I think what gave me the edge is my insatiable curiosity. One of my core values is curiosity. And even as a child, I remember I used to go to my mother's store and she used to say, stop playing with the cash register. Cause I would want to figure out how to create receipts that had all types of interesting characters on it and say messages.
So like when she would print out a receipt that would have an inspirational message on the receipt. And she'd be like, how the heck did you do that? And this was the cash register that had numbers on it, but I read the instructions and I messed around with it. And I figured out how to program it to say certain things by clicking on, you know, spending an hour, clicking the letters to get it, to say things.
It's the same thing. Whenever we rent a car, if we'd gone a business trip, my mother would take me to business trips in Miami when she would go buy clothing there for her clothing store. And I would figure out every nook and cranny in the Cadillac to figure out how to open the trunk, and how to program the radio with her favorite stations, and how all the different components in the car work.
And she was like, how do you know all this? Like how do you know how to take apart a computer and put it back together? Like, for me, that comes from curiosity. And when I'm networking, I'm asking lots of questions. When I'm building relationships, I'm truly interested in you. I want to know what makes you tick.
I want to know who you're connected to. I want to know why you became who you are and what are your childhood wounds and what are your desires and dreams and goals and fears and pains. And I want to know everything and I take that information and I'm able to help you because I'm able to make connections that most people can't make, because I have this certain level of curiosity, which leads to creativity.
