June 11, 2012
Company-Wide Bike Photo Contest Won Because of Life Altering Event
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Many employees at our company love to spend time behind the handlebars of a bike. We decided to hold a company-wide National Bike Month photo contest to give them an opportunity to show us their passion for biking. The winner was awarded a Patagonia Half Mass Messenger Bag, worth $75.
We asked participants to post a recent photo of them on a bicycle by May 31st to our Facebook page. The only suggestions we gave were to make the photo interesting and unique, but asked that they didn’t hurt themselves. We received a bunch of submissions and it was fun to check out everyone’s biking adventures. We felt the employee submissions were hands down some of the best we’ve ever seen for a user generated photo contest, so it was hard to pick a winner.
On June 1, we announced that Justin, who submitted an injury photo, was the winner of the contest. We firmly believed his photo was one of the most interesting ones we received. Plus, it generated the most comments and “likes” on Facebook. Some of the comments people left include:
- “Oh gosh, I haven’t ever seen the pictures! Totally making me cringe!”
- “I remember when this happened and how scared we all were. Lots of prayers went your way and it looks like they were answered!! I hope your mom doesn’t see these pics.”
- “Oh my that picture just made me sick to my stomach! Brutal.”
We felt Justin’s photo was rather unique because he experienced a traumatic biking accident, but didn’t let that tarnish his love for riding.
After we posted the winner on our page, a couple employees left comments asking to know more about what happened. We reached out to Justin and asked him to share his story with us.
First of all, you should know that I’m fine. I enjoyed a speedy and full recovery after my bike accident and I still love cycling. Indeed, I highly recommend it.
Before coming to work at CLEARLINK, I was a general contractor and business owner. I built high-end houses. Before that, I owned and operated a landscape company. Until now, I hadn’t been an employee since I was a teenager. But after crashing while racing LOTOJA last fall, I had an epiphany of sorts – it was time to make a change. I would sell my building contracts, close my business, and go to work for someone else for the first time in my adult life.
To my surprise, though it was a strange transition, my experience joining the ranks and working for CLEARLINK has been fantastic. I’ve learned much more than I anticipated, and am happy to say that the “call center” stigma I expected is not at all an accurate description of CLEARLINK’s “sales center.” It’s a great place to be – full of happy, motivated, professional people.
Check out some of the photos that gave Justin a run for his money:
Photo by: Nick S.
Photo by: Trevor F.
Photo by: Ryan A.