Ep 127 – Kelly Schuknecht, Two Mile High Marketing – The Agency Owner’s Visibility Plan: Podcasts, Stages, LinkedIn
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Featuring: Kelly Schuknecht, Two Mile High Marketing
In episode 127, I talk with Kelly Schuknecht, founder of Two Mile High Marketing and host of the Beyond the Best Seller podcast. Kelly shares her journey from being laid off to launching her agency, how she quickly built a team, and why she’s focused on helping agency owners and CEOs grow through thought leadership platforms. We dig into what I call The Agency Owner’s Visibility Plan—a repeatable system of podcasts, stages, and LinkedIn that helps agencies build authority, stay top-of-mind, and consistently attract clients.
Key Bytes
• The Agency Owner’s Visibility Plan comes down to visibility, credibility, and consistency.
• Trusting yourself to leap without a safety net accelerates growth.
• Niching disqualifies the wrong buyers while pulling in the right ones.
• Visibility means showing up where your audience already is.
• Credibility is built in a snap judgment—package your proof.
• Consistency matters more than volume—set a realistic cadence.
• Every podcast interview can fuel a month’s worth of content.
• Delegating early unlocks owner time for actual growth work.
• In-person events still beat virtual for relationship building.Chapters
00:00 Introducing Kelly and the story behind “Two Mile High”
03:30 From acquisition layoff to launching an agency
06:45 Why she pivoted away from “fractional CMO”
09:55 The challenge and power of niching down
13:50 Hiring early and delegating with trust
16:20 The Visibility–Credibility–Consistency framework
19:55 A realistic cadence for LinkedIn, podcasts, and speaking
24:10 In-person vs. virtual events and AI’s limitations
26:45 Rapid Fire: superpowers, lessons learned, and marketing myths
Kelly Schuknecht is the founder of Two Mile High Marketing, where she partners with agency owners and business leaders to build powerful thought leadership platforms. With over 15 years of marketing experience and a track record of elevating brands from behind the scenes, Kelly now helps experts step into the spotlight through strategic content, visibility tactics, and authentic personal branding. She’s the host of Beyond the Bestseller, a podcast featuring women who use their stories to lead.
Connect with Kelly on their company website, personal website, or on LinkedIn.
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Steve / Agency Outsight (00:01.744)
Welcome to Agency Bytes, a podcast dedicated to helping creative entrepreneurs thrive. I'm Steve Guberman from Agency Outsite, where I coach agency owners to build the business of their dreams. This week, I'm joined by, shit, I didn't ask you how to pronounce your name. I'm gonna start that over again. I was like, I gotta remember, is it shuck necked? Shook necked, okay, shook necked. All right, start again. All right, welcome to Agency Bytes, a podcast dedicated to helping creative entrepreneurs thrive.
Kelly Schuknecht (00:14.958)
Shit.
ShoeKnecht.
Steve / Agency Outsight (00:31.034)
I'm Steve Guberman from Agency Outside where I coach agency owners to build the agency of their dreams. This week I'm joined by Kelly Shuknek, founder of Two Mile High Marketing and the host of Beyond the Best Seller podcast. With over 15 years of experience elevating brands from behind the scenes, Kelly now partners with agency owners and business leaders to build standout thought leadership programs through strategic content, visibility tactics and authentic personal branding. Welcome to the show.
blundered a couple of those big words. I'm glad to have you here.
Kelly Schuknecht (01:02.798)
Thanks for having me on, Steve. I'm super excited to have this conversation.
Steve / Agency Outsight (01:07.546)
Yeah, I'm grateful to have met you. recently met and I just kind of like felt connected, in a lot of ways. So, talk about your journey through launching two mile high. I love the name cause I freaking love Colorado, but like talk about the journey of launching that and where you are today.
Kelly Schuknecht (01:26.222)
Yeah, so yeah, Two Mile High was a dream I had a couple years ago. I came up with that business name and so I always want to explain where the name of my company came from because people are always like, what? is that? Why did you name your company that? Most people know of Denver as the mile high city and I actually live outside of Leadville, Colorado, which is at two miles high. So it's 10,200 feet.
And up here, you'll see some businesses, like we have a two mile high wrestling group, know, like, so two mile high is kind of a normal thing around here. So when I was thinking about my company, I, that was what I came up with just as a kind of like, that's the name I'm thinking about. And I bought the domain literally like two to three years ago. But I had a full-time job at the time. I was just thinking about what I was going to do when that full-time job ended because I.
Steve / Agency Outsight (02:05.607)
Mm-hmm.
Kelly Schuknecht (02:23.18)
suspected it was going to end because the company that I was working for was acquired. So being in marketing.
Steve / Agency Outsight (02:28.146)
So it ended kind of against your will. Outside of your desires or timing, it forced you into something.
Kelly Schuknecht (02:34.27)
Yes. so, you you know, like marketing is going to be one of the first things to go when when companies are either struggling with finances or when they're where we're an acquisition comes into play. Right. So we were acquired. My company was 12 million. The company that acquired us was 60 million. They had a marketing team. The marketing team was like, yeah, we don't need you. And so nobody, you know.
for a couple of years, everyone was saying, nothing's gonna happen. We're merging the teams. I was hearing that, but I wasn't feeling that. So I started thinking about, okay, what would I do next? So I bought the domain and I created a website, which was real sad at the time. But it was just like those beginning steps of dreaming about that, thinking about what I would do.
So when the time came last year when they said, no longer need your services anymore, I was like, okay, I gave it about a week, honestly. I gave it a couple days of like, okay, what am I gonna do? Am I gonna really do this and dive in or am I gonna apply for jobs? And actually Carl Smith, the bureau, I don't know what his title is, but the Bureau King, yeah, okay.
Steve / Agency Outsight (03:33.062)
Yeah.
Steve / Agency Outsight (03:50.758)
He's He's the king. You just, yeah, yeah, king of the bureau.
Kelly Schuknecht (03:54.432)
Yeah, I actually had a phone call with him and I said, hey, I'm thinking about this and I'm thinking about joining the bureau, Bureau of Digital. And he was like, yeah, do it. And I think it was like that day or the next day I registered my business and I started down that path and have not looked back for a second. So, yeah, so that's how 2Bell High Marketing came about. you know, I originally thought that we were going to do
fractional CMO services. That was kind what I had in my mind. That when it came time to actually open the doors and say who we were and what we were doing, I decided to change that a little bit because I felt like what I was seeing, there's so many people out there providing fractional services. And so for one, it's hard, know, how do you stand out from somebody else? And also how do you really go to market in a way that's
on what we provide. Fractional CMO could be so many different things. And fractional CMO to me was this high level strategy, which we want to bring to our clients, but we also want to bring the very tactical approach of here's exactly what you're going to get from us and what to expect. So all of that to say, I got very specific about our offering and we are very specific about
working with thought leaders, business owners, and helping them develop a thought leadership platform. So yeah, so that is what Two Mile High became after really kind of being forced to make a decision and move forward.
Steve / Agency Outsight (05:31.408)
I love that the universe was like, now is your time, like it or not, here's your pink slip, go do something else and you're like, let's launch it. When we first met, the teenager in me was like, two mile high, is that different than the mile high club? And I knew no business is gonna connect to anything like that, but that's just where the teenager in me went. I'm 13 year old at heart, so yeah.
Kelly Schuknecht (05:47.662)
Oh yeah, and I also have to tell everyone it's not a cannabis marketing company. It's not that.
Steve / Agency Outsight (05:54.404)
In Colorado, everything is a cannabis marketing company, whether you like it or not. Yeah. So, so the two things that people need to do when they're launching a business, register the LLC and then join the bureau and then you're done. You've got a business. You're ready to go. Yeah.
Kelly Schuknecht (05:56.896)
Right. I mean, I guess we could do that too, but yeah.
Kelly Schuknecht (06:08.022)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think I registered the business and about two weeks later I got my first client that came from a conversation at the bureau. So it was pretty, yeah.
Steve / Agency Outsight (06:17.37)
And you're niched in thought leadership, but also for agency leaders. Okay.
Kelly Schuknecht (06:23.054)
Yes. So I actually just went to a webinar this morning. It was talking about, you know, getting very specific about who your target audience is and how all marketing companies, even though we tell people to do this, we struggle with this ourselves. And I'm definitely in that place of struggling with it. 80 % of my clients are marketing agencies. So I know that is the direction I need to go. And yet it is really hard to niche yourself when you feel like you're
closing doors to other opportunities. But I know, Steve, I know. I know that's what I'm doing.
Steve / Agency Outsight (06:55.423)
So you're the third phone call I've had today. This isn't going to air until like September, but today is June 24th. You're the third phone call I've had today. The first was with a deeply niched agency owner. They are only in the law space. They niche through Blair Ends Workshop 15 years ago. And the key thing that Robert said was the only regret I have is that I didn't do it sooner. And the second person, they own two or three verticals. And I think that's okay. I'll allow it.
Kelly Schuknecht (07:17.102)
Yeah.
Steve / Agency Outsight (07:22.95)
the guy who's yelling, niching from the rooftops. Generalists are dying faster than anything else in the marketing space. And it's not because of AI, it's because of lack of clarity. It's because they don't know how to attract the right clients and they're not proving their expertise. And they can't be all things to all people. where profits matter most is when the economy is F'd, pardon my French, and the best way to be profitable is to be niched in services. So you're on the right path.
Yes, you got it girl, do it, own it. Agencies, they suck at marketing. They're the first to own it. Like, yeah, we do it great for everybody else. We suck at it for ourselves. How many agency websites have you been on where they have an outdated news section or a blog that hasn't had a blog post, right? That's what you exist for now.
Kelly Schuknecht (08:12.172)
Right, right. Yeah, I know it and we're getting better at it, right? But the reality is, and I think why people struggle with it so much is I have other people coming to me going, hey, can you help me? Right? So I have a sales call next week with an accounting firm. So yeah, so it's hard to say, you know, we don't work with accounting firms. I guess I'm curious about your take on that. So.
When you get more specific in your niche, and so the language you're speaking on your website, the language you're speaking on LinkedIn or whatever social media you're using, speaking to that niche, how do you say they should handle if somebody comes to them that's outside of that niche? Is that something they should turn away or still bring on clients that are outside of that niche?
Steve / Agency Outsight (09:02.574)
That's one of the bigger questions. Agencies are like, I don't want to say no to free money. And it's not free money because, so there's a couple of factors there. The first is in the early days of niching, I'm all for, no, don't say no, because you need the cash when you need the cash. Doing work outside of your niche is going to be more expensive. If they're coming to you, it's not more expensive to sell, to find that work and sell it. But if you're chasing work that's outside your niche,
proving your expertise is gonna put you up against actual experts. So you're wasting your time, right? But if your messaging is all about agency, agency, agency, and an accounting firm comes to you, that should disqualify them. two mile high doesn't work with us. Why would we knock on their door? They must really want something you've got. And so there's nothing wrong with saying, bring your team in and saying, right, can we do this? Can we do it profitably? Can we do it effectively?
Is this an opportunity to open the door to an adjacent B2B services firms is who we work with now or open the door to a secondary vertical that you want to niche into and that's okay. But chasing it, no. If they knock on your door, consider it. If it makes good sense, maybe give it a shot. But again, it should disqualify them. Like that's the beauty of being so well-nitched. Again, I'm going to reference Robert just because he's so fresh in mind.
Great Jakes is his agency and all the messaging is we only work with high-end law firms. We only work with global law firms. That's it. So for somebody else to knock on their door doesn't make any sense. Yeah.
Kelly Schuknecht (10:41.518)
Right, right, yeah, okay, well, we'll keep talking about that, Steve.
Steve / Agency Outsight (10:45.906)
You're such a good podcast and you reversed the interview onto me.
Kelly Schuknecht (10:50.478)
Well, I have my own podcast, so I'm so used to asking the questions and I just, you know, that's what I do.
Steve / Agency Outsight (10:55.309)
Yep. Yep. On the same way. I love it. All right. So you're a year-ish in. Celebrate the heck out of you as a risk taker, as an entrepreneur, as a female business owner. Like, yay, I'm a cheerleader big time for that. How, so the dream that you had, you were like, I had a dream of one day, are you achieving that dream? it, you know, dream becoming reality? Is it beyond where you thought? Is it not quite there? Where, how do you gauge it?
Kelly Schuknecht (11:21.198)
Yeah, I think so. think, you know, for the first few months, it didn't feel real. Even though, I mean, within the first month, I hired two full time people. About five months in, I hired my third full time person and now we're looking for the next one or two people to bring on. yeah, I mean, so it's I think I'm still in this phase of like I go back and forth. I have days where I'm like,
I feel like I don't really have a job and I don't really, you know, it's like, I'm busy, but what am I doing? Like it feels not real. And then I have other days where I'm like, you know, like last week I hired my bookkeeper and that was like, my gosh, I need a bookkeeper to actually take this off my plate. Cause I don't know what I'm doing on finance, you know? And, but that was like, this is real. Like this is really happening. And yeah. So I think I'm, I think I, I don't know at what point it feels like.
settled in and like I this is the real thing, but I still go back and forth. Yeah
Steve / Agency Outsight (12:24.656)
I kind of hope it never feels settled in because I think owners who like settle in too much, they kind of rest on the laurels, which I was looking at plants the other day and there's a tree called a laurel. didn't realize that's where that might've come from. Anyway, I feel like you always kind of need to stay fresh. And the fact that so early on you're like delegating shit off your plate, big props to you and that entrepreneurial mindset because so many owners.
Kelly Schuknecht (12:45.283)
I am.
Steve / Agency Outsight (12:49.65)
takes three to five years for them to be like, I shouldn't be doing bookkeeping. I shouldn't be doing invoicing. I need somebody to do this. And you've got like a solid runway where you're bringing employees on in the first year. Like that's some, you're, cooking with fire. Yeah.
Kelly Schuknecht (13:02.978)
Well, will say, so, you I was a director for most of my career. I mean, I built teams and that's what I was good at. And I think the thing that, you know, one of the things that really stood out to me early on in this was that somebody told me like, you don't want to hire people because then you have to worry about, you know, keeping work coming for them and then you have to lay people off. But it was that comment that he made to me that I went, no, actually, I absolutely want to hire people because
That's what I actually do well, right? Like I can do the client services to a point, but really what I enjoy is building a team and building a culture where everyone's excited about what we're doing and who we're serving and how to improve our processes. And that's actually what I excel at. And so I think I was spoiled as a director where I had the ability to grow my team. And so as an owner, it was like, that's what I'm doing. And it just, wasn't even an option to not do it that way.
Steve / Agency Outsight (14:02.726)
Yeah, how big were the teams that you typically manage prior to this?
Kelly Schuknecht (14:06.222)
my team, so my previous job started with me. So same kind of thing where it was just me doing everything. when I left, it was, let's see, five full-time employees. And then we had three, contractors who were pretty almost full-time as well. So. Yeah. I mean, so to me, that's, that's normal. And I don't, you know, I don't know how to do everything myself and I'm not going to, I'm not going to try either. Like the bookkeeping piece was something that was like,
I don't know how to do this. I'm not doing this. I'm just good. And so, yeah, so I just know where my limits are. And if I'm not excelling at something, it's not worth me spending the time on it. I just need to get somebody who can handle that task or that role in a way that's better than me. So the person I hired basically to oversee all the operations, I think I do things well. And then I see the things that she does and I'm like, yeah, OK.
I made the right move by putting someone in that role because I can get a spy when it comes to systems, but I need that person who could make things better and can, you know, I mean, really when I see the things that she does, I'm like, I'm embarrassed that I thought I could do any of this. Right. And that's who I want to hire is those people who do things better than I do and let me focus on the things that I do do well. I don't know what those are yet, but you know, I think eventually I'll figure that out.
Steve / Agency Outsight (15:30.958)
You'll figure them out. But what you have figured out is the humility to know that you don't know it all, the humility to know that somebody can be smarter than you in A, B, and C, and you're gonna put somebody in that place to execute. And this is the key to delegation that most people miss. You're going to trust that person to have the autonomy to do their job based on whatever criteria you set. Maybe you agree on it together. Too many leaders, they're like, I delegated it, but I'm taking it back. I'm delegating it, but I'm micromanaging it. That's not, and so.
Kelly Schuknecht (15:56.019)
yes.
Steve / Agency Outsight (15:58.758)
You're figuring these things out really early and I'm super pumped for like the roadway you're building for yourself with that. That's really beautiful. Yeah. So talk about the work that you're doing for agencies. You talk a lot about visibility ecosystem and, and speaking and what they need to succeed as thought leaders. Cause Lord knows we need more agency thought leaders. So talk about that stuff.
Kelly Schuknecht (16:04.12)
Thank you.
Kelly Schuknecht (16:21.986)
Yeah. So I, you know, I, when I was in my job, I worked in, I basically my 20 year career so far, I worked for two CEOs where I was their go-to person. and in both roles, when I was kind of thinking about what it would look like on my own, I thought about the things that I felt like I had done well in my roles for those CEOs and the things that, I was able to build a team to help support.
them in those efforts. And what it really came down to for me was that thought leadership marketing where I ended up then creating a package where we help thought leaders with getting podcast interviews, doing their LinkedIn management and speaking events. Like those are our three kind of go-to, I always struggle with what you call these exactly pillars or, you know, go-to whatever. But those are the things that,
when I was working for somebody, I was helping them develop their platform as a thought leader by doing those things, right? We were getting them exposure. We were helping them build awareness for their company. We were helping their voice get out there to their target audience. And so those were the things that I wanted to be able to help other CEOs, other business owners be able to do. And I think that where I saw that it really resonated with people was when I would...
just kind of casually mentioned, this is what we do, and they would go, we really have been talking about how we need to get more speaking events. Like we need to do more speaking because we know that when we go out and speak, we get clients. So I would say, yeah, we can help you with that, right? Like, so it was just this really easy fit for a lot of business owners because they know they need to do it. They don't have the time to, I mean, we put out 10 to 15 speaking event applications per client per month. And
That's time consuming and they know that they don't have the time to do that. They don't have the specialty. They might have a marketing team, but their marketing team doesn't specialize in that. They're doing other things for the company. So it just, it resonated so well with people that I mean, like I literally will have a conversation with somebody and they will sign up on the spot or the next day. they just, they know they need it and they sign up. And so that to me was where I realized we really had tapped into a
Kelly Schuknecht (18:43.51)
an area where we can bring the most value to people and we're seeing that. So yeah, so that's how we help. also do ghost writing because I mentioned having this background for 20 years, my first 10 years in my career, I worked in a publishing company. And so I wanted to kind of bring that piece as well because thought leaders who are going out and speaking want to have that book in hand and they want to help.
Steve / Agency Outsight (18:47.046)
Mm-hmm.
Kelly Schuknecht (19:11.47)
really showcase their expertise. They want to share that thought leadership with their target audience. So that was another piece of what we could offer as a team and help with building their platform.
Steve / Agency Outsight (19:25.732)
Interesting. So helping agency owners build thought leadership platforms, get on stages because we all know being on stages is how we show our expertise. So it helps if they're niche, otherwise they're just speaking to the general public and general public doesn't give a crap. But if they speak to the verticals that they specialize in, there's some value there. What are some things that you see? Let's say they're not hiring somebody like you, but what are some things that owners can do to just kind of start to build their public presence or start to kind of drive some attraction on?
Attraction or Attraction on social media with content.
Kelly Schuknecht (19:59.522)
Yeah, so I think there's three things that I think that everyone should focus on. Visibility, so getting visible to their audience. And I talk a lot about LinkedIn because most of my clients want to be visible on LinkedIn. It depends on what your service or product is. It might be a different social media platform, but showing up in the places where your target audience is going to be. Credibility, so we talked about having that book, right? Having that book in hand or...
There's different types of posts that you can, if you're creating a blog post, the blog post might be able to be turned into a piece of content that's an infographic or a case study or things like that. Those types of content really help establish your credibility to people who see you online. I talk to clients a lot about that snap decision, like that split second decision people make about you. They...
You know, you're putting all this stuff out into the world, whether it's on your website, your social media content. You know, just how you're presenting yourself to the world is so important because people make a decision really quickly about whether or not they think you know your stuff and whether or not you can help them. Right. So credibility is really important and focusing on how to build your credibility. And then the third one is consistency. So consistency is probably what
people struggle with the most, right? It's like I post on LinkedIn when I have time and then I forget about it for three weeks or whatever. But yeah, this isn't working, right? Yeah, that's one of the things I, before I lost my job, I had just committed myself to posting on LinkedIn every single day during the week.
Steve / Agency Outsight (21:27.536)
they don't see the immediate results and they bail out.
Kelly Schuknecht (21:42.158)
for a year and I just said, I'm just gonna do this, right? And so yeah, there was lots of posts where, and I wasn't promoting a business, wasn't, I was really just talking about topics that were important to me. And over time, I started to notice that people were saying things like, you're the expert in remote work, because I talked a lot about remote work, because I've worked remotely for 18 years and that's something that is important to me. And they would start to associate me with the topics I was talking about, even though,
They may not have ever commented on one of my posts. Maybe they liked some of them. Maybe they engaged in some way, but it wasn't something that I was even realizing they were seeing and then they were bringing it up to me. And that's where I really realized how important that showing up consistently, even if you don't see the results, like that is really important. So we talked to clients about posting to LinkedIn two to three times a week.
Steve / Agency Outsight (22:22.194)
Mm-hmm.
Kelly Schuknecht (22:38.318)
Two times a week is very reasonable. Everyone, you we're all busy, right? But you can find time to post two times a week. And then getting on podcasts, you know, because that's something we focus on. I just try to consistently get people on podcasts a couple times a month. It's not a huge lift, right? But getting on a podcast, then that turns into a post you can share. You can create clips from that. You can take quotes from it, turn it into other posts. There's so much you can do with one hour of your time that you spent
recording that podcast, there's so much you can do from that. And then speaking engagements, obviously that's going to depend on the business and things, but we try to, I encourage people I should say, to get out there at least once a quarter and to try to make some sort of public presence quarterly. Again, that can turn into content for your social media. There's a lot you can do to repurpose that, but then also just...
you and I know the value of going to events and networking with people and how that can just turn into business over time. So that consistency, those are kind of the guidelines we give people. And if you can do more, great. But don't try to do more and then fail at it because you don't have the time. Commit to what you can realistically commit to. Yeah. And then go from there.
Steve / Agency Outsight (23:54.896)
That's the minimum. Yeah. Speaking, can that be like, do you see a difference in in-person versus like doing a Zoom webinar or those kinds of things?
Kelly Schuknecht (24:07.222)
Hmm, that's a good question. I think nothing beats the power of in-person.
Yeah. And one of my clients recently said something about how, you know, AI is totally shaking up the industry, right? Like it is shaking. I mean, multiple industries, but in the marketing world, everyone's going, how is this going to affect us? It's, know, who's it going to put out of work? You know, it's affecting so many things, but no AI cannot replace you as a person and your interaction with people. So to me, it's, it's, I think there's more
power in those in-person events, but also if for you, the budget doesn't allow for you to travel once a quarter or once a month really would be even better if possible. budget doesn't allow for that, then try for more online events because that's a good alternative, but I think the more you can be in-person, the better.
Steve / Agency Outsight (25:09.444)
Yeah, for podcasts, I'm blown away. So I offer, you know, after this is done and when I post it, you can take this video and you can do whatever you want with it. Maybe your episode 127, maybe five people have ever taken it and chopped it up and use real. And I'm like, listen, I don't do it myself. And so that's one of my issues. But I'm like, here's a free 20 minutes of you talking and being expert and talking about things that you're like amazing at.
Kelly Schuknecht (25:23.434)
I knew exactly where you're gonna go, yes.
Steve / Agency Outsight (25:37.094)
cut it up and use it and you can have eight reels. So yeah, people need to take more advantage of that and use the content to their benefit.
Kelly Schuknecht (25:44.058)
Absolutely. So all they want a lot of times is to get exposure to your audience, but they're missing a part there where they're when they are exposing that to their audience or sharing that to their audience, it's helping establish their credibility. So they're they're missing something. And I have the same thing. I have guests on my podcast. I think so, you know, many of them share, but.
I'm surprised by how few do. Like, I would expect that everyone would do that because it's such an opportunity. And I, yeah, I think people are just missing out when they're not doing that.
Steve / Agency Outsight (26:20.274)
At the very least, their mom will be proud of them for being on a podcast and then she can hang it on the fridge. I have to ask my mom if she does. I don't know. I know she comments on all my posts. Kelly, awesome tips for agency owners, really for anybody looking to elevate their presence, be a thought leader. I want to wrap up with a couple of random rapid fires because I get a kick out of it. The first is, if you could instantly master any hobby or skill outside of work, what would it be?
Kelly Schuknecht (26:23.788)
Right. My mom listens to every one of my podcasts. So that's right.
Kelly Schuknecht (26:49.27)
well, I don't know if this counts, but I, so one of the questions I've heard people say, you know, it's like, if you had any superpower, what would it be? So I'm going to mix that together. I want to be able to speak any language with any person at any time. Right. So that is a skill that I want to master is learning every language, but I it to be a superpower where it just comes naturally. Yeah.
Steve / Agency Outsight (27:09.298)
Wow.
Yeah, like the matrix, you just call it in. That's pretty cool. What's a lesson that you learned the hard way that turned out to be super valuable?
Kelly Schuknecht (27:20.302)
well, I think we talked about on this, right? So I was dreaming about my company and I would have never, I never ever would have taken the leap if it hadn't, if I hadn't just been pushed off the ledge. And within a couple of months I saw that like, wow, I really could have done this on my own. I just didn't trust myself to do it. And, so that was a lesson I kind of learned the hard way, but also I knew all along that this is going to be the best.
the best phase of my career. yeah, I, so I've always been hopeful about the future, but like, I would not have done it if somebody hadn't kind of forced my hand.
Steve / Agency Outsight (27:53.938)
Hmm.
Steve / Agency Outsight (28:01.298)
Yeah. And I love that you were able to do it as a clean break as opposed to I'm going to, you know, freelance and get a part-time job and do another job and this. And I did it the same way when I launched my agency. And I think that that's the best way is like have no safety net. Just I'm going to go full, like maybe have a savings account. Great. But don't have a side job and a side hustle and let the side hustle become your full like just go all in. It's the only way to do it. Wrapping up finally, what's something that you believed about marketing 10 years ago that you no longer think is true?
Kelly Schuknecht (28:21.304)
Yep, go all in. Yep. Yep.
Kelly Schuknecht (28:31.822)
Okay, so I feel like I'm cheating. I'm going around the same thing, but I feel like in my previous jobs, always felt like marketing was somebody else was determining what we should do and what, you know, and like, feel like going out on my own has helped me see that nobody has all the answers. Like nobody knows everything and you're just making the best decisions you can.
You know, and sometimes you could go this way or you could go this way, right? But you're just making the... There is no silver bullet, I guess, is really the... Like, there is no one way to do things. It's really just coming up with the strategy that you feel good about and moving forward with it.
Steve / Agency Outsight (29:17.882)
Love it. Awesome. Kelly Shuknek, thank you very much for joining us. Two Mile High Marketing and Beyond the Best Seller podcast. Thank you for your time today. I appreciate you.
Kelly Schuknecht (29:26.338)
Thanks, Steve.