The Morning Upgrade Podcast with Ryan Cote

#110 - Business Growth Via Niches with Paul Kiesche

September 11, 2022 Ryan Cote Episode 110
The Morning Upgrade Podcast with Ryan Cote
#110 - Business Growth Via Niches with Paul Kiesche
Show Notes Transcript

In this episode of the Morning Upgrade podcast I talk with Paul Kiesche about his morning routine, niche audiences, using meditation, improving your happiness and much more. 

Announcer 

Welcome to the Morning Upgrade podcast with Ryan Cote, where we feature casual conversations with entrepreneurs about personal development and growth.


Ryan

Hey, Paul, welcome to the Morning Upgrade podcast. How's it going?


Paul  

Hey, Ryan, what's going on?


Ryan

Oh, not much. Yeah. So we've known each other for a bunch of years now, when we first get connected through Ballantine, through some of the marketing associations that we belong to.


Paul  

Absolutely, I've seen you and known you for so many years at networking associations, and it's been fun.


Ryan

I'm excited to have you on my podcast. So why don't you introduce yourself and who you are, what you do for a living, and then give us a win that's happening in your life right now, something you're grateful for?


Paul

Well, first off, I'm thrilled to be here. I think this is awesome what you're doing, and such a great message. I'm the owner and creative director of Aviate Creative. We're a creative agency mostly specializing in manufacturing and technology. And then we do anything from branding, websites, print materials, copywriting, that kind of stuff. In addition to that, I also am a published illustrator, published fine artist, and professor. So I keep my days for the win. Right now, we've been seeing a lot of success, and my business has been kind of growing pretty quickly. And what's even more exciting for me at this time than the growth is that I think we're finally at a point where my employees, my newer employees, are really kind of showing more independence, and I'm able to delegate more work off. So that's kind of a thrilling thing for me just to be able to rely on more people than myself.


Ryan  

I didn't realize you were a professor and an illustrator. What do you illustrate?


Paul  

So I've been illustrating since 1997 or something. So I illustrate everything from, I mean, I don't do it that often. But it's part of my collection of services, let's say. But I've illustrated everything from book covers and magazine spot illustrations to parts on websites, to animations to the full that really the full gamut. Right now, my most known style, like I actually used to teach illustration, so I work in lots of styles, but my most popular style is probably my oil painting. And that's what I do my fine art painting, and I have those showing in some galleries and stuff as well.


Ryan

You mentioned your business growth and what's contributing to that. Is there a singular thing, or is it a combination?


Paul  

It's a long story, but that let's let's sum it up with I put I worked with a marketing coach for a little while, and we reworked my business to be much more niche marketing driven. So I used to be a generalist company. So I've had my company for 17 years. And for a long time, it went up and down in size. And I kept being told that I needed to niche down into markets. And eventually, I finally listened. And when I did it, it took a while. I had to work at it for a good year or so to really get it to where it needed to be. But now it's just taken off. So we've built a really great reputation in manufacturing and technology. And so instead of us trying to convince customers to use us, now people are finding us and saying, you don't even have to sell me, Paul, like we, we trust you, we know you, you have a great reputation, we want to work with you. So it's been a like a total flip-the-script situation where now people are seeking us out instead of us seeking them out. So it's really exciting.


Ryan 

It's how we got reconnected recently because we are in the digital marketing space, and we worked with a lot of manufacturing industry companies. And we were, you know, 2022, we started running away from website, website design projects that they were coming at us with an x. And so I was like, well, I need to be able to refer them refer clients to someone that we trust. And I just came across your website I'm like, oh, Paul's doing manufacturing now. And so anyway, like to your message that niching down yes, I mean, we, for us for the manufacturing, it's not our only niche, but it's a big core niche and so like the whole sales process when you're you're showing the logos of who you work with and case studies and it just like it gets easier and easier the more clients you have it becomes like that snowball effect, so it's true.


Paul 

Absolutely, and to work with a partner that not only gets it but you guys complement our services that's a really big win on both sides. That's great.


Ryan 

Yeah, so for those listening, if you're considering niching down, you obviously have to think about what niche you're gonna pick, and you know, there's there that's a whole process, but you'll see that like, like Paul said, when it might be a little slow to start when if you get a few clients that niche and you have some social proof, it does get it definitely does get easier.


Paul

Yeah, we get a lot of homework, and it where we would, we did a lot of interviewing in that area. We read a lot of articles, for we did a lot of just education and trying to understand things and Got involved in all sorts of associations. So it wasn't like this like an instant thing, but it was well worth it. And, as you said, it kind of snowballs. So it's been that snowball is getting bigger and gaining momentum. And that's really exciting.


Ryan 

Good. I'm glad we've mentioned this already. Now, what's the title of this podcast is going to be niching down with Paul. So let's turn to personal development. What are your mornings like? Do you have a routine?


Paul

As much as this podcast is called the morning upgrade. My mornings - I'm a terrible morning person. I am much more of a night owl. I always have been so, but my morning routines definitely are pretty loaded. I like to be a hands-on Dad. So a lot of it's getting my kids out and ready for either school or camp now that summer, I want to stay relatively physically fit. So pretty much every day, I'm doing a routine of stretching, trying to work out a run a couple of times a week if I'm not too busy with everything else in life. And I quit coffee a while back, so I still need the caffeine. So I'm a big matcha drinker. Now I don't know if you're not sure at all. But that's been part of my morning routine these days.


Ryan  

I actually stopped drinking coffee about two months ago to I still have caffeine in the morning. I replaced it not with matcha that I've heard of that. I replaced it with a supplement called Earlybird. Caffeine from coffee bean extract, it has electrolytes, and it has amino acids, and some herbs for like brain health and brain and focus. I love it. Like like it's much more than coffee. It's like when I drink that during my morning routine is like game on, you know, ready to go. You know, it's like, it's like a switch has been flipped? You know? 


Paul

Yeah, absolutely. 


Ryan

You said you're a night owl? Well, do you have a nighttime routine? Or more just working on stuff? Or do you have a routine?


Paul  

No nighttime routine, but one main thing. I work a lot. And it's not, when you own your own business or multiple businesses, you know, it becomes a passion in a lot of ways, but also an obsession probably in some ways. So I work a lot, then I always make sure that I have a separation of work to sleep in the sense that I'll try to relax with my wife and watch a show or just relax for a while. But one thing that I've picked up, I've been doing for over a year now, I think, is meditating at night. So I probably spend 15 to 20 minutes doing some meditation at night. And that's been really awesome and helpful and just great for like personal growth and personal. I had a lot of issues with anxiety through, like, as a lot of people did through the middle to end of COVID It was, you know, loaded with other reasons and stuff. But the meditation helped a lot with that. But now it's branched off into much more than just anxiety and much more into other areas of personal growth. So that's been exciting.


Ryan

I'm with you in terms of meditation. And, you know, I like you I try to move every day, I do move every day, some form of exercise, but I also meditate every day because I look at it as like the workout for your mind as you saw it. It seems like you said it calmed your anxiety. And so you said, that's the main reason I started. 


Paul

Yeah, absolutely.


Ryan 

I wonder how long did it take for you to feel those effects?


Paul  

Well, it wasn't a combination of things. But it needs to be like refreshing in a way, but I do very much for that purpose. Currently, I use headspace for meditation on my phone. I never used to, but now I do. And they have a really great course and series of meditations that lead you through and educate you on anxiety. So that's like a 30-day course. And that's, that's been really helpful. And I've done it actually a few times because it kind of like just walks you through ways to like rethink things and re-organize the way you kind of approach. subject matters other than anxiety driving and stuff like that. So it's been interesting.


Ryan

Headspace is good for calming. It’s good. The app I use, Insight Timer, they're all rock stars in the meditation space. All good choices. Question for you. In terms of the topic of happiness, is there anything you are intentional about, in just happiness, but just like living a fulfilling life, a life that just fills your cups? Maybe it's whatever happiness or fulfillment? Is there anything you do intentionally, every day, or every week that feeds that?


Paul

Absolutely. You know, I think that some, from the outside perspective, you see some people, and you're like, oh, man, they're just naturally happy, or they're just naturally like, you know, Oh, they're so lucky or whatever. And I now think, over the years, I've learned that very often, It's not by accident or by chance. That's by design. And so, you know, and I respect that more now in my life than I ever have before, is that some people will say, you know, they just came from an optimistic viewpoint; I had a lot of philosophy of thinking it from a worst-case perspective in terms of like, what's the worst that can happen? And then, you know, oh, that's not so bad. So let's go for it. I think, well, I realized that that actually was contributing to my anxiety and a negative viewpoint in life. And therefore, I've kind of changed a lot of that. So now I have a much different perspective on the future, on optimism and stuff like that. So, in general, I would say, like, one I choose to be, to have fun and be silly, in the sense that I think a lot of people are self-conscious and worried about what other people are gonna think. And I'm just like, I don't care, I want to be silly with my kids, I want to be silly with my employees, like, I've always found that the more fun and more silly you have, the more confident you actually come across. And the more you just enjoy life, and the more you smile, and the more you smile, the more people smile around with you, you know, so I think that's a choice in general. And then, you know, just being grateful for what you have and grateful for life and the earth, and, you know, family and everything else in there, just I think, I try to think of steward smiley or whatever standing in the mirror, saying, like, his daily routine, or whatever. But in general, like, I think it's important to remind yourself of what is good in life and what you should be grateful for. So, yes, yeah.


Ryan 

I'm glad you mentioned the apartment being silly because I do tend to gravitate toward that. And I sometimes feel like I'm Michael from the office. So I tend to like wanna make dumb jokes or have, like, the number one boss mug that no one got me, I got myself, you know, and like, I find myself maybe holding back sometimes I am biased more towards goofy and are trying to like to make jokes, but not as much as I would like to be, I find myself holding back, you're saying that you found it better, for you, at least is to be more authentic. And just to let that silly side fly. And you said you've seen positive things from it? 


Paul  

Absolutely. A couple of notes to that would be like, I've had a bigger, deeper appreciation for dad jokes. Now, only recently, because a lot of people are like moan and groan when they hear that joke. And I'm like, do you understand what's actually happening? That dad or whoever says the dad joke, doesn't have to be a dad. They're trying to make you smile, you know, they're trying to cheer up the room, and they're trying to lighten the feeling, you know, and I'm like, that's beautiful. You know? Like, why? Why moan and groan about that? So it's a cheesy joke, but there, that's somebody trying to make a more positive impact on their moment, you know? So I, I definitely think that there's a lot of good there. You know, I learned a long time ago, you know, I remember being in a, in an Irish Pub when I was in college, and some song came on, and I just, I just had fun with it and dance, whatever. And it changed my whole perspective. Because all of a sudden, I was like, Oh, my God, like, people are actually, like, responding in such a positive way to me just having fun and being in the moment. And, like, that has changed my whole perspective on it. It was like, that was so much stronger than being self-conscious and worrying about what other people were thinking about my dancing. Now they were, like, enjoying it. And even though I wasn't a good dancer at the time, I was still just having fun. And they just want to have fun with you. And so it just, like, changed a lot of my perspective on that.


Ryan  

That's true. Yeah, just being yourself and just not worrying about whether people think about you, you know, with the dad jokes made me think, or being silly, even when you're making me laugh, that's thinking about it maybe a few months ago, and I was bringing a couple of months ago, I was bringing my one daughter to softball, and she had to softball practice. And she had to leave early because she had to go somewhere else, right? And she's like, well, how will I know when it's time to leave? And I was like, well, I'll be on the side. And if you see me doing jazz hands, that means we have to leave it. She's like, please don't.


Paul 

Embarrass the heck out of our kids. Right? And like, you know, so it's funny. So, the other day, my kids, I have two daughters. And they're the same age, we have twins, and they were embarrassed by something I did. And they're, they're eight years old. So they're just showing that embarrassment. And I was like, and somebody said something, and they were like, feeling bad for me. And I was like, No, this is what I want. I was like, I've been trying to embarrass them for years. And finally, they're getting embarrassed. I'm like, this is perfect. Now I get to have fun with it. Now, that's great.


Ryan 

I tell my daughters that you just don't realize how cool I am yet. You know, it's good. You know, eventually, you're gonna realize that maybe, you know.


Paul 

Good luck. Good luck.


Ryan 

I didn't say when that was gonna happen. It could be 20 years from now. But, Paul, I got one last question for you. What is my last question? It'd be Here's a great question. I want to talk to you about challenges. We'll end with that. And then and then we'll, the rear end will be you tell everyone how they can learn more value. But my last question for you is about challenges in business. How do you handle them personally? Do you tackle them head-on? Do you have like a specific way you handle challenges? Because we're always dealing with them? So how do you personally handle them?


Paul  

Depends on the challenge. So one thing I learned a couple of years ago, which I like, is if you can get it done in five minutes or less, just literally do it immediately. Don't add it to your to-do list, and don't do anything else; just do it and get it done and out the door. Right. But if it's more significant, which, you know, a real challenge is going to be more significant than that. It depends on what it is. But I think a big part of it is truly understanding the root of the concern or issue or challenge in the sense that, like, for me, a lot of challenges come in terms of my clients, they're trying to create some kind of website or brochure or whatever. And a lot of designers, a lot of artists will just design something that looks prettier or quickly functional or something. But one thing I've learned and matured into, I think, is understanding the perspective of the end user, the end buyer. So like, what are what is that person? What do they actually care about? What are their pain points, what are their concerns, and like getting to the root of that solve everything? We talked about manufacturers earlier. And if a manufacturer is selling a sprocket, they don't care if the sprocket is like point to diameter and this kind of metal, they might care about that eventually, what they really care about is, is it going to work on, you know, when it needs to? Is it going to be reliable? Is it going to be delivered on time and so forth? So if you get to the root of what that buyer actually cares about, that's when everything else falls into place? Because then that tells you like how to achieve that challenge and how to fix that and so forth. So I don't know if I answered your question as directly, but that's what I would say.


Ryan 

Not at all. No, you did. No, I think what you're saying is expectations, and communication, especially in our businesses. That's, like, super crucial salary. Absolutely. Very good advice. Well, Paul, this was great and a lot of fun. If people want to connect with you, where should we send them?


Paul

My agency website is www.aviatecreative.com. And then from there, as you know, we're on every social platform. So if you look for Aviate Creative on social platforms, that's a great way to get in contact with me. For my fine art. It's Paulkieschefineart.com You can just do a quick search, and I'll probably come up with any way that works. 


Ryan

Perfect. Thanks, Paul. Great job. 


Paul

Awesome. Thank you. I appreciate the time.


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