I love my job

I am very lucky- I work for a smaller company out of Texas, running their number 1 and number 3 accounts here in Northwest Arkansas. I've been here for 3+ years and it continues to get better and better all the time! And I know when it's good, because in 6 years of vendor experience I have seen the bad and the ugly as well.

My first job was pretty much a financial analyst/marketing coordinator role with a very large company based out of San Francisco. This quickly developed into an analyst and then senior analyst role within a year or so. This company was fun to work for- we had no limit on our expenses...we went on amazing trips for sales meetings and market checks...we received great gifts once or twice a year...and the booze flowed like water. Being young and new to the vendor world (having just finished my masters and having worked on campus for 3 years at the U of A), I was elated! Plus, the money was a huge difference from campus paychecks...which was nice. I was at this job for like a year and half before I left. I would have stayed longer, but there was a lot of drama/craziness between my manager and director (long story short they were having an affair with each other for over a year and it ended and they both ended up getting fired) and I wanted in a better environment...so I started looking. Also, since I came in as a FA and not a senior sales analyst, I was underpaid for what I was doing . I got a raise to start the SSA role, but it was nowhere near what other companies were paying for the same role.

I started working for another large company out of the Denver, CO area in 2007. This company seemed like the perfect company for me! It was a small office...the company was very focused on sustainability and various environmental initiatives...the home office was in a place I would have loved to have moved to...my boss was a blunt, direct person who appreciated the same...it was a great fit. Sadly, this perfect fit began to unravel rather quickly. Within a few months, my boss (whom many hated, but I gelled well with) was promoted within and moved to CO. A month or two after that he asked me to come work for him there in CO, but I was not financially or emotionally in a place to go yet (we had just bought a new house at the top of the market and then the market tanked, so no getting out of that one so quickly....PLUS we were talking about starting a family and both sets of parents are local) so I turned that down. Immediately I regretted it, as I was stuck now in an office with a new boss that I wasn't fond of and a VP who seemed to all of a sudden have a bad taste in his mouth for me. This was a depressing time for me- I was sooooo excited about this company and what it stood for, yet I could feel it almost slipping away from me. Sadly, I only ended up staying here for a little over a year due to the VP over the office being a total douche-bag and making my life miserable.

People say that things happen for a reason, and in this instance I feel like that is what happened with my transition from my last company to my new one! I was brought on as a senior sales analyst, but within a few short months I was managing two of the company's top three accounts. Talk about a promotion- lol! At a large company you generally have to work YEARS to get to manage a top retailer...and here I just lucked into it. That's not totally true....I have worked my tail off over the past few years...but a lot of where I am now is due to timing and opportunity. Things were bumpy at first, with me reporting to 4 different bosses within 3 years and the company changing hands, but overall I am blessed. I have freedom. I have control over my business. I have reachable opportunities with each customer. I have a great boss (now). I get credit for my work. I get respect.

I love it!