Life with Ken 2024 Business Review

Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 in the United States Constitution is known as the three fifths compromise. The three fifths compromise says that African slaves and descendants for the purpose of representation and taxation for any given state, will be counted as one free person within the context of three individuals within a group of five. So, if a slave owner in America had five slaves, three out of five of those slaves, combined, were considered one free person on paper, so long as they stayed in bondage in practice. The 13th and 14th amendments were ratified in 1865 and 1868 and abolished slavery and gave African Americans the right to vote and equal protection under the law respectively. 

America historically and systemically doesn’t want African descendants in her land to prosper in any meaningful way that would emulate the success of a Caucasian or western European. Following the emancipation proclamation signed in 1863 for the purpose of allowing African slaves to be free and to weaken the confederacy, a law by the way, signed by a republican; the Dixiecrats or democrats as they like to be called today are the real racists not the republicans; free Africans and African descendants were free without any resources to support their freedom. 

Image source.

What that looked like was, for the African and African descendant individuals who didn’t go fight in the civil war, and following the conclusion of the civil war, collectively those people often had nothing but the clothes on their back. What would happen next is, instead of being paid a reparation and therefore equalizing the playing field for Africans and Europeans in America, something the founders and ratifiers of the American Constitution systemically didn’t (and don’t) want, Africans were given the option to figure it out, or sign working contracts with plantation owners. Those working contracts, akin to a W-4 in today’s standards, would say that a freedman can work on a plantation so long as they agreed to doing so in slave-like conditions. 

This means that as a freedman you had the choice to struggle to survive on your own or you could submit to a western European descendant, follow their rules, and live by their standards. At the time living by their standards meant living in slave quarters, eating scraps, being unable to learn or practice religion, and being subjected to what would have been cruel and unusual punishment within the context of a free person. Some scholarly racists and eugenicists a decade or two following that time made the argument that becoming a self-made man or woman, was the best option for an African American in America, because fundamentally there was no way a white person in America would or could help someone of African slave dissent achieve a noteworthy life for themselves; It’s antithetical to their interests. True freedom for a black person in America is not needing anything from a white person. 

The problem with this reality is life is a co-op. Everyone needs everyone for some aspect of everything. The challenge facing a black person like me, native to and living in America, is that at least some white people, specifically in positions of power, still operate as though America is vibrantly racist. They are the standard bearers of racism, and they see it as their job to do what other white people are not empowered to do and keep those Negros oppressed. “This is our country, and you can’t replace us,” I've heard some people like this say. This is also why some individuals are concerned with a second Trump presidency.

Nixon’s southern strategy worked too well. Dixiecrats who no longer align with the progressive policies of Lyndon B Johnson’s administration, which were John F. Kennedy’s policies, which were pushed to the left by the civil rights movement, which were originally Abraham Lincoln’s policies that were intended for the reformation era, were courted by Nixon to get their votes. Republicans aren’t racists as an organization but there are a lot of racists in the republican party, because they no longer align with the democrat party which was their original party. But the democrat party is still more racist, they just engage in a loud covert racism versus a quiet or inside voice overt racism which the Dixiecrats prefer. And those Dixiecrats are Trump’s 35-38% of core support in the republican party. They are the vote Trump no matter what people. 

With that exposition out of the way, let’s get into this year’s business review…

Life with Ken is a lifestyle brand that focuses on helping people live more confidently. You can learn more about us here. This is serving as our year review following our mid-year review in June. The vision for Life with Ken as I currently see it, is for us to become a profitable business. Most recently I casted a vision where this looks like us adopting a corporation model of operation. We started sharing these business reviews last year and the purpose is to document progress, provide transparency, and speak to the interests of those who enjoy this or business-related content. In our mid-year review I talked about approaching this endeavor in a more disentangled way. One of my focuses then was leaning into how I could separate Life with Ken the brand from Kenneth Wyche the person, for the purpose of increasing revenue. I wanted to take some pressure off Life with Ken, that way I could still enjoy this work while at the same time have money come in based on the strength of what I as an individual bring to the table. 

That approach appears to be working so far, and I just have to maintain that. A door or two has opened for me personally which is good, but I am hyper focused on money right now. I want money and I am in a place right now where I am willing to do what is necessary (within reason) to get it. The reason I highlighted the history lesson at the beginning of this review is that as mentioned, that is the issue that I seem to be facing right now. No matter what I do I need people to buy into what I do. And I am not talking about my current audience, which is strong and engaged, and I am very grateful for those getting value from Life with Ken and are enjoying what we produce. I want to grow my audience. More people, more money. More money, more content, more content, more and better results, for everyone; you, me, Life with Ken, and whatever else we venture to do. 

Humbly and respectfully, I am open to reevaluating this, however, I don’t think value is an issue. All the feedback I get and the people I talk to say Life with Ken is very valuable, so that means I have a message proliferation deficit. I am having a difficult time getting the word out there about Life with Ken. Some of that is a money issue and some of that is a trust issue. I implore you to share my content, please. If you get value from the Life with Ken experience, please tell someone. Money and trust can be tautological because to a certain degree, specifically within what I am doing, I can buy trust. But I need money to buy trust. But also, the more trust I have the more money I can likely get.

I am being open like this because you have not because you ask not. The Bible says you have not because you ask not and Jesus says to ask, seek, knock, ask for the same thing, do so boldly, and do so incessantly. So, I am asking for money because I want to grow Life with Ken. I want to grow Life with Ken because I believe I can do some good in this world when I am enabled to do so. I also don’t think that I have a compelling future if I don’t grow Life with Ken, but I don’t want my success to be about me. I want to enjoy it, but I don’t want it to be about me. 

So now let's talk about enablement. Enablers are essentially supporters that allow you to do what you do to the best degree possible. Historically those of African descent who have retained their melanin are not team players outside of their immediate sphere of influence. Looking out for anyone just because they look like you is not the natural disposition of African Africans (life started in Africa) and frankly from a biblical perspective it’s the less virtuous thing to do. You don’t get brownie points for helping someone you have an affinity towards. In America specifically, white people are predisposed to help white people because they are subconsciously, unconsciously, and systemically primed to favor white spaces with white faces. I want Life with Ken to be for everyone and anyone who gets value from it no matter what. The Bible also says that if you are a follower of Jesus, which I am, there will be strife in your home of origin, you should (and need to) leave, and that a prophet is not loved in his own home. 

From at least a metaphysical perspective, if not also a literal one, if I want to do something meaningful, I can’t rely on doing that meaningful thing with family, friends, and or loved ones. This means I need the support of those who don’t think or look like me. The challenge is when those individuals are opposed to my success. Because now all of a sudden, they may have a platform or opportunity or could open a door, but because they are a racist, hater, or just more partial to someone else, I have to work harder by myself which results in both of us having less, than for someone to accept and help me and both of us have more. This is salient to me because this is some of the difficulty that I am facing around the publishing of my book. 

I don’t want to speak on that too deeply because I would do so negatively and I want my dialogue around my book, at least from my mouth, to be positive. My point is that if people in positions of power were willing to consider what I do more favorably and would put their resources behind supporting my cause, Life with Ken could get further faster. Ultimately, I can’t get or stay stuck on that so I must keep moving forward, but I must do so with respect for myself, my work, and with humility towards God. 

So, what does this reality look like going forward? As someone who cut his teeth at the start of his professional career doing door to door sales, I understand that I must keep pushing ahead. I can’t live for the constant no's. I must live for that one “yes” and hit the reset button every time after I get that yes. I need to keep knocking on doors until someone says yes, integrate that yes into my metrics, and then go find the next yes. But then the next thing I can do is be willing to pay for a yes. That to me is a little more controversial and it’s something I am working on wrapping my head around.

So far, I don’t like the idea of “buying a yes” because I feel as though it’s disingenuous and when I think about the world I want to live in, it’s not one that is pay to play. That said, one of the benefits of buying a yes is that you can get exactly what you want because you are paying for it. But then the next level of disillusionment is how do I reconcile a service with a feeling? All in all, in some ways I wish things were different, but I also believe that everything happens for a reason and that I am on this earth for a hopeful future. I believe my future is bright and that I will enjoy my life and not loathe it. I believe the future of Life with Ken is bright. 

Before I conclude I want to highlight some wins over the last 3 months to a year, and what you can expect from Life with Ken at least into the first and second quarter of the new year. Since our last year review and or mid-year review, we’ve collaborated with two businesses, Britt’s Crochet and Macrame, and Justice Dixon, a graphic design artist. We celebrated 5 years this past July! And I’ve gotten consistent with our video and social media content.

Our focus for the rest of this year is a successful book launch of my book “Get Your Mind Right” releasing November 19, 2024. We are working on more exposure specifically via podcasts but also hopefully in some other publications, as well as ways that may not have presented themselves yet. Our ecosystem is our bread and butter so we will be spending time strengthening that. I am going to be leaning into some more thought leadership content as a way to broaden my appeal. And finally, as already mentioned I will be strategically deploying capital to get more engagement across the Life with Ken ecosystem. 

You can order your copy of Get Your Mind Right, here, and you can watch our latest video of me talking about the book in detail below.

View the lifewithekn.com article archive.