Before starting 9 Clouds, I was going through all the emotions.

I was so nervous, scared, excited and of course, doubting myself a lot. I kept asking myself, what were you thinking Brianna? Are you going through a midlife crisis? You’ve been so comfortable at your previous employment for over a decade. Why change now?  Will I even succeed?

The truth is, change is hard and new beginnings are awkward. But low and behold, all that self doubt came to a halt a few days prior to starting my new job.

Why? I received a Facebook message from Jenny, who was actually an old classmate of mine in middle school. She congratulated me on joining the 9 Clouds team as an Account Coordinator after it was announced during their weekly meeting. That welcome helped me start  to feel so much better about beginning my career with 9 Clouds.

A few days later, I received an email from Wendy. She told me that they were doing a welcome lunch for my first day and she was inquiring if I had any food allergies or any dietary restrictions or even any disliked foods. 

I was shocked that they were taking the time to have lunch for me and also taking time to find out what I liked. This was just a small glimpse into how much the 9 Clouds team cares about one another.

A warm welcome 

My first day was finally here and I was prepared to start my new career, after stalking Google Maps for parking first, of course. (Coming from small-town Iowa, this was important information for me to figure out.) 

I’m happy to report I arrived safely and found the right parking lot. When I arrived at the office, I was met with warm welcomes which continued throughout the day. 

I started my morning by setting up my MacBook and desk area. The desks are very cool. They allow you to sit or stand with the push of a button, which is convenient. 

The morning was spent with setting up accounts and an abundance of passwords.  Jenny and Sarah both were so patient and talked  about the work culture and 9 Clouds’ brand manifesto. 

It was very encouraging to hear how the office works and how they balance the workloads for each employee. The way 9 Clouds values its employees is incredible and so rare to find in the workplace. I am still trying to wrap my head around it all.

Soup, burgers, coffee and team building

Later in the day we had my welcome lunch from Panera. We had different kinds of soup, amazing bread, and lots of cheese! 

The lunch made me feel a part of the team. We all sat together and socialized. There weren’t any awkward moments of feeling like the new kid. I immediately felt part of the team. 

After lunch, I jumped into training. All of my training was set up in Basecamp, and I was very impressed with the amount of knowledge and background that went into this company. I also learned how to use Slack, which is a great way to connect with other team members, as well as joking around with them. 

My first week was also filled with lots of burgers and too many fries. Downtown Sioux Falls was doing their annual Burger Battle so, of course, we needed to judge. (The team participates every year.) We split burgers to taste test and voted on the ones we liked the best in Slack. Tessa even brought in the cutest burger battle cupcakes from Intoxibakes (which is donating part of the proceeds to support B-Squad Dog Rescue)!

Friday was one of my favorite days. We started the morning out at Queen City Bakery, where 9 Clouds buys coffee and breakfast for staff who want to come every Friday. Honestly, if it involves free coffee, I’m there! Brittany recommended the spinach, bacon and swiss quiche, so I ordered that and a mocha latte. It was delicious. 

We all sat at a back table working together like one big family. It was really nice. 

Putting all the pieces together

The rest of the week was filled with so much information. 

The best way to describe the training is that it was like they dumped a giant puzzle onto my desk and I needed to put all these pieces together. I was overwhelmed but excited for the challenge. 

I started with the edge pieces, and little by little, the pieces started coming together throughout the week. Each team member was so understanding and helpful with questions. In fact, they encouraged questions. 

The big picture was starting to make a little more sense. It was also apparent that each member of the team was an essential piece to the puzzle. Every person (or piece) has a special place and value here. 

I’m proud to be a part of the big picture in the end and look forward to expanding my knowledge with digital marketing. Want to learn more yourself? Check out our online resources and eBooks.

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