Stories from Creating a Business Bucket List (Part 2)

A Business Bucket List

A few weeks ago I shared my “business bucket list” (a list of achievements I’d like to do in my career). If you haven’t already read it, you can read about the first six items on my bucket list here: My 12 Business Bucket List Items (Part 1)

As a refresher, here’s a screenshot of what my personal business bucket list looks like.

Now let’s explore the next six, which includes some fun ones…

#7 Work as a Waiter

This one I missed when I was younger. I worked mowing lawns (in the Seattle rain most days), detailing cars (I still gag when I think about some of the cars I cleaned), in a childcare (ask me about taking the kids swimming in the summers), and in retail at Sears (RIP). But never as a waiter!

I just want to work as one for one day. That’s it. Learn the menu. Make food recommendations. Learn how to carry a tray laden with food. Get tips. I think it’d be pretty fun (at least for a short while).

For all those who share this dream, I interviewed a friend who worked as a waiter for years at both a BBQ restaurant and a sushi place. She said it was exhausting, customers were hit or miss, and she didn’t like having her pay dependent on how extroverted she was.

All that being said, I still want to try it!

#8 Sell a Company

I haven’t sold a company yet, but have gone through the process of having a potential buyer. For those curious, here’s the process:

1. Deep dive into company (aka “due diligence”) – the buyer unearths everything about the company:its operations, finances, brand, people, everything. It’s so much work. And the due diligence process usually happens quickly (about 4 weeks).
2. Valuation – the buyer makes an offer to buy the company. The value is usually a multiple on either revenue or profitability. For example, a company with $100M in sales might be offered a 3x multiple on its revenue, or $300M.
3. Purchase – after negotiations the final transaction takes place. It’s basically never just a payout for the owner. Usually the purchase is done with a mix of cash, equity/stock in the buying company, and future payouts based on performance.

This is overly simplified, and the biggest unwritten pieces of advice with selling a company are: (1) you should always ask for equity or stock when you join a company, as you can help influence the future sale and as the company grows so does the value of your equity, and (2) company valuations aren’t ever guaranteed and vary widely.

One company could get a 3x valuation and another one could get a 20x valuation. So choose your type of company wisely! Also you could be at a company for a LONG time before it sells (if it ever does), so a good question to ask in the interview process is “what is the plan for creating liquidity for my equity (ex: selling the company or an IPO event) .

#9 Make Someone a Millionaire

This is similar to my #3 goal (taking a risk on someone), but with a twist. I once worked with a CEO who was incredibly generous and talked about this openly. When he took his first company public he took great pride in how many millionaires he made. He changed the lives of dozens of people and their families for generations.

I have thought through a few paths here:

1. Become a CEO and have a huge payout for everyone (fun, but not very realistic)
2. Start a company and have a major payout for everyone (a ton of work, and I’d need to get started soon!)
3. Broker a connection/introduction to a company (or career opportunity) for someone that leads to their growth (rewarding, very realistic)
4. Become a multimillionaire, give it away (very altruistic, and hopefully realistic 😄)

Seeing as #3 is likely my best path, I try to help someone get a job every week. I actually have a spot on my calendar for an info interview or to make connections for people I know looking for work or who may be a good fit. This one I’m being intentional about.

#10 Travel Internationally

Confession: when I went back to school to get an MBA (you can read about it here), one of the sole reasons was to be able to travel more. Specifically, I wanted to be able to afford to travel more and have a job that required some travel.

So far I have been able to travel internationally for work to Europe, as well as all over the United States It has been wonderful. Here’s an article about 6 Ways to Make Business Travel Actually Fun, which includes stories from my travels.

To make this point helpful for those who want to travel internationally for work, here’s how to do it: Tell people you want to travel internationally. Tell them you’d be open to living abroad. Talk about the countries you would visit and why. Most companies have plans to expand internationally, and if you’re the most interested person at your company to do international work then this can happen.

#11 Be an Uber Driver

I just want this experience, even for a day. I think of all the interesting people I’d meet, the parts of town I’d never visit otherwise, and of all the interesting conversations I would have with people I wouldn’t otherwise meet. Just a day!

Here’s a couple of my favorite Uber stories:

This. Helps you remember that every driver is a human and trying their best.

And this. Leaning into the awkwardness. You can read more about this Seattle-based driver here.

#12 Teach a College Course as a Professor

This one is last since it’s my retirement plan. I actually started doing this 10 years ago, first a guest lecturer, then getting my own course at Ensign College, and for the last 6 years I have been teaching at Brigham Young University.

Teaching is incredibly rewarding, and you can read more about my experience here, but for fun I’ll share the only real downside to teaching: student excuses.

I used to teach a 100+ student course and although I had a team of TAs, students would inevitably reach out to me for any sort of homework or exam excuses. I heard everything from “I just fell asleep before I could turn it in” to “during the test I had explosive diarrhea and had to miss the last 10 questions.” I had parents reach out to me making excuses for their kids or trying to re-negotiate their grades. I even had one student who never once showed up to class tell me at the end of the semester he would be deported if I didn’t at least give him a passing grade. It was crazy. It still is crazy.

And if you’re curious, I did let the explosive diarrhea student retake the exam.

Conclusion

What do we want out of this article? We either want you to help us achieve one of these goals or to make your own list! We hope you come away inspired to achieve something bigger, more fun, or deeply more fulfilling than what you have considered in your current job path.

Anything is possible. Start your list!