Sunday night at 9/8c, CBS airs the show Undercover Boss. Each week a different C.E.O. goes "undercover" into the trenches of his, or her, business and gets their hands dirty rotating into a series of different jobs day after day for the duration of the week. This icognito effort serves to give the C.E.O. the inside scoop on what's really going on and to ignite change at the senior management level. Last night's episode featured Bryan Bedford, top dog at Frontier Airlines, cleaning out lavatories and serving drinks as a flight attendant. Weeks past include Mike White, head of DIRECTV, installing satellites and taking customer services calls.
Your Job Search and Undercover Boss
What does this have to do with your job search or career change? Last week alone I was asked by five people, four of whom were clients and one of whom was a support person from godaddy.com (our site hosting company), how great it is to be the owner of a company.
Job searching can be long, arduous and frustrating. The process of finding a new job can lead to aggrivation and make you wonder if it's time to start your own company. If you've received news that layoffs are coming soon you might be thinking now is the time to go out on your own.
Undercover Boss Role Reversal
I thought a little Undercover Boss Role Reversal would serve well for you job seekers thinking of giving it a go on your own. Here's what the life of a Small Business C.E.O. looks like:
Sunday, 6a.m. to Monday 8a.m. (yes, this is my weekend day):
6a.m. - wake up, check email, social networks, brew coffee
7a.m. - shower, coffee #1, post to social networks
8a.m. - sales and market strategy meeting over coffee #2
9a.m. - breakfast w/the girls coffee #3, 4 and 5
10a.m. - drop off girls
11a.m. - drive to suburbs to say hi to mom, call w/beau in car, check email (coffee #6)
1p.m. - drive to farther suburb to see brother's family and nephews, confirm this week's meetings via phone
2p.m. - check email, respond to 20+ emails, play game w/2 nephews
3p.m. - help brother build roof and soffit for shed
5p.m. - dinner w/brother's family
6p.m. - give 3 nephews baths, change them for bed
6:30p.m. - drive back to city (coffee #7), check email, call w/beau
7:50p.m. - get pulled over for talking on the phone w/out headset (oyey)
8p.m. - arrive at home office, brew coffee, check email and social networks
8:30p.m. - start writing weekly column, coffee #8 and 9
9:30p.m. - finish working, sign off networks and email, prep for tomorrow
11p.m. - shut down for evening
Monday (the 'official' work week begins)
5:30a.m. - ah, the day begins, coffee starts to brew
5:40a.m. - check email, social networks, jump in shower
6a.m. - coffee pot overflows into kitchen, mess everywhere. C.E.O. becomes janitor.
6:10a.m. - mess cleaned up, head out the door to Starbucks.
6:20a.m. - walking, checking social networks and e/mail (confirm post went live at 4:30a.m.)
6:21a.m. - coffee #1 in hand. sigh of relief.
6:25a.m. - walking to office, ready to start the day.
6:45a.m. - send attorney update on legal matters
7:00a.m. - check status on new website with Tony in Egypt via Skype
7:20a.m. - call Hammad about QuickBooks question (in Bangladesh) via Skype
7:30a.m. - time for coffee #2 and review of today's news on wsj.com, forbes.com, cnn.com and msnbc.com
8a.m. - tweet today's hot topics and take my daily vitamins
8:10a.m. - call mom to say good morning
Life as a "boss" is far less glamorous, exciting and wonderful than it sounds. What is it? Motivating and Exhausting. I work more now than I ever did before and I can honestly say that Thanksgiving is just another Thursday and every other holiday is just another day of the week. I take no holidays and no days off, they're all just days of the week.
Just Do It
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