What a Difference a Year Makes

Posted on January 1, 2015 by MrsAustinNexus

The end of October marked one year since I started at Intuit. I remember walking into the room at #Solutions13 only 6 days on the job, and breathing a big sigh of relief…I felt like I had just come home.

As much as I felt at home, I realized how much had changed in the 15 months since I’d left the VSB Apps world to focus on internal accounting firm solutions. I mean, who the heck is TSheets and why is everyone wearing their shirts?

The sense of home is a bit ironic – for those who know me, I’m rarely home. Between extensive travel for work, and commuting between OC & Palm Springs – in 2014 “home” sort of became my suitcase and me, wherever that happens to be that night.

As I fast forward to today and look back on what 2014 brought professionally, I’m amazed to see in 14 short months not only that that I finally settled in, but grew the most amazing roots I’ve ever had professionally.

I’ve never been so proud to represent a company than I am working for Intuit. I’m surrounded by amazing, inspiring leaders who give me confidence that we’re well on our way to the next phase of Great. I’m every bit as grateful for teammates like Emily, Valerie, Woody, and the one & only Leary, who show me that they personally care about the success of our partners and customers too.

I now know what TSheets is, and absolutely adore them…and I’m the proud owner of not just one – but two of the world’s softest TSheets TShirts. Kelly, Jen, Matt, Kelsie, and Victoria – you are all so amazing and make me thrilled to call you partners. Just so I don’t get accused of playing favorites (except it’s my blog, so I can), Jules, Chris & Team Tallie, Maddy & my pals at Avalara, and one of my newest friends, Caroline from Palo Alto Software (LivePlan) – are just a few more of this year’s highs – I can’t wait to continue bringing the QBO Ecosystem message to accounting firms everywhere.

Spending nearly 90% of the year away from home this year was made immensely easier because of amazing work friends…who’ve now become friend-friends. Stacy, Richard, Mark, Jan, Gail, Shayna, Cathy, & Chelsey – I am so thankful that “work” includes you.

On a personal note, it was a year of change too – Auntie Kim welcomed a new niece and nephew, and I said goodbye to my first grandparent…both have given me a new sense of urgency to capture every moment – even if it’s a 30 minute visit en-route to the airport, a 4-hour layover in Houston, or that late night phone call to tease Grandpa about his Tigers…you never know when you won’t have that chance again.

Something tells me that more change is on the horizon this year – so I’ll anxiously await exciting new adventures, and embrace different challenges, and hey, maybe even take on a new last name…

Happy New Year – wishing you all the best in 2015!

16 Things I Learned on #QBConnectOrBust

Posted on November 9, 2014 by MrsAustinNexus

I’m in the car on my way to #Solutions14. Of course, there are no @Intuitaccts challenges, only two of us in the car, and it’s just about 4 hours to Vegas instead of 443 miles to San Jose…but before I close the book on #QBConnect as the last big conference, I had to recap what I learned during this journey.

Hotel room keys typically work best when trying to enter the correct room (right, Jan?)
There is exactly a right amount of cream that Kelly should put in her coffee – and Brian can tell her when “that’s enough”
When Richard warns you that you’ll likely want to throw him out of the car during the drive – keep in mind, he might be so right it happens before you leave the parking lot
3 people can spend 4 hours putting together a 12+ hour playlist, and the most notable song of the trip may still have been sung to the tune of “Wheels on the Bus” accompanied by a kazoo
After 4 hours, not even one of those 3 people will think to test the audio connection in the vehicle to ensure it is actually equipped to play from an MP3 player
When you need tech support – you’re extra thankful you invited a millennial along for the ride, Madeline to the rescue!
When half of the passengers in a car were born in 1983 or later, the question “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” will invoke Siri and Google maps for reference material (now we all know to ask Gail)
Kazoos are not as easy to play as you may think
It’s completely possible to convert 3 QuickBooks Desktop files to QuickBooks Online from the backseat of a car filled with 6 #QBConnect Attendees (in fact, a few of them might even help out a little) somewhere between Valencia and Fresno
Writing “Honk if you love QuickBooks Online” on the back of a Ford Expedition gives the driver an excuse to cut off traffic whenever necessary to elicit additional honks/ “likes”
It’s entirely possible to stretch a 6 hour 41 minute drive to 10 hours by stopping at 3 Starbucks, 2 McDonalds, 1 In-N-Out Burger, and a gas station (plus the emergency AV cord recon)
Posing with David Leary’s head on a stick can double your social impressions
The aftermath of 6 business professionals in an SUV for 10 hours resembles a typical college dorm room on a Sunday morning – one word: HazMat
A great way to redeem yourself after almost being thrown out of the car 5 minutes into the trip is reminding Brian to check the gas gage at 4 miles till empty (can you say Thelma & Louise?)
The best way to assure you’ll leave #QBConnect more exhausted than any other conference is to arrive there already wiped out from a day in the car
If you ever want to get to know, love, and appreciate 6 of your “favorite industry colleagues”…call them up and invite them to take a ride to San Jose. You’ll remember it for a long long time – Do I have any takers for #QBConnectOrBust 2015?

Win Together

Posted on August 29, 2014 by MrsAustinNexus

Last week I had the amazing opportunity to take part in the first-ever Intuit Global Business Development Manager Summit in Mountain View. As I geared up for four days with my US and international counterparts, I admit, about all I could picture was long days and late nights – but what I wasn’t expecting was all the laughs, and the valuable lessons learned in those four days.

The beauty of this event being at Intuit HQ is that we were honored to receive visits from Intuit executives from our Founder, Scott Cook, to the head of Small Business Group, Dan Wernikoff, to our CEO, Brad Smith. Not to mention the weeklong commitments made by Jim McGinniss, Mark Dean, and Caroline Donahue, as well as Country Managers from our global regions.

Throughout the week, we discussed social selling and building personal brands, compared notes from the Canada, Australia, UK, and India teams, heard directly from a panel of accountants, and strategized on how to tackle the challenges that no doubt will face us this year. There was so much knowledge, perspective, inspiration, and energy flowing through the room all week. There’s no question that my favorite part was meeting and spending time with colleagues I didn’t even know I had…here are just a few of my favorite moments that I thought I’d share.

I admit I was a little star struck by Intuit’s Founder, Scott Cook. The inspirational story of Scott’s early Intuit years filled with uncertainties and struggles only make me prouder to be a part of the company he’s built – and I hope I continue to make him proud to say “To me, YOU are Intuit.”

The UK BDM team, led by Nick Williams, wasted no time showing their true colors – by opening up their turn on stage with a karaoke-style parody of “I Get Knocked Down” entitled “We Win Together”. Video footage may or may not exist (sorry, Bounce Bounce).

My new pals from down under lived up to the Aussie reputation. Meet Birthday-selfie-Geoff Craig, who managed to steal photos with every Intuit exec he could find on Thursday (what coincidentally was his special day).

For comic relief – we had Nick Skiadopoulos from Australia…who had us in stitches from day one and by the time we left I had laughed so hard it hurt. Bonus points to him for hopping into the Twitterverse in style with this hilarious first tweet.

Oh Canada! What a great group of BDMs including Angela, who showed up to the BDM Summit on her first day at Intuit, and our gracious photographer, Steve Beech. I had a blast chatting about social networks & online presence with these guys while we froze our tails off touring San Francisco.

As if the week hadn’t been great enough already, we closed it down on the heels of his record-breaking earnings announcement, with a visit from our CEO, Brad Smith – who’s parting advice was to “Be the best you you can be”.

I’m so thankful to be at a place in my career with a company who invests so greatly in us as employees. It’s no easy task bringing 60+ people from around the globe together – and coordinating another 25+ to present and ensure that we came away better BDM’s than we were when we got to Silicon Valley. I hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting the famous “CD” before this past week, but flew home with a new sense of respect for the leading woman at Intuit. Once again, thank you, Caroline for spending the week with us.

As you can see – it was quite an action packed week. I came home sleep deprived, under-caffeinated, and with a giant to-do list. But am I a better employee, and person, after last week? To quote Mark Dean – “Hell YEAH!”

Genuine

Posted on July 31, 2014 by MrsAustinNexus

There’s just something that bugs me about seeing someone’s news-ticker Twitter feed. You know, the one that never seems like a real a person, but just a constant stream of recycled & retweeted content over and over and over. Dave Cieslak from Arxis Technology has often said it best: “I want to know your thoughts, not what you think about everyone else’s.”

Granted, I think it’s great to represent your company, be a team player, and share exciting news – that’s part of what enables us to be an extension of our corporate brand. It just can’t be everything that it’s about.

When Twitter feeds turn into news feeds, they lack personality…and somehow, I feel they also lack authenticity. How do I know that person is even the one tweeting? It could be coming from any PR agency, Marketing department, or Personal Assistant & nobody would be the wiser.

Part of what I love about social media is the ability to get to know people I work with that live miles away and I only get to see in person once or twice a year. In order to do this, you have to let your personality show, you can’t just be a CNN headline factory.

Just last week I hosted an Intuit Women’s Network (IWN) “Coffee Chat” in our Tucson office. I thought it would be great to have an Intuit partner share thoughts on being a woman business owner with our group, so I was thrilled to invite Gabby Luoma as a guest speaker. When I introduced Gabby to the group, I mention the fact that before I ever met her in person I got to know her on Twitter. When I got the opportunity to finally meet her face-to-face, I felt like I already had spent hours with her.

Gabby shared her perspective on being transparent in her business and on social media, and sharing some of her personal life experiences with her professional contacts. I immediately relate to her on this topic, as I too have tended to take on the blurred lines between work-life and home-life. In a world where people do business with people they know, like, and trust, creating a personal brand and letting it show on social media is an amazing and powerful tool.

Some of my closest professional friends are people I first met via social media as opposed to in person. They are people I saw online, and based on their online presence I knew I wanted to be their friend. If they didn’t let their personality shows through, and just retweeted somebody’s content, I never would have known how much I wanted to know them.

grat·i·tude

Posted on December 24, 2013 by MrsAustinNexus

grat·i·tude
n.
the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful.

There’s something about this time of year that makes people step back and evaluate life. Perhaps it’s because we’re looking at another year drawing to a close, or maybe it’s just good old holiday spirit. For me, year end serves as a time of reflection as well as a pressure cooker, as I try to juggle everything at once: work, family, shopping, cards, baking, etc. etc. etc.! I constantly have to remind myself that these are good problems to have, yet I always catch myself racing through this final month of the year hoping I can wake up tomorrow and have it be over.

2013 was a year of milestones for me (and not just when it comes to frequent flyer miles). This year in particular, I’ve felt an overwhelming sense of thankfulness for where I am in life…so I thought I’d take the opportunity to share just a few of the reasons I’ll look back on 2013 as a year of gratitude.

For starters, I turned 30 this Summer. For some, this would be traumatic, but for me it was almost empowering. As a young female professional in a still male-dominated industry, I’ve always felt like I had to prove myself a little more than peers who had more experience. Suddenly, I can actually see a generation coming up behind me and the opportunity to pay forward some of the wisdom and advice I’ve been given is exciting.

In September, I was privileged to make “Cover Girl” status along with two industry colleagues, as we were featured in CPA Practice Advisor’s cover story: The Changing Face of Accounting & Technology. Needless to say, it was a true honor to represent the accounting vendor community – especially in a story about something so near to my heart.

On the heels of that, I got the amazing opportunity to join the Strategic Accounts Team at Intuit, and have the chance to work in such a great organization with a wonderful team. From Marty who takes great care of all of us rookies, to Mr. Bergstein who is a constant motivator – and Jim, who ensures that even though I’m usually at least a minute late to internal meetings, I’m never the last one to dial in. I’m also thankful for a terrific leader, who reminds us everyday that his job is to help us meet our goals. Thanks, Ray!

I’m beyond grateful for all of the friends I get to meet along the way as I serve the accounting community I love so much. Thanks to all of you who inspire, advise, encourage, and motivate me – and even to those (Matt Kantelis) who give me (um) much needed constructive feedback to help me grow. When you’re a self-proclaimed workaholic, it makes all the difference in the world to love not just your job, but also the people with whom you work.

This year I watched as friends & family faced incredible struggles, which would give anyone an entirely new perspective. I’m incredibly thankful that my dear Grandma has arrived back home safe & sound and is walking here, there, & everywhere for the first time since Easter. And, in August, I posted Reality Check, the story of little Luke. While most 3-year-olds write letters to Santa asking for toys, Lukey prayed that for Christmas he could go home and be with his big brother…which is exactly what he got. Luke went home for the holidays last week, he’s 100% done with treatment, and is in remission after spending most of the past 5 months in the hospital. Leave it to a toddler to remind us all what really matters.

I don’t doubt that 2014 will bring a whole new set of adventures, challenges, victories and most likely a few defeats…one thing that I hope to carry forward however, is an ever-present state of gratitude.

Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. And all the best in the New Year!

Game On!

Posted on October 29, 2013 by MrsAustinNexus

One of the most heated battles being waged today in the accounting industry is over online accounting software – both for those already using it, and those users getting ready to make the switch. New players are popping up, literally every month, claiming new features, more flexibility, and sporting fancy logos – and there’s about as much mudslinging and smear campaigning as an election November.

Over the past several years, working for companies that allowed me to “play well in the sandbox with everyone”, I’ve been able to make friends, form strategic alliances, and have come to respect so many of the individuals and companies in this arena. I’ve had a front row seat on the sidelines and have watched it all play out as this duel has heated up…until the other day when I got a call.

I’m proud to announce that I’ve been drafted! Effective this week, I’m suiting up to play for one of the largest accounting software companies in the world, Intuit. As a brand new QuickBooks Online is unveiled, so too is our brand new Dream Team, including my new colleagues, Ray Barlow and David Bergstein. Together, we’ll take on the challenge of helping CPAs bring their clients into the Cloud, and deliver the promise that you can never outgrow the new QBO.

As if putting on an Intuit jersey isn’t satisfying enough by itself, the promise of teaming with industry legends like Darren Root, Doug Sleeter, reconnecting with some of my favorite partners like Bill.com, Avalara, and SmartVault, and working with newly formed connections like Richard Roppa and Stacy Kildal might just be the icing on the cake. The cherry on top is the opportunity to work even closer with one of the most influential people on my career, Scott Cytron.

This will definitely be a marathon and not a sprint, so I’m packing my stilettos, but lacing up my Nikes for the long haul. We’re not afraid to roll up our sleeves, and know that this will be an exciting journey. The key is that we’ll be here to help firms, accountants, and our customers through it each step of the way.

Ready, Set, GO!

View From My Shoes

Category Archives: Intuit

What a Difference a Year Makes

16 Things I Learned on #QBConnectOrBust

grat·i·tude

Game On!