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 Raissa Evans, the Founder of Running Reload, one of Houston’s leading marketing and project management companies.  Raissa you are really successful and you are also very young – I know that whether anyone else does or not – so I’m not going to ask you about advice for the next generation, I’m going to ask you about what advice would you give anyone who wanted to achieve your level of success?

Raissa:  Thanks Leisa, thanks for having me back.  And one of the things that I tell a lot of people is to have a bias toward action and I even list that in my own LinkedIn profile because I think that the hesitancy and lack of confidence is what holds a lot of people back.  I mean now trumps later every time and the future is a sucker’s bet; you only have now.

Leisa:  I love that.

Raissa:  If you’re a product company you know that your minimum buyable product is something that people get wrong all of the time.  They think if you’re trying to make a car that minimum buyable product of a car is an ugly car.  But it’s not, it’s a skateboard because what you’re trying to do is sell a client pain or a marketplace pain and it’s the minimum thing that will sell the pain.  So if you’re a service business it’s also the same thing; cut to the chase and get things done.  There’s all these adages about there’s no shortage of good ideas in the world, there’s only a shortage of action, and that’s true, but it’s also true that there is a shortage of good ideas in the world or there wouldn’t be so many failing startups.  But good ideas is defined by whether or not you can get it done.

Leisa:  Thank you very much.

Raissa:  Thank you.

Leisa:  There you have it, extraordinary advice from an extraordinary woman.  I’m Leisa Holland Nelson, author and voice of Women Mean Business.  You can find me on Facebook at Women Mean Business, follow me on Twitter @lhnelson, or come back next week for another edition.