Meet Jason McElveen

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jason McElveen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jason below.

Hi Jason, so happy to have you on the platform with us today and excited to chat about your lessons and insights. Our ability to make good decisions can massively impact our lives, careers and relationships and so it would be very helpful to hear about how you built your decision-making skills.
I think the ability to make decisions is crucial to business and personal growth. Especially if the position you find yourself in requires having employees or members reporting to you. I’ve been fortunate to be a part of many different industries in many roles. And decision-making skills are no different than push-ups. If you don’t do it often, they are going to be hard. But the more you do them and the more your practice…the easier it gets. So when it comes times to make a decision you take the information, circumstances, parameters, and you do the best with what you’ve got. And then you evaluate whether that was the best decision you could have made. And if it is…great! If it wasn’t…you learn and apply that to next decision making opportunity.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

In the past 15-20 years of my professional life I’ve found myself a part of so many businesses and side hustles. And each one I learn something and take it with me. And in my current project I feel like I am taking all the skills and lessons and applying them to their max. And then learning more and more everyday!

Im running an e-commerce site that specializes in reselling used high end sneakers. Think Jordan’s, Nike’s, etc. We just launched our site www.kyxsneakers.com in late July. And we’ve got a team of 8 that are so passionate about sneaker culture and coming to work everyday to try and create something different in the space.

Because in our view the process of buying used sneakers online is difficult. From potentially getting fake shoes, to the turnaround time, to no standard or pricing. And then just the simple practice of most used sneakers are sold through individuals on marketplaces that can lead to misleading descriptions and fuzzy pictures. So we created our KYX Advantage to alleviate all of those pain points. We authenticate every pair of shoes we buy. Then we professionally clean them(because getting someone else’s hair in your new sneakers…isn’t cool). Then we take 360 photos of each individual pair. No fancy lighting or hiding smudges. And lastly, and probably the thing I am most proud of…is we developed a KYX Rating system. We break each shoe down into 5 main parts and rate each one of these parts on a scale of 1-10 based on objective criteria. That allows us to come out with a main rating. We essentially are your in-person eyes and hands while you shop online.

It sounds wild to say…but our mission is to create the most trusted, transparent, and easy to use source for buying used sneakers. That’s what we show up everyday trying to build!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I think there are many qualities that can be used to describe successful individuals or leaders. But the three that resonate very highly with me and I work to embrace daily are: 1. Problem Solving: I notice that most folks give up on a solution after 1 or 2 failed attempts. I think with my background in directing films(especially at a lower budget!)…everyday was about rolling with the punches and adjusting while still keeping the primary vision in sight. In those situations if a solution isn’t found…you’re dead in the water. So put yourself in positions that are difficult and “I give up” isn’t an option.

2. Listening: This one is a constant reminder for me. Because I always want to be right. But what I’ve learned is to identify people who are smarter than me in certain areas and listen to them. That doesn’t mean don’t question them…but don’t allow what I think to be written in stone.

3. Decision Making: To be a leader you have to make decisions. And you have to commit to those decisions. And then at times you have to say “that was a bad call” and own it and change course. The best way to develop this skill is to put yourself in a position to make decisions. Hone that muscle.

What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
I think the answer to this question depends on the path you want to go down. I personally love to learn new things. And I don’t want to do the same thing everyday. So for me its important to know my strengths, but to spend time on my weaknesses to be more well rounded.

Also, something I notice when I improve weaknesses…is I am able to communicate more effectively with someone who may have an area of strength. For example…I think as an actor it is important to learn how to write to understand the plight of the writers. I also think it’s important for an actor to know the basics of editing, and sound, and music…so they can understand all the resources available to enhance their performance. I think the same for a director…they should dabble in editing, color, etc so they can communicate more effectively with their collaborators who that area may be a strength for.

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Image Credits
KYX Sneakers

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