The Leadership Skills Every Professional Needs to Master with Kenny Brown

In this episode of Success Leaves Clues Podcast, our guest is Kenny Brown, keynote speaker, executive coach, leadership strategist, and communication expert who is passionate about helping leaders unlock their potential and create meaningful impact through authentic leadership. Drawing from his experience coaching executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations, Kenny shares practical insights on developing influential leadership, mastering effective communication, building high-performing teams, and fostering workplace cultures rooted in trust, accountability, and continuous growth. We also explore the importance of emotional intelligence, resilience, servant leadership, and the mindset required to inspire others while navigating today's rapidly changing business landscape. Whether you're an entrepreneur, executive, coach, manager, or emerging leader, this conversation offers actionable strategies for strengthening your leadership presence, improving team performance, and leading with confidence and purpose.

You can find him on:
https://www.kennybspeaks.com/
https://www.facebook.com/kennybspeaks
https://x.com/kennybspeaks
https://www.instagram.com/kennybspeaks
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennybspeaks/
https://www.youtube.com/@KennyBSpeaks
https://vibetribeuniversity.com/

Transcript

Kevin Brown 0:00

It's okay to not be okay, right? And how do I know this? Because I've not been okay. Right? And I and I could not be okay right now and still be able to speak life into someone else. And that really gives me the reminder. You know, a lot of times, pastors, right? I really admire pastors, but I also understand the weight of the mantle that they carry, you know, or religious leaders. Let me not even say that.

Davis Nguyen 0:26

Welcome to Success Leaves Clues, the podcast where we interview business owners on how they built their businesses and the hard lessons they learned along the way. My name is David Swain, and I'm a business coach and a founder of Purple Circle, where we help business owners achieve their first six-figure, seven-figure, and eight-figure year, all without sacrificing their quality of life. Before becoming a business coach and before founding Purple Circle, I started and scaled several seven and eight-figure coaching businesses and have been a consultant at several businesses doing over $100 million each, including some that are publicly listed and doing over a billion dollars each. In every episode of the podcast, you're going to learn lessons that took our guests years to learn, and you'll be able to learn that in minutes. No matter if you're a new business owner or an established business owner, every episode is going to give you the clues in order to elevate your business.

Pedro Stein 1:10

Welcome to Success Leaves Clues Podcast. I'm Pedro, and today I'm joined by Kenny Brown, a former senior federal bank regulator, CPA, and founder of Vibe Tribe University, whose 13 plus years as a senior risk management examiner, examining institutions ranging from 20 million to 450 billion in assets, gives him a perspective on financial risk and leadership that very few coaches can match. Kenny's journey from examining the nation's most complex financial institutions to creating the ESAP leadership framework focused on emotional intelligence, self-awareness, accountability, and purpose reflects his belief that regulatory excellence and human-centered performance are deeply connected. Kenny's background as a former student athlete music industry talent manager and mental performance coach adds a dimension to his work that goes far beyond traditional financial advisory, helping leaders, financial institutions, and community partners navigate complexity with clarity and resilience. His platform, Vibe Tribe University, brings together advisory, training, wellness, and educational support in a way that proved that changing the vibe of an organization starts with developing the whole person. Welcome to the show, Kenny.

Kevin Brown 2:44

Um, I appreciate you having me, man. I'm I'm happy to be here, man. I'm looking forward to our conversation today.

Pedro Stein 2:48

Yeah, me too, man. I'm excited from the day we met, you know, and uh Kenny, not sure if you know, but I'm kind of a comic book nerd myself, in a way. Right? So I love the first edition, man. You know, that that the origin story and all that entails. So let's rewind a bit, you know, because every coach has a moment where they look at their life and say, yeah, I guess this is what I'm doing now, right? So when was that for you, man?

Kevin Brown 3:16

Man, uh I would say January 2025, to be honest. Uh, I've been a coach for about seven years. I started this in 2019. Um, but I think I had my realization, my awakening moment years afterwards, right? I was kind of doing it part-time on top of my career with the federal government and with music, and I was transitioning, uh, kind of going through an identity crisis, going through my own healing professional journey uh in 2019, um, pre-COVID. I started kind of just wanting to give back, speak, teach, um, coach, uh, and then, but I was still kind, I still kind of had my baseline paycheck, right? So I was kind of moonlighting, doing it. Um, but I would say when I finally decided to step into entrepreneurship full time, right? And and really own it and put my all into it and my livelihood into it. That's when I finally looked up and I had my moment to say, okay, well, this is who I am now. Right. I'm no longer defined by any of the prior titles, any of the prior roles that I that that I served in. Uh now this is who I am. I'm the mindset coach and I'm the founder of Vibe Tribe University. I'm a mission-driven, service-driven individual that's trying to bring transformation and change and resources to people that need the help.

Pedro Stein 4:33

Okay. Now I want to dive in into a little bit here in the leap of faith, in a way, right? You're you you cross the line in the sand with what which was January 25th, as you mentioned. You were doing this part-time uh for almost like six years, right? Something like that. And then you're like, yeah, I I want to do this full-time, as it sounds like. Uh, can you walk us through the emotions of that? Like, I've seen a lot of coaches avoiding that leap, right? And how did that felt for you? Like when you were like all in, did it felt right? Did it was it scary? Was it a roller coaster of emotions, you know, just for coaches listening out there, how did that look like?

Kevin Brown 5:13

It was the scariest thing I have done ever done in my life, but it was one of the most empowering things that I've ever felt in my life. Um, fear has a very uh interesting effect on us, depending on how you use it, right? And my fear of staying the same um outweighed my fear of being uncomfortable and taking risks and going all in on myself. I spent years trying to build other people, serve other people, build other people's brands, work for other corporations, and I decided to just truth believe in myself, you know, for the first time and in the in I would say the first time in terms of my livelihood is concerned. And it was probably one of the most scariest things I've ever done. And I can tell you honestly, it's the most challenging thing that I've ever done in my life because at some point because it's no longer about what other people expect of you, it's about what I expect of me and who I truly am and not who people want me to be, you know, and so even more so just from a livelihood perspective. I've been working since I graduated college, so I've always had a paycheck, you know, and no matter whether I felt like doing the work or not, and I just showed up for work, I still was getting a check on a certain day. And so as an entrepreneur, going all in with this, it's different, right? And the difference is you're I'm not doing it for a paycheck, but I also know that you can't decide to be a full-time entrepreneur and not expect to have some type of profit initiative tied to what it is you're doing. So it was probably emotionally the, not even probably, it was one of the most liberating feelings to be able to take ownership of my own future, take ownership of my own income generating potential. But it was also one of the most challenging things and and scariest things that I've probably ever done in my life because I got rid of the safety net underneath me, right? And I had to really jump out on faith.

Pedro Stein 7:16

Dude, isn't it wild, right? When I'm thinking about entrepreneurship, it's such a roller coaster of emotions. And if you put things in perspective, like you said, oh, I I had to believe in myself. Like people were hiring you and they believed in you, right? So why wouldn't you? You know what I mean? It's like it's it always makes no sense because I worked in corporate too, right? And I was in banking, I wasn't in consulting firms, and uh then I I uh actually did the the the the leak too, right? Went to I have my own business and all that, and it's such a a soul-wracking experience. You're you're like people are letting you down, people aren't trying to take advantage of it so wild, and at the same time, you question your own value, right? Am I worth it to charge X, Y, and Z? Who am I to do X, Y, and Z? You know, you're trying to mature yourself at the same time, and you question every step, at least in the early days. I'm not sure if it that felt like for you, but it like totally felt like for me.

Kevin Brown 8:16

That is exactly what it is. It's even to this day, man. Imposter syndrome, you know, that's that's kind of what we're talking about, right? Do I do am I enough? You know, is is is I am I really giving the value that I think I'm giving? You know, why would people am I qualified enough, right? Why would people want to pay me for this? Am I getting over on people? Right? Like these are all, you know, you know, questions that go through your head. And I think over time you get the you know validation and you kind of get the confirmation along the journey by people giving you that aha moment, people giving you that, hey man, like I prayed about this and you changed my life. And you know, I think those type of testimonials and that type of transformational results that people get and they come back to you and with that with the gratitude, I think that's what is verifying that okay, I'm doing what I'm called to do. And but in another breath, it's more so like I would do it for free, you know, even if there was no before there was any a profit initiative to it, I was doing it for free. And so, you know, and people found value in it, which is why I really it gave me more faith and enthusiasm to say, you know what? I I I can do this, right? I I would do it if no check was involved. If I didn't have bills and didn't have, you know, to have have to keep up with lifestyle, I would still do this, which is why that's what I know I'm called to do, you know, um, and it doesn't feel like work to me. It feels like I'm really helping, I'm making a difference. It feels like I'm paying my tax on the blessings that I'm getting every day.

Pedro Stein 9:47

Dude, I love the fact that you brought something up here, which is almost like uh what I call a cornerstone, something to anchor yourself when you're getting those, you know, thoughts about imposter syndrome. It's just just look at reality, man, right? Uh I believe you got a lot of testimonials, people you helped, even for free, that whenever you're thinking about stuff, and even if I am, I go back to those moments, right? Try to anchor myself and just say, dude, that's just not reality.

Speaker 1 10:15

Take a deep breath, you know, and move forward. You know, yeah.

Pedro Stein 10:19

I'm not so I'm curious about another thing right now. Um, because in the early days, and I know you have two practices, right? You have the vibe tribe universe, and you have your mindset coaching, and one of the the basically the foundation for the other. But I'm curious about the evolution of who you serve, right? After you got rolling, especially in the early days, uh, we're trying to serve everyone in the coaching space. Sometimes I'm not saying it's your case, but we're like just trying to make ends meet, trying to to see if this is gonna land, right? And even sometimes put it in the reps, right? Can I help someone? You know, but eventually we sharpen the blade a little bit. Let's put it like that. And we attract a certain type of people, or we niche down, right? So can you walk me through the evolution of early days, evolution on your ICP, right? Your ideal client profile and who you serve now.

Kevin Brown 11:12

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So um, I started motivational speaking. I just started speaking for free. You know, in 2019, I decided, you know, during my transition, I branded myself as Kenny B Speaks because I wanted to set boundaries. It was a personal endeavor. I was going through a very um gut-wrenching and heartbreaking experience and relationally, uh romantically, and I was trying to heal from some of the patterns and some of the behaviors and some of the cycles that I kept repeating, you know, time after time after time. And I did and I had a message that I wanted to give people about, you know, just kind of healing, transformation, forgiveness, things like that. So I went to volunteer to nonprofit organizations and to community uh partners to kind of just speak and for free. And as I did that, there were individuals that were coming up to me, just kind of just saying, Hey man, I you know, something told me to come today. Um, God, you know, I prayed about it. You know, you the message you gave was spot on. Like, how can I get in contact with you? Do you do coaching? You know, can you mentor me? You know, it feel like you have a lot to offer. And at that point, I was like, okay, cool. So I went into just kind of taking everybody, right? I felt like everybody, if if you hear my voice and you you're moved by the sound of my voice and the message, then you're you're for me. And I started taking on clients and I started charging $35, you know, just for an hour. And the amount of clients that I got was overwhelming, but also the amount of problems that they that they were dealing with and issues was also overwhelming. And so um I ended up kind of wanting to scale scale it down, you know, by by charging more, right? So I was like, okay, well, let me just move the price from $35 to $50, you know, and people kept kept coming, kept paying, right? Even more people, right? And then I was like, well, dang, like, okay, well, well, then COVID hit, right? You know, COVID comes in, I can't speak, you know, because we couldn't travel, everything's on lockdown. So I ended up writing an e-guide. Um, and it was uh how to develop emotional intelligence. It was a step-by-step guide to developing stronger relationships and healing, you know, certain, you know, your emotional patterns. And people started consuming that, and even more people started wanting to sign up for coaching. So at this point, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna go from $50 to $75. They kept paying. I was like, oh my God, right? So at this point, imposter syndrome starts to kick in, like, yo, I'm not a psychologist, like I'm not a therapist, like I don't have any credentials that actually say that, hey, this is what you know, I'm this is my coaching practice. Like it was just, I just want to help people, right? And so people would pay and they would get real transformation and they would keep coming back. And so at that point, I was like, okay, right? Well, I can't take on all of this and give everybody an hour of my time because I still had a full-time job, right? So it's like, well, how do I do this, right? So at that point, I said, you know, I'm gonna scale down, I'm not just gonna take anybody that's coming to me because there was also some bad apples in there, people that just wanted to test it out, get a free consultation, get a free session, and they never come back, or somebody that would come in, kind of, hey, let me pick your brain for a second, which is like a trigger phrase for let me get something for free, and knowing I'm not gonna come back to you, right? And so, you know, at that point I said, you know, I need to scale where I can kind of take groups at a time, and I can really decide who who is my niche audience. And so that's when I created Vibe Tribe University, and it went into kind of group group classes and group sessions, and everybody was kind of on the same path, and I used my ESAP coaching framework to kind of guide that those coaching sessions and recognized that as I went after a coaching certification that I was using the same framework that every other that the coaches were trained to use, and I didn't even know it, right? Um, but then I also said, okay, well, well, now let me sell a product, right? I was selling a service, but now let me sell a product. And the challenge I had with being a new coach is, well, I'm the product, right? So, but and I can be relatable to everyone, but that doesn't mean that everybody's my ideal client. So who am I most relatable to? So I had to create my avatar based on my own experience. Who can I relate to, right? I'm an athlete, so let me coach athletes, student athletes. I'm a military kid that dealt with change and travel, so let me deal with people with kids that maybe are from you know military children, right? I'm a I'm I'm a I'm a corporate professional, a young black man that just tried to find his way after school and tried to transition from being a student athlete to a corporate to a professional. So let me coach people that's within the ages of 24 and 30 that are in that transitionary period, going from being a student athlete into a corporate corporate setting. So let me try to go after people that I can genuinely relate to, right? And so that's kind of how I was able to nail it down to a specific uh avatar, uh coaching client avatar that was relatable. And then on top of that, I went to issues, right? Let me go to people that's dealing with imposter syndrome, let me let me get people that's that's that's experiencing emotional and mental burnout, right? Let me go to people that's experiencing financial hardship, right? And and financial strain, because I'm a CPA, I'm an accountant, right? So with that being the case, let me help people that's trying to get their financial financial life together. And at that point, that's how I got into the six pillars of wellness that I that I also use within Vibe Tribe University. So it's been trial and error and just a story over time, man.

Pedro Stein 16:51

You know, thinking about it, it looks like you're serving Paskenny, right? In a way, it's you, it's like your entire story, right? You were an athlete and you you shifted from to corporate, professional, that that age, and imposter syndrome. It's almost like you're describing me, you, right? Um, in a way that it's just like been there, done that. I can help people with that, right? If that makes any sense. So let's do a little bit of a game of pretend here, Kenny. Let's pretend I'm your ideal client profile, okay? For Vibe Tribe. And um, first of all, how would I be able to find you, right? Marketing-wise.

Kevin Brown 17:34

Okay. So, first of all, you would go to um vibe tribe you or vibeuniversity.com um or vibe you, the letter U.com. Uh, you can also find it through kennybbespeaks.com. Um, so there's multiple different URLs and they kind of all kind of connect to each other. Uh, but those are the first two. You'll go to kennybbespeaks.com, sign up for a for a coaching session. At that point, we'll you'll get on the calendar and then we'll have our one-on-one consultation, our free consultation. Uh, and then I'll just kind of do an assessment of kind of where you are using our for the four-part framework that we have.

Pedro Stein 18:09

Okay. So I went through through your website, right? What you got there out there resonated with me on social media, whatever. And I'm like, dude, I gotta talk to Kenny, right? So I booked my my call and um hopped on a call. We can, I understand there is this almost like a discovery call. You're trying to understand if you can help me, even if I'm a good fit, too, right? It's not just about you trying to serve me. There's it's an exchange. I get that 100%. But let's say there's alignment, right? I'm gonna be on board it. We can put it simply like that. Uh, what I want to know is like if you could give me a little peek behind a curtain, right? A little bit of understanding of how does it look like to work with with you and your business and uh the outcomes that can expect, you know?

Kevin Brown 18:56

Yeah, absolutely. So I walk you through a four-part process, right? So our coaching relationship would start with an evaluation of ease, first of all, your expectations, right? Um, what the root cause of your expectations, where do they come from? Are they internal facing or external facing? Meaning, you know, what are the things that you expect of yourself because society put these things on you, because your parents or your your position or your role in life put these things on you? Or is it because you genuinely want to be these things for yourself, right? Because ultimately that is going to determine how adamant and how serious you are and where you prioritize these things and the goals that you set. So we'll go from deciding, uh determining the root cause of your expectations to determining um what how that goes into your priorities in life, right? And then we basically set goals. We set a 90-day 90-day plan for you to reach your goals. Our second session will go into structure, right? We believe, I believe, that people thrive in specific structures, whether that be K through square K through 12 education, whether it be a four or five-year college program, the military, athletic program, a church organization. Everybody has been experiencing a specific structure in your life that we have either that you have thrived in. So let's go back to what has actually shown itself to be successful, success leaves clues, right? And let's recreate that for yourself. A lot of time the fall-off that we have is because there's structures that's been given to us by other people. And when we're no longer associated with those particular, you those particular um organizations or those particular structures, then we can't develop it for ourselves. So what my coaching process involves is let's set the expectations, let's set your priorities, let's set the goals, let's set the structure that can help you meet those goals. And then the next, the third session will be about uh accountability, right? The big A that everybody wants to stay away from, right? Accountability. Uh, and that's a personal thing, right? That also goes into how self-aware are you, right? How much self-control do you have, right? Let's talk about delayed gratification and your relationship with having to wait, right? And really work without seeing the results and how you manage your emotions and your mindset while doing these things, right? And so as we kind of go through this and then the P, the fourth session is let's progress, let's measure progress, right? What are our targets? What does the end result look like? And so at that point, after you get through the first four sessions, we should have a pretty good understanding of exactly where it is we're going, what the goals are that we have, what the structure is and what the schedule is to meet those goals. And are we staying accountable? The accountability part is all on you. Now, as your coach, I partner with you. I'm not a therapist, right? Your therapist is gonna try to you know listen to you, help you self diagnose in a lot of cases, but they're not gonna ultimately uh prescribe anything or they're not gonna basically you know try to diagnose you with anything, they're just gonna listen. Right? We're a coach in my coaching practice, as well as a lot of coaches, we're accountability partners. We're we're the push, we're the reminder, right? But but that also puts pressure on us as coaches because we also have to be the example. Right? We also got to be the prototype, right? Who am I to tell you to get up and be accountable when I'm not being accountable? Who am I to tell you to be timely when I'm not timely? Right? So credibility is key when in terms of coaching. So my job is to make sure that I'm being credible enough for you to trust what I'm saying and for you to continue to buy into the program that you've signed up for. And as you get the transformation or the progress that you're looking for in the form of transformation, in the form of progression in your personal life, then my program works. At that point, you got your testimony, right? And so that's kind of how you we would walk through it in the first four sessions, which could happen bi-weekly. We do the cadence is based on your actual personal need, right? So those first four sessions will probably be one week after each other. And then after we go through the first four, then we'll do either twice or once a week, or once every two weeks, sorry, bi-weekly. Um, and then we'll just kind of rinse and repeat. After the six-month mark, we'll reassess and we'll figure out what worked and what didn't, and we'll tweak it and we'll keep going.

Pedro Stein 23:17

Okay, interesting. Let me ask you this if I got it right, we're talking about mainly structure-wise, a one-on-one uh coaching practice, or is there a group component, or is there an online thing? Like I'm just trying to wrap my head around the structure.

Kevin Brown 23:33

Yeah, so this is the that's a good good question. So after you get the ESAP, that's that's what I just described is our ESAP coaching framework, after that, and you kind of get your coaching plan, that's where Vibe Tribe University comes in. We have a $97 a month monthly membership where you're able to get access to one other coaches, not just myself, but these other coaches also follow the ESAP program as well. So we call them wellness advisors, right? And in those wellness advisors, as part of wellness advisory, we have the six pillars of wellness that we focus on: spiritual wellness, mental wellness, emotional wellness, physical wellness, financial wellness, and relational wellness. Okay. And based on those, we have classes and courses that you can actually take. We have group classes, we have individual classes, we have bi-weekly coaching sessions, we have a uh community chats uh and community kind of forums where you can kind of bring your bring your challenges to the community. We have Facebook groups, we have a bi-weekly newsletter through Vi Tribe Digest where we kind of give out different and things that are going on in the community, service service opportunities, networking opportunities, and then we have a service-driven ecosystem. We're still in the process of building it out fully, but we've started with an ecosystem of service providers, wellness service providers that can give you access to mental health coaching, counseling, behavior, health support, um, physical training, personal training, nutrition, um uh internet, right? For those that are looking for just for just basic internet insurance policies, if you're looking for maybe Obamacare or something like that, just a cheap insurance policy. And most of these uh organizations and providers are cash-based providers, right? So because we're serving low-income, you know, or low to moderate income individuals or families that can't afford the top dollar uh uh prices that these service providers provide, or they just don't have insurance. So, you know, coming with a monthly membership opens up this ecosystem and this support group, the Vibe Tribe, gives you access to the Vibe Tribe, which are mission-driven individuals that are committed to helping you on your personal journey of wellness.

Pedro Stein 25:45

Okay. Now, Kenny, let's pretend I joined, okay, and uh the irony of it is like I missed the third step, the accountability, the big gay you mentioned. Like I no showed you, okay? Yeah. How do you navigate that type of engagement, right? Because sometimes I see people romanticizing the fact that they want to change, but they're not putting in the work. They're like, oh yeah, I'm doing something, but not really. Or maybe I'm just like no showing, I'm just pretending to be doing this. How would you navigate me as a client, you know?

Kevin Brown 26:23

I mean, two different ways. The first thing, before you even kind of get into how, I think the mindset is timing is everything. People change when they're ready to change, not when you want them to change, right? People get sick of their own stuff, and then they want to do something about it. Or life throws a circumstance at them to where they have to change in order to survive, right? Death, loss, job loss, you know, suffering of some sort, whether it be emotional, relational, financial, financial, heartache, you know, people that is a very big catalyst of change. And a lot of times the things that that starts personal transformation. So that's the first thing, understanding that someone else's transformation and change is not on your clock, right? It's not on my clock as a coach, right? I can I can lead you to the water, but I can't make you drink it, right? And I can lead you to knowledge, but I can't make you think it. Right. So the reality is that it's more so releasing the the desire to control the timing of their transformation and just giving them the support that they need in the season that they're in. So that also comes with, I want to remind you that you're paying for this, right? And there's an emotional investment that goes into when you pay for something, right? Which is why I stopped taking free counseling. I'll give you the first consultation, but I'm not just giving you free services because I'm more emotionally invested in your transformation than you are, right? But what I've noticed is when somebody puts the money where their mouth is, then they're going to show up. Why? Because I'm paying for it, right? I'm doing, I'm coming because I paid, right? Even if you don't want to go to that movie, guess what? You're probably gonna go. Why? Because you bought the ticket. But if the ticket was for free and you felt like you didn't want to go no more, are you still gonna push yourself to go to the movie?

Pedro Stein 28:15

And it's raining, right?

Kevin Brown 28:18

You're gonna give yourself so many excuses of why I won't do it because I'm not emotionally invested because there was no sacrifice, right? There's no real victory if there's no real sacrifice, right? If if you're handed something for free or you accomplish something for free, even in your relationship, let's just say, you know, is it truly a victory in your relationship if you did not sacrifice anything along the way?

Speaker 4 28:42

Right?

Kevin Brown 28:43

When you get married at that altar, when you're looking at your husband or your wife and and you're saying those vows and y'all finally raise your hand in victory that we actually made it past the altar. Like, is it really a victory if nobody had to sacrifice?

Pedro Stein 28:57

I love the reminder. Okay. Now, I'm very curious about one thing, and which is future, right? So, where are you taking all this, man? I mean, what's exciting? I mean, what what what's next?

Kevin Brown 29:11

I mean, for us, we want to scale, right? We're in the process of bringing transformation, not just to Georgia, not just to Atlanta, not just to the Southeast United States, not just to the United States at all, but overall globally, right? We have a I have a vision for our organization to be almost like Boys and Girls Club America, Boy Scouts of America, right? Um, you know, Girl Scouts of America, right? There, there's um United Way. There's foundations that have left clues of success on how you can take your mission and take your message on a global scale to bring transformation to just humans, you know, of various different cultures, you know, various different backgrounds, religions, uh, various different languages. And that's what we want to do. We want to be a global impact organization, right? We want to go from community impact to regional impact to domestic impact to international impact to global impact. And that looks like being in being having our own facilities, similar to what you would get in, say, a United Way or a community center, and having these wellness centers called Bibetribe University campuses, right, in multiple different areas throughout this, not just the Southeast, but also the United States and other countries where people can come to a community center. And almost like a like a not a boys and girls club, but almost like a fitness center, right? You can come get coaching, you can come get classes, you can come get fitness and wellness, you can come get therapy, you can come get spa, you can come get the things that are related to that six pillars of wellness. And then we also want to want to um collaborate and partner with community, community-driven uh organizations, community impact partners that are of the same mindset, and we want to scale, and so we want to serve, man.

Pedro Stein 30:56

Nice. Oh, I love the mission, man. Now, obviously, whenever we're going towards something new, right? Always something we're refining, right? Sharpen the blade. So, what are you currently trying to improve or tighten up in your business right now?

Kevin Brown 31:12

Our our direct-to-consumer relationship and and being able to um formalize and really structure out our marketing process and our sales funnels, you know, we're still in the growth phase, right? We're still trying to figure it out. Seven years in doesn't mean that you've been doing it for seven years. It just means that you've evolved and probably failed multiple times to get to where you are over seven years, right? And so for we've been able to uh develop relationships with B2B from, you know, just from to other community, community partners, colleges and universities and things of that nature. But we also want to get into uh government contracts, you know, with being able to go into the Department of Defense and a lot of our government agencies to provide our services and our frameworks. Uh, we're also in the process of developing more direct to consumer uh abilities to sign up for classes and enroll in one-off classes without having to do a full membership or without having to do a full coaching plan or coaching program. And we want to open that up to not just teenagers and young adults, but also families and experienced professionals as well. And I would say the other thing that we're working on is developing employee assistance programs that are customized for small and medium-sized businesses, almost like a one-stop shop, uh, using the Vibetribe business model. So we can eliminate the challenge of uh fragmented services that are offered to employees that don't have a mental and behavioral health focus to it that's more proactive instead of being reactive.

Pedro Stein 32:44

Interesting. Okay. Now let's step a little bit into uh sci-fi territory here, Kenny, if you'll allow me to. Okay. Let's pretend we have a time machine in front of us. Okay. We're gonna have two stops. First stop, you go back in time, you can go back seven years, or even when you made the jump for the full-time thing, you can pick the time you want best. And you can give yourself one piece of business advice you wish you knew back then that you know now. Why would that be?

Kevin Brown 33:19

I would probably go back to I would go back to the beginning. You know, I I would go back to and and the advice I would give myself is stop paying for things that you're too lazy to learn for yourself. Stop paying for services and and shortcuts to that you because you're afraid to do it yourself and learn for yourself. Stop telling yourself that's not me. I can't, I ain't gonna I don't have time for that. And learn it because you will you will save yourself a lot of money, you will save yourself a lot of time in the long run by investing into learning how to do things that you would you're gonna waste a lot of money paying people, others to do for you, and it still may not be exactly what you had in mind. That's that's one thing I would say, right? Um, quit trying to find shortcuts by paying people to do things that you're quite you are able to do for yourself. All right. I think in our in my journey, I've spent a lot of money and wasted a lot of time and money and resources that I can't get back, um, trying to trying to leverage other people's skill set because I thought that they could do it better or they can do it more efficiently than I could myself. And I learned that even in doing that after paying and after spending so much time stressing over the getting it, over it getting done, that I still wasn't satisfied. I still it took me more time because I was kind of maybe micromanaging, maybe babysitting, maybe being a perfectionist, whatever it was, and I ended up having to do it for myself anyway. Right? So that's that's one thing. I think another one would be don't try to do everything on your own, kind of contradicts itself, right?

Pedro Stein 35:22

But I'm gonna stop right there because I don't think it contradicts it itself. Like I think about this. I think uh uh do yourself done with you and done it for you. I think you're talking about the latter, done it for you. Like, for example, coaching. It's done it with you, right? You learn in the process, so you hire a third party, but you learn in the process. That's exactly what you do, for example. You're not opposing that. What you're opposing, it sounds like, is like totally external handoff. Like, do it for me, I don't care, I don't even want to know, which is the the latter, right? The done it for you. Like, did that did that make sense? Because I don't think they contradict it. There are different levels of engagement, something like that.

Kevin Brown 36:09

Yeah, there's there's different levels. What but I mean, like when when I say delegate or like you can't do it all yourself, I mean there's certain processes and certain elements of business that you need a team for, right? Trying to do it all on your own is just it's a it's a waste is it's it's just it's a lot, it's overwhelming. And I've had to learn over time to trust. You remember when we talked about in the beginning, we said, you know, entrepreneurship is probably one of the most challenging things we have to do because it makes you face your own flaws, it makes you face the character of who you are and the issues that you have within yourself. I got trust issues, man. You know what I'm saying? Like I can't depend on people. I it's hard for me to ask for help. It's hard for me to depend on other people to do things that I feel like I could need to do for myself. And it's hard for me to just take my hands completely off of the wheel and have blind faith in humans, right? So that's an issue for me. And in that being an issue for me as a person, when it comes to being an entrepreneur, it manifests in the form of your business and the way that you conduct business, right? So you end up taking on more things than you should by yourself, you end up not asking for help when you really do need it, you end up micromanaging people that can do the job, but it may not do it exactly how you want it to be done, right? And so at that point, you do yourself a disservice because you're standing in your own way. Is it's not the fact that there aren't people that want to help. It ain't it's not the fact that you're not surrounded around qualified and capable individuals, it's the fact that you're so you're so gung-ho about controlling it, perfecting it, and you know being consumed with how responsible or it being your baby that you don't want nobody else to touch it. Right?

Pedro Stein 37:54

Dude, to me, yeah, to me, that is like I don't want to put faith in this, but uh, or we can call it universe or even faith, but to me, it sounds you're giving this calling. Let's call it a calling, what you have right now. Yeah, and the reason you're giving that is this the same challenger you're facing right now. Because if you're looking at a different lens, you would have people questioning you as a coach and facing almost like the same thing. Like, why would they be open, you know, to share their own struggles if they're like they don't trust people, they don't, you know, this is like a challenger given to my perspective that is perfect considering the calling, if that makes any sense.

Kevin Brown 38:38

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, the coach has to be the prototype, unfortunately, but fortunately, that's the call. The call is to show your flaws publicly and own them in a way where people can use them against you and also see relatability in who you are. That's one of the most challenging things for us. But think about it in a just a basic relationship fashion, right? As men, right? We're taught we're taught to lead in relationships, but we're not perfect. We got issues, we got things that we deal with, right? And no matter what our profession, what our paycheck, what what the persona looks like, we still got flaws, man. And it's a it's an act of vulnerability to show people, your woman, your wife, your girlfriend, whatever it is, your deepest flaws and wounds, and not fear that you're gonna be looked at as unqualified, as as as deficient, as you know, is inadequate. Like, you know, these are fears, right? And so in the coaching practice, it's the same way, right? In the in the public eye, it's the same way. And when you look at it from a spiritual calling, and this is my ministry, like this is my this is what I'm called to do, right? So that means that I gotta die to myself every day. I gotta put myself on a cross every day. You know, I gotta fall on the sword every day, just to show people that it's okay. You're it's okay. You're you're you're you're gonna you're gonna live tomorrow. You're gonna come back tomorrow. You gotta keep trying. Don't give up. Like, yes, your flaw, but accept your flaws, accept your humanness, right? Understand that we're not perfect and and we're gonna fall short every day, and without getting too spiritual, you know, with people, but this is the reality, this is the human experience, and we're all going through the same experience. That's the collective universal consciousness that you try to connect people to to get them to take it easy on yourself, right? Right, and it's okay to not be okay, right? And how do I know this? Because I've not been okay, right? And I can and I could not be okay right now and still be able to speak life into someone else, and that really gives me the reminder. You know, a lot of times pastors, right? I really admire pastors, but I also understand the weight of the mantle that they carry, you know, or religious leaders. Let me not even say pastors, religious leaders, right? Why? It's because the testimonies and the sermons and the messages they give are not often for other people, they are often for themselves, and they say it out loud in front of a congregation and a big body of people that have the ability to judge them for the flaws that they are, but the gift that they have, right? So is it that they're perfect in their life? No. And when you find out that they're not perfect, are they gonna get judged and gonna get crucified? Yep, yes, they are. But did they bring transformation to people that were just like them? Yep, they did. Did they bring breakthrough? Did they bring healing? Did they bring perspective? Did they bring transfer? Did they did they help you? Yes, they did, at the risk of exposing themselves. I love that, man.

Pedro Stein 41:53

Yeah, a hundred percent. Now, back to our time machine. We we we we went into a a wormhole for a second, right? We got into a rabbit hole or whatever we want to call it.

Kevin Brown 42:05

It was good though.

Pedro Stein 42:06

It was good, it was good. Now back to the time machine, the game of pretend. Um, the second stop, right? You can pick a moment, top of the top of mind. I I and I I can understand there are multiples, but like top of mind, the one that comes up to mind that you feel felt the most fulfilled, right? Like, uh, this is why I started this. You know what I mean? Like, what moment would that be?

Kevin Brown 42:35

When I have that aha moment, right? When I there's a couple of different things moments I've had on a personal level, individual level, when someone has that light bulb moment I call, when you can see them finally awaken and get it, like that's what it is. Like, that's what I've been trying to say. That's what I've been feeling. When that that, because once you once they see it, they can't unsee it. And being able to frame someone, someone else in a way where they haven't been able to see themselves, and they now they now see themselves and they can't unsee it, it makes them change it. Right? That is probably the one of the most fulfilling feelings that I that I get out of everything that I do, man. You know, that aha moment. Now it's painful getting there, and they probably will resent you and they probably will not like you in some cases, especially personally, right? They they probably won't, right? But the transformation they receive and the evolution they receive and the person they become on the back end is the is the confirmation that this is what I was called to do for you. This is this is like the ha I'm not tripping. You know what I'm saying? I'm not tripping. I'm not just I'm not I'm not I'm not narcissistically believing. That I'm just this is just what I'm supposed to do. Like this is gent, this is genuinely what I'm called to do.

Pedro Stein 44:04

It's freaking real, right? That that's the thing. That's the thing. I I see a lot of people talking about mindset and all that. And it is mindset. It is a mindset, a mindset thing, but there is also a component that is reality. And when you you tie that, tie that down with the mindset and the reality. That's the moment. It's when you you see the transformation. It's not just when you talk about the transformation or you're, oh, you gotta be more of this and do that. No, it's like you can you have a tangible thing that happened in front of you that tells you, dude, this is real. You know what I mean?

Kevin Brown 44:40

It's like having someone that changes your life and they can do no wrong in your eyes for the rest of your life. Because it's like, man, listen, I don't care what happens and what happens in life, I will always respect you, I will always acknowledge you, I will never forget what you did in my life and what and where you came down and pulled me from. You know, like it's like getting a hug from God, man. You know, and there's been so many people that have come to me and for the services, the the messages, the the the the resources, the classes, the workshops that I've been responsible for or been in the lead of, and that have come to me to reaffirm and say, hey man, that changed my life, man. I haven't forgot it since you said it. You know, I ain't been able to see myself in the same way since. And that is that is the fulfillment. I've had organizations from a B2B perspective. I've had organizations that have come to me, schools, programs, right, that have come to me and couldn't figure out how to get people engaged, couldn't figure out how to get people to buy in, and have used my programs, brought us in as consultants, brought in ViTrap University to do workshops and programs, and have come to me afterwards and said, Hey, it was something about you. It was something about y'all. Like we have been trying to do this for so long, and y'all finally y'all finally did it. And we knew it was something, right? It gotta be it gotta be God. Anytime somebody looks at me and praises God for what I was able to do through me or what we were able to do through us, that is the fulfillment. If you look at me and praise God, I'm doing something right.

Pedro Stein 46:23

Love that, man. Now, if someone listening wants to connect with your follow your work, and Kenny, we're gonna have all the links in the description, but what's the best place for people to find you and connect with you?

Kevin Brown 46:36

Uh personally, I would say from a coaching perspective, one-on-one, go to KennyBspeaks.com, uh, where you can sign up for a one-on-one free consultation where we can kind of just talk through what you're going through and figure out if it's the right fit as far as coaching and the resources that we have. At the at the end of it all, the least that you'll leave with is a nugget and something that will help you be better. Okay. Um, from a course perspective, if you want, you know, more of uh classes, courses, workshops to help you with your physical, financial, um, or mental and emotional health, then go to vibe tribe you or vibeuniversity.com. And you can you can find all of our classes, courses, frameworks on there. Uh, you can also find us on social media. Um, KennyB Speaks is all of my social media handles, it's the universal across all platforms. Uh, and you can also find us at Vibe Tribe University uh as an organization. That's the universal on all platforms as well. So either one of those, you can find us, connect with me, connect with any person from my staff, uh, and we'll be able to help you in any way possible.

Pedro Stein 47:37

Okay, you know, time to do a little bit of a recap here right now, considering we had such a at least in my point of view, a great conversation. Okay, gonna highlight some points. Um, let's go back to the origin story when we were talking about the jump, and you were like, Yeah, that was the scariest thing I did, and the one of the things that empowered me the most, you know, uh in my life and all that. And it's about owning your story, right, Kenny? It's about uh being vulnerable, um, not shying away from stuff that actually happens in life, right? You're gonna find obstacles, you're gonna find challenges. Uh, but at the same time, it's are it's those moments that really will you will remember, I think, at least for myself. I remember the rest of my life, right? The moments that you feel really alive. It's like those jumps, those those small moments. So there's that. Um, another thing that I'd love to rem to highlight here is when we were talking about structures given by other people, but that don't work for us, right? Uh, when we were on boarding, we were talking about that, and that really hits home, right? So uh I worked in banking, 2008 happened. I got laid off, and my father kept telling me that he he was a VP of a bank, and he told me, Hey, I I was never fired, I was never fired, right? But he's from a different generation, and he didn't say that in a way to hurt me or anything like that. He was just saying that his entire life for some reason, I don't know why, right? And when I was laid off, he was like so supportive, but at the same time, I didn't open up myself to tell him that, but I held some grudge, like I felt bad because I was fired. Although I was in Brazil, you know, the the US had the subprime crisis, right? It has nothing to do with me. Uh, but that's that's something that really hits home because sometimes we're trying to play someone else's playbook, if that makes any sense. We're looking at other people or trying to follow their steps, but context is different, we're different persons, so that really doesn't apply. That really tends to not land. So there's that. Um great reminder.

Kevin Brown 49:56

I got a similar story with my father. Yeah, man, it's tough.

Pedro Stein 50:00

It's tough. Now, last but not least, I gotta I gotta say, the doing for free stuff, right? Yeah, so twofolded. Well, first of all, commitment. Uh to me, that's the key word. If you have no commitment, no skin in the game, it changed the game entirely. First, it reminds me of a meme, right? Uh, there's a fridge on the sidewalk, and there's a note. It says, free, take it. A week goes by, nobody picks it up, right? So someone has a price tag, $50. You know what happens the next day? It vanishes, right? So it's a perception of value. People tend to perceive free as worthless, you know. So there's that, which is I understand their point of view, but it's sad at the same time because sometimes you have coaches doing great pro bono work and they're being no-showed for some reason, exactly that reason most of the time. And also, this reminds me of more of a fun story, too, which is the commitment still. Uh, playing Texas Holdem with my buddies in the college days, right? Zero dollars in the pot. Everyone is so courageous, Kenny. It's all Lens and all that, it's left and right. And dude, you place a dollar, the game changed entirely. It's like, oh, wait a minute, right? So this is this was just my long-winded way of saying. Sorry about my TAD talk here. Uh I appreciate what you do, man. And I appreciate you being here and sharing so openly today. You know, it was great having you on.

Kevin Brown 51:37

Pedro, I appreciate you, man. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. I really truly believe success does leave clues, man. If there's any pillars of success, any breadcrumbs that I left to help people find the find the cheese, man, then I really hope that that I was able to add some value and perspective, man, for coaches that's going through similar things no matter where they are in their career. In the beginning, in the middle, or if you're always if you're an experienced coach and just trying to learn something new to reinvigorate your your why. You know, I hope that I'm able to add something to it. And if anybody wants to connect, I'm so happy to do so. Uh, but I love what you're doing. I really appreciate the fact that you give us the platform to be able to get out um to speak to other coaches and individuals about what our journeys are. Um, so keep walking in your purpose too, man. So, you know, success does lead to clues, man, and you're leaving plenty of them. So thank you.

Davis Nguyen 52:23

Appreciate you. That's it for this episode. This episode, as well as this podcast, was brought to you by Purple Circle, where we help business owners elevate their business to six, seven, and eight figured years all without burning out. If you're looking to grow your business, as well as get the time freedom that you are looking for, visit us at join purplecircle.com and see what we can do to help you and your business.