Microsoft South Africa changes my game - project me post 999

I can't believe?it's post 999 ... wow! One more to go to a thousand!

It's 5am and my day was started by the usual gazillion thoughts that flow through my head and have been prodding me awake and into another day filled with hours of work, Tweets and glimpses of remembering it put me first.
When project me began, it was a very interesting time in my life. I was this girl with big dreams. The more I chat to people the more I realise that all they were, were dreams. At that stage I was shy, insecure and faking my success with a pretty dismal attempt.

I dreamed of being a public speaker. Well, I actually dreamed of imparting life changing lessons to the world, and I would take any platform I could get. What started as a few Tweets and one raw, emotional blog post has been 999 incredible steps closer to me.

Along the way, my story has gained momentum and I get to fake it a little less with each passing day. Now I really can speak, I truly am confident (most of the time), but mostly, I'm living my dream. I've done it with most incredible support and people who have stopped me in passageways or cornered me at dinners and thanked me for keeping the blog going.

Amazingly, I could have stopped 999 times.
Of all the things that nearly made me give up on the journey is the drama that I've faced with the actual tools I've had (or haven't had) to keep this blog going. When the story began, I was working on a second hand laptop that died on me eventually a little over a year into the story.
Let me remind you that saying, "you can pick up a laptop for really cheap" means nothing but anguish to a newly born entrepreneur who is battling to find petrol money, let alone buy a new laptop.

So in early 2011, my hunt for a laptop sponsorship began. It also failed! Eventually, my IT support, Biz4All offered to carry the load of the funds because he could see that I literally couldn't function with one, and he got me up and running with a trade exchange. Magic .. I was set up!

No ... wait ... on the 24th of September 2011, the day of my birthday, I went away to celebrate another great milestone in my life and our home got robbed and the laptop was stolen. Oh please, I never claimed to be the smartest and of course I assumed it was insured. It wasn't!
I started the hunt for a laptop again, and eventually, after days of frustration and trying to keep my life going, my mom loaned me her old. Again ... back to a second hand laptop. I hope that doesn't sound ungrateful at all.

Believe it or not, I've been on that laptop ever since. Yes, I am now in a position to get what I like and so the hunt, with a different esteem, began. This is a project me story, so there has to be a lesson in it somewhere and this one is about being patient in the wait for what you have worked so hard for. Nothing comes when you expect it, it always arrives when you are most ready for it. It took me years to understand that and I even tried to trick the universe and affirm that I was READY. We don't consciously get to decide that ... horrid life lesson, I know.

But now I am. Now a functioning device is not because I desperately need it, but because it's a game changer in both my project me journey and living is an entrepreneur with the next level of blossoming dreams.

When Microsoft South Africa called to say they wanted to be a part of my project me story and my online journey, it took my breathe away. The main reason is an interesting one.
When I started in the social media space, I came from nowhere and it was a bumpy ride to where I was going. There were other players and some of them were much bigger and tougher than me, but I kept having to rise above it and get to where I wanted to go, because I believe in myself. Mostly, because I'm driven by passion!
To me, that sounds a whole lot like the world of technology. It sounds a lot more like the story of Microsoft and now the journey of Windows 8.

Yesterday, I walked into a meeting with a powerhouse of corporates, sat down and whipped out my Windows 8 driven Lenovo ThinkPad. It twists and transforms from?a laptop to a tablet. It's touch screen. It swipes and manoeuvres from all corners of the screen?... and it got everyone's attention. I have to admit that I did wait for the perfect moment to do the transformer move from laptop to tablet ... but that's just because I'm so freakin' chuffed?that I can?confidently walk into a room and my technology meets my space in the world.

I have?a support team when I need it and have become accustom to being welcomed into the Microsoft family, as if I was always meant to be there.

Dear Microsoft, thank you for your belief in my journey and for finding the perfect match with my smart and?sexy?Twist.
I have plans to write incredible blog posts, simply perfect Tweets, create mind blowing presentation and keep in touch with my world, with a new found love for technology. Your partnership with Project Me and my online story has opened up many exciting windows in my life over the past few days and I have no doubt that each day will be filled with new windows opening to my world!

#Gratitude