Lisa LaMaitre – “Trust your inner knowing, experience, and expertise, the world is waiting for you!”

I currently work in two businesses. My Remedial Massage practice Therapy Masters and my connection platform Canberra Wise Women. I’ve been in the Massage Industry for 24 years. I’ve founded and lead a successful practice in Canberra City, I sit on various Industry panels sharing my expertise to build the Australian Massage Industry, I also teach Massage at the Canberra Institute of Technology. Last year I downsized myself back to a home-based clinic. I’m very happy with my decision to downsize and grateful for the opportunity that lockdown presented.

The second friend was able to align some corporate sponsorship and we launched very quickly in December 2015. The concept of CWW is to share stories of inspiration and positivity, in the hopes that we share a spark of inspiration with people in our audience.

We do this by interviewing inspiring Canberrans, at a live event, in front of an audience. To date, we’ve hosted 25 events under the CWW brand, interviewed 58 Canberrans (49 women, 1 non-binary, and 8 gents), and welcomed over 1,000 people to our events. The Canberra media have described our events as ‘Oprah’-like since our launch.

The best example of this was having Catherine McGregor, columnist, and transgender advocate, on our stage within 8 months of our debut. I have seen Catherine interviewed on Australian Story and I knew she would be perfect as a Canberra Wise Woman. Unbeknown to me, our Interviewer had a personal connection to Catherine, and with a message or two, Catherine was on our speaking list!

Being able to downsize my health practice last year was a blessing. I still feel there’s healing and restoring to do from closing the business in 2010, going through PTSD, losing my sister in 2013, and our beautiful fur daughter in 2017.

I’m taking time to rest, take care of myself, prioritize sleep and health. I’m working with a new Personal Trainer and choosing activities that I enjoy. As a business owner self-doubt is always present. There’s always something new to learn, a new idea or opportunity.

I find listening to business podcasts and catching up with close business friends are my best remedies for self-doubt.

I’m more outspoken than I was when I first started in the business. I’ll step up, reach out and say yes to opportunities (like this interview) to share my knowledge and experience.

So many women have it ingrained in them to play small. What the world needs though, is for us to step into the light, harness our gifts, and help others.

We need to honour those ebbs and flows. The main skill I rely on is chunking tasks. I pile up similar tasks to get them done at the same time. This works really well when doing errands. It can drive my husband crazy when he’s waiting for something to happen, and I tell him that’s not on my schedule ’til next week!

Overnight success rarely happens in the business world. Women have a deep understanding that progression, growth, and change take time. It’s this instinctual knowledge coupled with the above attributes that allow women to be successful entrepreneurs.

Trust your inner knowing, experience, and expertise. The world is waiting for you!

I’m about to be back teaching business at the Canberra Institute of Technology. Teaching business to The Massage students is a passion of mine.

I missed teaching last year due to classes going online. I’m now leading Women With Altitude (WWA) in Canberra. It’s wonderful to work with Andrea from WWA and help her grow the network in Canberra. This is also letting me get back into hosting events.

I shelved CWW in 2019 due to an undersubscribed events market in Canberra, and then COVID hit. And in the background, I have new business ideas bubbling away. A new offering in my health practice, helping businesses gain PR, sharing my business expertise through mentoring and advising. I’ll see how my energy goes!