Maryann Shank

How do you get from being a Peacer 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 orrntwo to read from time to time. (Mine was Winnie the Pooh.)

Then have a friend of a friend ask you torndo 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 inrnproducts 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 Irnrecommended, 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.