The Journey to 300

The Journey to 300

 Shelby Hobbs: We've got approximately 36 minutes before the three school aged kids get home from

school, and we just decided today was the day we were gonna record. I mean, that is how we're doing it right now. It's very much. When and where, and how can we get everything done and show up in all the ways we need to show up, you know, on a daily basis.

Every day kind of feels like a marathon.

Intro: The Great Mark Cuban once said, business happens over years and years. Value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal. And we couldn't agree more. This is the Business Development podcast based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

In broadcasting to the world, you'll get expert business development advice, tips, and experiences, and you'll hear interviews with business owners, CEOs, and business development reps. You'll get actionable advice on how to grow business, brought to you by Capital Business Development CapitalBD.ca. Let's do it.

Welcome to the The Business Development Podcast, and now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.

Kelly Kennedy: Hello, welcome to Milestone episode 300 of the Business Development podcast. I am here today with my beautiful partner in life, crime, and everything else. Shelby Hobbes for our centennial episode, which we do like pretty much every year.

I think we've done centennial episodes since the start of this show. Um, I've had lots of people reach out and be like, well, hey, why don't I get episode 300? And I keep telling them, well, you see, episode 300 is always reserved for Shelby 400, be Shelby 500 will be Shelby. So, uh, we don't get a lot of episodes together, do we, babe?

This is really the one that we just reserved to have a conversation, bring the listeners into our world a little bit, show them behind the scenes, that is the wildness of the Business development podcast house. And, uh, I look forward to this every single time. So, um, welcome babe. Uh, for the listeners who maybe haven't met you yet, why don't you, uh, briefly introduce yourself.

 Shelby Hobbs: Thank you. Yeah, I look forward to this episode every year too, or this is our third year, and I guess I have to start with an apology to Jake Gold fans everywhere, because apparently this should have been his episode. But, uh, no, hopefully, hopefully I can, uh, contribute something, uh, fun here today. So yeah, I am, of course, as you said, you're a partner in crime and life and all of the things and yeah, like, you know, we sat down before we hit record here.

We're literally recording in the, in-between moments of our life, which is where we have to get a lot of stuff done. We've got a baby sleeping to my left here, Fox, who's four month old, four months old. We've got Jet, who's two years old now, which is crazy. He's asleep, you know, one floor above our heads napping.

We've got. Approximately 36 minutes before the three school aged kids get home from school, and we just decided today was the day we were gonna record. I mean, that is how we're doing it right now. It's very much. When and where and how can we get everything done and show up in all the ways we need to show up, you know, on a daily basis.

Every day kind of feels like a marathon, uh, at this stage of life for us, I think.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You, you left out the puppy.

 Shelby Hobbs: Oh yeah, the puppy. Well, yeah. You see some people are addicted to, you know, what a gambling, you know, drugs, whatever ours is responsibility. We're, we're addicted to responsibility.

That's what I like to say. We didn't have a puppy, so we, we had to fill that void.

Kelly Kennedy: That's not true. We, um, you know, and let's talk about it. We lost a dog this year. Hunter, senior Old Hunter, as we used to call him honestly a really great dog. Shelby had had him for, was it 17 years, babe?

 Shelby Hobbs: 16. 16.

Kelly Kennedy: 16 years. So we did, we had a tough loss. We had a tough loss this year in 2025. And actually, you know, we're a year now into our new home in Stony Plain, and we absolutely love it. But, um, we had a loss before we came here too. Our, one of our other dogs, Evie, she couldn't make this trip. She dealt with a lot of anxiety problems.

She really didn't like other people, other dogs. And, uh, we would've been required basically to build a six foot fence. And yet I built one at the old house and she went over that. The move to the new house wasn't going to happen, and she was getting a little bit sick as well, so we had to, uh, we had to unfortunately put her down before we moved.

And so, 2025, you know, on the, on the animal front. Was a couple of pretty big losses I think. So, you know, there's uh, there is room for this new puppy and she's quite sweet. Her name is Nell.

 Shelby Hobbs: Nell, smelly Nelly, as I like to call her.

Kelly Kennedy: She is smelly.

 Shelby Hobbs: Well, and I think, you know, everyone has a story for how they're.

They're fur baby. Not a term I love, but, you know, uh, we'll use it in this context. She, everyone has a story for how their puppy came into their lives or their dog, right? And, you know, so far Nell's story, it's, it's a bit of a sad story. She was abandoned, you know, she really was that puppy in need.

Her life was very much in danger and in peril. And, uh, so Nell's story is we had the privilege of, of rescuing her and welcoming her into our family. It happened very quickly. But it's true, you know, when space is just like the shelves, you know, behind me today, I did a big clearing just to try to let everything breathe a little bit.

But the funny thing about space is you tend to fill it, right? Yep. You know, we had our, we. Our fifth baby this year. I, I feel like heading into 2026, you know, what I'm really meditating on and thinking a lot about is just expansion and how do we build more capacity and how do we, where can we create space, I guess.

But, but you know, also just widening our aperture as much as possible because we've got a lot to love, so much to be grateful for, and it just seems like it's requiring us to be more expansive than we've ever been.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah. And I wouldn't, maybe, I wouldn't mind maybe talking about like, gratefulness, you know.

It was, uh, my 37th birthday a couple of weeks ago, and I found myself up early in the morning to put out smelly Nelly sitting on that couch. And, uh, for the first time in a long time, simply being thankful for where I was. You know, like December has been pretty good. I, you know, I mean, I really can't complain.

We, you know, we, we took on a new retainer contract. We have some stuff in the works. I don't wanna get too far into it until I get some signed contracts, but it's looking really good for the business development podcast year heading into, you know, year three. Year three of the show. Yeah. And I'm really excited about it.

And I just found myself, you know, sitting in our beautiful home, looking out the window at five 30 in the morning, just being like, wow, like. I'm really thankful for where I am here in the moment. Thank you. And that's something, babe, that I just really struggle with. I'm rarely in the moment and you know that about me.

I'm, I'm always moving forward. I'm always thinking about what's next. I'm usually stressed out about something, or rather this part of my life, part of who I am. I'm but sitting in a moment and just kind of realizing that I'm actually pretty happy with where I am right now. Mm-hmm. Few and far between.

And, uh, it was honestly just an interesting moment.

 Shelby Hobbs: Yeah. I, I distinctly remember waking up that morning and being met with such a warm present, Kelly, and that was a really beautiful thing. I think one of the things I'm often trying to do in our family, one of the roles that I tend to play is kind of that anchor at times.

I think I, I try to find a way to be. A bit of a grounding place for our boys and for you and for all of us to kind of say like, how are we doing? Like, put our finger, on the moment and just touch, you know, touch god, touch down, touch earth, touch grass as they, as they say. And check in.

Like, how's, you know, how's your heart? How are we, how are we doing? How is parenting going? Yeah, yeah. Um, you know, like, are we being present with the kids as much as we'd like to be? And I think you know it, that is the, I wouldn't call it the shadow side, I guess, but it's the. It's the tension of that gratitude, which is when you have so much to be thankful for, you have so much to lose.

There's so much to hold and so much gratitude to be cultivated, and yet you're, it makes you so aware of the possible heartbreak of loss that, that at any moment can be around the corner from us. And that's not to sound morose or, or melancholy. It's just to acknowledge that, you know, we do have a very full and beautiful life.

And the, the scary part about that for a mom or a dad or you know, someone with a lot to kind of hold together is just, yeah, you've got a lot and life can be unpredictable. So I think it's really important to be able to find those moments to really feel. The gratitude and really feel the magnitude of what you're building.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. I, I think I find myself regularly not realizing how much we built.

Yeah. And, and I know, I'm sure some of the listeners can get on board with that because ultimately I think they see that I'm pretty constantly forward thinking what's next? Are we moving the needle as a term that I like to use a lot?

Mm-hmm. But at

the same time, yeah, it is really interesting because I did find myself that same morning looking back and just being blown away because, um, you know, my birthday also happens to be the birthday for Capital Business Development every year. Mm-hmm. And so this year we celebrated five years.

And if I look back at everything we've done over the past five years, I would've never believed that I was capable of doing all of that in such a short period of time. And yet at the same time, I think I, I regularly get disappointed. With what I do in a year. Mm-hmm. But in five, I'm always blown away by what we've been able to do.

So it's like, it's a weird mixmax or mix, ma blah. My mouth isn't working. Mismatch. It's a weird mismatch, um, of expectations mm-hmm. That I think I, I struggle with all the time.

 Shelby Hobbs: Yeah. Yeah. You, you recently mentioned something about, you know, I'm, I'm al you know, I'm always trying to nail down like motivation.

Yeah. Like how, I think there's some part of you that is in awe of what you've been able to do and just the resilience with which you've been able to do it, and you're, and I think that's the beautiful kind of mystery, that's the fun part of life is, you know, we wanna be able to nail these things down. We wanna like crack the nut on motivation and figure out, you know, what's the formula and.

I don't have the answer. I have no idea what it is, but I know I tried to turn the question on you a little bit and say, well, maybe it's, you're in, it's inspiration. I, you know, I, I'm a words person as you know, I really, you know, enjoy language and the nuance of language. And so with a word like motivation, sometimes I feel a clenching in me.

Like a resistance, like, uh, yuck. Motivation. Yeah. Who wants, who wants that, right?

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Nobody likes to be motivated.

 Shelby Hobbs: Right, right. Well, because it feels like threatening somehow. Like it's the kind of motivation that makes you pay your mortgage where like the bank is gonna come and take your house if you don't like it.

It just feels like the wrong angle for me somehow. Yeah. But being inspired has a different energy to it, and it feels sometimes more like the right, I don't know. There's something about it that just feels better in my body. Which kind of leads me to something I did wanna ask you today, which was like.

Who or what is inspiring Kelly Kennedy these days?

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, that's a good question. I think, honestly, I just wanna keep going. Mm-hmm. Like, I think I'm just so driven to keep going, keep building, I know I'm on the right path. I think maybe that's

the best way of saying it. Mm-hmm. I, I, I, whether you call it divine inspiration or whatever you want to call it.

Mm-hmm. I know, I think more than ever that the path I'm on is the right path for me. Like there is no other path at this point in my life than the one I'm on. And so I just wanna keep growing community. I just wanna keep growing the show. I wanna start a new show and we can talk about that in a little bit here.

Mm-hmm. And how we kind of came to that, I would love to maybe chat with you 'cause it came from a car discussion with you, but, uh, you know, we got that coming up. I wanna keep performing. I wanna keep, you know, refining my business development process, uh, becoming a better coach becoming a better, uh, a better service provider.

Like, I think I'm just constantly driven to become a better version of myself in every way possible because I realize that if I get better, I can bring everybody else with me.

 Shelby Hobbs: So you're inspired by the future self. You're inspired by your future self and you.

Kelly Kennedy: Well, and you know, if we wanna go to Catalyst Club and, you know, if we wanna, we are gonna talk about, you know, 2025.

I think that's an important conversation here. I'd love to learn maybe with you you know, what were some of the highlights for you, I think have some ideas, but I'd love to hear your highlights for 2025. And then I'd like to get onto some of mine. But obviously Catalyst Club is one of those things that for me is exceeded expectations in every way, shape and form, and your future self comes up a lot in Catalyst Club, which you also know.

 Shelby Hobbs: Yeah. Yeah. Lasse, uh, sorry. Lasse, I always wanna say Lasse,

Kelly Kennedy: I know, I know. I feel bad because I used to call him Lasse, and he's like, I love the way you're saying that, but it's Lasse.

 Shelby Hobbs: Lasse, okay. Lasse. The other day in an Instagram video was wearing this like, amazing wool Nordic jumper sweater.

It's just like, I just, I, I like his style. I like his style. Yeah. I, I love what he's doing. He, uh, facilitated the future self experience, I suppose you would call it, and. Yeah. So I think a lot of us came away from that experience and have probably had some, you know, that residual effect of, of continuing to play with the visualization of our future selves and whatever messages or signals, sensations that came to us during the experience that he facilitated in the Catalyst Club.

And I, yeah, I am so excited to continue. Just the club seems to hold so much promise for, for community and for Yeah, just serving as this really awesome container for all of us to be laboring the ne the next version of ourselves together. Yeah. And I think that's gonna be a huge part of what 2026 is all about for a lot of us.

Kelly Kennedy: And you know, if we want to talk about predictions for the future, building a community wasn't part of my 2025 plans. Like it was not, I never once wrote it down in my goals list. Mm-hmm. And yet, that's exactly what ended up happening. And you know, one of the things that I'm a firm believer of is you can't see the future coming.

The best opportunities are gonna show up on your door and simply ask you if you're ready for them or not. And the Catalyst Club was really one of those things, right? Like if we go back to 2025, the beginning, I think. I knew that my coaching was gonna become a big part of 2025. Obviously I'd had a lot of success with my initial one-to-one programs in 2024.

So I thought, okay, this is working, this is probably gonna carry forward and, and expand upon in 2025, which it did. Accelerator started I'm running my fourth accelerator here in January, so I'm very excited about that. Mm-hmm. But, you know, the accelerator really showed me that there's, uh, there's an opportunity here for a larger group program or a larger group dynamic to feed into each other.

And it really came from, I was sitting in accelerator classes and watching my students make connections right there. Send business each other's way, from the, from Canada to United States and back and forth and, and the, the us uh, the US students connecting and just being like, holy crap. Like this is.

This is awesome. How do we do this on a bigger scale? Um, in which case Catalyst Club was born and, and it continues to do that and, and exceed my expectations week over week, but I had no plans in the start of 2025 to build the Catalyst Club community. Mm-hmm. Um, it more so just like this podcast kind of knocked on my door and said you wanna try something cool?

 Shelby Hobbs: Yeah. These, these offerings do seem to tap right into a lot of your genius though, and really your unique offering to the world because I think anyone who knows you and knows you even. Even a little bit, well can see how much of a connector you are. And so, you know, I wanna give really props to you because I think as much as, you know, as much as it was the group coaching and it's the dynamics and it's, and everyone's bringing their own unique flavor to everything that's happening.

I also think that you have a way of establishing a culture with your people of really, what's the word I'm looking for? Like genuine collaboration, celebration. There's no like icky competition. I, no, it's been one of the most amazing things that I've witnessed in the Catalyst Club and in these different kinds of community events that you've been a part of.

I think it's been surprising for me in a way that's. Been really nourishing for me, especially. 'cause I think I had, I held maybe some preconceived beliefs, fears, insecurities myself about how I might be received in certain spaces or what I might expect to hear, see, feel. So I maybe initially had some, or I did, I didn't, maybe I did initially have my own reservations personally about contr, like contributing, participating in the Catalyst Club.

And I had to push myself a little bit outside of my comfort zone, uh, as part of a desire to support you and. In doing so have been just pleasantly surprised and shocked by the way that people show up in that space. And I think a lot of that is largely to your credit because you embody these values so well, so deeply and so authentically that the peop that when people come into your orbit, they start to reflect a lot of these qualities back to each other and back to you.

Kelly Kennedy: Thank you. I don't think that I take all the credit for that. I just, I see the people show up there authentically every single week. And, you know, I mean, I think on a certain level we attract those kind of people. Mm-hmm. Because that is the type of people I think, who ultimately join Catalyst Club that are looking for that community, that support and they wanna come to it from a place of, uh, of authenticity and, and, you know, just essentially get to be their real selves.

Mm-hmm. Um, people first, business second. That is kind of my motto. And I, I really believe that. I just, I don't see the world where people's, egos are really up there. Those people aren't gonna make it. You need community. I think the thing that surprised me the most as becoming a business owner is how little is actually you.

Like, yes, you have to execute your products and services, but if I look at the best opportunities that ever came through my door, I didn't find them. Other people found them and said, Hey, I know this really great guy Kelly, you need to meet. Right? It, it never fails. It's almost never me. It's almost always the people you surround yourself with, and I think the faster that people realize that and start to surround themselves by great community, the better you do, not just in business, but in life.

 Shelby Hobbs: Mm-hmm. Absolutely. I agree. I agree. I think one of the ways I have to sort of personally challenge myself heading into 2026 is to try and be more, not try, but it's to be more intentional about. Finding my people. It's like I know where they are. I know who they are. You know, I've, I've, I've seen them, I've come across them.

I've felt, I've felt them, but I've been, I think I've been playing small. I think I've been you know, not reaching out and building community as much as I, I could be. And, grace to me, because I've been building a family, I've been, you know, working on things. It's not like, you know, I'm like, there's nothing going on over here.

But, you know, I think that's an area where I, I feel some spaciousness. I feel some I loosening up in me that I'm, like, I, that's something I'm desiring more for. And you know, maybe with the Catalyst Club too, part of what I away. What men have been willing to share and how the men in the space are showing up, which again, just tends to challenge a lot of, you know, some of the, the ways I've maybe seen men behave in work environments, for example, like other professionals I've worked with.

And then I come to the Catalyst Club and I'm like, this is so different from how I've, I've seen people in general, but like men as well, conduct themselves. It just, it doesn't feel like a place where people are pining for power. There's no hierarchy, there's no, we're not competing for anything. So it, it really is community that is really what's happening there.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah. It's, uh, like I said, I just feel like I built the room and the right people keep showing up. I, I have no, I, I'm blown away by, by what happens there. I'm blown away by the support. I, you know, the other side to it, I think ultimately does have to be though, if you are going to be part of community, you do have to leave your ego at the door.

You do have to show up just as a person, like everybody else in that room, no matter where you come from. Yes. And I think maybe the cool thing about Catalyst Club is that we have everybody from, you know, CEOs of $150 million companies, right down to brand new founders or just business professionals of some type or another, and they all show up.

They all connect, they all share authentically and they all get support. It's truly just leaders, supporting leaders. And you know, this show wasn't particularly about just pumping Catalyst Club, although it's something I'm very proud of. Mm-hmm. Um, it's not really about that, but I think if I do have to reflect back on 2025 and the thing I am, incredibly proud of it is what we're building in Catalyst Club.

'cause I think a year from now oh my gosh, it's just going to be unbelievable.

 Shelby Hobbs: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. For sure. Interesting. Yeah, I think there's been there, there is just a nice mix of, of ages, backgrounds, you know, passions, interests, um, but the common thread, I guess seems to be, seems to be Kelly Kennedy, whether you know, the podcast, whether a business development as a, as a foundational, uh, interest I guess you could say.

And, uh, yeah, so super excited to see in 2026 how other people to our building community, like there's gonna be so much that's gonna come up. There's gonna be brilliant, amazing leaders doing this kind of thing. And so I think for all of us, you know, we're gonna have. New and amazing kinds of ways and opportunities to connect with each other, which is so important.

I think that connection was largely, you know, missing since COVID kind of struck and we, the world rearranged it, you know, it, it disordered and it re it's starting to reorganize itself in this new way. And so we're gonna start to, you know, have new available ways of, of engaging with one another. I think professionally, personally, across the board.

And so I'm really looking forward to that.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, and I think maybe like an important thing for everybody to remember here, if you are looking for community, it doesn't have to be in person. And I think maybe that might be surprising for a lot of people to hear. They might think, well, I have, I've gotta join my chamber, or I gotta join the local BNI or business group.

And it's like. No. Everything we're doing on Catalyst Club is at this time, 100% virtual. Mm-hmm. And it's still happening. The connections are still happening, the community is still happening, the support is still happening, all done through a virtual means. And I think the cool thing about virtual means is we literally have members from around the world with different perspectives that can help one another out.

So I think, you know, if you are looking at community, don't narrow your box to, I have to do this in person, it has to be in my local town. I have to join the local chamber, BNI, or you know, you name it, eo, you don't. There are gonna be virtual communities like Catalyst Club popping up, likely all over the place.

I think what's more important is find one that aligns with your values.

 Shelby Hobbs: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It's, you know, we, we are entering a new era as well where a lot of the older folks of our, of our generation, like our grandparents and our, you know, they're starting to engage with technology a lot more.

And so it's been amazing to see, you know, have a kind of an elder elderly wisdom starting to permeate some of the tech spaces a little bit more. And personally I love that. I think that's been an area for me that's felt like it's been missing a little bit is like, where's the elder wisdom?

I, I don't think in our culture, we've done a great job of cultivating spaces that, that honor elders or ways of. Of benefiting from the wisdom that they have to offer. Yeah. So I love when you see people, you know, folks in their seventies, eighties, even nineties, like my grandmother, my dad's mom just turned 90, and she can send me a message on Facebook and tell me that she loves me.

Like, wow, that's incredible. You know? Yeah. And so we are, we're we're, it's the dawning of a bit of a new era where, um, technology seems to have really nuzzled its way into a place of, of significance and importance across generations. And so that's been, that's been a lot of fun. One, one recent example of that too was our oldest son Adler, uh, recently turned 12, so November 29th, he turned 12.

And heading into that birthday, it just felt like I sensed that we were heading into. A change for Adler and uh, it's that hormonal development. It's is really, I feel like where your child starts to work on individuating from you and like separating from the family a little bit and like finding himself and finding his way.

It's like the year of when the way finding journey begins and. So one of the, so I, I really wanted, and you and I talked about this, like I wanted to give him some kind of rite of passage or like initiation into this new era of like graduating into puberty. And it's, you know, he's our oldest child, so he's always gonna be the first, he's always gonna be crossing these thresholds first.

Kelly Kennedy: Oh. And he, and he knows, and he knows how to prepare us, doesn't he?

Shelby Hobbs: Yeah. He's doing a great job initiating us. Oh. Like, we think we're initiating him. He's initiating us all the time. We're like, oh my gosh.

Kelly Kennedy: I just pray. I just pray to God. The other ones aren't, aren't, are a little bit easier.

Shelby Hobbs: I know so many times, like throughout the week lately, we just, like, he'll say something and we just look at each other like, are you for real? Like, did you hear that? Listen to that sa like it's just next level.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes.

 Shelby Hobbs: So it's beginning, right? It's beginning. Mm-hmm. It's not, he's a great kid, he's a good kid. I think all kids are good, but it's like this is the process of putting up those boundaries and individuating and I always wanna be that safe and soft place for him to land.

So it's just, we just gotta get through these years. Right. But you know, part of that was getting asking, you know, very humbly and, and kind of nervously the men in Adler circle of support and our circle of support to, you know, give Adler, right. Adler some words of wisdom and enc or encouragement for this 12th birthday.

And I, you know, I guess. The segue here, and why I brought this up is because I, I would not have been able to pull together all of that wisdom for him without the benefit of technology. I mean, I think we're gonna have to work with what we've got, and it meant that some of the men in our life could send me an email, some could take a picture of the thing they wrote down and send it to me as a picture.

Some hand delivered me an envelope, but the point is, is like we're, we're gonna be finding new, inventive ways of pulling back into our lives, what I think has been lost and sort of fractured over the last few generations. So I was really proud. I mean, ultimately we were able to do something for Adler.

He's got all these words from the men that care about him and love him, including yourself. He's got a keepsake box full of them. It was a, it was really touching for him. And you know, ultimately I think. It's just one small example of how we're gonna be coming up with new ways of initiating ourselves and our children into community, into community wisdom.

You know, how far out are we from kids? Finding a way to, you know, kids are using platforms right now, like YouTube and Fortnite and Roblox to find community with each other. But, how many years do you think we are away from children being able to gather in more intentional, safe ways? I think there's probably a gap there as well.

So I think us adults, our generation, we've gotta kind of lead the way on what this is gonna look like in a new era Yeah. Of human beings.

Kelly Kennedy: Well, and, and let's speak to that a little bit. 'cause I know once I launched Catalyst Club, I remember sitting down with you and you saying, you know, you did this for business and leadership and business development people.

Like why does this exist for everything? Right? Like I remember those words literally coming outta your mouth. Yeah. Why is there not a Catalyst Club community for literally everything. Yeah. Tennis, School Communities, you name it. It's like, I don't know, but I'm sure we, I mean, if you're having those ideas, I'm sure we can't be far out.

 Shelby Hobbs: Yeah. Yeah. And that's what I hope. That's really what I hope for. I hope that's the next, I hope that's the next frontier is, you know, we're, we'll, we'll be really. Niching out into groups for parenting, and maybe it's like parenting in your area and it's 15 bucks a month or whatever it is, but you're in a safe container.

You're building community, you're being authentic, you're being honest, but you're also getting to know who's in your area. Like, I don't know exactly how this is gonna take shape, but I know that I'm super excited about the possibilities that I see with it. Yeah. And I, and I certainly think that, you know, others are catching on, like it's catching fire.

Kelly Kennedy: Oh yeah, I would say that like if I had to make one prediction and I kind of have, I think that 2026 will go down as like the year everybody finds a community, right? I don't care where you are. Yeah. You're gonna be, I bet you by the end of 20, I bet you by the, I bet you by the end of 2026, if you're listening to this show, whether it's Catalyst Club or something else, you're going to be part of a community, I bet of some type or another.

 Shelby Hobbs: Yeah. Absolutely. Bless, bless her soul. Your mother-in-law is shoveling right outside the door here. She and she, because she just shows up and she just, my mom, my mother's love language, like gifts and acts of service. Service for sure.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah.

 Shelby Hobbs: Um, so bless her. Bless the mamas because like, yeah. And also for a second, bless the mamas because it's the time of year, it's the end of year, it's the Christmas season's a holiday season, and I know. A lot of families the mothers and the grandmothers, they're like spinning out on a daily basis trying to come up with like meaningful presents for everybody and like planning meals and trying to, make the plan for the housework. And I know this is all like, so gendered, but it very much is the case.

Like just name it, it, we've gotta, we've gotta thank our, we've gotta thank our mamas for uh, you know, both of us did that this past. Mm-hmm. Couple of weeks. Like reached out to our moms and just like, yeah. Said uh, thank you. I commend you. You did a great job. I think we're at reaching an age where we can appreciate so much of that effort and really see it and feel it 'cause we're living it now.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah. Well it was so funny 'cause you know what I mean? I was out, uh, I was out playing Santa this morning handing out client gifts around town, and we were on the phone and I was like, Shelby's like, you know, Kelly? Like, I'm like really tired. And I'm like, yeah, me too. Like, I totally get it. She's like, no, you don't.

I was like, okay, fair enough. I don't get that level of tired. Tired. I am tired. I think it's a different way. It's like a different kind of tired for sure. But it's like, I feel like even with like the boys sometimes, like, it'll be like the weekend, like I got short with Adler the other day. I was just, I was at the end of my rope.

We had a bit of a yell out. I, I don't, I'm not proud of it, but it happened. Yeah. But it's just like, my gosh, like I just, I can hit a point where I'm just like, okay, I'm, I'm done with this week and I don't want any more problems. And sometimes that doesn't always jive with parenting. It's mm-hmm.

Parenting's hard. Let's just talk about this. Like, it is hard. It is hard to be. A busy, whoa, what the heck?

 Shelby Hobbs: Is your phone talking to you?

Kelly Kennedy: Oh my gosh. Yeah. My phone just randomly started talking to me. It like Google Gemini. It was like, oh, life is hard.

 Shelby Hobbs: Meanwhile is like AI's like meanwhile you trying to find my community man, like.

Kelly Kennedy: Terrifying robots. Yeah. Out there in the world now. Yes. We have to worry about that. Oh yeah.

 Shelby Hobbs: You know, we're not gonna know the moment that it becomes conscious, but it's listening all the time now. So it's just gonna start joining our conversations, I think.

Kelly Kennedy: No, it just did. It just did. Join our conversation.

Shelby Hobbs: Exactly. Expect more of that in 2026 for sure.

Kelly Kennedy: Oh my goodness. Yeah. Okay, let's talk. Let's talk about technology here quickly. Technology, ugh, has been about the bane of my existence over the past little bit. You know, over the, over the show there's been like a couple major jumps.

Like if there's one thing that I would always say I'm striving for on the show, it's to get a better show production, better audio quality, better video. I wanna upgrade the show every chance I get. And so I tried to learn new technology. We started out the show producing on, uh, what was it?

Um, what did we use in the beginning? Denberg. Hindenberg. Yeah, we had Hindenberg Journalist Pro, which was awesome. Honestly, for somebody who had almost zero audio, well really zero, uh, audio editing. It really helped with like normalization and leveling in the beginning because I didn't really know what I was doing, but I found myself at about, you know, episode 80, 90, somewhere in there, really starting to hit a roadblock with it.

And so she had said, well, you know, I use these Adobe products. They're pretty great. They're the standard for pretty much everything. She's a former photographer, not even a former, you still do photography, but she's a professional photographer. That's the right word. And, um, so you've used Adobe forever and I hadn't.

And so I decided, okay, I'm gonna try this Adobe audition. And it was the right move for the show. Absolutely. It gave me a level of control for audio quality I'd never had before, but I was so upset. I remember looking at she and just being like, I hate this. Like, I gotta learn all of these new shortcuts all over again for the stupid new audio production program.

I'm thankful I did now, but at the time I was very upset about it feeling very defeated because technology was winning. But then later on this year, you know, one of the highlights of 2025 for me was the Jim Harold interview. You were in there. You know that for me, he's like the king of podcasting.

Like he's mm-hmm. I would say as a family, he's our favorite family show. Uh, we've been listening to him for five plus years, uh, for me probably getting closer to eight or nine years. And, uh, had him on the show. It was exceptional. It was our Halloween special, such a great episode. But after man, he's just exceptional.

He showed up and just had the best audio quality I'd ever heard. And it's like, guy's been podcasting for 20 years. So of course, right. He shows up with this just like insane. Yeah. And so I reach out to him after I'm like, Jim, how did you do this? And he, he tells me, you know, Kelly, I'm using this Apollo, the Apollo twin setup, and if you get this thing, it allows you to use some, like, some stuff upfront to really fix your audio and knock it down ahead of the recording.

And he was talking about like soundproofing. So it's like we soundproof the room. We did, we ordered the fancy Apollo. Guess what? Everyone turns out this fancy new interface does not play well with Windows. Yeah. And so I have literally a $2,000 audio interface that does not work with my computer.

Mm-hmm. And so what do you think I'm going to have to do now in 2026?

Well,

it looks like I don't have much of a choice but to start to learn Mac OS. So wait for another big audio upgrade in 2026. You will notice a difference. But there will be a very stressed out technology. Challenges with Kelly.

 Shelby Hobbs: I'm just trying not to glaze over while we talk tech here, because I, yeah. Yeah. I do tend to like leave my body when Kelly starts talking tech, I'm just like, fly away. It also feels like you're trying to start a fight with me right now because this is the most recent fight that we had was was about tech and how I pointed out that there's this pattern in our relationship where Kelly will be like, yeah, babe, you gotta get this tech. This is the best of the best. Go get this laptop and this phone and go with this phone company and get this computer. And then he almost immediately goes a totally different direction with his own tech and then it almost immediately bites him in the butt.

We got into like probably one of the more hilarious, honestly, fights we've ever been in. Where you said, I was mean, you called me mean you were being mean.

And I was just like, you know, honey, I think you just need to take your own advice. I think you give good advice. Just take it. No, I know. Yeah, yeah. Well, and it's funny too because you know, for as much as we both love to learn and human beings love to learn in general, we don't like being forced into learning new things.

Like we wanna choose it. Yeah. We wanna choose the thing we're learning and when and and why. And so when we get kind of nudged or shoved in a direction of having to build new skills out of necessity, uh, there, it can definitely be frustrating and, take the learning experience a little bit.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes, but I, you know, I mean, I know that we'll be having this conversation again in 2027, and I'll just be like, man, thank God I made that jump.

I, now I know how to do everything and it's all good. And now we have this like, next level set up. Yeah. But in the moment it's like, oh, it's like anything. Right. And it's choose your heart. Yeah. It's choose your heart. Right babe. And we were talking about this, this week. You're working on some stuff in the background.

Obviously you've had five home births. You're a total rock star when it comes down to, birthing and, and being a mom and doing all that. And there's so many lessons in that. But, you know, one of the things that kind of keeps coming up as a universal, I think for both of us is that life is gonna be hard.

It's gonna throw a lot of hard moments. The growth comes in the hard.

 Shelby Hobbs: Mm-hmm.

Kelly Kennedy: So choose your hard, because if you don't choose, life's gonna choose for you and you probably won't like the outcome.

 Shelby Hobbs: Yeah. Yeah. And it it just, it fills me with. Compassion, I think for everyone. Just for everyone who's kind of going through those difficult times and you, you're in a period of, of transition or an ending or a challenge of being challenging Beginning.

I mean, I think that I, yes. Choose your hard. Absolutely. And there is something about that expression that feels like the bootstrap like gritty hustle culture that again, it's like I get a little resistant to that because, you know, I think I like to air on the side of softness and I wanna be helping people in a way that feels good in their bodies like that doesn't have tension in it.

Yeah. And yeah, I mean birth, like, I've been, you know, I think since forever I've been someone who's been really. Fascinated with and inspired by and really kind of moved by birth and what it does for people. I mean, firstly, what it's done for me, what it's meant for me in my life. Like not only did it result in, you know, the human beings I love more than anything in the world, but it also has helped me to love myself more and see my own strength and see what I was capable of really facing head on with, with a lot of, um, sort of soft power.

And yeah, I think. Odin, I'm sorry. I have a, I have a 9-year-old, 10-year-old, recently 10-year-old boy. Just kind of orbiting my desk, trying, trying to be like subtle but not subtle at all. Hello, Odin, how can I help you? I just wanted to ask. Okay, sure. You're welcome.

Kelly Kennedy: Love you too.

 Shelby Hobbs: It's like you can only, this is one of the beautiful things of parenting. You can only like fully ignore them for so long. Like I've got some really good skill to just drown out or like fully dissociate from like, what's happening around me.

But, you know, there, there are limits there. There has to, right.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. It's like, it's like they'll just stand there until you acknowledge them.

Shelby Hobbs: That's right. Like he wasn't going anywhere. That much was clear. He was. It's the, it's the war of the battle of attrition, right? That's right. That's right.

Kelly Kennedy: He knows if he hovers long enough, he will be addressed.

You, this is the same boy though who will come downstairs just to give me a hug. Tell me he loves me. Right. You know, like he's such a sweetheart of a, of a kid too.

 Shelby Hobbs: Yes. Yes. So thoughtful. Great. Really high emotional, emotional intelligence. Yeah. And relational, relational intelligence, that's the word, uh, really cares about how the other person is feeling, so.

Kelly Kennedy: Totally. Yeah.

 Shelby Hobbs: Yeah. I mean, just to try to circle back. I, yeah. I think that how we're sort of being transformed by what's happening in our lives and how we orient to that transformation, I think is huge in terms of how we make out on the other side. So as we move into a period of time where things are gonna be moving faster, changing faster than ever, like new tools, new tech, you know, who even knows what's on the horizon with ai.

But I do think that, I love you, mom. Love you.

Kelly Kennedy: There's another one.

 Shelby Hobbs: The kids have arrived home from school. Yes, it happened.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes, we did warn you.

 Shelby Hobbs: We did. We did. Yeah. I, it's, yeah, it's about, I think it's about how we are, what's our posture, right? It's like the posture that we take with the change, with the churning, I think is gonna be key in how we adapt and how we feel in our bodies while it's happening.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah. I would say that I head into things with almost like an unbridled optimism.

Mm-hmm.

But I think because I go into most things with an unbridled optimism and, and a belief mm-hmm. That no matter what, it's going to turn out okay. Mm-hmm. Even if Okay. Means it doesn't go to plan. Um,

mm-hmm.

I think more things are successful.

I don't think I'm necessarily lucky. I think, I think ultimately I just have a mindset that makes it more likely that I'll win.

 Shelby Hobbs: Yeah. Yeah. I think you have, um, you have a deep connection to your faith. I think it's faith because it's, it's believing and knowing and feeling that regardless, you know, you, you're not gonna be able to predict every outcome that's coming.

And if you could, what fun would that be, right?

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. You, yes, that wouldn't be fun. No.

 Shelby Hobbs: But it's knowing that whatever that outcome is, you know, you are going to come out on the other end of it. A better version of yourself, more loving, have more capacity, more skill, more whatever it is that you're working toward.

Yeah. I mean, I think that life always initiates us in the ways that we need it. You know, whether we, whether we, you know, would've chosen it or not. I think life and God and, and all of it. I think just life has a way of Yeah. Providing to us the exact initiation that we need to become the next version of ourselves that the next moment is gonna call for.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, there was a very specific, there's been a couple specific circumstances where I think it's been shown to me that. There's definitely higher powers at work.

 Shelby Hobbs: Yeah, absolutely.

Kelly Kennedy: Right. Uh, you know, let's talk about briefly the latest one. You know, it was a couple months ago now, but basically I was heading into two of some of the biggest back-to-back interviews we've had on the show.

I think it was Jake Gold followed by Douglas Conant. It was a massive day two, juggernaut interviews. And that morning, like eight o'clock in the morning, I get a text, like literally had no time to actually deal with the text. But basically the text just said, we're running into challenges. I'm not sure that your services can be continued.

So this is like one of my bigger clients and I was just like, shit, like we're heading into Christmas season. I got two big interviews and this is the news that I'm dealing with this morning. Mm-hmm. Um, and it was crazy 'cause you, you remember that I was just like, oh, I just showed you the phone went downstairs to my interview.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And uh, by the time I came back up after, I think it was my first interview, I had another email. From a proposal that I had sent out that I was waiting to hear back from, that was just like, this is awesome. We'd like to move forward. Mm-hmm. And so, and that same thing had happened at our old house right before we moved.

It was a similar situation. Like I knew we were buying a house. Mm-hmm. And suddenly, you know, a long time client was just like, Hey, like we're changing things at the business. This isn't gonna work anymore. Mm-hmm. You know, we're gonna have to cut, cut this tie. And, uh, and same thing like not a few days later, here you go, here's the next opportunity.

Mm-hmm. And so I think I, you know what I mean? I don't think I know, there's higher powers out there. It doesn't matter whether you believe in the universe or God or whatever. Take your pick in what you believe in. But there is, there is something going on out there that's working in your favor.

I just, I think that's important for everybody to hear. It's Christmas time. There is a bigger world happening to make your life better.

 Shelby Hobbs: Yeah. Yeah, something. Something is always asking to be born, like to be birthed. And I do remember, I remember you standing. Metaphorically and literally in a threshold you are standing in the doorway, which is the doorway that takes you down to the basement.

It's that threshold in our family between dad's upstairs and dad's downstairs.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah.

 Shelby Hobbs: Dad's working And dad knows it too. It's like, daddy goes downstairs, it's like, bye bye daddy. Like daddy's working. Oh yeah. And being upstairs, you know, with our family on the main floor in our family room, in our kitchen.

You were standing in the literal threshold receiving this message and you know, I guess what you could, maybe one of the things that you could take from that as well is like that timeline seems to have condensed between the thing that was falling away and, and making space and the Yeah, the next thing that was arriving because it was literally within.

Moments, essentially. It was literally moments in scheme of thing. Yeah. Moments.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah. I literally said there couldn't have been a better day. Like there just couldn't have been a better moment day for that message to come in, you know, and for the, and for that next message to come in and say, you know what?

No, that's fine. We got you. Right. You're okay.

 Shelby Hobbs: Right, right. And well, it's fascinating too because we tend to, I think we know there's a knowing somewhere in our bodies when things start to turn. Yeah. Like you sense that. Something's changed in the di you know, the dynamic with that client. It, you don't know how long it's gonna be.

You don't know how long it's gonna take. But I think, you know, we've gotta give ourselves more credit because Yeah. Our intuition is an incredibly powerful tool. It's a very, it tends, I think it's far more accurate than we give it credit for. And so I think there had been a kind of knowing and a sensing that things were gonna turn, there was gonna be an opening was gonna come available.

Yeah. You don't know when it's gonna happen.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah.

 Shelby Hobbs: But you know, that moment I think when things start to shift. And so I do think that's part of being a very adaptive and intuitive entrepreneur is being attuned and aware to when those shifts. Begin to happen. Yeah. And this is when we do some of our cultivating work.

We start planting seeds, we maybe we start having more conversations, whether you're fully conscious and aware of it or not. I really believe that is what you started to do. And the next thing you know when one went out, one was right there, ready to fill that space. And it doesn't happen by accident. Right?

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Yeah. Like I think what you're getting at here is trust your gut. You know what's going on. You know, when it doesn't feel right and you know when it feels exceptional, when it's not feeling right. It's not just because you're probably not wrong. Maybe it's the better way of putting it.

You're probably not wrong. Trust yourself, trust your gut. The other thing that I have to maybe say is, you know, we're, we're talking about one instance, but since then babe, it's just been like the floodgates open. Mm-hmm. It's been like opportunity after opportunity after opportunity. It's like mm-hmm. It wasn't just the one thing guys, it's just been, you know, it's been a ton of opportunities since that moment.

And I think you just have to be willing to say, I'm ready. I'm open, let's go.

 Shelby Hobbs: Yeah. And you know, frankly, not a moment too soon, because I think this whole past year as, as someone who's had the benefit of observing you up close on a daily basis, which it is one of the greatest, it's one of the things I'm the most thankful for is that I, I had the benefit of being with you day in and day out while you're on this journey.

That you are home, that you are working from home. It's still, still, when I say it, I, it's met with some disbelief from me that you've been able to do and accomplish everything you've been able to do while being what feels like right here beside me, with me, with our kids. Like just to, you know, for a moment to just acknowledge the incredible beauty of that.

But having, you know, witnessed you on a daily basis and kind of see this happening, I really think that this past year has been about building that capacity and actually being able, I think you stretched yourself this whole past year, day in and day out, stretched what you could get done in a day, what you could get done in an hour, A literal hour.

Yeah. What you could get done in 10 minutes. Time literally seems to change around us as we are able to take on more and accomplish more in a way that our capacity builds. And then it's like just at the moment when you got the skills and the capacity needed, it's like, I think you're. Now the opportunities are there and they're there in a way that's gonna help you achieve that next level.

Yeah. And you know, maybe it's gonna look like bringing in help and it's gonna look like expanding, you know, the skillset and the, and the people ultimately that are doing this work with you in the world. But yeah, I mean, there, there is absolutely an intelligence to the way this stuff takes shape.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah.

Like I, I, I, I like to think I'm smart. I like to see that or think that I can ultimately make my future the way I want it to be. And I think to an extent we do, but I think that you have to leave room for the unexpected because the unexpected will blow you away.

 Shelby Hobbs: Yeah, absolutely. Uh, yeah, for sure. I love it.

I, I think mystery has become one of my favorite words and like, adventure, you know, even when we're just packing up the kids to head out somewhere, it's like, we're gonna go have an adventure. It's, it's probably one of the best frames we've got for what we're experiencing in our life right now on a day-to-day basis is it's unpredictable.

It's full, it's chaotic at times, but you know what an incredible adventure that I get to be on with you.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes. And likewise, speaking of adventure. Hi Manon.

 Shelby Hobbs: Hi Manon. Oh. Man's asking about the giant box outside.

Kelly Kennedy: Oh. Oh.

 Shelby Hobbs: Which he might be a little disappointed by, but I'm not, that's actually, it's,

yeah. It's

the, it's the slow initiation of us back into the Mac ecosystem.

Kelly Kennedy: That's right. My iMac step one, step one, starting with Shelby.

Yeah. It's, um, 2025 has been an absolutely incredible year. You know, I, I think I just wanna stop and thank all of our listeners for sticking with us. Um mm-hmm. You know, it 300 episodes is a slog. Yeah. I, I just wanna maybe make everybody aware of that, that it's, um, it's a lot of work to get there. Yeah.

The fact that you guys have been with us on this journey. We're going on our third year of the BDP. We frigging won a signal award. Amazing. It's the coolest award I've ever won.

Mm-hmm. Let's put it that way. Very cool.

Sweet bronze statue with headphones. It's amazing. Um, I think we're just getting going.

I think, I think 300 is the start of the next big phase. I really believe it. I think, I think it took this long to get here. I think it took 300 episodes to just get to a point where we can start to go up. But I think, I think 2026 is our year.

 Shelby Hobbs: Yeah. Yeah, I think so too. It's the, it's the Chinese year, the dragon.

I think it's, it's already, it already seems to be giving those like, sort of dragon vibes. And I don't just mean in our family or our community, I mean, kind of globally. I think, I think we're all feeling that, that new moment whatever that means. And so, yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much to, you know, your community and your listeners for the way that they've showed up for you and supported you.

I am, I'm thankful all the time for the human beings that have, that have come into your life and that have, you know, been huge champions for your work and and just your personal professional development. I think it's been. A real honor just to witness it and be a part of it in some small way along the way.

And just like doing these episodes, it's, it really is an honor to sit here on the 300th episode with this community and with you and, yeah, just very thankful.

Kelly Kennedy: It's just so crazy. Hey, 300 episodes babe.

 Shelby Hobbs: Mm-hmm.

Kelly Kennedy: I still remember, I still remember for our lovely listeners out there who probably had a very similar experience asking Alexa to play my show for the very first time and just be blown away that it actually played something, something that I made.

Yeah. It's so cool. It's so cool to be right here at 300 episodes. I remember listening to The Box of Oddities when they hit their hundredth episode. Mm-hmm. And just being blown away that they could do 100, I think they're closing in on a thousand if not past it. And I'm closing in here now on 300 and it or I'm on 300, I guess I should say.

Mm-hmm. And it's just like. It's pretty amazing. And I think maybe the more amazing thing is how fast it's all happened.

 Shelby Hobbs: Mm-hmm.

Kelly Kennedy: Like time, you know, we talked about this time is flying.

 Shelby Hobbs: Yeah. Yeah. I am not nearly, you know, smart or academic enough to actually get into it, but I I, I had come across a theory that kind of explained that it w it had to do with the sheer number of events happening was like, if you imagine that something that happened is a tick.

Yeah. It's an a tick on the arm of the clock, it goes tick, tick tick, tick. And that actually, as you're doing more, more and being more and having more, your ticker is. Genuinely in a physical way, like as in physics moving faster, your clock is literally moving faster because you have, because there is so much moving your ticker forward.

And that, I don't know, that moved something in me. It felt incredibly true when I kind of, you know, sat with it and understood it. I, I was kind of blown away by actually how true that felt and it, it got me just sort of. Imagining that time itself was gonna be changing for the entire planet, because I think everyone's doing more and everyone's doing more.

I made this the other day that like Chat GPT is the ultimate Yes man.

Kelly Kennedy: It is.

 Shelby Hobbs: We say PT like, Hey, chat. Should I like learn how to build bridges and just like start a business and would be like, yes, Shelby, that is exactly right. You should go do that. And that's why I literally think we are all doing more. We have cheerleaders in our pocket telling us we should.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. We're in for, uh, we're in for an incredibly productive century, I think.

 Shelby Hobbs: Exactly. Exactly. Yeah.

Kelly Kennedy: Well, that, uh, that I think takes us to the end of 300, babe. Um, let me just end this by saying thank you. None of this would be possible. And listeners out there, none of this would've been possible without her championing the family around, around here, looking after our amazing boys, helping make the time for me to be able to live this entrepreneurial life and, and build this show and build my business.

Um, Shelby, you're the backbone of everything, and so thank you for all you've done. And I love you.

 Shelby Hobbs: I love you. Thank you. It's an honor.

Kelly Kennedy: Until next time. This has been Milestone episode 300 of the Business Development Podcast.

 Shelby Hobbs: And we'll catch you on the flip side.

Outro: This has been the Business Development Podcast with Kelly Kennedy.

Kelly has 15 years in sales and business development experience within the Alberta oil and gas industry, and founded his own business development firm in 2020. His passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation and business development. The show is brought to you by Capital Business Development, your Business Development Specialists.

For more, we invite you to the website @ www.capitalbd.ca. See you next time on the Business Development Podcast.