An Interview With Sara Connell
My personality has always been one of a high achiever. I’m the oldest of five and the drive to succeed comes naturally. However, I’ve shifted as I’ve gotten older from being motivated less by fear of failure and more by the good we can do. I am constantly inspired and motivated by our customer stories where women tell me that they wear our earrings not only to look their best, but to feel their best. Nickel & Suede accessories help them feel like they can do hard times.
Beginnings are a Genesis. That means that not only are they a start, but they are also the origin of all that follows. This means that the way we start something, the way we start our day, for example, creates a trajectory for all that follows. How do highly successful leaders start their day in a way that creates a positive trajectory for a successful, effective, productive, and efficient day? How do you create habits that make these routines permanent? How do you get inspired to develop the discipline necessary for such a lifestyle? In this new series, called Morning Routines and Habits Of Highly Successful People, we are talking to successful leaders who can share the morning routines and habits that have helped them to achieve success.
As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kilee Nickels.
Creative, entrepreneur, and proud #boymom, Kilee Nickels is the CEO and Founder of Nickel & Suede. Designed to inspire confidence, Nickel & Suede empowers women to be their most authentic selves and make every day brave.
Kilee’s entrepreneurial drive not only comes from her love of design, but also her passion for creating community and inspiring others to be their most authentic selves. To further that mission, Kilee launched With Kilee Nickels, a weekly podcast dedicated to inspiring women to be confident in pursuing their passions. Previously, Kilee ran One Little Momma, a style blog and community, and co-founded One Little Belt, a children’s apparel line. Kilee lives in Kansas City with her family, and is married to her college sweetheart and business partner, Soren Nickels.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. What or who inspired you to pursue your career? We’d love to hear the story.
Sara Blakely of Spanx, Susan Peterson from Freshly Picked, Rebecca Minkoff.
These were some of the first women that I knew of that had started their own businesses and really thrived. They built a brand from scratch- and these were brands that really made moves and changed their industry or created a new one. As I watched them grow and lead their companies I thought, if she can do it, I can see myself doing it. As I started designing the first leather earrings, I could tell these earrings had the potential to impact people by inspiring and encouraging the women who wear them to do great things. Sarah and Susan believe so much in their mission and their product, I knew that I shared that with them. It was just a matter of figuring out how to do it, one day at a time, one obstacle at a time. I’ve listened and learned and taken so much inspiration from the lessons these women share which makes it so much easier to show up every day.
“Don’t let what you don’t know scare you, because it can become your greatest asset. And if you do things without knowing how they have always been done, you’re guaranteed to do them differently.” — Sara Blakely
None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Was there a particular person who you feel gave you the most help or encouragement to be who you are today? Can you share a story about that?
In the early days of our business, “the basement days,” it was just my husband and I. We worked all day and night. It’s not in our nature to ask for help so we did a lot on our own. Until Sandy came knocking on our door. I had just met Sandy at church and the next week she showed up asking how she could help. And she didn’t take no for an answer. She volunteered and has stuck around through everything. In the early days she made earrings, shipped earrings, and sold earrings. Whatever I needed to do, she was there with me. We hosted pop-ups, did vendor tables, and she was there for every one of them. I could always count on her as my sidekick and supporter no matter what else she had going on with her own family and work. She has modeled for us, traveled with us, and to this day does the hair for nearly every photoshoot. Early call times, late night flights, she’s always there when I need her. She finally started accepting a paycheck when she started doing hair for shoots, but otherwise she’s just held the role of number one cheerleader in times when I needed a friend and support.
Can you share the funniest or most interesting mistake that occurred to you in the course of your career? What lesson or take away did you learn from that?
As an entrepreneur I’m always making mistakes as I try to figure things out. Usually I underestimate or wildly overestimate something. For example, I’ve underestimated what the demand for our first retail store would be. I had only planned for it to be a local pickup window and didn’t hire a manager or hardly a store associate. I didn’t think to staff it. And I have overestimated our first big market. I built 10,000 pairs and sold nowhere near that. We were sitting on those styles for months! Fast forward to today we have three stores, three store managers, great associates and a much more experience under our belts when demand planning.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Optimism- As an entrepreneur you have to be an optimist, but it’s been especially important to me. As we grew our business, there were times that we had outgrown our current workspace and had to make the decision to move out and into something bigger and more expensive. Each time we’ve made those jumps from 500 sq ft to 5000 sq ft to 15,000 sq ft, I’ve told my team that goldfish grow to fill the bowl that they are given. The optimist in me believes we will too!
Resilience- There have been many days, especially in the last few years where I felt like giving up. Things felt too hard or unclear. Shutting down during Covid, pivoting to new strategies for retail and online and more. But giving up is not an option. Succeeding is the only option and will only happen if I continue to show up and take it one day at a time. We either win or we learn. But we keep going.
Empathy- This trait has been one that really comes out in everything that I do- especially as an employer of mostly women including many mothers. It’s so important to make sure my team members have the ability to make it to the preschool program or to after school sports. To feel supported during a pregnancy — this last year we put in place a generous maternity policy so that our moms have time to be with their little ones. It’s been said that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. I have seen that in action. As I’ve gotten to know my team members, found ways to celebrate with them as well as mourn with them, it’s given me greater insights and helped us find creative ways to get the job done- and not only done, but done well.
I’m an author and I believe that books have the power to change lives. Do you have a book in your life that impacted you and inspired you to be an effective leader? Can you share a story?
How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer.
This book was one that I read years ago and has really stuck with me and helped me understand how to make decisions. As a leader you are constantly being asked to make decisions and the weight of decisions can be paralyzing. I have always trusted my intuition, but this book really confirmed why it’s good to trust your gut. With small decisions, it’s easier to get to the bottom of what’s best by asking questions and weighing the outcomes. With big decisions, it’s hard to consciously take in all of the facts and conclude a best option. But our subconscious can- and that’s when we have to trust our gut at the end of the day. When we considered opening stores during Covid- it was a really risky move. Probably more risky than I knew. And it’s proved to be difficult. But at the end of the day my intuition said to go for it and open them. We opened two in 2020 and it’s been really rewarding and also really educational. When we built out our big HQ building it seemed like an impossible size. Were we biting off more than we could chew? Should we really take such a big leap? But we did it and it has afforded us so many opportunities. We were able to build our first retail store in our HQ and test retail strategies prior to opening our two additional stores. Without that additional space and learnings, we wouldn’t have had the knowledge and confidence to open two more stores during such a challenging time.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
We’re excited to be adding piercings to our stores on a regular basis. It gives our community an opportunity to be brave or do something that makes them feel good which aligns with our brand values. Plus we love seeing moms and daughters make memories together in our stores.
Multiple piercings is back on-trend and we are adding more dainties and marketing more creative ways to build ear stacks. Expanding our earring offerings will really create so many ways for women to make a statement and be themselves.
Expanding styles and categories to be more trend forward and comfortable earrings. All earrings can be comfortable earrings if they are made of leather because leather is so lightweight.
We are exploring sustainable, vegan leather designs to appeal to a wider customer base.
Can you help explain to our readers why it is important to have a consistent morning routine?
I’m a big believer that how you start the day is how you run the day. I’ve always been one that gets up, moves my body, gets dressed, does hair and makeup. I always get ready for the day. I can get so much more done because my mindset is right. The days that I stay in pajamas or workout clothes too long are the days that I struggle to get started. Life is full of inconsistent surprises- especially as a mom, so if I can jumpstart my day with intention and a routine I don’t have to think about, it’s saving my energy for the unexpected.
Can you please share your optimal morning routine that can create a positive trajectory for a successful, effective, productive, and efficient day. If you can, please share some stories or examples.
6:15 Wake up
Workout- run 1 mile and/or 7 minute HIT workout (when it comes to working out, done is better than perfect. My goal is to move my body and I believe consistency adds up!)
6:45 Bible study with kids- get middle schooler out the door, get other kiddos on dog walks and ready for their day
7:00 Shower, get dressed, makeup
Listen to podcast while getting ready, calf raises while I brush my teeth, record a reel while I do hair or makeup
8:00 Nanny arrives
Leave for work with Pepper my French Bulldog, our Nickel & Suede mascot.
8:15 Arrive at work
- Say hello to teams
- Check to-do list created at EOD the day before
- Get started!
Speaking in general, what is the best way to develop good habits? Conversely, how can one stop bad habits?
My favorite way to develop a good habit is with habit stacking. We all have habits in general- and so if I want to start a new one, I intentionally stack it with another one. If I want to make sure I always wash my face- I decide to do it as soon as I put my kids to bed. If I want to make sure I clean out my inbox, I do it every Monday as soon as I arrive at work. Etc.
To stop a bad habit, I’ve found I have to make it easy to do the right thing. Being a busy mom and business owner, I have a bad habit of skipping meals. The only way I’ve been able to overcome that habit is to intentionally keep extra lunches, and easy items at work.
Doing something consistently “day in and day out” can be hard. Where did you get your motivation from? What do you use to motivate you now?
My personality has always been one of a high achiever. I’m the oldest of five and the drive to succeed comes naturally. However, I’ve shifted as I’ve gotten older from being motivated less by fear of failure and more by the good we can do. I am constantly inspired and motivated by our customer stories where women tell me that they wear our earrings not only to look their best, but to feel their best. Nickel & Suede accessories help them feel like they can do hard times.
I’m also motivated by my kids and the other young girls that watch me. I want them to see what is possible and how much it pays off to stretch yourself and be the best version of yourself. I didn’t see examples of what I’m doing as a younger girl, so if I can be that inspiration to someone else — that motivates me. It’s possible to be a mom and to follow your heart. If they can see me do it, they can see themselves doing it.
What other resources would you suggest to our readers?
The E myth
Brene Brown- all the things
Growth Hacker Marketing by Ryan Holiday
If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I would love to start a movement that gets people — especially women to do really small things that are out of their comfort zone. I believe it’s the small things that give us courage to do the big things, but we often don’t give the small things enough credit. The small things could be getting a new piercing, trying a new trend, karaoke, practicing talking to strangers, going to a job interview that intimidates them. I think a healthy dose of “I can’t believe I did that” really goes a long way!
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why?
Sara Blakely. I’d love to get to know her, to ask her what it was like in the early days, to ask her what the best decisions she made were, what mistakes would she avoid, what could the future look like for N&S. What would she tell her younger self?
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Nickelandsuede.com
@Nickelandsuede
@Kileenickels
Thank you for these really excellent insights, and we greatly appreciate the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success.
Kilee Nickels Of Nickel & Suede On The Morning Routines and Habits Of Highly Successful People was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.