We Are Power Podcast
The We Are Power podcast is the podcast for your career and your life. A weekly podcast with listeners in over 60 countries worldwide where you'll hear personal life stories, top-notch industry advice, and key leadership insight from amazing role models. The podcast not only aids your personal and professional development but also delves deep into conversations around Gender Equality and Social Mobility. Each week the We Are Power Podcast will bring you a new interview from a leader within the 100,000-strong We Are Power community, hosted by Simone Roche MBE.
We Are Power Podcast
Overcoming Challenges and Embracing Innovation with Kelly Whitfield
Join us for an episode with Kelly Whitfield, founder and CEO of KLIK UK, who launched her entrepreneurial journey with just a £500 overdraft and built it into a powerhouse career.
In this episode, Kelly shares her game-changing insights on standing out, staying true to your vision, and why focusing on personal growth is everything.
From the legendary inspiration of Coco Chanel, Daniel Priestley, and Simon Sinek to a life-changing battle over maternity leave, Kelly’s story is one of resilience, ambition, and integrity.
Listen to learn:
- The key traits that fuel entrepreneurial success
- Why embracing fearlessness, adaptability, and learning from setbacks are non-negotiables
- The power of knowing your "why" in business
- Essential advice for women stepping into (or back into) industries where they’re often underestimated.
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Hello and welcome to the we Are Power podcast live from our we Are Power studio. Every week I get the opportunity to speak to some of the most amazing individuals in and from across the whole of the UK lots of cracking northerners as well. That's what we love People from different paths, different adventures, different stories, and we bring them together so we can pass on some of those top tips, guidance, tote bag moments, slogans on t-shirts, you name it. That's what we're trying to check, and today I am delighted to be joined by Kelly Whitfield, who is the founder and CEO of Click UK. I can see that in your background there, kelly. Kelly is a businesswoman, entrepreneur, director, media personality, mentor with over 20 years experience in, to name but a few, policing, recruitment, human resources, technology. Get it all in one basket there, kelly. Welcome to the pod.
Speaker 2:Absolute pleasure to be here, delighted to be here. I think I need to lie down after that.
Speaker 1:My goodness, I've got a fair few things to my board, shall we say you are on one heck of an adventure and you have, as a serial entrepreneur, founded multiple companies, including Adept, MVB, Freeport and ClickSAS. I was going to say SLS decided to spell it out, but it's all good. What are the key ingredients to launching and growing successful businesses in today's? Because it's super competitive out there.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it is, and I think competitive is the key word. Let's focus on that. I always look at the need to stand out. I think it's so important to differentiate yourself in a competitive market. So with my first business, simone, back in 2006, when I incorporated Adept, I needed it to be better. I needed it to be better and I started that business with a 500 quid overdraft and I paid somebody 50 quid to draw me the best, most professional logo that I could get at the time and I put an advert in the Yellow Pages. If you can remember that, wow, if you can't, everybody look it up. But that's pretty much all we had back then.
Speaker 2:And you know, I made a genius move of describing my businesses deliberately different with two capital Ds, and it was my way of saying I'm not like them. You know what we do and how I work is deliberately different from what they do, and I think that's the key thing. Starting in a competitive market, you've got to differentiate yourself and then, once you've perfected what it is that you do, I think then you need to innovate. You need to constantly try and stay, not necessarily one step ahead of the competitors. By the way, I always had half an eye on my competition, but I never wasted time on them. So I always wanted to stay one step ahead of myself. So I always wanted to stay one step ahead of myself. But yes, that's the key is to differentiate and then to continuously innovate and improve.
Speaker 2:How do you not get distracted? Sometimes I think you can get distracted by the sirens, by what are they doing, are they doing it better or whatever. So how do you not do that? How do you not get caught in being caught over there by the siren? Do you know what? So I know we're gonna have a. I know we we're gonna have a good, um, a good discussion today around other ideas and some of that good stuff I want to bring in a little bit later. But being distracted by the sirens, just yeah, you've got to be aware of them. But if you, if you're too busy looking at the, you know the, the, the ambulances whizzing past with the sirens and the blue lights, you're taking your eyes off your own steering wheel. Keep looking forward, perfect what you are doing and aim to be the best at that. That's my advice on that one.
Speaker 1:And I love. We talk a lot about role models and people who inspire you along the way, and you have three very different people out there. So Coco Chanel, daniel Priestley and Simon Sinek how, why, what? How would you say? Are there different chain feces that inspire you?
Speaker 2:do you know what I? I so Coco Chanel's an unusual one, because I actually don't have a closet full of her stuff. Um, I'm a mom. You know, if I did it would be an absolute, it would be ruined. My youngest boy is five and I'm a rugby mom, so I don't know whether many people know, but she had a pretty tough start. I think her mom died when she was relatively young and her dad just basically abandoned her, and I think, when you look at her, she was, above all else, rebellious. And I don't know whether I'm a self-confessed underdog. I had a pretty tough upbringing and I, you know I champion underdogs and you know I want the Seabiscuits to win, if ever you've seen that. You know that was a racehorse that was taught to lose and then somebody you know enabled him to win, and goodness me, he. So Coco Chanel she was. She was rebellious, she was incredibly creative.
Speaker 2:You know, in those days women were confined by their clothes and she brought comfort into it. You know I'm I. I remember reading something, clearly, I've read something about her and you know, black. When you think she was born 1880s, something like that and you know black was used for mourning, then you know, you think of. You know Victoria, and she made black chic, you know, and we all have dresses in our closets because of her. And also, one thing that I really do like is she was really controversial. She applied men's wear to women's wear, so then women were wearing two-piece suits. You can go to the loo, you were comfortable. I just really like that.
Speaker 2:Now the other one, daniel Priestley. I like him because he's like me. I'm very linear, I like process, I like things to be clean and lean and efficient. You know, I like things to work and he's very much of that mindset. And I think Simon Sinek is why. If you've ever heard his TED talk, you know he talks about a lot of businesses, know what they do, but not everybody knows why they do it. And I think I remember, I remember watching that talk and it it really sort of said something to me, because I think I'm always steered by the want and the will to do good and do better. And Simon Sinek bringing why into it, you know, I think that's quite powerful and I think a lot of businesses and a lot of entrepreneurs and managers and leaders, even if it's not their own business, could probably do good to sit down and just think right, ok, so I know how we do what we do, and I know you know, I know what it is that we do, but why do we do it?
Speaker 1:And then communicate that, and that goes back to your needing to stand out, doesn't? It Goes back to some of that. I get more reason for it If we go forward now. To Click this business now is all about focusing, helping businesses to focus in on connecting and collaborating, which I love, and also to stay competitive when attracting talent. What advice would you throw out there to business leaders who are struggling to hire and retain, actually more importantly in this fast-moving market right now?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So the first thing I would say and and I'm I'm going to be careful when I say what I'm about to say I'm saying it from the perspective of a previous recruitment entrepreneur who had a specialist search and recruitment firms that then evolved, by the way. So we talked differentiating and then innovating. So my business, back in 2012, innovated and we then partnered with a company in Silicon Valley. We were providing recruitment, employee engagement, then retention initiatives, which is what enabled me to retire at 42, by the way and I think my advice, with those hats on, is for employees to take recruitment in-house, and I've been asked to write a book around this subject. And in my head, I've got this working title of being fit to compete. And when I talk and think about being fit to compete, it's to encourage employees to say right, hang on a second, let's just take a step back. If we were going to offer somebody a job and they had another offer, why would they accept ours? What's it like to work here? What can we offer outside of money? And, by the way, employers, it isn't just about money.
Speaker 2:I've been a board advisor for quite a few years and I remember being helicoptered into a board to enable that business to scale from 16 to over 100 people quite quickly in the UK and then to set up a second operation overseas in Australia, and I knew that that significant and rapid scale would dilute that culture. But I also knew we were going to have a challenge in recruiting people because we were headhunting from oil and gas and asking people to come and work in a business in Teesside in an office, and everybody knows oil and gas pays a handsome salary. So I remember saying to their then advisors and accountants what else can I promote other than money? And I ended up working with their accountants and we put together a flexible benefit scheme that enabled people, instead of working overtime and it being lost, they counted it and they got an extra day off each month. Then we had compressed working week schemes and flexible working so they could pick up and drop off. So then I was able to say to our consultants when you are talking to a candidate, say to them look, we're not going to be able to really compete with your salary. However, you can sleep in your own bed, you can drop your children off and pick them up, and you can. You can get up to 12 additional days holiday a year, just from doing a bit of overtime, and they loved it. So take recruitment in-house.
Speaker 2:Have a look at what it's like to work for your organization. What's your culture like? Do engagement initiatives? Are people happy? Take the feedback that they give you, because that is absolute diamond, diamond, gold dust. Uh, advice on how you can create a better place to work within your business. Um, that would be my top things and what's another piece of advice?
Speaker 1:while we're seeking some of that out, you've worked in many different industries that we talked about. But to women, particularly stepping in or stepping back into industries where they may feel they're outnumbered or overlooked, what's your one piece of advice?
Speaker 2:Oh, now this one makes me want to rattle cages in the kitchen because I am a woman and I shout louder, I stand taller, I push harder. I remember being a police lady. I was independently policed when I was 19 and my sergeant I forget his name. He said to me, kelly, knowledge is confidence. He said. If you learn all of your legislation and all what we used to call points to prove around, all the different bits of legislation that we used to have to memorize, you can go out onto that street and you can deal with absolutely any situation that can come up, as in if somebody walks past me, simone, with a handful of pheasants and a shotgun over their arm, I need to know whether I can lock them up or not. So knowledge is confidence and I think if you know your stuff and I make it my purpose and my mission to know my stuff I think you can enter a male dominated industry. I've done police and I've done tech and I've done recruitment, as you say, and you can stand your ground.
Speaker 2:I do not and I will not play golf. I'm not interested. So if there are deals being done on the golf course, you know I'm going to miss out. That annoys me, but you know, I remember hearing a story once I think it was actually Daniel Priestley where there's 100 people in a room and there's an auction in a room. And there's an auction and this guy on the stage is offering, you know, a one-to-one some of his time to the highest bidder. Out of those hundred people, only two people were competing with each other and that drove the price up. You don't need to promote yourself to the hundred people in the room, just find the two that want you. Let them do the deals on the golf course. Who bloody wants it anyway?
Speaker 1:now, one of the best bits of advice I read about you that you received was the value of extra work by itemizing and invoicing discretionary effort at zero cost to highlight the value. Talk to me about that, because this is something I know particularly. You know not wanting to just solo focus on female founders, but this happens a lot, doesn't it? Just do it for free. Just do it for free, You'll get lots of exposure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, yes, that is true. I think my take on this was a long time ago. I got this, you know this was gosh. This was within probably the first two or three years of Adept, so it would have been, you know, 20 years ago and back then.
Speaker 2:When you're starting out, let's focus on that. You do things for love and you provide what I call discretionary effort. You go above and beyond, and that's all well and good when you're winning business and you want to take care of your client. But it's incredibly difficult, as you know, simone, to maintain as you scale. And the problem then is if you've done something for free and then, all of a sudden, you can no longer do it. You know that's a difficult bridge to cross.
Speaker 2:So my advice is, when you're doing the small things or the big things for love, whether it's traveling or whether it's attending a meeting or whether it's, it depends on how you, I guess it depends on how two hours, you know, and just enter a zero free, just put complimentary the fact that when they're looking at it, it's seen, it's recognized, it's appreciated. And also it would make me feel good if I was looking at an invoice to pay for one of my suppliers and there was a few little gestures on there. I would think nice one, guys. And then, when it comes to building your business and scaling and you know, looking at who you award more work to you, go to the people that make you feel good, that you value, and they value you.
Speaker 1:So yeah, that's my advice on that one Love that, and you said you got that many years ago, so that stayed with you right. And you said you got that many years ago, so that stayed with you right. You know you've got over 20 years of industry and entrepreneurial experience. What do you think are those kind of real top qualities that you need to thrive and grow through entrepreneurship and leadership?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think you need to be fearless. I think you need to be incredibly flexible. I think if you're starting out in business now, you've got to pick one thing and be good at it. I delivered a talk, actually for the first time ever, on this particular subject at something called Netfest a couple of days ago you might have seen it and there was a lot of startups or budding entrepreneurs in the room and I said to them look, just, focus on one thing and just if all you're going to do is do the same as many others, as in competitive, saturated market, as we've talked about in the first question you asked me just do it better, just whatever it is. If you're selling shoes, sell shoes better than your competitors. Put something in the bag with the shoes that makes them feel good.
Speaker 2:And I think you need to be very driven to be good at the one thing that you do do, but also be prepared to fail, and fail quickly and ideally inexpensively. So when I was coming up with the idea of Click, before it was even called Click, I built a prototype, an inexpensive prototype, on a different platform than what the final product was, and that was my MVP my minimum viable product product, took that to market and tested it over a good period, got some phenomenal feedback and we knew at that point actually, yeah, we can put our you know, an element of our children's inheritance into this and be confident in the outcome because people liked it, um. But you know, I don't believe in failure, I believe in feedback. I don't think I don't think you failed to invent the light bulb. You've just found another way that doesn't work.
Speaker 1:I love this. I can't even. I'm running out of pages to write down these tote bag quotes on and we're going to. There's not enough t-shirts out there. Looking back, I'm from Teesside. We talk quickly. Looking back, what is the one challenge that actually has helped shaped you and how did you kind of batter it down?
Speaker 2:right, this is a good one. This is a controversial one, and I'm gonna I'm gonna share something with you that I've got to be careful sharing um to, so it's a bit of an exclusive, but um, it's not something I've spoken about openly, um, but I do think it's something that should be shared. So, to put it bluntly, I was pregnant, then screwed, and I don't know if you've heard of that website.
Speaker 1:We know Jolie.
Speaker 2:Brilliant, absolutely fantastic. So I actually co-founded a business with some nameless men and the business was phenomenal. It was fantastic up until the very last board meeting. That again was recorded phenomenal and fantastic. And it was until we got to the any other business bit and I said I need time off. And I asked for about four weeks off and when I eventually told them that you know I was expecting my third son and I knew at that point that that was it, we were done, we were finished, we were over.
Speaker 2:And you know not to be serious and not to be downbeat about it, because actually it's the best thing that ever happened, but sure enough, that was probably the most challenging thing I've ever gone through. We did go to court and, stupidly, those individuals had used our company email to communicate on how to trump maternity pay. How can we make her look incompetent? I've never made a solvent business look insolvent, but I'm sure it can be done. And, long story short, it did go to court and I did win. And, long story short, it did go to court and I did win. So you know, it was one for the ladies on that one. And what was really phenomenal about that was I. We actually had staff. I walked into the offices and said to everybody and they knew At that point I was heavily pregnant I said, look, I love you all, but I'm never, ever going to come back to this business.
Speaker 2:I'm going to personally guarantee all your salaries. I will help you, I will support you until you, you know, you're settled and you've moved on. And what was ironic, that business ran for quite a long time, didn't need a single penny from me, and it was only when the last wonderful person was happily reappointed, I went in, locked the door, took the money out of the business as you would expect, because at that point I was 100% shareholder sat down and came up with the idea of Click, and it took me to go through all of that to then be sufficiently motivated and to have the time and the clarity to think. You know what I want to do.
Speaker 2:I don't want to go back into business. I want to have a digital asset. I want to create a machine that generates reoccurring revenue, that makes money while I sleep, and then I want to offer that technology to other people so that they can license it, so that they too can have a reoccurring revenue asset. And that's what I've done so. Thanks guys. By the way, that's the first time I've heard that, but I think it's a good one to share.
Speaker 1:I love that and I really appreciate you sharing that with us. And Kelly, honestly I feel like this is part one of probably a four part series for you and I on this. We need to do this again. I want to thank you so much for joining me. The fact that you need to stand out. You are the self-confessed underdog. It's all about the why you have to be fit to compete. Knowledge is confidence. Know yourself. Fail first, Fail inexpensively and actually it's not failure, it's feedback.
Speaker 1:They were just some of the ones that I could scribble down as we chatted today, but, Callie, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. You're a total legend. I look forward to continuing this conversation and thank you for being you. Fab Love to you all. Oh, and thank all of you for joining us. There is so much conversation to carry on after today's episode. Kelly, total star, Please do keep on the conversation going. Subscribe, watch our podcast now from our fabulous studio YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a review. We love that, but please keep the conversation going. We are power underscore net on Insta, TikTok and Twitter. We are power on LinkedIn and Facebook and we are underscore power on YouTube. Find out everything that we're doing on our digital hub, wearepowernet. So much going on, so many phenomenal role models out there. Thank you for joining me. My name is Simone. This is the we Are Power podcast.
