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Renia Carsillo

Renia (pronounced R-EE-n-a) Carsillo hates business silos and marketing hacks. So, she spends her days working with mid-size and small companies to integrate their business strategy with their impact strategy, design sustainable marketing frameworks, and find a growth cadence that works for their team and their lives. Renia believes founders are uniquely positioned to create a kinder, more equitable world. She is passionate about bringing C-level strategic support to the small and mid-size companies shaping their communities every day. Renia says, "Sustainable marketing is built on a solid business strategy. A solid business strategy is built on values-driven habits. Values-driven habits are built on healed/healing leaders. We can’t do these things separately. They’re all interconnected. ”

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The Mindset Shift That Gets You Past $250K [Two on Tuesdays]

Happy Tuesday, Reader! Last week, I told you about The $250K Club for women and why breaking the $250K ceiling matters both for individual founders and for entire communities. This week, let's talk about the biggest mindset shift that makes breaking through that ceiling possible. The Service Trap Most Women Founders Fall Into Data shows that women founders are much more likely to be consultants and work in service industries than to be builders. There are real reasons why this happens:...

Happy Tuesday, Reader! This past spring, we spent some time talking about the $250K ceiling that keeps most women-owned businesses stuck. And, we shared some actionable strategies for breaking through it. Today, I want to explain why that barrier matters and how we are partnering with businesses like yours in 2026 to shatter it. The Numbers That Won't Let Me Go Here's the reality for women-owned businesses in the United States in 2025: 88% generate less than $100K per year Only 6.2% generate...

Happy Tuesday, Reader! For all the "AI will change everything forever" rhetoric dominating the tech news cycle, we've noticed something interesting happening in the business models: a pivot toward making a quick buck. OpenAI and several other AI-oriented companies we're watching are starting to look a lot less like revolutionary disruptors and a lot more like…well, Meta and Alphabet (i.e., Google). What We're Watching About AI (And Why You Should Too) The evidence is piling up: OpenAI is...

Happy Tuesday, Reader! There are about 60 days until the year turns and we trade fall's completion energy for winter's necessary rest. If you've been following along this month, you know I'm not here to tell you to "finish strong" by powering through everything on your list. This year has asked too much of us for that approach to be sustainable. But I do believe we can finish well, and that starts with having the right tools. The Alignment Trinity™ as Your Framework for Finishing Without...

Happy Tuesday, Reader! You know what most business advice sounds like right now? Push through. Scale faster. Automate everything. Growth at all costs. That's the traditional model. The one designed for shareholders, not for humans trying to build sustainable businesses while also living their actual lives. And in a year like this one? That model doesn't just fail us. It breaks us. The Business Strategy That Actually Sustains You Here's a truth I've learned after nearly two decades of working...

Happy Tuesday, Reader! When times get hard and uncertain, our instinct is often to retreat. We stay online because it feels safer than showing up in person with all our messy humanity on display. We avoid the discomfort of real conversations about how we're actually doing. We keep our heads down and try to push through alone. But here's what I'm seeing after 15+ years of working with small businesses through multiple economic crises: The businesses weathering this moment best aren't the ones...

Happy Tuesday, Reader! This year has been a lot. Between economic instability hitting our businesses and the political chaos affecting our communities (and maybe even the safety of people we love) many of us are arriving at fall's traditional "completion season" already exhausted. The cooler air still carries that familiar energy to finish what we've started. But if you're feeling like you don't have it in you to push through one more thing right now, you're not alone. Sustainable Finishing...

Happy Tuesday, Reader! It's not groundbreaking news at this point, but study after study shows us that digital-first relationships make us less happy and aren't fulfilling in the same ways as face-to-face connections. Despite being more connected than ever, we're in the midst of a loneliness epidemic, and AI tools only exacerbate the problem. This has a real impact on our humanity, which is (spoiler alert) also screwing over our work lives. The solution is simple, if not easy: Get...

Happy Tuesday, Reader! Today’s AI tools make starting things easier than ever. For example, much has been written about how helpful ChatGPT is at getting from blank page to rough draft for writers. But here's what no algorithm can do for you: the discipline of finishing. There are 99 days left in 2025. We're in that magic momentum cycle where hitting those big goals and leaning into the intentions we set in our planning sessions becomes not just possible, but natural. Realign with the Human...

Happy Tuesday, Reader! We've been exploring where AI shortcuts can actually hurt your business. This week we’re focusing on the hidden cost of making your work too easy. Deep learning and maintaining creative skills require cognitive strain. If we’re not careful, what helps us in the short run (freeing up cognitive load with AI tools) can hurt us in the long run. It's crucial to make thoughtful choices about where the trade-off of short-term ease for long-term skill development is worth it,...