Saturday Musings - A Day in the Life of Michael Gilmour...

I’ve had a number of people ask me what my typical day looks like and in this article, I thought I’d open up about the life and times of yours truly. So how many hours do I work, what do I do and how do I manage all the various demands for my time. I would like to say it’s easy, but the reality it’s not.

Each workday I’m up at 7am and spend about 20 minutes reflecting about the different aspects of my life and thinking about big issues such as character. Don’t picture me sitting cross legged on the floor….I’m more likely in a comfortable chair staring outside and doing some serious thinking. I find this time very refreshing and gets me centered on what’s important.....what I don't want to do is climb the ladder of success to find it's leaning against the wrong wall.

About 7:20 I then dive into a topic I’m interested in. This may be reading a book, watching a Youtube video or studying something online. I typically use this time to get a picture of what is happening in the broader business/economic/political environment. For instance, would COVID-19 impact the domain monetization industry was something that I started researching back in January.

At 8am I’m checking ParkLogic’s daily numbers. I do this every day and zero in on any issues that I think may be problematic for a partner or client that the rest of the team needs to investigate. It could also result in things such as an idea to improve results for clients.

After this, I check my email, skype messages and the like. Any additional issues are identified and forwarded on to the person most suitable to take that task on. Any client/partner tasks are added to a tracking system we have built in SalesForce…..I really don’t like to forget issues.

I then examine my own “things to do list” and allocate time for those I plan on doing that week/day. My typical things end up being as varied as clients, business development, legal work, administration, marketing or even technical development.

At 8:30am I take some time out for breakfast, have a shower etc. and I’m typically at my desk again by 9am. Due to time zones, my schedule from 7-11am can be a little flexible as I often have one or more international calls scheduled that bump things around.

It’s during the time from 9-10am that I also like to conduct an in-depth analysis of accounts that I’m particularly interested in. More often than not this involves some sort of database work combined with spreadsheets with several million cells….not for the faint of heart!

At 10:45am I start preparing for my daily sales meeting. I like to do a spot check on clients and leads that I’m not directly responsible for to get a sense of how things are progressing. How is the performance? Are there any issues, technical, commercial or otherwise?

Without fail, 11am is the daily sales meeting and the first thing we check is what we call “sales daily” items. Everyone in ParkLogic is aware that if they spot an issue that may impact a client they can drop a task into “sales daily” and it will automatically become part of the agenda for the 11am meeting.

By the end of the meeting, the “sales daily” task list must be empty of items because the issue is either dealt with or allocated to someone for additional follow-up. The two questions I typically ask are, “How can I help? Is there sand in your gearbox?”

The team know that during this time they can always ask for help on behalf of a client, lead etc. In addition, the “gearbox” question is all about making their life easier and helping them become more productive. More often than not, these are simple issues to fix but like a stone in your shoe they can be really annoying! The goal is to get rid of them!

There’s always items that hit my agenda from sales/marketing meeting. It could be a great idea, help with tracking a marketing problem, client issue or working on a unique solution for a new customer. Since people are often waiting on me for an answer, I like to tackle these agenda items immediately after the meeting so I’m not the cork in the bottle with everyone waiting on me. This often takes me to 1pm and I have a break for lunch.

About 1:30pm it’s time to dig into some of the tasks that I identified in my planning time earlier in the morning. This could be some programming, reading through a legal document or developing a proposal. It’s also during this time that I often record videos or write blogs.

At around 4pm my time, the Europeans start work and I will often have one or more calls scheduled. Either that or I like to take some time out to sit in another room with a blank piece of paper and do some planning for some of the larger projects that I may be working on.

Either before or after dinner I like to do some exercise. Either going for a walk, the gym (can’t do this with social isolating) or I jump on the rowing machine in the garage. I particularly enjoy listening to an audio book while I have a good work-out. It’s a bit of "me time"….and feels a little indulgent!

I typically work a 12-hour day and this may seem like a lot, but since I enjoy what I do it’s more like play than work. Both Roselyn and I enjoy what we do and when we put our feet up at the end of the day then it’s with the knowledge of having put in a good day’s work.

I hope you have enjoyed getting a glimpse into my life. I would love to hear about what works for you....feel free to leave a comment here.

Have a great weekend!
Michael