A year ago this month, our team at Beyond Balanced Books received the award of 2016 Xero Bookkeeping Partner of the Year! It was such an honor to receive this award.
You might be surprised to know that we did not know we would receive an award. So it was a thrilling moment when our name was announced. And not just announced, our name was in BIG letters on the screen! We felt almost famous.
We almost missed the ceremony
You see that day was a busy one at XeroCon. We decided to go back to our rented flat to freshen up before the awards ceremony and the XeroCon big bash afterward. We had rented a flat about a mile or so (uphill of course) from the XeroCon venue. This allowed our team to spend time together. You see we all work remotely and it is rare for us all to get together. We did not have much time. Plus we were four women in a flat with only two bathrooms. As you can imagine it was a bit hectic.
We called Uber to take us back to the XeroCon venue. Our Uber driver did not speak much English. If you have taken Uber you probably know that each Uber driver has GPS that shows them the best route to the destination. Well, our Uber driver did not follow the GPS! He kept making wrong turns. It also was rush hour traffic in San Francisco. Finally, we could see the venue, but the Uber driver was in the wrong lane to turn in and was heading away from the venue. At that point, I asked him to please pull over so that we could walk the rest of the way to the venue.
When we got to the venue the awards ceremony had already started. We could not find seats together, so we sat scattered in the audience. There were quite a few awards presented that day. Next thing we knew our name was announced. What a moment! We quickly went to the stage and were presented with the award.
VIP Treatment
After the awards ceremony, there was a party. We were told that there was a VIP area for us to sit at. We received VIP treatment all night. What a night! We enjoyed champagne, good food, and all the VIP perks!
It was especially fun to have the entire team present for this. It just would not have been the same if I was there alone. And since the rest of the team are all Millennials, they especially loved every moment.
The Party Continued
After the Xero Party, we wanted to celebrate even more. A few years ago I tasted my first ever chocolate martini at the Scarlet Huntington on Nob Hill in San Francisco. So we took another Uber (this time the driver followed the GPS) and went there for chocolate martinis all around.
The day after the conference we had our first team building day. We went on a foodie tour of San Francisco. No one seeing us knew that we were almost famous. But we knew. And we enjoyed every minute.