Media, TEN7
When did you start at TEN7, and what were you doing prior to joining us?
Why did you accept the offer?
What does your daily routine look like now?
What's your favorite part of the day?
IVAN STEGIC: Hello, you're listening to a TEN7 audiocast. We're here today for a team member interview with Jonathan Freed, our Account Happiness person. I'm Ivan Stegic, founder and president of TEN7. Hello, Jonathan.
JONATHAN FREED: Hello, Ivan.
IVAN: When did you start at TEN7, and what were you doing prior to joining us?
JONATHAN: Interesting you should ask that since I am coming up on my first year anniversary.
IVAN: That's right! At the end of May, it'll be one year.
JONATHAN: Yes. I was self-employed, semi-retired, and then about 2 days before my 67th birthday, a good friend of mine, Ivan Stegic calls me up and says, "Hey, let's go to lunch." Lo and behold, halfway through the lunch, Ivan takes his tall body, leans into me and goes, "Come work with me full-time."
IVAN: [Chuckles]
JONATHAN: Safe to say the least, I was pretty stunned. I was probably the only 67-year-old that I knew at the time who was getting a job offer, and I can only say how happy I am that I accepted that offer.
IVAN: We're glad to have you. Why did you accept the offer?
JONATHAN: We actually started working together about 10 years ago. Had a client at retail - a local retailer - who was associated with four similar retailers around the country, and we needed to get a website done for the five retailers at a reasonable price. At my good friend Lisa's recommendation, we had our first meeting and proposed that we'd build these five websites built on one template for five different retailers. You sat there quietly, and then finally, after I was finished looked at me and he said, "You're *bleeping* nuts. We will never be able to get them to agree to do that."
IVAN: [Chuckles]
JONATHAN: To that point, I had been, as I said, working on my own. I knew some things that were critical to my decision, and I had grown to really admire your unique management style - willingness to share, to teach, and all those things, which are very important to me. And, it made it very easy for me to be able to make the decision to go back to work full-time. That I knew I was going into an environment that encourages personal growth, progress - all of the things that I think are so important for any company to survive.
IVAN: Thank you for speaking so highly and kindly about TEN7. It brings great joy for me to hear that. We recently became distributed; we used to have an office in the North Loop for the longest time. You had a certain daily routine when you'd come into the office. I know that you are a big fan of Metro Transit and taking public transportation. What does your daily routine look like now?
JONATHAN: Think about waiting for a bus when it's 30-below-zero wind chill out. So, I'm not at all opposed to being distributed. The true value of working at home is managing yourself - the discipline required in order to be able to get the job done. I start anywhere between 7:30 and 8, and it's generally divided into 2 or 3 specific areas. The first is going to be working on our marketing, working on our social media, working on the website, doing those things which are required in order to keep us current in our marketing plans and objectives. The second thing is doing research not only on topics of discussion, but also topics for these audiocasts. And third, there's marking, and direct sales' imperative for the sustainability and growth of the company.
IVAN: What's your favorite part of the day?
JONATHAN: My favorite part of the day are doing the Zoom video conferencing with you and other team members, and with customers and whatever. And I think using it brings such positive energy to what we do, who we are, and how we accomplish such great things. There are other things as well, like getting into a client or getting someone to say "Yes", but I still think my favorite is doing the Zoom conferences.
IVAN: I agree, that would be my favorite part of the day as well. That brings us to the end of this Audiocast. I'd like to thank Jonathan for sharing today. Please visit us at TEN7.com and keep an eye out on the TEN7 blog for future audiocasts. This is Ivan Stegic, and thank you for listening.