Another (Business) Trip Around the Sun

This month we celebrate our business anniversary: with a moving pop-up in the Hamptons, one of our only big sales of the year, and Christmas in July, I’ve had less time to reflect on the journey than I normally try to take. Once I’m home from New York, I plan to take my normal day to create, look backward and forward, and remember why I got started, one of my most treasured traditions. And of course, make my annual cake…Still, a few themes have strongly swirled around me this month as we celebrate another (business) trip around the sun.

Stick-to-itiveness, despite being a silly word, couldn’t be a more serious concept. I could probably just stop here with “don’t stop.” It’s that simple (and some days), that nearly impossible. Things take so much longer than any of us think they do. And all of my friends in the industry echo the same thing. That instead of the ten-ish years it appears we’ve all been doing this, that in some version or at least in our heads, it’s been give or take our entire lives.

People, people, people. This one grows for me with age as someone who often prefers to be alone and is far more introverted than “eponymous founder” may let on. Our team, our investors, our followers, our partners, our customers. As a team, we’ve been talking more about you than ever and don’t plan to ever stop. The very reason for emails like this and all of KK Daily is a deep commitment to create value for you that goes far beyond a transaction.

I could go on and on but will end with beauty. More specifically, creating beauty. That’s why I got started and why I haven’t stopped. On my way to a café to write this, I stopped by an art gallery in East Hampton. Nearly every piece caused me to shake my head in admirable disbelief. I always wonder how the artist got started, why they chose that medium, and why they most likely spent the majority of their life barely making ends meet to continue doing so. And I’m learning it’s usually not that complicated. It is the very act of creating it, not the end result, that is the why.

I inquired about a few pieces and the gallerist explained they had all been purchased already by a collector who then donates them to museums. A different, but just as powerful form, of creating beauty.Thank you for another year of allowing us to create our version. It would be impossible without you.