Latest / Coffee Playdate Podcast with Dr. Olga Deengar / Classroom Teacher to Global Brand Builder Ep 21: Kai Shapiro on Creativity, Courage & Communication
Transcript
- Coach Olga MD: Welcome to the Coffee Playdate Podcast. I have a very special guest with me today, Mr. Kai Shapiro. Welcome! Kai: Hi, thank you, Olga. Thank you so much for having me here. Excited to chat with you. Coach Olga MD: we get started, I have to ask, do you drink coffee? And if so, how do you like your coffee? Kai: I do not drink coffee unless it's like a latte sometimes, but I do drink sparkling water, a lot. Coach Olga MD: Perfect. going to play our first game. It's a rapid fire questions game. ⁓ going to give you a choice between one answer or the other. Just choose whichever one feels more natural to you. You don't have to give an explanation. Here we go. Would rather work ⁓ on new product for an influencer ⁓ or an influencer build a brand from scratch? ⁓ Kai: work on the product because and having a social media brand or persona or page is a of work and it takes a little magic to create and not ⁓ everybody it and it's also like a lottery with the So to do from ⁓ It takes a lot. It's like, you know, becoming a famous actor, let's say. So getting somebody who already has the following is much easier. And then you can just create a product, create the marketing machine behind it and what's going to push the product out there. ⁓ that's my answer. Coach Olga MD: I said you don't have to give an explanation. ⁓ Kai: ⁓ my goodness, thing about me is that sometimes I don't listen, not because I don't want to, it's that my mind wanders. ⁓ Coach Olga MD: I loved your answer. There's so much to unpack there. We'll definitely get to that soon. Next question, late night strategy session ⁓ attending a social gathering for fun? Kai: Thank late night strategy session. I'm definitely more inclined to ⁓ that, so that's my answer. Coach Olga MD: How about audience growth or revenue growth first? ⁓ Kai: revenue growth. Coach Olga MD: And the last question is, fewer deeper platforms like Instagram or being on every major platform? Kai: Hmm, fewer platforms. Coach Olga MD: Perfect. So the next game is called Take a Sip. It's very similar to the first game, but we both answer the question. And if our answers match, then we take a sip. Here we go. Learning two more languages or hiring two more team members? ⁓ Kai: All righty. hiring two more team members. ⁓ Coach Olga MD: I'm going to say learning two more languages because it's really hard a lot of fun too. Traveling 25 countries for work or signing 25 new clients in one year. Kai: 25 new countries. Coach Olga MD: Me too. Cheers! ⁓ Kai: Cheers. Coach Olga MD: Next question, fine dining at a restaurant in France or getting street food in Thailand. Kai: fine dining in France. Cheers. Coach Olga MD: Me too. Cheers! Last question, would you rather daydream on a beach in the Maldives or watch the Northern Lights in Iceland? Kai: Lights. Coach Olga MD: Me too, because I've never done it before. Kai: Yeah. Coach Olga MD: Perfect. So, can you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself? Kai: Definitely. I am Kai, as you know, welcome and hi everybody. I work with social media marketing, doing launches for influencers, authors and leading people in different areas. ⁓ travel the world and I am located in different parts of the world for work and for travel ⁓ for different reasons. And didn't start... working on marketing or working in social media before I was a teacher and I worked with kids and it was my passion. But then I decided time for a change and being a creative person, change came and I grabbed it with my two hands and here I am. Coach Olga MD: amazing. So Kai, I've known you for a very long time. We actually met over a French program that we both attended in Quebec. And ⁓ have seen you grow throughout the years. But have you ever thought that you would be where you are today, back when you were still teaching? Kai: Definitely. not. ⁓ was a point ⁓ I wanted something different ⁓ I wanted more and I didn't know exactly ⁓ that was going to take me but I took a step to first move out from Toronto, from Canada really ⁓ then I got a new job in the Caribbean and that was really like a step to change things and then from there I'm just moved to Europe and then to other places taking first step and then the second, just step ⁓ after really led me to where I should or where I could be. ⁓ So ⁓ I thought that I would here today, but it happened. Coach Olga MD: It sounds like it was a very natural progression towards where you are and maybe somewhat unplanned. Kai: Definitely, it was a surprise. The plan really was taking action and trying something new and a little ⁓ right? Because ⁓ took leaving what was sure, a sure ⁓ sure circle friends, sure support to ⁓ go into world ⁓ and it off. Coach Olga MD: Yes, that's the scariest part is really taking that risk. How did you feel when a new opportunity presented itself? Kai: Felt great because it's meant to be ⁓ when it's supposed to work, it will just flow naturally. I think that just sometimes an opportunity will come or a new project will come your way and it's important to let it flow. ⁓ if it makes sense, go with it and just take a risk and go for it. It takes, ⁓ a little, ⁓ courage and... Yeah. Coach Olga MD: I love that. Throughout your entrepreneurial journey, was there a mindset shift that you needed to have in order to progress forward? Kai: Different shifts because I was a little bit on social media, even on my own page, but then ⁓ I it wasn't what I wanted to do. So I shifted my thinking to work with people instead and doing the marketing behind it and doing more of the ideas, the creativity behind the scenes, not in front of the scenes. So I had to learn. um, a lot, and I had to shift my mentality from, you know, being in front of the camera to being behind the camera and use my skills that I had before from teaching, from education, from previous experiences, from different languages I speak to, to really use that and condense that energy into what I was going to do next. So there's always a shift and then shifting into having my own company, my social media agency, where not only I am working, I'm also other people or other people ⁓ and managing and working with the talent that I with. So ⁓ you have have different hats. And I guess these hats came from teaching, I would say. you manage a classroom full of kids, then you get ⁓ the as well to manage other things. So ⁓ it's to experience life and experience different jobs and be open-minded and try new things because one skill could lead to your next adventure. Coach Olga MD: Yes, it's like you never know which skills will be transferable to your next entrepreneurial venture. And is there a challenge that you faced along the way and how did you overcome that challenge? Kai: You never know. many challenges because when you come from a background where there's a structure, there's a system, let's say like teaching, and then you go to working with social media and with content creators or people who have their own brand. And then you have to really adapt and know when to hire new people to help you. When you, you know, sometimes you try to do everything yourself because you have a vision and you really have to feel and also talk to people who have been there before. And there's always the advice I give to people is listen to people ⁓ ⁓ where you want to be and how they, you know, how they got to, be there ⁓ follow their advice. And ⁓ there will be challenges and how to deal with these challenges and put. things in place that will support you. Like for example, thinking ahead ⁓ issues would come from ⁓ marketing campaign or what could come from a project I'm working on and really leaning on other people to give this report. I really think that ⁓ can happen, be prepared, anything really can happen. So you always have to be prepared. Because if you stay prepared, you don't have to get prepared. Coach Olga MD: you already find the solutions to your future problems, then you're set, right? ⁓ Yeah. Kai: Exactly. Sometimes you have to do it. When you work for yourself and when you're leading a group of people and when you're working with social media, there's a lot of things depending on you. You really have to think ahead. Sometimes ask the people who I'm working with, okay, what holes do we have here that we have to fix or to ⁓ before become problems? Coach Olga MD: I love that. Is there any other piece of advice that you would give someone else who may be starting out in a similar space? Kai: These are advice. work on communication. Listening very important. Being flexible is really important. Communication, writing skills, people skills, ⁓ is very and being creative. But also the best advice is really surrounding yourself with smart people. hiring or working with the right people because that's gonna make or break you. You can have the best ideas, you could be super smart, but you cannot do everything yourself. You have to work with others to help you to succeed, to achieve what you want to achieve. And you have to ⁓ with the right people. Some people are not a great match, some people are a better match. ⁓ would love to ⁓ with people who are smarter than me. you know, instead of people of being me, ⁓ I'm the smartest in the room. Because when you're working with people who are smarter than you or have a different vision or can contribute something to you and to your business, then you can learn from that. So that's the advice I would give. Coach Olga MD: And is there a one book recommendation that you'd give our listeners today? Kai: Honestly, I've been reading this book called, You Should Talk to Someone. I think that's the title. It's about a psychologist ⁓ she recounts her and ⁓ dealing with clients ⁓ dealing with life her problems. ⁓ And I would recommend that because it really puts things in things into perspective for me when I'm dealing with stress and when I'm dealing with what's really important in life because, we work so hard and sometimes you lose sight of what's really important in life. at end of the day, ⁓ we want to live a meaningful life and to be at peace. And there's people out there right now who are battling cancer or who may, you know, who see that their lives are ending. and what's really important right now. So that is a book that I really recommend. And the second book is communication, how to talk to people. It's the art, I forgot the name, but it's by Chris Voss. And any book by Chris Voss or any work by Chris Voss, I recommend for people who are working with people or any field, how to communicate with people. So Chris Voss. Coach Olga MD: Amazing. Thank you so much, Kai, for being in the Coffee Playdate podcast. I really enjoyed our chat and I hope to have you in a future episode. Cheers. Kai: Yes. Of course, anytime you are the best, I've also seen you grow so much and really be such an inspiration, you know, with everything you went through in your professional life, really, and achieving all your goals doing it so amazingly well. So always an inspiration. There's not a lot of people who inspire you or you look at it like, wow, she did it. or he did it and you're definitely one of those people. So, you know, thank you for being here, for being a great friend and also for inspiring everybody. Coach Olga MD: Thank you so much. That means so much to me. Kai: ⁓ But it's true. And kudos because it takes a special kind of magic really set your sight on something and it happen. A lot of people don't ⁓ and you have done it. So that's one of the reasons why I wanted to come here and with you. Coach Olga MD: you. That's amazing.