Introducing a collaborator, a border-crosser/bridge builder, a source of wisdom through listening and integration, a provider of elegant solutions:

Collaboration with others who are excited about what they are doing, excites me. Crossing borders/building bridges (knowledge areas, political, racial, cultural, religious, class) engages me. Integration of what I hear, what I know, and research allows me to problem solve with wisdom.

I integrate what I hear from my clients and colleagues with my past experience/study, bring fresh study to the project, and then synthesize that data for my clients and colleagues– moving us all forward in new ways.

I bring people and ideas together. When the project needs more hands, or is outside my scope of practice, I invite my competitor-colleagues to join me in the project, or refer the project outto them. By doing so, my clients get the best service I can give them, I receive their future loyalty, and my competitor-colleagues and I, both grow our businesses.

I lead with my desires, passions, and skills. By acknowledging my short-comings, by focusing on what I want to know and do, and by compensating for my short-comings by surrounding myself with people who compliment my skills sets and focus, we all get to contribute our best. Our clients win.

I am building a tech business that serves small nonprofit organizations with all the roles that an IT department would provide them, were they big enough to have one. This virtual IT department does everything from the CIO role of helping the organization envision and manage its work processes in-light of available techologies and developing budgets to do so, to unboxing and setting up the newly arrived desktop computer and configuring the router, backup system, and server, to tutoring and training.

My clients have chosen to use the Apple system for its reliabiity and stability, and which I compliment, as appropriate, with Cloud-based services. With this hybrid infrastructure, many smaller nonprofits won’t require on-site IT staff.

I like the people that have chosen to work in small nonprofits. I understand their work processes and financial cycle. I get to make a contribution to their efforts to alleviate some of the world’s pain. If I my contributions were to go beyond reduction of pain, to helping birth a more “just” world, that is even better.

I am fascinated by the efforts of those who create businesses that do good on a far grander scale. However, my contribution is helping make a difference within some part of a few Chicago neighborhoods. My task is to lift up and honor those masters of applying grand imaginations to the small local places and to help them harness technology to make that happen.

Beyond working for nonprofit organizations, I like helping small law firms and boutique retail stores implement the elegant workflows that are made possible by Apple systems– whether creating a way for electronically organizing legal documents, or setting up a beautiful point-of-sale system. And, it is always fun to get the ocassional creative professional that needs assistance with their Apple systems.

If you have read this far and have connected with some part of what I have said, I would you enjoy your introducing yourself to me.