By ALEX KOTLER

It’s 6:24 am.

I’ve been working since 5:00 am.

A classical concert from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston is playing, audible just over the whirring fan by my footboard. My laptop is perched upon my thighs, resting upon a southwestern blanket that I picked up at a gas station on a weekend trip to New Mexico with my father in high school.

To my right lies a pile of bags and badges, boxes and bring-alongs, all for KICKOFF 2009: The Football Partnerships Launch Event. In cardboard tubes await coiled signage for hanging. In bags Who Are Ya Designs shirts, tags on, ready for giveaway and sale. In boxes custom badges for all who RSVP-ed. The guest list is now at 180 – 60 more than the venue permits.

And somewhere within that knee-high mountain lies the dreams of an entrepreneur.

Thursday is a big day for Football Partnerships.

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It’s Monday.

Many people cringe at the start of a new work week.

Not me. At Football Partnerships, every day is Friday. And, every day is a work day.

There are no ‘off’ days.

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It’s the necesary sacrifice to see out a vision. Its costs are innumerable: Monetary. Social. Temporal.

Fifteen to 20 hours per day. It’s exhausting, possible only by achieving a learning curve, improving efficiencies and keeping healthy.

It’s my story, but it’s no different from that of any other entrepreneur.

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The Daily To-Dos for Football Partnerships

For the website:
Selection of five to ten current articles
Apply HTML code and upload to blog
Selection of images for (at least half of) articles
Process images and upload to server
Update new member directory profiles

For the newsletter:
Prepare for upcoming podcast interview
Update news content
Write Offsides article
Ready Announcements
Seek new job postings for Opportunities section
Attempt to be witty with the introduction

For the business:
Handle preparations for events
Return correspondence for consulting projects
Identify new opportunities
Refine partnership offerings
Seek new avenues for growth

For the LinkedIn group:
Screen and accept/decline new members
Moderate discussions

For the Facebook group:
Upload new media content
Monitor postings

(Please note: Lists have been halved for time’s sake.)

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On the notion of time, saving it is essential. And, between time and money, I save the former far better. I do so by multi-tasking.

For example, I exercise, plan, and commute at once.

In about 15 minutes I will shower and shave. I’ll stuff a backpack and throw on my running gear. Out the door I’ll sprint from my apartment on the Upper East side to my office in the west 30s.

En route, I’ll mentally work out my day while I work out my muscles. Cutting through Central Park and out to the pathway along the West Side Highway, I’ll cover the four miles in about half an hour – give or take depending the weight of the pack and occasional stop at traffic lights.

The best part of that run happens when I pass a tourist or a stereotypical New Yorker who peers at me crossly, wearing shorts in mid-winter. It’s cold, so I barely sweat, and I clean off thoroughly once I arrive.

Yesterday I darted past a fellow in a hard hat and body suit working for the utility company. “My man,” he exclaimed, “I love it. I bet you never get sick.” “Never,” I returned with a smile.

I can’t.

Then I handle the day’s work for my employer, the NY Daily News: The one paying my bills, or most of them.

—

In five minutes I’ll make my bed and tidy the room. (Cleanliness rubbed off on me from mom.) On the way to the bathroom, I’ll pass three dormant bodies in the living room. Two are world-class athletes, and one a world-class consultant. My poor roommate – yes, the admission of a roommate is tough on the ego but New York is costly – has graciously allowed me to house Abbas Farid and John Farnworth (both football freestylers) and Dan Wood (a consultant for Streets United) on all available surfaces (couch, chair and floor, respectively). Their sleeping quarters are creeping into the kitchen.

Dan and John leave today for London, Dan for a meeting and John for a paid gig in the UK. Abbas will remain for KICKOFF 2009 and depart on Friday.

Not that the chaos ends when he leaves.

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I take a sip of green tea from my favorite mug, the one featuring the logo of the New York Giants (American) football team. I bought it in Cooperstown, New York, home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, on a camp trip when I was eight as a gift for my mom. There were no New York baseball team mugs, so I chose this one because it was ‘New York’ and mom drank coffee. She gave it back to me and told me that I should have it.

The tea has gone cold and I’m five minutes late.

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It’s all a scramble.

The effort. The lifestyle. The payoff.

I have no idea whether it’s going to work out. I hope it does, though, because I love it.

This is 15 minutes of my day. It’s not unlike the 15 minutes had by other entrepreneurs.

It’s 7:40 am. Time to run.