Business Innovators Radio - Kellen Kautzman: From Spanish Teacher to Marketing Guru and Love Advocate

Episode Date: March 20, 2024

In this captivating episode of the Business Networking Influencers podcast, fill-in host Marco Salinas sits down with Kellen Kautzmann, the CEO of Send It Rising. Kellen shares a refreshingly honest and transformative perspective on how to navigate the rapidly evolving world of marketing and business in the age of AI.Kellen begins by revealing how he has embraced the power of AI to revolutionize his content creation and marketing strategies. He candidly discusses how he has leveraged tools like ChatGPT to significantly reduce his content creation costs, while maintaining high-quality results. Kellen’s insights challenge the conventional wisdom around the use of AI in marketing, offering a glimpse into the future of the industry.But Kellen’s wisdom extends far beyond the technical aspects of business. He delves into the importance of radical honesty, forgiveness, and love in both personal and professional relationships. Kellen shares his personal journey of overcoming addiction and the pivotal role that these principles played in his transformation. He passionately advocates for the need to prioritize the well-being of employees and clients, even in the face of business pressures.Listeners are captivated as Kellen shares his daily practice of actively managing his thoughts and mindset, emphasizing the power of positivity and the rejection of negativity. This approach has not only benefited Kellen’s own mental health but has also shaped the culture of his company, where flexibility, autonomy, and “undeserved love” are the foundations of success.Throughout the conversation, Kellen provides practical advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners, encouraging them to take the leap and pursue their dreams. He challenges listeners to envision their own success and to trust their intuition, reminding them that the path to true fulfillment lies in aligning their business with their deepest values and beliefs.This episode of the Business Networking Influencers podcast is a must-listen for anyone seeking to navigate the ever-changing landscape of business with a renewed sense of purpose, authenticity, and compassion. Kellen’s insights offer a refreshing and transformative perspective that will inspire listeners to rethink their approach to entrepreneurship and leadership.About Kellen Kautzman:Kellen Kautzman is the CEO of Send It Rising Internet Marketing, a visionary entrepreneur deeply engaged with the transformative power of artificial intelligence in marketing. His background is as varied as it is impressive, starting as a passionate Spanish teacher. Kellen’s journey transitioned from shaping young minds with lesson plans and blogs to becoming an influential figure in the business and marketing world. He is a firm believer in the profound impact of love and forgiveness, not just on a personal level but as core elements in business dynamics.Kellen’s entrepreneurial spirit is driven by a philosophy of radical honesty and undeserved love, which he actively integrates into his professional interactions. His encounters are often underlined by a human connection that transcends mere transactional relationships. With an emphasis on envisioning prosperity, Kellen challenges individuals to confront their personal limits by mentally embracing successes they wish to achieve. His practice of encouraging incantations like “I made $6,000,000 last year” serves as a barometer for aligning one’s physical response with their goals.Despite his success in marketing, Kellen remains grounded, influenced by figures like Ram Dass and Jesus, and committed to infusing universal principles into the fabric of business. His approach has been recognized as countercultural, as he seamlessly weaves spiritual and soulful elements into the corporate discourse. Always open to dialogue, Kellen invites interaction with his audience and remains a proponent of the work-from-home revolution and an advocate for personal fulfillment across all aspects of life.https://senditrising.com/About The Show Sponsor: “Business Networking Influencers” podcast is proudly sponsored by RSVP Las Vegas, your premier direct mail postcard service in the heart of Las Vegas. With a commitment to delivering outstanding results and effective marketing solutions, RSVP Las Vegas specializes in helping businesses connect with their target audience through direct mail.Visit their website at RSVPLasVegas.com to explore the range of direct mail services they offer. From designing eye-catching postcards to precisely targeting your desired audience, RSVP Las Vegas has your direct mail marketing needs covered. Their team of experts is dedicated to helping your business make a lasting impression and drive results.Whether you’re launching a new marketing campaign, promoting a special offer, or aiming to boost brand awareness, RSVP Las Vegas is your trusted partner in direct mail marketing success. Contact them at [phone], and their knowledgeable team will be ready to assist you.Experience the power of effective direct mail marketing with RSVP Las Vegas. Trust their expertise and enjoy the benefits of reaching your audience directly. Visit their website or give them a call today to start your next successful marketing campaign with RSVP Las Vegas, your premier direct mail postcard service in Las Vegas.Business Networking Influencershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/business-networking-influencers/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/kellen-kautzman-from-spanish-teacher-to-marketing-guru-and-love-advocate

Welcome to the Business Networking Influencers podcast, where connections become opportunities and relationships shaped success. Prepare to be inspired, informed, and empowered by the brightest minds in business networking. And now, your host, Tim Nifton. Welcome to the Business Networking Influencers podcast. I am your host for today, Marco Salinas, and I am filling in for my buddy, Mr. Tim Nifton. And joining me today, I've got a special guest, Mr. Kellyn Kautzman. Kellyn is the CEO of Send It Rising. And today we are going to have a great conversation with him and learn more about him and his business.

Kellan, welcome to the podcast, my friend. Mr. Salinas, thanks for having me. Absolutely. We were just talking before the show. This is not your first podcast by any stretch of the imagination. You've done quite a few of these. you are a seasoned podcaster. Oh, wow.

It's probably a good way to put it, right? Blessing received. Yeah, lots of good seasoning. And who, I mean, we all like seasoned, you know, chicken, right? We like our meat to be seasoned. Nobody wants it to be bland. Yeah, I'll throw some salt. And, you know, you ever catch out, what was that show that was so good with the guy

that would put the hot sauce on the chicken wings? Yeah, the cooking. I ended up buying Da Bomb. which you may or may not be familiar with. So like the episode that Shaq is on, if you watch it, it's always when they get to DeBom that they feel like that gets over. Like Gordon Ramsey, and then they accidentally touch their eye and they bring out the entire So I ended up buying DeBomb and I put it on my topo.

How was it? Oh, it's very good, but one drop, you're done. That's all you need. Don't be a hero. Also, don't let it touch the back of your throat, protest. Oh, gosh. that's some real deal stuff my friend well um i'm glad to have you here today kellen i'm looking forward to getting to know you and learning more about you in your business we already know you're

you can handle the heat so that's a good sign we already know you bring the seasoning that's another good sign so we're off to a great start today right yeah what more can you ask for uh love love and forgiveness there you go we all need it we all we all want it we all need it um do me a favor Kellan, whenever I start these, I like to ask for the little 30 second, one minute elevator pitch. Tell me a little bit about who you are, what you're doing in a nice, short, and sweet little condensed version. Sure. So now that AI is prevalent, I'm on top of it. I got a book to my left here, written completely with AI. Marketing in 2024 has to 100% be completely. attached to that. So paper click SEO,

web design, everything touches AI now. And so we're staying on top of it, which makes it a lot cheaper for folks than it used to be. Love it. So you would say that you are doing, you are a marketer. Is that a good way to put that? Yes, sir. But you are very much

integrating AI into all of that now. Yeah. For example, I had a $6,000 a month tax broker budget for many, many years. And so we were finding writers. We were working with these writers. I am now convinced that if you are a writer on text broker and you're not using chat GPT to at least start your article, that you're in the minority. And so is it worth it for me to spend $90 on a thousand word piece of content?

No, it is not. It simply is not. Now, there are certain clients that are hyper-specific to, let's say, like, find needle biopsy, right? Where it gets real, real, real specific. There's value for sure. And the writer has become the editor. So all of these little, well, detect if it's AI or not, I don't buy them. Because I've worked, I had eight or ten of them.

I ran 100% completely original content. Many of them said it was AI. I ran 100% AI content through them. They said it was original. And so I don't believe that we have a grasp on it because ChatGPt4 uses is Bing search functionality. And so it'll give you multiple results, and then you can thumbs up or thumbs down it.

So it can acquiesce so quickly to the changes that are happening, that how could you code something that could determine whether or not that is AI content or not? That's beyond my pay grade. But as far as I can tell, the technology is not, it's simply not there to be able to determine what's AI and what isn't. That is wild. When did you get into this world? have you always been self-employed? Like, tell me that origin story.

Used to be a Spanish teacher. And I would write blogs and mostly lesson plans. And then I would do this other thing where I would write about religions. Because beyond everything that we talk about today, the most important takeaway is that to the degree to which money stops you from loving and forgiving people is the degree to which you are a slave to that money. And so many of us fall on our face and worship the god of the millionaire and billionaire. I myself find myself doing this often. I'll wake up and the first thing I do is check the Edward Jones account, check the how are the funds doing, check the stocks,

check to this, check to that. And that is not what we're here to do. So it is vitally important that we go through our rolodex of everyone we've ever known and forgive and love each and every one of them. Whether or not that is helpful from a business standpoint is irrelevant. Whether or not that makes your business healthier or not is irrelevant. And so that, that I believe, is just quintessentially important for not only your mental health, but the health of your soul. For sure. And so when it comes to the business side, what that does, that kind of mentality is, it creates radical honesty.

So if my top priority is loving Marco, well, then this podcast is going to go in a different direction. And so that's, you know, I always would love, I always would love resonating with folks that that can see that perspective, understand that perspective. But even if they don't, undeserved love is so important because we're not always the best judges of who deserves and who doesn't. Sure.

And that extends all the way to places that, I never thought it would. So, for example, I'm on the board of Hoplink, and I was sitting down with a sea level executive there just the other day. And both of us ended up weeping in a business meeting because his son had recently committed suicide. And I am not going to let a boardroom or a, like what I believe should or should not happen with the context of a business relation. Stop me from being a human being. Right. And so that's the gift I want to give the listeners today, which is don't care if it's a boardroom.

It makes no difference to me. I don't care if it's on the beach. I don't care if you're on the moon. Prioritizing the way we make people feel is it is so important. Very, very, very, well said. Man, you're going deep. You're really going deep, Kellen. I like it, though.

I like what you're doing. I like the direction that you're going. And so I'm just curious for myself. So you're a Spanish teacher at this time. What year are we talking here? So I'll be 40 next month. And teaching Spanish 23 to 26. Okay.

So this was a long time ago. Oh, yeah. Okay. Gotcha. This was a while back. All right. So you're there. You're teaching Spanish.

Does something just overcome? you and say, I'm unfulfilled here. I need to be doing something bigger. I'm wanting something deeper. I don't like to pay. Like, what was it? What was it that? Or was it a series of things that kind of led you to say, I got to make a change. I don't want to do the Spanish teacher anymore. Let's go somewhere else. Well, I struggled with addiction. And so it runs in my family hard. We are passionate folk, you could say. And so I was finding that the stress level of teaching was so high that it was really making it hard for me to stay sober. And so at that time, I didn't realize that, you know, young guy in my 20s trying to put two and two together. But the second I got out of teaching

was when I got a grip on my addiction. And so I was using substances to try to make my way through the anxiety of being a good teacher. And I own it completely. That being said, I was asked to teach in some very, very difficult circumstances. My first year, no curriculum. They said, you build it. Wow. First year, right?

Second year, they're like, okay, we want you to teach all five sections of Spanish, right? Most, you know, beginning high school teachers teach one or two. And they would have multiple in the same room. So I'd have Spanish two and three in a room for 90 minutes and then just Spanish two in a room and then Spanish three, four and five in a room. So it was just that God was setting me up for a huge challenge. And it burned, it just burned me up, you know, in ultimately a good way. Because when I was able then to get into marketing and just sit down and have a cup of coffee

and start blogging 14 years ago, I was in heaven. I was like, this is, you can, this can. couldn't be work this compared to what I was doing. Oh, I was so happy. Isn't that incredible? And so basically, once you got a taste of that, you're like, I'm not, I'm never going back. Like, this is it. Yeah. I found my place. Yep. And I, you know, the thing about, um, public education is, you know, I love everyone. I don't necessarily want everyone sleeping in my house. For example, um, I love the homeless. Um, for those that can see me, I'm holding up something called a golden ticket. It's for free food and shelter for homeless here in Las Vegas,

but they have to do drug rehab and mental health counseling or they don't get the ticket. It is what it is, right? You're ready to get clean? Great, come in, free food and shelter. We'll take care of you. You're not ready? Okay, that's a choice. We got free will.

So I feel the same way about education, right? And I feel the same way about employment, right? Do you want to be here? I will go to the bitter end with employees. But the question is, I mean, is this somewhere you actually want to be? Are you happy here? because there's a lot of fish in the sea and a lot of places you can go. So public education to me sometimes is rough in that regard because you may have a teacher that you don't necessarily vibe with.

And there may be students that you don't necessarily, like, you're just not the right fit. But it's so homogenous that it doesn't allow for any flexibility. And I think technology is going to solve that in the future. I think we're going to have more flexibility for students where they can pursue paths that make more sense for them. And so I'm happy to see slow transitions in that regard. Yeah, I hear you. That is such a key thing. What does a day look like now for Kellyn Kautzman?

What is a day in the life of Kellyn Kautzman today? Can you walk us through that? Yeah. So the most important thing, I think, to take away is extreme. responsibility for our thoughts. And so I made a decision. I can't remember when it was, but I have for many years believed that thoughts become things, that, you know, it begins in the mind, and then it just expands outward. And then I just started getting really into that. And then my connection with God sort of increased as I allowed myself flexibility to actually

forgive a lot of the folks in my life because I would often associate religion with religious people and that's a mistake because people make mistakes, right? And so as I kind of swam through that and got to land, I do not allow negative thoughts into my head without warding them off, makes any sense. Because I still think negative thoughts, for sure. They pop in there all the time. I see them and I go, nope. And I know that the question, some would answer this question, like I wake up and I make some tea and then we have a morning meeting and then I've got sales calls throughout the day. Those things are all true. But the real work is happening in promoting positive thoughts and rejecting negative thoughts. Because that puts me in a place to be able to

love and forgive and to do things differently because it naturally flows because I'm not like right now I'm not even talking if that makes any sense like I've done the work and I'm listening to myself explain these things to you because these are the thoughts I've had in the past. Yeah. I hear you. That's really cool man. I like that. I like the point of view that you come in with a very positive focus. Let's get rid of the bull crap. No negativity. Peace, love, right? Forgiveness. You've mentioned forgiveness quite a few times. I don't think you can ever mention forgiveness enough. You know what I mean? There's, it's just one of those endless, you know, buffet line things. You know what I mean? So it's like, yeah, pour me up some more of that, dude. Like, I really want more of that, right?

Yeah. So delicious. It's just so delicious. Yeah. And then that's the other crazy thing is like it doesn't, it doesn't ever get boring. It's not monotonous. It's not the same thing. It's, it never runs out of flavor. It's always, it's just, it's just one of those things that we can't get enough of here in our, in our world today. So I'm with you. I guess is my point that I'm really trying to make. We, we need more of it. So gosh, kudos to you. for making that such an integral part of your journey and everything that you're doing, everything that you're working on.

Now, from a business standpoint, though, Kellen, what type of events have really stood out to you in the last few years? Is there anything that's like any specific moments or any decisions in this entrepreneurial journey that just you really considered like so pivotal to the success that you're enjoying right now. And again, we have success is one of those words that can mean a lot of different things. And I think you're probably of that mindset that it certainly does not mean the old school, which is just who can stack the most chips and throw it in the other guy's face and show it off and then they go home and they're miserable. And then they treat their significant other like

trash and they treat their kids like trash when they get home. That's your definition of success because if it is it ain't my right so what's something that was pivotal in your journey that and maybe you can even integrate that like what what does success look like for you yeah great question um fantastic energy um i love where your hats heads at as well thank um yeah you're welcome um so you know uh believe that you have received it right that's a 2,000 year old teaching Um, so in, in my mind, I only want the amount of money that allows me to still go hang out with my 14 month old, right, um, during lunch because I work from home. Um, my brother, um, oof, 16 years ago, 17 years ago had a remote, uh, job. And, uh, I was peanut butter and jealous because I was all, up there teaching, right? And I made, I just made a mental decision that, you know, in the event that I'm ever blessed enough to be able to do that, that I want to give that to as many people as possible.

Because people die on the roads. I'm a jokingly, the president of the work from home revolution. I'm a part of a few networking groups. And if anyone wants to join, Kellan at Sendit Rising.com would be a good email to shoot me an email let me know. But I'm as serious as one can be because folks get paralyzed on the road. It's stressful. People are dying on the roads. And for what? So certain jobs, I get it. You got to go there. It's physical. You know, you don't have a choice. But I think collectively we can give people autonomy to be able to live their lives in the way that they see fit. I mean, I offer what might be, well, let me rephrase that. This job's real flexible.

The people that work for me, real flexible and by design. Because the number of ways in which we can love someone is equal to the number of people on the planet times a trillion. So how it does, and I'm bringing back the word love, by the way. You know, people are real scared of that word because of the sexual connotation that it's sometimes brings. But I fight that because I believe that the people I'm talking to, they know what I'm talking about. And when I say, I love everyone, I mean it. I mean it. So how does an employer love an employee? Well, they give them freedom. They pay them well.

That's what love looks like. Oh, but don't use the love word, right? You know, people are really, you know, it's like, you know what? No, I disagree. How does an employee love a boss, right? well, they respect them and they get that. It's stressful and the money goes up and down. And you know what I mean? Like this is how we love each other. And so I'm trying to design the most loving environment possible. Yeah, that's fantastic.

And so then what would you say is probably the big challenge of our times, Kellen? What's the big challenge? What are we up against? As if I may, as small business owners. what's our little role or what's our little thing that we can carve out so that we can make a bigger impact so that we can make a bigger difference. I know you do, one of the themes of this podcast is the networking side of that. So you're obviously you're coming across people.

You're networking. You're growing and expanding that, which means really that you have an opportunity to make an impact in the people that you're coming across, right? how do we as as business owners people who are self-employed working from home how do we still achieve that because sometimes we want to just kind of retreat to our little corner of the world over here right but how do we really make a difference out there what what are what are some of the bigger challenges that we can help to overcome um so love everyone tell the truth I was at indoor soccer the other day, and as I continue to grow as a person, my insecurities are always exposed. They will always come to light, right?

And so I, for some reason, I want people to think that I'm older than I am. So me turning 40 is like kind of a big deal to me, right? And so I was talking to the other team because love your enemies. Love your enemies. hello because then you realize you don't have any enemies. So I went to the other team and we were joking. We were having a great time, whatever. And they're like, how old are you?

And I said, I'll be 40 next month. But that was a lie. I was 40 in two months. But I let myself lie about it because I wanted it to seem like I was older than I was. So it's just exposing this thing I have inside me to like feel, right? Which, you know, and so, you know, here I am. getting in front of, you know, whoever's listening and I'm saying, tell the truth while I'm not telling the truth. Does that make sense? So I recognize that. But at the same time, ooh, I'm telling

you, if you analyze comedians, what you'll find is they stand in front of a stage of people and they oftentimes, their funniest jokes, their best jokes are just true. They're just, they speak the truth and people cannot stand it. Like, their gut hurts and their face hurts from smiling so hard. because here's someone that's willing to just tell the truth. And the final thing I'll say on that is, so you're going to meet people and you're going to tell the truth and love them or you're not, right? That's it, right? And they're going to have a certain title.

They're going to have a certain appearance, right? They're a certain vehicle that they're driving their soul around. And it really, I mean, it really boils down to that. And so a lot of people will get obsessed with the tell the truth and they use it as a weapon. And they hurt people. But it's true, they say. It's true. But is it not true?

And they stand in righteousness saying this is true. And they're often right. It is true. It still hurt that person. And then you've got the other people on the other side are like, oh, I'll just say anything to anyone just so that they feel good. It doesn't necessarily have to be true. I'll sort of like, you know what I mean? It's like try to combine those two things together and you've got a lifetime worth of work.

Yeah. No question. No question. There's a lot on our plate as business owners, as entrepreneurs. A lot of people misunderstand us because the world is very focused on the 9 to 5 thing. That's just kind of what you do. You go to school, you get a job. I love seeing that there are more and more people that are freelancing that are

independent that are contracting, that are small business owner, that are franchising, whatever, whatever may be. But the point is, they're doing it kind of on their own terms. Can you speak to maybe a little bit of that audience? If you're on the fence right now and you're like, I'm at my job, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm killing the Spanish teacher who's overworked, overburden, super stressed, right? I'm that guy and I'm listening right now. What advice are you giving him for his future?

Make money while you still have a job. Right. Just show me the money, right? $500, $1,000, $1,000, right? And then you got, I mean, pray, gut check, you know, meditate on can you envision it and what is your body's reaction to that vision? So for those out there, I know you're in your car or you're in front of your computer, but do me a favor. Repeat after me. I made $6 million last year. I mean, how does that feel? Does it, do you giggle? Is it a little,

like, I mean, is it sort of, is it difficult to say? Did you not say it? Did you think it? So it's the body is, it'll tell you. It'll tell you. Like whether that can be true for you. Great exercise that my good friend, Hansu Kim, gave me back, back in the day on the 22nd floor of this beautiful castle in Minneapolis. I mean, we were sitting out there and he's like, yeah, ask for $30,000. Just do like a roleplay mock thing.

I couldn't do it. I was like 19. You know, I was giggling the whole time. I couldn't, I couldn't ask for, that's a preposterous sum of money, right? So, you know, being able to envision what the outcome looks like, smell it, taste it, touch it in your mind. It's real important. Yeah, yeah. And so who are you looking up to these days?

Who stands out to you? Who can you recommend maybe a couple of different names that somebody could grab their book and really be influenced by it in a very positive way. Anybody that you could put out there, a couple of ideas? Well, if you haven't gotten into Ram Dass, I'll throw out some Ram Dass for you. Richard Alpert, former Harvard professor, went to India, met a guru by the name of Neme Kuroli Baba. That's where the love everyone tell the truth mantra comes from.

I would like you to check out a gentleman by the name of Jesus. He did some very interesting things. And I would say if you're, you know, super Christian, God bless you, you know, that's great. If you're not, my advice is don't let what Christians have done to you in the past stop you from the basic tenets, which are love your neighbor. Forgive everybody, right? That's just, that's it. Just there we go. Can you agree to that?

Can we say love everyone, you know, forgive your name? neighbor, like, are we cool there? Right. If you could put your hands on someone and heal them, would you? Right. If someone had cancer and you could walk up to them, you could put your hand on their head, say some words and they were cured, would you? I think the answer is yes. Yeah. You know, so, yeah. And then seriously on the Ram Dass front, if you go down YouTube and you type in his name, oh, just beautiful, beautiful depth to his story.

And then obviously, you know, I'm like Mr. Spiritual guy on a business podcast. I get it. But, you know, do allow yourself the opportunity to understand that if you're hearing this, maybe it's not a coincidence. Yeah. Right. Maybe it's not a coincidence that some random guy named Kellyn on some random podcast is talking in your ear right now about the connection between the soul and business, which is something that nobody talks about. that I hear. You know, I'm maybe I'm just not in the right circles, but give yourself the leeway to bring love into business. And in my experience, it is, I would have it no other way.

I love it. I really love it. Kellen, if I wanted to reach out to you, if I'm listening and I wanted to learn more about you, your business, what's the best place to go to for that? Well, I'm a pretty, open guy, which you may have noticed, you would just email me, Kellyn at Senditrising.com. That is my personal email address. I will receive it unless it goes to junk. And you can always go to Sendatrising.com, but I'm about meeting with folks, you know,

so I'm happy to chat with you. So feel brave to reach out and let me know. Lots of we could talk about. Kellan, thank you for all of the beauty and all of the wisdom and all of the, you know, for lack of a better term, countercultural things that you are sharing, especially within the business environment. We're not really supposed to talk about these things in this space, which makes it all the more important, right? And so thank you for being willing to be open, vulnerable, and being willing to go against the grain and do things that people are typically or not

because the people that are kind of going with the flow, they never really, those people don't get remembered for much, you know. It's the ones that are going kind of opposite stream, upstream. And I think that's one of the things you're really trying to do with everything that you've shared with us today. So I thank you very much for your time. Thank you for all that you've shared. And it's been a great pleasure chatting with you.

Blessing received and thank you. Thanks so much, Kellyn. That does it, guys, for another episode of the Business Networking Influencers podcast. We will catch you here next time. Thank you for tuning in to the Business Networking Influencers Podcast. We hope you gained valuable insights and strategies to elevate your business and networking game. Don't forget to subscribe for more episodes filled with expert advice and inspiration. Until next time, keep connecting, keep growing, and keep influencing.