Like most self-employed Mums no day is the same for me. With a 2 year old and a 6 month old I rarely get to work in the day and instead work once they are in bed for the night.
A typical day goes something like this. I generally get woken at around 8am with Joseph, my 2 year old climbing into my bed or asking for breakfast. Usually the Lily is cooing and ready to start the day so I scoop her out of her cot and we all go to have breakfast. My husband works shifts so depending on which pattern he’s on he either joins us or continues sleeping if he’s just got home from the night shift.
Breakfast is coffee for me, cereal or toast for the kids. My son likes to have everything ‘mixed in’ as he says so sometimes he’ll have a small amount of 3 different cereals just to keep him happy! While he’s happily eating breakfast, I feed the baby and check my emails and Twitter messages on my phone. I run two companies Noisette Marketing, a marketing and PR agency for small businesses, Noisette Kids selling art prints and children’s stationery and also run Croydon Mums in Business, a networking group for local self-employed mums so I usually have emails to respond to or something to action.
If my husband is working I try not to work until the kids are in bed which means a day of playing, visiting the park or library. We love baking cupcakes and cookies, painting and collage anything messy! Sometimes I’ll try to incorporate my work into fun activities so we’ll scour magazines for moodboard images and stick them down. Or if I’m sketching out new ideas, I’ll be encouraging Joseph to draw his ideas too. Occasionally I’ll need to do a product photoshoot which needs to be done in the daytime for the natural light so Joseph will help me pick some toys to go in the shot and it becomes a fun game. When I edit the photos at night I can come across some funny images of his hands in the shot trying to take the toys away or move things around.
Come 7pm its bath and bedtime for the kids and work begins for me. I start by checking my emails again and respond to anything urgent. Then I go through the to-do list starting with any client work I have. My marketing work is mainly writing press releases, email PR campaigns and writing for the blog so I’ll spend a few hours working on this. I’m usually on Twitter at the same time, responding to questions or attending Twitter chat’s for my industry. They can be a great way to increase your contacts. I’m constantly adding to my media lists and I make sure I input anyone I came into contact with earlier that day. If I have a meeting or marketing consultation this is done through Skype chat. It’s convenient for me and means I can work easily with clients all over the world.
Around 11pm I have a break, I feed Lily her night feed then get back to work to finish anything that can’t wait until the next day. This is when I tend to do my design work. Most of the Noisette Kids range is personalised so when an order comes through I change the colour, add the child’s name and print off. I package everything ready to post the next day. At the moment I often get to sleep around 3am which is not ideal but because my children wake up around 8am it’s not as bad as it could be. Once the children are older and attending nursery I’ll be able to get more work done in the day but for now I’m happy to be working around them. I wouldn’t miss these early years for the world.
Awesome post , Isa ! Very proud of the handwork you put into your professional and personal life 🙂 you can do it all !!
Terrific article and look into the life of a busy and inspirational Mother! Thank you for a peek into your work “day”! So much to learn from your organization, dedication and prioritizing.
Keep up the good work.
Wow how do you do it?! I have a 3-year-old, work full-time and have my own social media consultancy so loved reading this as I can relate to most of it (except going to bed at 3am… I’m a 22:30 kind a girl – I need my sleep!)
You don’t even look tired in your pic – how are you so sparkly and bright?!
Just one question – when do you fit in husband, friends and family? This is where I struggle and it’s my poor husband who is the laptop widower while I type away every night in the corner!
Well done on such commitment – and for fitting in getting messy with the kids :o) Next time I’m freaking out about how much I have to do I’ll remember your 3am bed time! Lucy