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. ”
2 Ways to Break the $250k Glass Ceiling [Two on Tuesdays]
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Happy Tuesday, Reader! Last week, I talked about the $250K glass ceiling that has existed for women in this country for over a decade. Today, I’m sharing two things you can do about it. Breaking Through Tip #1: Bigger Dollars, Fewer Clients The top sectors for women-led start-ups still include retail, health, beauty, food, and support services. These industries often share a common problem: small margins and/or a need for scale to be viable income earners. The way to combat this issue (in the earlier stages of a company under the $250k mark) is to aim for sustainability through higher-ticket, healthy-margin services until the smaller things achieve viable scale. In other words, focus on selling a few expensive services that make good profit, rather than trying to sell lots of small-ticket items right away. This solution could look like:
Breaking Through Tip #2: Curate recurring revenue over investing in one-off sales. The one-sale-at-a-time model is almost impossible to scale, especially in micro-companies where one or two people typically do all the jobs. For many small companies, the key to breaking up with one-offs is focusing on packages, subscriptions, and solutions-based offerings. This solution could look like:
As your smaller-ticket products or services start to generate reliable profit, you can choose to streamline by removing some of your high-ticket offerings. But in the early stages, these higher-priced items can help you fill the revenue gap. Addressing your core business model's realities is essential for breaking through the $250K mark, especially when scalability and funding are in their fragile early stages. This week, take some time to brainstorm how you could apply these strategies to your business. What unique high-ticket offerings or recurring revenue streams could you develop that align with your expertise and customers' needs? Until next time, |
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. ”
Happy Tuesday, Reader! This week, I am challenging you to sit with a question that I ask each of my clients: If your company’s goal is to scale (your sales, client base, etc.), why? I frequently find myself sitting across from founders who assume that scaling should be the goal of every company, but experience has taught me that this is not always the case. Way too often, the Why is the result of lazy thinking, relying on what all the other “cool kids” seem to be doing, or—at worst—ego...
Happy Tuesday, Reader! As we continue our discussion of ways to break through that $250K glass ceiling holding back women entrepreneurs, today I’d like to focus specifically on managing your finances. My background as a small business banker and my years in helping small and micro businesses scale sustainably have taught me two key lessons. Business Financing Lesson #1: Migrate to a Profit-First Business Model I’ve talked several times about how game-changing this mindset shift was for me....
Happy Tuesday, Reader! This week, we’re continuing our discussion of what you can do to break through that $250K glass ceiling holding back women-led businesses. Our central value at Realign Consulting is putting people first. We know that no one achieves success on their own, and we help companies like yours invest in the communities that support them so everyone thrives. Traditional marketing and business practices often feel manipulative and gross because they put numbers—data and...