Kenny Kline is a serial entrepreneur, founder and managing partner at JAKK Media. JAKK Media is a niche content company that runs some of the most popular sites on the web targeting passionate audiences.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
Kenny’s father-in-law
When business started difficulties overcame:
“the big thing was that this business is not venture backed, it’s not something that really resonated with investors of any kind at the beginning and I wasn’t sure exactly what it would become myself, it was something new. So really just starting out with no money, I still had student loans that I was paying off, I am in New York which is a very expensive place just to exist and so paying the bills those early days was tough and I would just take on consulting gigs on the side to just to pay the bills and even fund the business and put it back in. And so those early days just pinching every penny and kind of running multiple businesses at the same time. I never wanted to have an agency, I didn’t think about scaling it but I had a number of clients for the first 2 ½ years of the business ”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
Principles: Life and Work Book by Ray DalioFavourite Quote:
“Nothing good in life comes for free” Kenny’s Father
Recommended Online Resources:
- Backlinko – get backlinks that make a difference Backlinko is the place for next level SEO training and link building strategies
- Neil Patel – Advanced The Simple Process That Works To Turn Ice Cold Prospects Into Happy Customers with Automated Conversion Funnels Sequences
- ahrefs – SEO Tools & Resources To Grow Your Search Traffic. Audit your website, explore competitors, research keywords backlinks all in one place. Powered by seriously big data, trusted by top SEOs.
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“I think it goes back to survival. So figure out how to survive another day and just be ready to seize opportunity when it is there. And with that make just sure that you are doing something that you plan on doing a long time. The things you read about in the newspapers or the blogs where they raise millions of dollars and then the raise tens then the raise hundreds and they sell four years later that is one out of 50 million businesses. The rest feel a little more like a slog. And there is nothing wrong with that but just be prepared for and it doesn’t mean it is not going to be a great journey as well for you”…[Listen for More]
More About Kenny Kline:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
Donald Trump “I like thinking big. If you’re going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big.”
Other Quotes From the Chat with Kenny Kline:
- “growing up I didn’t know too many entrepreneurs so I never really thought about it too much and I kind of started out on my own without too many mentors”
- “get buy-in from everyone in your life because it is going to be a lot of work for them to support you, to allow you the time to invest in your business”
- “you are always learning on the job but if you start out ahead and build a really good community of entrepreneurs or skill-based folks and help you on your journey. It’s going to be really useful to you as you go down that path. And hopefully if you start out making fewer mistakes your progress is only going to be forwards and great even in the early days”
- “just really investing in the quality of the content has been our biggest growing opportunity”
- “the easiest thing to do is just say hey what do you want, do you like what I have? And if they say no or if they provide some feedback you can adjust and make it better… So really go out there and ask what people want and then give it to them. It’s a fairly straightforward process at that point”
- “survival is the biggest thing in business – to fight another day and be around to seize the opportunities”
- “we are a big believer in consultation, not just with each other but with a lot of people of the company. We like to thoroughly discuss what we are thinking and how we go about things and how we capitalise on things. It’s always a discussion of how do we allocate our time, how do we allocate our resources to move forward”
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