April 29, 2024 • 18 mins
Sinan Kanatsiz is the Founder & CEO of KCOMM, a full-service marketing agency based in Irvine, California. The company has had over 1,500 clients from progressive startups to well-known fortune 100 brand. The firm is known for its expertise in Internet Marketing, Government Affairs, Public Relations, and Strategic Relationships.
Sinan is also the Founder and Chairman of the Internet Marketing Association (also known as “IMA”), which has gained over 1.5 million members and hosts an annual conference called ‘IMPACT’ which this year registered over 127,000 professionals. In its 37th episode, the company has its own TV series called ‘IMPACT SHOW’ and has an app which targets the top 1% of LinkedIn, focused on personal, one-to-one connections, where users meet at Starbucks, WeWork and via Zoom.
His belief in the power of entrepreneurism and politics led him start Generation NeXt in 2004, a network of young business and community leaders committed to making a difference by empowering others for the betterment of the next generation.
Sinan is also founder of the International Executive Council (IEC) which has a founding membership roster of over 150 leaders throughout Southern California. The group meets monthly and is one of the most influential leadership groups in the country.
As a graduate of Chapman University with an undergraduate degree in public relations with a minor in Computer Science, and a Master’s in Organizational Leadership with an emphasis in Human Resources, Sinan founded Chapman50, a unique group of alumni donors under the age of 50 who provide student support through mentorships and scholarships. The group has raised millions for Chapman and is one of Sinan’s proudest organizations.
Recognized for his philanthropic involvement, Sinan was appointed a Knighthood and became one of the youngest members of the Royal House of Savoy.
He also received the 2019 Ellis Island Medal of Honor for his work in non-profit organizations, public relations, and internet marketing.
Other notable achievements include being Chapman University’s young alumnus of the year, founding member of the board of Pretend City Children’s Museum, a member of the Board of Governors of Chapman University and a Member of the Graziadio Board of Directors for Pepperdine University.
On a personal note, Sinan enjoys coding websites to this day, building news distribution platforms, playing golf with friends, and spending time with his wife and children in their hometown of San Clemente.
Sinan credits his success to four pillars, Personal Integrity, Family, Mentors and Education.
Sinan is also the Founder and Chairman of the Internet Marketing Association (also known as “IMA”), which has gained over 1.5 million members and hosts an annual conference called ‘IMPACT’ which this year registered over 127,000 professionals. In its 37th episode, the company has its own TV series called ‘IMPACT SHOW’ and has an app which targets the top 1% of LinkedIn, focused on personal, one-to-one connections, where users meet at Starbucks, WeWork and via Zoom.
His belief in the power of entrepreneurism and politics led him start Generation NeXt in 2004, a network of young business and community leaders committed to making a difference by empowering others for the betterment of the next generation.
Sinan is also founder of the International Executive Council (IEC) which has a founding membership roster of over 150 leaders throughout Southern California. The group meets monthly and is one of the most influential leadership groups in the country.
As a graduate of Chapman University with an undergraduate degree in public relations with a minor in Computer Science, and a Master’s in Organizational Leadership with an emphasis in Human Resources, Sinan founded Chapman50, a unique group of alumni donors under the age of 50 who provide student support through mentorships and scholarships. The group has raised millions for Chapman and is one of Sinan’s proudest organizations.
Recognized for his philanthropic involvement, Sinan was appointed a Knighthood and became one of the youngest members of the Royal House of Savoy.
He also received the 2019 Ellis Island Medal of Honor for his work in non-profit organizations, public relations, and internet marketing.
Other notable achievements include being Chapman University’s young alumnus of the year, founding member of the board of Pretend City Children’s Museum, a member of the Board of Governors of Chapman University and a Member of the Graziadio Board of Directors for Pepperdine University.
On a personal note, Sinan enjoys coding websites to this day, building news distribution platforms, playing golf with friends, and spending time with his wife and children in their hometown of San Clemente.
Sinan credits his success to four pillars, Personal Integrity, Family, Mentors and Education.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
This is CEOs You Should Know.And now from iHeartMedia, here's Paul Corvino.
Hey, this is Paul Corvino,the division president of iHeartMedia, here
in Sonny, Los Angeles, California, with another episode of CEOs You Should
Know Today. I'm honored to havewith me Sonan Kanatsis. Did I pronounce
(00:25):
that correct? It only took likefifteen practice rounds. It's all good.
He's a renowned entrepreneur and the founderof Kcom, a PR and internet marketing
agency. He also established the InternetMarketing Association i am A, a global
organization with notable members like Google,Facebook, and Microsoft. Today we're going
(00:46):
to talk a little bit about hisjourney and how he got to where he
is today. But before we start, let's just do a little a little
something to untie our tongues and getyou talking quick wrap bid fiery question like
one one question, one answer,you gotta answer quick, you gotta second.
First thing that comes to mind firstcomes I could, I could get
(01:07):
in trouble, but go for it. Are you ready? Yes? Okay?
Winter or summer winter ski your beachvacation. Tom Brady and Michael Jordan.
Michael Jordan, Godfather of Star Warsgodfather, Sean Connery or Daniel Craig
Sean Connery celebrity. People say youlook the most like Ralph No, it's
(01:30):
a it's a mixed between the KarateKid when I was much skinnier and John
Travolta when I when I danced theKarate Kid meets John Tralta. Yes,
can you get in that crane positionfor me? Take a photo of you?
Absolutely sure you got it? Andevery time I see that movie,
(01:51):
even to this day, I cryat the end. Okay, Now I'm
going to start by washed off washon. Okay, there you go.
Okay, tell me a little bitabout how you came to be, where
are you from, and how didyou wind up in the business that you're
in. Yeah, thanks Paul forhaving me on the show, and hopefully
this will be insightful for your listeners. I was born and raised in Orange
County. My parents came from Turkeyand they migrated here to the United States,
(02:12):
where they had my sister and I. I quickly discovered that I had
a type a personality. My fatherwas a public school teacher, and he
really honed in on the fact thatI had this extroverted personality and I could
always talk to people and get peopleriled up. And he said, you
know what, you would really begreat in public relations. And that was
pivotal because a lot of people goto school and they end up doing something
(02:34):
based on what their degree is in, but not where their passion is in.
And I think having that sort ofmentorship by my dad and him saying,
hey, you know, you gotthat tongue, you're always talking,
and you know you'd be great inpublic relations. I had no idea what
public relations was, and I walkedinto one of the PR classes at Chapman
University and I realized that I wasthe only guy. So I knew,
like my odds were really good,right, just being you know, one
(02:57):
guy, and there's like a quotemeeting some people in that classroom, right,
But the reality is I fell inlove with PR, and you know,
in the academic sense, and thenwhat came natural to me. So
from that I formed a PR agencycalled KKOM The k kanatsis my last name
communications, and over the last thirtyyears we've built this into one hundred million
(03:20):
dollar agency. I still own itone hundred percent. It's been a lot
of ideas you've built it to thatdegree. Yeah, there's a point.
You didn't come from a PR family, an advertising media family. This is
something new do You went to school, you learned it. How do you
started? What starts? Where doyou get the money from? How do
you get your first client? Well, I keep going back to my parents
(03:43):
because I built the business out oftheir sewing room in nineteen ninety seven when
the World Wide Web first came tobe. It was when I got my
undergraduate degree from Chapman and I tookone class called how to build a web
page. Sometimes you don't need monetarycurrency to start a business. Sometimes you
just need a really strong skill set. So think about thirty years later if
I was an engineer and AI,if I could build platforms and artificial intelligence,
(04:09):
my value would be invaluable right now. So that was basically how I
started the business, and through relationships. So there were a lot of people
at Chapman University, including the president, the vice president, the provos that
I befriended. They would let meuse their computer equipment and in exchange,
I would build them powerpoints and websitesfor their respective schools. So leveraging that
(04:31):
currency of relationships and skill was inexchange for the actual dollars to start the
business. Relationships seems to be atheme. Yes, even when I look
at some of the other organizations thatyou founded, like Right, Men of
Breakfast, Right and a few others, and it seems that relationships are a
big part of of how you builtyour business. So go on. So
yeah, so here you are,You've got some relationships, You've got your
(04:55):
website built. Yeah, for thoselisteners. You know, like monetary currency,
what you have in the bank ispower, But at the same time,
who you know and the relationship youhave with them is equal power.
So for me, the currency ofmy relationships if I've were to you know,
if that was an actual currency,I'd be the wealthiest person you've ever
met. I'm always humbled when peoplesay, oh, sen On's the most
network person. I know there isa lot of truth to that, but
(05:16):
I'm sure there are other people withlarger networks than mine. But I can
say confidently that at last count,there's about seventeen thousand people in my first
tier network. These are people thatI know on a first name basis,
where I've either had lunch with themor gone to dinner with them, or
they've been clients of ours, orour kids go to school together, and
all those relationships have morphed into thesebusinesses. Yes, we own a PR
(05:39):
firm, right, we'd write newslettersand we do websites, and we do
all the things a normal PR firmdoes, except for the fact that we
can get Paul Cravino to call youback. And that's an influence and a
capability that's tough to bottle up sometimesand sell. But we have just found
that bringing people together, serving themgood drinks, giving them good food,
given good entertainment, making sure thatthe temperature is good in the room,
(06:02):
the lighting's good in the room.Those are the little details that my wife,
who's a wedding planner and a corporateevents planner, taught me. So
our events are actually really beautiful.And a lot of times when you go
to corporate events or you go tothese big sort of conferences and such,
they typically lack the beauty. Andthat's something that we match with the top
of the top. So if we'retalking about cryptocurrency, or if we're talking
(06:25):
about radio and podcast thought leadership,we bring in the best thought leaders to
speak about those topics, but wealso put them in a venue that has
all this beauty and it matches reallywell from photography, video, and most
importantly the experience. So the peoplethat are sitting in my conferences or our
events, they're usually mesmerized by justthe surroundings and the environment that they're in
(06:48):
and that builds psychology and it buildstrust. So for us, that's what's
led to building the business to whereit is, and it hasn't been easy.
I mean, I'm persistent as awhich as a business going out there
competing against other PR firms, howdo you sell against your competitors? Yeah,
you know, and there's there's thousandsof public relations and marketing professionals that
(07:12):
exist and everyone has a skill set. But again, the differential for us,
we do everything in house first ofall, right, so we don't
outsource film, we don't outsource anyof the production assets that we create.
We also subscribe to expensive tools likede Scision and other SaaS marketing tools that
our clients don't have to pay for, so we syndicate that expense of them.
(07:33):
But then that that nail and thecoffin differential is the relationships. What
are some of your clients and giveyou a couple of cool things you've done.
Oh my gosh, Like we havethe B two C business to government,
and then we also have like theconsumer facing brands. Right, so
let's just take right out of thegate h Wood Group, right, you
know, right in West Hollywood.Brian told John Terzian, great friends of
(07:55):
ours, and we do strategic marketingfor them. So here's a company that's
synonymous for their incredible hospitality, brandslike Delilah and The Nice Guy, Like,
why would they need a PR firm? They're already crushing it. They're
on page six, are on DailyMail. But what we're doing is we're
introducing them to the CEOs and chiefmarketing officers of brands that are looking to
(08:16):
sponsor their pop up events. Soif you look at Super Bowl. This
last Super Bowl, which was themost watched super Bowl in the history of
time, each Wood Group had aphenomenal pop up right across from the win,
a forty five thousand square foot tent, And we're the ones that are
bringing brands to come in and sponsorand underwrite. Because in that forty five
(08:37):
thousand square feet they had party afterparty, event after event that was filled
with celebrities, influencers and individuals ofaffluence and influence that brands want to get
close to. So Eachwood Group inand of itself is a whole new medium
for businesses, right because businesses wouldlook at their marketing you know, spend
and they say television, radio,mail, billboard. They've got an integrated
(09:01):
pyramid. But in there we're alsoputting pop up events by h Wood Group.
So you know, brands that arein the cosmetics, shampoo, frozen
ice cream, those sort of likeprogressive new brands and startups eat the stuff
up because if you got one influencerthat's talking about your product or photograph with
your product, that can be leveragedin all sorts of ways for these brands.
(09:22):
That's one example. Now let's panthe camera over to government. Okay,
So there are district attorneys, thereare state governments that we've built their
websites, We've done the updates,and these are like very very classified and
important areas around compliance that we're reallyup to snuff with both from a coding
environment but also just the integrity ofthe work that we do for them.
(09:46):
So that's our government stack. Andthen when we look at B to B
that's probably about sixty percent of ourbusiness. So this is a company like
TANGERM Interiors who did Hulu and Netflix'sinteriors. They just did Kevin Hart's person
office. You know, when youlook at the Kardashians and you look at
her personal office, you're wondering,Wow, who comes up with these genius
(10:07):
designs? That's done by Tangerminteriors.So we do pr for them, We
write press releases, we help themwith their newsletter, the social media.
And then if you're ever wondering whenyou google like interiors design Newport Beach,
California, commercial and then you wonderhow these companies get to the top of
Google. We actually do a lotof that, so backlinking. When a
(10:28):
company gets a press release, itgets published, we take that link and
then we backlink it because that's anauthority link around the key word that they
want. So that's the space thatwe live in. And those are Those
are three different examples, all veryvery very diverse. Total B two B,
World B two C and then government. Yeah, three three different real
(10:50):
industries that you're in. Tell mea little bit about the men of breakfast
when you're talking about these groups.And one of the thresholds that I missed
was nonprofit, which is another bigpart of our business. One of our
clients is Orange County United Way,which is one of the biggest nonprofits in
the region. Orange County United Wayis known for three major initiatives. One
is United ten Homelessness. If youlook at the homelessness decline in Orange County,
(11:13):
it's like, unlike any region insouthern California, where La and San
Diego has been going up in theyears, orange County has been going down.
Interesting. Yes, it's a bigdeal because part of it is just
the government. Okay, the waygovernment operates. And you know, I'm
not going to get into politics,but you have a very conservative perspective in
(11:33):
Orange County. So there's a lotof pro business and a lot of keep
our streets safe and clean going onthere, and homelessness and crime go hand
in hand. And we have avery effective district attorney as well as sheriff.
So United ten Homelessness is one ofthe three initiatives of Orange County United
Way. And I'll tell you thesolution to the homeless issue is providing housing.
(11:56):
And it's not just putting them ina motel or an apartment, but
it's actually getting them off the streetspermanently and giving them a voucher to stay
there as long as they want.The homeowner themselves or the apartment owner gives
United Way two units and then thehud grant through the county pays for that.
So that way they don't they don'tjust go in for thirty days and
they're out in thirty days. Theyactually stay there. This is all supported
(12:18):
by the Men of Breakfast group.Who are these men so so the Men
of the Breakfast supports the Women's PhilanthroyFund, which supports the United Way and
these initiatives. And the three initiativesare United ten, Homelessness, student success
and financial Literacy. The Men ofthe Breakfast are right now at Last count
where one hundred and twenty nine ducepaying members and we meet every quarter at
(12:41):
a different garage. So we callit Garages of Orange County. It's a
series of events that we've been doingby garage, actual multimillion dollar over the
top garages. I get really excitedabout people's secrets. Okay, the biggest
secret that a lot of men haveare their car collections. And they trust
me, They entrust me to bringthe right people into the room because These
(13:03):
are not photographed and shared on Instagramtype of events. These are profound car
collections and they're all around Orange Countyand we've done eight concurrent events, all
more over the top than the other. Right, we had one that was
a Duschenberg collection, one that's aShelby collection, one that's a Porsche collection,
and we're doing our first LA event. Okay, so we're boarding a
(13:28):
bus and we're coming to the PetersonAutomotive and they're doing something special for us.
So all the funds from that gotowards the United Way. But the
camaraderie among these men, that's whatI focus on, is making it fun,
making it interesting. And this lastone we did, we invited the
spouses and the children and we hadthis huge photo of all the families together,
(13:48):
because I really believe to make aneffective organization you got to get buy
in from your family. So thoseare so found of way of taking your
skill set, using networking as away to build a business and at the
same time create relationships that will helpthe community and do a lot of good
(14:11):
things. That's that's a pretty goodcool way of looking at things and accomplishing
things. Let me ask you whatwould you tell your twenty year old self
wanting to get into a business likethis, what advice would you give?
I kind of appreciate the same adviceto college students and high school students is
reinvent yourself. Every two to threeyears. Do a revolution. You know,
(14:33):
don't just keep running on the treadmill. Okay. My exercise is swimming,
and the way I reinvent swimming isby trying different techniques and trying to
go like another two lanes every daythat I swim, and it's getting it.
It's exhausting, but at the sametime it challenges me. And the
same goes for our businesses. Soall this stuff you read on my bio
(14:56):
is all reinvention, because that's threeyears go by and I'm doing same thing
with the same organizations. Now nowI've just added another one. And of
course there's attrition. There have beencompanies I've started their organization. I've started
that that no longer exists because I'monto the next one. But but some
like Kcom have stuck for thirty years. I'm very humbled that good people coming
(15:16):
together makes it stick, right,And sometimes you try things and it doesn't
stick, let it go. Youknow, so that would be my advice
to So tell me, how wouldsomeone who wants to get involved with you,
who needs pr help, or someonethat wants to join the Men in
Breakfast group and help the community,how would they contact you? Yeah,
(15:37):
And the beautiful thing is like likeI'm one giant funnel right Like you could
email any of our companies or seenon at kcom dot com, or reach
out to through any of our websitesand the same day give me a scene
on it. S isn't sam In as in Nancy A n at k
sea as in Charlie O Emason MaryEmasonmary dot com and that come to me,
(16:00):
there's no like intermediary. Even thoughI have an executive assistant, I
still read every single communication and thenwe have an internal system on follow up
and then we'll call you, we'lltalk to you, well typically what we'll
do. I believe everything should alwaysstart in person. I don't believe in,
hey, let's do a zoom calland get to know each other,
because the kinetic energy doesn't translate overthe phone as getting together in person.
(16:23):
And since we're hosting an event everysingle week, it's easy to meet me
and our team produces these environments,and we always host people on the first,
second, third date. I justcall it, you know, it's
like, come, let us feedyou, let us wind you meet our
network, and they'll filter in.If it feels right to them and they
like the people they're meeting, they'regonna want to come back. And then
(16:44):
typically they'll join they'll retain our PRfirm, they'll join the IMA, they'll
join the Men of the Breakfast IECone of our affiliate organizations. And once
again this is Paul Corvino, thevision president of iHeartMedia here in Los Angeles.
I'm with Sinan knats is the founderand owner of k COOM, great
PR agency and marketing company, andalso the founder of the Men for Breakfast
(17:10):
Group. It's been a pleasure learningabout your business, learning what you do,
and thank you for all that youdo for the community. Give it
one more time on the website andlet people know how they can reach you.
Okay, so www dot kcom dotcom is probably the easiest entry point,
so k C O m M dotcom and we really love helping strangers.
(17:32):
So like any anyone that's listening thathas an idea on their mind and
want to start a business or justwant to get advice or or you know,
get to know what we do.We'll let you come in and swim
in our shores and see what's goingon, and I'll just end with you
know, we also represent some amazingpeople. You know, even though Palmer
(17:52):
Lucky's not my client, he's adear friend of mine and he's at a
lot of our events and we dothings together. So you know, it's
it's not just our business and whowe represent, but it's the people that
attend our events that are super interesting. Again, this is Paul Corbino saying
thank you for listening to another episodeof CEOs. You should know
This is CEOs You Should Know.And now from iHeartMedia, here's Paul Corvino.
Hey, this is Paul Corvino,the division president of iHeartMedia, here
in Sonny, Los Angeles, California, with another episode of CEOs You Should
Know Today. I'm honored to havewith me Sonan Kanatsis. Did I pronounce
(00:25):
that correct? It only took likefifteen practice rounds. It's all good.
He's a renowned entrepreneur and the founderof Kcom, a PR and internet marketing
agency. He also established the InternetMarketing Association i am A, a global
organization with notable members like Google,Facebook, and Microsoft. Today we're going
(00:46):
to talk a little bit about hisjourney and how he got to where he
is today. But before we start, let's just do a little a little
something to untie our tongues and getyou talking quick wrap bid fiery question like
one one question, one answer,you gotta answer quick, you gotta second.
First thing that comes to mind firstcomes I could, I could get
(01:07):
in trouble, but go for it. Are you ready? Yes? Okay?
Winter or summer winter ski your beachvacation. Tom Brady and Michael Jordan.
Michael Jordan, Godfather of Star Warsgodfather, Sean Connery or Daniel Craig
Sean Connery celebrity. People say youlook the most like Ralph No, it's
(01:30):
a it's a mixed between the KarateKid when I was much skinnier and John
Travolta when I when I danced theKarate Kid meets John Tralta. Yes,
can you get in that crane positionfor me? Take a photo of you?
Absolutely sure you got it? Andevery time I see that movie,
(01:51):
even to this day, I cryat the end. Okay, Now I'm
going to start by washed off washon. Okay, there you go.
Okay, tell me a little bitabout how you came to be, where
are you from, and how didyou wind up in the business that you're
in. Yeah, thanks Paul forhaving me on the show, and hopefully
this will be insightful for your listeners. I was born and raised in Orange
County. My parents came from Turkeyand they migrated here to the United States,
(02:12):
where they had my sister and I. I quickly discovered that I had
a type a personality. My fatherwas a public school teacher, and he
really honed in on the fact thatI had this extroverted personality and I could
always talk to people and get peopleriled up. And he said, you
know what, you would really begreat in public relations. And that was
pivotal because a lot of people goto school and they end up doing something
(02:34):
based on what their degree is in, but not where their passion is in.
And I think having that sort ofmentorship by my dad and him saying,
hey, you know, you gotthat tongue, you're always talking,
and you know you'd be great inpublic relations. I had no idea what
public relations was, and I walkedinto one of the PR classes at Chapman
University and I realized that I wasthe only guy. So I knew,
like my odds were really good,right, just being you know, one
(02:57):
guy, and there's like a quotemeeting some people in that classroom, right,
But the reality is I fell inlove with PR, and you know,
in the academic sense, and thenwhat came natural to me. So
from that I formed a PR agencycalled KKOM The k kanatsis my last name
communications, and over the last thirtyyears we've built this into one hundred million
(03:20):
dollar agency. I still own itone hundred percent. It's been a lot
of ideas you've built it to thatdegree. Yeah, there's a point.
You didn't come from a PR family, an advertising media family. This is
something new do You went to school, you learned it. How do you
started? What starts? Where doyou get the money from? How do
you get your first client? Well, I keep going back to my parents
(03:43):
because I built the business out oftheir sewing room in nineteen ninety seven when
the World Wide Web first came tobe. It was when I got my
undergraduate degree from Chapman and I tookone class called how to build a web
page. Sometimes you don't need monetarycurrency to start a business. Sometimes you
just need a really strong skill set. So think about thirty years later if
I was an engineer and AI,if I could build platforms and artificial intelligence,
(04:09):
my value would be invaluable right now. So that was basically how I
started the business, and through relationships. So there were a lot of people
at Chapman University, including the president, the vice president, the provos that
I befriended. They would let meuse their computer equipment and in exchange,
I would build them powerpoints and websitesfor their respective schools. So leveraging that
(04:31):
currency of relationships and skill was inexchange for the actual dollars to start the
business. Relationships seems to be atheme. Yes, even when I look
at some of the other organizations thatyou founded, like Right, Men of
Breakfast, Right and a few others, and it seems that relationships are a
big part of of how you builtyour business. So go on. So
yeah, so here you are,You've got some relationships, You've got your
(04:55):
website built. Yeah, for thoselisteners. You know, like monetary currency,
what you have in the bank ispower, But at the same time,
who you know and the relationship youhave with them is equal power.
So for me, the currency ofmy relationships if I've were to you know,
if that was an actual currency,I'd be the wealthiest person you've ever
met. I'm always humbled when peoplesay, oh, sen On's the most
network person. I know there isa lot of truth to that, but
(05:16):
I'm sure there are other people withlarger networks than mine. But I can
say confidently that at last count,there's about seventeen thousand people in my first
tier network. These are people thatI know on a first name basis,
where I've either had lunch with themor gone to dinner with them, or
they've been clients of ours, orour kids go to school together, and
all those relationships have morphed into thesebusinesses. Yes, we own a PR
(05:39):
firm, right, we'd write newslettersand we do websites, and we do
all the things a normal PR firmdoes, except for the fact that we
can get Paul Cravino to call youback. And that's an influence and a
capability that's tough to bottle up sometimesand sell. But we have just found
that bringing people together, serving themgood drinks, giving them good food,
given good entertainment, making sure thatthe temperature is good in the room,
(06:02):
the lighting's good in the room.Those are the little details that my wife,
who's a wedding planner and a corporateevents planner, taught me. So
our events are actually really beautiful.And a lot of times when you go
to corporate events or you go tothese big sort of conferences and such,
they typically lack the beauty. Andthat's something that we match with the top
of the top. So if we'retalking about cryptocurrency, or if we're talking
(06:25):
about radio and podcast thought leadership,we bring in the best thought leaders to
speak about those topics, but wealso put them in a venue that has
all this beauty and it matches reallywell from photography, video, and most
importantly the experience. So the peoplethat are sitting in my conferences or our
events, they're usually mesmerized by justthe surroundings and the environment that they're in
(06:48):
and that builds psychology and it buildstrust. So for us, that's what's
led to building the business to whereit is, and it hasn't been easy.
I mean, I'm persistent as awhich as a business going out there
competing against other PR firms, howdo you sell against your competitors? Yeah,
you know, and there's there's thousandsof public relations and marketing professionals that
(07:12):
exist and everyone has a skill set. But again, the differential for us,
we do everything in house first ofall, right, so we don't
outsource film, we don't outsource anyof the production assets that we create.
We also subscribe to expensive tools likede Scision and other SaaS marketing tools that
our clients don't have to pay for, so we syndicate that expense of them.
(07:33):
But then that that nail and thecoffin differential is the relationships. What
are some of your clients and giveyou a couple of cool things you've done.
Oh my gosh, Like we havethe B two C business to government,
and then we also have like theconsumer facing brands. Right, so
let's just take right out of thegate h Wood Group, right, you
know, right in West Hollywood.Brian told John Terzian, great friends of
(07:55):
ours, and we do strategic marketingfor them. So here's a company that's
synonymous for their incredible hospitality, brandslike Delilah and The Nice Guy, Like,
why would they need a PR firm? They're already crushing it. They're
on page six, are on DailyMail. But what we're doing is we're
introducing them to the CEOs and chiefmarketing officers of brands that are looking to
(08:16):
sponsor their pop up events. Soif you look at Super Bowl. This
last Super Bowl, which was themost watched super Bowl in the history of
time, each Wood Group had aphenomenal pop up right across from the win,
a forty five thousand square foot tent, And we're the ones that are
bringing brands to come in and sponsorand underwrite. Because in that forty five
(08:37):
thousand square feet they had party afterparty, event after event that was filled
with celebrities, influencers and individuals ofaffluence and influence that brands want to get
close to. So Eachwood Group inand of itself is a whole new medium
for businesses, right because businesses wouldlook at their marketing you know, spend
and they say television, radio,mail, billboard. They've got an integrated
(09:01):
pyramid. But in there we're alsoputting pop up events by h Wood Group.
So you know, brands that arein the cosmetics, shampoo, frozen
ice cream, those sort of likeprogressive new brands and startups eat the stuff
up because if you got one influencerthat's talking about your product or photograph with
your product, that can be leveragedin all sorts of ways for these brands.
(09:22):
That's one example. Now let's panthe camera over to government. Okay,
So there are district attorneys, thereare state governments that we've built their
websites, We've done the updates,and these are like very very classified and
important areas around compliance that we're reallyup to snuff with both from a coding
environment but also just the integrity ofthe work that we do for them.
(09:46):
So that's our government stack. Andthen when we look at B to B
that's probably about sixty percent of ourbusiness. So this is a company like
TANGERM Interiors who did Hulu and Netflix'sinteriors. They just did Kevin Hart's person
office. You know, when youlook at the Kardashians and you look at
her personal office, you're wondering,Wow, who comes up with these genius
(10:07):
designs? That's done by Tangerminteriors.So we do pr for them, We
write press releases, we help themwith their newsletter, the social media.
And then if you're ever wondering whenyou google like interiors design Newport Beach,
California, commercial and then you wonderhow these companies get to the top of
Google. We actually do a lotof that, so backlinking. When a
(10:28):
company gets a press release, itgets published, we take that link and
then we backlink it because that's anauthority link around the key word that they
want. So that's the space thatwe live in. And those are Those
are three different examples, all veryvery very diverse. Total B two B,
World B two C and then government. Yeah, three three different real
(10:50):
industries that you're in. Tell mea little bit about the men of breakfast
when you're talking about these groups.And one of the thresholds that I missed
was nonprofit, which is another bigpart of our business. One of our
clients is Orange County United Way,which is one of the biggest nonprofits in
the region. Orange County United Wayis known for three major initiatives. One
is United ten Homelessness. If youlook at the homelessness decline in Orange County,
(11:13):
it's like, unlike any region insouthern California, where La and San
Diego has been going up in theyears, orange County has been going down.
Interesting. Yes, it's a bigdeal because part of it is just
the government. Okay, the waygovernment operates. And you know, I'm
not going to get into politics,but you have a very conservative perspective in
(11:33):
Orange County. So there's a lotof pro business and a lot of keep
our streets safe and clean going onthere, and homelessness and crime go hand
in hand. And we have avery effective district attorney as well as sheriff.
So United ten Homelessness is one ofthe three initiatives of Orange County United
Way. And I'll tell you thesolution to the homeless issue is providing housing.
(11:56):
And it's not just putting them ina motel or an apartment, but
it's actually getting them off the streetspermanently and giving them a voucher to stay
there as long as they want.The homeowner themselves or the apartment owner gives
United Way two units and then thehud grant through the county pays for that.
So that way they don't they don'tjust go in for thirty days and
they're out in thirty days. Theyactually stay there. This is all supported
(12:18):
by the Men of Breakfast group.Who are these men so so the Men
of the Breakfast supports the Women's PhilanthroyFund, which supports the United Way and
these initiatives. And the three initiativesare United ten, Homelessness, student success
and financial Literacy. The Men ofthe Breakfast are right now at Last count
where one hundred and twenty nine ducepaying members and we meet every quarter at
(12:41):
a different garage. So we callit Garages of Orange County. It's a
series of events that we've been doingby garage, actual multimillion dollar over the
top garages. I get really excitedabout people's secrets. Okay, the biggest
secret that a lot of men haveare their car collections. And they trust
me, They entrust me to bringthe right people into the room because These
(13:03):
are not photographed and shared on Instagramtype of events. These are profound car
collections and they're all around Orange Countyand we've done eight concurrent events, all
more over the top than the other. Right, we had one that was
a Duschenberg collection, one that's aShelby collection, one that's a Porsche collection,
and we're doing our first LA event. Okay, so we're boarding a
(13:28):
bus and we're coming to the PetersonAutomotive and they're doing something special for us.
So all the funds from that gotowards the United Way. But the
camaraderie among these men, that's whatI focus on, is making it fun,
making it interesting. And this lastone we did, we invited the
spouses and the children and we hadthis huge photo of all the families together,
(13:48):
because I really believe to make aneffective organization you got to get buy
in from your family. So thoseare so found of way of taking your
skill set, using networking as away to build a business and at the
same time create relationships that will helpthe community and do a lot of good
(14:11):
things. That's that's a pretty goodcool way of looking at things and accomplishing
things. Let me ask you whatwould you tell your twenty year old self
wanting to get into a business likethis, what advice would you give?
I kind of appreciate the same adviceto college students and high school students is
reinvent yourself. Every two to threeyears. Do a revolution. You know,
(14:33):
don't just keep running on the treadmill. Okay. My exercise is swimming,
and the way I reinvent swimming isby trying different techniques and trying to
go like another two lanes every daythat I swim, and it's getting it.
It's exhausting, but at the sametime it challenges me. And the
same goes for our businesses. Soall this stuff you read on my bio
(14:56):
is all reinvention, because that's threeyears go by and I'm doing same thing
with the same organizations. Now nowI've just added another one. And of
course there's attrition. There have beencompanies I've started their organization. I've started
that that no longer exists because I'monto the next one. But but some
like Kcom have stuck for thirty years. I'm very humbled that good people coming
(15:16):
together makes it stick, right,And sometimes you try things and it doesn't
stick, let it go. Youknow, so that would be my advice
to So tell me, how wouldsomeone who wants to get involved with you,
who needs pr help, or someonethat wants to join the Men in
Breakfast group and help the community,how would they contact you? Yeah,
(15:37):
And the beautiful thing is like likeI'm one giant funnel right Like you could
email any of our companies or seenon at kcom dot com, or reach
out to through any of our websitesand the same day give me a scene
on it. S isn't sam In as in Nancy A n at k
sea as in Charlie O Emason MaryEmasonmary dot com and that come to me,
(16:00):
there's no like intermediary. Even thoughI have an executive assistant, I
still read every single communication and thenwe have an internal system on follow up
and then we'll call you, we'lltalk to you, well typically what we'll
do. I believe everything should alwaysstart in person. I don't believe in,
hey, let's do a zoom calland get to know each other,
because the kinetic energy doesn't translate overthe phone as getting together in person.
(16:23):
And since we're hosting an event everysingle week, it's easy to meet me
and our team produces these environments,and we always host people on the first,
second, third date. I justcall it, you know, it's
like, come, let us feedyou, let us wind you meet our
network, and they'll filter in.If it feels right to them and they
like the people they're meeting, they'regonna want to come back. And then
(16:44):
typically they'll join they'll retain our PRfirm, they'll join the IMA, they'll
join the Men of the Breakfast IECone of our affiliate organizations. And once
again this is Paul Corvino, thevision president of iHeartMedia here in Los Angeles.
I'm with Sinan knats is the founderand owner of k COOM, great
PR agency and marketing company, andalso the founder of the Men for Breakfast
(17:10):
Group. It's been a pleasure learningabout your business, learning what you do,
and thank you for all that youdo for the community. Give it
one more time on the website andlet people know how they can reach you.
Okay, so www dot kcom dotcom is probably the easiest entry point,
so k C O m M dotcom and we really love helping strangers.
(17:32):
So like any anyone that's listening thathas an idea on their mind and
want to start a business or justwant to get advice or or you know,
get to know what we do.We'll let you come in and swim
in our shores and see what's goingon, and I'll just end with you
know, we also represent some amazingpeople. You know, even though Palmer
(17:52):
Lucky's not my client, he's adear friend of mine and he's at a
lot of our events and we dothings together. So you know, it's
it's not just our business and whowe represent, but it's the people that
attend our events that are super interesting. Again, this is Paul Corbino saying
thank you for listening to another episodeof CEOs. You should know
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