While I started as an end user in 2002, my Salesforce journey really started in 2006 when I suggested the company I was contracting for switch from my Excel trackers to a database. I felt a database was more sustainable long term, but since I didn’t do databases, I was essentially telling them to replace me. Unbeknownst to me, the company had been bought by a company that used Salesforce, so they sent me to training and Dreamforce to learn and implement Salesforce. I left that job when I was pregnant with my second daughter, and I chose to build my next job around Salesforce.

Trailhead is a game-changer because it puts the power to learn what we need, when we need to right into our own hands. Before that, it was a matter of who you could call/email/tweet, or what topic the next Community Group was going to tackle. With Trailhead, there’s a path out there waiting to teach us something new! Trailhead is a big part of RADWomen, where we use modules as part of our methodology to propel our learners past the learning curve from declarative functionality to programmatic solutions.

Trailhead is a constant supplier of little learning opportunities that add up to big successes. Want to try something out in an org and see if you did it right? Trailhead. Want to embark on a new area of Salesforce interest? Trailhead. Want to get someone else started on a task? Trailhead. I love that so many things are already covered, and so many MOAR things are in the works as the team strives to meet our growing needs.

Amazing. Huge. Increíble. Asombroso. आश्चर्यजनक. I’ve watched the community grow from my initial interactions with the Portland Salesforce Community Group peeps around a decade ago, to now having friends across the world that I have met through community events, the Salesforce MVP community, RADWomen, and so many other opportunities. Through these interactions, I’ve not only learned of really cool solutions but also had the chance to grow by speaking and sharing my own knowledge with others, and co-founding Forcelandia and RADWomen. How cool is that? My Salesforce experience isn’t just a “job”, but rather an approach to getting things done with a great combination of problem-solving people + a malleable platform that can do almost anything.

I believe we blaze trails for other people, so to me, being a Trailblazer means reaching a hand out to someone else and bringing them along with us. It’s a team effort, and we all got to where we are because of other people supporting us in one way or another. It’s an honor to be able to pay it back.

Do it. Start. It can be hard to understand that by just showing a little initiative, you’ll get that back ten-fold because everyone is so nice and genuinely willing to help you reach your goals. Go to the Community Groups, ask questions when people give you their emails, take us up on our offers to meet for coffee. This is an incredible community around the world that is here for you to craft a career.