The power of five words: Yes, No, Help, Hooray, and We
Creating a business as a couple is a little like hosting a dinner party while remodeling your kitchen. You want everything to look effortless, but you’re also quietly hoping nobody notices the drywall dust in your hair.
Two years into Kinetic Talent, we’ve grown a viable company. How did that happen? Well, here’s our non-expert, absolutely-lived experience of what we’re learning:
When to Say Yes
When we first launched two years ago, we said yes to just about everything. Coaching gigs? Sure. Webinars for five people and a dog? Of course. Networking groups where we felt like impostors? Why not!
Over time, we’ve gotten a little smarter—and more strategic. We’ve learned to say yes to rooms that not only welcome us, but stretch us. You’ve heard “dress for the job you want”? Well, we’ve started “networking at the level we want.” The groups we now gravitate toward might not hire us directly, but being in those spaces—having real conversations with seasoned pros—helps us be seen as the kind of people who do work at that level. And the funny thing is: eventually, we do.
Same goes for our professional peers. We say yes to folks who do our kind of work, with our kind of energy. And just being in their orbit raises the temperature on our own work. It’s like friendship, mentorship, and future visioning—all at once.
When to Say No
This one was harder.
Especially when a mentor said, “Hey, I’ve got a company who might want you to coach one of their leaders…” Now, if this had been Year One? We’d have said yes before they even finished the sentence.
But this time, we paused. It wasn’t a match. Wrong industry, wrong level, wrong needs. So we said no. Kindly, clearly, and with a strong referral to someone else in our network. And it turned out to be a win for everyone: the mentor grew a new partnership with our referral, the client got what they needed, and we reinforced our own identity as people who know what we’re good at—and don’t compromise.
Boundaries are good. Boundaries that build trust (whisper confidence) are even better.
When to Say Help
Shout out to the extraordinary Mary Greene of Higher Dimension, who helped us not only rebrand, but rethink our entire business.
The leap from solopreneur coaching gigs to running a leadership development consultancy meant more than a name change. It meant clarifying our voice, our audience, our offerings—even our wardrobe. (We no longer dress like we’re about to move someone’s couch.)
Mary helped us see how all the pieces fit: our background in facilitation, our coaching chops, our real desire to work with organizations who want to do better by their people. She brought color, language, and structure to what we were already doing—but didn’t yet know how to package.
She also helped us embrace experiments over perfectionism. Not easy. Not fast. But so, so worth it.
(Side note: if you’re reading this and thinking of rebranding… yes, it’s scary. Ask for help anyway. And Mary is a great person to ask.)
When to Say Hooray
Maybe startups flush with venture capital party all the time, but building a business on our own dime felt more like learning to clap for ourselves in the quiet moments before anything much was happening. Entrepreneurship is a strange thing. Sometimes it feels like shouting into the void. Other times it’s like catching lightning in a bottle.
Either way, we’ve learned to celebrate.
We pause after the tiny wins.
We high-five after a great coaching session or a beautifully run summit. We pour a glass of wine when we finally get the slide deck to feel right.
And also to celebrate what we’re learning: how different industries tick. How digital tools make our remote work powerful. How neuroscience, human development, and organizational culture are all evolving—and how we get to be part of that change.
The work has gotten richer. So have the people. We’re more connected now than we were when we started. And that, in itself, is worth a toast.
When to Say “We”
Because ultimately, we are a we.
And we’ve discovered that our energy as Joanne and Steve together is one of the most surprising, consistent assets we have.
There’s a kind of ease between us that clients often name—whether it’s the way we trade off during a facilitation, or how one of us looks to the other to go first, or even how we correct each other in public without (adding nervous energy) breaking stride. (Okay, sometimes with a stride break, but never a bruise.)
What they don’t see: the eye rolls. The interrupting. The moments in our shared home office where we drive each other bonkers (annoy each other just by being ourselves) and threaten to replace ourselves (each other) with AI.
But we work it through. Always.
Because we believe in what we’re building in every area of life..
And we believe that the safety we create with each other is part of what allows our clients to feel safe, too. They borrow that steadiness for a moment. And that feels like a contribution we’re proud of.
Thanks for being part of our world. Whether you’ve been in a coaching session with us, met us at a conference, read our posts, or just quietly followed along—we’re grateful.
More than anything, we’re excited to keep going.
More learning.
More laughter.
More good work—done well.
—Steve & Joanne
Kinetic Talent