, scaling inventory, and net margins continue to improve. I have also learned to pivot and scale back intentionally. Decisions have had to be made reacting to the market or economic impacts that were not by choice. You have to learn to scale with intention, but you also must learn to pivot. I have been in seasons of dialing back with intention, and in so many ways, that allowed scaling up for me in others. I am grateful for it all because all of it brought me to who and where I am today, shaping me with intention. Just scaling up is not always the answer, maybe it is horizontal and diversity is the right scale for you.
Really there has been alignment, divine timing, and the willingness to work! I have worked from places of inspiration and also from places of fear, and I believe we all thrive in progress, but it is the routines and habits and willingness to keep going that form us! I believe that we are our biggest assets, and we have to shift into thinking that way. I have always been eager to grow and maybe even borderline obsessive with knowledge. I like to guide and direct. The only way to do that is to have a plan, know your finances, and that gives you the ability to make decisions. My life has also taught me that you must be open to doors you don’t even see yet, and be open to someone else’s plan for your life.
When asked how I scaled or got to where I am, there is not an easy, straightforward answer. First, it is not an “I”. Typically people only see others reaching the top of the mountain or doing what they are at that moment. They don’t see the struggles in between, the layers, or decisions that got them to that “top”. I really don’t even know how to sum up how I am where I am in my career, but I will try.
I obtained a financial degree and have always been obsessed with numbers! I started working at a young age including even starting my first business. I have always been a “hustler” and in high school, I had three jobs; At 18, I bought my first fixed asset, my home. Here is a brief synopsis of my career path.
2005-2007 – Started working at a financial institution for someone else.
2009-2015 I found a passion for photography and started my first company.
2012 – 2015 I started traveling and teaching other creative entrepreneurs how to run the financial aspects of their business. In 2012 I created an online platform for others wanting to learn photography. FisheyeConnect.com
2015- Formed STARTplanner with Jenny Grumbling, a tool to help with productivity and financial planning, and overall alignment. How did we launch this? We had no money to invest, so I took a photo of a church book with a cup of coffee (remember I could take photos), Jenny photoshopped a cover on it (a designer), and we launched preorders to get our cash flow to buy inventory. That same year we launched our first workshop that again was a solution for a cash deficiency we needed to buy the inventory to continue our growth which was rapid for the next couple of years. End of that year, I sold FisheyeConnect.com as it was no longer my passion and it was better suited to be in someone else’s hands.
2015- 2020: Before the covid shutdown, continued to travel and teach productivity and financial systems at conferences and college campuses.
2018: We bought a commercial building that our business needed for its growth, START HQ. We started it out of the garage, then moved to a lease, and then this purchase. We were able to make that business investment and it just felt right. This same year launched another business. StartDetoxing.com
2019 – That growth that was anticipated, was slowed due to COVID and other factors that continued to layer 2020 as well. Subleased out part of the commercial space. I then took my home, made it into an Airbnb, and added another business. During the shutdown that company skyrocketed while others were making so many pivots and even hurting. I then bought another home. Didn’t plan on buying a flipper home, but did, and only stayed there for 13 months.
2020 – A lot of decisions towards alignment. STARTdetoxing the other online retail company, I voluntarily shut it down. Just when inventory was gone, I realized I didn’t have the bandwidth, and I didn’t reorder as my heart was not fully there. Sold my main home and bought another home… that was another fixer-upper.
2021 – Sold the home and Airbnb Business as I felt it was time to move on. Purchased commercial land and residential land, both to develop later that year. Launched Start Knowing My Numbers and started rolling all the Start Companies into one company for simplicity, STARTbrands.com. Became an investor in another online retail company -JmstormQuotes.com
2022- Sold the company I voluntarily shut down (startdetoxing.com) to another company and individual it perfectly aligned to. Leased out Start Hq (the commercial space). Neighboring my commercial land was a 1926 home and I couldn’t explain it, but it was for me, and the home got rezoned to commercial too. It was not on the market, but I found the homeowners (who didn’t live there) and showed up at their front door. Now we are flipping this home for this to be our START offices for 2022.
Behind each of those decisions was a struggle that fortified growth. I believe life is learning to know when to keep pushing and when to let go, and I believe through data and learning to listen to your gut.
There are people in my life that have made me better and helped me to get there. So the question is how did “you” scale? I didn’t; we did. None of this was ever my plan. I believe God has had his hand on me weaving and shaping me exactly as he has desired. There is also not just scaling up but maybe horizontally. There are certain areas of my business I could scale, but the desire is just not there.
I have been in seasons of the struggle of wondering, of questions, and of no longer even seeing a vision. I am so grateful for it all, and I am SO excited for what is to come… Is it weird to say I feel like, in so many ways, I am just getting started? My gift is in organizational systems and finance, and that is how you confidently step when the world is trying to tell you “no” or otherwise. I believe my gift is also in my journey, giving me the ability to communicate and teach, to help others get to their destination faster. You “scale”, you make your path, and I think you leave pieces of you along the way.
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
Kristy Gayton entrepreneur, investor, mom of three boys, author, CEO of The Start Companies (STARTbrands), owner, and developer of many residential and commercial companies among other online entities. Taking creative visions, a financial plan, and implementing systems she has created solutions that work. Helping others to create a plan, get organized, and start or restart!
Kristy has been a sought-after keynote speaker and voice due to her relatable story, no excuses tone, valuable advice, and upbeat personality that she interjects in all aspects of her brands. She is an expert on productivity, organization and finances who has been featured in business publications such as Forbes, Entreprenuer.com, and Inc.com , as well as speaking to private companies and universities such as Harvard. Kristy holds a financial and business degree from Kennesaw State University, but she attests it is her vast business and life experience that is giving her her “degree’’ where growth was fortified from the struggle.
For fun she loves to be active, travel, be on the lake, have adventures in the Airstream, be around good energy, feeling safe, and she is a sucker for good coffee, design, and loves being around water! She resides in North Georgia with her 3 boys and Pit Rescue Puppy Cash(that is now 65 pounds). You can check out more about Kristy on her personal blog Kristy Gayton.
THE START COMPANIES
STARTbrands is a collection of products, communities, and resources helping to balance and focus on all the demands of life, through systems, tools, and knowledge to succeed.
START KNOWING MY NUMBERS
An Organizational System and Financial Training to Help You Know Your Numbers!
START COURSES
Start Courses are designed to help you increase your productivity and organization.
THE STARTPLANNER
Organizational tools and systems to make you more productive!
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
I touched on this in the how to do you scale, but it was only a small aspect. This is an area I am really passionate about. I love making sure people are taking calculated risks and they know their numbers.
The first business, I bought a camera personally. It was just a hobby that quickly turned into a passion. I used my income as I grew to continue my education and buy more lenses. So I did have an initial investment. When we launched STARTplanner in 2015, we needed a good bit of cash to order inventory. Not only were we ordering inventory but it was dated. I already had a social media following from my creative business, and I used that to launch a Facebook group. We launched preorders on a product we had not created yet. I took the photo of a church book our supplier sent as an example, and Jenny photoshopped it on the cover. We knew our numbers and breakeven point, and when we launched preorders, that was the cash we needed to order. Over the years, we have been very creative with timing and launches, knowing our cash flow making sure we are not too far leveraged.
My first Airbnb rental home, I knew what I needed so I made a list of everything that I needed to purchase. Once I had a budget, I took out a loan for that amount and had a schedule to pay it back. Due to a spike in it demands and being able to raise the price, I paid that loan off in 4 months! I am all for borrowing money. Leveraging financing is not a bad thing as long as there is a calculation behind it! I think it is no coincidence at all that my passion and purpose is to help others know their numbers. It is that very thing that allows me to sit where I do and feel a little free!
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
My life in business, career and even personally has been learning the art of pivoting. There is not just one story and has not always been easy. I could pivot or forge growth in one area of my life but I needed stability in the other and I really have been on a journey of unlearning and forging change and growth in all areas learning to trust and step on faith. If I had to pick one it would when COVID hit how it forged our START COMPANIES, STARTbrands to become one entity. We started offering numbers courses and productivity courses. STARTplanner became just one layer and really it changed the entire structure of how it operated. At first I was stressing and then became to fully embrace the change as it is what I wanted for the business and even for my life too!
I have people in my life(all areas) that honestly I could not being doing life without and I am so grateful for. I know my journey has been with intention. It has not been my plan but rather someone else’s shaping me along the way for His plan. I think we all must learn to pivot and be open, so that we are us and not just molded into what society, our parents or others what us to be.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.Startbrands.com www.KristyGayton.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startwithkristy/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/startwithkristy
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristygayton/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/startwithkristy?app=desktop
Image Credits
@Brittany Sweat Photography