Celebrating a journey of purpose, partnership and progress.
Milestones deserve to be celebrated. On May 24, 2025, Kalix turned Lucky 13. Success in business today is a moving target. We live in an age of radical change. Technology, geo-politics and the world around us are in constant motion.
I want to take a moment to reflect on what it’s meant to me to launch, grow and sustain an educational marketing company for over 13 years. Building a marketing firm micro-focused on the independent, Pre-K to high school ecosystem continues to be incredibly rewarding. When I started Kalix in 2012, I knew that I wanted to serve organizations that are mission-driven, specifically the independent school community. As I began to work with school leaders on helping them create more strategic, sustainable marketing, I quickly realized how needed this business model was and remains so today.
Working with mission-driven organizations aligns with Kalix’s most important core value: practicing servant leadership. We exist to serve our school clients’ needs. It’s not about us. It is about what our schools need us to do to help them market and communicate more strategically and effectively. Their goals are our goals.
Kalix has had the pleasure of working with an outstanding collective of independent, private and nonprofit charter schools around the country. Today we work with 18 schools in eight states from coast to coast.
Our people are at the heart of our value proposition. The Kalix team is not only wicked smart but is a group of highly experienced marketing, communications, design, digital, admissions, research and business professionals. And every one is a problem solver. We get hired for our ability to solve a particular challenge, to bring to bear our team’s particular expertise to help schools better market what they do best.
To Donna, Ruth, Sarah, Wayne, Jeffrey, Kathie, Jason, Gerri, Kirk, Ember, Kristin, Chris and Rob, thank you for all that you do on a daily basis to help our school clients.
Running a small business is not an easy thing. It takes grit, determination, vision, resilience and passion to build success. The journey as a small business owner has been one of personal growth, challenge and opportunity.
Over the years I’ve learned a great deal about myself and my ability to sometimes lead with vision and other times to lead from behind (both have their moments). Someone recently asked me what it takes to grow a successful business. My answers today aren’t that much different than what they were at Kalix’s first anniversary:
- Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you and who are deep subject-matter experts in their respective fields. Give them the mission, vision and budget. Then get out of the way and let them do what they do best.
- Treat your people like family. Respect them, honor them, pay them well and ask them to be exceptional at what they do. They in turn, will return the favor. Loyalty works both ways.
- Integrity must be your guiding principle. Always be honest with your clients. If you make a mistake, own it. 100%. Don’t blame your people. Leaders take responsibility.
- Build a group of trusted business advisors that includes your attorney, your CPA, your banker, your insurance agent, a leadership coach and a mentor. They should never be afraid to speak truth to power. Listen to what they have to say.
- Lead with humility. There’s a lot I know about independent school marketing, and what I don’t know, I have great people who do (see #1). But each of our clients is wonderfully different, and with every new school, I learn new things. I am humbled by the opportunity to help shape a school’s future. We never lose sight that school leaders are entrusting their mission and vision to us.
Every morning I wake up with a sense of profound gratitude for what I do. I’m always excited to start my day and bring a strong passion to my work. I’m incredibly proud of our ability to help our school clients market and communicate more effectively.
To our Kalix team, to our current and former clients, to my mentors, to my circle of advisors and everyone who has helped along the way, and to my family, thank you for making the past 13 years such a positive and rewarding experience.
