Meet Amani Kelly | Entreprenuer, Developer, Mentor, & Father

We had the good fortune of connecting with Amani Kelly and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amani, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I realized that I no longer wanted the same thing in the corporate world as to when I started. I originally wanted to prove to myself and others that I could move up the corporate ladder and eventually become a CEO of a company. However, my thoughts shifted as I did move of the ladder, but no longer wanted to be a CEO of someone elses company. I wanted the challenge of starting and scaling my own company, rather than having a company “handed” to me. So with that said, I was no longer a great “corporate citizen” and decided to start my company.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I have sold everything under the sun including; cars, shoes, clothes, leather goods, electro-mechanical passive components, insurance, gym memberships, yellow pages, technology research, recruiting services, and the list goes on. However, having a wide range of sales experiences is what helped me become a good sales person. Being a good sales person was my key to moving up in the corporate world. They say that people that make the money, make the rules, and that is how I was able to be visible in the companies where I excelled in the art of selling. I am proud that I was able to become the top salesperson annually out of 500 people sales people one year. Additionally, I was not always good at sales, I was just a huslter, and you couldnt out huslte me, but until I became a student of the sales craft, I was JUST a hustler. Believe me it was not easy, long days and nights, thousands of No’s, and a lot of travel, but it thought me what it took to be a top sales guy and the benefits of being a top sales guy.

I wasn the world to know that my story is your story, and if you are willing to learn and change your situation, you TOO can do it. My success was through sales and relationship building, and if I did not step out of my element, I wouldnt have or continue to achieve the lifestyle that I manifested.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would first take them the furthest away from Broadway St because its a tourist trap. Our first stop would be the Parthenon, which is a life sized versaion of the original Greek Parthenon, then we would go to the Gulch for shopping and coffee. I would absolutely take them to the SOHO house in Wedgewood Houston area. We would eat at Barcelona Wine bar and then head to the speakeasy Old Glory for a night cap.

The next few days we would eat at jeff Ruby’s, go to historic Jefferson Ave and to Ya Ya’s, we would check out Prince’s Chicken for some Nashville Hot Chicken. We would walk around Germantown and visit Henrietta Red’s and a couple of sports bar.

The final evenign we would go to the Standard restuarant and then go upstairs to the private club…then off to the airport!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to shout out my daughter! Although my parents birthed me and instilled good values in me, if it wasnt for my daughter, and having her at a young age, I would not be where I am today. When you are a teenager having a child, you really have to grow up fast, but I was still just a kid. I was doing what most of the kids were doing at my age up until a certain point. I then realized I was not going to have some of the experiences my peers were having, and was forced to be a provider and more mature. This also meant making hard decisions, which also led to not going out as much and getting in trouble, and becasue of that I shout out my daughter as I would not be the man that I am today if it was not for her being born.

Website: www.seinvcap.com

Instagram: @amanimkelly

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanikelly/

Image Credits
I own the rights