Monday, September 15, 2008
Words of Wisdom from a CEO
This weekend Holly and I hung out and didn't do much. On Sunday we went to her family reunion. The weather was good and it was at a lake in Azle, Texas. My family never seems to have reunions, except for the Ripper side, so I am starting to feel like one of the crowd. Although the Bass side is really, really small. We watched Texas Tech win and am getting ready for the Cowboys stomping of Philidelphia tonight. I worked on my resume. All I had to do was add RideSearch to the mix since I had one done since last year.
The problem I am seeing, and that a recruiter would see is that I am a CEO. The question,"Why would anyone want to go from a CEO to a programmer?" I got that question in 10 minutes from a recruiter after I submitted my resume to a job this morning. I am in that point where I am halfway out of one skill and halfway into another. Do I go for a CEO job elsewhere and make more mistakes there, or do I go for a developer job and remove the CEO stuff from my resume? I am about to bite the bullet and remove CEO from my resume. Having that skill kicks me out of contention for jobs.
I tell you though, I have more respect for business leaders after this year. When I was a developer I was like - I am the star and everyone else is the supporting cast, without me they would have no product, I could do it all if I want to. Now that I become a CEO I can definitely tell you that every position in a company is invaluable and if you lose that role you will have no company. You need executives to put it all together and manage the big picture. You need HR to handle employee benefits and questions. You need marketing to get the word out. You need sales to actually sell your product. You need quality assurance to make sure everything works. You even need secretaries to handle calls. Every role is invaluable, and when one person does it all the company will fail. You cannot do it alone.
I learned many lessons this year with RideSearch. I do believe that there is a purpose for all of them. I got two responses when I would tell people about it. The first one I loved "That is a great idea!" I have heard that over 1000 times. It is a great idea and reinforcement when you need some drive. The second one then hits home,"how do you make money?" I would respond with,"advertising" or "corporate benefits". But the reality is I had no plan. I did not lay anything out in stone for the business plans. That is fine if you have an idea that is so great that you get 50,000 hits a day. I get 5,000 to 10,000 hits a month. Boy, I would not tell you about all of the lessons I learned, but just that I learned them the hard way. All I know is from now on when I run a business I will plan with meticulus crafting the answer to the question,"how do you make money."
The problem I am seeing, and that a recruiter would see is that I am a CEO. The question,"Why would anyone want to go from a CEO to a programmer?" I got that question in 10 minutes from a recruiter after I submitted my resume to a job this morning. I am in that point where I am halfway out of one skill and halfway into another. Do I go for a CEO job elsewhere and make more mistakes there, or do I go for a developer job and remove the CEO stuff from my resume? I am about to bite the bullet and remove CEO from my resume. Having that skill kicks me out of contention for jobs.
I tell you though, I have more respect for business leaders after this year. When I was a developer I was like - I am the star and everyone else is the supporting cast, without me they would have no product, I could do it all if I want to. Now that I become a CEO I can definitely tell you that every position in a company is invaluable and if you lose that role you will have no company. You need executives to put it all together and manage the big picture. You need HR to handle employee benefits and questions. You need marketing to get the word out. You need sales to actually sell your product. You need quality assurance to make sure everything works. You even need secretaries to handle calls. Every role is invaluable, and when one person does it all the company will fail. You cannot do it alone.
I learned many lessons this year with RideSearch. I do believe that there is a purpose for all of them. I got two responses when I would tell people about it. The first one I loved "That is a great idea!" I have heard that over 1000 times. It is a great idea and reinforcement when you need some drive. The second one then hits home,"how do you make money?" I would respond with,"advertising" or "corporate benefits". But the reality is I had no plan. I did not lay anything out in stone for the business plans. That is fine if you have an idea that is so great that you get 50,000 hits a day. I get 5,000 to 10,000 hits a month. Boy, I would not tell you about all of the lessons I learned, but just that I learned them the hard way. All I know is from now on when I run a business I will plan with meticulus crafting the answer to the question,"how do you make money."
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