May 6, 2025 • 22 mins
Have you ever faced a crossroads that not only changed your career but reshaped your entire future? That's the story I, Mackenzie Kilshaw, share with you today as I introduce Mackenzie Kilshaw Co., my new consulting firm that's set to transform the realms of sales, marketing, customer service, and leadership.
With my father, Barry Firby, by my side, we peel back the layers of my professional journey, revealing the pivotal moments from early career roots in babysitting to leading the charge in major corporations like SaskTel and Hershey's. This episode isn't just about my story; it’s about the resilience and innovation that can emerge from life’s unexpected turns, and I'm here to guide you through it all.
Join us as we traverse the emotional and entrepreneurial landscape that defined my path, highlighting the life-altering impact of my mother's passing and the subsequent leap into the world of entrepreneurship. Opening physical storefronts, venturing into online businesses, and eventually diving into the tech sector—I've worn many hats and now bring this wealth of experience to the podcast.
With Barry's poignant questions steering our dialogue, we extend an open invitation to all listeners who are seeking to reinvigorate their business or start a new venture. If you're hungry for insights and ready for a collaborative journey, let's connect and explore how Mackenzie Kilshaw Co. can elevate your business!
Let's make your brand unforgettable!
Check out Mackenzie Kilshaw Co: www.mackenziekilshaw.com
Follow Mackenzie Kilshaw Co on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mackenziekilshawco/
Mackenzie Kilshaw Co. offers comprehensive business coaching, and consulting tailored to your needs.
With Mackenzie's award winning entrepreneurial expertise in strategy, leadership, business development, branding, website development, social media management, SEO, sales and customer service training and more, clients receive personalized guidance to drive growth and success.
Let's make your business unforgettable!
Thanks for listening to this Episode of #WINNING!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Shauna Foster (00:06):
Winning is your guide to making it in business.
Join our award-winning host andentrepreneur, Mackenzie Kilshaw
, and special guests in casualconversations that will educate
and inspire you on your businessjourney.
Winning will help you learn thehard lessons the easy way, with
guidance from celebratedentrepreneurs and business
(00:26):
leaders.
It's fun, it's informative,it's winning.
Mackenzie Kilshaw (00:31):
Hello, welcome to Winning.
I'm your host, MackenzieKilshaw, and my guest today is
someone you guys have all heardfrom before.
It's my dad, Barry Firby.
Hi dad.
Hey there, Mack, how are you?
I'm really good.
How are you?
Barry Firby (00:43):
I'm doing great.
Mackenzie Kilshaw (00:45):
Good, so I had to bring dad back.
I actually have somethingthat's extremely exciting and
important to me that I've beenworking on for like three years
now, but I find it's reallyboring for me to just sit here
and talk to by myself.
So I brought dad on to ask me afew questions, and I am very
excited to introduce and toannounce that I am starting my
(01:07):
own consulting business calledMackenzie Kilshaw Co.
Barry Firby (01:11):
Mackenzie Kilshaw Co.
What is
Mackenzie Kilshaw (01:15):
So good question, dad, what is it?
It's going to be a consultingcompany that will focus on sales
and marketing, customer serviceand leadership.
So I will consult, coach,mentor, anyone that needs help
in these areas, on ideas onwhere you want to go and how
you're going to get there, andobviously, with all of those
(01:35):
things, there will be additionalservices as well, which I'll
chat about.
But I think just reallysomething that I've been
thinking about for a long timeand it's finally coming to life,
so I couldn't be happier.
Barry Firby (01:47):
So you say all sorts of services?
Mackenzie Kilshaw (01:51):
So basically almost anyone could, you could
jump in and help, but whateverstage they're needing help with?
Yeah, exactly, if they're juststarting out, or if they've been
in business for a number ofyears and it kind of feels stuck
, I can give them a hand forsure.
Barry Firby (02:06):
Oh, that's wonderful.
By the way, I'm really excitedto be a return guest.
Mackenzie Kilshaw (02:11):
Thank you, I think you're the only one, so
there you go.
Dad made a record.
Barry Firby (02:15):
So why are you starting this new business now?
Mackenzie Kilshaw (02:20):
So I'm starting it now.
As I said at the beginning,I've been thinking about it for
honestly, like years, probablysince I sold my business, so
three years in the making.
Like everybody else, you know,you think about doing something
and then something holds youback, whether it's fear, whether
it's time commitment, whetherit's family.
(02:41):
It wasn't fear for me, becauseI've already done this, but it
was more of a time commitment.
So what I did was actuallystarted with the podcast.
So that's where I createdWinning was to help people that
were like me entrepreneurs,small business owners that need
a hand, need ideas, need someguidance.
So I started with the podcastand I had a full time job.
(03:02):
I worked for a tech company.
I really enjoyed my job but,like many others on the podcast
have shared as well and happenedto me, I got laid off.
There was a restructuring ofthe company.
My job was terminated, whichyou know was kind of a hard
thing to take it first becauseyour initial thought is it's you
and in this case it was arestructuring.
(03:22):
So I knew it wasn't me, butthis actually was the catalyst.
It gave me the time now todevelop the company, develop the
programs and the courses andall of the offerings that I'm
going to have and, honestly, Iprobably should have done it a
long time ago.
But here we are.
I'm excited to get going.
Barry Firby (03:40):
Well, that's fantastic.
So I guess the question wouldcome to my mind if I'm the
business person out there andI've been that person why should
I pick you?
Mackenzie Kilshaw (03:52):
Yeah.
So really I think there's a fewreasons.
I have a lot of education and alot of experience and I
understand where you are becauseI was you and I think that's
really important to have workwith someone that's been in your
shoes.
So I, 20 years ago, got mymarketing degree and human
(04:14):
resources degree from theUniversity of Saskatchewan in
Saskatoon.
This year I continued myeducation through York
University, so I got acertificate on digital marketing
, which, of course, when I wasin school 20 years ago there was
no such thing as digitalmarketing because there was
nothing digital.
So that just gave me a wholenew, broader aspect and broader
(04:39):
knowledge on everything digitalright.
So that's everything online andsocial media, that's search
engine optimization, that's allof these things Google ads.
So I really brushed up thereand then recently I was very
honoured to be accepted intoHarvard Business School.
So I'm actually taking a coursethere as well.
(05:01):
On leadership, and leadership issomething that I've always
really excelled in.
I always kind of was a leaderin the jobs that I had.
I enjoy leadership, but I thinkit's one of those things that
people actually forget that youmight need a little training in
that area.
So business experience.
I've got 20 over 20 years now,I guess a business experience
after leaving school, I think,for me, though, it's the school
(05:24):
of hard knocks.
I was an entrepreneur for over10 years.
I shouldn't say was, I guess Istill am but I'm also a full
circle entrepreneur, so Icreated, ran and sold a business
, so I've got experience in allof these aspects.
Barry Firby (05:42):
Okay, let's just take a couple of minutes here
and let's dive into this wholeaspect of what kinds of work.
Why don't you take a couple ofthree minutes here and give me
some scenarios that where let'ssay let's say I'm just starting,
(06:04):
I'm not even open yet, but Igot a bunch of great ideas and
I'm the guy who thinks he can doit himself.
What would you say to me?
Mackenzie Kilshaw (06:13):
Yeah for sure .
Well, you were me 10 years agowhere I thought, well, this,
I've got all this knowledge,I've got all this experience,
I'm going to open a business,everything's going to be great.
And I think when you firststart out, that's your first
thoughts.
You know what.
There's going to be hard times,but you don't realize.
First of all, you really can'tdo everything yourself.
That's not even realistic.
(06:33):
And when we all start out, wetry, because a few things
finances.
Usually when you start out, youdon't have a lot of money to pay
someone else.
Also, you want to be involvedin your business, right?
So you really want to be handson in all of the aspects of your
business.
But there comes a time, whetheryou're a solopreneur, as I'd
(06:53):
say, just one person or if youhave a team or building a team,
maybe you've been in businessfor a long time, but there comes
a time when you run into adifficult situation or a problem
or something that you're notsure.
Maybe it's just that you'rekind of stagnant, like you
haven't grown, you can'tincrease your revenues, you're
(07:14):
not sure what to do.
Or maybe you're like me beforeI took the digital marketing
course and you think I know Ishould be on social media, but I
don't even know where to start.
For a lot of people, it's time.
I know I should be doing this,but I don't have time to do it.
So those are all reasons whyyou use a consultant, I think.
(07:35):
If I just going back a littlebit, I know I kind of mentioned
other services, but when youwork with a consultant, you're
really working with theirstrengths.
To me, I'm really passionateand educated about customer
service, sales and marketing andleadership.
Those are my strengths.
Those are things, if someonesays I have a great staff but
(07:58):
our customer service isn't thatgreat, you bring in a consultant
like me to help you improveyour customer service.
Really, what I'll do is assistyou in creating strategies to
reach your goals.
I can help you make more moneyand work less, which I know for
a lot of entrepreneurs is huge.
I can help you increase yourcustomer base.
There's all sorts of things thata consultant or someone like me
(08:20):
can do.
Also, something that I can dois help you to create and
implement policies andprocedures for your business.
So, whether you're juststarting out or you've been in
business for a long time, a lotof businesses have been around
for years and they don't haveany policies or procedures.
They just do what they've beendoing for years and years.
(08:41):
But when you actually havethings in place and your team
knows, your staff knows what'sgoing on, you actually run a lot
more efficient and what theefficiency comes things like
revenue and growth.
So that's really important.
Sales and customer servicetraining for your team.
I led a team of 10 people whenI had my stores.
(09:02):
I also have led teams in otherjobs that I've had, and that
leadership aspect is reallyimportant.
Then, of course, marketing, sothings like social media
management, maybe it's websitecreation.
Maybe you have a website, butit's not that great.
People aren't really going toit.
You don't know how to get themthere, or they get to it and
(09:23):
they bounce, they leave rightaway.
So I can help you with yourwebsite.
Then, of course, as I saidbefore, leadership training and
how you can become a moreeffective leader, because being
an effective leader really willget you leaps and bounds further
.
I think a lot of people don'teven really realize that.
Barry Firby (09:42):
Okay, so I'm going to give you my the second
entrepreneur guy that I'm comingto you.
I already have a business andit's doing fairly well.
I have four or five employeesand I'm thinking it's going well
, but there's some things that Ithink could be better.
(10:03):
So I mean you can sort of jumpin and are you willing to
customize an approach on whattheir individual needs might be?
Mackenzie Kilshaw (10:13):
100% and in all reality, everything is
customizable because it reallyis for your business.
So if you're an entrepreneur,small business owner, if you
feel stuck or you don't knowwhat to do, if you really aren't
even sure what your goal shouldbe, you know a lot of people
like will, like you just said,your person.
Yeah, things are going great.
(10:34):
What should I work towards?
Or what?
Something that I could do toincrease my revenue or work less
?
As I said, the glory of workingwith me Consultant is that you
don't need to have employees inall these areas.
So maybe you don't have a wholemarketing team or marketing
team at all, right, and you workwith a consultant to do your
(10:56):
marketing for you.
And maybe someone that's been inbusiness for a long time didn't
really do a lot of marketingbecause they started out, they
are established, and you knowthey've got regular customers
and whatnot, but now they'refeeling a little stagnant.
So maybe a boost in yourmarketing is going to bring you
those new clients or freshen youup.
Maybe to rebrand.
Maybe you say you know what ourbrand is, dated it's, we need a
(11:21):
refresh, we need, we needyounger people, we need people
that have never heard of us,just to get to know who we are,
and so those are really things Ican help with.
The glory of it being aconsultant is that I can help
you with what you need when youneed it, right.
So, yes, so that's the thinglike if you need help this year
(11:43):
with marketing, fantastic, andnext year maybe you call me back
again and say you know what?
Now my team needs salestraining because we've got all
these new clients coming in.
We need sales training.
Oh wait, we also need customerservice training because there's
all these new people, right,and you, you can work with me on
a contract basis, so thatyou're not paying me all the
time If you don't need me, right, and that's really a great
(12:06):
thing about consulting.
Barry Firby (12:07):
That's really good.
I'm going to give you one morescenario, and that is that is
that I've I've been in thisbusiness for for a long time and
I've done either myself or myspouse and I we operate a family
business and we are getting towhere we're getting to where
we're we're not burning out, butwe're we're doing so many darn
(12:30):
things and we would like to beable to step away for a weekend
down and then, or whatever,we're not.
We're not asking, you know,Mackenzie Kilshaw Co to come in
and run the business, but butwhat can you help them with?
To take some, take some loadsoff and automate some, some of
(12:52):
that, some of that business thatthey're actually spending way
too much personal time on.
Mackenzie Kilshaw (12:57):
Yeah, I don't want to say it happens to
everybody, every entrepreneur orsmall business owners being
through that you you're workingon a lot of times it's just you,
right, especially if it's afamily business.
Just you might have someemployees, but you know they
don't know how to do what you donecessarily.
So, going back to some of thosepolicies and procedures, maybe
(13:17):
it's just a procedure that youmake so that someone else can
step into that role when you'renot there and do it, whether
that's a staff member or whetherthat's something that you pay a
consultant to do, dependingwhat it is, obviously.
But the more things it's 2024the more things that we can get
automated and automatic.
(13:37):
And, as I always like to say,my ultimate goal is make money
while you sleep, right.
So maybe that's you've neverhad an online store before and
by having an online store, youcould actually just close your
store front for for a couple ofdays to take a break.
You will be closed for thesedays, but you still have sales
coming in online.
You're not even there, but whenyou get back Monday, guess what
(14:00):
?
You pack up all those ordersand you ship them out.
So there's different things thatthat you can do, and when we're
in our own business, we're inour own business, we don't
often see other things that arepotentials for us.
I met with someone last weekand I gave her a few ideas and
she's like I never thought ofthat before and I said well, of
(14:21):
course not, because you haven'tseen kind of the broader aspect
of business.
You see what's in your business, right, and so that's the great
thing about consultants someonelike me is that we'll look at
your business as a whole andgive you some ideas of some
alternatives or additionalthings that you could do or
provide or automate or whateverit happens to be, so that it
(14:45):
makes your life easier.
And at the end of the day, whenyou're an entrepreneur or small
business owner, you also have afamily, you also have a
personal life, you also havefriends.
There's the other things youwant to do.
So if we get it so that you canwork less and make more money,
that is the ultimate win.
Barry Firby (15:05):
That is indeed the ultimate win.
Hey, listen, I, I know all thesuccess that you have had in in
a lot of different fields and Ithink, I think it would be
advantageous, because you know,you know I would.
I would say, well, what kind ofpeople, what kind of people
would you want to hire?
(15:25):
But maybe get, why don't youjust give us a little bit of a
background on some of thedifferent career opportunities
that you've had, so that so thatour listeners can say, can
relate to you and say, oh well,I didn't know she knew about
this, or I didn't know she knewabout that.
Mackenzie Kilshaw (15:43):
Yeah, yeah, that's a good point, dad, I
think if I really want to rollback the truck here.
I started babysitting when Iwas about 12 and working with
children.
You sure learn a lot ofpatience and, honestly, ideas,
right, how do you keep kidsentertained?
So that, I think, really got myidea aspect flowing.
I worked in the serviceindustry.
(16:05):
So when I was in university,each I actually managed a bar
and restaurant and so I workedthere.
So I have a lot of serviceexperience.
I was a bartender, a waitress,a cook, a cleaner.
I kind of did it all there.
When I did that throughuniversity, I worked at The Bay,
(16:26):
which is a department store,and I actually sold cosmetics.
So sales to me, sales are salesif you're a good salesperson
you can sell anything.
It's your sales technique,right, that really matters.
And I I only worked at The Bayfor about six months, but I was
one of the top sales people inThe Bay and I think that's
(16:47):
because I really sold the properway with features and benefits.
So call me up, I'll tell youall about features and benefits.
I'll give you some salestraining.
But when I left The Bay I movedto SaskTel, which is the
provincial telephone company atthe time.
I started there, honestly, wasprobably the worst job you can
(17:08):
have was direct sales.
So I was cold calling peopleand trying to sell them
everything from long-distanceplans to internet to TV services
.
Once again, I was one of thetop sales people in our team and
because I sold people what theyneeded, I didn't sell them
anything that wasn't going tobenefit them.
(17:29):
I Love SaskTel.
It was a great experience.
But I kind of was ready to moveonto something.
There I worked a lot ofevenings and weekends.
I was 25 years old.
I didn't want to work on theweekend, I wanted to go out and
have fun.
So I actually moved intoanother sales role and which was
with Hershey chocolate andcandy.
(17:50):
So I sold chocolate bars andTwizzlers all sorts of fun
things.
I handled all corporate clients.
So Walmart, Superstore,Shoppers Drug Mart really big,
really big stores is what I wasin charge of.
Again, I was a top sales personand leadership there as well,
(18:12):
and same thing like Hershey.
As people know my story, theyknow my mom passed away.
Suddenly I wanted to do my ownthing and that's when I started
my stores.
So I started one store inSaskatoon.
Two years later I startedanother store in Regina.
Absolutely love those storescouldn't have had a better
experience as an entrepreneur.
(18:33):
But I got married not but, Iguess I got married.
My husband and stepson lived inanother city, so I was doing
what I called the BermudaTriangle, driving kind of around
in circles, and I knew Icouldn't sustain that, and so I
was fortunate enough that my twospaces two different groups
(18:55):
took over my leases and I wasable to leave.
I run my store online, so Icompletely built and marketed an
online store, so I have a lotof experience there.
And then I actually sold that.
So I was a full circleentrepreneur at that time.
When I, after I sold, I workedfor a tech company, so I know
quite a bit about tech too, andI was, I started out doing
(19:18):
partnerships, so I ran ourInfluencer Program.
I have a lot of experience ininfluencer marketing.
I ran our partnerships program,so working with different
companies and different brandsand how you can work together
and then I actually moved to theHead of Customer Success and
Sales, so I ran the team thatdid customer service and sales
(19:40):
there.
And, of course, as I was doingthat, I did the podcast as well,
and podcast is such a differentlife that I absolutely love it.
Lets me share all thesemessages to the world.
Barry Firby (19:52):
It's really exciting.
I'm going to squeeze in onemore question here.
Mackenzie Kilshaw (19:56):
Okay, do it dad.
Barry Firby (19:57):
That is, how do they get a hold of you for
information?
Mackenzie Kilshaw (20:01):
Yeah, so obviously I'm gonna be on social
media.
I'm gonna be on Facebook andInstagram @MackenzieKilshaw Co
and my website is it's just myname MackenzieKilshaw.
com That's the best way to seeme, the best way to get a hold
of me.
You'll see what I offer.
I'm gonna have free downloads,courses.
You can get my contact info ifyou want to work with me.
I cannot wait to work withpeople.
(20:22):
Dad, thank you so much forbeing on and asking me the
questions.
This is just so exciting for meand I think once an
entrepreneur, always anentrepreneur and I'm back.
Barry Firby (20:33):
Good night.
Mackenzie Kilshaw (20:34):
Thanks, pops.
We'll see you later.
And for everybody listening,pop me a message.
I'll be happy to let you knowwhere you can find out more and
we'll see you on the nextepisode.
Thanks for listening to Winning.
Be sure to subscribe to get allof our new episodes.
If you enjoyed this episode andyou'd like to help support the
podcast, please share it withothers, post about on social
media and leave a rating andreview wherever you listen to
(20:58):
winning.
To catch all of the latest fromus, you can follow winning
podcast on Instagram @winning_podcast, Facebook at Winning
Podcast and on Twitter @winningpod.
Winning was created and isproduced by me, Mackenzie
Kilshaw music created by SummerFirby, editing by Seth Armstrong
(21:19):
.
Special thanks to Shauna Fosterfor voicing our opening and, of
course, a huge Thank you tothis episode's guests.
Thanks again for listening andI'll see you on the next episode
.
Winning is your guide to making it in business.
Join our award-winning host andentrepreneur, Mackenzie Kilshaw
, and special guests in casualconversations that will educate
and inspire you on your businessjourney.
Winning will help you learn thehard lessons the easy way, with
guidance from celebratedentrepreneurs and business
(00:26):
leaders.
It's fun, it's informative,it's winning.
Mackenzie Kilshaw (00:31):
Hello, welcome to Winning.
I'm your host, MackenzieKilshaw, and my guest today is
someone you guys have all heardfrom before.
It's my dad, Barry Firby.
Hi dad.
Hey there, Mack, how are you?
I'm really good.
How are you?
Barry Firby (00:43):
I'm doing great.
Mackenzie Kilshaw (00:45):
Good, so I had to bring dad back.
I actually have somethingthat's extremely exciting and
important to me that I've beenworking on for like three years
now, but I find it's reallyboring for me to just sit here
and talk to by myself.
So I brought dad on to ask me afew questions, and I am very
excited to introduce and toannounce that I am starting my
(01:07):
own consulting business calledMackenzie Kilshaw Co.
Barry Firby (01:11):
Mackenzie Kilshaw Co.
What is
Mackenzie Kilshaw (01:15):
So good question, dad, what is it?
It's going to be a consultingcompany that will focus on sales
and marketing, customer serviceand leadership.
So I will consult, coach,mentor, anyone that needs help
in these areas, on ideas onwhere you want to go and how
you're going to get there, andobviously, with all of those
(01:35):
things, there will be additionalservices as well, which I'll
chat about.
But I think just reallysomething that I've been
thinking about for a long timeand it's finally coming to life,
so I couldn't be happier.
Barry Firby (01:47):
So you say all sorts of services?
Mackenzie Kilshaw (01:51):
So basically almost anyone could, you could
jump in and help, but whateverstage they're needing help with?
Yeah, exactly, if they're juststarting out, or if they've been
in business for a number ofyears and it kind of feels stuck
, I can give them a hand forsure.
Barry Firby (02:06):
Oh, that's wonderful.
By the way, I'm really excitedto be a return guest.
Mackenzie Kilshaw (02:11):
Thank you, I think you're the only one, so
there you go.
Dad made a record.
Barry Firby (02:15):
So why are you starting this new business now?
Mackenzie Kilshaw (02:20):
So I'm starting it now.
As I said at the beginning,I've been thinking about it for
honestly, like years, probablysince I sold my business, so
three years in the making.
Like everybody else, you know,you think about doing something
and then something holds youback, whether it's fear, whether
it's time commitment, whetherit's family.
(02:41):
It wasn't fear for me, becauseI've already done this, but it
was more of a time commitment.
So what I did was actuallystarted with the podcast.
So that's where I createdWinning was to help people that
were like me entrepreneurs,small business owners that need
a hand, need ideas, need someguidance.
So I started with the podcastand I had a full time job.
(03:02):
I worked for a tech company.
I really enjoyed my job but,like many others on the podcast
have shared as well and happenedto me, I got laid off.
There was a restructuring ofthe company.
My job was terminated, whichyou know was kind of a hard
thing to take it first becauseyour initial thought is it's you
and in this case it was arestructuring.
(03:22):
So I knew it wasn't me, butthis actually was the catalyst.
It gave me the time now todevelop the company, develop the
programs and the courses andall of the offerings that I'm
going to have and, honestly, Iprobably should have done it a
long time ago.
But here we are.
I'm excited to get going.
Barry Firby (03:40):
Well, that's fantastic.
So I guess the question wouldcome to my mind if I'm the
business person out there andI've been that person why should
I pick you?
Mackenzie Kilshaw (03:52):
Yeah.
So really I think there's a fewreasons.
I have a lot of education and alot of experience and I
understand where you are becauseI was you and I think that's
really important to have workwith someone that's been in your
shoes.
So I, 20 years ago, got mymarketing degree and human
(04:14):
resources degree from theUniversity of Saskatchewan in
Saskatoon.
This year I continued myeducation through York
University, so I got acertificate on digital marketing
, which, of course, when I wasin school 20 years ago there was
no such thing as digitalmarketing because there was
nothing digital.
So that just gave me a wholenew, broader aspect and broader
(04:39):
knowledge on everything digitalright.
So that's everything online andsocial media, that's search
engine optimization, that's allof these things Google ads.
So I really brushed up thereand then recently I was very
honoured to be accepted intoHarvard Business School.
So I'm actually taking a coursethere as well.
(05:01):
On leadership, and leadership issomething that I've always
really excelled in.
I always kind of was a leaderin the jobs that I had.
I enjoy leadership, but I thinkit's one of those things that
people actually forget that youmight need a little training in
that area.
So business experience.
I've got 20 over 20 years now,I guess a business experience
after leaving school, I think,for me, though, it's the school
(05:24):
of hard knocks.
I was an entrepreneur for over10 years.
I shouldn't say was, I guess Istill am but I'm also a full
circle entrepreneur, so Icreated, ran and sold a business
, so I've got experience in allof these aspects.
Barry Firby (05:42):
Okay, let's just take a couple of minutes here
and let's dive into this wholeaspect of what kinds of work.
Why don't you take a couple ofthree minutes here and give me
some scenarios that where let'ssay let's say I'm just starting,
(06:04):
I'm not even open yet, but Igot a bunch of great ideas and
I'm the guy who thinks he can doit himself.
What would you say to me?
Mackenzie Kilshaw (06:13):
Yeah for sure .
Well, you were me 10 years agowhere I thought, well, this,
I've got all this knowledge,I've got all this experience,
I'm going to open a business,everything's going to be great.
And I think when you firststart out, that's your first
thoughts.
You know what.
There's going to be hard times,but you don't realize.
First of all, you really can'tdo everything yourself.
That's not even realistic.
(06:33):
And when we all start out, wetry, because a few things
finances.
Usually when you start out, youdon't have a lot of money to pay
someone else.
Also, you want to be involvedin your business, right?
So you really want to be handson in all of the aspects of your
business.
But there comes a time, whetheryou're a solopreneur, as I'd
(06:53):
say, just one person or if youhave a team or building a team,
maybe you've been in businessfor a long time, but there comes
a time when you run into adifficult situation or a problem
or something that you're notsure.
Maybe it's just that you'rekind of stagnant, like you
haven't grown, you can'tincrease your revenues, you're
(07:14):
not sure what to do.
Or maybe you're like me beforeI took the digital marketing
course and you think I know Ishould be on social media, but I
don't even know where to start.
For a lot of people, it's time.
I know I should be doing this,but I don't have time to do it.
So those are all reasons whyyou use a consultant, I think.
(07:35):
If I just going back a littlebit, I know I kind of mentioned
other services, but when youwork with a consultant, you're
really working with theirstrengths.
To me, I'm really passionateand educated about customer
service, sales and marketing andleadership.
Those are my strengths.
Those are things, if someonesays I have a great staff but
(07:58):
our customer service isn't thatgreat, you bring in a consultant
like me to help you improveyour customer service.
Really, what I'll do is assistyou in creating strategies to
reach your goals.
I can help you make more moneyand work less, which I know for
a lot of entrepreneurs is huge.
I can help you increase yourcustomer base.
There's all sorts of things thata consultant or someone like me
(08:20):
can do.
Also, something that I can dois help you to create and
implement policies andprocedures for your business.
So, whether you're juststarting out or you've been in
business for a long time, a lotof businesses have been around
for years and they don't haveany policies or procedures.
They just do what they've beendoing for years and years.
(08:41):
But when you actually havethings in place and your team
knows, your staff knows what'sgoing on, you actually run a lot
more efficient and what theefficiency comes things like
revenue and growth.
So that's really important.
Sales and customer servicetraining for your team.
I led a team of 10 people whenI had my stores.
(09:02):
I also have led teams in otherjobs that I've had, and that
leadership aspect is reallyimportant.
Then, of course, marketing, sothings like social media
management, maybe it's websitecreation.
Maybe you have a website, butit's not that great.
People aren't really going toit.
You don't know how to get themthere, or they get to it and
(09:23):
they bounce, they leave rightaway.
So I can help you with yourwebsite.
Then, of course, as I saidbefore, leadership training and
how you can become a moreeffective leader, because being
an effective leader really willget you leaps and bounds further
.
I think a lot of people don'teven really realize that.
Barry Firby (09:42):
Okay, so I'm going to give you my the second
entrepreneur guy that I'm comingto you.
I already have a business andit's doing fairly well.
I have four or five employeesand I'm thinking it's going well
, but there's some things that Ithink could be better.
(10:03):
So I mean you can sort of jumpin and are you willing to
customize an approach on whattheir individual needs might be?
Mackenzie Kilshaw (10:13):
100% and in all reality, everything is
customizable because it reallyis for your business.
So if you're an entrepreneur,small business owner, if you
feel stuck or you don't knowwhat to do, if you really aren't
even sure what your goal shouldbe, you know a lot of people
like will, like you just said,your person.
Yeah, things are going great.
(10:34):
What should I work towards?
Or what?
Something that I could do toincrease my revenue or work less
?
As I said, the glory of workingwith me Consultant is that you
don't need to have employees inall these areas.
So maybe you don't have a wholemarketing team or marketing
team at all, right, and you workwith a consultant to do your
(10:56):
marketing for you.
And maybe someone that's been inbusiness for a long time didn't
really do a lot of marketingbecause they started out, they
are established, and you knowthey've got regular customers
and whatnot, but now they'refeeling a little stagnant.
So maybe a boost in yourmarketing is going to bring you
those new clients or freshen youup.
Maybe to rebrand.
Maybe you say you know what ourbrand is, dated it's, we need a
(11:21):
refresh, we need, we needyounger people, we need people
that have never heard of us,just to get to know who we are,
and so those are really things Ican help with.
The glory of it being aconsultant is that I can help
you with what you need when youneed it, right.
So, yes, so that's the thinglike if you need help this year
(11:43):
with marketing, fantastic, andnext year maybe you call me back
again and say you know what?
Now my team needs salestraining because we've got all
these new clients coming in.
We need sales training.
Oh wait, we also need customerservice training because there's
all these new people, right,and you, you can work with me on
a contract basis, so thatyou're not paying me all the
time If you don't need me, right, and that's really a great
(12:06):
thing about consulting.
Barry Firby (12:07):
That's really good.
I'm going to give you one morescenario, and that is that is
that I've I've been in thisbusiness for for a long time and
I've done either myself or myspouse and I we operate a family
business and we are getting towhere we're getting to where
we're we're not burning out, butwe're we're doing so many darn
(12:30):
things and we would like to beable to step away for a weekend
down and then, or whatever,we're not.
We're not asking, you know,Mackenzie Kilshaw Co to come in
and run the business, but butwhat can you help them with?
To take some, take some loadsoff and automate some, some of
(12:52):
that, some of that business thatthey're actually spending way
too much personal time on.
Mackenzie Kilshaw (12:57):
Yeah, I don't want to say it happens to
everybody, every entrepreneur orsmall business owners being
through that you you're workingon a lot of times it's just you,
right, especially if it's afamily business.
Just you might have someemployees, but you know they
don't know how to do what you donecessarily.
So, going back to some of thosepolicies and procedures, maybe
(13:17):
it's just a procedure that youmake so that someone else can
step into that role when you'renot there and do it, whether
that's a staff member or whetherthat's something that you pay a
consultant to do, dependingwhat it is, obviously.
But the more things it's 2024the more things that we can get
automated and automatic.
(13:37):
And, as I always like to say,my ultimate goal is make money
while you sleep, right.
So maybe that's you've neverhad an online store before and
by having an online store, youcould actually just close your
store front for for a couple ofdays to take a break.
You will be closed for thesedays, but you still have sales
coming in online.
You're not even there, but whenyou get back Monday, guess what
(14:00):
?
You pack up all those ordersand you ship them out.
So there's different things thatthat you can do, and when we're
in our own business, we're inour own business, we don't
often see other things that arepotentials for us.
I met with someone last weekand I gave her a few ideas and
she's like I never thought ofthat before and I said well, of
(14:21):
course not, because you haven'tseen kind of the broader aspect
of business.
You see what's in your business, right, and so that's the great
thing about consultants someonelike me is that we'll look at
your business as a whole andgive you some ideas of some
alternatives or additionalthings that you could do or
provide or automate or whateverit happens to be, so that it
(14:45):
makes your life easier.
And at the end of the day, whenyou're an entrepreneur or small
business owner, you also have afamily, you also have a
personal life, you also havefriends.
There's the other things youwant to do.
So if we get it so that you canwork less and make more money,
that is the ultimate win.
Barry Firby (15:05):
That is indeed the ultimate win.
Hey, listen, I, I know all thesuccess that you have had in in
a lot of different fields and Ithink, I think it would be
advantageous, because you know,you know I would.
I would say, well, what kind ofpeople, what kind of people
would you want to hire?
(15:25):
But maybe get, why don't youjust give us a little bit of a
background on some of thedifferent career opportunities
that you've had, so that so thatour listeners can say, can
relate to you and say, oh well,I didn't know she knew about
this, or I didn't know she knewabout that.
Mackenzie Kilshaw (15:43):
Yeah, yeah, that's a good point, dad, I
think if I really want to rollback the truck here.
I started babysitting when Iwas about 12 and working with
children.
You sure learn a lot ofpatience and, honestly, ideas,
right, how do you keep kidsentertained?
So that, I think, really got myidea aspect flowing.
I worked in the serviceindustry.
(16:05):
So when I was in university,each I actually managed a bar
and restaurant and so I workedthere.
So I have a lot of serviceexperience.
I was a bartender, a waitress,a cook, a cleaner.
I kind of did it all there.
When I did that throughuniversity, I worked at The Bay,
(16:26):
which is a department store,and I actually sold cosmetics.
So sales to me, sales are salesif you're a good salesperson
you can sell anything.
It's your sales technique,right, that really matters.
And I I only worked at The Bayfor about six months, but I was
one of the top sales people inThe Bay and I think that's
(16:47):
because I really sold the properway with features and benefits.
So call me up, I'll tell youall about features and benefits.
I'll give you some salestraining.
But when I left The Bay I movedto SaskTel, which is the
provincial telephone company atthe time.
I started there, honestly, wasprobably the worst job you can
(17:08):
have was direct sales.
So I was cold calling peopleand trying to sell them
everything from long-distanceplans to internet to TV services
.
Once again, I was one of thetop sales people in our team and
because I sold people what theyneeded, I didn't sell them
anything that wasn't going tobenefit them.
(17:29):
I Love SaskTel.
It was a great experience.
But I kind of was ready to moveonto something.
There I worked a lot ofevenings and weekends.
I was 25 years old.
I didn't want to work on theweekend, I wanted to go out and
have fun.
So I actually moved intoanother sales role and which was
with Hershey chocolate andcandy.
(17:50):
So I sold chocolate bars andTwizzlers all sorts of fun
things.
I handled all corporate clients.
So Walmart, Superstore,Shoppers Drug Mart really big,
really big stores is what I wasin charge of.
Again, I was a top sales personand leadership there as well,
(18:12):
and same thing like Hershey.
As people know my story, theyknow my mom passed away.
Suddenly I wanted to do my ownthing and that's when I started
my stores.
So I started one store inSaskatoon.
Two years later I startedanother store in Regina.
Absolutely love those storescouldn't have had a better
experience as an entrepreneur.
(18:33):
But I got married not but, Iguess I got married.
My husband and stepson lived inanother city, so I was doing
what I called the BermudaTriangle, driving kind of around
in circles, and I knew Icouldn't sustain that, and so I
was fortunate enough that my twospaces two different groups
(18:55):
took over my leases and I wasable to leave.
I run my store online, so Icompletely built and marketed an
online store, so I have a lotof experience there.
And then I actually sold that.
So I was a full circleentrepreneur at that time.
When I, after I sold, I workedfor a tech company, so I know
quite a bit about tech too, andI was, I started out doing
(19:18):
partnerships, so I ran ourInfluencer Program.
I have a lot of experience ininfluencer marketing.
I ran our partnerships program,so working with different
companies and different brandsand how you can work together
and then I actually moved to theHead of Customer Success and
Sales, so I ran the team thatdid customer service and sales
(19:40):
there.
And, of course, as I was doingthat, I did the podcast as well,
and podcast is such a differentlife that I absolutely love it.
Lets me share all thesemessages to the world.
Barry Firby (19:52):
It's really exciting.
I'm going to squeeze in onemore question here.
Mackenzie Kilshaw (19:56):
Okay, do it dad.
Barry Firby (19:57):
That is, how do they get a hold of you for
information?
Mackenzie Kilshaw (20:01):
Yeah, so obviously I'm gonna be on social
media.
I'm gonna be on Facebook andInstagram @MackenzieKilshaw Co
and my website is it's just myname MackenzieKilshaw.
com That's the best way to seeme, the best way to get a hold
of me.
You'll see what I offer.
I'm gonna have free downloads,courses.
You can get my contact info ifyou want to work with me.
I cannot wait to work withpeople.
(20:22):
Dad, thank you so much forbeing on and asking me the
questions.
This is just so exciting for meand I think once an
entrepreneur, always anentrepreneur and I'm back.
Barry Firby (20:33):
Good night.
Mackenzie Kilshaw (20:34):
Thanks, pops.
We'll see you later.
And for everybody listening,pop me a message.
I'll be happy to let you knowwhere you can find out more and
we'll see you on the nextepisode.
Thanks for listening to Winning.
Be sure to subscribe to get allof our new episodes.
If you enjoyed this episode andyou'd like to help support the
podcast, please share it withothers, post about on social
media and leave a rating andreview wherever you listen to
(20:58):
winning.
To catch all of the latest fromus, you can follow winning
podcast on Instagram @winning_podcast, Facebook at Winning
Podcast and on Twitter @winningpod.
Winning was created and isproduced by me, Mackenzie
Kilshaw music created by SummerFirby, editing by Seth Armstrong
(21:19):
.
Special thanks to Shauna Fosterfor voicing our opening and, of
course, a huge Thank you tothis episode's guests.
Thanks again for listening andI'll see you on the next episode
.
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