Meet & Greet a Local Biz with Penny: 23 Doors In (and Counting!)
Twenty-three doors. Twenty-three conversations. One very well-used brochure holder. It's time for another newsletter — and this one comes with a story. You may have noticed a string of "Meet & Greet a Local Biz with Penny" posts showing up on my social media last week. If you've been wondering what that's all about, here's the scoop. Where It Started Last week, I walked into 13 businesses in a single day. No appointment, no big pitch — just me, my brochure, and a simple line: "Hi! Is the owner or manager around? I'm Penny, a local business coach and consultant, and I just wanted to introduce myself and let you know I'm here." Then I'd chat for a few minutes, learn a bit about the business, leave my information, and move on to the next door. That was Business #1. I've since hit 23 — and I'm having way too much fun to stop. The Method Behind the Madness What I'm doing is my own version of the "10-10" approach to getting known in your community — an idea I picked up from my mentors Grant Cardone and Gary Vaynerchuk. The concept: choose 10 businesses within a 10-mile radius, and for each one —
Then do it again. Every day with 10 different businesses. In practice, I keep it simple: I stop into businesses that are already on my route, for about three to five minutes each, just to build a little awareness that I'm here — a local business coach and consultant who helps businesses find their bottlenecks and increase profits. (And yes, I also plan a mean Christmas team-building activity or retreat, if that's more your speed.) 23 Doors In: A Few of My Favourite Moments Full-circle moments. At Checkered Flag Automotive in Martensville, I was greeted by a former student of mine from the Office Administration program at Great Plains College — from about 10 years ago! The shop was spotless and professional, and she even took the time to review my brochure. Down the road at the City of Warman, Mayor Gary Philipchuk came out himself to say hello — he was my son's high school principal a few years back. And at Vendasta, I reconnected with Jean Parchewsky, someone I first met when I spoke at Vendasta for a Toastmasters speech demo about 15 years ago. Back then it was a small group; now it's a building full of pitch events and AI tools — with humans everywhere, still. Real connections through networking. A BNI (Business Networking International) 1-to-1 with Behrens Plumbing turned into lunch on the owner — I'll be back! Another 1-to-1, with the owner of Fully Promoted Saskatoon, turned into a great conversation about our very different first careers — his in photography, mine running a bakery in Rossland, BC — and he'd already put one of my suggestions into action just days later. And Melissa Murphy at Tenley Consulting shared bookkeeping tips I genuinely needed. That's the beauty of getting out there: you never know what you'll pick up. Going the extra mile. Smokehaus Meats & Deli stayed open through a road closure just to keep serving customers (and their sirloin steaks are fantastic, for the record). At Burke Group — formerly Houghton Boston Printers, with over a century of printing experience between them — the team took time out of a busy day and offered to give me feedback on my own flyer. And an hour spent with Shane Cawley of Cawley Construction in my backyard, "solving all the world's problems," reminded me that some of the best business conversations don't happen in a boardroom. The just-plain-fun ones. SteelMet Supply turned out to be three stores in one — BBQs, patio furniture, and steel supplies — and brought back memories of road trips with my dad to a steel supplier near Kamsask, SK to pick up steel for his welding shop. Wozzers, what a showroom. And R&L Motorcycles was such a happening place that I'm now on record saying a certain Thursday-night ride poster needs to go up on their wall (you know who you are, Derek Zimmerman, of Aviation Mechanical). The Full List So Far Every business gets a shout-out — here's all 23, in order:
The (Slightly Outrageous) Real Goal Here's the part I probably shouldn't say out loud: my actual goal is to meet every business in the Saskatoon area. All of them. And there are more than 40,000 of them. I did the math — at 10 visits a day, 5 days a week, that's about 15 years to get through the whole list. Fifteen years! Ha! Clearly I need to pick up the pace. So let's call 40,000 the dream and set a real target instead: 100 businesses. That's my first milestone — and at 23 down, I'm already almost a quarter of the way there. Big goal, small steps. Let's see how far this thing goes. Leveling Up Next on my list: swapping the stock Google image of each business for an actual photo — or even a quick video — taken together with the owner or their team during the visit. Nothing beats a real moment over a stock shot, so keep an eye out for more real faces from real Saskatoon businesses in the posts to come. Where Should I Go Next? 23 down, 77 to go until that first milestone — and I'm just getting started. If there's a Saskatoon-area business you think deserves a visit, hit reply and tell me. And if you want to follow along in real time, keep an eye on my social media — the next Meet & Greet post is coming soon. Thanks for reading, and here's to supporting local, one door at a time. 🚀 -Penny PS: Join our 𝟭𝟬𝗫 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗕𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆 Business 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 (first two visits are on me)
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