Meet Kayla Brown: Business Consultant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kayla Brown and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kayla, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
When starting my own business my thought process was my child. I always had to remember my why. I always had a CEO mentality because my father is a serial entrepreneur. I ventured from business to business for a few years to help me make extra money for my child and his education and I also helped people start and grow businesses. I soon realized that was my lane. I was good at helping people build solid business foundations and helping them grow. I had a natural talent of doing this and I didn’t realize it until I saw all the people who I had helped were now making money. I never charged anyone at this time for my services. I was simply offering them help and tips because I always saw the vision. Therefore, I went on to get my masters in Business Management to learn all the ins and outs about business that I hadn’t already done through my own research. I figured, if I’m helping all of these people around me grow for free, why not get paid for it? The concept for Shelicit started before it was born. I was hesitant at first because I had always willingly gave people information, templates, drafting things for them at no costs other than the simple fact that I wanted to see people thrive. I thought if I start my business what if people stop coming to me and what if those people I once helped return to me and now I have a price attached to me what if they don’t use my services. I took a leap of faith anyway but overall, I knew I was the gem of it all and I had to take a chance on me.

What should our readers know about your business?
As I reflect on how far I’ve come with my business and being confident in my business, I’m definitely proud. I am naturally great at what I do because I’ve prepared half of my life for it. I’ve immersed myself deeply into my craft to be the best I can be. However, what sets me apart is I’m personable. I treat everybody like family and I’m not money hungry. I encourage people to save money in everyway possible even if it is something I know I can do for them easily. I am the queen of giving out “free game”. I’ve done it for years but I will never take advantage of a consumer because it’s never that deep for me. Everything I do I like to do with my intentions on serving God. Just as my business was given it can be taken away. Therefore, I like to be pure with my intentions, poised in my presentation, and powerful in my performance. Those are my three P’s when working. Those are my characteristics that set me apart. Any one person can do what I am doing but it’s always about character and how you carry a brand and I try to make sure I do that and do it well. The hardest challenge for me was recognizing my capabilities and being confident in them. I spent to much time trying to sell a service instead of being myself. When I truly embraced who I am as a person, that is when my business began to thrive and continues to do so. I speak from the heart and experience rather than focusing on how to get the bag. I also realized that at times I’ve shared too much. I given away business concepts with nothing attached to it. I’ve watched business concepts I created on paper turn into million dollar companies in the world. I’m forever proud, but there has been times where I let people use me for my knowledge. It’s a dog eat dog world when being an entrepreneur and all business relationships aren’t always good business relationships. You have to be careful with who you bring around and who you keep around. People will get close to you just to steal from you, not all but some. We must beware of those we keep in our corner and those we let in our business in general. I’m big on confidentiality because I’ve worked in the legal field for over 10 years now. However, not everyone understands that concept; which is why no matter what in business and in relationships, EVERYBODY HAS TO SIGN A Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)! I have clients who are big social media influencers and I’ve drafted NDA’s for them. You as a person are your brand, you must be protected first and foremost. Therefore no matter what I do no relations, no business, no engagement without an NDA tied to it because my name is all I have. I treat everyone’s business, and personal brands as I would my own and I treat all of my clients how I would my children. I’m their protector, their eyes and ears and their friend. I grow with my clients in their business and in understanding throughout the business process and in the end, we maximize success.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
My best friend visits often but, I’m a food junkie so I would take them to all of my favorite food places, which are; Pasha, Arnette’s, Bar Vegan ATL, Kimpton Sylvan Hotel Rooftop, Ponce City Market, Joey D’s and Kabob Land to name a few. I love a nice vibe in the city but if I’m showing my friends around I would take them to places like Chattahoochee River, Waterfalls in Roswell, North Georgia, Lake Lanier, Painted Pin, Top Golf, Trap Museum. There are fun and exciting people everywhere in Atlanta because it is one big melting pot. It is very rare that I meet people who are actually from Georgia but there is always something to do in the city. Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have a major support system, my bestfriends, my husband, my parents and so much more. However, one person who sticks out to me overall is my bestfriend Christen Quezada, owner of ihydr8 & concept lab. She always pushed me to thrive in my lane. Often times in life we overlook things that are right in front of us. She was always so stern on my abilities where she saw me in business and whenever I told her an idea she made it the world to her and some. She always added additional ideas that she thought would scale my business and gave me a platform in her business to do just that. After collaborating with her my revenue in business tripled, no lie. Nowadays there are a lot of people in their circles and network who are constantly in secret competition with one another but she literally handed me clients and all of the clients I received are my repeat clients. I am forever thankful for that. Having a business is tough but having the right support system and network of people, genuine people is so important. I have children so if it weren’t for my mom, and husband watching them or keeping them occupied while I worked late nights or had meetings early mornings, I wouldn’t have done it without them. It’s the simple things that truly can make or break a business. If your foundation in life isn’t solid, it can easily slip through your fingers and you can easily lose focus with the stresses of life. It takes recognizing the simple help that truly plays a role in business. It’s not the biggest investor who gave you the most money, or the customer or client that spends the most money it has to do with quality of life. When your foundation, mindset and skills aren’t solidified it can easily crumble, not saying that it is impossible but it’s easy to lose your way. So for all that was aforementioned I am forever grateful,

Website: Shelicit.com

Instagram: @theceokayla

Linkedin: Kayla D Brown

Twitter: @theceokayla

Image Credits
@behinddeelens