http://www.profitguide.com/startup/success-stories/w100-2016-rising-stars-103038
CARRIE SIMPSON
CEO
Managed Sales Pros | Winnipeg
What her company does: Provides outbound sales prospecting for business clients.
Sign of success: Sales increased 413% over the past year.
Smart move: Starting a company has made Simpson appreciate the value of acting now, and thinking later. “If you wait for the conditions to be perfect—for that magical combination of the right time, and enough money, and the moon in Jupiter, or whatever—it will never happen.”
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I was very flattered to be included on the companion list to the prestigious Profit W100, a list recognizing the top female entrepreneurs in Canada! You can see the entire W100 list here: www.profitguide.com/microsite/profitw100
The “Rising Star” list recognized high growth companies that didn’t quite make the 3 year cutoff to qualify for the first list.
Here’s hoping we make the big time next year!
I want to take a minute to acknowledge my team and our clients for their continued contribution to our growth. The best idea in the world is useless without a committed team that executes successfully. Managed Sales Pros is 50% woman owned, and 75% woman led. Our President, Tracie Orisko, is responsible for our continued excellence in our service delivery. Our Director of Operations, Sharon Lagace, makes sure everything keeps running smoothly. (For those of you who don’t know, Tracie is my sister, and Sharon is my mom. They are bright and brilliant, and I love them very much!) I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the ongoing contributions of Ashley Battel, who has been working with us to build Managed Sales Pros from day one. Thank you Ashley.
Our calling team members rarely get acknowledged by name, but we certainly didn’t grow 413% this year without them. There are more than 30 people working hard every day to make sure our clients get a steady stream of new sales opportunities in their pipeline. To the first ones in, who took a chance on a company that may or may not have been able to offer them long term stability: THANK YOU. To our most recent hires, who are working hard every day to help us maintain this momentum: THANK YOU. And to everyone in between: THANK YOU.
I’d also like to acknowledge the contribution of my partner – in both business and life – Josh Drury. Josh quietly takes a back seat to my leadership, and performs the day to day tasks that are necessary to make sure that the lights stay on and people get paid on time. His contribution to our success deserves recognition. Josh left behind his own career as our company began to grow, and took on most of the jobs that don’t come with fancy hotel stays and flattering magazine write-ups. He is also the primary caregiver to our now 4-year old daughter, and without his continued support of my “go, go, go” attitude towards business growth, there is no way we would be putting up the exciting numbers that we are. And as he often forgets, he owns half of Managed Sales Pros, so that’s not a bad perk. He was supportive through the ‘nail-biting starting a business with a newborn baby and a mortgage to pay’ phase. He was supportive through the (still continuing) ‘get our name out there go to every trade show in the IT channel phase’. It’s been an amazing journey, and I look forward the next phase.
To our very first MSP client – Michael Anderson of 365 Technologies – as always, I thank you. To our first vendor client (who is still a valued client today) – Neha Sharma of OpenDNS – I thank you.
And to my first mentor and still-favourite coffee companion, Gary Brownstone – I’m grateful for the time you took to work with me as I began this company, and value your continued guidance.
We’re in great company on that list. We’re happy to be there. I’m looking forward to next year’s W100 list announcement!