Tuesday, April 19, 2011

J.P. Schwartz, Inc. - A Great Company to Work For

Wow, looks like some time has passed since I updated this blog. Well, I have been keeping busy with my job atJ.P. Schwartz, Inc.

I feel very blessed to work for such a great company. What makes it great is the atmosphere and the beliefs of the company. When I started working with J.P. Schwartz, nearly 4 years ago, I felt that there was a genuine concern from the owner, John Schwartz, to provide a good place for people to work, that he was fair and honest, and he wanted to create something special with his company and provide a unique blend of service and relationship to the clients.

In the time I have worked with J.P. Schwartz, Inc. I have been given opportunities to improve on the skills I already had, and learn many new things as well. I have had the flexibility of being a mom and having a good job at the same time thanks to the understanding of my boss and the importance put on family by J.P. Schwartz, Inc. I have met great people and made friends that I imagine I will have for life through being a part of a small company such as this. This type of company and management are priceless.

Recently I have been able to delve deeper into accounting roles with doing payroll and payroll taxes for the company. I have learned to take a decision making role for the company in many instances. I enjoy getting to blog and write for the company. I have also made great contacts and built relationships with some of our vendors as well.

I am finding my job to be rewarding and am excited to continue this journey with J.P. Schwartz, Inc.

Of course, I have to add a plug for the company :) If you are in the Denver area and own a small/medium size business, consider J.P. Schwartz for your I.T. needs, I really believe you will be impressed with not only the great service, but also the amazing people!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

V.P. of Administration

What is in a title? I am quickly learning a lot and yet not much all at the same time. (But it sounds impressive, doesn't it?) In June 2009 I had been working with J.P. Schwartz, Inc. for 2 years. Two years that flew by! I have done and learned so much in that time.
As I have said before, I wear many hats with this company. I do accounting, HR, marketing, web site updates, writing, proofreading, I contribute to making company decisions, setting company goals, and so on. So, in June, I accepted a position/title that is graced with V.P. in the name.
I basically do the same job I did before, but with higher expectation, more accountability, and more responsibility for the success or failure of this small company.
Indeed it has been more stressful, sure it has been longer hours, of course it came with a pay raise, but what I have found most interesting is that the title itself means very little. Many people I know put a lot of stock in their title at work, they derive some sort of personal worth or value from that title. I have learned that V.P. of something really is more of a reflection, or should be, of what really matters. What matters is that I care about the company, I care about it's success, I have become personally and emotionally involved in the company, I want to make decisions that are best for the company as a whole, I work hard to see the goals realized, I give 100%. This work ethic, this dedication is where I will find my value, and I will apply it to my family, my relationships, my faith, my hobbies; it is what I applied in my life that allowed me to run a 1/2 marathon, and accomplish personal goals.
I am thankful beyond belief for my job, for a great company, and a great boss. I am proud to work with J.P. Schwartz, and happy to give them my best, but I try not to get too hung up on the fact that I am the V.P. of Administration, even if it does sound pretty cool.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

One Job Title, Many Positions

I was recently reminded that I should update this blog a little more frequently; and that some people are interested in how my job is going and what I have been up to.
As of today I have been with J.P. Schwartz, Inc. for about 9 months. I serve the title of Office Manager. I don't know that this title does my job justice, however. If I had to explain my job, I might say I am the go-to-gal, the Jill of all trades, that I wear many hats under one umbrella.
It is hard to explain exactly what I do to someone who asks, hoping for a short answer.
In a larger business you may have an HR Department, an Accounting Department, a person or group who handles your website development, a Sales and Marketing Department, and so on. Well, I do all of that on small scales for a small business. Here is an idea of some of the things I do for J.P. Schwartz, Inc.
Recently I had the pleasure of writing and running an add to hire a new employee. I then got to sort through hundreds of resumes as they came in, write interview questions for both phone and in person interviews, schedule interviews, and listen in on phone interviews. It was a fun process and we now have a new employee.
I also use Quickbooks on a regular basis to generate invoices and mail them to our customers.
I oversee partner and vendor relations. I do scheduling and customer relations tasks such as generating proposals for the client. I maintain our relationships with the BBB and the Chamber of Commerce by attending events they hold and networking with their members. I help with content, editing, and posting to our website, as well as monitoring our online presence. I do filing in the office and also electronically of all the business documents. Daily I monitor websites for project opportunities and subcontractor possibilities. I help with tracking and documenting of financial information. I use a program called Sales Force that is a CRM program, to manage leads, accounts, contacts, opportunities, and schedules; I had the honor of learning this program for our company, training both the owner and new employee to utilize it, and through some simple programing, customizing the program to fit our companies needs. I am being trained to do hardware ordering and procurement. In addition, from time to time, I get the opportunity to train on a technical area or skill that I did not have before, such as the sales of VMware, or Microsoft products. I even book hotel rooms and give directions when needed. There are not too many tasks that I don't do and I always enjoy a new challenge.
I really enjoy all aspects of my job and feel that this position will definitely provide me with a lot of experience to carry on into my future endeavors.
To top it off, I really enjoy my working environment, the flexibility for me to work from home most of the time, and the people I work with. Being a part of such a small company makes one feel more a part of that company and more interested personally in seeing the business succeed. I am ever grateful for this job and this experience.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

My New Job with J.P. Schwartz Custom Network Design

Well, okay, it's not really new anymore; I am almost to my 90 day review!
I am the Office Manager for J.P. Schwartz Custom Network Design. I really love this job and I am so grateful for it.
J.P. Schwartz Custom Network Design works with businesses to help them to meet their business demands by designing, installing, or helping to maintain a secure and dependable communications network. Some of the things that the company does are custom network design, network services (such as configuration of the network), security services, server and workstation services.
I had the pleasure to meet the owner of the company, John Schwartz, on my 30th birthday at my interview. I was impressed by the professionalism and knowledge that he possessed and I still am.
As the Office Manager at J.P. Schwartz, Inc. my duties vary. I am so blessed to have found a job which allows me the flexibility to telecommute, to work flexible hours as needed, and puts a real value on family as well as work. I work from my home office 4 days per week and from the office of J.P. Schwartz one day per week. One of my main tasks right now focuses on marketing, however I also help with clerical and office tasks, tasks pertaining to our website, I help to manage contacts, partnerships, and vendor relations, among other things.
I have found this job to be rewarding for me. It is great to have a job that you can feel personally invested in and care about beyond just your paycheck. My last few job opportunities have been like that, and it is so much more fulfilling.
I really enjoy my days in office as well, being in the "work environment" is a nice change of pace once a week and working with John is always a pleasure.
I have found that the knowledge I have gained in the last few online personal assistant jobs I performed have been valuable in my new position and I am grateful for having had those opportunities.
If you should stumble upon this blog, and just happen to be needing some IT help in the Denver area, I couldn't recommend anyone better. And not just because I work for the company. There is a link on this blog to the J.P. Schwartz, Inc website, or you can always call their Office Manager, (that would be me :-) at 720-259-5365.
Run Wild!
Jenn

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Don't get Scammed with On-Line Jobs

Hello friends,
I began the summer working for a "company" known as Greasewheel. I had posted my resume on Cragislist as my work with joossearch had significantly slowed. I was contacted by a man named Steve Fisher from Greasewheel. It sounded like an interesting venture; an online small business advertising community. The pay seemed a little sketchy and some details were missing, but since it was basically a start up company, I decided to give them benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to new/poor management.
I paid the $75.00 training fee for live web training and attended the trainings. (NEVER pay for a job, they are supposed to pay you!) The trainings were actually valuable in many ways. Steve conducted the trainings himself via conference call and web slides. While the training schedule kept changing, it did seem legit since this guy was putting in so much of his own time into training us (there was a small group of us in my training class).
There was a CRM program I was working from, my own e-mail address, and things were seeming fine. The pay was very low for the amount of work I was putting in, but I was assured this was temporary, as the accounts came in, I would make more money.
The job description changed almost daily, the expectations were always unclear, and the communication was foggy at best. But I hung in there and did my best. I was "promoted" 2 times in the short month and a half I was with them. I figured this was a good thing to be promoted early on in the company and gladly took on the extra responsibility and work.
I received pay for my first month, and while it averaged about $2.00 / hour for the work I had put in, I was still looking at it glass half full and with an eager spirit. I couldn't wait for Greasewheel to take off!
Since being promoted the second time I was now helping to recruit, interview and train new people. However things got worse as time went on. Everything was very vague, and management had become rather testy. I was now working 10-12 hours some days, and while my accounts had increased, meaning my pay had increased, with those hours it still averaged just over $2.00 / hour, but now I was not even seeing my family. I decided to give my letter of resignation. I received correspondence from Steve stating that he respected my decision and I would be paid for the time I had put in.
Shortly thereafter I began to receive e-mails and calls from people I had formerly trained or helped to hire to Greasewheel stating the website was down, and no one could reach Steve Fisher or any other upper management. The company was just gone; no website, phones disconnected, e-mails bouncing back. One Greasewheel employee contacted most of us and asked us to join her in filing a complaint with the appropriate attorney general, which I gladly did. A few weeks later we all received a letter in the mail with no return address saying the company was no longer and we would be paid no later than August 31. At this time I have no hope of seeing the money owed to me for the numerous hours I gave to Greasewheel, it seems from the research done by the employee mentioned above, that indeed Steve Fisher and his friend had run a scam and we were all taken advantage of.
In addition to the loss of my time, the money I will surly never see I am now be harassed by one "ex - employee" who has continually e-mailed me, requested phone conversations with me, and even tried to connect me to the Greasewheel scam. His harassment was to the point I had to block his e-mails entirely.
I can only caution you to be aware that people are out there who will scam others and steal from them their time and money. Be very careful who you accept work from. This "company" had me unknowingly misleading others, believing I was doing my job and helping to grow the company. It makes me sick that I was scammed in such a way, but I along with all the other Greasewheel "employees" have learned a lesson the hard way. Please learn from our misfortune and lack of judgement.
Some things I will personally be cautious of in the future are:
1. Any job that asks you to pay for training. If they are hiring you, it is an investment they are making into their company for a valued employee who will in turn help their business to succeed, you should not be asked to pay to get a job.
2. Any job that pays via PayPal. I am not saying there aren't legitimate jobs out there that may pay in this fashion, but I would be cautious.
3. Any job that will not answer ALL your questions about the job, the company, or the expectations. Greasewheel was very vague, and I had a knot in my stomach when they had me interviewing people and said that if the interviewee asked questions, cut them loose, they weren't a fit for Greasewheel. That made no sense to me, of course people have questions about the job they are applying for, or at least they should.
4. Which brings me to my next point, follow your gut feeling! I am a generally optimistic person, giving others the benefit of the doubt. However, my gut all along told me something just wasn't right, I had that knot in my tummy, but I ignored that feeling and made excuses believing this was going to pay off.
5. Be cautious of any job that changes your job description too frequently or seems overly disorganized. They may be covering or hiding something.
I hope that this is helpful to someone out there and can prevent you from becoming a victim or a scam such as this.
Thankfully, I can report I now have a real job, with a real company, doing exactly (well almost :-) ) what I was wanting to do. And regardless of the evil ploy of Steve Fisher and his cohorts, I did learn some skills while with their fake company that will benefit me in my new job and future Internet endeavors. So I guess at the end of the day not all is lost and my glass is still half full.
RunWild!

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Jenn's Resume

Jennifer Greene
runwithme2@gmail.com

Profile
Educated, hard working, disciplined, self-motivated, individual seeking to work from home office. Excellent office and administrative skills, great typing and computer skills, fun yet professional personality. Part time work is ideal.

Employment Experience

June 2007 -
Present
J.P. Schwartz, Inc. – Office Manager
Administrative Tasks: Tasks include scheduling, generating client proposals, filing, vendor and partner relations, development of company forms, use and utilization of Salesforce.com, assist in training of new employees, monitor and post to online advertising sources for various purposes, and run errands to the bank and post office. I also contribute to content, editing, and posting on company website. I also have planned company functions/parties.
HR Tasks: When hiring a new employee, I write the job add and post it, I receive all the resumes and sort through them for possible hires, I wrote the interview questions that we use for both phone and in-person interviews, and provided input on the prospective hires. I maintain personnel files for the company, setup and request for background screening checks, and wrote the company handbook.
Accounting Tasks: Use Quickbooks to generate invoices and mail them to customers. Help track and document financial information.
Sales and Marketing: I generate leads through networking events and word of mouth, as well as I was in charge of a direct mail marketing campaign for the company.

January 2007 -
May 2007
Joossearch (Independent non-profit Organization) – Online Personal Assistant
Online Personal Assistant: Administrative tasks to include filing and sorting of e-mails, upkeep of website, scheduling, and making travel arrangements. Utilize online programs such as Google.
Research Assistant: Research and write on topics relevant to current projects on Joossearch site.

April 2006-
September 2006
The Rock – Preschool Director
Preschool Director: Create and manage scheduling of all volunteers, implement curriculum, train all new volunteers and staff in department, record filing, computer tasks, director of preschool VBS, created MOPPETS curriculum for 2006-2007 year, work within budget guidelines to purchase equipment for new building, involved in planning of new programs and procedures for department.

May 1999-
April 2004
Little Jenny’s Little People In-Home Child Care - Owner
Administrative Tasks: Record keeping of income and expenses. Developed professional legal parent/caregiver contract, kept food program records daily recorded, compile all tax records, assemble profiles on individual families and keep up-to-date, interview potential families, interview and hire back up child care providers, maintain state licennse.
Child Care Provider: Taught preschool program 3-5 days per week, cleaning, cooking, general care of children ages 0-6 years of age.

1998-1999
Toyota Motor Credit – Customer Service Representative
CSR: Answer customer calls from Toyota and Lexus customers regarding customer loans and financial situations. Meet call guidelines and quotas set forth by management.

1995-1999
MCI – Customer Service Representative
CSR: Answer MCI customer calls regarding phone service and billing issues, sales of phone services and products, troubleshooting customer telecommunication problems, typing, helping to train incoming CSR’s.

Education

May 2000 Kirkwood Community College
Associate of Arts Degree with emphasis in Paralegal Studies
Honors: Deans List

Other Positions, Interests & Past Activities

MOPS Publicity – Steering Committee
MOPS at The Rock in Castle Rock: Newsletters and advertising for MOPS.
Included writing original stories, interviewing, information gathering, creating
news letters using computer software, contacting advertising agencies and
placing ads, staying within budget guidelines.
Brighton Bears 8-Year Old Competitive Baseball – Team Mom
Team Mom: Budgeting for team events, organization of team events, communicating with
parents through phone and internet, picture taking and sharing digitally via internet,
tracking and filing of sponsorships and fundraisers, organizing fundraisers.
Warehouse Shoes – Department Manager

Running
Races Include: Turkey Trot Denver – 2003, 2004, 2006. Turkey Trot Castle Rock – 2005. Valentines Day 5K -2004. Rockies Home Run Race – 2004. BIX 7 – 2004. Race for the Cure – 2004.
Relay for Life
Team Member: 2007
Scrapbooking
Music
Computers
Reading
Hiking, Camping, Outdoor Activities

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

What is an Online Personal Assistant?

My title is Online Personal Assistant or you may also refer to me as a Virtual Assistant. Many people may not understand what that is, or why they would want one.
An Online Personal Assistant would be one who is providing professional, administrative, managerial, technical, business office or personal support services from ones own home office. Working from home using technology such as the Internet, IM, videoconferencing, etc.. I can provide service to clients regardless of their geographic location.
An Online Personal Assistant such as myself would work on a contractual basis, and agree to provide services with integrity, honesty, diligence, and in a timely manner.
Why would you want to hire an Online Personal Assistant? Having an Online Personal Assistant means you have someone you can delegate your time-consuming, mundane, and non income generating tasks or duties to; in doing so you can alleviate stress from your job and free up time for more important business or personal ventures you may have. In addition you eliminate the cost of having an on site employee that does these tasks by not having to provide employee benefits, office space, or equipment. An Online Personal Assistant could be especially helpful to you if you find yourself overwhelmed with task oriented work, you could use fresh insight on projects, you need an extra pair of administrative hands, etc...
Online Personal Assistants must be self driven to work and be focused on the tasks given him/her. For this reason, most often, your Online Personal Assistant will require a basic overview of your project/task, some minimal instruction as to how you would like to see the project/task done, and a time frame in which you would like the project/task finished and he/she will take it and run with it. Having an Online Personal Assistant will free your mind and your schedule for more important things!
That is my job, to assist you from my home, with your work. I utilize online technologies such as the Internet and all its tools to best assist you and perform your tasks and to get them back to you. Anything that can be handled in a digitized format is work that I can do or help you with. Internet-based technology is what makes this all possible, we live in a virtual world, take advantage of it! My name is Jenn, I am your NetRunner, how can I assist you?