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

Hi Robert, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Some people are hit with an idea in the middle of the night, like a lightning bolt! They sit up straight, say OMG and leap out of bed…focused on breathing oxygen into the Frankenstein currently residing in their brain.

That wasn’t me! It was more organic. I was leaving one business and figuring out what to do next. I knew that I didn’t want to sit in someone else’s office all day and I knew I was good at teaching. Those were the only certainties. Everything else? Clear as mud!

But, despite the lack of clarity, I decided I would do the most important thing…SOMETHING! I decided to move! So, I began to connect with universities and businesses. I began to do 1 day trainings. Many were in leadership and leadership topics. But soon, I found I specifically enjoyed the communication space. I noticed more and more that this was a needed topic area. People in corporations were giving presentations and BORING people to tears. People were scared spitless giving the presentations and still others were throwing meaningless numbers and charts at people’s brains…then baffled when they didn’t remember anything!

So, I began to discover some frameworks for communication. As that developed, I fell into the art of storytelling and learned how to combine it effectively with communication frameworks. The core principle was and still is sharing memorable messages that cause people to move to action.

This was the birth of my current business!!

Robert, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My company, Kennetik Kommunications, is a communications training firm based in Laurel, Maryland. We currently serve the real estate industry as our primary audience. We teach real estate pros how to connect with the customers and clients using storytelling as their communication framework.

How did we get here? Well, how much time do we have? There have been twists and turns along the way. Here is the short version.

I was a teacher for nearly a decade then moved into the instructional design space. I started a company that built online courses for universities, corporations and government orgs. As we built courses, I began to train companies on the software we were using to build learning modules. That experience began transitioning me into leadership training and ultimately communication training.

Why communication? When I trained, I noticed I kept getting a similar question…Robert, are you a speaker? How can I speak like you? You seem so comfortable and confident!

The truth is…I wasn’t so sure how comfortable and confident I was internally, but it was clear there was something others were looking for. So, I began to go a bit deeper to find out how to teach this skill more effectively.

After working on the essential elements of confident presentation for a while, I landed on storytelling as the connective tissue for influential communication. Whether it’s getting the attention of your audience with a personal story or framing business data as a story, the connective power of storytelling is undeniable.

So, I teach this skillset to real estate pros, small business owners and even corporate professionals who want to show up with more confidence, be more memorable and have greater impact with their audience!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Like many kids in my community, we grew up with the idea that you went to school, got good grades, went to college, chose a career, worked hard and did that for the rest of your life until you retired!

I thought that was the way it was supposed to happen. But, for some reason, I was bothered. As I navigated through different spaces early in my career, I couldn’t wrap my mind around how people did the SAME THING for 50 years! I began to think there was something wrong with ME!

But the more I grew and understood myself, the more I learned there were people who WERE doing the same thing for 50 years and were EXTREMELY unhappy, bored, and unfulfilled! I didn’t want that. In fact, as I navigated and explored different areas, people came to me and asked how I got the courage to be free…

Wow! Here I am…uncertain about so many things and others looked at me as being courageous and free!

I was always a learner and always curious, even as a child and so it felt validating to realize I could explore different areas of life, pivot and upgrade…and it was OK!

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

THe most effective strategy for growing clientele has been showing up regularly! Content marketing has been the biggest element of growth. Showing up regularly online has been key.

I’ve received numerous questions from:

“Hey, I ALWAYS see you in my feed…what exactly do you do?”

to

“Hey, you’re the guy that always talks about storytelling. I want to get better at that. What do I need to do?”

You won’t get questions if you’re invisible these days.

My message to every business owner is speak, share your story and stop hiding in plain sight!

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.robertkennedy3.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/robertkennedy3
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/robertkennedy3
• Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/robertkennedy3
• Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/robertkennedy3