Kieran Dotti is the owner of On The Dott Management. She is here to help other small business owners & entrepreneurs manage and run the day-to-day aspects of their businesses.
What were your initial years of growing up like? Tell us about your life before starting your professional journey/venture/initiative and what inspired you to choose this career.
I feel like I had a standard American 1980s/90s suburban childhood. I grew up in NJ, just outside of Philadelphia. I have a younger brother with whom I was playing dress up, building living room forts or fighting, depending on the moment, as siblings do. I was a performer in any and all situations. I did various forms of dance from the age of 3 until I was 18 – ballet, jazz, lyrical, tap, clogging, even baton twirling. Then in middle school and high school, I performed in plays and musicals, participated in many student clubs, JV and varsity tennis. I majored in Film in college, gained my first job at MTV, then rode my professional wave in film distribution and now business management. It has not been a straightforward path AT ALL. But I have learned many things along each step of the journey, many of which are what I DO NOT want in a career or a company. So, what has inspired me to be where I am today, is to create the kind of company and job thoughtfully & strategically I wish I’d always had; to work with like-hearted people working to make a difference in people’s lives.
Was there any turning point in your life that changed your journey? If so, what was it? Please tell us the backstory behind it.
I’d say there have been a few significant turning points in my journey, but probably the biggest one was deciding to move from New York to California a decade ago. I was let go 3 days into the New Year, which was fairly devastating news. After searching for a new job for a few months, some of the people that were offering to help were in Los Angeles and making it clear that I would have to already be there in order for them to help. (Meaning they couldn’t facilitate a job with me 3000 miles away) One day, I woke up and the first thought in my head was, “I am moving to Los Angeles.” I started making the plans, put in my notice to my landlord and that was it. The biggest thing I am proud of in that, isn’t that I was brave to uproot myself, but that I had a gut feeling and trusted it. I wound up meeting so many great people, and became really successful at the job I found, well after the move. It helped me solidify my trust in my intuition.
Tell us about your goals, interests, and role models.
Honestly, unlike most entrepreneurs I don’t have clearly defined goals, like I have to hit X amount of revenue by such and such a date. And up until super recently I have had a lack of role models who embody the kind of person I want to be. Many of my “role models” have been examples of who I don’t want to be. In my life, I feel like I am forging a new path among my friends and family. That’s hard. That’s also why I chose to be here, writing this for another lady who may also feel like a lone wolf as she forges an amazing new path. Today, I am lucky enough to work with some amazing clients who I am proud to look up to. They are kind, amazing, successful, millionaire women who have worked super hard to get where they are, but are also mothers, and wives and understand life isn’t all about work, it’s about the work enabling us to create the lives we want
Everyone has their own set of challenges when starting an entrepreneurial journey. Still, the most essential part for others to learn is how you deal with those. Would you like to share with us your challenges and your coping mechanisms?
One of my challenges has been prioritizing different clients’ needs. As an employee your work is always in service to one company or main set of complementary goals. But as a consultant, working with multiple people, it can be hard to prioritize client A’s needs over client B’s when they are equally as important in their respective businesses. Despite the concept of multitasking, it is extremely hard to actually do more than 1 thing at once. To overcome the stress when there’s many things to work on, I spend time during the beginning of the day evaluating the “must do ” items for each client. When I take the time to pause, I often come to realize the things that can wait, and the things that cannot. The PAUSE is the most important part here. It seems counterproductive to stop doing work when you have so many things on your plate, but that 15 -20 minutes can save so much chaotic thought and unnecessary anxiety throughout the day.
What impact do you feel you have been able to create with your work so far and how would you want to grow in the next few years?
So far, I have been able to create new revenue streams for my clients and launch new coaching programs. The launch of the coaching programs’ impact has yet to fully make itself known, as we can only hope each student will then grow and spread their knowledge to even more. Going forward I want to continue to have that ripple effect on society and in workplaces, which is why I want to align myself with other entrepreneurs who are seeking to improve the lives of others.
While the global pandemic of COVID-19 is associated primarily with adversities, it has also brought about a true boom in startups, with successful entrepreneurship in many countries. The pandemic has impacted all of us in one way or another. Would you like to share your experience on a personal and professional level?
I think the boom in these businesses has created the perfect environment for me to set my business up and thrive. There’s more work than ever — more entrepreneurs who are ready to expand, who need guidance as they level up their businesses, which is exactly where I enter. We all needed time to pause from the grind of life and then in that pause, many of us, myself included, found ourselves finally able to express our wants and needs for the future. When I was going, going, going all the time, I never got the moment to just say to myself “Is this really what I want?” When I did, the answer was no, and so I sought out a coach and began to take steps to move off that path and find a new one in better alignment with my values.
Your journey and your vision are very inspiring, but are there any achievements or accomplishments you would like to mention?
I could, of course, rattle off the list of systems I’ve been able to implement at previous jobs, or the increased revenue for a client, but those, to me at least, are just inevitable consequences to the hard work I put in. I can and will achieve them again and again. But what I am most proud of today is that I have stepped away from the “conventional” way of doing things. That I am forging my own path and actively seeking to surround myself with people who are doing the same thing so that we can uplift each other.
Would you like to share with our young budding women entrepreneurs the change you would like to see in the world if given an opportunity?
I once heard somewhere that it’s highly unlikely most of us will ever affect the entire world, but we can change 1 person’s world at a time. I want to uplift more women, more people in underserved communities, and if I look at that as trying to do it for millions of people, well that’s daunting and feels impossible. But I know I can help 1 client, friend or family member at a time. That feels super doable. And, if each of them does the same, well now the ripple I started has expanded and who knows how far it will go? If we all just did that from the place of kindness and compassion, imagine what the world would look like.
What’s the most important thing you have learned in your personal life and professional journey? What is your personal motto in life?
Don’t miss out on something because you’re afraid. Anytime I’ve encountered a situation where I am fearful, I do my best to plan for it. That way should the worst happen, I know how I’m going to handle it. With work, that means always having a plan B and C. And with life, well, it means do your best to roll with the punches because sometimes life really does have a completely different plan for you than you do!
Women are a growing force in the workplaces worldwide, standing shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts. There are cracks in glass ceilings everywhere, with many women breaking through to carve out a space right at the top of the pyramid. What are your thoughts about women’s leadership today?
I’m super excited that more and more women can be leaders today. It’s so encouraging, despite still having a long way to go. Progress is progress! Feminine leadership brings compassion to business alongside the fierceness of a mama bear, among many other things, and I’m excited to be a part of it and see how it changes the world.
With your grit and determination, you are making a considerable impact, breaking through, and serving as role models for many budding entrepreneurs. What would you want to say to our young women leaders/audience reading this?
Be ready for the unexpected. This helps you be more prepared with a myriad of solutions, but also prepares you to embrace change. Change and the unexpected are inevitable in life. We may plan to be mothers, teachers, entrepreneurs etc. but life may have a very different idea. I worked for 7 years building out content for streaming services like Netflix, but when I was in college I certainly wasn’t dreaming or planning that. “Streaming TV” didn’t even exist yet. Netflix was barely a DVD rental company. How could a 10-year-old me ever dream of working remotely as an online business manager when I didn’t even know what internet and “online” even meant? And yet, those things have happened to me! So, you never know! Keep yourself open to all the possibilities, even the ones that don’t exist yet.
