Kellen Kautzman

Success often moves hand in hand with narcissism and it’s too easy to get caught up in the trap of thinking that you are your career. You are not.

 

Serial entrepreneur Kellen Kautzman is the founder and operator of Send It Rising, where he manages business development and strategy for more than 40 clients while overseeing a team of 25 internet marketing professionals.

Kautzman is a well-regarded expert on growing small business with internet marketing and SEO, and is a regular guest on national business-related podcasts, such as Business Show 2.0, The Entrepreneur Way and Money for Lunch. Kautzman is an accomplished public speaker and has been featured as the keynote or guest lecturer at dozens of universities, conferences, workshops and networking events.

Inspired by motivational business writers like Simon Sinek (“Start with Why”) and Malcolm Gladwell (“The Tipping Point”), Kautzman was led to author his own self-help book, “Everybody’s Doing It – Advertising Redefined by an SEO Expert,” which initially launched as the #1 New Release on Amazon.com in the SEO category in August of 2017. Kautzman has also been featured as an SEO expert in published articles for Nevada Business Magazine, Small Biz Daily, Small Biz Club and Las Vegas Business Press.

Kautzman is obsessed with continually adopting new business strategies, exploring new endeavors, and engaging in new marketing trends, serving as a leader in emerging fields. This entrepreneurial spirit has led Kautzman to start up other ventures including Kautzman Properties, a family-run real estate investment company; and Crypto Miner Group, a crypto-currency mining company he co-operates with two business partners.

Where did the idea for Send It Rising Internet Marketing come from?

Send It Rising was an idea I’d come up with in my early 20’s that embodied positivity, moving forward and upward. It was also the name of a band I sang in! Never-ending positivity isn’t the goal, as we all face difficult nuanced problems and a handful of wishful thinking isn’t going to solve them. That being said, I sit on the Marketing Committee of the United Way of Southern Nevada as well as the boards of Entrepreneur’s Assembly and the Philantrepreneur Foundation, and that is because we believe in moving in a positive direction and being willing to do the hard work that is required to see our goals realized.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

Coffee, and I have an outstanding team around me who handles most of the day to day operations for my company, so I am fortunate to be able to focus on public speaking, writing and business development. Within the realm of entrepreneurship, I rarely struggle with being productive… there is so much to do.

I am spending increasing amounts of time on projects that don’t initially make any money. This includes a CryptoCurrency mining data center and non-profit work. However, the seeds of those adventures are already sprouting and if my crystal ball is working properly, I can see considerable opportunities being born out of those projects. This includes a recent influx of investment capital to the crypto company, leading the Entrepreneur’s Assembly and seeing a rise in leads from a subsequent video marketing push in Southern Nevada.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I imagine the end result. I’ve envisioned speaking in front of a large room of people countless times. I recently gave a keynote to 100 people. Being able to imagine a future goal is the lynchpin of achievement.

I also fight hard to keep intelligent hard-working people around me in all facets of life including my hobbies.

What’s one trend that excites you?

AI is changing the game of business operations and efficiency. Speaking into machines is the next big thing and we need to be prepared to adjust our thinking now. Developers are making machine learning programs that can listen and then act accordingly, like Google’s Duplex AI. This newly developed technology is able to call a business and schedule an appointment or make a reservation on the user’s behalf. It just fascinates me and makes me very excited about where this technology is headed, and I also look forward to the day that AI can create blog content for our business at or above our current quality level.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

I actively try to see conversations from the other person’s perspective. If I can empathize well enough with their point of view, we can accomplish a great deal together.

Success often moves hand in hand with narcissism and it’s too easy to get caught up in the trap of thinking that you are your career. You are not.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Overcoming tragedy is an overlooked element of success. Great leaders solve painful problems, make hard decisions and do the right thing when it hurts the most. The experience to make the right call under duress isn’t something that appears overnight. Your history, scars and past embarrassments lay the foundation of your leadership ability. You’re not going to have any problems visualizing how you would like the future to be, so focus on taking time to enjoy life now while you are young! The consistent cringe-worthy events in your life are necessary and will come to play substantial roles in how you deal with stressful situations, and even if it doesn’t feel like you are on the right path, you are.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

Being your own boss is harder than having a boss (in many cases). If you’ve never paid for someone’s salary and been an integral piece of whether or not their career goes well, let me tell you that it can certainly get your attention.

There is a myth that being your own boss somehow alleviates stress. In my experience, it adds pressure and it’s your ability to handle that increased weight that will determine the success of your career.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

Create teams. Nearly every path to considerable success involved a large amount of people. The larger the group, the more smaller teams will form. Your ability to lead teams will to a great extent determine your success as an entrepreneur. Speak in public as often as you can.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

Treat everyone with respect, however place your employees’ wellbeing and happiness above your customers. There are lunatic, crazy customers and it is your responsibility to work with them. You should not tolerate lunatic, crazy employees. Your team, if you are a good leader, will most likely be made up of great people. You should have their back and defend them whenever possible.

What is one failure you’ve had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

One failure! I’ve had multiple failed companies, some of which were profitable. We overcome these challenges by moving on, creating another company and learning from the pain.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

I see major potential in how cryptocurrency can work within our economy, and I think there are several ways shrinking newspapers and other journalistic companies could hugely benefit. For example, one idea would be to develop a cryptocurrency company for media outlets that leverages mobile devices to mine the coin, based on visitor time on site. In other words, paying journalistic entities with cryptocurrency, and incentivizing them to increase the amount of time their readers spend on their articles.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

I bought lunch for my staff. I have a great team that works hard and who is genuinely interested I the success of the company. I feel so fortunate to have a team that is fully invested.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?

We use a program called Agency Analytics, which allows us to effectively analyze our online marketing efforts. It all of the metrics we need to run a successful digital agency.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

“Antifragile” by Nicolas Taleb. He’s a bit a of a narcissist, but his perspective is helpful for entrepreneurs and will help you avoid being a sucker.

What is your favorite quote?

“All matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration. We are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There is no such thing as death, life is only a dream and we’re the imagination of ourselves.” Bill Hicks

Key Learnings:

• Your employees are everything. Take the time to invest in your staff, by providing quality training, allowing them to take initiative, and giving them constant encouragement, recognition and praise. You will be thankful you did.
• Flex your imagination muscle. In order to accomplish your vision, you must be able to experience the goal vividly in your mind.
• Demonstrate compassion and true concern for your team and those you do business with. Empathy is an essential requirement for strong leadership and successful entrepreneurship.

Connect:

Public Speaking:
Kellen Kautzman on LinkedIn @KellenKautzman
Kellen Kautzman on Facebook @KellenKautzman
Kellen Kautzman on Twitter @kellenkautzman