Like everyone on earth, I thought doing TV would be a terrific adventure, and it has been. I’m co-starring in a show for TLC entitled Taking Care of Business, which premiered this past Saturday. For the first time, I’ve been filmed doing the outrageous things I do anyway—in this case, I can also help small biz owners get a grip on reality and fix their shops!

In case you missed it, the show’s premise is that four of us experts (ahem) go into a small business and show the owners how to make some money with effective branding and mission development, merchandising, sales force training, gumption, design, basic business input, and some gut understanding of how to make a business go vroom.

But let’s go back to adventure for a sec. Since July, we have filmed the first 12 of the 13 episodes that will air, and so I now know some facts: For any of you thinking of going into any of the performing arts that involve the privilege of being on tube, let’s just say that 13-hour days are not really fun and as a novice, you have to deal with a ton of ego-deflation along the way.

I’m not moaning by any stretch, but it cracks me up still that folks believe that standing in front of a camera—particularly when you are, as we four, trying to instill knowledge into super-emotional business owners—is so darn cool. It’s not cool. This is work, and a lot of it in a short (stressful!) amount of time (we get 36 hours to do our job). Now I kind of get it when self-serving actors say to the media, “Those grueling days were hard.” (Except of course their Winnebagos have got to be better than ours.)

These days television is, I’ve discovered, about getting it done right and doing it on time and within budget. It’s an extremely competitive business for a production company—and the network is anxious on many levels, naturally. While we have sponsors (thank you!), they are also demanding, and I’m finding out everyone has their own wishes and dreams about what our evolving program is going to turn out like.

If you think about it, the producer of our show works for five different bosses, and each department has a “say” as to how an untested idea needs to play out. So for the hosts—particularly opinionated “experts” like us—many discuss every move we make before we do it. It’s complicated stuff, and often more than a wee bit frustrating.

I want to warn those who wish for a glamorous job to think about something in TV sales before jumping into high-stakes TV performing! The glare of the camera can be mind-blowing, and the glamour is reserved for red carpet events (I’m still waiting for an invite).

Of course, I have no regrets and will do it again till I’m blue in the face. Truth is, I am nothing if not a big ham, and I’ve enjoyed getting the businesses we visited on track with verve, aplomb, and integrity. Still, I want people to stop asking me “how much fun is that?” when I mention my train ride to Rockville Center to fix a nearly-shuttered skate shop, and how we put it back together in three raucous days. To wit, I can only answer the question with another question: “Have you ever eaten a craft service lunch, dude?”

Point of writing is to request you tune in. You can see Taking Care Of Business on TLC Saturdays at 10 pm (ET/PT). Let me know if you don’t already know how to use the helpful “Record All Episodes” feature on your FaVo (DVR/fake Tivo)!

See what you think. It’s better than “reality TV” since we aren’t a group who are asked to eat worms or act like fools or yell at our bosses…! Though come to think of it…

Richard Laermer is CEO of RLM, author of the newly released paperback of Full Frontal PR, and the new TV dude who demands, like the late Rodney, some respect! If you missed the first episode of Taking Care of Business it is re-airing Saturday at 4 PM.