{"id":25163,"date":"2017-08-17T09:37:29","date_gmt":"2017-08-17T16:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=25163"},"modified":"2017-08-17T09:38:17","modified_gmt":"2017-08-17T16:38:17","slug":"difference-maker-obrien-of-q2-llc-adds-joy-to-her-business-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/feature-articles\/2017\/08\/difference-maker-obrien-of-q2-llc-adds-joy-to-her-business-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Difference Maker Jane O\u2019Brien of Q2 LLC Adds Joy to Her Business Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Jane O\u2019Brien
Co-founder
Q2 LLC<\/p><\/div>\n

One of the fundamental truths of life is that the joy is in the journey, the process that takes us from point A to point B rather than a laundry list of goals to be checked off a bucket list. For Jane O\u2019Brien, both business and life present an opportunity to slow down and enjoy the journey.<\/p>\n

That philosophy permeates O\u2019Brien\u2019s daily interaction with employees and customers of Q2 LLC, where she is a partner at the Burnsville, MN-based firm. A 2017 ENX Magazine Difference Maker, O\u2019Brien feeds off the positive vibes she encounters on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoy working with our employees and customers,\u201d she said. \u201cI am fortunate to have a professional, knowledgeable and fun team to work with. Our customers are great people, and whenever I can talk with them, it\u2019s a really good day.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien didn\u2019t take a traditional journey to the world of office products. A psychology major in college, she discovered a significant shortage of jobs available in her discipline, and a majority of what few opportunities she found didn\u2019t pay very well. By chance, she secured a position in supply sales at Conway Office Products in New Hampshire before launching into a successful career in sales and customer service with Katun Corp. That paved the road to her founding of office imaging products specialist Q2 LLC in 2007, along with Joe Steinberg and Neal Becker.<\/p>\n

Through the years, O\u2019Brien has come to appreciate the value in establishing meaningful relationships with clients. \u201cMy approach to business is simple,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s all about delivering on your promises and always trying to do the right thing. Over the years, I have developed great relationships with many customers. This makes all the difference when customers are deciding who to buy from.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the greatest influences in her business career was Ray Wirtz, a former manager at Katun Corp. who proved to be a tremendous role model. Wirtz followed a simple edict of \u201cno surprises\u201d that O\u2019Brien used in maintaining open lines of communication with employees and customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cRay was really focused on the career development of his people and helping them achieve their goals,\u201d O\u2019Brien noted. \u201cHe taught me that good managers focus most of their time on training and coaching their team. That has always been my focus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite competing in a shrinking market, Q2 enjoyed strong growth in 2016 with its line of OEM and compatible toners, drums and parts for copier, printer and multifunction imaging machines. O\u2019Brien is particularly proud of the firm\u2019s growth path and projects continued success by focusing on both her employees and customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf these two are growing and happy, then I am happy,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

An avid sports aficionado, O\u2019Brien enjoys playing volleyball and basketball. She loves outdoor activities and spends most weekends during the summer at a cabin in Wisconsin. O\u2019Brien also enjoys spending time with her nieces and nephews, along with her three Vizsla hunting dogs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the fundamental truths of life is that the joy is in the journey, the process that takes us from point A to point B rather than a laundry list of goals to be checked off a bucket list. For Jane O\u2019Brien, both business and life present an opportunity to slow down and enjoy the journey. That philosophy permeates O\u2019Brien\u2019s daily interaction with employees and customers of Q2 LLC, where she is a partner at the Burnsville, MN-based firm. A 2017 ENX Magazine Difference Maker, O\u2019Brien feeds off the positive vibes she encounters on a daily basis. \u201cI enjoy working with our employees and customers,\u201d she said. \u201cI am fortunate to have a professional, knowledgeable and fun team to work with. Our customers are great people, and whenever I can talk with them, it\u2019s a really good day.\u201d O\u2019Brien didn\u2019t take a traditional journey to the world of office products. A psychology major in college, she discovered a significant shortage of jobs available in her discipline, and a majority of what few opportunities she found didn\u2019t pay very well. By chance, she secured a position in supply sales at Conway Office Products in New Hampshire before launching into a successful career in sales and customer service with Katun Corp. That paved the road to her founding of office imaging products specialist Q2 LLC in 2007, along with Joe Steinberg and Neal Becker. Through the years, O\u2019Brien has come to appreciate the value in establishing meaningful relationships with clients. \u201cMy approach to business is simple,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s all about delivering on your promises and always trying to do the right thing. Over the years, I have developed great relationships with many customers. This makes all the difference when customers are deciding who to buy from.\u201d One of the greatest influences in her business career was Ray Wirtz, a former manager at Katun Corp. who proved to be a tremendous role model. Wirtz followed a simple edict of \u201cno surprises\u201d that O\u2019Brien used in maintaining open lines of communication with employees and customers. \u201cRay was really focused on the career development of his people and helping them achieve their goals,\u201d O\u2019Brien noted. \u201cHe taught me that good managers focus most of their time on training and coaching their team. That has always been my focus.\u201d Despite competing in a shrinking market, Q2 enjoyed strong growth in 2016 with its line of OEM and compatible toners, drums and parts for copier, printer and multifunction imaging machines. O\u2019Brien is particularly proud of the firm\u2019s growth path and projects continued success by focusing on both her employees and customers. \u201cIf these two are growing and happy, then I am happy,\u201d she added. An avid sports aficionado, O\u2019Brien enjoys playing volleyball and basketball. She loves outdoor activities and spends most weekends during the summer at a cabin in Wisconsin. O\u2019Brien also enjoys spending time with her nieces and nephews, along with her three Vizsla hunting dogs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":23542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1650,82,84,1638],"tags":[3223],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25163"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25163"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25165,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25163\/revisions\/25165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}