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Knockout Leadership: Insights from a Boxing Entrepreneur · Unstoppable Success Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Unstoppable Success Podcast, where we spotlight visionary leaders who have mastered the art of growth, purpose, and powerful connections.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Jacqueline Strauminger, connector, high performance coach, and creator of the Leap to Your Success Framework in Two Steps TS.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: Each week we dive into bold insights, real conversations, and powerful strategies to fuel your growth, deepen your relationships, and ignite transformational momentum.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: And why?
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because you were meant to be unstoppable.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Now, let's leap into the podcast.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: And today I have the absolute pleasure, as your host, Jacquelistromator, to bring Ken Cox on as our esteemed leader and guest.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: And let me tell you a little bit about Ken.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: He's a seasoned entrepreneur and he's actually the president of In Link.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: He's he's offering amazing services.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: He hosts the award-winning Clicks and Bricks podcast where he shares stories and insights for entrepreneurs.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: He's an author.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: He works, um, his works include Reclaim Sorriety, a guide to overcoming addiction.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: And Ken's ventures include leadership roles in multiple companies like Box STL and Vendor Review.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: And his mission is to create value-driven solutions while inspiring resilience and innovation in the business community.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: So welcome, Ken, to the podcast.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: I am so glad to have you on as a guest.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: And as we were talking pre-show, like I was talking about how I absolutely love boxing.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: So my favorite sports.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's my pleasure.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: So okay, you know, I know we're gonna talk about leadership, but let me talk to, let me ask, what got you into boxing?
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um addiction got me or the recovery from addiction.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess I was in my late 30s.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: I got a diagnosis of liver alcohol-related liver disease.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I'm I'm a kid from the 70s.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: So drinking alcohol was just very commonplace in every place that I went.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: As I got into the business world, um, you know, happy hours and the ability to take, you know, specifically like um, you know, European customers that come to the States, taking them out and showing them a great time.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Happy hours turn into um, oh crap, I gotta be back to the office.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's morning time kind of situation.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: And that took a toll on my life as a whole.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I ended up with liver disease.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um so one of the things that I did to help me overcome the addiction and the liver disease was I started boxing.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I had always kind of been a rough and tumble guy, lots of street fights and spar fights and stuff like that, but I had never really put any discipline around it.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And at the you know, the age of 40 years old, I started boxing.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um realized that the gym that I was going to is not being ran properly.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I quite didn't know why, because man, there's there's enough, there's enough here to make this a reasonably good business.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but there's something disconnected.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I called the owner, I'm like, what's going on?
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, man, my wife got sick.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have the time to really focus on it anymore.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just this kind of burden that's in my family right now.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, well, why don't you sell it to me?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because if it disappears, I'm probably gonna die.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: At that point, I had already been part of my established routine of how I get through my days.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: And my days were very, very strugglesome at that point in my life.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I ended up buying the gym, was great.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then what really happened, what turned what changed my entire life is, and and it's the premise of the reclaimed sobriety book, 12 rounds of sobriety, was after COVID, we shut down that gym and we we opened a new gym.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there was restraints where we were and we didn't want to deal with them after COVID.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: So we opened the new gym called Box STL.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: We're now the largest, largest boxing school in the Ozark 22 district.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: There's there's 13 districts in USA boxing in the United States.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: So, and we're the largest in our district, which we're very proud of.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's huge.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Congratulations.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to start taking these kids, and and realistically, we didn't do it for the kids, right?
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: We did it for other programs, but these kids kept knocking on my door.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't realize that the new location was next door, right down the street there was a mosque, and right down the street there was this big Catholic church.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I have this these kids constantly knocking on my door while I'm building this thing.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I don't like I built this gym for men like me that are struggling with things, right?
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: They need a place to go, and that's what I built it for.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but these kids kept showing up and finally I'm like, I don't know what to do with these kids.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: So finally I'm like, screw it, let's come in Saturday, just come in Saturday and we'll figure something out together.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: And and that that decision changed my life in such an epic way that when I started coaching these kids, and I went from, you know, I've been a boss my whole life, just about having being a manager and having employees and hiring and finding all that stuff, but I've never taught kids anything.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I took that responsibility very, very seriously, and especially in boxing because it's dangerous.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: So stepped back and, you know, after the first couple months, I'm like, okay, let's we need to make a full program for these kids.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, so I took, I started get taking coaching classes and I got the you know, high flow um neurological coaching program done, and and I did all these coaching programs to figure out how do I teach these kids to go from, you know, this kid that's just you know in eighth grade to putting on a uniform, walking down a hallway with thousands of people screaming, and get into a ring and fight somebody that's trying to hurt them and get over all that fear and all those things.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: And and I and I realized that I had to change who they identified themselves as.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: And when I realized that, I'm like, oh, that's the trick to everything on this planet is being a human is is who I identify as.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: And if I can shift how I identify myself, then I can do anything.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: And these kids can do anything, and they're amazing.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: And like we have, um, we were awarded in 2024 the female fighter of the year um for in USA Box in our district.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it was just uh it's been such a joy to see that, and then you know, my my business acumen and then this and putting them together has just been so profound for me.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I've learned so much, just you know, I feel foolish that I'm learning as much as I am at my age, but always be learning, right?
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: Isn't that the thing?
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: Always be learning.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, at my age, I feel like I'm learning so much, so much faster than I was ever able to before, um, about what life is and being a human and all those things, and it's really just an exciting time.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's really cool.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I I'll interject my thought as to why, because when you start learning things that you're truly interested in and have a sense of like I want to know because I really want to know, because you want to know, versus being told what you need to know, right?
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right, you know, and so they're two different things.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I absolutely love it.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: So, so talk so so also before you know the pre-show where we were talking, and that is that throughout your career as a leader in your business, you you you have wanted to create, and it obviously talks about what you're doing right now with these kids in boxing, you know, people to walk into a place and feel like that what they are walking into is a safe place and not always be sitting behind a desk.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: So talk to me a little bit about that, you know, you know, what you've done well in that now, to like almost like where you started as you shared, like maybe you didn't do it always as well as you wanted to, but had this idea about doing it.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: So walk me through that journey and also share with us how does boxing play into that?
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'll start with my why that's so important to me.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I grew up, uh, I was born Kenny Schneider, I was adopted at the age of 13, turned to Kenny Cox, um, was consistently in trouble.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Right after the adoption, I got in a lot of trouble and that you know, they lost custody of me until the age of 18.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: I got to live there, but um and but I I didn't ever have a safe place to go when I was a kid, it just didn't exist for me.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: So, and I didn't realize that, but the safe places that I found.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I started working at the age of uh 12 at this restaurant or 11 is bus and tables, right?
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: And the owner kind of would take us under his wing and teach us, you know, how to do how to deal with money and how to how to make sure that you didn't have all your money in one place.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: And he taught us about bank accounts and all these things at 11, right?
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: And this is a just the business owner that owns a restaurant in town that's helping out the local kids.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: And um then my local pizza join, I'd go there, and you know, that's how I started my first company, it was vending machines, is the owner of that business really took me under his wing and taught me a lot about spirituality and religion and um those kinds of things.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: And there was a slot card track that I would go to a lot, and he would teach me how to, you know, solder for the other guys in the in the shop so I could solder and make some money and then do some other stuff.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: So what I realized is Main Street America it was my safe place as a kid.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: And when I started a boxing gym, um, when I started boxing, I I wanted to compete in golden gloves, and I did twice.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: I've got one championship and I got to the championship, but I lost.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I lost once and and I won once.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: So it's good.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um but uh and I would go to these boxing gyms though to to work out and train, and I'd go to all these other boxing gyms, and whoo, that's some dangerous stuff.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you're going, especially a guy my size, not really, you know.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're talking, I've been boxing now for a long time.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm much better than I was then.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I'm still I would still wouldn't call myself good.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a great coach, but I'm not a great boxer.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it's not a safe place.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: The boxing gyms in general for a person walking in is not a safe place.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and I wanted to create that.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: And when the kids started showing up, I'm like, oh, I really have to make sure that this is a safe place for them to openly communicate to me, regardless of what it is, right?
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, for them to have a place to go when they're not there's no place else to go for them.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: So that became wildly powerful for me.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Outside of that, I've got my own neurological disorders that I've dealt with my entire life.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: I was a member of the special school district all the way until like eighth or ninth grade.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: And um, my son's nonverbal.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: And at at Hosterian or NLink, we we really like to hire um people that are on the spectrum because they they enjoy to sit and you know play with the computers and and do those kinds of things.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: It becomes a challenge with talking on the phone sometimes, but we can train them to do that.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: And it's been wildly gratifying to do that as well.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: So those are just a couple places where you know I think that I'm striving in creating safe, safe places for people to do and exist and just be and do the things that they like to do because that's so important to me is um doing the things that you want to do and having that opportunity in life.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it I I love what I love what you're sharing and the some of the things that really kind of come out.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, you know, safe place isn't also just safe place physically, it's a safe place to have your voice, you know, and I think that's actually like uh an interesting, like that's that was that was kind of resonating in my brain, is that it will also be able to create a place where you know you can walk in, whether it's the pizza place, a boxing gym, or a corporate boardroom, and know that you're not gonna get ridiculed or in trouble or whatever the icky behavior is to have the leader for opening up your mouth and sharing your opinion and giving people that courage to speak.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and it's important, like we need to hear everybody's opinions, right?
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Not all the time, like you know, sometimes you're in the middle of a project, and then you know what if what's already planned is planned and you execute on that, so that's not a time for opinions, but having a forum that a place that they can open up and talk about, hey, you know, I should have said something to that last maintenance window, but I didn't, um, for this reason, and that's respected.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Let us get through the thing.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, in IT, it's way harder than boxing because boxing is always just real time.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: In IT, it's way more challenging because there are specific ways to do things, you know, it's non-objective a lot of times, and um just it's more challenging in IT than it is in boxing for sure.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: Well, right, right.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, also like in IT, you know, there is a specific way, for example, like to code, right?
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's a different way to, you know, there's a different way to do it, but it has to be standardized within that business unit, right?
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: You can't have this person using this language and this person using this language.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: It it's communication is the keynote to success.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're using two different communication methods, then it don't then it falls apart really quickly.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a that's a huge thing.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: And that's and so I I I love what you are what you're doing.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: So talk to us uh, you know, about and creating that space for for kids because it, you know, I I do believe that that helps give provide confidence at a young age.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's something that so many, like I know myself, that was something that I struggled with deeply as a kid, teenager, young adult.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: So the first thing I do in both scenarios, um, at the business, at the the corporate world, I call it my SMAC, uh systematic, methodical, and consistent rule set for the business.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you ever have a question about how I should act in any scenario, your SMAC should tell you how to do that.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: If it's not already a standard operating procedure, then I can fall back on that.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: In boxing and everywhere else in life, I call it my just my core values, right?
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: And we we go over those and we reiterate them on a regular basis.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: And um, it's way more fun in boxing, right?
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's so cool.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but Smack is a great name.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it comes from um American, not American, I think it comes from Southwest Airlines when they were redoing their entire um mechanism.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's what I read.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: I know, I know they used that that that terminology.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it was basically like, you know, we have fun flights, we don't assign seats, you know, those kinds of high-level, consistent rules that that's what they're always going to fall back for.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: And what I didn't know, and and I don't know how many people on the planet don't know this, and I didn't, and I feel so foolish, that living a life, just a human life without a set of core values, um, will flounder you forever.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: You won't know what direction to go into.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: And we know whenever you set those core values, you know, deviating from them is painful.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and and how you set them is that you just write down what you want and then you reiterate them every single day and become part of them and and embody those values and act like them every day, and and it becomes a really, really, really powerful tool.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: I would say I think it's the most powerful tool of any mindset tool on the on the out personally.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: I would 100% agree with you, and I also 100% agree that so many people do not realize that.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I talk to people a lot about creating that personal statement that decides like how you want to be.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: And it and it's funny, like I have something that's on my wall that I look at and I'll say, you know, and I'll read it.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's empowering ambitious leaders and professionals to ignite transformation, drive impact, and achieve unstoppable success.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's something that I truly believe lots of reasons why, but it's also helping people be their best.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: My mantra changes quite a bit.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um I would say probably quarterly.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: Today it's I'm here, I'm safe, and I'm grounded.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: Love it.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: Right, you know, and that's also so I but I think you know the core values piece is actually really important.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually want to touch on that because you know um sharing.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I don't know why I just raised my hand, right?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: Or lowering the hand.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um so you know, it's core values is so important in a company at the at the top of it, it's core values for a team, core values for the people of each person.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I would love for you to share like how do you think that plays out in all those different places?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: Corporate, team, person.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think when you set it as part of in the business, it's it's your job as the owner to set those core values.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: Hands down.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: I understand like everybody's like talking about oh, you got to have the mission statement, all these other things.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: And you need all of that stuff.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: But I promise you, your core value set is gonna be way more valuable than your mission statement is ever gonna be.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and when they're when you're onboarding people, you know, like literally you're gonna say, hey, these are our core values.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: If you can't align with these values while you're here, then this isn't gonna be a safe place.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: Right, it just won't be a safe place for you.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: And you're gonna need a place that will be safe for you.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: But these are our values, right?
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: We work hard, we play hard, we you know, we we uh we do not shy away from you know how uh hard tasks, those kinds of things.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: If we see paper on the floor, we pick it up, right?
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like those are just kind of stuff that we do.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: And if you can't embody these values, then this is not the place for you, and that's that's okay, right?
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, knowing that you're not the place for everybody is really, really important as well.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then when you see somebody deviating from the core values of your company, and this was the hardest thing for me to do, it is you have to let them go quickly.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, maybe maybe one say, Hey man, you're really not aligning with our values of the company.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, the I understand where you're coming from, and and this is uh you probably already know, but these are the things that we need to work on.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: And if they can't, then you have to get rid of them quickly and let them move on.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it's uh what I've found in life is that it's more mean to try to keep that relationship there and when it's not right than to let that go.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a hard thing to do, and nobody likes firing anybody, but it's you know, I've never fired anybody in my life, and I've fired well of a lot of people that didn't end up in a better position for them afterwards.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I think what you just said is it is so they ended up in a better position.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: For them.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: For them, right, for them.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's not about you, right.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think one of the key things that we have to look at as leaders and and I and and and listeners, I really want you to, this is a really important game-changing insight.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, your knowing your core values of your company is so important.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: And remember that the people that are in your tribe, which I call your employees, because I hate the word employees, you know, your tribe of people that are working with you need to embody the core values that you have.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: And if they don't, yes, let them go quickly.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: And you know what's gonna end up happening?
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: They will it and and I will take a one-step, let them go.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: And if you can, refer them to somebody.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: If you think they're a good person, you might say to you know, I might say, Oh my god, Ken, you know what?
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: You are an awesome person, but as you can tell, you we think that maybe there's a misalignment in your values with our company, but I think that you're a great human.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: I want to refer you to a friend of mine at company, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, because I think that you more align more with that company.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know, unless a person is an absolute like horror horror, but most people aren't.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Or and if they are not guided or they are not the best employee, many times it's because they're not acting at a place or in a place where the core values are aligned and they don't feel in alignment.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's exhausting being somebody that you're not.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's the most exhausting task a human can do.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: And and to ask people to do that for eight to twelve hours a day, I you know.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can talk about the value of a human and your pay is does not equal your value as a human, but at the end of the day, there's no value, monetary value that can keep me from being somebody that I'm not for eight to twelve hours a day.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: That would it just doesn't exist.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: And there's so many things to get stifled in there, and we want to and the and the key thing about leadership is the word lead.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: And in order to lead people to become better than they are today to something greater and to lead your company to greatness.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: We have to be in an of a line in an a alignment.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: And if we're not, then we need to find a different move the path differently for that.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: Listen, it doesn't matter how big or small the team is.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: When you get alignment, things start flowing.
• 22:17
  unknown: Yes.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: They flow very, very well, very, very smoothly.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then you then you talk to your team and you scratch your head and like, wow, last time we did this, it was really challenging.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: And what's different?
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, oh, this person, this person's not on the team.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like, oh, okay.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: That makes sense.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: And um, it it is a really beautiful thing when you your entire team is aligned and all moving forward in a common goal.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it it's just uh yeah, it's neat.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: That is really neat.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: That is really neat.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, okay, so so I see, you know, we we we were talking a little and you shared a little bit about this, but I'm really curious.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: So talk to us about what your new venture is in Link.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: In link.com.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: Link.com is my ode to those men that put me under their c under their shoulder when I was a kid.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um we founded Hosterian in two in 2001, um, corporate IT data center infrastructure.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: We've done things like build back offices for sprint and AOL.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: I built the data center for Peabody Energy, the largest coal company in the world with some pretty crazy legal requirements.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, built multiple data centers in my life.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, today I service customers from the local um yoga studio all the way to the largest companies on the planet.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: And and I and I really like that.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: And now, because I service some of the largest companies on the planet, I have lots and lots of resources.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: And with the invention or the not the invention of AI, um, but the the catapulting of AI over the past three years um had me step back a little bit.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: I went to MIT through their AI program, and I really wanted to do something in the AI space.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I really love these people.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's there's not many things in the world that make me more passionate about seeing somebody go after their dreams.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, the the local construction guy that wants to start or you know, leave the construction firm and start his own construction company, the guy that's working as a plumber wants to start his own plumbing company.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the lawyer that, you know, I've got a US Marshal that wanted to become a lawyer, pass this bar and and you know, help him start his business.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: NLink is for that.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's the tool stack that is everything you need to start your business online.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: I like to look at NLink as the link between Web 2.0 and 3.0 because we have tools in there like uh AI employees that will answer your phones and and do your Google reviews and um, you know, push warm leads up to the top.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so you don't have to, you know, you know, necessarily run through all of your leads.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's a really great CRM tool that we have over 60 different industries already programmed with funnels and websites and all that stuff, so that you can just chip-click it and go, and it's it's you know, pretty quickly wildly robust.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then we couple that with our office product.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I have a lot of major concerns about privacy moving forward.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: And right now, when you're sharing your Google your data with Google and Amazon and all those things, um I read more privacy policies than probably anybody else on the planet.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I can't tell you exactly what they're allowed to do with your data.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um neither can you, and you're clicking the button and going.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: What I promise you at Endlink is that we will never sell your data.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: We're privately held.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: I do not have an objective, I do not have a legal requirement to make the most amount of money possible.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't have to sell your data.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: I just have to feed my family and my employees, and they all have a great time and grow.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's my requirement in life, not to make the most money possible.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: So um, and I think that's an important distinguish, distinguishing factor.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm really sad that more people don't understand that.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, um, I so I this sounds like absolutely fantastic.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I I I love that.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I love what you said about I I love your like your you want to feed your family and your employees and have people be happy.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's not about making the most money in the world.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean making money is great.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: They have a legal requirement to make the most money possible with your data.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: And and you're sharing your data with them.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, they can't break intellectual property laws, but can I I I I'll share with you uh yeah, yeah.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's it's crazy when you because I'll I'll share with you, you know, when I I started my career in magazine publishing.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: And what did I love to get and sell?
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: Names.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: Names.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean name generation and capturing people's contact information is a I mean that is where you get list companies from.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: They make their money.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: Selling your contact information.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: I used to tell people I did two things when I first started my career in publishing.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: I killed trees because I was responsible for doing all the direct mail and putting, you know, my job is insert, like, you know, because it's consumer marketing.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: Insert cards in the magazines, direct mail packages, renewals, bills, whatever.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's all paper, right?
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, yep, I'm responsible for killing trees.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I and I said, and I'm responsible for your getting all the junk mail in the world because I take your data and I if you subscribe to my magazines, I will sell your data.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: And at the time, we didn't necessarily I mean, we did have the you know, do not email whatever list of something then and now are two wildly different times.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, wildly different.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: The ability to create hyper-targeted long tail, I'm talking two, three, five-year campaigns that target an individual that and they know name, date, age, romantic preference.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh today I drive a BMW, but I'm looking at Lexis, and you know, they they have so much data on you today.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I I think about my daughter who's using digital diaries and maybe, you know, or the little girl that's five today, and she's she's you know learning how to do this with AI.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: And and some company owns the data that she's sharing as she's a child, she might run for Senate one day.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: And how valuable is that data gonna be?
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: The stuff that she was.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, to the guy who wants to run against her.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: Brand at 13 years old, right?
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you could peek into my head at 13, boy, the planet would explode probably.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's it's wildly scary.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: And the couple of time and data storage today is just so absurd.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: And and I understand what you're saying, where you were doing before, but the game is wildly different over the last two years.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: Wildly.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: And it is so crazy different, so crazy different.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I when it when I when I say that, like I what I used to do back then, I would not want to be in that position today because it would make me really uncomfortable.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: I would walk away from that job.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the second.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: The second I realized what was happening, um, you know, data.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that's part of why I have to be an entrepreneur, because I can't I can't live a life happy and healthy knowing that that's happening in the background and that I'm that I'm an integral part of it.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: And well, I'm not gonna do anything that I'm not an integral part of.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: So right, right.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Ken, I could talk to you for hours about this, and and I and I I just want to applaud you for what you are doing, because not only are you making it a safe place for people to feel confident about going into where they're working, but because of what you're doing with AinLink, you're making their data safe.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: And we are making that that's a that's like safety is a key thing.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a as a leader in the world, I just want to applaud you for that.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's something that you know, I wish you know in the grand scheme of thing, one of the biggest reasons why I started this podcast is because if we could create better leaders and we can have and and we can help other people know about other leaders and the businesses that they have that are doing the good in the world, that maybe if we can touch a few people to make things just a little bit better.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like one company at a time, one person at a time, one leader at a time, we can make a better impact.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I appreciate you for being an amazing guest and for what you're doing.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: And listeners, I want you to do me a favor like, how can our listeners get in touch with you?
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: If they want to know more about me personally, you can just go to kencox.com, k-en-c o x.com.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to know more about in link, we've got a 14-day free trial of both of our office product and our CRM.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and we do it every Tuesday.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: We do an AI webinar totally free.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we give discounts to the NLink platform afterwards.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: We have a really great coaching program right now.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: I've got, I think, two slots available where I meet with you once a month um to help you grow your business and get everything legal and all those things.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: So um Kencox.com or inlink.com is is the way to get a hold of me.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, we will make sure that we have those in the show notes.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: And please, listeners, I'm sure you've gotten some great value out of this.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: So two do me two favors, actually.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: Make that three.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, make sure you reach out and connect with Ken on Kencox or at inlink.com.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: Also, please do me the favor of hitting subscribe to this.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then three, please share this with your friends and your business colleagues.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because, again, as I said, being an unstoppable leader does, you know, take uh a team and it takes knowledge.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so if we can change and create a better impact and have greater leaders out there, we are doing something great in the world.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm Jacqueline Strawinger.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: This is the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight Podcast.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: And thank you for being a great guest, Ken, and thank you guys for listening.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for joining me on the Unstoppable Success Podcast, where we don't just talk about growth, we leap toward it.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: If something today lit a fire within you, sparked a new idea, or gave you the extra push forward, please don't keep it to yourself.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: Share this episode and podcast with a friend, colleague, or fellow pie achiever.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: Be sure to subscribe, rate, and review.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: Most importantly, connect with me to your success.com.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: Coaching community in your network.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: Keep leaving with intention, keep building your network with purpose, and most of all leaping because you were meant to be unstoppable.