Today’s guest blog post is written by Norma Jarman, a Training Account Manager for Signature Worldwide.
I have been a Training Account Manager with Signature Worldwide for the past 14 ½ years. And I love what I do. It must show because at least once a week I am asked by a training class attendee “how do I get a job like yours?” Each time I am asked this, I think to myself, it’s not a job, it’s a lifestyle choice.
What my clients see and experience is only a fraction of what I do in a “typical” week.
If I’m lucky, my workweek starts on Sunday, as I prepare my training material for the following week. The materials I am preparing come from conversations with my clients regarding their training goals. If I’m not lucky and have to travel on a Sunday, then the workweek starts on Saturday for prepping.
That Sunday or Monday morning finds me at the airport, headed out to somewhere in the great state of Texas. Sometimes I only have one flight, sometimes it is two, and almost always there is driving involved—anywhere from 1 to 4 hours once I land.
If the scheduling and traveling Gods are working with me, there are no travel delays, and all I have to do is travel that Sunday or Monday.
Once I arrive at my client hotel, I usually get settled in to my sleeping room, and if the meeting space is available, I set up the meeting room for the following day’s training event(s).
The day of training doesn’t begin once the attendees arrive—it begins for me at least 2 ½ hours before their arrival. I’ve got to get up and make sure my hair looks good—we have lots of weather variations in Texas and I do have temperamental hair!! I get to the meeting room, set up my laptop, turn on the music, check the A/V equipment and get myself riled up to deliver sales and/or service training to one of my 73 individual clients.
At times I only deliver one training event, other times I will deliver two. Once again, if I’m lucky, the 2nd training event is in the same location. If I’m not so lucky, the 2nd event is a little bit of a drive, so this entails packing up from the first class, driving to the second one, unpacking and setting up for an entirely different class and group of attendees.
At the end of that day, I pack up once again, and then drive…sometime just for an hour or so, sometimes for several hours. I arrive at my destination, settle in to my sleeping room, unpack, pop open my laptop, and begin addressing emails that have piled up from the day, and completing training visit recaps for the completed training events. Oh, and at some point I get to eat dinner—usually Subway. Their sandwiches travel well, and I don’t have to worry about my dinner getting ‘cold’.
The next day rolls out pretty much the same as the previous, and at the end of my week, I either find myself on the way home either Thursday night (if I’m lucky!), Friday morning (still feeling lucky!), or Friday night.
Arriving home on a Friday night seems lovely, and I am always grateful to arrive home safely, however, the workweek still is not over…
I still need to finalize and submit my expense report, complete my Training Visit Recaps, continue to respond to email, follow up with the clients I visited this past week, and then, get ready to prepare my material for the following week.
The lucky week begins with travel on Monday and arriving home early on Friday—two full days to get settled, unpacked, repacked, and ready for the following week.
The unlucky week begins with travel on Sunday, multiple flights, lots of driving and arriving home on a Friday evening.
I have one of those ‘unlucky’ weeks coming up which includes training 12 client hotels in 5 towns, 2 states and 2 time zones, 7 classes over 5 days.
I know that I keep referring to them as ‘lucky’ and ‘unlucky’ weeks, but truly, they are all great weeks. This lifestyle which I have chosen to live for the past 14 ½ years has allowed me to meet some of the best people in this country, to visit some of the most beautiful locations in the US and beyond, and to live out Signature Worldwide’s Brand Promise: to be inspiring and fun, to be results driven, and to deliver training that sticks.
So, if this sounds appealing to you, and you want to learn more about this lifestyle, let me know—I’ll be happy to share!