← Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights
Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights
Ken Miller’s Journey from Ivy League Standout to Addict and Homeless to Startup Success
00:26:12
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- [00:00]
A
Foreign.
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B
Miller, welcome to the liftoff with yours truly.
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A
Well, thank you, Keith. It's just a pleasure and an honor to be on your show.
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B
Well, I, I tell you, the second I, I caught wind of this opportunity, I wanted to grab it. You have had an inspirational journey and, and while this program is called Liftoff, this episode might, might be called check yourself before you wreck yourself.
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A
I like that. Let's work with that one.
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B
I like that it's really been an incredible journey for you and it's captured in your new book, becoming Ken, which I love the, the photo right there, as well as the QR code. And a great read. And it goes well beyond the typical topics of this podcast about where we talk about founder led growth and tech led growth and development and, and we touch a little bit on those topics here, of course. But I thought it's such a pleasure to have somebody with a different perspective. I wanted to weigh into that. You had a fantastic story and I'll let you just give us a little bit of backstory, if you don't mind.
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A
Sure. Born in 1962, makes me 62 years old today. Today. But this year, oh good. My mother was a, a teenage runaway white prostitute. And my father was the pimp and drug dealer in New York or one of the. And I was put up for adoption at birth. I did six years in foster homes. I was adopted by Irene Sam Miller. And then I went from New York to Anchorage, Alaska. So I grew up in Alaska. A lot of people know me as Ken from Alaska.
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B
Wow.
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And I was precocious as a child. I was a National Merit Scholar, graduated High School 17, accepted to Harvard, went to Dartmouth College, got an Ivy League degree. But I always took people. I majored in fraternity and I minored in drinking. And so when I got out, my first gift as a new college graduate was my first treatment center. And I stayed sober for a few years, went into the corporate world. So I've always had a corporate background since 1984. And within three years I had relapsed and was to spend the next 20 years pretty much homeless on the streets of Seattle, Reno, Sacramento and Jackson, Mississippi. I'm also a three time convicted felon. I've spent many years behind bars for my crimes. And in 2007, I was released from the penitentiary for what I believe the last time. I had no marketable skills and I became what we call a development director in the fundraising world. And then in 2014, I put out my own shingle as a coach, consultant, and individual that helped organizations Non profits in the area of fundraising. Since then, I've founded four more companies. So I have five companies that I own. I've been quite successful. And so I wrote the book, was published on May 19, 2025, to share a little of that journey, a little of that story, but it also, it really resonates with business owners. There's aspects of the book that I talk about at each chapter of Lessons Learned, because you still learn lessons on the streets, in the penitentiary, and of course, in the corporate world. And I've learned lessons that I do share about.
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B
I. I feel like I really undersold by saying it was an inspirational story, like, almost underselling the drama that you've seen in your young life. I mean, that's a lot there, Ken. So what happened? I mean, we don't have to relive because we only have so much time. But that pivot point, the Pivot Point.
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A
Was September 22, 2004, when I woke up in a closet. And my sole possessions I own were a pair of shorts, no underwear, pair of shoes, no socks, a T shirt. And that was it. That was my sole possessions I owned in the world. And I was arrested for selling a $10 rock of crack cocaine. And I was sentenced to six years in the penitentiary for that. And I was guaranteed my next felony. I would get 25 to life. And about a month into my jail sentences, I'm getting ready to be sent to the penitentiary. I had a conversation with God and I listened and I pretty much followed his heat ever since. That was my pivot moment, was actually lying on that bunk and having a conversation with God. But the physical pivot moment was the day I was arrested. The day I was arrested. I just want to tell this real quick one I'm waiting for, literally what we call the paddy wagon, waiting with other individuals that have been swept up off the streets. And I had tears running down my eyes. Tears. And the cop was worried, like, why are you crying? Why are you crying? And I told him, I'm crying because I'm going to live. I can do prison. I've done it twice before. But I can't do the streets. I can't do me on being free out on the streets. I will die. And so it was tears of joy. Tears of joy because I was arrested and I knew I was looking at years in the penitentiary. That's.
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B
That is heartbreaking. My goodness.
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And now.
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We, we. I could joke and like, okay, so Dartmouth was not the best choice for you, but no, seriously, Ivy League education did that set you down the wrong path? Expectations or pressure or any of that stuff? Or was it something other that, that another switch that kind of went off?
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A
No, none of those. I'm a big believer in that. It is not about antecedents that I'm an alcoholic and a drug addict. I'm a big believer. Yeah, I got beat when I was a kid. Yeah, I had trauma from my childhood. Yes, I was a foster child for six years. But that's not why I became an alcoholic. I became an alcoholic because physiologically I have a reaction to alcohol. I had my first drink October of October of 1980. I was a full blown alcoholic by December of 1980, within two months of my first drink.
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B
I got you.
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A
Okay, so it wasn't the antecedents. Yeah, it wasn't darkness any way, shape or form. Now it made it a lot easier that I can imbibe quite a bit of alcohol at that time because of the fraternity scene. But we all went to the fraternities. That's our social.
- [06:51]
B
You accomplished so much at a young age and you were on such a different trajectory. And then to see that trajectory factory completely disintegrate, disentangle and follow that new one. And then the amazing part is that you're able to recover from that low and come back around. That's the hardest thing. That's so, so much more impressive to me than the success you had, you know, get into Harvard and getting those grades and accomplishing that task. Amazed. Nobody makes that recovery like that. Not nobody.
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But rare.
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Way too often rare.
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It is very rare. Very rare to the level that I was. Very rare.
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Addiction and homelessness.
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Yeah, I mean I was, I was.
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Together far too often. You rarely hear about people leaving that scenario and becoming business owners and business leaders.
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Yeah, millionaires, all that. Yeah, that's me. But the way I got there, again, it is rare. Rarely have we seen a person fail, you know, who's thoroughly follow a path. I'm in the anonymous programs and I understand that. But there are different levels of addiction and, or alcoholism, let's just call it addiction. And individuals that reach a certain level, they're. They're only this far away from being a responsible member of society. When I got out of the penitentiary, I had 20 years behind me of this life. And so I didn't have skill sets that were, that were going to be good in the corporate world or in the business world. And I also had what I call self talk. I had dialogues internal that I dealt with the world to protect me. And I had to deal with those. There was a lot, there was a, there was still a journey from the day I stopped using. So I'm getting ready to celebrate 21 years on September 23rd. But from the day that just took out the alcohol and the drugs. But how do I become emotionally mature? How do I become intellectually, you know, mature? How do I become spiritually mature? Those are all items I had to work and I started working them in the penitentiary and then I continued to work on them and, but I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm in a position now. I'm really, really cool where I am. I'm not working on Ken today. I'll be honest with you. I'm not. What I'm doing is more giving it to others. That's what I.
- [09:26]
B
Let's, and let's talk about that, Ken.
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A
Okay, sure.
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B
You're so modest. Here's the thing. You're a mentor and you bring with you such a powerful toolkit of a combination of experience and knowledge. What's your, what's your process in terms of your mentorship? Young leaders.
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Okay, so I have a very explicit process. I've been doing it for 15 years. I've worked with probably 50. First of all, mentoring is free. Just want to make sure people understand the difference between mentoring and coaching. Coaching is an, is an engagement, usually a fee based engagement. I coach also in fundraising and other things. But so I mentor, I predominantly mentor. Well, first, I only mentor men and I predominantly mentor young black men because I know that need in that community. But I have a very, very specific way I go about it. So the way I go about it very simply is in the first meeting, I sit down with the individual because individuals come to me from different avenues. People recommend them to me, family members, hey, would you speak to my nephew, know my son, da da da. But I, first thing I say is, you know, I introduce myself and I say, my one purpose in mentoring you is to engender dreams. What is your dream? And then I shut up. And, and also I usually, depending if they take a little time to answer that question, I'd say this. I give you permission to dream because many people have taken away permission to dream. Family members, parents, teachers. And so anyway, I do that and then once that happens, we go through the process and that's, I'm going to give you information, I'm going to introduce you to people and I'm going to support you emotionally. That's what I do. And it's open ended. I've been mentoring the same, Same gentleman for 14, 15 years. We meet quarterly for one hour. My time is valuable. If I was to put a dollar amount, you would understand. But it's, it's valuable. But I give of the ten gentlemen that I mentor today, at one point I was doing 28 men, but I had to pare it down to 10 because I had a new company I was starting. Yeah.
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B
And that's wild. So now as you, as you reach into their souls and open their minds, what's next? It's open. You've. You've unlocked them. Now what. What else do you help foster?
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So there's a couple components of that. So one of the things that I tell them, I'm going to engender dreams. I'm going to do my best to help your dreams come true. So let's talk about the dream, the aspiration, the goal. We do that. Then I tell them. I tell them, right. I'm very, very transparent because I tell them this. I don't want anything from you. Yeah, there's no monetary. All I want is for your success. Then the other thing that I say is, in time, I will build trust with you because I, I have experience in doing this. I will build trust and whatever you're comfortable sharing now, will share. And then in time, it'll, It'll grow. Then my thing is we do. You know, so when I meet with them. This is so funny. I meet with them. We first start the meeting off. Every single time I meet with my mentors and they'll start talking. I said, you know how we start? And they're like, oh, yeah, tell me about a win. That's what they'll say I like. And that's what you. We start with a win.
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B
Nice.
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Because many times they're coming to me with a concern or a challenge.
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Problem.
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Yeah, a problem. Right. And then we talk about that. So we. And I'm a big one on definitions, whether I'm coaching or mentoring. Let's talk about definitely, let's define that word. What is pain? What is courage? What is integrity? What is. And we talk about that because we need to get that fundamental. What is a problem? That's one of the key ones. Every man I've ever worked with, we talk about what is a problem. And I first. And I'm always challenging them. I'm Socratic. I'm always challenge them. Sentence completion. Socratic antithesis. I'm always trying to get them to think because I think it's the greatest. One of the greatest gifts we have is our Ability to think. And what I say to them, a problem, very simply, is a set of circumstances that seeks a solution. That's all a problem is. So let's talk about the set of circumstances and what solution are we seeking? Because I tell them two plus two is not a problem. That is a statement. Two plus two equals. Is a problem because it's seeking. The solution equals solution. And we go through that talk about fear, and I spent a lot of time talking about pain. That's probably spend more time talking about pain, discomfort, setbacks than anything else. Because in my estimation, that is what is going to make or break you, other than your spiritual as a person, is how do you deal with discomfort and pain and fear? Because they're all connected.
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B
Right. Is the idea toward helping them find a career path or just becoming, you know, better souls?
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Oh, 100 better people. Yeah, 100. But in the beginning, many of them come to me about doing better in fundraising. But when the trust is built, we're now talking about marriage, we're now talking about relationships with family. We are now talking about, most importantly, relationships with self. Okay, what's your self talk? I do a lot of that. What are you saying to yourself right now? Did you have this situation? What did you say to yourself? Did you talk to yourself? Yeah, I'm not worthy.
- [15:30]
B
I'm saying I got to do more mentoring. Ken. I worked it. I worked at a couple places where I signed up as a mentor and continue to, but I, I have nowhere near the bandwidth you do. That's a. That's very impressive and I compliment you and thank you for all that great work. How are you. How are you adjusting in society from the standpoint of all the technology that's going around with what, you know, is. Is probably improperly called soft skills. But now we're talking about AI and, oh, man, all the things going on with software and, you know, the, The. The tools that are available today, both for the, The. The sort of tools like I use headspace as an example. Right. Calm as an example. Those are tools that help us adjust. I don't know if that fits itself in your practice or there's some other things that work within, you know, the process that you go through. Are there, Are there workflows, workbooks that you use and follow?
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A
Okay, that was a rambling question. So I love. I. First of all, if you, if you talk to me a year ago, I would tell you I have no time or inclination to look at AI, period. I now own a company that does AI. Own the company wow.
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Yeah.
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Okay. I know AI very well and I so believe in it and love it and let me tell you why.
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Yeah.
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AI did not care that I'm a three time ex fellow. AI does not care that I'm 62. AI does not care that I'm African American. Doesn't care. Love it still gives me the same answers and it can, if you so choose, can even the field. AI doesn't care. I went to Dartmouth, doesn't care. I was a National Merit scholar.
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You can still get the same if.
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You know how to query and prompt from an LLM a large language while you can still get the query.
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Yep.
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So anyway, I understand it, I love it, I teach it, I work with it. I have people on staff that, you know, do automations. I have a whole company that works in AI and is awesome. I just, I could talk about that. I do, I speak from the stage about AI. So I'm a big believer in that there are other, you know, tools. I'm always looking at different tools. But one of the key components, and this is to the business owners, is that there's so much out there that you have to be judicious and have to have discernment as to which tools to use. Yeah, I'd rather you be good with 80%, 90% knowledge of ChatGPT than to have 20% of growth. You know, Claude, Gemini and Chat GPT. You need to learn how to use one of them. Well, I don't care if you use Gemini, I don't care if you use Groke, I don't care if you use Claude. I'm just talking about the LLMs, let alone AI image. You know, you can use Pica, you can use mid journey, let alone you can use make.comn8n if you're doing automations. I could talk about this for a while, but the key thing is get good or hire someone, you know, that's good in depth within the AI ecos ecosystem.
- [19:14]
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Yeah, I may need your help there too. So, Ken, when you deal with some of these young men and they're facing challenges like they're going through it, they're in the middle of it maybe. Right. I mean, it's hard to find a win, you know, it's hard to find, you know, something to hold on to, how do you, how do you, how do you start that conversation?
- [19:39]
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The first thing is let's define the problem. Okay. That's one of the first things I want to do. Number two, if I'm in time, I teach gap control. I Teach this. What is gap control? Gap control is the input through our senses and, and the space before we either react or act. And what we're trying to get away from is the react. Okay, so on the streets or in the penitentiary, I had very, I had very little gap control. I'd have input. You'd say something or look at me in a certain way or step on my shoes. And I reacted in a way that was inimical to my well being, let alone the other individual that it's affecting. We can do the same thing in the corporate world. Believing all the lessons I've learned on the streets, I've taken into the corporate world. So one of the first things is I want to identify. The other thing is I want to do is empathize. And what I mean by empathize, I'm not saying I agree with what you did because you did react. What I'm doing is, is I see you and I acknowledge you and I acknowledge your humanness and we speak to that. A lot of times if it's a big concern, I just sit back and listen. There's sometimes I don't have an answer. But at least you know that one black man is listening to you and is concerned about you and is willing to take his time, his capacity to hear. Then Almost always though, 99% of the time, let's say 95% of I'll have a solution, I'll have a solution. And many times all we're looking for is confirmation bias. We're looking for confirmation, right? Because you have a. You have five different avenues you can go down and you don't know which one. But because I have your best interest at heart, I. Your best interest, really, your best interests are God's best interest. So I'm always thinking about the surrounding community, your family, your wife, whatever. When you're making this decision anyway, I, I could go on again more but that's what I do. And then I'm always, and I always use the thing. This is my suggestion.
- [21:57]
B
I tell you what, if people aren't signed up for this book right now, I'm shocked. You got great stories. What has you excited? You know, looking out the next 12 months besides a great birthday, a great celebration of some goals that you've achieved, which I compliment you on again, what has you excited about your several businesses on the fundraising side, the non profit side, the AI world.
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A
What has me excited is, is I have some upcoming speaking engagements. That's one of the reasons why I wrote the book, was to speak more yeah, just like my calling card. That's number one. Number two, I have growing my AI company called Evolution, and what I do have is offshore virtual assistants that are literally trained in AI and how to use AI platforms. So I'm growing that and it's growing the other one. I have a new book coming out with Dr. Will Moreland that is going to be on respect. Literally the word respect.
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B
Nice.
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And that one's coming out. Then I have another book on fundraising that's coming out. Yep. This. This year. So I'm really looking forward to that. So I have two books.
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B
Catching up on some Lost time. Man, that is some prolific effort.
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That's just part of it.
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My first book.
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That's just this part. And. And again, I have a lot of travel coming up. Yeah. I have property in Ecuador, so I'm looking forward to going down to the. To the ocean and spending some time with my lovely wife and going down there and we'll do that. And anyway, just. I have a lot. I. I keep busy. And then the other one is just growing, is watching my mentors grow. So one of the new things that I'm doing, just a little bit about me, is almost all the time I speak on fundraising, I'm grabbing one of my mentees to speak with me.
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B
I love that.
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And to. And so I can showcase them. Yeah, I can put them, because they probably couldn't get on the stage by themselves, but they can.
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I'm going to make sure I share this with a few special people that I know in the community that appreciate it. Yeah. No, no, no, my pleasure. This is great. I got to wrap this up, but any other messages that you want to share? I know we covered a lot wide, but we didn't get into much depth. But that's. That's what the book is for. That's what deeper conversations are all about. I don't have time to. You know. You don't. You don't have time. But any other last thoughts you want to share?
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A
Yeah, the last thoughts I'd like to share. And that's a great question. I wouldn't. I just want people to believe in themselves. Just if you can come away with anything, you've seen where I've been, where I am today, and I like me, I love me. I'm good people. I know that. I'm a kind and gentle man. I know that I've proven that over the last 20 years. And the other thing is, if for any reason you want to reach out to me. KenMiller84 is my LinkedIn the website's right up there KenMiller speaks.com leave a message and I get back I only have one phone number. I've had it for 20 years. I get back to people I'm not afraid of any human being and that's a beautiful place to be. I have no fear. I have no resentment toward any living or dead human being and I've just my blessings are so manifold that I just want to give it back. So if something that's interest you in this conversation and again Keith, thank you, thank you for allowing me to be on your platform.
- [25:44]
B
We go through life in such a fast paced you know rush, you know, hurry threaten that it's great to have these conversations they help ground us and maybe recenter maybe refocus who knows Again it's moving fast spinning on its axis as it does but I know for one thing I sure appreciate the time. I really enjoyed the conversation.
- [26:06]
A
Thank you.
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B
Thank you and best of luck.