Renia (pronounced REE-nah) Carsillo is the founder of Realign Consulting. She believes her superpowers are pattern recognition and activating change. Since 2008, she’s used them to help business founders and executive teams grow both their profit and people-focused impact with joy and ease at the center of the strategy. Renia has worked side by side with impact-driven companies, multinational franchises, and B2B brands in some of the most traditional industries, from industrial manufacturing to government contracting. She and her team have helped over 100 small and mid-sized companies build values-driven, people-first operating models, guided by two proprietary frameworks: Do Better Business™ and Values-Driven Marketing. Her work sits at the intersection of people, systems, and habits. For a business to grow sustainably, these three must constantly realign, because alignment is an ongoing practice.
Beyond Networking: How to Build a Community That Supports Your Business
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For the next few weeks, we're offering specific tactics, thoughts, and resources for The Solo Acts and micro businesses that haven't yet broken the $250K ceiling. If that's not you, this content might not be directly relevant. Rest assured that we'll be back to our regular Two on Tuesdays topics in January. Happy Tuesday, Reader! Over the past few weeks, we've been talking about The $250K Club and the ceiling that keeps so many women-led businesses stuck. Today, I want to talk about one of the sneakiest culprits keeping you there: networking. Networking Is Training Wheels, Not the Bike.When you're just starting out, networking groups can be lifesavers. BNI chapters, chamber committees, and local meetups can offer visibility, accountability, and those critical early sales when your advertising budget is constrained by your personal credit card limit. They teach you the basics, like elevator pitches, how to present, and how to give referrals. What you won’t learn is how to move beyond weekly performances to ties that actually bind. Too many brilliant women (maybe you) treat networking like a permanent strategy instead of what it really is: training wheels for true relationship development. But there's an even more concerning trend. Your Free Labor Is Building Someone Else's Business.These groups survive on your free labor. You're running committees, coordinating events, feeding people (literally and figuratively), and building someone else's business while your own stays stuck. I’ve seen it happen too many times:
I did it myself with that last one. Within months of leaving, I was finally making real sales. Turns out the magic was just putting my labor into my own company. Placebinding™: The Alternative to Endless Networking.Placebinding™ is different. It's intentional relationship building in your community—going small and deep instead of wide and shallow. It's lifting others up while building your own visibility. It's knowing when you've matured enough to graduate from networking groups to relationship curation and paid advertising. (Hint: It happens much sooner than almost any woman-led company thinks.) Women founders are naturally brilliant at the nurturing that deep partnerships require. But that skill gets wasted when it's poured into organizations that rely on your free labor instead of reciprocating value. If you're looking at your calendar and realizing you have a part-time—or full-time—unpaid job disguised as "networking for exposure," it's time to make a change. Build Relationships That Actually Grow Your Business.The $250K Club will teach you:
Because you can't get past that $250K mark working on somebody else's business.
Talk soon, Renia C. P.S. - There are only 8 spots in the founding group of The $250K Club, and they're filling fast. If you're ready to stop networking and start building, get on the waitlist today. |
Renia Carsillo
Renia (pronounced REE-nah) Carsillo is the founder of Realign Consulting. She believes her superpowers are pattern recognition and activating change. Since 2008, she’s used them to help business founders and executive teams grow both their profit and people-focused impact with joy and ease at the center of the strategy. Renia has worked side by side with impact-driven companies, multinational franchises, and B2B brands in some of the most traditional industries, from industrial manufacturing to government contracting. She and her team have helped over 100 small and mid-sized companies build values-driven, people-first operating models, guided by two proprietary frameworks: Do Better Business™ and Values-Driven Marketing. Her work sits at the intersection of people, systems, and habits. For a business to grow sustainably, these three must constantly realign, because alignment is an ongoing practice.
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