I'm Shipping up to Boston

Bergeron:

Burlington.

Boulder.

Boston.

Maybe its some type of weird coincidence. Maybe I secretly have an infatuation with the letter B. Maybe I should have been on Sesame Street teaching children about the letter B. Maybe it's all of these things or maybe it's none of these things. Whatever the reason, the letter B is even more prominent in my life.

After growing up in Burlington, VT, moving to Boulder, CO was a great experience. Moving to a new place without knowing anyone is always tough. I loved living in Colorado, it always seemed to be warm and sunny, I made some of the greatest friends and the mountains and snowboarding are just mind boggling. There comes a time in life where a series of events occur that are out of your control. There are many who believe that sometimes things happen for a reason. I'm not really a believer in fate myself, but who knows, maybe sometimes certain things do happen for a reason.

On January 8, 2011, I tore my Anterior Cruciate Ligament and Meniscus in my left knee. I was snowboarding at Keystone Resort in Colorado with friends. On that particular day I decided to pop the headphones in and listen to my new ipod, which I don't normally do while snowboarding. After a few laps through the park, I was feeling pretty warmed up for the day and came into a jump line with a bit too much speed. To spare the details, I basically overshot the landing on a jump by about 20 feet, launching myself through the air only to land in the flats, with all the pressure coming down through my front (left) leg.

I have returned back to the East Coast, to take care of all the fun of doctor's appointments and scheduling MRI and knee surgery, which turns out will be the first week of May.

In the midst of all my whole "knee situation" as I've been calling it, I've been given an amazing opportunity. You've probably heard the saying by Einstein, "In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity." While this saying has probably been used a million times, I can't think of a more relevant situation.

Recently, I accepted a job with Likeable Media in Boston. Likeable Media is a new age agency specializing in social media leveraging and advertising, word of mouth marketing and buzz building. I accepted the position of an Account Director of Social Media Strategy. This is a very exciting opportunity for me. The past 2 years I have been in sales roles, which were absolutely great experience I would not trade, but my true passion lies within marketing and social media. I am extremely excited to take the next step in my career, and make the shift from sales into social media marketing. I think Account Management in the social media realm is a very exciting opportunity and to be a part of such a great, fast growing company such as Likeable Media is even more exciting. Likeable began in NYC but I will be helping to expand their growing office in Boston. I will begin this exciting career with the Likeable Team in April.

In addition to an exciting new job, I will be in an exciting new(ish) city. Although Boston is one of the oldest cities in the country and I've visited there many times growing up, living there will be a while new experience. There is a lot going and definitely not a shortage of things to do. I'm typically a small town guy, or that's what I have been up to this point. I'm very excited to explore a new way of life, not to mention enjoy a brew and foot long at Fenway this summer!

Likeable on Facebook

Likeable on Twitter

From Filtrbox to Vodka Shots

I will start this off by saying... Yes, if you are looking at my blog and thinking, 'wow this guy never writes' then you are halfway correct. It is true, that yes I do not typically set aside specific time out of my day/week/month/etc to write blog posts. It is great and I am by no means downplaying blogs, I just have a hard time sitting and thinking of what to write. This is why I typically only write a longer post when there is a significant change in mylife, the rest of the time, I find everyday occurrences are sufficient in 140 characters or less. So with that said... now you can probably guess that I am writing about a significant change that does not fit into my tweets or facebook status.

[If you don't have time] to read all the details right now-

The abridged made-for-tv version of this post is that after much consideration I have decided to pursue a new career that will allow me to further my skills and experiences in field sales and marketing. There you have it.

[If you do have more than 30 seconds], please continue reading.

It all started in September 2009, when I moved from Burlington, VT to Boulder, CO to work for a small startup company called Filtrbox, that offered a social media monitoring software.

Just when I was beginning to feel settled-in and adjusting to life in Boulder, Filtrbox was acquired by Jive Software in January 2010.

Jive Software is a leader in the social business software for the enterprise. The small Boulder-based startup social media monitoring software was a perfect fit to integrate into Jive's collaborative online communities. The new acquisition provided an opportunity for the software giant to connect employees and customers with social web engagement.

At Filtrbox, I was part of a two man sales team. We tag-teamed deals and wore many hats, including sales, customer service, training, consulting, support, and the list goes on. After the acquisition by Jive Software, we became part of a larger team. My new role in sales support allowed me to work directly with the inside reps and field reps. This gave me great insight into how things work with enterprise based software.

I worked with some of the best individuals in the enterprise software sales industry. Throughout my time at Filtrbox and Jive, I have learned not only about how enterprises work, but about technology and social software. The experience was unmatchable compared to any I have been exposed to. I would not trade these experiences for anything. With that said, everyone comes to a point in their life where they are ready to take the next step. For some, that next step might be into a new role within the same company. For others it might be a similar role at a new company. And for some, it might even be a completely new and different role.

Recently, I have accepted a position with a local Boulder spirits company, 303 Vodka. This is very significant change from supporting an enterprise software sales team.

303 Vodka will allow me to further my career with a different role as a Field Sales Representative. This position will allow me to have face-to-face interaction with clients, which caters better to my outgoing personality.

Also, since 303Vodka is a family-owned local Boulder, CO business, and I will be assisting in spreading the brand virally throughout Colorado. I am very excited for this new sales and marketing opportunity promoting a local brand, and will be using the knowledge, skills and experiences I have learned in

the past year.

This is a significant change not only in my career, but in my daily life. It is a bittersweet change, as I am an advocate for Jive Software and all that it stands for. However, I saw a new opportunity calling my name and decided to take it. I think 303Vodka will be a great change that will allow me to be out in the field, interacting with people face-to-face on a daily basis, and I look forward to be part of another successful company!

With that said, I am closing out this week as my final week with Jive Software. Next week marks the start of my new career with 303VODKA.