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After a 32-year career as a Flight Attendant with Air Canada, Marcia Barhydt found out the hard way that customer service in the business world was a far cry from customer service in the hospitality industry.
During job interviews, when she asked how often a company’s customer service reps would be giving feedback to management, most often the response she’d hear would be ‘Feedback?’ “I knew then that I was in trouble. I knew that I was talking service and they were talking data entry.”
“So, there I was, income reduced to pension level, with no acceptable part time jobs fitting my abilities”. “I thought, Oh, oh, now what?”
Fortunately, within months, in 1999, a course started in Brampton, which taught people how to become entrepreneurs. After 5 weeks of learning, Marcia decided to become a customer service trainer. That was the easy part.
“I’d never even owned a computer until I started my company.” “I had no idea what I was doing and I was certain that I’d never be able to pull it all together”. Marcia wrote her own training programs, based on her knowledge from 32 years of customer service and started cold calling.
“After 3 months of turn-downs, I was ready to throw in the towel. Then a colleague suggested I try networking. I haven’t made a cold call since!”
After 3 years of intensive networking, becoming part of professional groups and taking leadership roles in them, working almost 24/7 the way so many new, home-based entrepreneurs do, Marcia found herself with serious medical problems 3 months in a row and ended up briefly in the hospital.
“I finally realized that my body was trying to tell me I couldn’t work this hard. I needed to ease the pressure on myself, the stress, so I could be healthy.” That meant selling her beloved 1912 house, changing her life style to one more affordable and finding some balance.
Four years later, Marcia continues with Willowtree Customer Service Training, still does workshops, keynotes, coaching. But at a less pressured pace. “I still work hard. But now, I can afford to take some time for myself, for my family, for my volunteer work with the Arthritis Society, for goofing off.”
“The phrase ‘balance’ is overworked right now, but it’s a very important factor in our lives. Without it, we become tunnel-visional. We need to look in 360 degrees, rather than just straight ahead.”
Marcia now includes in her lineup of keynotes a motivational topic titled ‘Coffee, Tea or Me? - 7 Life Changes and 8 Rules to Guide the Journey’. “If I can help one other solo-preneur to make her new life easier, to make her new life more balanced, to know that she’s not alone, then I’m happy. We must never ever forget what each of us went through to get to where we are now.”
Marcia’s work has also evolved to include a great deal of writing. She started by writing a bi-monthly customer service column for The Brampton News in October 2006 and then was asked by her editor to cover other local happenings. At about the same time, Marcia became a profile writer for Roaring Women and this has morphed into writing marketing materials for fellow business- women.
"The highlight of my year was covering a lunch with Gloria Steinem as the keynote. And I had the chance to meet her and chat briefly too! It was a moment in my life.”
When Roaring Women first came to Brampton in May 2006, it was pivotal for Marcia and she became a member that very night. Then when the opportunity presented itself, Marcia suggested to Mandie Crawford that she would take over the Brampton Regional Director position.
“I’m dedicated to having Roaring Women in Brampton. The concept, the atmosphere of this group speaks to me. I have found my networking niche.”
The future for Willowtree and Marcia? “I want to expand my writing, and I want to talk to as many new entrepreneurs as I can to let them know that we’ve all been there. I want to let them know that I had no idea of how much I could accomplish. I want them to know that they can do it too.” |
