Jarett Enwall

Background

About Jarett Enwall

Long story short: I was an Armorer in the Marine Corps, managed convenience stores, and I am currently a staff accountant working for my CPA. At 17 I enlisted in the Marine Corps and spent 7 years and change as a Small Arms Repair Technician Manager (a fancy way to say Armorer). This time had the greatest impact on my work ethic, development of problem-solving tools, and leadership qualities and helped transition me into a sturdy professional. I ended my time as the Ground Ordnance Maintenance for 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines. This job helped develop my ability to manage projects, the tools and equipment required for maintenance production, validating reporting information, and the relationships required to oil the machine to smooth. Most importantly, I developed my leadership skills during difficult transitions and high tempo operations. After my service I went directly to being a General Manager of Convenience Stores. The skills translated well, and helped the transition to management as a civilian. Motivating employees that can’t be fired or quit is a different ball game than ones that can be fired or quit. This period helped my fine tune my approach on management and improving productivity. It also helped expose me to general business operations, management accounting, and business analysis. The main takeaway was effective and timely communication causing my responsiveness to customers, vendors, and employees to greatly improve. I felt that my foundation of operations, leadership, and decision making were solid and lead me to search for personal and professional growth. That naturally lead me to accounting. Once I received my degree from the UW I began working at Brantley Janson as a staff accountant within their tax department. Going from leadership roles to a staff role was a change and a challenge I was not expecting. I also had worked jobs that were primarily physical over mental, while accounting is (surprise!) more mental than physical. It was uncomfortable (and at times still is), but I have found growth comes from being uncomfortable and this is exactly what I was looking for. I continue to develop my skills by reaching out and staying uncomfortable. I like to say my future self will always hate my past self because as soon as I become comfortable I make commitments that put me right back to being uncomfortable. Eventually I add to my experiences, my skills, and my elasticity, and before I know it I’m back to being comfortable.