How She Built a Million-Dollar Empire Selling Giant Scissors

and I don't know what's wrong with me, but if I'm not doing that, I'm not happy. But yet, I reach a point where I want to help other people become motivated and excited about achieving success as well. Like, the joy is the journey, and if you're not

enjoying the journey, then what's the point of doing it? - Kimberly Bait is an innovative, resilient, and visionary entrepreneur and the founder of Golden openings. Known for building a global ceremonial products company

from the ground up. She now helps entrepreneurs grow through cutting edge success. - I'm the type that will jump off a cliff, take the risk, and figure it out on the way down. But if you don't do that, you're not gonna make anything happen.

That is my why. That is why I live, that is why I get up in the morning.

“That's all, hopefully that's what you want to hear,”

and that's what I live, I live and breathe and dream for it. That's what makes me happy. Money is good, and it's fun in the end, but that's not what motivates me. (dramatic music)

- It spans the goal, like a super high school, internet elders, ready, high school. Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone. - It's not over, I'm telling how we're... - The living your legacy podcast,

for those who live, to leave a legacy. (crowd cheering) (crowd cheering) - Nobody's sensational to open. (crowd cheering)

- She covered with the latest and Paul is about just not on the planet. - You can live your dream. - Welcome to another episode of "Living Your Legacy Podcast," for Insight's Access, I am Riga Tears.

Joining me today is another maker of "Legacies." I have our card here. She is the president of "Cutting Edge Success," Kimberly Bait. Kimberly, how are you?

- Great, thanks, I'm happy to be here, and it's an honor and a privilege

“to be a proud of your series in your show,”

and your podcasts, out of all those celebrities and famous people. Just an honor to be one of them that I can share my story and hopefully inspire others to go on and do the same great things

and help the world make a difference. - Kimberly, your story is quite unique,

'cause you literally, let's talk about the first company you sold.

You folks like to inaugurate open things and they do a big deal. You've got gender reveals on your right, and they've got ribbon cutting ceremonies on your left. You, my love, are literally the giant scissors

to said ribbon cutting ceremonies. If there wasn't any product market fit better than this, I don't know what is. Talk about this journey, Kim. - That's correct, so ribbon cuttings existed.

I can't take the credit for invencing ribbon cuttings, so you are right, I'm not that good, but there were no props. There was no magic. There was nothing behind the scenes to make it happen,

and I worked at the North Hennephan Chamber of Commerce out of college.

“I thought I wanted to be a radio or a broadcast TV anchor.”

And my journalism teacher told me I was much too animated, much too pretty, much too, charismatic and creative to do that,

plus he said you'll never make any money.

So I went home crying that night and said, "Okay, my hopes and dreams are squashed. What am I going to do with the rest of my life?" So I looked at her now. And I said, "Okay, fine."

And then I'm going to take a job at the Chamber of Commerce, and luckily it was fun. I always like to be in the know of what's going on in the city and what's going on, but not quite like the political stuff,

not elected positions, but it was perfect. And so they would send me off to ribbon cuttings with my desk scissors, all rusty and gross, a little hairbow ribbon, no wider than this, and say, "Oh, make magic happen."

Well, sometimes nobody came, sometimes there was no food, and I'd be like, "This is awful. I'm responsible for this." And then I was supposed to ask them to join the Chamber 'cause I was the membership director.

I'm like, "Oh my God, so embarrassed." So I asked my dad to construct a three-foot pair of scissors with razor blades that met, and they were the talk of the town. And I was in Minneapolis at the time,

and General Mills wanted to pair with all their logos on them with their cereal. Three-in-one to pair. Target wanted a red and white pair. And my dad owns a construction company

and at the time he's like, "I can't keep making these." He's like, "I love you." But Kimberly, you're killing me. And they were dangerous. I said, "I'm probably going to be sued

by the time I'm 26 years old." Like his mayor would cut and then they would slide their hand on the blade and I'm like, "Oh my God." Then I got it stopped this too. So literally I gave my two-week notice,

joined the chamber and said, "This could be a business 'cause businesses were popping up then." And there was no internet. There was no way to research, but I couldn't find anyone, even fiscours,

the orange-handled scissor company said, "No, we don't have any big scissors." Or if they did, they were one-ups.

So I patent and trademarked their first big scissors.

Told my husband I was starting a business.

or you're going back to work.

I'm like, "Okay." Wow, I love how the house was like, "All right, yeah, okay, dear." (laughing) Oh, I don't know, let's go.

You know, a funny story. Many mangle seasons ago, I used to live in Austin, Texas, and my clients at the time were, was the art institute. Okay. And they opened a campus at Bastron.

Absolutely. And at the time, they were just using regular scissors. Oh, I sure. And the orange-handled clippers, I've seen garden clippers out there. So still like that.

That hurts my heart. I'm pretty sure, even though they were not a business, unfortunately. All right, because they did not with the drill. (laughing) Because they didn't have light scissors. I shit you not.

I'm in the photo looking at this. And I'm like, "You know what we really need? "Is there someone out there that I am not massing with you?" And then the fact when your email started coming in and I'm like, "You're fucking kidding me."

You're my man. I'm like, "I'm like, "I'm like, yeah, we probably are." And here you are, like, you know what? We need an amendment to the scissors. Absolutely.

The hell has no one before you just did the thing. Like, it wasn't Batman Returns when the penguins,

“there was a scene where our little joint here there, you know?”

It's just someone that takes an idea and you run with it. I'm the type that will jump off a cliff, take a risk and figure it out on the way down. But if you don't do that, you're not gonna make anything happen.

And I'm that type of person. And it wasn't just ribbon cuttings that was groundbreaking too. There was no gold shovels, there was no chrome shovels. There was no keys to the city. Oh my gosh, someone called me one day and said,

"Do you have giant light switches? What do you think I said?" Yes. We did it. But guess what?

I found a wood person, a woodsmith that would make me giant light switches. And we sold three foot, four foot, five foot, six foot, and seven foot light switches, all customized for the city. Christmas ceremony when you flip to switch the whole town.

Oh, lights come on, or like, for, you know, like the parts of the solar companies when they're the solar panels. So anybody that needs them for anything, we couldn't even keep giant lights, which is in stock. But we didn't have them, but I said, "Yes, we can."

And then I made it happen. So it was the whole ceremonial niche.

“And you know, if you don't take a chance”

where you don't blaze new trails, nothing's gonna happen. But you figure it out and you do it. And that's just how I was born and raised is to make stuff like that happen. And then you go figure it out and you do it.

And then you gotta live on the edge, but you can't tip over that line to where, you know, like my husband is more conservative and laid back. And he's like, "Oh God, what did you do?" Or what did you say?

Or did you buy? Or did you cheat? Or did you tell something? It's not true. I'm like, "No, no, no, no, no.

I'm gonna figure it out. I'm gonna do it." And I did it. But it was real. And I knew who to do or how to pull the connections

and just did it. How much of that business is for Miami? Because Miami is very, oh boy.

Well, so first of all, in full disclosure,

we've done events on every continent, except Antarctica. So Miami, yes, Miami, California, Texas. In the bigger states, obviously, the more volume. Some of our main customers, all the Fortune 500 companies,

Oprah, Disney, the White House. We did a World Record Ribbon Cutting in quite a way for the 4.5 miles of ribbon. We broke the World Record for the longest ribbon cutting. And I was there.

- It happened in that happen. - A big quarter. - A big quarter? - Yeah. - That's 20 minutes south of here. My stuff's just around the house there.

So it was a big new recreation complex. And it was incredible. - Little that was there after a hurricane Andrew. (laughing) - That's too bad, so let me do it again.

- Yeah, it doesn't matter, that was 33 seconds. It's like, "Anyway, how fun is your life? Is your, do you have a museum? Do you have a warehouse of giant everything?" - Yeah, my whole life is actually like that.

So everything I do has a story or something behind it. Like I ran Boston, marathon, the year of the bombs. Didn't get to finish. I do Iron Man's like, "It's my phone time. "I get up at five in the morning in train."

And here's me burn the candle at both ends.

“I literally have the key to success to all the events”

and make things happen. I could drink it every event, but I'm disappointed and I go and I get up and I work out. Swim bike and run, do Iron Man's. My daughter, Swam, for University of Kentucky.

She's a competitive athlete, got her master's degree. So I just take a chance and I say, "Yes." And I'm addicted and obsessed with achievement and I don't know what's wrong with me. But if I'm not doing that, I'm not happy.

But yet, I reach a point where I want to help other people become motivated and excited about achieving success as well. So I mentor a lot of students. I had special needs students work for us at my office.

And I never thought I would say yes to something like that,

but it really changed who I was as a person. And I'm always the point, like, the joy is the journey.

then what's the point of doing it?

“But yet, I see that there's no finish line”

because we're not ever done achieving learning every day. I don't have one mentor. I have a million mentors. I'll learn something from you today. I hope, you know, I already have.

I've learned a lot from you. (laughing) So talk about the extravagance of what is it is literally to live bigger than life. And some of the craziest desires and the crazy imaginations

from your clients and yourself and what you're truly creating day to day. - Right.

So if people, I always say be the expert in your industry

and embrace what you're doing and live out your true joy and do what you love, Steve Jobs said that. And if you truly do what you love and you're passionate about,

you're gonna be the best at it. And I don't care if you're cutting hair. So embrace it, write a book about it. Have a podcast about it. Buy big scissors and cut somebody's hair

and it'll go viral. That actually happens. You know, what's the best product for frizzy hair? My hair turned frizzy on the way over here. I was like, oh, what am I gonna do?

You know, so what product should I get? If you're very hair, what dye is good? And just embrace it on it and just be the hair expert of the world. And that's kind of what I did with scissors

and ribbon and ceremonial products. And I go outside and they're like, there's the big scissor lady. And I'm like, oh, okay with that. I hope you're describing big as the scissors

and not big as me, but it's okay. You know, I'll feed the big scissor lady. And that's fine and you can't not type in, Kimberly-Vaith, Kimberly-Morford, golden openings, cutting edge success.

And my name is everywhere all over and it's connected to the White House in Oprah and Disney World in keys and anything that's linked,

it always comes back to me.

And I've just embraced it and loved it and wrote books about it. And I've been interviewed on Times Square and it's just contagious. And then I use that to help other people

and say, well, I can't find a job or my son needs help with his resume. And I always say, yes, a little boy came to my house the other day, ran uphill and said, we you bring your Corvette to my lemonade stand.

I just got this new blue Corvette and it's this rough blue. It's a rapid blue, it's beautiful. It's a really strange blue. I can't almost like that color, but I can't describe it.

And he's like, we'll bring your car or it'll bring more people, smart kid. I'm like sure, I'll come down into it. Well, I was like five minutes later, he came back. Are you still coming?

Absolutely, I'm coming. So I came and I brought these gold coins and you know, and then all these kids started

coming and he's like, this is the greatest thing ever.

And I'm like, well, what are you saving for? He's like, oh, we're not going to spend the money. We're saving and we're going to invest it. And I'm like, yeah, you can start your own business someday. And then they asked what I did.

And I started telling them about scissors. And pretty soon, they posted it on Facebook and it got like a hundred likes. And it's just those little things that you do for people every day that makes a big difference.

That is my why. That is why I live. That is why I get up in the morning. That's hopefully that's what you want to hear. And that's what I live and breathe and dream for.

That's what makes me happy. Money is good and it's fun in the end, but that's not what motivates me. That's amazing. That's true.

“And I think that's why my business was so successful.”

I know that's why it is. I was helping other people reach their dreams and goals. And that's what I'm doing now with cutting-edge success. When I sold my business last year, we had reached the peak of the mountain.

And I will say we had all five-star reviews. We grew 32% every year for 32 years, through 84% in 2021, survive COVID, pivoted. I said, if we're going to sell this, it probably should go out on top.

I don't want the bad reviews. If people don't want to work, if vendors can't get back to me, I said, let's do it. Let's go. And so we got a great offer.

And I said, I can still continue to speak. I can do different events. I can sell parade float stuff. I can help consult. So I can speak.

I can do websites just fine. And so we did. And I missed the adrenaline of the credit cards. And then go, go, go, go, go. I've worked in 20 holidays.

I had fake hair, dry shampoo. I lived on caffeine. But it was going to kill me. Oh, yeah. Because you're addicted to.

I don't exactly what you mean. When you're on fire and everything is hot. And you can just see the reality react to all of your actions. Yeah, the superplupp. People needed it.

And there was a deadline. And it just went, boom, boom, boom, and pretty soon I wasn't coming home. My husband was like, are we still married? He's, I'm like, I don't know. We're in an event 28 years.

And two kids. And they graduated. So I started working more. Pretty soon I didn't see the dog. And I'm like, this isn't healthy.

I quit working out. Oh, no, boy. No, no, no. Yeah. So you sold.

Yeah.

“How does one sell a dream or a chopper of their life and move forward?”

You don't.

I couldn't, I was crying and I wouldn't sign the paper.

I couldn't do it. So I'm imagining you sold giant scissors.

“So your next business was obviously tiny scissors, right?”

Francis. Well, I can't compete. I can't sell any scissors. Balls are next venture. So it's called cutting edge success ironically.

And it's helping other people reach their dreams and goals. And I can do anything that's not on the golden openings website or product line. Which was hard because we had 2,000 products. And we have a five year non-compete. And so I'm doing a lot of public speaking, a lot of entrepreneurship, guidance, speaking

at colleges, universities, businesses, schools, teaching other people how to build their

business and reach their dreams, five star reviews. We won the US Chamber Small Business of the Year, which is the highest honor you can receive in 2017. For small business, so I've earned a lot, even after I'd already been in business so many years about your mission, your vision, your values, your core motto.

“And I thought, I already knew all this, but I didn't.”

And then we grew even more after that and made it like full circle of what it takes to start a business, run, grow it, everything has to be full circle. And you can't put all your eggs in one basket networking, connecting, meeting your neighbors, your business, your community, your officials. And if it doesn't all work in the website and the funnels and everything Rudy talks

about it. If it's not all connected, you are going to fail.

And nobody can keep up with how fast it's changing either.

So I'm on a mission, I don't know, to help other people be the best business they can be. You mentioned Rudy and you did it organically. How do folks like you and I, I clearly work for the man and I treat him like my baby brother?

Oh, I'm, but I feel like I know him, but that was my point, like how, how I'm sure you've got your tribe. I'm part of Rudy's tribe.

“I'm building my tribe, as we speak, where, who are you looking for?”

What is your ideal client? Is it folks that kind of get you or folks that want to learn more about you or don't get themselves? Who is your ideal client? My ideal client is anyone that wants to help themselves grow their business because they

might be struggling with five star reviews, they might be struggling with their website. They have a good website, but it might have been built in the 1990s or 2000s, like old openings originally, my husband built my website. And we reached a point where we weren't getting the SEO, we weren't getting the Google algorithms.

And it's constantly changing, and so when we built, getting a success, we actually found someone that knew AI and knew and understood it, and were partnered with them now to build the website, so we can go in and run a website analysis, and it'll tell you what your website is ranked, ABCD or F, just like school. And it'll tell you, and now our website is connected, so AI will go in and answer questions,

it will bring you up, it'll show you, and then it brings up all your rewards, all the boards of directors you've set on, and it's all connected. And then same with everything else you're doing, it has to be full circle, so I feel like I have done all of it, I've run the run, I've walked the walk, I've talked the talk, it's not just a textbook answer, it's the real life scenarios, and if someone wants to apply

for an award, we've won 37 awards, I know how to nominate someone, I just did a Bob Brown Chevrolet in Urban Dale, Iowa, and I'm gonna name them for small business of the year for Urban Dale Chamber, and they won, so it's just a example of how do you need help and how can I help you, and I'm not gonna get rich off of it, and that's okay. Or it might be like parade floats, that's something we didn't sell at golden openings, and

everyone has a parade, I can get this stuff in Pakistan and China, and Vietnam, even with the tariffs, and still be cheaper, and it's stuff that you wouldn't even see yet, yeah, if you want a little, if your theme is JAWS, I can get little JAWS coasters that might have him bleeding off the cuff and you drink out of it, and you wouldn't even have seen it yet, and I can get those, and my mind is constantly looking at that stuff, I can't get it out of my

head, but I'm such a theme person, such a prop person, I love every holiday, so it's just a dick thing. Would you ever designed a haunted house slash, a nightclub called Murder Palace, with me? Well, let's do it, let's go, 'cause I still have a, I have to go, I mean, it's come a pretty

fun. I still have to own the name and the brand, if that's my church called, I already want to have it. I don't know, you tell me wherever I decide today is Friday, but Murder Palace is my saying.

I'm in fast. But that's the thing, the experience is used, so it's Halloween every day, and it's not really in my Halloween. It's my love Halloween. I love Halloween.

She's my house. I can just imagine, I guess my next follow-up question besides my plug-in, my own

Let's do it.

“Why do folks like you and I are attracted to leaders like Rudy, why are the weirdos attracted”

to someone of a weirdo?

And what is happening here, why?

Because they're full of energy, passion, excitement, dreams, they're not done. There's no finish line. It's funny that Rudy does iron man's, 'cause that kind of attracted me to him, 'cause I do too, and we're crazy, we're just beasts, and it's like, the more you push, the more pain you feel, but once you push past the pain, you don't feel it any longer, and that's

just something you can't describe. I don't know why we are nuts, we are a different beast, and I can't explain it either,

“but it's a good feeling once you get there, and you just want more.”

No, I'm you think I'm totally out of my mind.

No, you're absolutely right. Let's put it this way. I left Rudy and then came back. Let's put it that way. And why?

There's three of us. That doesn't end at the end of the day that I know my name and I'm going in the right

direction, but I just keep doing it.

And I love it, and somehow people love it, and I'm gained followers, and admirers, and haters, and I respect people that respect me, and follow me, and pay me, and it's worked. And I'm completely happy with where I am, and what I'm doing, and I just keep doing it. Because you are literally the cutie, I just successfully.

Lady, you literally made millions making giant scissors and lights, which is, mm-hmm. And literally it's literally pee-wee's playland in real life. Congratulations. Thank you. I am so eager to actually film your legacy makers episode with you.

What are we going to learn about you? Give us a teaser or preview of what it will, I learned about you in the next 90s to two hour session.

“Boy, I mean, I think we might need, we might have to have two or three movies, because I”

don't think we can do it in one movie, but what's right, I mean, everything good, and the joy is the journey, we're all on this experience together, and it's not what you do, or how you do it, it's why you do it, and that's because you're passionate and proud, and we only go around once, so let's do it, and go back, or go home. CuttingedgeSuccess.com, Kimberly Beath, President.

Kimberly, such an honor and a pleasure, what a way to wrap up our Friday. I'm eager to learn more about you, cuttingedgeSuccess.com. What do you want to say in your website, in your.com, I want to make sure you say it, because it's very powerful. Sure, cuttingedgeSuccess.com, Kimberly, such a joy.

That concludes and wraps up another episode of the Living Your Legacy Podcast, we're about to film our episode in real time for Insight Success. That's Kimberly, and I'm Rage Tears. [MUSIC PLAYING]