People And Work Make The Difference

​When I tell people about my business, sometimes they look concerned and say it must be difficult having a seven-day-a-week job. But really, I had to be available every day when I worked in the corporate world. And this is much more fun.

When I worked for corporations, you were often expected to be available every day of the year… nights, weekends, holidays, etc. At one company people said the acronym PTO stood for "Pretend Time Off."

Vacation, Christmas, whenever, you were expected to answer emails and sometimes even get on conference calls. The emails you received on these off days were never real emergencies. In fact, most of them were completely pointless.

In contrast, yesterday, while I was at a wedding reception, Bill Gibson, the drummer for clients Huey Lewis & The News, texted me a photo he took the night before during a concert in Milwaukee. 

(1) There was no expectation that I had to act on it immediately. 

(2) How cool is that? I would have killed to get a text like that back in the corporate days. 

It's not so much about the time you put in. It is more about what kind of work you are doing and the people you are working with that either lifts you up or drags you down.