Okay, so my brother Jake called me last Tuesday – he’s totally stressed about his new job at this marketing firm. Turns out, they basically threw him into a business manager role with zero training. Classic, right?
“Dude, what am I supposed to be doing?” he asks me. I’m like, welcome to management, buddy. Nobody really tells you what you’re supposed to do until you mess something up.
But honestly? Business managers are everywhere, doing everything. My neighbor runs a small restaurant, and she’s technically the business manager. My college roommate manages a team at some tech company. They both have completely different days, but somehow they’re both “business managers.”
The weirdest part is how much the job has changed. My dad was a manager back in the 90s – he basically just supervised people and filled out paperwork. Now? My friend Lisa spends half her time setting up verified Facebook business manager accounts and running digital campaigns. Wild how things change.
So what do these people actually do all day? Let me tell you what I’ve learned from watching my friends survive (and sometimes fail at) this job.
What Is a Business Manager, Really?
Here’s my take after watching people do this job for years: business managers are professional problem-solvers who happen to work in offices.
Look, you know that coffee place you go to every morning? The one where your orders are always ready and they never run out of your favorite muffins? Yeah, that doesn’t happen by magic. Someone’s behind the scenes making sure everything works. Usually, that’s a business manager, though they might call themselves something else entirely.
Take Emma – she’s a friend of mine who works at a manufacturing plant. Yesterday was absolutely nuts for her. She walked in, and their main machine was making this horrible grinding noise. Spent two hours on the phone with repair guys. Then the supplier showed up with completely wrong parts – like, not even close to what they ordered. Emma had to scramble to find replacement parts while dealing with angry production workers standing around with nothing to do.
Between all that chaos, she still had interviews scheduled for two positions that they desperately needed filled. Plus, there is a meeting next month that she couldn’t reschedule because the CEO was flying out that afternoon. She texted me at 3:15 PM asking if I wanted to grab coffee, but she was just getting lunch for the first time all day. “This job is insane,” she said, but she was smiling when she said it.
That’s what these people actually do – bounce from crisis to crisis while somehow keeping the bigger picture in mind.
What’s a Normal Day Like? (Spoiler: There Isn’t One.)
Morning Chaos
Most managers I know start their day putting out fires from the night before. Email from the West Coast team about a client issue. Text from the weekend supervisor about equipment problems. Voicemail from an angry customer.
My buddy Ryan manages a logistics center. He showed me his phone one morning – 47 unread messages before 8 AM. “This is actually a good day,” he said. I believed him.
The smart managers tackle the urgent stuff first, then try to squeeze in the important but not urgent tasks. Good luck with that.
People Are Complicated
This is the part they don’t warn you about in business school. Managing people is basically being a part-time therapist.
Sarah manages customer service at an insurance company. Last month she dealt with:
- An employee going through a divorce who couldn’t focus
- Two team members who hate each other after some office drama
- Someone demanding a promotion they’re not ready for
- A great worker who keeps showing up late because of childcare issues
“I signed up to manage a business, not run group therapy,” Sarah told me over drinks. But that’s the job now.
Strategic Planning (When You Can Find Time)
Between all the daily crises, managers are supposed to think about the future too. Plan for next quarter. Analyze market trends. Figure out if the company should expand or cut costs.
My cousin Mike runs a small accounting firm. He blocks out Friday afternoons for “strategic thinking” but usually ends up dealing with whatever emergency pops up instead. “I’ll plan for the future next week,” he says every week.
The managers who actually succeed at this part usually work nights or weekends to get quiet thinking time. Not ideal, but that’s reality.
Skills That Actually Matter
Leadership Without the Power Trip
Real talk – authority doesn’t make you a leader. I’ve seen managers who thought their job was bossing people around. Their teams hated them, and productivity sucked.
The good managers lead by example. They jump in when things get busy. They admit when they screw up. They give credit when things go well and take blame when they don’t.
My old boss Kevin had this approach: “I’m not here to make your life harder. I’m here to remove obstacles so you can do good work.” Best manager I ever had.
Communication That Doesn’t Suck
You’ll spend most of your day talking to people. Employees, customers, suppliers, executives – everyone wants something from you.
The trick isn’t being the most eloquent speaker. It’s being clear, honest, and actually listening when people talk to you.
Jennifer manages a retail store, and she’s terrible at public speaking. But her team loves her because she really listens to their problems and follows up on what she promises. That matters more than fancy words.
Problem-Solving Under Fire
Business problems don’t wait for convenient times. The delivery truck breaks down during your busiest week. Your best employee quits without notice. A key client threatens to leave over some miscommunication.
Great managers don’t panic. They gather information, consider options, make decisions, and adjust when new problems pop up.
When COVID hit, my friend Carlos had to completely reinvent his restaurant business in about two weeks. Takeout only, new systems, different suppliers, reduced staff. No manual existed for that situation. He figured it out by trying stuff and adapting when it didn’t work.
Money Sense (Not Rocket Science)
You don’t need to be an accountant, but understanding basic business finance is crucial. Profit margins, cash flow, budgeting – this stuff affects every decision you make.
My brother-in-law Alex learned this the hard way. He was great at operations, but ignored the financial side. Nearly ran his construction business into the ground because he didn’t track job costs properly. Now he checks the numbers constantly.
Technology Survival
Technology keeps changing, and managers need to keep up. My friend Rachel’s been managing marketing teams for ten years. The tools she uses now didn’t exist when she started.
Social media management, data analytics, project management software, customer relationship systems – the list keeps growing. You don’t need to be an expert in everything, but you need to understand enough to make good decisions.
How to Become One
Education Helps, Experience Teaches
Most companies want a bachelor’s degree for management roles. Business administration is common, but I know managers with degrees in everything from psychology to engineering.
An MBA can help, especially for bigger companies and higher salaries. But honestly? The best managers I know learned more from actually doing the job than from any classroom.
Start Where You Are
Don’t wait for someone to hand you a management title. Look for opportunities to lead projects, train new people, or coordinate team activities.
When I worked at a retail store in college, I volunteered to create the training program for new hires. Not officially management, but I learned how to organize information, deal with different learning styles, and handle questions. Those skills transferred directly when I got my first real management job.
Learn From Everyone
The best managers are constantly stealing good ideas from other people. They ask questions, observe what works in other departments, and adapt successful approaches to their own situations.
Tom manages a warehouse and regularly talks to truck drivers about delivery challenges, customer service reps about common complaints, and floor workers about process improvements. That knowledge makes him way more effective than managers who stay in their offices all day.
Build Real Relationships
Networking sounds fake and sleazy, but building genuine professional relationships is essential. Stay in touch with former colleagues, join industry groups, and help people when you can.
My friend Diana got her current management job because a former coworker recommended her. Not because she was the most qualified candidate, but because someone who knew her work vouched for her character.
Making Digital Marketing Less Painful
Since we’re talking about tools that help managers, let me mention UpRoas. My friend Marcus uses it for managing digital advertising at his e-commerce company.
Before UpRoas, Marcus spent hours every day jumping between Facebook Ads Manager, Google Ads, and various analytics platforms trying to figure out which campaigns were working. Now everything’s in one dashboard – performance data, budget allocation, optimization suggestions, the works.
What Marcus likes most is how it automates the tedious optimization tasks. Instead of manually adjusting bids and budgets based on performance, UpRoas does it automatically. “It’s like having a digital marketing expert working around the clock,” he told me.
The platform helps managers:
- See all their advertising performance in one place
- Automate routine campaign optimizations
- Generate reports that executives actually understand
- Scale successful campaigns without hiring more people
For managers juggling a million different tasks, automation tools like UpRoas are lifesavers. They handle the technical complexities so you can focus on strategy and team management.
Different Types of Management Jobs
Operations Management
These people obsess over efficiency. How to make processes faster, cheaper, better. If you like solving logistical puzzles and finding bottlenecks, this might be your thing.
My cousin Steve manages operations at a call center. He tracks everything – call volumes, hold times, resolution rates, and employee productivity. Sounds boring to me, but Steve loves finding patterns and implementing improvements that actually work.
Sales Management
Sales managers live by the numbers. Revenue targets, conversion rates, pipeline management. High pressure but potentially high reward.
Warning – if your team misses targets, everyone knows about it. But consistently hit your numbers, and companies will throw money at you to stay.
Marketing Management
These days, marketing management means understanding digital channels, social media platforms, advertising technology, and data analysis.
My friend Sandra manages marketing for a software company. Half her time involves analyzing campaign performance metrics. The other half involves creative strategy sessions about messaging and positioning. Completely different skill sets are required.
Financial Management
Financial managers handle budgets, investments, cash flow management, and financial planning. Requires strong analytical skills and extreme attention to detail.
Small mistakes can have big consequences when you’re dealing with company finances. Not a job for people who are casual about accuracy.
The Real Talk About Management
What’s Actually Good
Variety. Every day brings different challenges and problems to solve. You work with diverse people and see direct results from your decisions.
Growth potential is real. Most executives started in management roles and worked their way up. The skills transfer across industries, too.
There’s genuine satisfaction in helping teams succeed and watching people develop professionally. My friend Karen loves it when her employees get promoted to better positions.
What’s Actually Hard
The responsibility is constant. People look to you for answers even when you don’t have them. You make decisions with incomplete information under time pressure regularly.
Some employees will drive you crazy. They resist change, create workplace drama, or just don’t care about doing good work. Dealing with difficult people is exhausting.
Hours can be long, especially during busy periods or emergencies. Stress comes with the territory.
Money Reality
Salaries vary dramatically based on industry, location, company size, and experience:
- Starting positions: $35,000-$55,000
- Mid-level roles: $60,000-$85,000
- Senior management: $90,000-$130,000
- Executive positions: $140,000+
Don’t obsess over starting salary. Consider growth potential, work environment, benefits, and learning opportunities. A lower-paying job with good training might be better long-term than higher pay with no advancement opportunities.
Is Management Right for You?
This career works for people who:
- Don’t mind being responsible for outcomes
- Can stay reasonably calm during crises
- Enjoy working with different personality types
- Want to influence business results
- Are comfortable making decisions with limited information
It’s definitely not for everyone. If you prefer working independently or avoiding responsibility, management will make you miserable.
Getting Started This Week
Want to explore management? Here’s what you can do immediately:
- Research business programs at nearby colleges
- Apply for entry-level positions that mention advancement opportunities
- Connect with managers on LinkedIn and ask for informational interviews
- Volunteer to lead a project at your current job
- Take online courses in leadership or project management basics
Look, I’m not gonna lie to you – management isn’t sexy. Nobody makes movies about people doing quarterly budget reviews or dealing with HR complaints. But here’s the thing: companies fall apart without decent managers. I’ve seen it happen.
My dad always said, “Someone’s gotta keep the lights on,” and that’s basically what managers do. They make sure stuff gets done when it needs to get done.
The cool part, though? Once you learn how to manage people and handle crazy situations, you can pretty much do anything. My friend who managed a restaurant for five years? She’s now running marketing for a tech startup. Completely different industry, but the skills totally transferred. Dealing with stressed-out kitchen staff prepared her for dealing with stressed-out developers, apparently.
