The same goes for my job. Most people have no idea what I do. I *think* that they think there is a good deal of fun and running involved. For the most part, I love my job. But my job is so much more than running and being at events.
Given that we are coming up on our biggest event of the year and people keep asking if we are going on vacation next week or saying that they know we'll be so happy when Monday gets here, I thought I'd give you a little behind the scenes.
First things first. No, we are not going on vacation until the end of May. Honestly, I don't know when we will get our next day off. I am hoping that we can take some time next weekend for just our little family of four. And, Monday is another 15+ hour day. So is Tuesday. Jason will actually still work 50+ hours a week through the end of April. Then, he'll spend all of May distributing sponsor gifts, recognizing our Fittest Schools, recognizing our Fittest companies, securing a date for 2017, finalizing the budget vs actual for the 2016 event, and writing a budget for the next marathon year (his budget runs July to June).
A day in the life of KTC's Executive Director...
I work from home. Our home is the "KTC Office" and most days, you can find Altman and I at the kitchen table sitting across from one another going over a variety of logistics for CHKM and KTC as a whole. I can answer your question...yes, we are actually very, very productive working here. I was so much less productive working in an office environment. And, because we work together, we really work together. I am constantly asking Altman for opinions on a variety of items related to KTC business and he does the same with me and the CHKM.
Mondays are operations days. I have a "No Meeting Monday" policy and use that day to truly work on all things administrative. This can be anything from paying invoices to invoicing vendors to answering emails to writing sponsor proposals or reviewing proposals to sponsor other community events. This week, I completed a solicitations permit application, the Combined Federal Campaign application, completed our Annual Report for the state, and wrote a report for our board meeting that took place Monday night.
KTC is a business. It is a nonprofit business but still a business and my job is to oversee all administrative items and operations among many other tasks. In the coming weeks, I'll complete a budget vs actual for Q1 including individual race budgets for road races.
In addition to those items, I oversee all staff, key volunteers, and programming. So, I could be approving marketing materials or upcoming program ideas. I write checklists for all road races and distribute those to our event manager and the specific race directors. I also create all of the registration pages for road races. Fortunately, our trail director sets those up for trail races!
I'm responsible for fundraising and sponsor relations. I'm responsible for all promotions and marketing.
My checklist is never less than a full page. I divide it into sections for general items, CHKM items (that's seasonal and will transition to Farragut 13.1 soon), programming/event items, and then personal/community service items.
I go to meetings. I happily volunteer for a variety of organizations. I do this as a representative for KTC. I think it is important for the organization to be present in the community and I've built some great partnerships for the organization this way.
In addition to those meetings, there are sponsor meetings, staff meetings, committee meetings, and more. Some of those are during the day but KTC is powered by volunteers so all of our committee and board meetings are in the evening.
Then of course there are race days. The great news is that if things are going well, then I get the chance to catch up with our members, participants, and volunteers. If things aren't going well then my job is to troubleshoot and make decisions on next steps. This might include safety issues, lost runners, unhappy runners, and more. I'm never surprised anymore at the things that can go wrong on a race day.
As I've been writing this post, I realize that there is really no way to give you a full look inside. I can tell you it is wild. I work 40+ hours every week and there is always more work to be done. I do enjoy it.
I'm going to enjoy this weekend and I hope to see you out there!
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