How do you get from being a Peace
Corps teacher to being a business webmaster?
Well, believe it or not, it's by a very
logical route.
First get a job as a librarian.
It's easy when you love the work as much as I do. Delve into all the
nooks and crannies of modern research, and find a favorite kid's book or
two to read from time to time. (Mine was Winnie the Pooh.)
Then have a friend of a friend ask you to
do some research on some esoteric new product that he is considering
investing in.
Then you're hooked.
The energy and ingenuity of entrepreneurs
is absolutely catching.
I found myself getting involved in
products that had no history, and no future as far as anyone could
tell. The ideas bursting forth in Silicon Valley in those days were
just astounding.
The best part of my career was helping
new enterprises find financing.
One of my more interesting tasks to weed
out the "slush pile" -- that stack of unsolicited proposals that
strangers sent to the venture capital firm. My job was to find the
diamonds in the rough, the ones we were going to explore further.
There weren't very many that I
recommended, perhaps no more than 2% or 3% of all that were sent in.
What I looked for, more than anything else, was that spark of inspiration,
that commitment, the hint of true entrepreneurial genius.
That same entrepreneurial genius translates into dynamic websites. Whether the company is new or old, has an existing brick and mortar business or not, or whether it is a part time business for a work at home Mom -- they all that spark in common.
It is the magical spark that leads my career. Helping other people find their place in the internet world, helping them follow their entrepreneurial spark, makes all the hard work worthwhile.
"Remember, nobody wins unless everybody wins."
Bruce Springsteen, songwriter and poet
"Find somthing you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it."
Julia Child, Chef Extraordinarire