We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Susan Kavanaugh. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Susan below.
Alright, Susan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
My mission in life is to help people find hope and through that, peace. When I was very young, I have wonderful memories of going to church and singing “Let There Be Peace on Earth.” The key phrase in that song is “And let it begin with ME.” Early in my career, I had the pleasure to work with Jill Jackson, Cyd Miller’s co-author and co-composer of that song, so it reinforced my mission even further. It was serendipitous to meet and work with her but I also believe my higher power created it as a message to remind me I was on the right path.
I’ve been drawn to the underserved and doing what I’m able, when I’m able, to provide hope, dignity of life, access to housing, food, education, and most of all medical care. The project I am most proud of was executed in 2007. I worked with fellow Rotarians and one colleague from work to secure the very first $300,000 Rotary International grant award given to a need here in the U.S. I spearheaded a project, with the president of the college where I worked, to develop a healthcare center in an elementary school for young children and their families in Phoenix School District #21, the most underserved and transient area in our city. I secured several additional $100,000 grants and smaller financial awards that ensured the creation of that health center and an even larger community center offering not just healthcare, but education and community resources as well.
In this instance, I significantly increased the chance for thousands of the underserved to find hope and peace. It began with me, and it began in the hearts of others with whom I was working.
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 was born with a pen in my hand. I started writing stories, plays, and even newsletters around the age of eight. I was passionate about being a writer. When I was in college I majored in communications and was drawn to broadcast journalism. I had an appetite for education and balanced and fair news, so I committed to news broadcasting, starting my career in radio and quickly moving to television as a reporter and news anchor. During the early years of my career, I started experiencing severe anxiety attacks and even phobias. I was crippled by it. I could manage through much of it, but it eventually ended my career and my first marriage.
As many people do, when faced with hardship, I leaned heavily on my faith as a Christian. I took a job at a Christian ministry which allowed me to continue with my writing and editing skills while taking every course I could that helped me move deeper to the truth of who I was, and the ability to love myself more deeply than ever before. I pulled myself fully out of the chains of anxiety and made it a goal to help others live conscious lives with hope and peace at the heart of everything they did.
In 1997, I launched KavCom: Conscious Communications, LLC, as a marketing and public relations agency to serve spiritual, holistic, and nonprofit companies. My combined skills in journalism, marketing, and as a minister allowed me to offer a new approach to positioning organizations that saw work as a force for good. Since then, KavCom has had clientele from around the world who have advanced their businesses through authenticity and good intentions.
KavCom provides strategic communications services, grant writing, nonprofit support, education, and life coaching. Once based in the midwest, I’m now in Phoenix, Arizona, married again after 20 years of being a single woman, and continuing to write. My first book, The Heart of Profit, became an international bestseller through Amazon within days of its release.
Our organization is especially unique because we are discerning about who we choose as clients…we see these clients as partners in creating a better world. We have extensive knowledge of nonprofit advancement and have one of the highest grant procurement rates in the city. Our services are still broad, but communication takes many forms. Our brand is one of integrity, gentleness, prestige, and results.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
“Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business,” by Whole Foods founder John Mackey and Raj Sisodia (well-known early on for his book “Firms of Endearment”) was first published in 2014. This was 17 years after I launched my company. I didn’t learn about the book until a couple years after its release, at the same time I learned of an International Conscious Capitalism movement. There happened to be a chapter in Phoenix, AZ. I met with its founder and said, “Im on board!” I was hired to be the chapter’s very first executive director in 2017.
This book was a reinforcement, providing statistical data, of the managerial and operational foundation for KavCom. I found my tribe! In 2020, I released “The Heart of Profit: The Entrepreneur’s Roadmap to Tripling Income While Pursuing a Passion,” and it immediately became an International best-seller through Amazon. I frequently teach this roadmap to nonprofit organization through Arizona State University and consult conscious-oriented companies when they are ready to scale.
Mackey and Sisodia’s book focused on a model with conscious business at its heart and integrating not only the key stakeholders, but the leadership of the company, its purpose and its culture. The International chapters of Conscious Capitalism reinforce the model and make a huge impact on significantly larger corporations than KavCom serves. However, this is my bible for business.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
My open heart and inclusive approach to life has been the most effective strategy for building KavCom’s clientele. I’ve most successfully built my client base by networking in-person and frequently. I held membership in most significant business groups, Rotary, chambers, and more. If someone had an opportunity to meet with me, to hear my pitch, to consider the unique approach I would typically suggest, I was often able to hit the ground running with multiple on-going projects.
With the Covid virus I did have to pivot, like everyone else. This required a more effective social media strategy, branding myself as an influencer on multiple media sources, posting video conversations, being featured as a guest on many podcasts, partnering to teach webinars, and, of course, attending as many of the network gatherings offered through Zoom as possible. I’d never been all that interested in Instagram or even Twitter, but found myself reaching out through these venues as well.
The most effective approach I’ve taken to continue to build my clientele online has been my personal commitment to authenticity and the variety of topics I follow and on which I comment.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kavcomcc.com
- Instagram: soozken
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/susan.kavanaugh
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-kavanaugh-4011474/
- Twitter: @sooz4359
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6DC4S821o2LA7sIHyQM-zQ/videos
- Other: susankavanaugh.info
Image Credits
Elena Thorton Karianne Mundstedt