What's it REALLY like to be a part of the Design By Humans workforce? Do we all our employees work in a cave or do we let them out for air time to time? What's it like at the top? Find out in this week's "Day In The Life Series" (DITLO): DBH Staff. This week we follow Jeff, Co-owner & managing partner of Design by Humans
When I was 24, I was straight out of college and fresh off the corporate employment bus. In college, everyone is looking for a job, stability and a way to pay down their student loans. I was one of them.
I worked at a massive Fortune 500 company for about a year. Everyday I went to work I lost a little part of my soul. That elevator climb to the 5th floor, the stretch breaks at 10AM and 2PM, the Hawaiian shirt Fridays were just too much for me to handle.
After working there for one year, I knew this wasn't the life for me. I moved back to Chico and I started a web design business out of my 2 bedroom apartment. I loved web design and I thought I could make a business out of it. I was right, I could, but it wasn't easy. At one point I remember only eating tostadas for a week because all I could afford was rice, beans, and tortillas. What kept me going was the work ethic my father taught me, and the fact that everyone told me I should "just go get a job". I had to prove them all wrong. There was no documentation manual, no step by step webinar on how to start a business, just the school of getting shit done and never giving up.
For the past 3 years I've had the opportunity to lead a talented team at Design By Humans who are the true geniuses. The website, the apparel innovation, the print on-demand automation are a product of the Design By Humans team who comes to work everyday to make it a great experience for our customers, and build a community of the worlds greatest t-shirt designers.
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A typical day for me, might not be so typical for most. I'm up at 5:00am to check my emails. I get my day started by having a cup of coffee and going through emails and assigning tasks as needed. Around 5:30am or so I'll head to The Core where I will work out with the biggest tee enthusiast I've ever met, Steve, for about an hour or so. He must have at least 150 DBH tees. No joke.
Somewhere between when I get home and go to work I'll typically run through another round of emails and hit the road to drop off my son Jack at preschool.
Most mornings I stop at local Coffee shop Beatniks to grab an Americano before work. I'm there so often that I have my own account plus they've usually made my drink by the time I walk in the door. I have a nickname, Quad man, because I drink 4 shot Americanos. If you're ever there, you should try the Frank Sinatra.
After I arrive at the office between 7:30 and 8, my days are separated by today's tasks and tomorrow's strategies. My day consists of daily meetings, conference calls, but most of all making sure that all departments and aspects of the company move forward. It's safe to say that no two days are ever the same.
My day lives and dies by my google calendar and my Moleskine notebook. I used to put all my fancy notes into Evernote, but 5 years ago I decided to actually write things down. Weird I know! I now have 5 years worth of notes, goals and thoughts that I review on a regular basis.
Somewhere around dinner time, I'll head home to eat dinner with my wife Monika, son Jack, and daughter Olivia. I'll eat and play with them for a couple hours. I'm quite the lego builder. Once they're in bed around 9 or so, I'm back at my laptop until 11 or 12. I'll head to bed around that time and start it all over again.
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A Day In The Life of a entrepreneur's is much different than you might think. With all the startup hype, the media shows you the highs of making it big with the next 3 Billion dollar company to sell to Zuckerburg. Before all those highs are sleepless nights, grinding 20 hours a day, and you have to pick your goals and define what you're willing to sacrifice to achieve them.
Working with a diverse group of over 15,000 artists and a super talented team at Design By Humans definitely makes all the difference. Art, design, and tech are a passion of mine and I love that I get to bring them all together on a daily basis to bring our customers a truly awesome product.
Wait until you see what we have in store for 2015.