Carissa Reiniger – Make the time to meet her!

I attended the Centre for Women and Business conference this past Friday at Mount Saint Vincent University and the most impressive and inspiring part of the day was listening to and meeting Carissa Reiniger. If you haven’t heard of her yet, I encourage you to visit her company’s website at www.silverlininglimited.com. Carissa is energetic, inspiring and incredibly intelligent. She is an honest, no-nonsense communicator. In a much more diplomatic way, she told the room full of women business owners to get moving, set aside their fears and grow their businesses. As women we often need to get out of our own way, stop trying to do it all ourselves and embrace change, growth and success. Certainly a big part of Carissa’s success has been her ability to pick up the phone. She mentioned it several times. I was delighted to hear her echo my own words “You are the president of your own company so why would you be afraid to call and speak with the president of another company – any other company?” Exactly! She also talked about the “Big Ask”. This not only refers to nationwide research being done by Women Entrepreneurs of Canada (www.wec.ca), of which Carissa is the President of the Board, but about what you ask for from others. She used a phrase I use all the time in my training – “What’s the worst that can happen?” Pick up the phone, ask for the sale or the loan or the help and you’ll find that your business starts prospering in ways you only dreamed about! I am definitely a Carissa Reiniger fan and if you ever have the opportunity to attend one of her talks, presentations or workshops, I encourage you to do so without hesitation. In the meantime, stop sitting there looking at your phone – pick it up and make things happen! There is a yes out there just waiting for your Big Ask.