Meet LaKenya Kopf

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

LaKenya, so great to be with you and I think a lot of folks are going to benefit from hearing your story and lessons and wisdom. Imposter Syndrome is something that we know how words to describe, but it’s something that has held people back forever and so we’re really interested to hear about your story and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

Overcoming imposter syndrome is nearly impossible. You can rise above it, shut it out, ignore it, or pretend it doesn’t exist – but it’s always lurking in the back of your mind, waiting for self-doubt to creep in. One mistake, and it’s front and center with a vengeance.

So my response is this: it isn’t about overcoming imposter syndrome; it’s about using it to your advantage. Let that little voice that keeps whispering you don’t know what you’re doing or you’re not good enough fuel your determination – to be better, do better, work harder, and prove to yourself that you do know what you’re doing, you are where you’re supposed to be, and most importantly, that you are human.

You will make mistakes. You won’t know everything. And yes, there will always be someone better than you doing exactly what you do – but that doesn’t make you any less valid, important, or necessary.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

As a Certified Tech Manager, I get paid to play! Tech isn’t everyone’s forte, and where I find logic, simplicity, and beauty- others find frustration, confusion, and unnecessary complexity. I constantly hear clients ask why a program can’t be more straightforward, why there have to be so many layers and steps just to send out a newsletter, build a blog, or simply get an email into someone’s inbox without having to understand what SPF, DKIM, and DMARC mean!

I get it – when I look at social media, my eyes start to glaze over as soon as someone starts talking about algorithms and how to get Instagram or Facebook to do the simplest thing: show your post to your audience. It’s a funny contrast to how my eyes light up when I hear about the latest data policy, new CRM features, or the newest email marketing system. The recent email authentication push felt like Christmas morning to me!

Digital marketing apps are my love language. I can spend all day building workflows, talking about programs, and explaining why automating your business is essential to getting your time back. The challenge in explaining what I do is that it never looks the same from one client to another – each has different needs.

Overall, I manage the backend tech stack for small businesses. Essentially, I support the tools you need to convert your leads – but it’s bigger than that. For some, I’m a handholder or a listening ear because they want to do things themselves but need the comfort of knowing that if something goes wrong, I’m there. For others, I manage their podcasts or post blogs to their sites because their focus is on organic traffic and providing valuable information rather than building automations.

For most, as a CRM and Email Marketing Specialist, I’m in my element – building out customer journeys, integrating systems to help leads seamlessly flow into paying clients, and giving business owners their time back to focus on what they love.

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

Over the past 18 years, my answer to this question has changed a few times. I think today my answer would be: knowing your limitations, having the ability to be patient and understanding, and – when it comes to character/qualities – resilience.

The landscape of entrepreneurship changed dramatically after COVID. Everyone (or at least it felt like everyone) decided to shift to self-employment, and the freelance world exploded. Suddenly, you weren’t just up against those who had been working independently for years – you were now competing with former employees of Fortune 500 companies who had been trained by the best of the best. These professionals decided to strike out on their own, carrying the badge of honor that came from having worked for some of the most recognizable names in business.

Suddenly, having “x” number of years of experience didn’t compare to someone who had worked with Google or GoDaddy. Skill, knowledge, and know-how were no longer the main differentiators – resilience was. Survival became the name of the game, but it also became the undoing of many entrepreneurs. Longer hours, cutting rates, and taking on work outside of their wheelhouse became a way of life. I lost count of the number of clients who came to me after hiring someone who had no business doing the work they promised, leaving the client frustrated and disappointed.

So, my advice to those who are starting out and want to stay in the game: don’t let the fear of competition push you into a position where you fail while trying to stay relevant. Stay in your lane when it comes to your expertise – “fake it till you make it” is the easiest way to lose business because reviews are real, and entrepreneurs talk!

Be patient and understanding with those you work with. Small business owners and entrepreneurs make a living by being the gatekeepers of knowledge, and sometimes they can’t turn that off. They may not be upfront about what they do or don’t know, speaking with an air of confidence that isn’t entirely accurate. Be kind. Meet them where they are. Acknowledge their attempt at understanding, and use the opportunity to educate.

When you become an asset to a business, you not only build a strong foundation for a long-term partnership – you also gain a loyal referral partner and advocate for your business.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

I would love to partner with more OBMs, copywriters, and web designers! Over the last few years, I’ve found that my biggest referral partners tend to be OBMs who can handle just enough tech to be dangerous but need a second tier of support for more complex tasks, copywriters who need someone to build out the actual automations for their clients, and web designers who know how to work within a CMS (like Squarespace, WordPress, Wix, etc.) but may not be as comfortable handling the technical side – things like setting up DNS records, integrating external systems, or, in the case of self-hosted WordPress, setting up the server and installing the basics so they can start building.

If someone reading this thinks, “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m missing in my arsenal,” they can simply email me at [email protected] to share what they have in mind.

Since I don’t offer subcontractor work, the one caveat is that I always require a meeting with the primary client (the business owner) to ensure we’re a good fit, even if I’ll be working directly with the freelancer. This can be a deterrent for some, as they may want the glory of the work being done but prefer that the client not know how the sausage is made – in other words, they want my knowledge and help but don’t necessarily want to share the credit.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kopfconsulting.org
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/kopfconsulting
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/kopfconsultingva
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/lakenyakopf
• Twitter: https://x.com/kopf_consulting
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@kopfconsulting