We had the good fortune of connecting with Kate Kayaian and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Kate, let’s talk legacy – what do you want yours to be?
When it comes to the Legacy that I leave behind, I would love to be remembered as a person who helped people to see that they could TRULY live the life they wanted, without being held to industry norms and expectations. If I could enjoy a career as a successful classical musician while having my home base be a tiny little island in the middle of the ocean, then anyone can live anywhere!
I want to be known for having challenged the current conversations around what it means to work toward your potential and how to balance that level of achievement without losing yourself in the process.
Most of all, I want to be remembered as a woman who lived a great life and enjoyed it to the fullest.
Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I had an old file from when I was a young 20-year-old cello student at the New England Conservatory of Music titled “KK Enterprises.” It contained my lofty (and admittedly naive) ideas for running my career more as a business than I saw most musicians doing. I would act as my own manager, wheel and deal with record companies and book my own tours.
But my time at the conservatory, and then as a young (and then not-so-young) professional cellist, taught me that that simply wasn’t the way things were done.
25 years later, I would formally open Kate Kayaian, LLC.
It took that long to realize that I was right all along.
My business stems from my life as a musician, and my story is about pivots–pivots from being one “type” of musician to another “type”, and then to not being a musician at all. After a few years of doing exactly the kind of work I had dreamed up for “KK Enterprises” It was the pandemic that finally thrust me into the official world of entrepreneurship.
When the world shut down in March 2020, I knew that all of the big summer music festivals would be canceled. I’m not talking about the Lalapaloozas or Coachellas, but rather the all-important 4-8 week festivals that promising young classical musicians attend so that they can work with the superstars of the industry in an intense way–unhindered by pesky distractions like classes or jobs. I figured I could combine my experience of having taught online already, some admissions work I had done, and my connections to the cello world to create an online summer music festival for top cello students. It was a big risk, and a lot of people thought I was nuts, but it worked, and it was great! Most of the online summer festivals that came after it were modeled after mine, and it’s something I am truly proud of.
After that, colleagues and friends started asking me to coach them on how to put projects together, and my coaching business was born.
I think what sets my work apart from others is that it’s a combination of brass-tacks career coaching, project consulting, and general life coaching. The coaching was something I figured out very quickly I needed to add and invested in studing and training in that area. I could give any intelligent artist a step-by-step plan for exactly how to create their vision, but it’s the mind games we play with ourselves that get in the way as much as not having the right information.
I have 3 tiers of coaching. Profit Pivot is a 6-month hybrid program that helps creatives to envision, build, and launch their first program, project, or large-scale event. The Creatives Leadership Academy is a 9-month mastermind group made up of the next generation of movers and shakers in their creative industry (Dance, Art, Music, Film, etc.) This is not their first rodeo, and they are having an enormous impact on the world through their programs and projects. I also maintain a roster of 8-10 1:1 clients.
The biggest challenge for me has been learning to trust my instincts. Just like that naive 20-year-old DID know what she was talking about when she created that file that everyone laughed at, I had to trust that I DID know what I was doing when I started the Virtual Summer Cello Festival back in 2020 amidst a sea of doubters.
The overriding lesson has been that courage comes before confidence. Four years later, I have had the pleasure of working with so many incredible people, and have had a front-row seat to their struggles, their triumphs, and the impact they are having around them. I’m proud to be a part of it, and eager to help even more people to start listening to THEIR calling, and take that initial risk of getting it out into the world.
I have fallen back in love with writing—again, something I wanted to do when I was little. I even have a few books that I wrote when I was 5 (mostly pictures) that my mom bound in cardboard and fabric! I had my first work “Permission to Pivot” published this past fall, and I’m working on my first full non-fiction book now. In the meantime, I have my podcast, Tales from The Lane where I workshop a lot of the material for the book, which is all geared toward helping creatives to live their ideal lives.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The book, Playing Big, by Tara Mohr, came into my life at exactly the right moment. And then the author herself, came into my life at the exact right moment. I would like to dedicate my shoutout to her, as she has had an enormous influence on both my day-to-day coaching work, and the lens through which I see the world, and my role within it.
Website: https://katekayaian.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kkayaian/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-kayaian-852147181/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Talesfromthelane
Other: Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tales-from-the-lane/id1724180457 Blog: https://talesfromthelane.com/
Image Credits
Melanie Fiander