Leisa: Hello, I’m Leisa Holland-Nelson and welcome to another edition of Women Mean Business, where we’re going to take you up close and personal with extraordinary women doing extraordinary things. My guest today is Kelly Hess, the President and CEO of CompuCycle: responsible, safe, secure, electronic recycling. Kelly, welcome to Women Mean Business.

Kelly: Thanks Leisa. I’m so happy to be here.

Leisa: You’re really successful. You’re also really young. I’m not going to say anything about that, but that being said, what advice do you have for other women who would like to be as successful as you are?

Kelly: Well I have to be honest, I feel like on an everyday basis I’m still trying to succeed, and it’s, what can I do next? But, I think, if I really reach deep down, I think the true success comes from your team, from your employees. And it’s finding the right people for the right positions, and creating an employee culture where people like to come to work and want to sell CompuCycle, and really kind of believe in the mission and want to be part of a family. And that’s how we really try to look at it here at CompuCycle. They’re part of the CompuCycle family. And then I think too, such an important piece is being able to network, and be out there. You know, I always say to my sales team, you’re not making any business in the office, you’ve got to go out of the office and meet people. You never know when you meet someone, who that person might introduce you to, so it’s never a loss. Always go out there and be networking.

And then I think the hardest thing for me that I’m trying to still learn, is patience, and not really feeling I need instant gratification. That this business to be able to get contacts and to get the business it takes a long time, and that need for instant gratification doesn’t come automatically. So, you have to be patient, calm, and continue to be persistent; persistent, persistent, persistent. My rule is until they say no five times, they’re still a prospect. And I really try to look at it that way. And then also too, trying to look more on the business rather than in the business every day, because I think that’s so important to be able to look ahead, strategize, and really create some type of structure for the long term.

Leisa: Thank you very much.

Kelly: yes, thank you.

Leisa: There you have it. Extraordinary advice from an extraordinary woman. I’m Leisa Holland-Nelson, President and Co-founder of ContentActive, Houston’s leading web and mobile design and development company. You can find me at contentactive.com or follow me on Twitter @lhnelson. We’ll be back again next week with another edition of Women Mean Business.