Start your kick with the piston just a hair past top dead center. Find TDC by slowly kicking through - you will feel the compression of the compression stroke. As the compression eases, you have just past TDC. Return the kickstarter to the top of its stroke, and leave it there until you need to kick if for real.
Kicking from this position lets the motor build up maximum speed for the next compression stroke, increasing the chances it will fire. Coming off an 85 or a 125 2t, you probably never needed to learn this, but it really helps with bigger bikes and 4 strokes.