EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: Reece Pekarek

John: Alright, John McMillan here with another employee spotlight. Today, we have Reece Pekarek. Did I say it right, Reece?

Reece: Pekarek

John: Pekarek. I knew I was going to screw it up.

Reece: It goes either way.

John: So, Reece came in as a project manager. Was it, right after you graduated college right, when you started?

Reece: Mhm.

John: So he’s been working with us for about a year and now he is moving into the client management position. So Reece, why did you take this job at Vyral?

Reece: Well, like you said, I just got out of college and I kind of interviewed around a lot of different places, and I think what was most important to me was the atmosphere, big selling point for me. A lot of companies I interviewed at just didn’t seem like I would be a good fit there. So I came here and it really seemed to be a pretty good match, so I went with it.

John: Cool. Why don’t you go ahead and describe your first impression?

Reece: First impression? Well, it was very relaxed. That’s a word people are using a lot. An environment full of people about the same age as me, so that was encouraging, you know, I didn’t have to wear a suit every day. I wouldn’t be opposed to that but that was just kind of a plus for me. But yeah, first impression, when I first started working here I saw that everyone could freely express their own opinion and no one’s opinion was not allowed, at all, like I mean, if someone has nonsense they’re trying to speak, that can be shut down, but if you have a valuable statement that you're trying to make, it will be heard.

John: Yep, for sure. Okay, so, how come you're still here after about a year?

Reece: Well, when I first applied for the project manager role, my end goal was to be a coach or client manager and now I’m there, so I feel like my next goal is to perfect this position, and from there, I’m not entirely too sure where that leads, but that’s what I’m working on right now.

John: Got it. So you kind of just answered that you’d like to keep moving up within the company. That’s kind of where you want to be with your career here, you’d like to work for Vyral as long as we can keep paying you and keep promoting you I guess is what I’m trying to get at.

Reece: That’s why I’m about to move to Omaha.

John: Yep, got it. Okay, great. So, what have you learned since working here at Vyral?

Reece: What have I learned? I learned that I’m not as organized as I thought I was. I thought I had things pretty well organized, whether it’s my personal business of DJing, I thought I was organized, and I’ve learned a lot of things just working here that have helped me with that as well. That’s the main thing. As far as anything else goes, communication, learning how to communicate a little bit better. Not that I was bad at it previously, but you can always improve.

John: Okay, cool. Have you had any like, breakthroughs in the way that you thought ‘this’ about something maybe coming into the business world from college and you’re like ‘Okay, maybe it’s more like this.’ Or just kind of like, you know, you had ‘this’ mindset coming in and you need to change it to ‘this?'

Reece: That’s a tough question. Not really anything that sticks out. I mean, kind of like I previously mentioned with being organized. Still, that’s one that really sticks out. But as far as perspective of the work environment, coming out of college I guess I don’t have too much other experience other than interviewing at other companies before accepting this job. I don’t really have much to add there.

John: That’s fine. That’s fine. So, you came right out of college and you’re working here. Your buddies have obviously graduated and are working other places as well. What makes Vyral different than other places out there?

Reece: I mean, I really like the fact that we’re a young company and things can change on a quarterly basis, like we could have an entirely new product next quarter. You just never really know what to expect and that’s something I enjoy, you know, not knowing what we could be offering in the future or what direction we could take in the future, where I feel like a lot of other of my other buddies moved to Texas, moved to Florida, Arizona, you know, they’re at big huge companies and it’s like they’re set in stone with everything that they’re doing. They’ve been doing it for a long time and so, I don’t know, I like not knowing which direction we could be taking in the future. Exciting for me.

John: Okay, cool, yeah. What could we be doing better as a company?

Reece: I feel like my answer here is going to somewhat contradict my last statement, but just system. Better systems.

John: Training, on-boarding, that kind of stuff.

Reece: Yeah, I mean, like I said, young company, so there’s some things that if you grow at a faster rate than expected, some things might get left behind, and I feel like some of those things were some systems in place. You know, but those are going to be constantly changing anyway, especially when we’re dealing with technology, so it’s kind of hard to balance that.

John: And we’re working on it too.

Reece: Yes, yes of course.

John: Yeah. All good. Okay, so, let’s talk about the people here at Vyral. You briefly mentioned them at the beginning of our conversation. You know, what makes the people here, you know, fun to work with, easy to work with?

Reece: It’s a lively, unique group of people that work here. I think everyone has their own unique personality and you actually get to see that personality. I feel like at a lot of other companies you wouldn’t even, you know, they might not be speaking up at all or you might not have the opportunity to engage with them to even know what they’re like. Yeah, it’s exciting to actually get to know people a lot better. You actually have better relationships with the people you work with.

John: Yeah, for sure. Okay. Can you maybe talk about some memorable moments you’ve had while working at Vyral?

Reece: Memorable moments…besides when the plumbing broke in the basement. That was quite interesting. I don’t know, I really enjoy the fact that we have a sand volleyball team. That’s one of my favorite sports, so what is it, every Monday or Tuesday just going to play with people I work with, that’s always a great time for me.

John: Cool. Let’s kind of talk now about your transition from project manager into the client manager role. Now, has there been a time - and I know you’re pretty new into it still - that you’ve really wowed a client or had like a conversation, and the client was like, ‘Okay, yeah, thanks for that! I’m going to do that.’ You know, can you talk about that and the way it made you feel?

Reece: Yeah, a couple times. Multiple times, but a couple come to mind right away. First off, when launching a new client, even if I’ve yet to go over the open and click report with them, we just get their first email out and they respond to me ‘Hey, this was awesome, I had three people call me today, already have three leads in the book for this week.’ That’s awesome when they can express that to me, like it just makes me feel good knowing I’m helping them out. That’s the first thing; I think the second, more in-depth situations there, I had a call with a client stationed in Coachella Valley and he moved his family to Orange County and was trying to break into that market, so we had a pretty long conversation about his current marketing materials and everything he currently had going on and what he needs to do to break into the Orange County market. We kind of determined some things he needs to get done before we can really make our move there. I kind of offered him a few connections as far as other people he can reach out to, to get the things accomplished that he needs to get done.

John: Nice! Cool, that’s great.

Reece: Yeah, he was very appreciative of that. Obviously, it’s still in progress, but things are going well and we’re getting things done.

John: Nice. Alright, so, a lot of people are going to watch this that are thinking about working at Vyral. And they do, I hear it in interviews all the time. So what do you tell them?

Reece: I feel like it’s a great place to work coming out of college. There’s different skills that apply to different positions here, so don’t think you need to be one particular area of expertise to work here. It’s great being able to work with a bunch of people around your age - that is something I really enjoy, and being able to have my opinions taken seriously. I mean, not that I’m a heavily opinionated person, but it’s just nice to be heard every once in awhile, you know?

John: Yeah for sure, got it. So, any personality traits of someone who probably shouldn’t work at Vyral?

Reece: If you’re not organized, that’s probably my biggest one, because I thought I was and there are things I needed to fix. So, if you know you’re not, then that’s probably not a good fit.

John: Cool. Well, that’s it. Thanks Reece.

Reece: Awesome, thanks.