Kine and Einy Paulsen

Kine and Einy Paulsen are twinpreneurs originally from Norway. They currently head kinfizz, a management consulting company, that helps companies worldwide with marketing strategy for companies in chaos, typically for companies going through a leadership change, restructuring or post-M&A. Their marketing expertise has been featured in Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, and TechCrunch. The twins are sought after speakers for workshops about business development and momentum growth around the world, including at NYU, USC and Montana Governor’s Office of Economic Development.

Where did the idea for kinfizz come from?

Originally from Norway, we came to the US and Los Angeles around a decade ago. While still in college, we started our first ever company, INGRI:DAHL. It was the world’s first company selling fashionable 3D glasses and our first taste of entrepreneurial life. Some highlights were being featured by Vogue, Marie Claire, and Wired and having all the Hollywood celebrities sporting our glasses at the Great Gatsby premieres worldwide. Unfortunately, the 3D industry didn’t thrive and so selling accessories to that market was hard. Fortunately, companies worldwide had noticed what we were up to and asked if we could help them with their marketing. That started our next and current chapter, kinfizz – an LA based management consulting company. We now work with some of the largest companies in the world and help with marketing strategy.

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

No day looks exactly the same, but every day starts with a morning meeting with the team. We establish what goals and expectations we have for the day before we tackle client meetings. To best stay productive we encourage the entire team to work in sprints (some of us use utilize Cavedays) and make sure to take breaks in between.

How do you bring ideas to life?

As twins, we have always had a sounding board and an encouraging partner in crime, so it is easy to bring ideas to life. We have not only taught our team but also clients that the best way is to make sure you establish the next step. Small or large, the next step is the most important. The more energy you put into the idea while it is a seed the more likely it is for it to grow and become something.

What’s one trend that excites you?

The trend of people trying to incorporate more work/life balance into their lives. We truly believe that without balance and enough sleep everything else suffers.

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

We were born with a solid dose of optimism. And that is something that comes very handy as an entrepreneur. We have been told that we can make any lemon into lemonade and that is something we always try to do. In addition to optimism, we have the ability to focus on the task at hand and at the same time be flexible if something else requires our immediate attention. Our team always jokes that two twins is better than one and in the aspect of managing a company this is definitely true.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Be consistent and keep at it. As an entrepreneur at any age it is easy to get impatient when you don’t see results overnight. However, in our experience things can happen overnight and when you least expect. So just focusing on the task at hand and keep moving forward.

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

Don’t study your competition. We have had the most success when we have done our own thing and disregarded what other people do and how it has always been done.

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

In this day and age of data analytics, we have had more than one heated discussion on the fact that we believe it is better to have few but dedicated following of customers. Luckily, we have proven this concept over and over again for our clients. There are many great things with many eyes on your product or company, but it has less value if those eyes are not one of a fan or potential fans. Slowly building loyal customers helps company longevity and sales.

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

Kine: Consistently exposing ourselves to industries outside our own. We have always tried to expand our horizons so that we aren’t stuck in our own bubble. It is the key to innovation for us as it exposes us to ideas from other angles and allows more creativity.

Einy: Reading more books every year. There is no better education than reading and doing it consistently. I have never read a book that I haven’t learned something from. Kine and I set reading goals every year and increase the numbers for each new year.

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

We have agreed to not call any of the “traditional” mistakes or errors we have made failures. Instead, we redirected energy and analyze why we didn’t get the results we were looking for. We also try to see if there is anything we can do to turn into a success. And we document, document and document. This way we can educate our peers and our clients on how to avoid doing the same mistakes.

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

Call us and we will tell you.

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

Masterclass.com – it is filled with amazing advice from the most talented people worldwide.

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

The entire Google suite keeps our global team productive and in the loop with each other.

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

Factfullness, by Hans Rosling

What is your favorite quote?

We once heard George Clooney said “the only failure is not to try” and that really resonated with us. Personally and professionally, we always give us ourselves kudos for trying. If it doesn’t go as intended we analyze why and try something else. But we never stop trying at the risk of failure.

Key Learnings:

• Ideas can become more than ideas if you find a sounding board and decide what your next step for the idea is.
• Be consistent in what you do and you will get results.
• Read consistently and learn constantly.