Are you curious about how an employee of a company can come through the Director of Operations (DOO) certification program?
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Today we are spotlighting one of our former star students, who has come through the Director of Operations certification, Erica Rivera. She came through a recent cohort as a dedicated employee of a business.
If you are thinking about joining us for the next cohort of the DOO certification program, make sure to submit an application!
Meet Erica
As the Director of Operations, Erica’s main job is to keep everything running behind the scenes – taking the CEO’s beautiful vision and turning it into reality. From event planning to overall business strategy and everything in between – you can bet Erica’s got her hands in every project the company takes on. Erica joined Fiscal Fitness in 2020 and was immediately drawn to how cohesive the team was and the work they are doing. Not to mention, the skill set she possessed from previous jobs was eerily in line with what she’s capable of. Erica is a time management and efficiency master – the kind of person who can do 20 tasks at once and, generally, in less time than others. She loves being the behind-the-scenes person that is stealthily keeping everything and everyone moving forward effectively. And that’s exactly what the team needed. When she’s not at Fiscal Fitness, Erica loves traveling (she’s been to more than 20 countries), taking photos (her dog is her favorite subject), and playing fastpitch softball – never slow pitch. She’s been playing since she was five, and she can’t get enough. She is a military spouse currently residing in Germany!
What is your professional background?
- She is a military spouse so never had anything really consistent
- Started out doing wedding and portrait photography
- Joined the team of a small boutique gym as an admin and got interested as all of the backend stuff
- Started re-doing all of their systems, and putting processes in place
- Moved to Phoenix and found a job at Fiscal Fitness that allowed her to use the skills she developed at her previous job
What was your role at Fiscal Fitness when you were hired?
- Was hired as an executive assistant/client concierge position
- When she started the DOO certification, she had additional tasks and was working her way up in the business
- Her boss found the certification and approached her about it, and sponsored it
Why was the DOO certification important to your boss as a development tool?
- She saw that it was already going that direction, and that Erica was working her way into a higher role
- It was a natural progression because they work together so well, and she was already using Erica as a sounding board for higher level strategy
As an employee, what were some of the more significant areas for you to apply?
- She thinks her boss would say it was Strategic Mapping™
- For her, she really liked digging into the KPIs and the nitty gritty details of the business
- She was able to start tracking things in the business
What are the changes you saw in the business as a result of the DOO certification program?
- There has been a lot of changes in the business
- Her boss and her are having several weekly meetings of big picture strategy
- She has her hands in everything
- How she is viewed by her boss and how she feels has feels about her role has become very valuable and insightful
“I feel like my role in the business has been upleveled in how I’m viewed, and how I feel about what I know, and the guidance I can give.” – Erica Rivera
“It makes a big difference when someone believes in you so much they will invest in you.” – Erica Rivera
What would you say to someone who was in a similar role who wants to develop themselves?
- You don’t know what you don’t know
- Even if you feel like the curriculum is something you already do, hearing from a different perspective is valuable
- Being around other operations people and learning how they set things up is so valuable
- Surround yourself with like minded people that you can ask questions
“An investment in yourself is never wasted money.” – Erica Rivera
What is your day to day role at Fiscal Fitness?
- Does a lot of big picture things: managing contractors, making sure things on the schedule are getting done, making sure projects are moving forward
- Event planning, strategy, quarterly and yearly planning
- Setting meeting schedules and creating templates
- Email and automations sequences
- Just a catch all, where anyone who has questions come to her
If you are thinking of joining us in the next round of the Director of Operations certification program, make sure to submit your application!
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