World Trade Centre Winnipeg is here to help Manitoba-based companies boost their global trade activity so they can scale and make a bigger impact. 🚀 

If you want to reach new markets throughout Canada or globally, we're here to make that happen!

WTC Winnipeg offers a wide variety of services for Manitoba businesses looking to grow:

- Trade advisory services for export and trade
- Export planning guidance
- Market intelligence services
- Access to our global network of 300+ World Trade Centre Associations
- Online webinars and workshops
- Monthly, in-person WTC Talks event
- Business planning workshops and resources
- Fundica: A free funding search tool to support your growth 
- And much more!

If you're looking for more information, please visit www.wtcwinnipeg.com or send me a direct message!

Paul Keefe

Building MAD Social Agency, a modern remote digital marketing agency. 

Our marketing theory: Brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.

As the Founder/ CEO of MAD Social Agency with over 10 years of experience in content creation, I am building a team that helps businesses grow their digital presence with inventive and effective social media marketing strategies. 

Marketing is about people, not platforms. 

By understanding human psychology, we create strategies that resonate deeply and drive real impact.

I started MAD Social in 2020 as a side hustle, and since then, I have built a team of 25 and a portfolio of over 350 clients, ranging from personal brands to small businesses.

My entrepreneurial journey started at 13 when I direct messaged over 150 businesses my fashion designs and landed a Fashion Designer internship at 13, designing 6 "Maddie Collections" with the brand Triple Flip. 

In high school myself and 6 others for a school project created a successful clothing brand that quickly gained popularity across 4 provinces, I bought each founder out for $20 each after the "project" was done. 

This early success paved the way for MAD Social Agency, where I continue to innovate and lead in an industry that often lacks female representation. I also pursued a degree in Environmental Design at the University of Manitoba, where I learned to apply architectural principles and methods to solve complex problems... most of all grit. 


Building a remote agency has allowed MAD to attract top talent and provide flexible, effective solutions for our clients. We are the definition of a flex work environment. Rule #1 of MAD is "Get stuff done on time, while #2 is "Get stuff done well" and we don't care when or where you do it. 

My story is about leveraging creativity, determination, and harnessing grit from people who did not believe in me and dropping out of architecture school to run MAD full-time in 2021. 

My goal is to empower and inspire others to pursue their dreams and redefine success in the digital arena, regardless of their background or starting point. 

I believe that with innovation and perseverance, anything is possible. 

⚡️I invite fellow trailblazers to join me in rewriting the rules of digital marketing. Let's have a virtual coffee!

Lover of Winnipeg & Content

👉 Stay in the loop:
Instagram: @Maddie.theresa & @Madsocialagency
TikTok: @Maddietheresa
LOI Batch 12
30 Under 30 Campaign Magazine 

Together, let's lead the digital revolution, one innovative step at a time.

Maddie Thompson

I just spent a month in Mexico.

The agency signed 13 clients while I was gone.

A year ago that would have been impossible. Not because of me being in Mexico but because the whole thing only worked if I was personally holding it together.

That's not a business. That's a job you can't quit.

The shift happened when I stopped asking "how do I do this better" and started asking "how do I make this work without me." Different question. Completely different results.

January we restructured the whole operation and hired our first full time team members instead of contractors. It was scarier than it sounds. Payroll is a different kind of pressure than invoicing a freelancer.

But now I can leave the country and the thing runs.

If you're a founder and your business stops the second you step away, that's the only problem worth solving right now. Everything else is noise.

What's one thing you could document, delegate, or systematize this week so it doesn't need you anymore?

Founder & CEO @ MAD Social Agency | Social Media & Ads for Brands | 30 Under 30 Campaign Mag

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I couldn't get into business school.

The program required pre-calculus. I didn't have it. So I enrolled in architecture school instead because I liked design and building things and it was the next closest option.

Three years in I was sitting in class doing client work on my laptop while everyone else built architecture models.
I dropped out. Built MAD Social.

Here's what I actually believe though... architecture school wasn't a mistake. It was just a chapter. 

The detour taught me spatial thinking, structure, and how to present ideas visually. But most of all how to accept critique. 

I use all of that in ways I never expected.

The pressure to pick the right thing at 18 is one of the most damaging things we put on young people.

You're not picking your forever. You're picking your next move.

The founders I respect most? 

Almost none of them took a straight line. 

They tried something, learned from it, and let it point them somewhere better.

Stop trying to find your thing. Start doing a thing. The clarity comes after the movement, never before it.

Founder @ MAD Social Agency | Social Media & Ads for Brands | Building in Public | 30 Under 30 Campaign Mag

I’m retiring from being the main content creator for MAD Social.

Not because I’m “over it” but because it’s time to actually live what I preach.

Founders shouldn’t be the bottleneck.

My job is to make the high level decisions, build the next phase, and protect the vision.

So I’m passing the day to day content execution to my team.

I’ll show up on shoot day, do my part, and then get back to leading.

The future of MAD Social is bigger than one person’s camera time.

We’re doubling down on strategy, creative that actually performs, and ads that convert.

And this next chapter is going to be loud.

#agencyowner #founderlife #socialmediamarketing #contentstrategy #leadership #paidmedia

This past weekend I flew out to Vancouver with one of my team members to shoot for Pizza Pizza

And it was equally the most amazing and the most chaotic shoot we've ever done

We walked away with over 550 videos in a single weekend

The days were long, the energy was insane, and there were moments where we genuinely had no idea how we were going to get everything done

But we did

We got everything on the shot list and then some

This is the kind of work we've been building toward

Bigger brands, bigger productions, bigger expectations and somehow two people from a Winnipeg agency showed up and outworked the timeline

We're so excited to be stepping into these more corporate style projects and honestly there's a lot more coming that we can't really talk about yet

But just know we're not slowing down... if anything we're just getting started

The fact that an agency we built from scratch in Winnipeg is now flying across the country to produce content for national brands is something I don't take for granted for a single second

Okay can we talk about something that's actually driving me insane

AI comments on LinkedIn are out of control and I think we're all just pretending not to notice

"What a thoughtful breakdown! As someone deeply passionate about authentic storytelling and leveraging growth mindsets in the digital space — this truly resonates 🙌"

BRO. Nobody has ever said that sentence out loud in their entire life

And it's not just comments. It's the posts too. Now I use AI every single day. Not gonna pretend I don't

But I start with something real first, like an actual thing that happened

Because those stories, THAT'S the stuff AI can help you refine or come up with

The moment you let it think for you and come up with all of your ideas is the moment you sound like everyone else and everyone else is really boring right now

Your weird specific story is the whole point. Don't outsource it

Drop a real human comment below (please) if you're still out there

This past Sunday I was standing outside BC Place in Vancouver screaming at strangers trying to get them to take free pizza

Like actually yelling at people before a Whitecaps game holding boxes of Pizza Pizza begging them to grab a slice while my team member filmed the whole thing

And somewhere between the chaos and the laughing and people looking at me like I was insane I had one of those moments where you just stop and go

Holy shit.. I built something so cool

Two years ago I was making content from my bedroom in Niverville

And now I'm flying across the country to represent national brands, produce content at professional soccer games, and hand out pizza 

We just kept showing up, kept doing the work, and eventually the work got big enough that brands like Pizza Pizza trusted us to represent them in other cities

If you're building something right now and it still feels small just know that it doesn't stay small if you don't let it

The difference between a zero few video and million view video.

Every business thinks they need one marketing hire

What they actually need is a social media strategist, an ads manager, a videographer, a editor, a graphic designer, a web person, and someone who can actually read the data

That's 6+ roles

The average salary for all of them combined? Somewhere between 350 and 450k

The budget on the job posting? Maybe 65k and then everyone's confused when it doesn't work out

It's not that the person you hired wasn't good enough. it's that you wrote a job description for an entire department and handed it to one human

They burn out. They underdeliver in the areas that were never their strength to begin with. and you're back to posting the same job 10 months later

If you're hiring one person, let them own two or three things and actually be great at them or bring in an outside team that already has a specialist for every piece of it

That's what we built MAD Social to be

I get tons of messages on LinkedIn, and I know most people already know what we do, but I don’t think they fully get who we help. 

So here’s my sales post (even though I really don’t like them, but here we go):

We do social media ads, content, and a bunch of other things like newsletters, and more. 

But who do we actually help?

Basically, we support anyone. Brands, personal brands, you name it. We work with national brands (like Pizza Pizza), small businesses, and individuals (like realtors). It’s a pretty wide range.

We’ve helped all kinds of industries and have team members that specialize in different areas from sports to medical and everything in between.

Here’s how we help:

If you don’t have a marketing team yet, we can be your marketing arm.

If you do have a marketing team, we’ll step in and support them where they need it.

We’ve worked with so many different industries that I feel pretty confident in saying we’ve pretty much seen it all. Whatever you need, we’ve got a team member who specializes in it.

Last year at 23, I realized something crucial about myself... I might have dyscalculia, or what many might call numerical dyslexia (I never talk about this).

It's something I’ve never been formally diagnosed with, but I’ve struggled with numbers my entire life. I’ve never been able to grasp multiplication like others. Still can't do it to this day. 

If I’m being honest, it’s been a barrier I’ve had to work around every single day.

Running a business, working with numbers, financial reports, and spreadsheets has felt like swimming upstream. It’s overwhelming, confusing, and at timesmentally draining. 

And being the kid in math tests that to count with my fingers. Embarrassing. 

That's why due to the math requirements I never even tried to get into business school (which I would love to see a specific stream/ program).

For me, this has meant making things simpler. 

I get visual data. Graphs, pie charts, bar graphs, instead of large numbers and complex formulas. This shift allowed me to start making better, more informed decisions without the stress.

I need to visually see it.

Adaptation, not perfection, is key. It’s okay to not get everything right away. What matters is progress, not perfection.

For those of you who might feel like me, find a support system, ask for adjustments, and most importantly, be kind to yourself. 

There’s always a way forward, and being honest about your challenges might just lead you to a breakthrough.

Your follower count doesn’t matter. At all.

Go to your Reels tab. Scroll for 10 seconds.

Notice something?

You're watching content from people you've never heard of.
And so is everyone else.

Most of your views are coming from strangers.
Which means every single post you make needs to assume:
→ They don’t know who you are
→ They don’t know what you do
→ They have ZERO context

This is where most people mess up.

They write like they’re speaking to loyal followers…
But their actual audience is 85% new eyes.

The problem isn’t that you need more followers.
The problem is that your content isn’t clear enough to convert the ones you already have.

📌 Clarity beats popularity. Every. Single. Time.

There was a point where I couldn’t let anything go.

I’d tell myself it was just a “quick review.”
Just “one small tweak”

I didn’t feel like a real leader
I felt like a control freak in a cute outfit pretending to be a CEO and every time I swooped in to “fix” something I unknowingly trained my team to not move without me

I remember this one stretch 
The volume of deliverables tripled overnight, I’d just finished a 12-hour day, sitting at my kitchen table, laptop burning my legs, head pounding from Slack pings and voice notes

And I was STILL rewriting captions at 11:30 at night because I didn’t know how to stop

And the worst part?
The next day I’d get frustrated when no one was taking initiative but I had created that

I had built a system that couldn’t move without me

So I made a rule:
If I had to give feedback more than once
I’d turn it into an SOP
If I felt myself hovering
I’d ask myself if I gave them clarity
or just vague standards and high expectations

Letting go was the hardest part of scaling
But it’s the reason we have a team of 30 now
Not just because I “delegated” but because I stopped needing everything to be done my way to be good

My first deal wasn’t glamorous.
No fancy contracts.
No big agency name behind me.
Just me… charging $80/month
And landing a deal with multiple Dairy Queen franchise locations.

Sometimes, you’ve gotta start small (or in my case, cheap)
To build something massive.

I didn’t feel “ready.”
I didn’t have systems.
I barely had a logo.

But I had drive.
I had proof of what I could do.
And I had the guts to put myself out there even when it felt messy.

That one client?
It built my confidence.
It gave me social proof.
It showed me what was possible.

And now?
We’ve helped over 400 brands.
Built a 7-figure agency.
With a full team, real systems, and a waitlist of clients.

But it started with one yes.
One cheap client.
One small-town DQ.

So if you’re in your early era charging low, doing it all yourself, second-guessing your every move…
Just know this:
That’s not where you’ll stay.
But it is where you’ll build everything.

Start scrappy.
Start scared.
Just start.

#founderstory #entrepreneurjourney #smallstartbigimpact #scrappysuccess #madmethod #socialmediaagency

When professionalism goes out the window and chaos takes its place 😭😂

One minute, they’re calling you ‘boss’ the next, they’ve got their feet up like they pay the bills 💀

Honestly, though… a team that’s comfortable enough to be themselves? That’s the real dream 👏

Tag your work fam who treats the office like their living room 👇

When someone scrolls past your content, it’s rarely because the algorithm “hates” you.

It’s usually because nothing gave them a reason to stay.

Every platform does the same thing at the start. It shows your post to a small group and quietly watches what people do with it. Do they pause? Do they keep watching? Or do they move on without thinking twice?

That first reaction matters because it’s a proxy for interest. Not engagement bait. Not tricks. Just a simple question: did this earn someone’s attention?

When you start creating content with the person on the other side in mind instead of the platform, everything shifts. You stop asking “how do I get this pushed” and start asking “why would someone care enough to keep watching?”

That’s where real reach comes from. Not hacks. Not luck. Just understanding attention.

Every time I tell my story out loud, I’m reminded of how none of this was “the plan.”

I was 13 sending 150 cold DMs because I genuinely thought someone out there would take a chance on me.

I was 16 designing crewnecks in my bedroom.

I was 17 making TikToks for fun that somehow turned into people trusting me with their businesses.

And then eventually… dropping out of university because I knew I wanted to build something bigger than a degree ever could.

None of it felt strategic at the time, it was me following the thing that actually lit me up.

And that’s the part I care about now.
Not just growing an agency… but understanding people.

So if you’re into the behind-the-scenes of building a brand, the messy decisions, the experiments, the psychology behind what makes content work… that’s where I’m spending my time next.

It’s been a wild build so far and it’s only getting more interesting.

If you want people to trust you more through your content, stop trying to sound “professional” and start sounding real and specific.

Here’s what works every time.

1 Use first names and details
“One of my clients” feels like a story you made up.
“My client Sarah sells skincare and this is what we changed” feels real.

2 Don’t cut the emotion out
Say “this frustrated me”
Say “this was nerve wracking to share”
People trust humans, not perfectly edited robots.

3 Use your face, looking into the camera
It builds familiarity fast.
Familiarity turns into trust.
Trust turns into sales.

4 Give away 70 percent for free
The goal is for someone to think, if this is what she gives away… what do I get when I pay.

Try this for the next 7 days.

Make every post include one specific detail
one emotion word
and your face at least once

#personalbranding #contentstrategy #socialmediamarketing #creatorgrowth #marketingtips #entrepreneurship

This book reminded me of a truth we all need to hear

You are always selling yourself

Whether you are pitching a client applying for a job or just introducing yourself at an event

You Inc by Harry Beckwith and Christine Clifford teaches that the product you are marketing is you

When I first read it I was deep in the hustle of building MAD Social

I thought selling was about slick presentations and perfect pitches

What I learned instead

People don’t buy products

They buy trust

They buy connection

They buy confidence

Here is the kicker

✨ Confidence matters more than credentials

✨ Showing up authentically beats rehearsed pitches every time

✨ People remember how you made them feel not your fancy titles

This book changed how I approach business and life

Your personal brand is how you carry yourself communicate and connect

So tell me

What is one thing you do to sell yourself authentically

Drop it in the comments 👇

#PersonalBranding #Authenticity #Confidence #YouInc #Entrepreneurship #TrustBuilding

I saw this problem early with Founders.

Businesses were hiring one person and expecting them to do everything.

Strategy.
Content.
Editing.
Posting.
Ads.
Reporting.

All of it.

I knew that because I was that person.

Before MAD became what it is now, I was running accounts, creating content, figuring it out as I went, and seeing firsthand how fast marketing breaks when one person is carrying the whole thing.

That is why hiring an agency makes sense for a lot of brands.

Not because your in house person is bad. Because they need support.

Your in house team knows the brand better than anyone.

An agency brings extra brains, extra hands, and way more execution.

That is what actually helps you grow.

A lot of founders do not need to build a full marketing department yet.

They need momentum.

They need consistency.

They need a team that can plug the gaps fast.

I built this business because I saw how much businesses needed that kind of support.

And honestly, they still do.

I used to post content that performed terribly and I couldn't figure out why.

The information was good. The advice was solid. But nobody cared.

Then I looked back at the posts that actually got traction and realized the difference immediately. The ones that worked were the ones where I was just being honest about something I went through.

Like the post about almost running my agency into the ground because I refused to delegate. Or the one about signing my first client at 17 out of a Dairy Queen booth with zero experience and just figuring it out on the fly.
Nobody wants to be talked at. They want to feel like someone gets them.

The second your content sounds like a LinkedIn seminar you've lost people. But the second it sounds like you're texting a friend about something real that happened to you... they're in.

I'm not above the stuff I talk about. I'm usually right in the middle of it and that's the only reason any of this works.

Ask yourself honestly "am I teaching or am I sharing?" Because one builds followers and one builds trust. And trust is the only thing that actually converts.

taplio

The Battle

Paul Keefe

Maddie Thompson

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taplio

The Battle

Paul Keefe

Maddie Thompson

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Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Maddie Thompson's LinkedIn Performance

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