My day usually starts at about 7.30am, when my 2 year old daughter Peta-Summer (Pie, as we call her) wakes & starts rattling the stairgate, shouting ‘breakfast’!
On a morning unless my hubby is off to see too Pie, we have a rule in the household that I don’t touch the computer untill my hubby gets back at 10am. Since starting the process of launching my business and having to take exams to get the business of the ground , I found that I was constantly on the computer and getting stressed before the day had even started, because whilst trying to do Pie’s breakfast & generally entertain her , I was also checking the computer & trying to get things done. This just didn’t work for me and I just found I got stressed and Pie would then get stressed too. So now unless Pony (hubby) is around I just don’t touch the computer. Instead I enjoy my time with her, have breakfast at the table together and usually end up watching ‘Thomas the tank engine’ on the sofa. At the moment I try to make the most of these chilled mornings because next year she will start pre-school 🙁
Luckily for me though, Pony works split shifts so he’s usually back by 10am and doesnt leave again till 2pm. This is the time when I’m very fortunate that he will come home & take over with Pie, so I can get on. This allows me to make calls etc that I won’t be able to do once he has gone back to work. I spend a lot of time , just trying to work stuff out. As I’m a Newbie to business I’m very much still learning the ropes of website building, blogs etc. I have a lot to learn but really enjoying the process. The main skill I’m learning is how to juggle the Pie and Pony with launching the business. It’s a difficult task because whilst having my own business has always been a huge dream of mine , my family are my world. I’m very much still learning the skill to spend enough time on the business to make it a success but also making sure family life is good. Most days, Pie has a nap around lunch time so this is when me and Pony have the 3 C’s -cuppa,chat & cuddle.
Once Pony goes back to work, this is when me and Pie do something nice. Wheather it be to the park, soft play or visiting a mummy friend so Pie has a playmate. I find it’s best I organise to do something nice in this time, otherwise I will sit down and worry about stuff I need to do.
When Pony gets home we all have dinner together & then we take it in terms for who bath’s and does storytime with Pie. The other usually goes to the gym. It’s important for many reasons that I fit going to the gym and generally just keeping active as much as a priority as the other stuff, because without doing so I have no business. As I’m providing fitness classes for mums, I need to make sure I’m fit and well enough to be able to provide a good service. I also don’t believe in telling someone else the benefits of something, if you don’t do it yourself. I fully believe in what I’m doing and it’s important I do it.
Pony is out quite a few evening’s because he does voluntary work as a radio presenter, so this is when I practice. I can’t practice when Pony is around because I’ll just laugh. So I make the most of my evening’s. I have to spend quite a lot of time practising because I’m newly qualifed and need to make sure my classes are presented well. After I jumped around the living round practising, I then get on the computer to reply to emails and work out plans for my business. I usually don’t hop into bed till midnight, but I don’t mind working this late because it’s something I’m so passionate about. To be honest, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I could spend more time working on business during the day but it would mean less family time & it’s my family that have made me do something with my life. I want to show Pie, to follow your dreams and be proud. So if I don’t follow my own dream , I can’t show or tell her to follow her’s. I always have to remind myself that, when things are going wrong and I’m feeling stressed, to just take a step back and remember why I’m doing this. I know I can make a sucess of this, but if it takes me longer than planned because I need to spend more time with the family then that’s ok. In fact, that’s great because I then have the best of both worlds. For me life began, when I became a mum but achieving dreams I have since being little happen when I decided to become a mumpreneur!
Kirsty Dee Bowerbank-Steel lives in Bournemouth with her hubby and young daughter you can read Kirsty’s funding story here.
Founder of ‘Work It Baby’ launching October 2010.
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Wow, you sound like you have a very busy but varied day – good luck with the business x
What an inspiration. Absolutley loved reading a day in your life. Well done in achieving ur goals. You should be very proud of urself. Good luck with everything. You deserve it.xx