Get To Know Nikki McKnight, Founder of The Ops Shop | Canadian Business Owner Spotlights by Kelsey Reidl, Marketing Consultant.
Meet Nikki McKnight!
Founder of The Ops Shop
A boutique consultancy helping founder-led businesses scale beyond what one founder can sustainably hold together.
Welcome to our Canadian Business Owner Spotlight Series hosted by me… Kelsey Reidl (Business & Marketing Consultant).
In this series, I'll be catching up with the most talented, generous & inspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners in Canada & beyond.
Enjoy learning more about these wonderful humans, and give them a ‘follow’ or get in touch in order to collaborate with them + work with them.
-Kelsey
The TL;DR for Nikki McKnight of The Ops Shop.
Nikki McKnight is a customer experience strategist and the founder of The Ops Shop, a boutique consultancy working with founder-led businesses across North America to turn their client experience into their most powerful growth engine.
She helps founders become the obvious choice in their industry, not by marketing harder or gaming another algorithm, but by designing an experience so intentional and so recognizably theirs that their clients cannot stop talking about them. Her work sits at the intersection of customer experience, operations, and offer design; the strategic infrastructure that turns a business people like into a business people refer, repeat with, and rave about without being asked.
She is the host of Would Recommend: Real Stories from Businesses Worth Talking About, a podcast about businesses that earn genuine word-of-mouth through intentional customer experience design. When she is not working with clients, you will find her on the pickleball court, building Lego sets, or reading a few hundred romance novels.
Okay, let’s get to know Nikki!
Name
Nikki McKnight
Profession / Title
Customer Experience & Operations Strategist
Business Name
The Ops Shop
Industry / Niche
Customer Experience Strategy for Founder-Led Businesses
My Business Was Founded In
On paper, 2014, but I say I’ve been back in its current iteration since March 2020
Current Location
Niagara on the Lake, ON
3 words you would use to describe yourself…
Curious.
Thoughtful.
Dynamic.
(real theatre kid energy)
Tell us more about your business
The Ops Shop is a boutique client experience and operations consultancy for founder-led businesses; the ones who built something good on the back of the founder's own taste, care, and instincts, and who have quietly hit the ceiling of what one very tired nervous system can hold together. My work sits at the intersection of client experience, operations, and offer design, and the whole thing is anchored in what I call the Would Recommend Standard; the belief that word-of-mouth is the compounding asset most founder-led businesses are leaving on the table.
A workday for me is a mix of client sessions (deep, focused, usually with a fresh espresso in a fancy china cup), building out frameworks and journey maps for the work in progress, writing my newsletter FAFO Biweekly Business Experiments (F**k Around and Find Out), and recording my podcast “Would Recommend; real stories from businesses worth talking about”. People mostly find me the way I would want them to; through a past client casually name-dropping me at a dinner party, through the podcast, or through something I wrote on social media that caught them mid-scroll.
In one or two sentences, what specific problem does your business solve for your clients?
Founder-led businesses hit a very specific ceiling: their client experience is powered almost entirely by the founder's personal presence, taste, and standards, which means it cannot scale without diluting the exact thing that made people fall in love with them in the first place.
I help founders translate what lives in their instincts into something intentional, repeatable, and felt, so the business becomes recognizably theirs at any size and the word-of-mouth engine that used to happen by accident starts happening by design.
What is a recent investment you’ve made in your business
In the past few years, I have seriously doubled down on community. I am very blessed that my business has been 100% referral for over five years, and it is being around people that not only brings me business but brings me inspiration and new business besties.
I am very active in both the High Vibe Women community as well as Entreprenista because I like being surrounded by women who are actually doing things, not just talking about it.
What changed after that investment? Why do you see it as an investment, not an expense?
I have been working remotely for over 10 years and really, the only thing that has kept me going has been the support of community. I am always looking to be around different types of businesses and different types of industries because I believe that cross-functional learning is one of the best things that anyone can do.
I not only have expanded my network of collaborators (where I can send them their ideal client) but they have been a sounding board and source of both inspiration and motivation for me when I am creating things.
What would you tell a new entrepreneur who's considering investing in the same thing, but is hesitant?
When it comes to any investment decision (whether it’s time, money, or energy), I think it’s important to think about how to de-risk it. Nothing is completely foolproof, but if you think through the risk vs impact, then it becomes easier to identify the places that investing can benefit you.
For example, instead of joining a mastermind right away, attend one of the organizers’ smaller events. Rather than get locked into a one year program, try the creator’s free webinar or lead magnets to get a taste of how they work.
Now for some fun stuff!
Always…
Always ask questions and lead with curiosity over judgement.
Never…
Never listen only for the intent to respond.
Advice for other entrepreneurs, who are slightly less far along…
Certainty isn’t a thing, only probability. And if you keep waiting to feel certain before you move, you’ll never launch, never test, never learn. The first time I really got this, I realized my entire job wasn’t to “already know,” it was to know how to figure it out.
That shift has saved me from so many 2am anxiety spirals. I don’t expect clarity anymore; I expect to have to find it. Get comfortable tolerating uncertainty.
What is a tool, resource, podcast, book or person you’ve invested in that’s added value to your entrepreneurial journey
By far my favourite book is Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara. I’ve read it 4 times and find something new each time.
Favourite way to wind down after a long workweek
Takeout sushi with as much salmon sashimi as possible, a glass of wine from Ravine Vineyards, and the latest Netflix romcom.
Before starting my workday, I make sure to…
drink espresso from a fancy china cup and cuddle with my dog a bit.
Best part of my work is…
Getting to combine my big creative thinking brain with practical how-to planning (because no one person is just a visionary or an integrator! I contain multitudes!)
Last vacation you took (and where did you go)
I have not been on vacation in…a long time.. 😆😆😆
