I was an engineering major at San Jose State when I first saw a Macintosh computer. At the time, I was enrolled in a FORTRAN computer programming class that required middle-of-the-night trips to the computer lab to catch an open punch-card machine, then standing in line to hand over my rubber-banded stack of cards to a “computer operator.” The DEC computer filled half the sterile room, with a loud droning hum and intermittent card-shuffling sounds. Seriously? Punching in lines of code at 2 am and waiting 20 minutes to find out if I was right or wrong?

It was clear I chose the wrong major.

And then the Macintosh came to Spartan Bookstore. It was putty-colored magic and I wanted it more than anything, but it was far more expensive than I could afford. At our annual New Year’s Day family gathering, I was talking about this newfangled personal computer to my mother and grandmother. My mother rolled her eyes to let me know once again it was out of the question, but my grandmother heard my passion and went to get her checkbook.

She said, “I can give you money after I die or I can give some to you now when you really need it. Take this and go buy your computer.” I nearly cried. I was an early adopter.

Over the years I’ve owned every major model of the Mac: the luggable models, the jewel-toned space pods, the orange clam-shell laptop, the white desk-lamp model, all the way up to my trusty MacBook Air and iPad today.

The simplicity and intuitiveness sparked creativity in ways I never dreamed, including starting my own Mac-only business. I vowed I would NEVER, EVER have to use a Windows PC again and then I made it so at High Tech Connect.

In fact, several years ago I did buy a Dell laptop with Windows. It lasted four days before I shipped it back. It was either that or Child Protective Services would soon take my children for the stream of profanities they were exposed to at home. Not pretty.

Even my husband, a security sales expert for Cisco Systems, has been converted. He’s quite protective about his tools of the trade: MacBook Pro, iPad and iPhone. My children have all been forced to use Apple products by their mother, as well.

So when Steve Jobs died, I felt a gaping hole in my heart. This man had me giddy for every press conference, like an impatient kid on Christmas, in awe of his showmanship and breathtaking surprises. I suppose this is what it felt like for my parents when John Lennon died. It was far too soon for this much brilliance to flicker out.

Rest in peace, Steve. I am incredibly grateful to you and my grandma, for bringing joy, creativity and independence to my life and my company.

I’ll share advice with students on how to create a stellar career, truly rise above peers in their profession and get employers to go “gaga” over them.

Perhaps most importantly, I’m offering all attendees of my session a FREE mentor match. I’ll introduce them to a seasoned professional with whom they have common interests and can build a long-term collaborative relationship.

Read more in the press release below.

SJSU Student Organization Conference Release

“Someday we should shoot a little video for YouTube of freelancers scurrying around, frantically creating all the documents and preparing all the listed arrangements, then donning our space suits, screwing on our bubble helmets, and walking down the long corridor into the space center, getting strapped in ready for launch . . . . and waiting, waiting, waiting . . . . until our skin sags, our flesh falls away, and we die there. . .waiting.”

OK, it’s not that bad, but in this business you’ve got to play the numbers game. If you aren’t marketing yourself while doing billable work, one day soon there won’t always be billable work.

Working for yourself is rewarding, but only if you have The Right Stuff.

Hey, I read the news.  I know that the national / world economy is headed to heck on greased skids.  But my clients haven’t received the notice that business is supposed to be bad.  Yes, one particular client, a very large particular client, has been managing its way through some difficult times.  And I know that the unemployment rate is Way Too High.  And I know that between the War and the Economy Obama has almost burned through all his charisma.  But over here?  Our long-term clients are reinvesting in growth.  Our new clients are seeing bright and shiny opportunities.  And our consultants are starting to feel the love again.

I’m a member of a group called Vistage International, a networking / professional development group for CEOs, and one thing I’ve learned from the group is that the successful and heroic leader is the one who can see a way through that no one else can see.  Honestly, some days I’m not sure I can see three months into the future.  But as long as I’m connecting the right consultant with the right opportunity and following through to make sure the match is right — I’m solving the best possible type of problem.

Certainly, my three children may have altered my career from a traditional corporate trajectory, but I think the necessity of flexibility resulted in an even better, more innovative career.

And because I had three children in five year — and I loved what I do — I created a company called High Tech Connect. Over the past 14 years, my business has benefited hundreds of clients and consultants, connecting people who otherwise would not have found each other, generating millions of dollars in business.

Will three (or more) kids kill a career? Only if you think it will. And if you think you can, you can create an even better, more rewarding and prosperous career.

Walk halfway around the park to find a two-hour wait for Superman ride? Epic fail.

On the way home from a soccer tournament in San Diego we surprised two of our kids with a spontaneous stop at Six Flags Magic Mountain. After all, this park has some of the best roller-coasters in the country! It was an extremely hot and crowded summer day to hit a theme park, so Arielle and Jared — being my kids — had fun spotting grammatical errors and commenting about customer service…or the lack thereof.

“Mom, this is SO not like Disneyland.”

So the following day I asked them to do homework for my blog. Here is the list created by my 14- and 17-year old kids where Magic Mountain fell short of their expectations:

1. Only four stalls in ladies’ bathrooms so the wait lines were 30 minutes long. And no baby-changing table. Not cool for a huge park!
2. What’s up with the wrong themed music for specific areas? Mariachi music played loudly in the Panda Express outdoor dining area.
3. Not enough trash cans. Lots of trash on the ground in ride lines. You would never see that at Disneyland.
4. Non-people-friendly walkways. There was a steep, long hill up to one ride that was tough for our family to walk. What about people in wheelchairs, or with strollers, weight problems or bad knees?
5. No park people at the ends of lines. You always need people to tell you how long the lines will be or to answer your questions. There was also no sign to tell you how long the wait was at each ride, so we had to walk across the park to find out there was a 2-hour wait.
6. In 5.5 hours, we rode three rollercoasters, including the same one twice. Admission was $61 and then they want you to buy a Flash Pass for an additional $41-$99 to save wait time on major rides. How many families can afford that? Not fair.
7. The Purell dispensers by the food areas were all empty. You know how much gross stuff we had to wash off before we could eat that turkey leg? Oh yes, and wait for the bathroom line again? Ugh.
8. We had to go all the way around the park and down a big staircase (what about the people in wheelchairs and strollers again?) to get to the exit. Terrible all-over design.
9. The parking lot tram didn’t go all the way to the end of the parking lot. At the last stop our car was still parked 1/2 mile away. WTF?

I’m both proud and worried that I’ve tainted my kids for life, having turned them into grammar and customer service snobs. But I love that they have empathy for those less fit or fortunate, and how they already see where small details can make a huge difference on a customer experience.

And I hope whatever they do in life, they won’t ever lose sight of the people they’re truly trying to help.

Fonts, format and Facebook. This is not your father’s parchment resume anymore.

Click this link and pass it on!

Then the client calls stopped. Business screeched to a trickle, coincidentally right before the Big Move. Holy crap. Sleepless nights and anguished days dragged on with one nagging question: “What if I just made the hugest mistake?” Of course, new business is coming in again, and we’re thriving in an environment that will generate even more success. Still, even after 14 years as a profitable, successful business owner, it’s still a challenge to push past my fear of failure.

Sara Blakley was selling fax machines until she decided to cut the feet off her pantyhose. She invented Spanx. Of course, she didn’t exactly ride a rocket to success and fame and fortune.  It was two long years from the time she grabbed those scissors in 1998 to founding Spanx and then to today with 105 employees and a presence in 10,000 retail locations.

“When I cut the feet out of my pantyhose that one time, I saw it as my sign. I had been visualizing being self employed prior to this happening. It was my mental preparation meeting the opportunity in that moment.”

For me, living and working in Silicon Valley is the equivalent of getting an MBA in entrepreneurial chutzpah and prepared me for my own “ah-ha” moment.  After working on both sides of the freelance world, I knew lots of people looking for senior marcom professionals to work on long and short-term projects and I knew many more people who were a perfect fit for those projects.  I realized I could monetize my address book if I was willing to invest my own reputation and hard work.

But what if you move to a nice new building and nobody ever calls you again?

Sara says,

My dad encouraged us to fail. Growing up, he would ask us what we failed at that week. If we didn’t have something, he would be disappointed. It changed my mindset at an early age that failure is not the outcome, failure is not trying. Don’t be afraid to fail.

I didn’t have the early mental training like Sara, so I find strength in her words and encourage you to read the interview, prepare yourself to be a wildly successful person and seize the opportunity when it comes by.