People are the lifeblood of any organization. Businesses and corporations are just communities of individuals with (hopefully) a common goal. This is a basic thought about the composure of a business.
My name is John King, and I’ve been working at Umbrella for just over 30 days. That’s it; 30 days. For most, that might seem like a short amount of time. And for me, I consider that a short period, but looking back to when I walked in the front door for the first time under a welcoming barrage of nerf bullets, I can’t believe it’s only been a month.
Previously, I worked for The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce in the membership department. My job was to canvas the metro area meeting with businesses of all shapes and sizes to get them to join the chamber. It was a great job and a fun time to be in the heart of Kansas City. (The chamber offices are in Union Station.)
Side note: I have a great picture of my then 18-month-old son tipping his cap to Kansas City at the Royals World Series parade out my office window.
I was quite nervous about leaving the chamber. I was comfortable and good at my job. And I was the least (and still am) technical person at Umbrella. Did I want to sell IT services? Did I know what I was getting myself into? Do I want to be out of my comfort zone? It turns out that none of those concerns matter.
What surprised me the most these past 30 days is that I don’t need to be technical. I’m surrounded by some of the smartest professionals I’ve ever met. The amount of knowledge and experience these guys possess is staggering. But the best part is that they must communicate their expertise to novices like me all the time. That’s part of the job at Umbrella, working with clients that are not technical but have issues that require our expertise. Our help desk must be able to resolve a technical process in an easy-to-understand manner.
My task is to cultivate relationships to create new business opportunities. I’m the sales guy, for lack of a better term. I believe sales and business development is simply working well with people. I’m in the people business. No business or corporation has ever purchased or started a partnership. It’s always the people that get things done.
It’s no different at Umbrella. I feel fortunate to have the technical support to sell our products and services. I’m not selling technology… everyone has technology. I’m selling our team; all these people working together to grow Umbrella.
I’ve gotten out of my comfort zone to do something new. To represent Umbrella. To help people (and the companies they work for) get their technical challenges resolved.
I’ve really enjoyed the first 30 days of my time with Umbrella. If you need help with your IT, let’s talk… and maybe I can introduce you to my new friends over here at Umbrella!
– John
