Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Kandell.
Robert, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
It’s been a fascinating journey. In 1998, I was running a successful computer programming consulting business in San Francisco and teaching for the University of Phoenix. To the outside world, it looked like I was living the American Dream. I had a six-figure salary, a house in SF, married to a beautiful woman, and building up my 401k with smart investments. On the inside however, things were not as pristine. I was overweight, disconnected from my wife, and terribly bored.
I then went for the first time to Burning Man. There are many stories to tell but the main was that I flashed that the life I was leading, the one handed to me by my father, was not the one I wanted. It was time for a significant change. I started taking self-development courses like Landmark and worked on myself and my relationship. I dove in deep and quickly saw some significant changes. I continued to work my consulting business but I had a second life where I was leading groups on intimacy and communication.
In 2004, I started an organization with Nicole Daedone called OneTaste. We had a vision where people could come take our workshops and learn how to relate differently to themselves, their partners, and their purpose. For 10 years, I was its COO, CTO and CFO and built the organization from a paper-napkin sketch to an international, 8-figured business. I was stretched to my core learning how to work with an expansive and complicated business along with teaching courses and running its Men’s Program.
In 2014, I left OneTaste and sold my shares. I was, simply, burned out from the exhaustive lifestyle and workload. I ended up in Venice Beach with my weeks, which were normally 80 hours of work empty and a blank slate for the next phase of my life. I re-started my consulting business and focused on helping solopreneurs, mostly women, on how to build a solid foundation. I also started life-coaching singles and couples.
In 2015, I started LA Mother with two friends. The idea was to create a female-centric community space with parties, events, Girl-Sweat (yoga and dance), and an incubator for small businesses. I gave everything of myself to the business but 18 months later it closed its doors.
Currently, I work out of my office in Woodland Hills where I have grown my consulting business to six-figures. I act as an interim CFO for several companies, life-coach people, and also run my weekly podcast, “Tuff Love”. I am currently writing a book proposal to pitch Hay House for my first book, “The unHIDDEN man”.
I live with my fiancée, her two girls, two dogs in Agoura Hills. I enjoy hiking and doing hot yoga at CorePower.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has not been a smooth road…. at all. The transition from Corporate America computer consultant to starting an organization around intimacy was intense. My parents, traditional New York Jews, thought I was insane and my father disowned me when I was 30 years old. His view softened 9 years later when OneTaste was on the front page of the NY Times Style section. We reconciled after I left OneTaste but it was a huge emotional challenge for me to continue to believe in myself and my choices.
OneTaste was not profitable for the first eight years. I had invested all my money into the organization and was basically living on the meager $2500/month salary I could afford to pay myself. OneTaste was creating a new industry, sometimes called “Blue Ocean Strategy” and we paid the price for our inventiveness. I was stretched to my limits in keeping the doors open as we tried many different tactics to keep the doors open. I was completely personally entwined in the business and lost my own sense of self. I was working 80-90 hours per week and took my body to the brink. It took the oncoming risk of my first ulcer to really push myself to leave the business. In the end, OneTaste is my shining success and I am proud of its accomplishments. However, it was a very long 10 years to get that point.
LA Mother was a great concept that suffered from lack of cash flow, an overambitious executive team, and expensive rent in Hollywood. I invested significant time and money into the project and its closure left me with debt that I am still paying off. The lessons were profound however and I consider it one of my most important lessons in life.
The main challenge, however, has been with myself. Through therapy, I have discovered several key emotional blocks that have kept me from being successful. I learned about my tendency to enjoy sitting in someone else’s shadow rather than taking the risk of being in the limelight. I have learned about how I self-sabotage in order to keep myself safe. In 2017, I have taken significant steps to move past this internal programming to get out of my own way to find my success. It’s been an awesome but challenging journey.
Please tell us about Kandell Consulting.
Kandell Consulting has three major areas of focus. Our primary focus in on Business Consulting where I act as an interim CFO for small businesses. My role here is to ensure that my client’s finances, operations, and legal foundation is solid. I setup their books, manage their bookkeepers, help with cash-flow and forecasting, work with their lawyers, and do whatever is required so the owner can focus on their vision.
The secondary focus is on personal and couples coaching. I help people see the places in their lives that are blocked, help potentiate what is not optimal, and hold people accountable to their word. For couples, I often act as a translator helping men understand women and vice-a-versa. I use my “Tuff Love” to say the things that need to be said in an approving way so people can see their blindspots.
I am also developing content for self-development. I am working on my first book, run my weekly Podcast (Tuff Love: A Live Group Coaching Call), am a speaker, and guest-blog for several online periodicals.
The main piece that sets me apart is my ability to combine both business acumen with personal development. For most entrepreneurs, their personal and business lives are entwined like a DNA strand. My unique ability to help business owners see and bypass their blocks, help their team with communication issues, and hold the technical aspects of the business has built a happy clientele. As Tony Robbins says, “The Success of the Business is based on the Psychology of the Owner”. I ensure that any blocks are confronted and eliminated.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
My answer is paradoxical. “So many things and nothing.” I say nothing because I love where my life has lead me. I am grateful for all my experiences because they formed the man I am today. And, there are many things I could have done better.
I would have been slower and more deliberate with my parents around my life-change from yuppie to explorer. I would have noticed them more, been more kind, and helped them understand my desires rather than basically vomit them on them. I would be smoother in my communication.
For OneTaste, I would have built a stronger business plan, secured financing, and not been so cocky. We really thought the world was going to just show up and we learned the hard way that it was a very slow and very difficult process to build our business. I would have learned more management techniques, been a better manager to some, and taken care of my body better.
For LA Mother, I would have not rushed into the deal. In therapy, I realized that I took on LA Mother because I missed the rush and dynamic nature of OneTaste. After spending 10 years at a frantic pace, I was not comfortable with the slower, easier pace without it. Like a convict who misses the bars of his cell, I missed the adrenaline of owning a business. I would have been wiser.
Pricing:
- Life-coaching: Starts at $250/hr. Packages available for reduced rates.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.TuffLove.live and www.KandellConsulting.com
- Phone: 415.606.7505
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: robert.kandell
- Facebook: kandellconsulting/
- Twitter: robertkandell
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/kandell-consulting-woodland-hills
Image Credit:
Aidelbaum Photography
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