Today we’d like to introduce you to Kendrick Shope.
Hi Kendrick, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
I am a fourth-generation University of Tennesse graduate. In the family photo attached, my 95-year-old grandad as well as every adult in that photo attended UT!).
Eleven years ago, I was a top-performing pharmaceutical sales rep for Eli Lily, married to my high school sweetheart (also from East Tennessee), and had a less than 3-year-old daughter, Halianna. Every night when putting Halianna to sleep, I would tell her “you can be anything you want in this world but you have to believe in yourself enough to go for it.”
One night as if a ton of bricks fell on my head, it hit me. One day, this little girl was going to grow up to ask me if my dream was to be a pharmaceutical sales representative for a living. The reality despite being good at my job was that I had different dreams but had never taken my own advice of believing in myself enough to go for it.
At that moment, I knew that in order to be the example of what I valued and wanted for my kid, I had to make some changes. I walked into our bedroom and told my husband that our lives were getting ready to change because I was quitting my six-figure job to start my own business.
Blake, my husband, laughed but soon realized that I was intent on figuring out and creating my dream job. Through many wrong turns, much trial and error, and boatloads of belief, I figured it out and created the #1 sales process that is taught online, Authentic Selling® and Authentic Selling® University.
Over the past nine years, Authentic Selling® has been taught to hundreds of thousands of people on 5 five continents, featured on national TV shows like Stever Harvey, and has a book hitting stores shortly.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No. Starting a business from nothing is guaranteed to be full of extreme highs and lows.
There will be times when you wonder if it’s worth it and there will be times when you can’t imagine doing anything else. The biggest struggle early on is capital, cash flow, and learning how to manage both. Work/life balance was also a struggle but I think that is the case for most working moms.
There are times when you want to just be in mom mode but are needed at a meeting in Europe, so you just have to make sure you’re fully present during the moments you have with your family. The biggest struggle was growing too fast and trying to figure out how to fill the needs we had internally.
I never really wanted to be a manager of people so learning how to scale and run a team is a work in progress for me today.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
As a sales consultant, I created Authentic Selling®, the #1 sales process to teach businesses how to close more sales, make more money, and get paid to do the work they love to do.
I work with start-up online businesses, like coaches, consultants, and course creators, as well as speak at conferences and businesses all over the country both on sales and motivation. Authentic Selling® has a unique way of turning potential customers into raving fans that come back over and over. I am known for being an excellent salesperson, dynamic speaker, and of course southern redhead!
I am most proud of the partnership my company has with Broadway Cares, the philanthropic heart of Broadway. Together in 2021, we put on a charity event with 11 of the world’s top Broadway stars from Wicked, Hamilton, Phantom of The Opera including Tony Award winners and nominees, and right here in Tennesse. We raised over $100k for Broadway Cares which provides meals and healthcare to those in need.
The thing that makes Authentic Selling® so powerful is that anyone can be in control of their finances and freedom. Our customers have created millions of dollars in revenue for their businesses. It works.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
Much of my business is done online.
We used Zoom before most of the world was forced to learn what Zoom was! I expect this industry to evolve quickly with changing technology but I hope that we trend back towards connection and engagement. People crave reality and authenticity which means sharing the ugly as well as the beautiful.
I hope that we see a trend toward less performance on social media and instead have meaningful conversations that matter.
Contact Info:
- Email: kendrick@kendrickshope.com
- Website: https://kendrickshope.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kendrickshope/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthenticSelling
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTSi977DftTatVab2T5UJdA
Image Credits
Photolove and Mia Alysee
