New Horizons at Clear!Blue

I'm the CEO of Clear!Blue, a company headquartered in Birmingham, Mich., (just outside of Detroit) that I founded five years ago, along with three guys I consider to be among the very best in the marketing-communications business. Together, we've created an unconventional communications company specializing in experiential marketing, public relations, branding, and online communications.

Clear!Blue is a dream come true for me personally, so I do much more than a traditional CEO would do. For example, I'm also the account lead for one of our biggest clients, which is a full-time job in itself.

The challenge -- and the joy -- of my job is that every day is different. And even though I tend to plan things well in advance, I can't always anticipate what's going to happen next at Clear!Blue. At any moment I might be immersed in a hot new business opportunity.

That's how I like it. It's stimulating. To be a strong, well-rounded athlete, you have to vary your training routine. Why not do the same thing for your brain? I don't think I've had a "typical" day since 1999. So the day I'm writing about isn't an average day, it's just a recent one. The only thing that's typical about it is that it was yet another incredible, unpredictable adventure.

6 a.m. -- I get up, make coffee, and log on to my e-mail from home.

6:15 a.m. -- I never miss the chance to send out my "Thought of the Day" to the whole company, which includes a few inspiring words, announcements, and a run-down of who in the company is doing what and where in the world they are. I'm a big fan of famous quotations, so I always open with one that seems to make sense for the day. Today's happens to be from T.S. Eliot: "Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."

6:30 a.m. -- I quickly absorb the newspaper.

7 a.m. -- Arrive at the gym. I'm one of those people who must work out daily.

8:30 a.m. -- I arrive at the office. Actually, it's more like 8:45 or 9 a.m. I'm never on time.

8:50 a.m. -- A phone call from the CEO of one of our largest accounts, the one I head up. Wants to see me at my earliest convenience. I grab the keys.

9 a.m. -- Driving to downtown Detroit. Listening to '80s music on Sirius satellite radio in between cell-phone conversations and checking my BlackBerry. (I know, probably not safe, but I do it.)

9:30 a.m. -- Arrive and head to meeting with the client. We're working on a major branding effort for him, and he wants to be sure we include the appropriate research up front. I assure him that we will.

10:45 a.m. -- Grab a coffee and handle some BlackBerry messages before heading back to the office for a team meeting.

10: 55 a.m. -- Receive the best call of the day on the way back -- we executed one of the most challenging events we've ever done today. It involved parachuting a new SUV from a helicopter, and it went flawlessly -- even cooler than the time we drove a vehicle up the side of a building. These are large-scale media events designed to capture the imagination of those who see them and, ultimately, drive home our client's messages regarding their products.

11:15 a.m. -- Arrive for staff meeting. Find that the previous group left us a few half-finished sodas. I text my assistant to send out another firm "office-aesthetics" reminder. I'm proud of our brand identity -- every aspect of it, especially our really cool office -- and I do everything I can to maintain a high standard.

12:10 p.m. -- Potential investors arrive for lunch. I walk them down to Mitchell's Fish Market and do my best to dazzle them with the Clear!Blue story over a salmon salad and a Diet Coke.

12:55 p.m. -- Wrap up lunch and find I have a few free moments to sneak home and give my daughter, Allie, a kiss before her afternoon nap.

1:30 p.m. -- Back in the office to answer e-mails and dig into a stack of new business opportunities that need responses.

2:10 p.m. -- A visit from the internal branding team. Receive a pitch on some brand-collateral ideas and a progress report on our Web site development.

3 p.m. -- I take a walk through the office, say hello, make sure people are having fun, and grab a S. Pellegrino from the fridge. Meet the husband of a recent new hire who's taking a tour of the office. He marvels at our dual beer taps and asks if we have any positions available. I love that.

4:30 p.m. -- Participate in a brainstorming session for a new proposal opportunity that has just come in. Every so often, I enjoy digging into a good marketing challenge.

5:45 p.m. -- The team is in high spirits about the success of the parachute event. The word is we've made the six o'clock news and everyone's gathering around the television and putting the beer taps to good use. I join in.

Our piece is the teaser for the evening -- they run a clip five times before airing our event as one of the last stories. A deafening cheer rises from the group every time we see the clip, and we all hang around for the big story, which is met with hearty hoots and joyous applause. Now, it's on ESPN SportsCenter and Fox News, too.

7 p.m. -- It's rare that a day doesn't end with a special function or a drink with a colleague after work. But tonight I head home. I want to share some of this positive energy with Allie and my wife, Chrissie.

8:30 p.m. -- I put Allie to bed and then turn on my computer again. Just a few more e-mails. I can't help it. I love what I do.

Marketing is my passion, but when it comes to starting and running a business, finance is everything. If I could go back to B-school, I would take every finance course I could squeeze into my schedule. I don't think you need an MBA to be an entrepreneur. But I gained more skills in the essential business disciplines in a few years at B-school than I could ever have gotten from more than a decade on the job.

My only misconception before starting the business was that it would be easy to launch something new. But that was a valuable misconception. It's good to be naive because that way you plow ahead and just do it.

Now that Clear!Blue is off the ground, growing quickly, and turning a profit, I'm glad I stuck it out, and I wouldn't trade it for any other job.