Would you recognize an entrepreneur boss? (Tip: it would be easier without the blindfolds.)
Inc. Magazine’s list of the 500 Fastest Growing Companies came out recently and luckily for us, this year they also shared tasty tidbits about entrepreneur bosses. Find out how your boss really spends his days. More importantly, find out what it means for you. (It is all about you, right?)
Did You Know – your entrepreneur boss LIKES IT IN THE MORNING
Your boss is getting at least an hour of work done before work. Since the average entrepreneur is also commuting an hour, and half of them are talking on the phone while commuting, I’m guessing those are work calls. So let’s split the difference and say your boss is an hour and a half ahead of you before you even step foot in the building.
You Should: Get caffeinated and get going. You’re already behind.
Did You Know – your entrepreneur boss LISTENS TO HIS MOTHER
Only a third of entrepreneur bosses are taking lunch breaks, but almost half noshed on some kind of b’fast before leaving the house.
You Should: Take mom’s advice and eat your breakfast. It might be more than the most important meal of the day; it may be the only meal.
Did You Know – your entrepreneur boss WANTS TO GET HIGH
When asked to pick a superpower, other than the ability to fund tall companies in a single round, a full 70 percent of entrepreneurs said they wanted to fly. What’s that mean for you? Nothing really. I just thought it was interesting.
Did You Know– your entrepreneur boss DOES IT AT NIGHT
You probably guessed that one. The average entrepreneur claims to work two additional hours each night after finishing dinner, family time and relaxing. Yes, that’s your boss calling at 10 pm.
You Should: Put down the TV remote and answer the phone.
Did You Know – your entrepreneur boss IS A BUSY BODY
Only 9 percent of entrepreneurs are shy in the ways of social media. The other 91 percent are active in one or more social media platforms.
You Should: Go get your Twitter on. And your Foursquare, and Google+ and…
Did You Know – your entrepreneur boss IS ALSO A BODY BUSY
Although the average wake up call of 6:15 doesn’t feel unnecessarily early, and the nightly bedtime of 10:30 doesn’t sound bad…it’s the hours in between that should be noted.
If you combine the time spent working, selling, meeting, emailing, talking to customers and talking to employees, entrepreneur bosses are working an average of 11 hours a day. And that doesn’t include the two hours listed as ‘working after dinner.’
You Should: Think long an hard about that number. Sound like a long day to you? Pffft. Pffft is the sound that every entrepreneur reading this just made. They made that sound while thinking to themselves “I work 11 hour days on vacation.”
Does your boss fit the profile? Do you fit the profile?
8 Comments
Corinne Edwards
September 23, 2011Dear Kathy –
I drew the line at 10 PM calls – they were more like 11 PM. These people do not sleep. Let them go to voice mail.
You can always say you were out and did not want to wake them when you got home.
Your depiction of the wonkas in every article is so accurate that it is scary.
You are right – they are busy bodies too. I forgot that.
Kathy Ver Eecke
September 23, 2011Corinne – yeah the late night thing can get tough. I had one entrepreneur boss who would always conveniently forget the time change when I would be traveling internationally for business. He would always call me at 2 or 3 in the morning. It was hard enough to deal with the jet lag, without having to try to pull it together mentally in the middle of the night.
Can’t really begrudge them the passion though. It’s how they become successful. You just need to be forewarned I think.
thanks for your comment! Always great to see you stop by. 🙂
Kathy
Bryce Christiansen
September 26, 2011This is AWESOME Kathy. I love how you broke it down in the post as well.
I did not know my boss likes it in the morning 😉
I’ll probably be sharing this multiple times if it’s alright with you.
Bryce
Kathy Ver Eecke
September 27, 2011Hey Bryce! Glad you liked it. My fav is that they listen to their mothers. 🙂 Yes, please…share away!
Kathy
Ashvini Saxena
September 27, 2011Hey Kathy,
Excellent list:). Entrepreneurs do not know the meaning of word “stop”. They keep running and finding new places, opportunities. Exactly opposite of managers who “delegate” everything.
This list shows everyone what they can expect if they work ever with an entrepreneur. I liked it a lot. Only thing that I love to start my work late so my employees( if I have any in future) can take it easy at least in the morning :).
Best regards,
Ashvini
Kathy Ver Eecke
September 27, 2011Welcome to Wonka Ashvini!
Lucky for your employees that they can start late! BUT….does that mean working until the wee hours of the morning? Oh well, sometimes with a startup there’s just no way around a long day. Or a long week. Maybe even a long month.
Thanks for commenting!
Kathy
Ashvini
September 28, 2011Hey Kathy,
I do not believe that making employees work more than they can take is good for any team/venture.
When I was a manager, I used to have lot of fun and always tried to increase the productivity of my team members.
Right now, sometimes I do work really late but whether employees should stay or leave depends on how critical the task is.
Starting a start-up is THE toughest thing 🙂
Kathy Ver Eecke
September 29, 2011I hear ya! And I agree. Completely.
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