#WINNING
#WINNING
Sound Decisions: The Journey of Expansion with Karen Sharpe
Have you ever pondered the delicate intricacies of our ability to hear and the entrepreneurial spirit it takes to champion this vital sense? That's where Karen Sharpe, the audiological power behind Thrive Hearing Solutions, steps in. In this episode, we unravel her tale from the precision of hearing aid devices to the personal touch of her Saskatoon clinic and expansion to a second location. Karen's anecdotes and expertise blend to paint a vivid picture of the challenges and triumphs in the world of audiology and expanding business.
Imagine being thrust from the security of public service into the wilds of private practice. Karen's narrative is a beacon for any aspiring entrepreneur as she recounts the leap into establishing her own clinic, tapping into local resources and community support. Her strategic approach to customer feedback and the careful orchestration of marketing, especially poignant for those with hearing impairments, serves as a testament to the resourcefulness required to flourish in a specialized field. Join us for a conversation that's as much about the hurdles of starting a business as it is about the unwavering determination to succeed.
Karen peels back the curtain on the decision to expand during the unpredictable times of a global pandemic, revealing the intricacies of opening a second location and the delicate balance of business growth and practicality. Through her stories, we learn the loyalty found in rural customer bases and the unparalleled support of tight-knit communities. Whether you're a small-town business owner or someone curious about the hidden aspects of audiology, Karen's journey with Thrive Hearing Solutions is sure to resonate and inspire.
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Winning is your guide to making it in business. Join our award-winning host and entrepreneur, Mackenzie Kilshaw, and special guests in casual conversations that will educate and inspire you on your business journey. Winning will help you learn the hard lessons the easy way, with guidance from celebrated entrepreneurs and business leaders. It's fun, it's informative, it's Winning.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Hello, welcome to Winning. I'm your host, Mackenzie Kilshaw, and today's guest is Karen Sharpe. Hi, Karen, hi, Mackenzie, how are you? I'm really good, how are you?
Karen Sharpe:I'm wonderful.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Thank you So Karen is a doctor of audiology and the owner of Thrive Hearing Solutions. Karen actually is from Saskatchewan, but she lived and worked in Arizona for many years with a focus on molecular implants, auditory brain stem implants, hearing aids and bone-anchored hearing aids. That sounds like a lot of science to me. She moved back to Saskatoon in 2009 and worked for the Saskatchewan Health Authority for several years before venturing out on her own and opening the doors of Thrive in December of 2017. And then, only two years later, she opened a second location, which is we're going to talk a lot about today. So, Karen, thanks for being on. I should let people know Karen and I are not sisters, but we are basically like sisters. We've known each other for a long time, and so this is just going to be a really fun conversation about business, because we don't usually talk about that.
Karen Sharpe:We never talk about business, do we?
Mackenzie Kilshaw:No, we rarely talk about everything but yeah, exactly, very rarely. So, Karen, why don't you start? I know I just did a little brief bio on you, but why don't you start by telling the audience a little bit about yourself and what it is that you do at Thrive?
Karen Sharpe:So we are a full service hearing clinic, so we do audiology assessments for children, adults, We service hearing aids, we sell hearing aids, we hearing protection, kind of everything. But what I used to do, which was the cochlear implants and the brain stem implants, we don't do that anymore.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, and it's amazing actually in my family there's been a few of my family members that have visited you lately and gotten hearing aids and you don't realize how much you can't hear until you can't hear is what they tell me.
Karen Sharpe:You know what? That's true and I will tell you. When I was a little baby audiologist many years ago this is one of my favorite stories I had a couple sitting in front of me and it was a husband and a wife. And the husband was there and the wife was really mad at him because he had hearing loss and she was upset because he wasn't listening. And he turned to me and he said no one ever gets mad at you because you're blind, because they can see a cane or they can see these things, and hearing loss is an invisible disability and that really stuck with me and for a lot of people. When the hearing loss is from noise or as you get older, it happens gradually and you don't notice until maybe the people around you do and they start getting mad at you.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, for sure. Well, my family coming from an agriculture background, all that loud machinery I know really takes a toll on your hearing.
Karen Sharpe:It definitely does, and some people, like your family, are stubborn and don't want to wear hearing protection, even when I tell them to.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:You don't say. It's like when you see people at concerts with earplugs in and people are like, oh, they're wearing earplugs. No, actually, that's what you should be doing, isn't it?
Karen Sharpe:Definitely. Well, yeah, because you can hear the concert fine, especially if you're up front right. Oh, it's damaging.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, exactly Okay. So let's just backtrack here a little bit. How the heck do you become a doctor of audiology, and what is that?
Karen Sharpe:Well, so the entry level is a master's degree. So take a four-year undergraduate degree and it would be. I went to the state. So my undergraduate degree is in speech pathology, audiology, so it's communication disorders and then you go on and get a two-year master's in speech pathology or audiology, and I went the audiology route. In the states the doctorate became the entry level. So in Canada you have to be a master's, but in the states it's a doctorate. So that's what I went ahead and got when I was living down there, and then here I am, so it was an additional few years yeah and you don't ever really call yourself doctor Karen Sharp, but you definitely should, because that's a lot of times I do yeah you should do it more.
Karen Sharpe:A lot of education.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Especially when you're booking. They say when you're booking hotel rooms and dinner reservations, you should say doctor, even if you're not. There's just a little insight there. Maybe I'll try that. Yeah, they say you actually get better, like upgraded a room or anything, something. So give it a try, Let us know. Okay, okay, I will Okay. So you live in the states, you get your doctorate, you move back to your hometown of Saskatoon, You're working at the sketch and health authority. Life's going great. What made you take those steps to start your own clinic?
Karen Sharpe:Well, I kind of didn't have a choice because I was laid off. So there were some budget cuts in 2017, and I was one of those budget cuts and I looked around and looked at the environment and I thought, well, I don't think they need more audiologists in private practice. So here I am.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, it's really crazy because so many people actually start their entrepreneurial journey by getting laid off or like their job is cut positions, whatever it happens to be, and, like you say, you kind of had to, like you're almost forced to do that. I mean, your path has gone quite well for you, which you're going to talk about, but that must have been really hard to get laid off and then have to, like, make this leap into business.
Karen Sharpe:Yeah, it was really hard because I was definitely a public servant through and through right Both my parents teacher and a firefighter and then I got my education and pretty much went right into public service. So I didn't really have that entrepreneur background. So that was a really g jump from that nice nine to five. And you know I miss that. I definitely miss miss working with my kids, that you know my cochlear implant population and those high needs that you can't really serve as well in private practice because they're so time intensive. So I definitely miss that yeah.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Okay. So when you, you decide, okay, I have to do this, I got to make my own. You said it was scary, which I? I didn't have to do it, I did it by choice and I was absolutely terrified. What were some things that got you over that fear, like? Was it talking to other people or getting advice, or what helped you get past that hump?
Karen Sharpe:Yeah, I talked to everybody. I think I talked to you as as as the clinic was being built, I spent a lot of time in your back office. Yeah, yeah, Using Wi-Fi. But, yeah, I talked to you. I talked to people at WESK were helpful women entrepreneurs of Saskatchewan. So it was just like, oh my God, what do I do? So all I knew was I had to get a lawyer and an accountant and then started asking around for help. So there's a lot of resources for for help, but it was still, yeah, a pretty big leap when you have no, no business background.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, that's the thing too. I mean I, when I went through it, I did have a commerce degree, so I'd taken accounting and financing, financing, oh wow, finance, marketing, hr, whatnot. But for someone like yourself that you're in the healthcare industry, that would have been a big scary moment of I don't even really know where to start Like how do I even begin? Right, yeah, yeah. WESK is a great organization, as you talked about.
Karen Sharpe:Yes, yeah, they sure are, and they have a lot of tools that can help you. I mean, I knew how to put together a business plan, right Like you know how to do those kind of things, or I guess.
Shauna Foster:I had a little bit of background in that.
Karen Sharpe:Yeah, and it wasn't hard and I I think what one of the advantages I had was that I know Saskatoon really well because, yeah, while I lived in the States, I'm from here. So when it came to demographics or you know when they talk about, well, you need to nail down your demographics I knew where to go.
Shauna Foster:And.
Karen Sharpe:I knew what location was. Maybe which one would be better than another.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, I think that's so important too is obviously knowing your clientele and who is your perfect person that's going to come to you and support you. And I think that is one of the things that when you are in a community and starting your business within that community, not only do you know the community, but they know you, so you're more apt to have people supporting you a local person than possibly a franchise or a you know, huge company owned business. That starts because people know you, they want to support you right.
Karen Sharpe:Yeah right, I think that makes a big difference.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Oh yeah, huge, and I know that you were nominated for quite a few awards and things like that, which really gets you into the community but also gets the community to come and support you too, right.
Karen Sharpe:Yeah, and those were you know. Yeah, it was like such a cool thing. When people they leave you good reviews, they leave you, you know, notes and messages, that wow, that really like really pumps your tires right, it makes a big difference.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, it sure does.
Karen Sharpe:You're reviewing some like a McDonald's sounds good, the hamburger was good. Today no one sees that, no one cares. When you're supporting local, it really makes a big difference.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Well, for sure, and reviews are such a huge thing.
Karen Sharpe:Now, like I, don't know, they really seem to be.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, like, if I'm looking for anything, I'll go and I'll read the reviews, right? What do people think? Do they have a good experience, a bad experience? Or it's a shopping, like somewhere to go buy clothing or a service like yourself? Right, you want to know before you get there. What do I expect? Were people happy, or did I only see a whole bunch of negative? Guess what, I'm not going there.
Karen Sharpe:Yeah, right, yeah, I think. Yeah, that as well. And I think another thing that helped is, I guess, as an aside, was television. So we put ourselves, we just did Christmas greetings for a while, because I think in a visual medium our folks that have hearing impairment, it allows them to connect, see us and connect with us. Yeah, versus, if they just heard it or read it. So I found that to be really helpful.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:For sure, and especially for you, that's providing a service that's quite personal, right, and hearing that is such a big thing in your life. To know the person that you're going to be working with, I think is really important and any type of service that's hands on, like that, that's such a good piece of advice for them is get your face out there and be authentic, right, and let them know who you are so that they recognize you and maybe they don't need your service today but in a month from now or three months from now they're like oh yeah, I saw that, Karen woman, I should go there right. Like it's just that recognition and especially for personalized service, very important.
Karen Sharpe:Yeah, and I think you touched on it when you said authenticity. So, like they, yeah, they can make that connection with you and they know what they're getting and what's they going and who they're coming to who they're coming to yeah, who they're coming to, and just being yourself is really important. I guess that's what I was going for.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, for sure. And that goes for like yourself, you did TV ads. That goes for on your social media. That goes for when they walk through the door, right Like if you present yourself just as you are and they see it on your Instagram and Facebook and then they see it on TV. And then they walk in your door and they see you and you're exactly what they've seen. It all comes together.
Karen Sharpe:Right, yeah, and I think it's, and we work with. I mean, like I said, we work with all ages, but I think it's especially valuable to those that we work the most with, which would be people like in their older years, like they want to know who they're going to and they want to make that connection with that person, and it's really important.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:And also, when you're looking at something like hearing aids, your price point is high. This isn't a $100 thing. They want to trust you, right, so you've earned their trust by being authentic and showing them who you are and when they trust you and they trust what you say and, yes, you do need these hearing aids, or whatever it is that you're doing for them. That's going to increase your business and revenue also, right, by just being real.
Karen Sharpe:Yeah, I think so, I think that helps.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, for sure, I don't think it matters what industry you're in. Being authentic and real and transparent is going to get you way further.
Karen Sharpe:I agree, and I think you would know that better than I would, because my niche and my industry is, like I'm holding up my fingers like pretty much centimeter apart, like what I know is so, so small compared to you know your experience and your you know the different spaces you've filled. So I think you're right. Yeah, like no matter what you do, whether it's clothing or whether it's customer service being authentic is a big deal.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:For sure. My theory when I had my clothing stores was always we're truthful to clients, because there's nothing worse than someone coming out you know, their son's getting married or they have a big job interview maybe, and they have an outfit on that you can tell is not the best for them or they don't feel good in it. They don't have. You know, they should come out feeling proud and like what, their shoulders held high, like, oh, I love the way I love to feel. And if they don't, you know that's not the right thing for them to say, oh, that looks fantastic on you, oh, you definitely need to buy this, like that was the exact opposite of what we did.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:We're like you know what we can do better than this. This is fine, but we can do better Right and find that thing because can you imagine getting an outfit for a really important event or whatever it happens to be? And then people are like what is she wearing? That's that does not look good, doesn't fit properly, isn't appropriate, whatever it is. No, you want to feel good, you want to have self confidence and let's like talking about hearing, if you're maybe, like my family, a little stubborn, as we said that are like I'm fine, I don't need to get those hearing aids. And you, you're probably self conscious about wearing them, right, right?
Karen Sharpe:Yes, and it's also associated with being old. Right, hearing loss affects everybody. You can be born with hearing loss. You can get it when you're older, but I think it's the stigma also. I don't want them because it'll make me look old.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, yeah, and really in the reality, who cares as long as you can hear. It's like wearing glasses. You know, when I was a kid, grade three I got glasses. Oh, I'm going to be called a dork now or whatever. It was Right. Well, I couldn't see so being able to see kind of how to out trump that Right, but it's the same. With that I had hearing loss. I had to go see Karen. I played fastball my whole life Never got hurt. I was playing in a slow pitch beer league in all reality is a very casual game. Rather large man hit a ground ball that I went after and it hit a rock and came up and hit me right in the head.
Karen Sharpe:So the rock that hit you or no, the ball, the ball hit me, I guess. Yeah, yeah, it was like the ball hit the rock.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:The rock hop popped up, of course, concussion, blood, all the gross things. Severe ringing in my ear that was what really got me. Was that severe ringing? I always say it was like a cartoon where they like see the stars. That's how I felt. The ringing was so hard and I still don't have all the hearing back in my left ear and yeah, I mean, this is 10 years ago so it's not coming back now. So the likelihood that I need to come at some point I'm in my 40s, maybe soon and right and get something to help me.
Karen Sharpe:It's coming to me anyway.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, well, I should, I should anyways, but I mean it's just, it is what it is. Right, that was an accident thing that happened, but hearing is so important and it affects everything that you do in your life, right, yeah, okay, so I want to talk a lot about second location. And okay, so you started your first business and within two years you opened a second location, which is pretty fast, if especially considering that you started a brand new business, like you said, you kind of you got help but you kind of had to figure things out. So kind of I guess a couple of things was why did you decide to open the second location? And then, second of all, how did you go about doing that?
Karen Sharpe:So I had a little help with my second location too, but I had when I was with the health authority, which at the time was the Saskatoon Health Region. We did clinics like rural clinics and one of my clinics was Melfort. So I was actually already looking around, looking to go to the Melfort-Tisdale area because I missed my patients and I knew I could bring that service to them. And I had a colleague who already had a clinic in Nippon and she said hey, I'm kind of busy. Would you maybe want to take this over? And I'll just leave it to you and you can do the follow-ups. I'll just let my patients know that they can see you or they can see me. And that's what we did. So I mean it wasn't a start from scratch per se. I had a lot of help on that end too.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, that's good because you did already have clients and probably space.
Karen Sharpe:There was space, yeah yeah, it was actually in the Nippon Hospital and I will tell you I just love the people there. But when COVID hit, you know it just was too difficult, right, everything was shut down. So then you had to. So that was the biggest challenge was trying to find another space during COVID.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Okay, so you had to move out of your space during COVID. Covid really just was a little jam, wasn't it Just gave us all so many new opportunities. Okay so you can't be in the hospital. So now you live and have a business in Saskatoon area, and now you have to find a second or an additional location at your second location, because you can't be in your first location at your second location, right? So?
Karen Sharpe:For a few months I had. I was looking online and calling people, but I, you know I need to service those patients. Like hearing aids aren't a one-size-fits-all right. Yes, so I had to see those patients and follow up. Because everything was shut down so fast, I ended up renting like the entire conference room at a hotel just so I could like follow up with those patients. So I started calling around and I ended up calling the Chamber of Commerce in Nipawin who said, oh hey, we have a room, do you want to rent it? And I said, yeah, I'll just rent it until you know I can go back to the hospital. And that was three years ago. It's just over and I never went back and the Chamber's been. We have a great time there, so that's really our new home there.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, that's actually great advice to is reaching out to the local Chamber of Commerce wherever you are, because they know what's going on.
Karen Sharpe:Totally, and I'm a member of Saskatoon. I was like what am I thinking? I'll just reach out to the Chamber of Nipawin and see what they know, because I couldn't get anywhere with, like it's hard to get those, the businesses in, the landlords. It's a small town. You can like literally walk in and ask people, but they just kind of look at you strange. Yeah. Or difficulty getting a hold of landlords that are God knows where, like wherever they live, like because they're not on location. So the best, that's right.
Karen Sharpe:Honestly, the Chamber was like the best decision.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:That. Yeah, that's great advice, because I think a lot of times we don't think about that, but they know what's going on in the business community. And I mean for you it happened to be that they had a space. That's probably not usually what happens.
Karen Sharpe:No, I don't think that's usually what happens, but they ended up having someone moving out in like a month, so I moved in the next month and it was just perfect timing.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, that's awesome. So what has been positive about that second location?
Karen Sharpe:It's going to sound silly, like the hospital didn't have any. You were like kind of back and you were in the specialist area. What I'm going to say is the windows, the parking, like things, that's brighter, but the parking actually. So I'm thinking like it's kind of not about me, it's about my patients and the parking right outside the door was huge for them. There's lots of parking, it's easy to get in, it's easy to get out. It's one floor and during COVID times they didn't have to fill out, like you know, the form you had to fill out the symptoms. They didn't have to do that, so it was just easy and out.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I think you really hit the nail on the head when you said do what's best for your, for you as patients, clients, whatever it happens to be, do what's best for them. Sometimes that's an inconvenience to you. I mean you had to move, but that's a big deal moving a business. But when you do what's best for your clients, that's why they return and that's why they come to you. Right, you made it easy for them, especially when you do have an older, aged clientele. Something as simple as we think of as parking they can just pull up in front of the door and walk in. That's huge for them.
Karen Sharpe:Right. Well, even in my Saskatoon location, when I was looking for a location, I would not consider it unless the parking was free and close by and had like accessible parking. That was actually my number one. My number one like what do you need?
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I'm like free, accessible parking, yeah it's true, I was the same with clothing store because I thought if people have to drive around and look for a parking spot or pay for a parking spot, they might just leave because I've done that right. I've done that where I'm like, oh, I'm going to go to this place and I drive around for 15 minutes and I'm like, well, now I don't even have time to stop because I got to be at the next place. So then you just abandon that thought. And it's a deterrent, especially that we just talked about. Maybe they're a little bit apprehensive about coming to see you or about getting hearing aids. That's just one more thing. Oh well, it's hard to park there. Or if you give them less things to worry about, they're more apt to come see you.
Karen Sharpe:True. Another thing I always tell my patients when they sit in front of me and have a hearing loss, I always say no one's ever here because they want to be. No one ever sees me because they want to. They're here because they have to be.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, you're kind of like going to the dentist or yeah, you're here because you have to be. Yeah, you're doing it for the better good but, I agree, it's not really where I want to come and spend my day. Sorry to tell you that, Karen, but it's true though. But the more inviting you can make it, the better off you are Right.
Karen Sharpe:Yeah, and that was my husband that did the interior. So if you ever see my interior, that was totally my husband. I said make it not look like a hearing clinic, make it not look medical, make it look nice.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, you've got a great office and I've been there. I was there before you even started the building of it.
Shauna Foster:So I kind of saw from everywhere.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:But it's true, though If you make it more of an experience and more unique and less for you, especially clinical, right or less like everybody else, you're definitely going to have more clients, and clients that are loyal and stick to you because they appreciate that experience.
Karen Sharpe:I think so. Yeah, that's unique.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, exactly, it's true. It brings people back, that's for sure. Okay, let's talk about drawbacks. What have been some of the drawbacks, or what's been hard with having a second location?
Karen Sharpe:I think just obviously we're not staffed all the time, where there are a couple times a month, and that was actually another huge advantage to the chamber is there's some at least there's someone there all the time or most of the time, and now she's used to people coming in and going like is Karen here today? Because that's what they'll do, right.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, yeah.
Karen Sharpe:They're set times so sometimes we have to mix them up because they want to come by. But yeah, not having dedicated staff there is a big drawback, even though we have a whole lot of help and just Nipawin is, like two and three-quarter hours away from here. So the travel and then just having two locations and having to set up and take down Again. Having a permanent location at the chamber has been easier than the hospital. There's less to take down in terms of equipment and more to leave there, but that's the travel part of it and just not having people there all the time. But again, it's kind of not about me, it's about them. So I'm able to offer that service rather than them having to come to Nipawin for whatever they need and a lot of the follow-ups. We're seeing people two, three, four, five times, so we're saving them a lot of time by me being there.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I think, too, when people are looking at opening another location, whatever their business is, the travel that you were just talking about gets often forgotten, because it's not just oh well, I have to, okay for you two hours 45 minutes to get there, it's not just that two hours and 45 minutes to drive there and to drive home, it's now that affects your other business, because you can't be there for that time.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:And then that affects your personal life because you can't be for your kids or your husband or your friends or whatever it is, because you might quit at five but you have almost a three-hour drive back. And I think that's something that I hear lots of people say like yeah, I'm going to open another location, whatever, it's going to be great, I'll just go there once a week or whatever, it will be fine. And then that once a week turns into every second week and then once a month, and then they hardly go and things start slipping. I mean, for you it's different because you're actually hands-on, but for me at a clothing store I went every week for a long time and then I went kind of every 10 days or every other week, frankly, because personally I personally it was a lot on me, like physically it was a lot on me.
Karen Sharpe:Yeah, right, yeah, I think another, now that you say that another drawback is, my Saskatoon location gets left alone, and one of the things that's unique is, if you're handling hearing aids, you have to either be an audiologist or a hearing instrument practitioner, which means, if I were to have someone cover off, I can't just have someone cover off, I actually have to hire somebody. Yeah, I mean, there's, yeah, red tape in terms of the, the ministry of health, in terms of what I have to do to hire somebody. Additionally, which is quite expensive, I have to hold a $10,000 bond table to the ministry of health, so that it's a really big investment for me to employ somebody like another me. So it actually makes sense for me just not to have anybody.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, and that's the other thing too is that you're not hiring minimum wage staff, then you're hiring someone that is a big wage, so your volume has to be there in order for you to pay to have them. Right, right, you probably have to sell twice as much Right To warrant it, right? Yeah, that's I was going to actually ask you about adding staff. And and do you do it on your own? Because a lot of people are like yourself, where you're the business, right, you are the business, so you maybe can have a receptionist or someone to answer the phone, but you have to be the one that's actually doing the job.
Karen Sharpe:Right, and yeah, like I said, it's actually really difficult unless I can do, I almost have to be at the top of the volume that I can do and not be able to handle it. Or I can employ someone else and pay them because, you're right, it's a specialist, whether it's another audiologist or hearing instrument practitioner, they have to, then they have to be able to pump out as much volume. So it's very difficult and yeah, so, and perhaps if I, you know, had a more business background, I could have done that sooner or could do it now. I potentially could do it now, probably, but I just am hesitant to take that lead.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, that's the thing, because it's also scary, right, because you have to be. You made a really good point here. I want to just go back to it. You have to basically be turning away clients before you can bring on that second person, right, right, when they're a high, high priced wage earner, because otherwise you're paying them to not do anything, which means no revenue, but they're still the expense of paying them, right, yeah, yeah, it's a really fine line, isn't it? And I don't. I think you, I guess you'd have to, in your own business, sit down and decide what is that threshold, at what, whether it's time or money or whatever it is? At what time do you have to make that leap? Because it's a big one.
Karen Sharpe:Yeah, yeah, and I I don't want to make it and be like sorry, I can't keep you, it's too soon.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:That's right that's right.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:And this goes for hiring another like person, like another, Karen, basically. But this also goes for small business where, at what time maybe, do you hire somebody to do your marketing, or to hire somebody or just simply more staff? We're just too busy that people are actually leaving without buying anything because we're too busy to help them. That's a problem. That's a good problem to have, but that's a problem right, because now you're losing money, so you almost have to sit down and figure out what is that that mark? And then, once we hit that mark, that's when we're going to get another person, or we're going to hire something out or someone else to do something in our business, and I think that's a really good point. Doesn't matter what business you're in, you have to know what that that point is, or you're never going to grow, right? You're just going to stay the same as you are, forever, right? Yeah? And as we all know, your lease will become more, your supplies will become more, everything's going to become more. So how do you compensate for that?
Karen Sharpe:Right, I know, and everything's yeah. Boy, the price of everything's gone quite a bit up.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I was visiting my grandma the other day and she's we're talking about the cost of a loaf of bread and it's just crazy. And as business owners, we have to be creative and we have to know these numbers. What is our threshold, so that we know when it's time to grow and expand? Because your expenses are going to keep catching up to you, right, so you have to be able to to be ahead of them, because you need to make profit. That's how you live, right?
Karen Sharpe:Right and I don't know what that threshold is. I suppose I should. Probably. I don't feel like I'm approaching it yet. It's a big part of that. I think it's still manageable to go between those two locations, yeah, but yeah, you have to, you have to know what that is and I suppose there's probably a lot of planning and planning ahead and I think again, probably someone like WESK would be able to help or, yep, you could hire a business consultant. I betcha they'd know, you know they'd be able to sit down with you. But I don't. I don't feel like we're approaching that yet.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:We're not doing enough volume and it's funny because I betcha if we asked 10 small business owners the same question, everyone would say the exact same thing as you. I'm not exactly sure what it is. We're probably getting close to it, but we don't because the thing is we don't oftentimes think about that sort of thing a lot, and that really is a strategy. When you said there's planning involved and things you have to do there definitely is right. So I think this is a good lesson for everyone. Listening is to sit down and try to figure out what that threshold is and at what point. Right, because that might seek up on you and you don't want it to get past you. Right, like you want to be able to be on top of it, and so that's a really good point that you just made, and we weren't even trying to make that point, but it's, it's so good.
Karen Sharpe:I do agree like there should be and I'm guilty of not doing it but strategic planning, probably once a year. It's like, okay, what are we gonna do? Because I try and do that with marketing I'm the worst at it, but you like you should sit down and plan once a year, so, whether it's marketing or growth or whatever. So, yeah, for sure, I do that sometimes, not always, you know what you know, what we?
Mackenzie Kilshaw:We had an episode on goal setting and it's kind of the same thing.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:It's like we talk about doing it and we know we should do it, but a lot of times we just don't do it because we're doing other things. It's not maybe our strong suit, like you said, the numbers like I don't know how to figure it out. So you're kind of like, well, just leave it because I don't know how to do it. But I think this is a good point to say. It is important and that is the time when you can reach out to a business coach or like WESK. Honestly, when we're not entrepreneurs, if you're in Saskatchewan and there's organizations like that all over they, if they can't help you, they can at least point you in the direction of someone that can, which I think is really important, because you want your business to be able to be ahead of everything right, inflation and your expenses and you want to be able to be growing at a good pace and that is the best way to do it. For sure, was there anything that surprised you with the second location, good or bad, um?
Karen Sharpe:What's the problem? I'm sure something will come to me, but I can't think of what surprised me. I mean, there's not a lot of surprises at small towns to Saskatchewan, right? So yeah there's not a whole lot of surprises um.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I guess you knew what you were getting into because you had already been going there for a previous job.
Karen Sharpe:I guess the main difference is yeah, I was going there with the health region and they already knew, but I guess for me there's less marketing to be done, so that was a bit of a surprise. I still did it. And then I was like, oh everybody knows, because word got out that the girl from Saskatoon has you know, has a hearing aid. She's at the chamber, let's go see what she's up to. So we get a lot of walk-ins. Yeah, that is true. People just talk to each other.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:So that's all part of, though, being small towns of Saskatchewan and knowing that Well, and I think that's all business right Is either you make a plan to execute something that you don't actually need, like that marketing, or something happens that you just honestly did not think about that. All of a sudden you're like, oh, we got to fix it. I mean, maybe in your case that was COVID, which of course, no one's had COVID coming. But okay, we have to find a new location, like tomorrow, right?
Karen Sharpe:Yeah, and I think, being a really small business, it's easier because you can pivot.
Shauna Foster:Yes.
Karen Sharpe:You can pivot fast. I didn't have to rely on like somebody else going okay, sure, like let us scope out locations for you, maybe. So I was just able to be like okay, sounds good, I'll just do what I want.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, yeah. I'm just fortunate for you because the next time it might not go that way or it might right, you just never know. But that definitely is a pro for having a business in a rural or a small town location, and I think a lot of people are apprehensive about opening businesses in smaller centers because I think I don't have as many people. But you would be surprised at the people that you do have, how loyal they are to you to want to support you.
Karen Sharpe:Yeah, and I really I really enjoy Nipawin. We love the community, we love the people and there's people that come from the surrounding community and yeah, we just love it there and it's. We love Saskatoon too, but yeah, the second location, we really enjoy it.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:That's awesome. I'm glad that the second location has been such a positive thing for you. Do you have a most important lesson that you can share, or something that you think everyone in business should know?
Karen Sharpe:Probably don't be afraid to ask for help, because I think I'm bad for getting stuck Like if I don't know what to do, I'll just sit there and freak out and maybe not reach out and ask for help. So that would be my biggest ask just start asking around.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I could not agree more. I thought, being an entrepreneur, I had to do everything on my own. And then I realized bookkeeping and things like that. I was like I don't know what I'm doing, I'm spending all this time. I asked a few friends, found a good bookkeeper and yeah, I had to pay them, but I never worried about it again.
Karen Sharpe:Yeah best advice yeah, that's, that's. Good advice, too, is just finding someone else to do those things, because you do have to do a lot, but you don't have to do all of it, and those are important things 100%.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, yeah, things that can actually really affect your business if they're not done properly right. Is there anything you wish you had known or wish you had known sooner?
Karen Sharpe:Probably the same thing ask for help, be more on top of it. Like I think you just get so involved in the day-to-day business and it's easy for me to be an audiologist. The other stuff's harder, so it's easier for me to concentrate on being an audiologist and not run the business stuff. So probably asking for help and get more help as soon as you can, because if it gets away from you, like from my marketing plan that I set out to do yearly and never do, perhaps I should be farming that out. Or the books or like those things like you get behind really fast, yeah, I could agree more, so that would be my advice I could agree more.
Karen Sharpe:Yeah, Do what you're good at right, yeah, do what you're good at, and then I wrote the rest.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:If you can, well, and for you, especially for you, you are the business, right, you're the one that makes the business the money, so you're better off to see a patient than you are to be doing your books. Simple as that, right, yeah yeah, Karen, where can people find you? I know that you have Facebook and Instagram, but what's the best place for people to find you? Sorry?
Karen Sharpe:Well, we have. I guess you could find us in Nipawin In person. You could find us at the Chamber of Commerce in Nipawin, N Railway Street. Here we're in Saskatoon, on Ludlow ST, but you can always visit our website at www. ThriveHearing. ca and reach out to us that way. We definitely have a storefront. If you want to drop by, we'd love to see you.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:And just be careful we definitely take walk-ins.
Karen Sharpe:Yeah, we do.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:And you'll see Karen. Thank you so much, Karen. Thank you.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I just appreciate it a lot. I know a second location. I've been there. It's a crazy roller coaster ride and there's so many rewarding things and I know Nipawin is really close to your heart. So thank you for sharing your experience with the audience and with me as well, and for everybody listening. We'll see you on the next episode. Thanks for listening to Winning. Be sure to subscribe to get all of our new episodes. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others, post about it on social media and leave a rating and review wherever you listen to Winning. To catch all of the latest from us, you can follow Winning Podcast on Instagram at Winning podcast, Facebook at Winning Podcast and on Twitter at inning pod. Winning was created and is produced by me, Mackenzie Kilshaw music, created by Summer Firby, editing by Seth Armstrong. Special thanks to Shauna Foster for voicing our opening and, of course, a huge thank you to this episode's guest. Thanks again for listening and I'll see you on the next episode.
