Is it considered professional experience when, as an 8 year old in 1983, you brainstorm your first business idea and enlist the help of your entrepreneurial minded father to place an ad in the back of Computer Shopper magazine for you? Making your first $1000 before 9 years old? Maybe building every computer your father ever sold in his consulting company at 9 years old counts? How about building your first network for a business in Houston, TX at 14? People tend to tell me that is irrelevant in my professional experience arena but at the end of the day all of these were 100% self-taught without an additional help outside of reading manuals. I learned how to learn. This is what keeps me relevant in today’s highly-competitive market.