I came out of retirement to run a start-up, Historically, I seldom used all of my vacation time, and the last sick day I took was in 1992. I am a sick puppy.

Independent contractors - a rapidly growing piece of the workforce - can often achieve the best quality of life. They can choose from where they work, whom they work for and for how long.

Jobs will come back when the economy recovers, but they will never be the same.

It's fantastic that the world is becoming more open to different ways of working, but we still have a long way to go in terms of changing perceptions.

If you are willing to dream and then work hard and execute well, you can achieve more than you ever imagined.

By the time I got to be director of product management at Thomas-Conrad, I was in a better negotiating position, as I had accumulated more accomplishments and gained a reputation for having a great work ethic.

I consistently run into young adults who have quickly turned away from traditional jobs at great companies to try their hand at a start-up. I believe that some of this stems from the desire to strike it big like Mark Zuckerberg, but I also believe it is because starting a company has become far cooler than working in one.