As I sit drinking my morning tea (wishing it was a mimosa), I look back on the past week and am amazed. As we have all read in my callout for hire, this job is tough but incredibly rewarding. The hours most Lifers put in any single week is almost always more than 40. We always say; in this industry you must be "on" 24/7, and that is no lie. The average person would, and does, look at me and say "You are nuts! Take some time off!" or "Relax a little, it's the weekend.". That is just not the "biz" we are in, but we are in the most rewarding, exciting biz there is and I want to share with you, a peek inside. So this is a little look into a week in the life... of a Lifer.
Our Monday morning manager meeting usually starts the week. Yep, we meet just like normal companies. We review our wins and losses from the week previous, talk about the week ahead, and plan for beyond. These meetings can take anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours and I will spare you all of the details because, well they aren't all that exciting. What they all entail is direct, open, specific feedback up and down. We look at every game, every play, and figure out how to be better.
A meeting with Jenn Brown from Lakeside Financial topped my Tuesday happenings. As I often say about people that inspire or impress me: What an amazing human she is! As a partner of the Life Sites I met with Jenn to see all that Lakeside Financial had upcoming and it was incredible. Lakeside Financial gives a ton back to the community and I was so excited to learn about all they have upcoming.
An afternoon in South Bend and Working Women Wednesdays was something I was pumped about. Any event that puts me with other hardworking women, count me in! This is organized by the South Bend radio station, U93 and was a ton of fun. Networking, wine, and professional, like-minded women, I can't ask for more. I even stopped to say hello to our awesome partners at the Pfeil Innovation Center.
As they say, no rest for the wicked, or in this case, no sleep for the Lifer on a mission. I was in Portage at 8am Thursday morning to meet with my Portage Chamber Expo planning committee. Talk about working women! These ladies are all business professionals with full-time jobs, they all assist in planning this event, and many are part of other non-profits and community events as well. By 9am, we are planned and set for the next 2 weeks and I am heading back to the office. A Phone conference with the team at Methodist Hospitals was next up. Jennifer Sanders and Evelyn Morrison are brilliant and always fun to talk to. We got some planning done and I was going again.
By now it is already FRIDAY and I can't believe it. I will hit 3 counties today, Lake Porter, and La Porte all between 9am and 4pm. First on the list for the day, 9am meeting at Blackbird Cafe, where I always see all the Valpo greats, Darlene Cohn of D. Cohn Communications, Tom Carroll of NITCO, and so many others. The Greater La Porte Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting, was the next stop for this train and Congresswoman Jackie Walorski was the speaker. "La Porte-ians" are great, strong, hardworking people. I love going to La Porte for that very reason, the people. I ran into Bert Cook, Kim Ramsey, and shared my lunch table with Cindy Berchem.
At this point I could go home, completely happy with all that I have done for the day, and the week... but I still need to get to Lake County! Off I go in my little red Pontiac Vibe, scooting down the road. Starbucks was the next destination to meet with Gina Felzer of the St. John Chamber. I was so excited to learn all about this chamber, the hand they have in the community, and how hard Gina works to keep it that way. I was also in need of a strong coffee, so it was a win-win situation.
This is just a little, teeny, tiny peek into the life of this Lifer. All of these stops are surrounded by emails, phone calls, and running an office of more than 25 employees. If you have thought about applying for my call out, and this peek seems exciting, do it. Apply and impress me. If not, keep thinking I am crazy, I may even agree. It is easy to say this is the hardest I have ever worked, but impossible to say I don't love every second of it