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Today marks my 10 year anniversary of working here at B4 Networks Inc. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately, as it’s not a small milestone for me. I’ve been reflecting on that for the past little while…to give some insight, when I started working here I hadn’t met my wife yet, I didn't have my amazing kids, and I was still young. Looking back on the past decade, there are lots of stories to tell. As a company, we’ve grown from 4 people to the 22 we have today. We’ve moved offices twice, and expanded our office within a few years of moving in. We’ve focused on contract offerings instead of hourly. We’ve bought another business. We’ve won 7 consecutive awards for being one best managed IT companies in Canada. Starting as a tech and moving into a management and leadership role has also been a journey. I’m not afraid to admit that I’ve made many mistakes along the way. Tech mistakes like forgetting to turn on backups which lead to a cryptolocker incident, or rebooting a client network at 9:30am instead of pm. Moving into a leadership position I’ve made plenty of mistakes there as well. The biggest mistake in leadership is the mistake of thinking that being a leader is about status. It’s not. One of the things that I have learned is that being a leader is sacrifice, not status. When I say that being a leader is about sacrifice, what I mean is this: it’s not all about what’s best for ME, it’s about what’s best for US.  Working together as a team and for the team, we are able to elevate everyone together. It’s a very easy concept to understand, but an incredibly difficult one to do. This has always been one of the most rewarding things to watch. This could be the 2 straight days of troubleshooting a downed network, swapping techs in and out on a sleep schedule. Or it could be scrounging for parts so that we can build a server and get a client going again ASAP. Or even a meeting where we come up with resolutions to present. When we work as a team, we’re all stronger than our individual parts. And when someone on the team makes a mistake, and they will, we don’t focus on the mistake, we focus on the solution. We all make mistakes, and generally speaking we beat ourselves up more than any boss or manager could. And that’s where being a leader comes into play. Whether it’s your job title or not, being a leader means turning to your colleagues and telling them “I’ve got your back. There’s nothing you can break that we can’t help put back together. We believe in you, even if you don’t believe in yourself.” (Simon Sinek) If you know that you have a whole team of people who believe in you, that’s a powerful feeling. And it’s a feeling that I’ve had for the last 10 years. So thank you to each and every member of the B4 team for making working here the joy that it is. Thank you for all the of the good times, and the bad. Thank you for letting me make and learn from my mistakes, and most of all thank you all for being the amazing people you are.

Closing out the workweek with our weekly lineup! 💼🎉 If these roles don't quite align with what you're looking for, be sure to explore the comments section for our job board.

Great achievements are rarely a solo act... ( Here's why I'm excited about next week ) We're kicking off a national contract on Monday - lots of sites, and with a short lead time. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽: → Daily mobilisation meetings - the 'who, what, where, when' → Meeting regularly with client - the 'how' → Triple Check System - The details that we check, cross-check, and check again. This isn't just preparation; it's a masterclass in precision and attention to detail. I should 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 be feeling nervous about go-live day. I don't. Because this is what we do for every new job start.  It's just this time, we're doing it at scale. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗼 𝗶𝘁:  → Standardised our systems - we can scale up or down depending on the contract size. → Empowered our teams - their autonomy allows for agility and adaptability. → Leverage technology - so we can ensure scalable and effective operations I'm in the cleaning industry, but these concepts would work with any industry.  If you want to scale, this is how you do it. To my amazing Cleancorp team: I'm so incredibly proud of the work that you do every day - and your total mission for flawless execution for this new national contract.   Thank you for all the early morning, late nights and weekends, to get this done 💗 P.S.  Please share a word or two of encouragement for the team..👇

Well done to you all. Clearly a winning proposition.

The job market currently is horrible

What is the standard way to approach your first few days at a new job? 🤔 Do you step in slowly, just focusing on your training and onboarding tasks? 🙇🏻♀️ Do you hold back input on processes and projects, and let the seasoned staff fly solo? 🤐 Well, I personally don’t believe there is a standard for starting on your new path with a new team. Every situation is different, just as people are different. This week, I dove off the deep end into my new role. 🤿 I not only focused on setting up my accounts, getting access to information hubs, and the usual “new hire” stuff - I saw things that needed addressing and got right to it. Why? Because that’s just how I roll. 🛼 I can’t sit back and watch my boss and teammates drown in “to-dos” that need quick action. If they can’t breathe, I can’t breathe. And what good are any of us if we’re suffocating? 😮💨 I’m so grateful to be able to help good people do good work for our community. I’m already pumped for week 2! 🙌🏻 #newhire #firstday #newguy #wegotthis

“As AEs, how do you approach taking 1-2 week vacations and balance against the need to hit quota?” 👀 This question came up during our very first AE Peer Connections session this week and it started a great conversation which we carried over to Slack! ☀️Ashley Zagst offered some really great advice to the group that she let our team share out here! ⬇️ “Here's my take: ✔️ “Your job is not your life” - my manager actually said this to me in one of our one-on ones. It was something a mentor of his had said to him. ✔️ Tactically it’s great to put in more front end work if you know you’re going to be taking time off. However, sometimes you have to take time off unexpectedly and that isn’t an option. ✔️ Having a supportive manager, someone in your corner who understands the need for a break every now and then, is crucial for feeling safe/good about taking time off. Ideally they'll help keep your deals moving along while you're out and help get you back up and running when you're back. ✔️ The reality is, if I can take time and fully, ACTUALLY, disconnect from work then I come back more refreshed, inspired, and productive and end up performing well anyway. ✔️ Also, I've noticed if I've got a deal close to the finish line, folks will tend to get deals done faster if they know I'm going to be out for a while. ✔️ Lastly - Our health and well being is worth way more than whatever $$ we might be making.* *Big caveat - I say that knowing that I have an emergency fund set aside that could support my wife & me if I were to lose my job. This gives me the confidence & freedom to take time when I need it without fear of losing my main source of income. If this is not something available to you at the moment, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take time off - and, I understand there is more stress around the decision to do so. That said, if you’re working somewhere where you’re afraid of losing your job because you’re taking needed time off - maybe that’s something to investigate further.” Thank you for sharing this advice with the Women in Sales community, ☀️Ashley Zagst! Thank you to our partners- Airmeet Aligned Aspireship Commsor 🦕 Demandbase Docusign Motive Luster RE:WORK TRAINING Sendoso The Juice QuotaPath Us In Technology Worklyfe Zillow ZoomInfo

We're all just people working with people to help other people. It's easy to forget in a distributed environment, where 30-minute video calls and endless Slacks force us to group them into categories: departments, peers, decision-makers, and direct reports. We place more value on status and titles. Less on the creativity and productivity that breeds from cross-functional idea exchanges. That's why getting in a room with a whiteboard or sharing a meal brings us closer together. It reminds us we're all just people – each with a wealth of unique perspectives, stories, and ways of thinking. I'm grateful for the time distributed work allows me to spend with my family; I don't have to compromise early mornings with my kids or dinner time rituals. But I get 10X more out of work when I can actually connect with the people I work with. I'm feeling energized coming back from Seattle after spending a few days with some of the brilliant new faces I get to work with. :)

It's the start of a new week and that means a fresh to-do list! Here's five things we think should be on it: 𝟏. 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐀𝐏 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬  Seven categories that reflect the way the customer advocacy practice is evolving means plenty of ways for all applicants to shine. (Application here: https://lnkd.in/gT6tDJzf) 𝟐. 𝐓𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐞 𝐰/𝐃𝐞𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥  This week we’re talking with DeMario Bell all about the importance of community-advocacy collaboration. Flywheel anyone? https://lnkd.in/gZ_qrVy7 𝟑. 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 As we stated in our recent newsletter, “Don’t wait for those big milestones. Celebrate the small victories too. Rewarding yourself for getting tasks done is 100% acceptable!“ (Read it here 👉 https://lnkd.in/ghwfhVFm) 𝟒. 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐜𝐨-𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 Nothing gives a bigger boost than knowing you’re making a difference to someone. 𝟓. 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐚 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 (𝐨𝐫 𝟑) 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 Pick a few customers to recognize for being awesome. A simple yet unexpected email, LinkedIn message, or even a small “happy” will brighten their week! What else would you add? Cheers 🥂 to a great week!