Ken Henderson

“Every day is an opportunity for growth.”

Ken Henderson is a Financial Advisor with the K&H Group at Merrill Lynch. He is also a 5Linx Business Owner and National Expansion Leader, a family man, an ordained Deacon and Community of Faith leader, a mentor, a coach and a talented musician. We met through a community initiative we are mutually involved in. I was immediately impressed by his clear passion for pursuing his ambitions and improving other’s lives. Here are his valuable thoughts on personal success. - Ben DeGeorge

BIW: How do you balance everything? A lot of people struggle with being so active and limiting stress. How do you stay stable with so many things on your plate?

It isn’t easy, but it’s absolutely worth the struggle and it is somewhat of a moving target, meaning you have to constantly adjust your approach. I don’t like the word time management, because you can’t manage time, but you can manage yourself within that time. Everyone has the same amount of time, 24 hours in a day. I like to compartmentalize each hour, thinking of a day as the train of success. Each hour is a box car on the train of success. Whatever you fill the hour (the box car) with will determine your level of success and what kind of positive impact you can make. We have an opportunity to pickup a payload that will either benefit us or weigh us down. We also have a choice every day to unload the negative or even permanently disconnect from a troubled boxcar. We can always find an hour that more than makes up for the one lost. Every day is an opportunity for growth.

BIW: What are your ultimate dreams?

My goal is to leave a legacy for my family. I can envision my children and my children’s children looking at a picture of me on a wall and saying; that was the guy who made a difference in not only our lives but countless others, modeling the formula of success, not by the size of his bank account but by the size of his heart. He stepped outside of his comfort zone and traveled the road less traveled and we are indeed wealthy from his example. That is a very positive way to think; it’s all about what size ripple you make in the ocean of life.

Ken and His Daughter

BIW: What is your advice to surviving in this economy?

One part of me wants to talk about what I do now. I have learned so much recently as an investor and financial advisor but also could speak about my time in free enterprise (at 5linx and another direct marketing business I owned prior to 5linx.) My advice is to diversify your income with multiple income streams and be your own boss. However, there is somewhat of a dichotomy there. If people have that entrepreneurial spirit, then I suggest identifying an income-generating vehicle timed and positioned in front of a major wealth trend, taking action by getting started and then never quitting or letting anyone steal your dream! If that’s not your cup of tea, there is nothing wrong with working for someone else as long as you are truly passionate about what you do on the job. You certainly need to have a continual income stream to survive the valleys of business cycle contractions such as our current recession.

It is important to ask yourself; “Where was I five years ago, where am I now and where will I be five years from now if I continue to do what I’m doing now? Will I be better off financially five years from now than I am now?” If I continue to do what I’m doing, should I expect a different result?

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 80% of people making $50 thousand or more every year own their own business. Tax laws are created to help business owners. This country was founded on the principles of business ownership which taps into the 157 tax deductions for the qualified business owner. W2 wage earners only have three tax deductions. There are only so many donations you can make to Goodwill once your kids are grown and the house is paid off.

I encourage people to find a business opportunity to tap into those 157 tax deductions. The more you keep, the wealthier you are, and that is what the wealthy people of this country understand.

BIW: What do you do in your free time?

I spend a lot of time with my family, sharing life with them. My rest time is my connect time with my family. The best thing is when all family members are headed in the same direction in life. When there is disunity and everyone is going in a different direction, focus is split and it is very tough on everyone and it tends to decimate results.

Ken and His Wife, Daisy

I also love indoor and outdoor gardening and landscaping. I have a rubber plant in my home that is about twelve feet tall. When we first moved in 10 years ago, it was only four feet tall. I’ve watched it grow and stretch far beyond what ever I thought possible. I’ve learned so much by observing life and people. We can learn so much from nature, from the things we can easily take for granted every day.

It’s interesting to talk to farmers. They depend on so many things outside of their control; sunlight, good weather, growth of a healthy and profitable crop, yet they have patience and faith that the laws of nature will combine to produce their desired results. They understand the principles of life, faith, hope and perseverance.

To relax, I enjoy reading, riding my cruiser motorcycle, and of course, music. I play the piano with classical and jazz as my favorite genres. My father is Eddie Henderson, the legendary jazz trumpeter and former member of the Herbie Hancock sextet. He has always been and still is my hero in life. He is absolutely living his dream. He was also the first African American figure skater for the Ice Foleys. For more information about him, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Henderson_(musician)

Ken's Father, Eddie Henderson

Although my formal instruction in music and piano began when I was the age of 6 in San Francisco, I continued formal study of piano at Hochstein School of Music in Rochester, won a preparatory department scholarship to the Eastman school and earned the Howard Hanson Certificate of Merit for outstanding piano performance. I performed a selection from my repertoire at Nazareth Arts College.

After high school, I went on to study Mechanical Engineering at Syracuse University where I earned a Bachelor of Science and later a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering at the University of Rochester. I was hired by Xerox in 1984. For the first 7 year at Xerox, I was the keyboardist for a local band in Rochester, called Fusion. From there, I have played for my own personal enjoyment and as the pianist for a number of Baptist churches in Rochester.

BIW: If you could give any word of advice to all of the people in Western NY, what would it be?

Keep the attitude high. Attitude is everything to success, it determines your altitude. Attitude is a choice. Your choices you make right now impact what happens to you tomorrow. This is something that is completely controllable. Where you are in life depends, in large part, upon the program that runs inside you. That program [inside of you] is created by you, by the things you say, the things you do, the things you think and the people with whom you associate on a daily basis.

Protect your ear gate and mouth gate. Don’t let things in your ear that you shouldn’t, don’t let things out of your mouth that you shouldn’t. We all have the ability to be great. Protecting those gates can positively impact your programming and ultimately determine your level of greatness.

It is also important to understand that sometimes we need an attitude adjustment and that we can make that happen daily by the choices we make in improving our programming. Thinking, reading, planning, associating, speaking, and most importantly, doing are all necessary ingredients to programming ourselves for success.


Ken can be contacted at kch@ascenttelecommunications.com