Community Highlights: Meet Nikisha King of NK Business Essentials

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nikisha King.

Hi Nikisha, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I did not grow up dreaming about being a business consultant specializing in sales and systems. I grew up believing I would be a physician, a thoracic surgeon who enjoyed surgical procedures. That path felt comfortable, safe, and respected. I spent years studying medicine, learning how the body works, how systems work, and how every piece affects the whole. What I did not realize then was that I was also learning how people work. How they hide their fears. How they push through pain. How they crave permission to trust themselves.

But the deeper I went into medicine, the more I felt something pulling at me. It was a quiet voice at first. A whisper that said, this is not your life. I started to feel like I was walking someone else’s path (my immigrant mom’s path). So I chose myself. I stepped away from the career I had prepared for and walked into a completely new world.

That world was art, design, and creativity; being able to create a visual design in my mind was my new path.
Graphic design became the doorway back to myself, back to being present. It allowed me to create beauty, solve problems visually, and honor my love of detail.

I started sharing my work online, and before long people were asking for more. Invitations. Branding. Wedding suites. Luxury designs. Every project felt like a chance to bring someone’s vision to life. The deeper I went into design, the more I noticed something that changed everything for me.

My collaborators and partners in the wedding and creative space were not struggling with creativity. They were struggling with running a business that could scale. Pricing. Systems. Confidence. Visibility. Sales. Structure. I watched so many talented women shrink their brilliance because the business side felt heavy. I knew that feeling because I had lived it in my 10 years of growing my graphic design company. I had lived it every time I priced my service at $1000 for over 60 hours of work and second-guessed myself in entrepreneurship. Until everything shifted. Until I started to hire coaches that helped me go from selling invitations at $1000 to $15,000, because I needed external advice to guide me.

That is when everything shifted. I realized my gift was not just creating beautiful designs. My gift was listening well and helping others feel seen. In having this gift, I said yes to an opportunity of becoming a certified coach who helps other creative entrepreneurs (wedding and event professionals, musicians, coaches, etc.) see their potential before they could see it in themselves. Seeing the gaps in their business that were costing them time, money, and confidence. And seeing a path they could walk with clarity and ease.

I started teaching my clients how to sell with confidence. How to build systems that free their time. How to charge in alignment with their value. How to step into the identity of an ICONIK CEO, not just someone running a business on hope and hustle.

Word spread faster than I expected. Designers. Planners. Musicians. Creatives across the wedding and event industry were reaching out for support. Not because they needed another strategy but because they needed someone who could translate their talent into a sustainable, profitable business.

Today, I’m a full-time business consultant and coach. I specialize in sales, systems, and building seven-figure foundations for women CEOs who are ready to rise without burnout. Everything I teach comes from the blend of where I have been. Medicine taught me to understand systems. Design taught me to honor creativity. Business taught me how to lead with both structure and soul.

My journey has never been a straight line. It has been a series of pivots, brave choices, and moments where I had to bet on myself again and again. And I’m grateful for every single step because it brought me to helping creatives and women entrepreneurs build the kind of businesses that support their lives instead of consuming them. Helping them trust themselves. Helping them create the freedom and success they have always known was possible.

That is my story, and I’m still writing it every day.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Has it been a smooth road? Not at all, and that is exactly why I am who I am today.

A smooth road sounds beautiful, but it does not build character or the kind of woman I have become today. My entrepreneurial journey began in 2009, and from the very start, it required choices that stretched me. The first challenge was simply deciding what to do. I left the medical track and stepped into wedding invitations, which felt like the complete opposite direction. But it was the direction that allowed me to experience the present, to be alive in the moment. That alone was a lesson in trusting my own instinct before anyone else’s logic.

Then life shifted. I became a wife, then a mother. In 2011 and 2014 I had my daughters, and those years forced me to choose. Do I pour myself into the business, or do I pour myself into my children? I chose my children wholeheartedly. And I never regret that choice. At the same time, becoming a full-time mom after working my entire life was one of the hardest transitions I have ever faced. No one teaches you how to step into motherhood and entrepreneurship at the same time. No one shows you how to carry both identities without losing yourself. I had to learn that on my own.

During those early years, I was an action taker without strategy. I kept moving. I kept trying things. I kept investing out of hope instead of direction. And it cost me so much. I spent money I did not have. I paid for services I did not understand. And somehow I found twenty thousand dollars to pour into a website build that never became anything. At the time, the website investment felt like a painful failure. Years later, I realized it was a gift. That expensive mistake taught me how to build websites with ease, which is one of the reasons I can support my clients so deeply today. What felt like loss was really training.

Another layer of struggle was my mindset. I had to untangle scarcity. I had to stop believing that no one would pay more than one thousand dollars for paper. I had to break the thought that my worth depended on certifications, degrees, or external validation. I had to unlearn the belief that success required jumping through hoops. Every shift in mindset felt like climbing a mountain. But each one opened a new level of confidence for me.

And here is the truth. These struggles were not obstacles meant to defeat me. They were part of my story. Without them, I would not be able to recognize the woman I am today. They shaped the way I coach. They allow me to understand the fears, doubts, and challenges my clients face. They give me the wisdom to guide them through their own storms.

Everything I walked through taught me how to grow instead of crumble. How to trust myself when things felt uncertain. How to turn pain into strategy. How to turn setbacks into leadership.

Business asks you to take risks. And risk is a beautiful part of life. It is the thing that wakes you up. It is the thing that pushes you to rise. None of us want to leave this world knowing we did the bare minimum. We want to know we showed up fully, even when it was hard.

My road has never been smooth. It has been real, unpredictable, painful, transformative, and powerful. And every single step prepared me for the work I am blessed to do today.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
About NK Business Essentials

What You Should Know First
NK Business Essentials is a business consulting and coaching company that exists for one reason. To help service-based entrepreneurs build a sustainable, scalable brand that can grow into the seven-figure range without losing their freedom or their identity. We work with wedding professionals, event professionals, creatives, coaches, and service-based providers such as legal and medical professionals who are ready to build a stronger operational foundation in their business.

At our core, we believe scaling a business is not about hiring a large team. It is about building the right systems and bringing on the right people who can run those systems with confidence. When the foundation is strong, growth becomes predictable, sales become easier, and your clients receive an elevated experience every single time.

What We Do and What We Are Known For
Most people think systems are only CRMs or automations. At NK Business Essentials, systems are the entire experience your client has from the moment they discover your brand to the moment they complete their journey with you. We design what we call a red carpet experience for your clients. It allows them to feel deeply supported, nurtured, and cared for without requiring you to be available every hour of the day.

Our work starts by extracting the brilliance from your mind, organizing it, elevating it, then placing it into a structured ecosystem that lives and breathes inside your business. This is how we help you create consistency, professionalism, and excellence. When you are no longer the system, you finally have room to be the CEO.

Entrepreneurs who work with us quickly realize their sales become smoother, their confidence grows, and their clients feel the difference. Excellence replaces chaos. And service becomes a beautiful extension of who they are.

What Sets Us Apart
Our founder, Nikisha King, bridges two worlds that rarely blend well. She uses both sides of her brain with mastery. She understands analytics, data, and strategy, yet she also understands creativity, story, and emotional insight. This allows her to speak to a designer, a planner, a coach, or a medical professional with equal clarity and compassion. She never dulls a creative spirit with numbers. She teaches them how to fall in love with the numbers that support their gift.

NK Business Essentials stands apart because we do not isolate one area of business. We bring together systems, sales, visibility, and confidence. Many consultants address one and overlook the others. That leaves entrepreneurs overwhelmed and frustrated. We solve the whole picture. We create the foundation that supports every part of your growth.

We serve the free spirits who want to rise without losing their essence. We teach them how to fall in love with structure so they can lead like an ICONIK CEO.

What We Are Most Proud Of
Our signature program, the ICONIK CEO Mastermind, is the heart of our brand. It is a six-month per round experience that gives our entrepreneurs both private one to one support and a community of peers who rise together. The Mastermind is where strategy meets identity. It is where our community learn how to stop running their business like an assistant and start leading it like a CEO.

The community inside the Mastermind is one of our greatest sources of pride. It is intimate, powerful, and deeply supportive. Entrepreneurs learn from each other, celebrate together, and move through challenges with a level of clarity they did not have on their own. Connection is one of the strongest parts of the NK Business Essentials brand and it is a central part of what we create.

What We Want Readers to Know
Becoming an ICONIK CEO is not only about growing a business. It is about learning how to serve at a higher level and how to build a brand that can sustain success. We believe excellence is a service to your clients and a commitment to your future.

We currently offer two pathways for entrepreneurs.
1. The ICONIK CEO Mastermind
A six-month continuous program designed for entrepreneurs who are already generating leads but feel overwhelmed. They are ready to build systems, implement a CRM, clean up their workflow, remove themselves from the middle of every task, and lead their company with clarity. This program is for the entrepreneur who knows they are meant for more and finally wants the structure to match their ambition.

2. Invisible to Visible
A program designed for new entrepreneurs (2+ years) and service providers stepping into the marketplace with uncertainty. They want to show up online with intention and visibility, but posting feels awkward and disconnected. We guide them in building a simple, strategic visibility plan that supports organic lead generation without burnout. Once they understand what works, they can confidently move into more advanced strategies or paid ads.

Both programs teach risk-taking as a strategic act. We help you make bold moves without guessing. We help you create momentum without waste. We help you build a brand that supports your life, not a brand that drains it.

The Heart of NK Business Essentials
If you are a free spirit who wants to fall in love with systems, or a high achieving entrepreneur who is tired of holding everything together alone, NK Business Essentials is your home. We believe structure creates freedom. We believe clarity builds confidence. And most importantly, we believe that your brilliance deserves a foundation strong enough to carry the future you are building.

You are not meant to run a business alone. You are meant to rise with support, strategy, and a community that understands your ambition.

That is what NK Business Essentials offers. That is what we stand for. And that is what sets our brand apart.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Finding a mentor was never about chasing someone down or searching endlessly for the perfect coach. For me, mentorship always began with honesty. It started when I shared a concern or a challenge I was facing. Every time I opened up about where I was struggling, someone in my circle had a recommendation that aligned exactly with what I needed next.

The key was that I did not dismiss their recommendation. I got curious. I followed the breadcrumb. I joined the program they mentioned or stepped into the community they pointed me toward. Every mentor that shaped me entered my life because I allowed curiosity to guide me, not fear (especially the fear of investing in myself).

One of my earliest experiences happened inside a Facebook group for invitation designers. Someone shared that they were willing to show the backend of their invitation business. I signed up immediately because I wanted to learn. Another time, I mentioned that I was working on my mindset. A woman invited me into a community that completely transformed my relationship with money and helped me shift from selling one-thousand-dollar services to fifteen-thousand-dollar services. These moments built my confidence and shaped my journey long before I ever had the title of business strategist.

My Advice for Networking
Networking works when you stop worrying about how people see you and focus on how you want to impact the room.

One of my favorite quotes is this. “What anyone thinks about me is none of my business.”

That single truth changed the way I showed up everywhere. When I walk into a space, my only job is to be present, curious, and open. Everything else is noise.

Introverts often tell me they struggle with networking. But most of the time it is not introversion. It is performance. They feel like they have to impress people, and that drains their energy. Or they fear judgment. And that fear silences their voice. When you release both, you become who you actually are. And people respond to authenticity far more than performance.

What Works Best For Me
Curiosity. It has taken me further in networking than anything else. When I meet someone, I want to know their story. How they got here. What they are building. What lights them up. What impact they want to create. That genuine interest opens doors, builds trust, and forms connections that last.

Because when you show up without a mask, without pretending, without trying to be perfect, people feel that. They experience the real you. And you leave the room knowing you did not waste energy. You created connection.

My Final Advice
Do not seek mentors. Seek curiosity. Do not perform. Be present. Do not worry about opinions. Focus on impact.
Mentors/Coaches, opportunities, and aligned connections always find the people who are willing to show up as themselves.

That is what has worked for me. And it continues to open doors that logic could never explain.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nikishaking.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nkbizguru/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nkbizguru/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nkbizguru/

Image Credits
Phillip Van Nostrand
Bri Co Creates
Fred Marcus Studio