Russ: This is the BusinessMakers Show heard here and seen online at theBusinessMakers.com. It's guest time on the show, and I'm very please to have with me, a former guest and now a content contributor to the BusinessMakers Show, Leisa Holland-Nelson. Leisa is the co-founder and president of Content Active. Leisa, welcome back to the BusinessMakers Show.

Leisa: Thanks, Russ. It's my pleasure to be here.

Russ: Okay. Well, let's start with that content contributor category. I'm delighted that you're going to be contributing a domain expert vignette. One of the popular pieces on our show has always been our domain expert vignette. Why don't you tell the audience about yours.

Leisa: I'm seriously excited to be joining the show and starting our Women Mean Business vignette. We're going to do a weekly episode, interviewing a very successful woman in business here in Houston to begin with, who's contributed to her business, to her community, and has a legacy to leave behind.

Russ: Okay.

Leisa: So we're going to really delve into the secret sauce of these women. What made them do what they do and how did they get successful?

Russ: Okay. That's cool. And you said you're starting here in Houston. That means after that you might be going out on the road a bit, too. I know you have an incredible history in New York City, as well.

Leisa: New York City. I have Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami. I'm connecting all over, because I'm very excited. I know so many successful women throughout the United States. But I think we'll try to get our feet wet here. There's a lot of women in Houston doing extraordinary things.

Russ: Okay. Well, I do think it's kind of cool timing to be pulling this off, because women have definite risen in the ranks. We see them being successful in many different categories and many different industries. So I'm really looking forward to it. Tell us a little bit about some of your first guests, potentially.

Leisa: My first guest, and I’m very excited about, is Pattie Dale Tye, the market president for Houston and Dallas for Humana Healthcare. Pattie Dale has been my friend since she came to Humana about six years ago from the Telcom industry. A major leap of faith, if you will.

Russ: Okay.

Leisa: I've watched her rise in her own company to get the entire state of Texas and some of Oklahoma, and more and more responsibility. I think it's going to be very interesting to see what Pattie Dale has to say about her industry, which is a hot topic, healthcare, and the reasons she's so successful herself.

Russ: Boy, no kidding is that an industry that's a hot topic. It's probably got to be extra challenging, too. In addition to having this huge geography and 300+ employees underneath her, but to be in such a controversial state as well.

Leisa: Well, we're asking Pattie Dale if she believes it's a good opportunity for the next generation, and I think you'll be very interested in her answer.

Russ: Okay. That's really cool. You know, when you talk about successful business women right now, my goodness, you're co-founder and president of Content Active. You also recently celebrated the 5th anniversary of the company. There's so many of us that know how difficult it is just to make it to the 5th year anniversary, but you guys seem to be going to town these days.

Leisa: We really are. We are so excited about our business and grateful for our business. I mean, we started five years ago as a content management driven company. "Making Websites Work" was our theme, and that's what we were all about. Our clients were mainly creative agencies, and we've progressed to be one of Houston's leading social, mobile, and technology expert companies. We're doing content management for internet online as well as on mobile devices. Our clients are becoming the Who's Who of Houston and beyond. It's very exciting. This year was our 5th anniversary. We had five big awards in 2010. Our company has grown five times, way over 500%, since we bought it in January 2006. We just added five new employees last month, so were like, "Oh my goodness." It's all so exciting.

Russ: My goodness. I detect a little bit of passion in your description of the company now.

Leisa: It's just exciting. We're really helping people get what they want. I don't think there's anything more important for businesses today than to communicate with their customers. You have to be in a conversation. For us, to enable that conversation for businesses whether online or mobile, it's an honor and a privilege.

Russ: So you mentioned adding five new employees. Now you and Brian Gaubert are founders, so how many employees are we up to today?

Leisa: Twenty.

Russ: Okay. As we always like to point out on the BusinessMakers Show is that man, people don't understand how challenging it can be when you're kind of being the bus driver and how many ups and downs there can be. Has it been smooth sailing the whole way?

Leisa: Do I laugh out loud right now? [Laughing] I mean, smooth sailing? We survived 2009, so I'd say that was probably the scariest year for anyone in business whether you were in Houston or anywhere else. We laugh and we talk about the fact that we had three months were we closed with no new business. Luckily for us, we had a lot of recurring business, and we ended the year, I think, about 25 percent ahead of 2008. That was extraordinary when flat was the new growth.

Russ: Absolutely.

Leisa: But we did something, I think, very interesting for any company and something I want to share. When we hit those rough patches, instead of really panicking, Brian and I decided it was a good time for us to work on our internal processes, and we did. We brought our company up to snuff with our systems so when business came back the way we were planning on it coming back, we were prepared to manage it.

Russ: Right.

Leisa: We did that, and I think that was one of the best things the two of us have ever done. I think the other thing we did well at that point was when we looked at our cash flow one day, we just looked each other in the eye and said, "Okay, we've got to go close stuff," and we did.

Russ: That's cool.

Leisa: We got out and identified great opportunities. The fact that we were capable of doing that gave us a lot of confidence.

Russ: That is really cool. Okay. So before I let you go, Leisa, in sync with this sort of commitment to succeed here, Content Active, and in sync with Women Mean Business, let's image that a young woman is watching this right now. She's an aspiring businessperson. What sort of general advice would you give her?

Leisa: The first thing I ever tell anyone is to do something you love doing. Have fun doing it, and be excellent at it. I guess that's really three things and not one. The truth is, if you're really good at what you do, it's a lot more fun to do it; and if you have a passion for it, it's easier to be good at what you do. This is what you do with most of your life, it's most of your waking hours. Nothing is more important than enjoying it. The other thing I would share with anyone, and it doesn't matter how old you are - my mentor told me this at a very young age and I'm so fortunate, but always remember the customer is your business and not an interruption. If you live your life and pay attention to your business with that in mind, you will be successful.

Russ: That's great advice. Thanks for sharing with us, and thanks for updating us on Content Active. Mostly, we thank you for launching Women Mean Business. I'm really looking forward to that.

Leisa: Me too, Russ. I'm very excited about it.

Russ: All right. That's Leisa Holland-Nelson, the author and voice of Women Mean Business and co-founder and president of Content Active. You're listening to the BusinessMakers Show, heard here and seen online at theBusinessMakers.com.