November 6, 2025 • 33 mins
Today's episode features Ken Cox, a seasoned entrepreneur and president of Inlink, who shares his remarkable journey from overcoming addiction to becoming a leader in the boxing community. Ken emphasizes the importance of creating safe spaces for individuals, particularly in environments like boxing gyms, where personal growth and resilience can thrive. His mission is to inspire others by providing valuable, driven solutions while fostering a supportive atmosphere. We also delve into Ken's innovative venture, Inlink, which aims to empower entrepreneurs with the tools they need to succeed without compromising their privacy. Join us as we explore Ken's insights on leadership, personal identity, and the transformative power of community.
The Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight podcast takes listeners on a journey into the life of Ken Cox, a seasoned entrepreneur and boxing enthusiast who transformed his struggles into success. Ken candidly shares his experiences with addiction, revealing how a diagnosis of liver disease pushed him to seek recovery through the discipline of boxing. This episode dives deep into the themes of resilience and reinvention, as Ken not only purchased a gym to aid in his recovery but also found a calling in coaching young fighters. He emphasizes the importance of creating a safe environment for kids, encouraging their growth and confidence in the sport. We learn about his journey from a troubled youth to a leader who inspires others, highlighting how personal experiences can shape one's mission. The discussion also touches on the significance of identifying core values in both life and business, illustrating how they can guide decisions and foster a supportive community. Tune in for insights that blend personal narrative with leadership lessons, proving that it's never too late to change direction and make a positive impact on others' lives.
Takeaways:
- In this episode, Ken Cox shares his journey from overcoming addiction to becoming a boxing coach and entrepreneur.
- Creating a safe environment for kids in boxing has been a life-changing experience for Ken, shaping his perspective on leadership.
- Ken emphasizes the importance of core values in leadership, stating that they guide decisions and help maintain alignment in a team.
- They discuss the significance of continuous learning, especially when it is driven by genuine interest rather than obligation.
- Ken highlights the power of identity transformation, teaching young boxers to see themselves as capable fighters rather than just kids in a gym.
- The episode wraps up with insights on the ethical implications of data usage in business and the commitment to protecting customer information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:38):
Good content.
Yeah.
Well, hello everybody andwelcome to another amazing episode
of the Unstoppable LeadershipSpotlight podcast where we hear from
amazing leaders and get theirgame changing insights.
And today I have the absolutepleasure as your host, jacqueliner,
to bring Ken Cox on as ouresteemed leader and guest.
(00:59):
Let me tell you a little bitabout Ken.
He's a seasoned entrepreneurand he is actually the president
of Inlink and he's, he'soffering amazing services.
He hosts the award winningClicks and Bricks podcast where he
shares stories and insightsfor entrepreneurs.
He's an, he's an author, heworks, his works include Reclaim
(01:21):
Sobriety, a guide toovercoming addiction.
And Ken's ventures includeleadership roles in multiple companies
like Box, STL and Vendor Review.
And his mission is to createvalue driven solutions while inspiring
inspiring resilience andinnovation in the business community.
So welcome Ken to the podcast.
(01:45):
I am so glad to have you on asa guest and as we were talking pre
show like I was talking abouthow I absolutely love boxing.
So my favorite, thank you forhaving me, Jacqueline.
I very much appreciate yourtime and energy today.
Oh, it's my pleasure.
So, okay, you know, I knowwe're going to talk about leadership,
but let me talk to, let meask, what got you into boxing?
(02:07):
Oh wow.
Addiction got me.
Or the recovery from addiction.
So I guess I was in my late30s, I got a diagnosis of liver alcohol
related liver disease.
You know, I'm a kid from the70s, so drinking alcohol was just
very commonplace in everyplace that I went.
As I got into the businessworld, you know, happy hours and
(02:31):
the ability to take, you know,specifically like, you know, European
customers that come to theStates, taking them out and showing
them a great time.
Happy hours turn into, ohcrap, I gotta be back to the office,
it's morning time kind of situation.
And that took a toll on mylife as a whole.
And I ended up with liver disease.
(02:52):
So one of the things that Idid to help me overcome the addiction
and the liver disease was Istarted boxing.
I had always kind of been arough and tumble guy, lots of street
fights and spar fights andstuff like that, but I never really
put any discipline around it.
And at the, you know, the ageof 40 years old, I started boxing.
Realized that the gym that Iwas going to was not being ran properly
(03:16):
and I quite didn't know why.
I could say, man, there's,there's enough, there's enough here
to make this a reasonably good business.
But there's something disconnected.
So I called the owner.
I'm like, what's going on?
He's like, man, my wife got sick.
I don't have the time toreally focus on it anymore.
And it's just this kind ofburden that's in my family right
now.
I'm like, well, why don't yousell it to me?
Because if it disappears, I'mprobably gonna die, right?
(03:38):
At that point, I had already.
Right?
That's part of my establishedroutine of how I get through my days.
And.
And my days were very, verystrugglesome at that point in my
life.
So I ended up buying the gym.
Was great.
And then what really happened,what changed my entire life is.
And.
And it's the premise of thereclaimed sobriety book.
(04:00):
12 rounds of sobriety wasafter Covid.
We shut down that gym, and we.
We opened a new gym.
There was restraints where wewere, and we didn't want to deal
with them after Covid, so weopened the new gym called Box stl.
We're now the largest, like,largest boxing school in the Ozark
22 district.
There's.
There's 13 districts in USAboxing in the United States, so.
(04:21):
And we're the largest in ourdistrict, which we're very proud
of.
That's huge.
Congratulations.
So I had to start taking thesekids, and.
And realistically, we didn'tdo it for the kids, right?
We did it for other programs,but these kids kept knocking on my
door.
I didn't realize that the newlocation was next door.
Right down the street therewas a mosque, and right down the
street there was this bigCatholic church.
So I have this.
(04:42):
These kids constantly knockingon my door while I'm building this
thing.
Like, I built this gym for menlike me that are struggling with
things, right?
They need a place to go, andthat's what I built it for.
But these kids kept showingup, and finally I'm like, I don't
know what to do with these kids.
So finally I'm like, screw it.
Let's come in Saturday andjust come in Saturday, and we'll
figure something out together.
And.
(05:02):
And that.
That decision changed my lifein such an epic way that when I started
coaching these kids and I wentfrom, you know, I've been a boss
my whole life just about having.
Being a manager and havingemployees and hiring and finding
all that stuff.
But I'd never taught kidsanything, and I took that responsibility
very, very seriously, andespecially in boxing, because it's
(05:23):
dangerous.
So step back.
And, you know, after the firstcouple months, I'm like, okay, let's.
We need to make a full programfor these kids and, you know, know,
so I took, I started takingcoaching classes and I got the, you
know, high flow neurologicalcoaching program done, and I did
all these coaching programs tofigure out how do I teach these kids
(05:44):
to go from, you know, this kidthat's just, you know, in eighth
grade to putting on a uniform,walking down a hallway with thousands
of people screaming, get intoa ring and fight somebody that's
trying to hurt them and getover all that fear and all those
things.
And, and I.
And I realized that I had tochange who they identified themselves
(06:06):
as.
And when I realized that, I'mlike, oh, that's the trick to everything
on this planet is being ahuman is.
Is who I identify as.
And if I can shift how Iidentify myself, then I can do anything.
And these kids can do anything.
And they're amazing.
And like, we have, we wereawarded in 2024 the Female Fighter
(06:28):
of the Year for in USA in our district.
So it was just, it's been sucha joy to see that.
And then, you know, my, mybusiness acumen and then this and
putting them together has justbeen so profound for me and I've
learned so much.
Just, you know, I feel foolishthat I'm learning as much as I am.
At my age, but always belearning, right?
(06:50):
It's not always be learning.
You know, at my age, I feellike I'm learning so much, so much
faster than I was ever able tobefore about what life is and being
a human and all those things,and it's really just an exciting
time.
That's really cool.
And I'll interject my thoughtas to why, because when you start
learning things that you'retruly interested in and have a sense
(07:16):
of like, I want to knowsomething, I really want to know.
Because you want to knowversus being told what you need to
know, right?
Yeah.
Right.
You know, and so there are twodifferent things and I absolutely
love it.
So, so talk.
So.
So also before, you know, thepre show where we were talking and
(07:36):
that is that throughout yourcareer as a leader in your business,
you have wanted to create andit obviously talks about what you're
doing right now with thesekids in boxing, you know, people
to walk into a place and feellike that what they're walking into
is a safe place and not alwaysbe sitting behind a desk.
(07:57):
So talk to me a little bitabout that.
You know, you know what you'vedone well in that now to like, almost
like where you started as youshared, like maybe you didn't do
it always as well, as youwanted to, but had this idea about
doing it.
So walk me through thatjourney and also share with us how
does boxing play into that?
(08:18):
Well, I'll start with my whythat's so important to me.
I grew up.
I was born Kenny Schneider.
I was adopted at the age of 13.
Turned to Kenny Cox, wasconsistently in trouble.
Right after the adoption.
I got in a lot of trouble andthat, you know, they lost custody
of me until the age of 18.
I got to live there, but.
(08:39):
And.
But I. I didn't ever have asafe place to go when I was a kid.
It just didn't exist for me.
So.
And I didn't realize that.
But the safe places that Ifound, you know, I started working
at the age of 12.
This.
This restaurant, or 11, isbusting tables, right?
And the owner kind of wouldtake us under those wing and teach
us, you know, how to do.
(08:59):
How to deal with money and how to.
How to make sure that youdidn't have all your money in one
place.
He taught us about bankaccounts and all these things at
11, right?
This is just a business ownerthat owns a restaurant in town that's
helping out the local kids.
And then my local pizza joint,I'd go there.
And that's how I started.
My first company was vending machines.
The owner of that businessreally took me under his wing and
(09:19):
taught me a lot aboutspirituality and religion and those
kinds of things.
And there was a slot car trackthat I would go to a lot, and he
would teach me how to, youknow, solder for the other guys in
the shop so I could solder andmake some money and then do some
other stuff.
So what I realized is MainStreet America, it was my safe place
as a kid.
(09:40):
And when I started a boxing gym.
When I started boxing, Iwanted to compete in Golden Gloves,
and I did twice.
I've got one championship, andI got to the championship, but I
lost.
I lost once, and I won once.
So it's good.
And I would go to these boxinggyms to work out and train, and I'd
(10:01):
go to all these other boxinggyms, and that's some dangerous stuff
if you're going.
Especially a guy my size.
Not really.
You know, I mean, we're talking.
I've been boxing now for along time.
I'm much better than I wasthen, but I'm still.
I still wouldn't call myself good.
I'm a great coach, but I'm nota great boxer.
And it's not a safe place.
(10:22):
The boxing gyms in general,for a person, walking in is not a
safe place.
And, and I wanted to create that.
And when, when the kidsstarted showing up, I'm like, oh,
I really have to make surethat this is a safe place for them
to openly communicate to me.
Regardless of what it is rightfor them to have a place to go when
(10:45):
they're not.
There's no place else to gofor them.
So that became wildly powerfulfor me.
Outside of that, I've got myown neurological disorders that I've
dealt with my entire life.
I was a member of the specialschool district all the way until
like 8th or 9th grade and myson's non verbal and at Hosterion
or Endlink, we really like tohire people that are on the spectrum
(11:10):
because they enjoy to sit andplay with the computers and do those
kinds of things.
It becomes a challenge withtalking on the phone sometimes, but
we can train them to do that.
And it's been wildlygratifying to do that as well.
Those are just a couple placeswhere know, I think that I'm striving
and creating safe, safe placesfor people to do and exist and just
(11:31):
be and do the things that theylike to do.
Because that's so important tome is doing the things that you want
to do and having thatopportunity in life.
You know, it.
I, I love what, I love whatyou're sharing and the, some of the
things that really kind ofcome out.
It's like, you know, safeplace isn't also just safe place
physically.
It's a safe place to have yourvoice, you know, and I think that's
(11:53):
actually like an interesting,like that's, that was, that was kind
of resonating in my brain isthat it will also be able to create
a place where, you know, youcan walk in, whether it's the pizza
place, a boxing gym or acorporate boardroom and know that
you're not going to getridiculed or in trouble or whatever
(12:17):
the icky behavior is to theleader for opening up your mouth
and sharing your opinion andgiving people that courage to speak.
Yes.
And it's important, like weneed to hear everybody's opinions,
right?
Not all the time.
Like, you know, sometimesyou're in the middle of a project
and then, you know, if what'salready planned is planned and you
(12:40):
execute on that.
So that's not a time foropinions, but having a forum, a place
that they can open up and talkabout, hey, you know, I should have
said something to that lastmaintenance window, but I didn't.
For this Reason and that's respected.
Let us get through the thing.
But you know, in it, it's wayharder than boxing because boxing
is always just real time.
In it, it's way morechallenging because there are specific
(13:05):
ways to do things.
You know, it's not objective alot of times and just, it's more
challenging in it than it isin boxing, for sure.
Well, right, right.
Well, also, like in it, youknow, there is a specific way, for
example, like to code.
Right, right.
I mean, there's a differentway to, you know, there's different
ways to do.
It, but it has to bestandardized within that business
unit.
Right, exactly.
Right.
(13:25):
Have this person using thislanguage and this person using this
language.
It's communication is thekeynote to success.
And if you're using twodifferent communication methods,
then it don't, then it fallsapart really quickly.
Right.
And that's a, that's a huge thing.
And that's, and so I, I, Ilove what you are, what you're doing.
So talk to us, you know,about, and creating that space for,
for kids because, you know, I,I do believe that that helps give,
(13:50):
provide confidence.
Yes.
At a young age.
And I think that's somethingthat so many, like I know myself,
that was something that Istruggled with deeply as a kid, teenager,
young adult.
So the first thing I do inboth scenarios at the business, at
the, the corporate world, Icall it my smack.
(14:13):
Systematic, methodical andconsistent rule set for the business.
If you ever have a questionabout how I should act in any scenario,
your smack should tell you howto do that.
If it's not already a standardoperating procedure, then I can fall
back on that in boxing andeverywhere else in life.
I call it my, just my core values.
Right.
And we, we go over those andwe reiterate them on a regular basis
(14:34):
and it's way more fun in boxing.
Right.
It's so cool.
But smack is a great name.
I love it.
Yeah.
I think it comes fromAmerican, not American, I think comes
from Southwest Airlines whenthey were redoing their entire mechanism.
I think that's what I read.
I know, I know they use that,that, that terminology.
(14:57):
And it was basically like, youknow, we have fun flights, we don't
assign seats, you know, thosekinds of high level, consistent rules.
That, that's what they'realways going to fall back for.
And what I didn't know and,and I don't know how many people
on the planet don't know this,and I didn't, I feel so foolish that
living a life just a Humanlife without a set of core values
(15:22):
will flounder you forever.
You won't know what directionto go into.
And we know whenever you setthose core values, you know, deviating
from them is painful.
And, and how you set them isthat you just write down what you
want and then you reiteratethem every single day and become
part of them and, and embodythose values and act like them every
day, and it becomes a really,really, really powerful tool.
(15:45):
I would.
I think it's the most powerfultool of any mindset tool on the out.
Personally.
I would 100 agree with you.
And I also 100 agree that somany people do not realize that.
And I talk to people a lotabout creating that personal statement
that decide, like, how youwant to be and it.
(16:08):
And it's funny, like, I havesomething that's on my wall that
I look at and I'll say it, youknow, and I'll read it.
It's empowering ambitiousleaders and professionals to ignite
transformation, drive, impact,and achieve unstoppable success.
Yes.
Right.
And so it's something that Itruly believe.
Lots of reasons why, but it'salso helping people be their best.
(16:31):
Yes.
My mantra changes quite a bit.
Yeah.
I would say probably quarterlytoday, it's, I'm here, I'm safe,
and I'm grounded.
Love it.
I need right now.
Right, right.
You know, and that's so I.
But I think, you know, thecore values piece is actually really
important and I actually wantto touch on that because, you know,
(16:57):
sharing.
I don't know why I just raisedmy hand.
Right.
We're lowering the hand.
So, you know, it's.
Core values is so important ina company at the, at the top of it,
it's core values for a team,core values for the people, each
person.
So I would love for you toshare like, like, how do you think
(17:19):
that plays out in all thosedifferent places?
Corporate team person.
I think when you set it aspart of.
In the business, it's.
It's your job as the owner toset those core values hands down.
I understand, like,everybody's like, talking about,
oh, you got to have themission statement, all these other
(17:41):
things, and you need all ofthat stuff.
But I promise you, your corevalue set is going to be way more
valuable than your missionstatement is ever going to be.
And when that, when you'reonboarding people, you know, like,
literally you got to say, hey,these are our core values.
If you can't align with thesevalues while you're here, then this
isn't going to be a.
Right.
Right.
It just won't be a safe placefor you, and you're going to find
(18:03):
a place that will be safe for you.
But these are our values.
Right.
We work hard, we play hard.
We, you know, we, we.
We do not shy away from, youknow, hard tasks, those kinds of
things.
If we see paper on the floor,we pick it up.
Right.
Like, those are just kind ofstuff that we do.
And if you can't embody thesevalues and this is not the place
for you, and that's.
That's okay.
(18:23):
Right.
Knowing that you're not theplace for everybody is really, really
important as well.
And then when you see somebodydeviating from the core values of
your company, and this was thehardest thing for me to do, is you
have to let them go quickly.
You know, maybe once a.
Hey, man, you're really notaligning with our values of the company.
(18:45):
You know, the.
I understand where you'recoming from.
And, and this is.
You probably already know, butthese are the things that we need
to work on.
And if they can't, then youhave to get rid of them quickly and
let them move on.
And it's.
What I've found in life isthat it's more mean to try to keep
that relationship there andwhen it's not right than to let that
(19:09):
go.
It's a hard thing to do.
And nobody likes firinganybody, but it's, you know, I've
never fired anybody in mylife, and I've let go of a lot of
people that didn't end up in abetter position for them afterwards.
I think what you just said is it.
Is they ended up in a betterposition for them.
(19:31):
For them, it's not about you.
Right.
Right.
I mean, I think one of the keythings that we have to look at as
leaders and, and I, and, and.
And listeners, I really wantyou to.
This is a really important game.
Changing insight.
Number one, your knowing yourcore values of your company is so
(19:55):
important.
And remember that the peoplethat are in your tribe, which I call
your employees because I hatethe word employees, you know, your
tribe of people that areworking with you need to embody the
core values that you have.
And if they don't.
Yes.
(20:15):
Let them go quickly.
And you know what's going toend up happening.
They will.
And, and I will take it one step.
Let them go.
And if you can refer them tosomebody, if you think they're a
good person, you might say to,you know, I might say, oh, my God,
Ken, you know what you are anawesome person.
But as you can tell, we thinkthat maybe there's a misalignment
(20:38):
in your values with ourcompany, but I think that you're
a great human.
I want to refer you to afriend of mine at company, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah.
Because I think that you alignmore with that.
That company.
You know, unless the person isan absolute, like hor.
Horror.
But most people aren't.
Right.
Or.
(20:58):
And if they are not guided orthey are not the best employee, many
times it's because they're notacting at a place or in a place where
the core values are alignedand they don't feel in alignment.
Yeah, it's exhausting beingsomebody that you're not.
It's the most exhausting taska human can do.
(21:20):
And.
And to ask people to do thatfor eight to 12 hours a day.
I, you know, I mean, you cantalk about the value of a human and
your pay does not equal yourvalue as a human.
But at the end of the day,there's no value, monetary value
that can keep me from beingsomebody that I'm not for eight to
12 hours a day.
That would.
It just doesn't exist.
(21:42):
Right.
And there's so many thingsthat get stifled in there, and we
want to.
And the.
And the key thing aboutleadership is the word lead.
And in order to lead people tobecome better than they are today
to something greater, and tolead your company to greatness, we
have to be in an align, in a alignment.
(22:03):
And if we're not, then we needto find a different move the path
differently for that person.
Doesn't matter how big orsmall the team is.
When you get alignment, thingsstart flowing.
They flow very, very well.
Very, very smoothly.
And then you talk to your teamand you scratch your head like, wow,
(22:23):
last time we did this wasreally challenging.
And what's different?
Like, oh, this person.
This person's not on the team.
Like, oh, okay, that makes sense.
And it is a really beautifulthing when your entire team is aligned
and all moving forward in acommon goal.
And it's just.
Yeah, it's neat.
(22:44):
That is really neat.
That is really neat.
Okay, so I see, you know, wewere talking a little and you shared
a little bit about this, butI'm really curious.
So talk to us about what yournew venture is in Lync.
In link.com is my ode to thosemen that put me under their.
Under their shoulder when Iwas a kid.
We founded Hosterian in two in 2001.
(23:08):
Corporate IT data center infrastructure.
We've done Things like buildback offices for Sprint and aol.
I built the data center forPeabody Energy, the largest coal
company in the world with somepretty, pretty crazy legal requirements.
Built multiple data centers inmy life, you know, today I service
(23:28):
customers from the local yogastudio all the way to the largest
companies on the planet.
And, and I, and I really like that.
And now, because I servicesome of the largest companies on
the planet, I have lots andlots of resources.
And with the invention or the,not the invention of AI, but the,
(23:49):
the catapulting of AI over thepast three years had me step back
a little bit.
I went to MIT through their AIprogram, and I really wanted to do
something in the AI space.
And I really love these people.
Like, there's, there's notmany things in the world that make
me more passionate aboutseeing somebody go after their dreams.
(24:10):
So, you know, the localconstruction guy that wants to start,
you know, leave theconstruction firm and start his own
construction company, the guythat's working as a plumber wants
to start his own plumbing company.
The lawyer that, you know,I've got a U.S. marshal that wanted
to become a lawyer, pass thisbar, and, and, you know, helped him
start his business in.
Link is for that.
It's, it's the tool stack thatis everything you need to start your
(24:33):
business online.
I like to look at Nlink as thelink between web 2.0 and 3.0, because
we have tools in there like AIemployees that will answer your phones
and do your Google reviewsand, you know, push warm leads up
to the top and so you don'thave to, you know, you know, necessarily
run through all of your leads.
And it's, it's a really greatCRM tool that we have over 60 different
(24:56):
industries already programmedwith funnels and websites and all
that stuff so that you canjust click it and go.
And it's, it's, you know,pretty quickly wildly robust.
And then we couple that withour Office product.
I have a lot of major concernsabout privacy moving forward.
And right now, when you'resharing your Google, your data with
(25:18):
Google and Amazon and allthose things, I read more privacy
policies than probably anybodyelse on the planet.
And I can't tell you exactlywhat they're allowed to do with your
data.
Right?
And neither can you.
And you're clicking the buttonand going, what I promise you at
end link is that we will neversell your data.
(25:39):
We're privately held.
I do not have an objective, Ido not have a legal requirement to
make the most amount of money possible.
So I don't have to sell your data.
Just have to feed my familyand my employees and they all have
a great time and grow.
That's my requirement in lifenot to make the most money possible.
So.
And I think that's animportant distinguish distinguishing
factor and I'm really sad thatmore people don't understand that.
(26:05):
You know, so this sounds likeabsolutely fantastic.
So I, I love that and I lovewhat you said about.
I, I love your, like you're,you want to feed your family and
your employees and have peoplebe happy.
It's not about making the mostmoney in the world.
And I mean making money is great.
Publicly traded company, theyhave a legal requirement to make
(26:27):
the most money possible withyour data.
And, and you're sharing yourdata with them and I mean they can't
break intellectual property laws.
But.
Can I. I'll share with you.
Yeah, it's, it's, it's crazywhen you.
Because I'll share with you.
You know, when I, I started mycareer in magazine publishing and
(26:49):
what did I love to get and sell?
Ads.
Names.
Yeah, names.
I mean name generation andcapturing people's contact information
is a, I mean that is where youget list companies from.
(27:09):
They make their money.
Selling your contact information.
Selling your contact.
Yeah.
I used to tell people I didtwo things that when I first started
my career in publishing, Ikilled trees because I was responsible
for doing all the direct mailand putting, you know, my job was
insert like you know, consumermarketing, insert cards in the magazine,
(27:32):
direct mail, packages,renewals, bills, whatever, the whole
paper.
Right?
Yes.
So I'm like, yep, I'mresponsible for killing trees.
And I, and I said, and I'mresponsible for your getting all
the junk mail in the worldbecause I take your data and I, if
you subscribe to my magazines,I will sell your data.
Yes.
And at the time we didn't ne,I mean we did have the, you know,
(27:56):
do not email whatever list youcould run.
Things then and now are twowildly different times.
Yeah, wildly different.
The ability to create hypertargeted long tail.
I'm talking two, three, fiveyear campaigns that target an individual
that, and they know name,date, age, romantic preference.
(28:22):
You know, today I drive a BMW,but I'm looking at Lexus and they
have so much data on you today.
And you know, I think about mydaughter who's using digital diaries
and maybe you know, or thelittle girl that's five today and
she's, she's, you know,learning how to do this with AI and,
(28:42):
and some company owns the datathat she's sharing as she's a child.
She might run for Senate one day.
And how valuable is that datagoing to be?
The stuff that she.
Yeah.
To the guy who wants to run.
Against her friend at 13 years old.
Right.
Peek into my head at 13, boy,the planet would explode.
Probably.
(29:06):
So, yeah.
It's wildly scary.
And the couple.
Yeah.
And data storage today is justso absurd.
And, And I understand whatyou're saying where you were doing
before, but the game is wildly different.
Wildly.
And it is so crazy different.
So crazy different.
And I, when I, When I saythat, like, I.
What I used to do back then, Iwould not want to be in that position
(29:30):
today because it would make mereally uncomfortable.
I would walk away from that job.
Yeah.
Second.
Yep.
The second I realized what was happening.
Data.
And that's part of why I hadto be an entrepreneur, because I
can't.
I can't live a life happy andhealthy knowing that that's happening
in the background and that I'm.
That I'm an integral part ofit and I'm not going to do anything
(29:53):
that I'm not an integral partof, so.
Right.
Right.
You know, Ken, I could talk toyou for hours about this, and, and
I, and I just want.
Want to applaud you for whatyou are doing because not only are
you making it a safe place forpeople to feel confident about going
into where they're working,but because of what you're doing
(30:14):
within link, you're makingtheir data safe.
And we are making that.
That's.
That's like, safety is a keything, and that's a.
As a leader in the world, Ijust want to applaud you for that
because that's something that,you know, I wish, you know, in the
grand scheme of thing, one ofthe biggest reasons why I started
this podcast is because if wecould create better leaders and we
(30:40):
can have, and, and we can helpother people know about other leaders
and the businesses that theyhave that are doing the good in the
world, that maybe if we cantouch a few people to make things
just a little bit better, youknow, it's like one company at a
time, one person at a time,one leader at a time, we can make
a better impact.
(31:01):
Absolutely.
So I appreciate you for beingan amazing guest and for what you're
doing and listeners, I wantyou to do me a favor, like, how can
our listeners get in touchwith you if.
They want to know more aboutme personally?
You can just go to kencox.comkencox.com if you want to know more
about Nlink?
We've got a 14 day free trialof both of our office products and
(31:22):
our CRM and we do it every Tuesday.
We do an AI webinar, totallyfree, and we give discounts to the
Inlink platform afterwards.
We have a really greatcoaching program right now.
I've got, I think, two slotsavailable where I meet with you once
a month to help you grow yourbusiness and get everything legal
and all those things.
So kencox.com or nlink.com isis the way to get a hold of me.
(31:46):
Awesome.
Okay, well, we will make surethat we have those in the show notes.
And please, listeners, I'msure you've gotten some great value
out of this to do me two favors.
Actually, make that three.
Number one, make sure youreach out and connect with Ken on
kencox or@enlightening.comAlso, please do me the favor of hitting
subscribe to this.
And then three, please sharethis with your friends and your business
(32:07):
colleagues.
Because again, as I said,being an unstoppable leader does,
you know, take a team and ittakes knowledge.
And so if we can change andcreate a better impact and have greater
leaders out there, we aredoing something great in the world.
So I'm Jacqueline Strominger.
This is the UnstoppableLeadership Spotlight podcast.
And thank you for being agreat guest, Ken, and thank you guys
(32:28):
for listening.
Thank you so much.
Good content.
Yeah.
Well, hello everybody andwelcome to another amazing episode
of the Unstoppable LeadershipSpotlight podcast where we hear from
amazing leaders and get theirgame changing insights.
And today I have the absolutepleasure as your host, jacqueliner,
to bring Ken Cox on as ouresteemed leader and guest.
(00:59):
Let me tell you a little bitabout Ken.
He's a seasoned entrepreneurand he is actually the president
of Inlink and he's, he'soffering amazing services.
He hosts the award winningClicks and Bricks podcast where he
shares stories and insightsfor entrepreneurs.
He's an, he's an author, heworks, his works include Reclaim
(01:21):
Sobriety, a guide toovercoming addiction.
And Ken's ventures includeleadership roles in multiple companies
like Box, STL and Vendor Review.
And his mission is to createvalue driven solutions while inspiring
inspiring resilience andinnovation in the business community.
So welcome Ken to the podcast.
(01:45):
I am so glad to have you on asa guest and as we were talking pre
show like I was talking abouthow I absolutely love boxing.
So my favorite, thank you forhaving me, Jacqueline.
I very much appreciate yourtime and energy today.
Oh, it's my pleasure.
So, okay, you know, I knowwe're going to talk about leadership,
but let me talk to, let meask, what got you into boxing?
(02:07):
Oh wow.
Addiction got me.
Or the recovery from addiction.
So I guess I was in my late30s, I got a diagnosis of liver alcohol
related liver disease.
You know, I'm a kid from the70s, so drinking alcohol was just
very commonplace in everyplace that I went.
As I got into the businessworld, you know, happy hours and
(02:31):
the ability to take, you know,specifically like, you know, European
customers that come to theStates, taking them out and showing
them a great time.
Happy hours turn into, ohcrap, I gotta be back to the office,
it's morning time kind of situation.
And that took a toll on mylife as a whole.
And I ended up with liver disease.
(02:52):
So one of the things that Idid to help me overcome the addiction
and the liver disease was Istarted boxing.
I had always kind of been arough and tumble guy, lots of street
fights and spar fights andstuff like that, but I never really
put any discipline around it.
And at the, you know, the ageof 40 years old, I started boxing.
Realized that the gym that Iwas going to was not being ran properly
(03:16):
and I quite didn't know why.
I could say, man, there's,there's enough, there's enough here
to make this a reasonably good business.
But there's something disconnected.
So I called the owner.
I'm like, what's going on?
He's like, man, my wife got sick.
I don't have the time toreally focus on it anymore.
And it's just this kind ofburden that's in my family right
now.
I'm like, well, why don't yousell it to me?
Because if it disappears, I'mprobably gonna die, right?
(03:38):
At that point, I had already.
Right?
That's part of my establishedroutine of how I get through my days.
And.
And my days were very, verystrugglesome at that point in my
life.
So I ended up buying the gym.
Was great.
And then what really happened,what changed my entire life is.
And.
And it's the premise of thereclaimed sobriety book.
(04:00):
12 rounds of sobriety wasafter Covid.
We shut down that gym, and we.
We opened a new gym.
There was restraints where wewere, and we didn't want to deal
with them after Covid, so weopened the new gym called Box stl.
We're now the largest, like,largest boxing school in the Ozark
22 district.
There's.
There's 13 districts in USAboxing in the United States, so.
(04:21):
And we're the largest in ourdistrict, which we're very proud
of.
That's huge.
Congratulations.
So I had to start taking thesekids, and.
And realistically, we didn'tdo it for the kids, right?
We did it for other programs,but these kids kept knocking on my
door.
I didn't realize that the newlocation was next door.
Right down the street therewas a mosque, and right down the
street there was this bigCatholic church.
So I have this.
(04:42):
These kids constantly knockingon my door while I'm building this
thing.
Like, I built this gym for menlike me that are struggling with
things, right?
They need a place to go, andthat's what I built it for.
But these kids kept showingup, and finally I'm like, I don't
know what to do with these kids.
So finally I'm like, screw it.
Let's come in Saturday andjust come in Saturday, and we'll
figure something out together.
And.
(05:02):
And that.
That decision changed my lifein such an epic way that when I started
coaching these kids and I wentfrom, you know, I've been a boss
my whole life just about having.
Being a manager and havingemployees and hiring and finding
all that stuff.
But I'd never taught kidsanything, and I took that responsibility
very, very seriously, andespecially in boxing, because it's
(05:23):
dangerous.
So step back.
And, you know, after the firstcouple months, I'm like, okay, let's.
We need to make a full programfor these kids and, you know, know,
so I took, I started takingcoaching classes and I got the, you
know, high flow neurologicalcoaching program done, and I did
all these coaching programs tofigure out how do I teach these kids
(05:44):
to go from, you know, this kidthat's just, you know, in eighth
grade to putting on a uniform,walking down a hallway with thousands
of people screaming, get intoa ring and fight somebody that's
trying to hurt them and getover all that fear and all those
things.
And, and I.
And I realized that I had tochange who they identified themselves
(06:06):
as.
And when I realized that, I'mlike, oh, that's the trick to everything
on this planet is being ahuman is.
Is who I identify as.
And if I can shift how Iidentify myself, then I can do anything.
And these kids can do anything.
And they're amazing.
And like, we have, we wereawarded in 2024 the Female Fighter
(06:28):
of the Year for in USA in our district.
So it was just, it's been sucha joy to see that.
And then, you know, my, mybusiness acumen and then this and
putting them together has justbeen so profound for me and I've
learned so much.
Just, you know, I feel foolishthat I'm learning as much as I am.
At my age, but always belearning, right?
(06:50):
It's not always be learning.
You know, at my age, I feellike I'm learning so much, so much
faster than I was ever able tobefore about what life is and being
a human and all those things,and it's really just an exciting
time.
That's really cool.
And I'll interject my thoughtas to why, because when you start
learning things that you'retruly interested in and have a sense
(07:16):
of like, I want to knowsomething, I really want to know.
Because you want to knowversus being told what you need to
know, right?
Yeah.
Right.
You know, and so there are twodifferent things and I absolutely
love it.
So, so talk.
So.
So also before, you know, thepre show where we were talking and
(07:36):
that is that throughout yourcareer as a leader in your business,
you have wanted to create andit obviously talks about what you're
doing right now with thesekids in boxing, you know, people
to walk into a place and feellike that what they're walking into
is a safe place and not alwaysbe sitting behind a desk.
(07:57):
So talk to me a little bitabout that.
You know, you know what you'vedone well in that now to like, almost
like where you started as youshared, like maybe you didn't do
it always as well, as youwanted to, but had this idea about
doing it.
So walk me through thatjourney and also share with us how
does boxing play into that?
(08:18):
Well, I'll start with my whythat's so important to me.
I grew up.
I was born Kenny Schneider.
I was adopted at the age of 13.
Turned to Kenny Cox, wasconsistently in trouble.
Right after the adoption.
I got in a lot of trouble andthat, you know, they lost custody
of me until the age of 18.
I got to live there, but.
(08:39):
And.
But I. I didn't ever have asafe place to go when I was a kid.
It just didn't exist for me.
So.
And I didn't realize that.
But the safe places that Ifound, you know, I started working
at the age of 12.
This.
This restaurant, or 11, isbusting tables, right?
And the owner kind of wouldtake us under those wing and teach
us, you know, how to do.
(08:59):
How to deal with money and how to.
How to make sure that youdidn't have all your money in one
place.
He taught us about bankaccounts and all these things at
11, right?
This is just a business ownerthat owns a restaurant in town that's
helping out the local kids.
And then my local pizza joint,I'd go there.
And that's how I started.
My first company was vending machines.
The owner of that businessreally took me under his wing and
(09:19):
taught me a lot aboutspirituality and religion and those
kinds of things.
And there was a slot car trackthat I would go to a lot, and he
would teach me how to, youknow, solder for the other guys in
the shop so I could solder andmake some money and then do some
other stuff.
So what I realized is MainStreet America, it was my safe place
as a kid.
(09:40):
And when I started a boxing gym.
When I started boxing, Iwanted to compete in Golden Gloves,
and I did twice.
I've got one championship, andI got to the championship, but I
lost.
I lost once, and I won once.
So it's good.
And I would go to these boxinggyms to work out and train, and I'd
(10:01):
go to all these other boxinggyms, and that's some dangerous stuff
if you're going.
Especially a guy my size.
Not really.
You know, I mean, we're talking.
I've been boxing now for along time.
I'm much better than I wasthen, but I'm still.
I still wouldn't call myself good.
I'm a great coach, but I'm nota great boxer.
And it's not a safe place.
(10:22):
The boxing gyms in general,for a person, walking in is not a
safe place.
And, and I wanted to create that.
And when, when the kidsstarted showing up, I'm like, oh,
I really have to make surethat this is a safe place for them
to openly communicate to me.
Regardless of what it is rightfor them to have a place to go when
(10:45):
they're not.
There's no place else to gofor them.
So that became wildly powerfulfor me.
Outside of that, I've got myown neurological disorders that I've
dealt with my entire life.
I was a member of the specialschool district all the way until
like 8th or 9th grade and myson's non verbal and at Hosterion
or Endlink, we really like tohire people that are on the spectrum
(11:10):
because they enjoy to sit andplay with the computers and do those
kinds of things.
It becomes a challenge withtalking on the phone sometimes, but
we can train them to do that.
And it's been wildlygratifying to do that as well.
Those are just a couple placeswhere know, I think that I'm striving
and creating safe, safe placesfor people to do and exist and just
(11:31):
be and do the things that theylike to do.
Because that's so important tome is doing the things that you want
to do and having thatopportunity in life.
You know, it.
I, I love what, I love whatyou're sharing and the, some of the
things that really kind ofcome out.
It's like, you know, safeplace isn't also just safe place
physically.
It's a safe place to have yourvoice, you know, and I think that's
(11:53):
actually like an interesting,like that's, that was, that was kind
of resonating in my brain isthat it will also be able to create
a place where, you know, youcan walk in, whether it's the pizza
place, a boxing gym or acorporate boardroom and know that
you're not going to getridiculed or in trouble or whatever
(12:17):
the icky behavior is to theleader for opening up your mouth
and sharing your opinion andgiving people that courage to speak.
Yes.
And it's important, like weneed to hear everybody's opinions,
right?
Not all the time.
Like, you know, sometimesyou're in the middle of a project
and then, you know, if what'salready planned is planned and you
(12:40):
execute on that.
So that's not a time foropinions, but having a forum, a place
that they can open up and talkabout, hey, you know, I should have
said something to that lastmaintenance window, but I didn't.
For this Reason and that's respected.
Let us get through the thing.
But you know, in it, it's wayharder than boxing because boxing
is always just real time.
In it, it's way morechallenging because there are specific
(13:05):
ways to do things.
You know, it's not objective alot of times and just, it's more
challenging in it than it isin boxing, for sure.
Well, right, right.
Well, also, like in it, youknow, there is a specific way, for
example, like to code.
Right, right.
I mean, there's a differentway to, you know, there's different
ways to do.
It, but it has to bestandardized within that business
unit.
Right, exactly.
Right.
(13:25):
Have this person using thislanguage and this person using this
language.
It's communication is thekeynote to success.
And if you're using twodifferent communication methods,
then it don't, then it fallsapart really quickly.
Right.
And that's a, that's a huge thing.
And that's, and so I, I, Ilove what you are, what you're doing.
So talk to us, you know,about, and creating that space for,
for kids because, you know, I,I do believe that that helps give,
(13:50):
provide confidence.
Yes.
At a young age.
And I think that's somethingthat so many, like I know myself,
that was something that Istruggled with deeply as a kid, teenager,
young adult.
So the first thing I do inboth scenarios at the business, at
the, the corporate world, Icall it my smack.
(14:13):
Systematic, methodical andconsistent rule set for the business.
If you ever have a questionabout how I should act in any scenario,
your smack should tell you howto do that.
If it's not already a standardoperating procedure, then I can fall
back on that in boxing andeverywhere else in life.
I call it my, just my core values.
Right.
And we, we go over those andwe reiterate them on a regular basis
(14:34):
and it's way more fun in boxing.
Right.
It's so cool.
But smack is a great name.
I love it.
Yeah.
I think it comes fromAmerican, not American, I think comes
from Southwest Airlines whenthey were redoing their entire mechanism.
I think that's what I read.
I know, I know they use that,that, that terminology.
(14:57):
And it was basically like, youknow, we have fun flights, we don't
assign seats, you know, thosekinds of high level, consistent rules.
That, that's what they'realways going to fall back for.
And what I didn't know and,and I don't know how many people
on the planet don't know this,and I didn't, I feel so foolish that
living a life just a Humanlife without a set of core values
(15:22):
will flounder you forever.
You won't know what directionto go into.
And we know whenever you setthose core values, you know, deviating
from them is painful.
And, and how you set them isthat you just write down what you
want and then you reiteratethem every single day and become
part of them and, and embodythose values and act like them every
day, and it becomes a really,really, really powerful tool.
(15:45):
I would.
I think it's the most powerfultool of any mindset tool on the out.
Personally.
I would 100 agree with you.
And I also 100 agree that somany people do not realize that.
And I talk to people a lotabout creating that personal statement
that decide, like, how youwant to be and it.
(16:08):
And it's funny, like, I havesomething that's on my wall that
I look at and I'll say it, youknow, and I'll read it.
It's empowering ambitiousleaders and professionals to ignite
transformation, drive, impact,and achieve unstoppable success.
Yes.
Right.
And so it's something that Itruly believe.
Lots of reasons why, but it'salso helping people be their best.
(16:31):
Yes.
My mantra changes quite a bit.
Yeah.
I would say probably quarterlytoday, it's, I'm here, I'm safe,
and I'm grounded.
Love it.
I need right now.
Right, right.
You know, and that's so I.
But I think, you know, thecore values piece is actually really
important and I actually wantto touch on that because, you know,
(16:57):
sharing.
I don't know why I just raisedmy hand.
Right.
We're lowering the hand.
So, you know, it's.
Core values is so important ina company at the, at the top of it,
it's core values for a team,core values for the people, each
person.
So I would love for you toshare like, like, how do you think
(17:19):
that plays out in all thosedifferent places?
Corporate team person.
I think when you set it aspart of.
In the business, it's.
It's your job as the owner toset those core values hands down.
I understand, like,everybody's like, talking about,
oh, you got to have themission statement, all these other
(17:41):
things, and you need all ofthat stuff.
But I promise you, your corevalue set is going to be way more
valuable than your missionstatement is ever going to be.
And when that, when you'reonboarding people, you know, like,
literally you got to say, hey,these are our core values.
If you can't align with thesevalues while you're here, then this
isn't going to be a.
Right.
Right.
It just won't be a safe placefor you, and you're going to find
(18:03):
a place that will be safe for you.
But these are our values.
Right.
We work hard, we play hard.
We, you know, we, we.
We do not shy away from, youknow, hard tasks, those kinds of
things.
If we see paper on the floor,we pick it up.
Right.
Like, those are just kind ofstuff that we do.
And if you can't embody thesevalues and this is not the place
for you, and that's.
That's okay.
(18:23):
Right.
Knowing that you're not theplace for everybody is really, really
important as well.
And then when you see somebodydeviating from the core values of
your company, and this was thehardest thing for me to do, is you
have to let them go quickly.
You know, maybe once a.
Hey, man, you're really notaligning with our values of the company.
(18:45):
You know, the.
I understand where you'recoming from.
And, and this is.
You probably already know, butthese are the things that we need
to work on.
And if they can't, then youhave to get rid of them quickly and
let them move on.
And it's.
What I've found in life isthat it's more mean to try to keep
that relationship there andwhen it's not right than to let that
(19:09):
go.
It's a hard thing to do.
And nobody likes firinganybody, but it's, you know, I've
never fired anybody in mylife, and I've let go of a lot of
people that didn't end up in abetter position for them afterwards.
I think what you just said is it.
Is they ended up in a betterposition for them.
(19:31):
For them, it's not about you.
Right.
Right.
I mean, I think one of the keythings that we have to look at as
leaders and, and I, and, and.
And listeners, I really wantyou to.
This is a really important game.
Changing insight.
Number one, your knowing yourcore values of your company is so
(19:55):
important.
And remember that the peoplethat are in your tribe, which I call
your employees because I hatethe word employees, you know, your
tribe of people that areworking with you need to embody the
core values that you have.
And if they don't.
Yes.
(20:15):
Let them go quickly.
And you know what's going toend up happening.
They will.
And, and I will take it one step.
Let them go.
And if you can refer them tosomebody, if you think they're a
good person, you might say to,you know, I might say, oh, my God,
Ken, you know what you are anawesome person.
But as you can tell, we thinkthat maybe there's a misalignment
(20:38):
in your values with ourcompany, but I think that you're
a great human.
I want to refer you to afriend of mine at company, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah.
Because I think that you alignmore with that.
That company.
You know, unless the person isan absolute, like hor.
Horror.
But most people aren't.
Right.
Or.
(20:58):
And if they are not guided orthey are not the best employee, many
times it's because they're notacting at a place or in a place where
the core values are alignedand they don't feel in alignment.
Yeah, it's exhausting beingsomebody that you're not.
It's the most exhausting taska human can do.
(21:20):
And.
And to ask people to do thatfor eight to 12 hours a day.
I, you know, I mean, you cantalk about the value of a human and
your pay does not equal yourvalue as a human.
But at the end of the day,there's no value, monetary value
that can keep me from beingsomebody that I'm not for eight to
12 hours a day.
That would.
It just doesn't exist.
(21:42):
Right.
And there's so many thingsthat get stifled in there, and we
want to.
And the.
And the key thing aboutleadership is the word lead.
And in order to lead people tobecome better than they are today
to something greater, and tolead your company to greatness, we
have to be in an align, in a alignment.
(22:03):
And if we're not, then we needto find a different move the path
differently for that person.
Doesn't matter how big orsmall the team is.
When you get alignment, thingsstart flowing.
They flow very, very well.
Very, very smoothly.
And then you talk to your teamand you scratch your head like, wow,
(22:23):
last time we did this wasreally challenging.
And what's different?
Like, oh, this person.
This person's not on the team.
Like, oh, okay, that makes sense.
And it is a really beautifulthing when your entire team is aligned
and all moving forward in acommon goal.
And it's just.
Yeah, it's neat.
(22:44):
That is really neat.
That is really neat.
Okay, so I see, you know, wewere talking a little and you shared
a little bit about this, butI'm really curious.
So talk to us about what yournew venture is in Lync.
In link.com is my ode to thosemen that put me under their.
Under their shoulder when Iwas a kid.
We founded Hosterian in two in 2001.
(23:08):
Corporate IT data center infrastructure.
We've done Things like buildback offices for Sprint and aol.
I built the data center forPeabody Energy, the largest coal
company in the world with somepretty, pretty crazy legal requirements.
Built multiple data centers inmy life, you know, today I service
(23:28):
customers from the local yogastudio all the way to the largest
companies on the planet.
And, and I, and I really like that.
And now, because I servicesome of the largest companies on
the planet, I have lots andlots of resources.
And with the invention or the,not the invention of AI, but the,
(23:49):
the catapulting of AI over thepast three years had me step back
a little bit.
I went to MIT through their AIprogram, and I really wanted to do
something in the AI space.
And I really love these people.
Like, there's, there's notmany things in the world that make
me more passionate aboutseeing somebody go after their dreams.
(24:10):
So, you know, the localconstruction guy that wants to start,
you know, leave theconstruction firm and start his own
construction company, the guythat's working as a plumber wants
to start his own plumbing company.
The lawyer that, you know,I've got a U.S. marshal that wanted
to become a lawyer, pass thisbar, and, and, you know, helped him
start his business in.
Link is for that.
It's, it's the tool stack thatis everything you need to start your
(24:33):
business online.
I like to look at Nlink as thelink between web 2.0 and 3.0, because
we have tools in there like AIemployees that will answer your phones
and do your Google reviewsand, you know, push warm leads up
to the top and so you don'thave to, you know, you know, necessarily
run through all of your leads.
And it's, it's a really greatCRM tool that we have over 60 different
(24:56):
industries already programmedwith funnels and websites and all
that stuff so that you canjust click it and go.
And it's, it's, you know,pretty quickly wildly robust.
And then we couple that withour Office product.
I have a lot of major concernsabout privacy moving forward.
And right now, when you'resharing your Google, your data with
(25:18):
Google and Amazon and allthose things, I read more privacy
policies than probably anybodyelse on the planet.
And I can't tell you exactlywhat they're allowed to do with your
data.
Right?
And neither can you.
And you're clicking the buttonand going, what I promise you at
end link is that we will neversell your data.
(25:39):
We're privately held.
I do not have an objective, Ido not have a legal requirement to
make the most amount of money possible.
So I don't have to sell your data.
Just have to feed my familyand my employees and they all have
a great time and grow.
That's my requirement in lifenot to make the most money possible.
So.
And I think that's animportant distinguish distinguishing
factor and I'm really sad thatmore people don't understand that.
(26:05):
You know, so this sounds likeabsolutely fantastic.
So I, I love that and I lovewhat you said about.
I, I love your, like you're,you want to feed your family and
your employees and have peoplebe happy.
It's not about making the mostmoney in the world.
And I mean making money is great.
Publicly traded company, theyhave a legal requirement to make
(26:27):
the most money possible withyour data.
And, and you're sharing yourdata with them and I mean they can't
break intellectual property laws.
But.
Can I. I'll share with you.
Yeah, it's, it's, it's crazywhen you.
Because I'll share with you.
You know, when I, I started mycareer in magazine publishing and
(26:49):
what did I love to get and sell?
Ads.
Names.
Yeah, names.
I mean name generation andcapturing people's contact information
is a, I mean that is where youget list companies from.
(27:09):
They make their money.
Selling your contact information.
Selling your contact.
Yeah.
I used to tell people I didtwo things that when I first started
my career in publishing, Ikilled trees because I was responsible
for doing all the direct mailand putting, you know, my job was
insert like you know, consumermarketing, insert cards in the magazine,
(27:32):
direct mail, packages,renewals, bills, whatever, the whole
paper.
Right?
Yes.
So I'm like, yep, I'mresponsible for killing trees.
And I, and I said, and I'mresponsible for your getting all
the junk mail in the worldbecause I take your data and I, if
you subscribe to my magazines,I will sell your data.
Yes.
And at the time we didn't ne,I mean we did have the, you know,
(27:56):
do not email whatever list youcould run.
Things then and now are twowildly different times.
Yeah, wildly different.
The ability to create hypertargeted long tail.
I'm talking two, three, fiveyear campaigns that target an individual
that, and they know name,date, age, romantic preference.
(28:22):
You know, today I drive a BMW,but I'm looking at Lexus and they
have so much data on you today.
And you know, I think about mydaughter who's using digital diaries
and maybe you know, or thelittle girl that's five today and
she's, she's, you know,learning how to do this with AI and,
(28:42):
and some company owns the datathat she's sharing as she's a child.
She might run for Senate one day.
And how valuable is that datagoing to be?
The stuff that she.
Yeah.
To the guy who wants to run.
Against her friend at 13 years old.
Right.
Peek into my head at 13, boy,the planet would explode.
Probably.
(29:06):
So, yeah.
It's wildly scary.
And the couple.
Yeah.
And data storage today is justso absurd.
And, And I understand whatyou're saying where you were doing
before, but the game is wildly different.
Wildly.
And it is so crazy different.
So crazy different.
And I, when I, When I saythat, like, I.
What I used to do back then, Iwould not want to be in that position
(29:30):
today because it would make mereally uncomfortable.
I would walk away from that job.
Yeah.
Second.
Yep.
The second I realized what was happening.
Data.
And that's part of why I hadto be an entrepreneur, because I
can't.
I can't live a life happy andhealthy knowing that that's happening
in the background and that I'm.
That I'm an integral part ofit and I'm not going to do anything
(29:53):
that I'm not an integral partof, so.
Right.
Right.
You know, Ken, I could talk toyou for hours about this, and, and
I, and I just want.
Want to applaud you for whatyou are doing because not only are
you making it a safe place forpeople to feel confident about going
into where they're working,but because of what you're doing
(30:14):
within link, you're makingtheir data safe.
And we are making that.
That's.
That's like, safety is a keything, and that's a.
As a leader in the world, Ijust want to applaud you for that
because that's something that,you know, I wish, you know, in the
grand scheme of thing, one ofthe biggest reasons why I started
this podcast is because if wecould create better leaders and we
(30:40):
can have, and, and we can helpother people know about other leaders
and the businesses that theyhave that are doing the good in the
world, that maybe if we cantouch a few people to make things
just a little bit better, youknow, it's like one company at a
time, one person at a time,one leader at a time, we can make
a better impact.
(31:01):
Absolutely.
So I appreciate you for beingan amazing guest and for what you're
doing and listeners, I wantyou to do me a favor, like, how can
our listeners get in touchwith you if.
They want to know more aboutme personally?
You can just go to kencox.comkencox.com if you want to know more
about Nlink?
We've got a 14 day free trialof both of our office products and
(31:22):
our CRM and we do it every Tuesday.
We do an AI webinar, totallyfree, and we give discounts to the
Inlink platform afterwards.
We have a really greatcoaching program right now.
I've got, I think, two slotsavailable where I meet with you once
a month to help you grow yourbusiness and get everything legal
and all those things.
So kencox.com or nlink.com isis the way to get a hold of me.
(31:46):
Awesome.
Okay, well, we will make surethat we have those in the show notes.
And please, listeners, I'msure you've gotten some great value
out of this to do me two favors.
Actually, make that three.
Number one, make sure youreach out and connect with Ken on
kencox or@enlightening.comAlso, please do me the favor of hitting
subscribe to this.
And then three, please sharethis with your friends and your business
(32:07):
colleagues.
Because again, as I said,being an unstoppable leader does,
you know, take a team and ittakes knowledge.
And so if we can change andcreate a better impact and have greater
leaders out there, we aredoing something great in the world.
So I'm Jacqueline Strominger.
This is the UnstoppableLeadership Spotlight podcast.
And thank you for being agreat guest, Ken, and thank you guys
(32:28):
for listening.
Thank you so much.
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