Get to Know: Lindy Frank, Senior Solutions Architect

I recently sat down with Senior Solutions Architect Lindy Frank, one of VectorX's first employees. Lindy is the first in our “Get to Know” series. Over the coming months, we will be introducing you to other members of our VectorX family! But for now, get to know Lindy Frank!

How did you get started in this world we call Salesforce?

LF: Can I blame Mike (CEO)? Hahaha! I started a job running a call center in 2010 that was using Salesforce and I had no Salesforce experience. My boss at the time found me someone who would help me learn Salesforce, and that was Mike Boutin. I started having regular meetings with Mike and shortly after getting advice from Mike, we started looking at revamping Salesforce – very much like our Restoration Services. During that process, I learned from Mike and helped turned me into a Salesforce Administrator. Fast forward a couple years, my position was eliminated and Mike suggested I join him at EnablePath, a Salesforce partner. I started working at EnablePath in 2013 as a Solutions Consultant and that started my new career in consulting.

Professionally, when did you say to yourself “hey, I got this” and “this is exactly what I should be doing”?

LF: Initially – no – not at all! My first client with EnablePath, I just went in and took notes and listened. I was with a couple other consultants and took their lead – but I did feel some of this was over my head. I had great support from my colleagues and they mentored me and made me feel like I belonged. After a couple projects, especially with call center customers, I felt like I was supposed to be in the room. I enjoyed the challenge, the testing, and the, sometimes, long hours. My parents were both in software and always felt like the odd man out as my brother was also in software. I was the creative one. I could not wait for dinner to be over because they had all this interesting stuff to talk about. Now I look at what I am doing and my dad would have been blown away by where I am now and what has been my career for the last seven years. My brother and I now sit at the dinner table and we are the ones talking about software, apps, and processes.

If you weren’t a Salesforce consultant, what would you be doing for a career?

LF: I would definitely be a chef. I am a professionally trained, certified chef. My ultimate goal was that my best friend and I were going to open a food truck. True story. We were going to have a BBQ food truck – more refined. But ask anyone who has had my pulled pork and they would tell you it is the best. I went to traditional college for a year and hated it. I came home in the summer and my dad told me he would pay for me to go to culinary school if I promised to come home every Sunday to teach him everything I learned that week. So that’s what I did. My absolute favorite thing to cook is lasagna. Growing up, it was one of my favorites and my mom would make it on special occasions. My dad actually cooked for my mom on their first date. But the fancy meal that I am asked to make is chicken marsala. When I went to Italy a couple years ago, we stayed in a villa and me and my friends traded-off cooking each night. On my night, I went to the store and bought up the very best ingredients like freshly picked mushrooms and absolutely the best marsala wine.

As a Salesforce professional, what advice would you give someone entering this career?

LF: Salesforce is a very positive space to go into. There is always work to be done. And it’s a very supportive community. There is always someone out there willing to help you get through a problem. I would also say to find your home in the Salesforce community by discovering what you like to do. If you like to consult for other companies, get into consulting. Learn from other consultants. But understand what you are signing up for. Sometimes long hours, sometimes travel. If you want to be an admin for a company, there are tons of jobs out there for Salesforce Administrators. I drank the Kool-Aid long ago. You need to understand that about me. My water bottle is Salesforce, for example. Always be up-to-date on new releases and know it before the clients. Your job is to be the expert. You have to commit to your decision.

What’s your next evolution in the world of Salesforce?

LF: On my list is non-profit certification and probably education certification after that. I also have an interest in Einstein. Since I have a lot of experience with non-profits, it is first on my list. And I have a great interest in higher-education, so I definitely want to explore that and get involved in the projects we do with our education clients.