For those of you who own a small business, you know your title as president, CEO or chief-everything-officer doesn’t mean anything.
Yesterday, I took out the garbage.
After 26 years in business, it still doesn’t feel like work because I love what I do—working on my business and in it. I think my favorite part is the diversity of what I do. Every day is very different from the one before and within each typical 10-hour average workday, I partner with multiple clients spanning several industries. I also get to work with our talented team.
Here’s a sneak peek at a day in my life…today, Tuesday, September 17, 2024.
6:30 a.m. – Wake up and run/walk (depending on energy level) on the treadmill for 20-30 minutes while watching the national news recorded from the night before. If time allows, catch up on the local morning news.
7:00 – 7:30 a.m. – get ready
7:30 – 7:45 a.m. – pack lunches, quick check of texts/email, say goodbye and out the door
7:45 – 8:15 a.m. – Tuesday is my day to drive my adult daughter to work – always a positive start!
8:30 – 9:00 a.m. – Arrive at work and let the dogs out in the KMK fenced-in yard. It’s been warm, so I water the plants on our front porch—again. Answer a few emails and prep for staff meeting.
9:00 – 10:00 a.m. – Weekly staff meeting in conference room. Today we touched on the status and progress of nearly 100 projects for 31 clients, plus a few others. We are busy. With a hybrid work environment, our staff meetings are typically a once-a-week chance to get together, chit-chat a bit and make sure everyone is on the same page and accountable for work that needs to get done. We have a witty team, so these meetings are enjoyable with lots of laughs while getting things accomplished.
10:00 – 10:20 a.m. – A subset of our team reviews a PowerPoint presentation we are assembling for a client sales presentation next week. It’s coming along well, and we give feedback for a few modifications.
10:20 – 12:00 noon – I head back to my office and respond to various emails. I deal with questions about event planning for a political fundraiser. I check in with a client on approving some fast-paced promotional videos. I send a quote to a school district client. I work with a KMK team member to edit a draft of a sensitive employee letter we wrote for a financial client. I stop to take a call from a local newsroom professional to tell me he’s leaving the station and to thank me for the opportunity to work together. I close and bill a completed graphic design project.
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. – Belated birthday lunchtime! At KMK we like to celebrate everyone’s birthday with a company-sponsored lunch, including mine. I chose Shogun so we all gathered to eat, gab and enjoy. It was a fun break in the day!
1:00 – 1:30 p.m. – Zoom call with two KMK team members and a client to discuss PR strategy and upcoming opportunities
1:30 – 5:00 p.m. – follow up on two of those PR opportunities to get the ball rolling. Then I check in with a team member on PR for another client. I stop to take a personal call regarding a repair at my house. I edit text for a company’s public project sell sheet. I review two design concepts for social media graphical wrappers and send them to a non-profit client for review. They immediately respond, saying they love it and are gathering feedback from others. Score! I close and bill a school hallway mural project we created for a district building in Carroll County. I work with a client to set up a Teams meeting Friday morning to discuss a new project.
I then stop to review a 72-page packet for a retreat I have in Madison on Thursday for a non-profit board I sit on.
5:00 – 6:00 p.m. – I stop working to write this blog while everything is fresh in my mind!
(The undocumented time in my day includes letting our office mascots, my two dogs, in and out of our building’s fenced-in yard. They work for treats and a stretch of their legs. Getting up to let them out every couple of hours stretches my legs, too. I finish writing this while listening to them snore on my office floor, apparently after a tough day at the office.)