In this concise interview, Professor Pete Alexander hosts Ken Robbins, the CEO and founder of Response Mind Health, a 90‑person digital marketing agency based in Atlanta. Ken explains his enthusiasm for internet marketing, emphasizing its measurability, dynamism, and the youthful energy of his team (average age 26). He describes his view of work‑life integration as a seamless blend, noting his early mornings, remote calls, and a planned mid‑week mountain getaway as evidence that passion eliminates the need for a strict balance. Ken recommends fellow industry leader Harry Joyner, founder of ecommercerecruiter.com, as a valuable guest. His core leadership advice centers on radical transparency: leaders should disclose financials, mistakes, and budget overruns to employees, partners, and customers to build trust and reduce anxiety. Ken recounts his first job as a teenage cashier at Kroger in Charlotte, highlighting early exposure to money handling and customer service. The episode concludes with Ken’s contact information—ResponseMindHealth.com, a phone line (404‑475‑0777), and his “Good Fat ROI” blog focused on health‑brand direct‑to‑consumer marketing.
Chapters
This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes or less because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, tell me who you are and what you do.
My name is Ken Robbins. I'm the CEO and founder of Response Mind Health. A digital marketing agency that works with enterprise clients and got about 90 employees based out of Atlanta.
Ken, great to have you on the show. Question number 2: What's the best thing about working in your industry?
Man, I love internet marketing, digital marketing. I love it because it's measurable, it's dynamic. Obviously, I'm, I'm 56, but the average age of my company, 90 people, is 26. It's just exciting. I get up every morning at 3:45 and I'm in the office by 6:00.
That's awesome. Excuse me. Question number 3: I hear from other business leaders that staying in a good work-life balance for them and their team members is a challenge. What are your thoughts?
I don't, I don't see it that way. They all meld together. I'm sitting at home now. I was at the office 50 miles away this morning. For several meetings. I stopped halfway home and took a conference call, a 10-minute conference call. And when I got home, I spent 45 minutes on the phone with my partners. And now here I am with you. But tomorrow I'm taking off with my wife and we're going to the mountains for 3 days in the middle of the week. So I don't, I don't see it as a challenge. I just don't. I think, you know, when you love what you do, when you enjoy what you do, it all works out in the balance.
That's awesome. I'm glad to hear that. It's the balance. You've figured out the equation, sounds like.
Well, I think so.
So question number 4: What other successful business leaders like yourself should be on my podcast?
Oh, I can think of several. One in particular, there's this amazing recruiter, and he does executive recruiting in the marketing and especially in the retail industry, a fellow named Harry Joyner, and he runs a website called ecommercerecruiter.com. I— if I spent every day writing 3,000-word technical blogs about marketing every day for 10 years, I wouldn't have as much content on my site as he does. He's got tens of thousands of LinkedIn followers, and he's just a wellspring of everything related to strategy, the industry, and and he's recruited for probably more than half of the top 500 retailers in the US.
Wow, that sounds like definitely somebody that should be on my show. I'll reach out to him. Thank you for that.
Yeah, Harry Joyner, good guy.
Question number 5: What insight or advice would you give to other business leaders?
Um, let's— I tell you what, The, the— I, I think that, um, many of my friends are business owners, and, um, whether it's a large corporation or it's a private business with only 10 employees, what I find is that the more a leader rises up, frequently they get— they fall into a trap of being less disclosive. It's very risky to talk about the financials of the company every quarter in a private company, or to reveal the profit margins, or discuss a client that's been lost.
Do—
my advice would be do the exact opposite of what's comfortable. Keep your employees in the loop. Tell the truth. Be disclosive. The thing that builds trust is being self-disclosive. I screwed this up. I made a mistake. We've got a problem with this client. And, you know, the fear is already there the less information you give. And I find that sharing more information, even with clients, Hey, I just wanna let you know, we overspent this campaign by $10,000. How would you like for me to handle it? If you'd like for me to eat it, I'll be happy to. Uh, if you want to rejigger the budget, they'll work with you because, um, people understand that humans make mistakes and troubles arise. I would say erring on the side of disclosure with your partners, your peers, your employees, and your customers, um, is not necessarily a natural thing to do. But it's incredibly relieving to them, and you can sleep better at night.
And it's interesting, I would think that that makes not only the customers feel like you're more authentic, but also your employees, if they know that it's okay to come and tell you that they messed up somehow or made a mistake, that they're not going to get reprimanded for it.
It is, it is, and there's a difference between a mistake born of complete negligence or a lack of effort and an honest mistake just because you either didn't know or you were taking a risk. And there's no advancement without risk. You must take risks. And that, you know, it's a failure— our life is a failure-driven system. A kid who falls down when they're learning to walk doesn't say, I'm not going to do that again, that hurts. They persevere through.
That's a great metaphor for that whole situation. And question number 6: Tell me about your first job.
My first job was cashiering at Kroger in Charlotte, North Carolina. I was 15 years old when I got the job, and it was fantastic. I only had it for 6 or 7 months, but handling money, handling customers, dealing with bosses and the company structure was It was great. It was a good after-school job. I made a little money. And I think I calculated now at 56 that I've had 17 different jobs. But none of them are as rewarding as, you know, having 3 children, a couple of girls in college, etc. But Kroger as a cashier was my first job.
Thank you, Ken. How could people find you?
Well, you can find me at ResponseMindHealth.com. You can call me personally at our office at 404-475-0777. And I also have a blog that I run called Good Fat ROI. So it's all about marketing health brands and direct marketing health brands and going direct to consumer. There's 3 good places to find me.
Excellent. Well, thank you again for being on the show. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. For more insights and ideas, please go to LinkedIn.com and search for Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
