What are crucial skills for any entrepreneur?

Welcome to our weekly Q&A with Silver Lining’s Founder and CEO, Carissa Reiniger.

Q: Based on your experience and success, what are the two most important skills an entrepreneur must rock?

A: One – It takes a true desire to make change.  This is not a skill as much as a personality trait – but it does take skill to keep this at the heart of what you are doing every day.  It takes an exceptional amount of work to stay grounded in the origin of your business – the reason why you started it in from day one.  The ability to bring yourself back to the vision and passion behind your business is key.

Two – Focus.  The ability to think big but execute with a clear and efficient action plan is really important.  There is a lot of opportunity as you work to grow your business and no entrepreneur has enough time or money to do it all.

Source: www.wec.ca

How to handle failure gracefully

I have failed at almost everything I have tried.  I’ve made bad financial decisions.  I’ve borrowed money without being able to pay it back.  I’ve hired the wrong people and dealt with the repercussions afterward.  In trying to prove myself, I have tried to be perfect and pretended that everything was great when it clearly was not.  I’ve refused to ask for help in the past.

I’m not afraid to admit that I have made a ton of mistakes.  A couple of valuable things have kept me moving forward:

1. Passion. I deeply believe in what I do – and I think I can help people if I keep figuring out how to get better at what I do.  This keeps me going.

2.  I am stubborn. I refuse to fail – every setback is not a complete failure to me.  I am determined to learn from my mistakes, get back out there, and figure it all out.

3.  My big realization. I realized a while ago that I am not perfect and I can’t expect myself to be perfect.  I will continue to make mistakes in my life, and I have come to accept that fact.  I will not beat myself up every single time that I make a mistake.  Instead, my life motto has become, “I do not question IF I will achieve my goals, I only ask myself HOW I will accomplish them.”

-Carissa Reiniger, Silver Lining Founder and CEO

A Mix of Passion and Business

“Passion without some planning doesn’t get you far … without business sense and goals behind it, passion can turn into merely dreaming.”

-Carissa Reiniger of Inspiring Entrepreneurs: How to Build Your Business to its First Million.