I feel like this question is normally reserved for stay-at-home moms, but I hear it a lot when it comes to entrepreneurs or small business owners who work from home. I know it might seem like we do nothing all day, but it’s quite the opposite. My days are spent answering emails that come in at all hours, editing client sessions, posting to social media, creating blog posts, writing newsletters, networking, marketing, and more. Add on to that the ever present feeling of guilt for not spending enough time with the kids, or my husband, or even the dog and working from home can be super stressful!
I thought it might be fun to peel back the curtains and show you what a day in my life is like. Here’s what’s on my to-do list today.
6:00 a.m. Wake up and take the dog for a walk. My husband and I have been trying to do this because we can’t find any other time to exercise together. I am worried that because I spend most of my time sitting in front of a computer that it’s affecting my health. It’s pretty dark when we get up so my husband ends up hitting the snooze button quite a few times. I really hate the sounds that Darth Vader alarm clock makes!! Sorry for the crappy cell phone pic, but I just had to show you this thing. Bwahaha!
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6:30 a.m. Get back home and turn on my computer. While it’s booting up, I will sometimes make a cup of tea and have breakfast. Usually it’s a granola bar or a BelVita breakfast bar. I also turn on my phone and quickly skim through my emails to see if anything disastrous happened over night that I need to deal with right away.
7:00 a.m. Make sure my oldest daughter is up and getting ready for school. If I haven’t made lunch the night before, I’ll make it now. Today it was tuna fish. I can’t wait until the hot lunch program kicks in!
7:30 a.m. Kiss my big girl and send her out the door with her daddy. Peek at my emails again and then wake up my little one if she’s not up already. She’s a little more difficult in the morning. She likes her sleep so she can take a while to really wake up. She’s also more high maintenance when it comes to getting dressed and brushing her teeth. Slow is an understatement!
8:00-8:30 a.m. I’m probably yelling at my little one at this point because we need to be out the door by at least 8:20. We bring the dog for the car ride most mornings. She loves it!
9:00-12:00 p.m. If I don’t have a session, these hours are spent in a few different ways. I am launching a new e-course so there may be tasks/deadlines for that. I will edit client images, write a blog post (or two), email my VA (virtual assistant), write a guest blog post for another site, post to social media, put up a client sneak peek, package up client orders, create marketing materials, network on FB groups, etc. My computer is in my living room and my back faces the TV. It’s a horrible set-up, but we don’t have any extra room in the house for an office for me. The only extra space we have is in our closet so I have been thinking about creating a little corner for myself in there. Depressing, I know! on my desktop are unanswered emails and highlighted on my calendar are sessions for September.
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12:00-12:30 p.m. Lunch. Whatever I can find in the fridge.
12:30-2:00 p.m. Finish up whatever I didn’t from the morning.
2:20- 3:00 p.m. Pick up both girls from school.
3:00-4:00 p.m. If they don’t have anything going on after school, they will come home and do their homework. I try to stay away from the computer at this point. When the kids are home, I do my best to be present and help them with homework, give them a snack, empty out their backpacks, and sign any papers that came home.
5:00-6:30 p.m. Get dinner ready and eat. I will ask my girls to help set the table or clean up afterwards too. They don’t have set chores, but I feel like those are pretty easy tasks that they can help with. It’s harder to get my older one involved. Jaime is more eager to help (if she’s in the mood!).
6:30-9:00 p.m. It varies what we do during this time. If the girls had an activity after school, they’ll do homework now. Tonight is Back-to-School night for my third grader. I love getting to see her classroom, where she sits, and what she does all day. The kids usually write a letter for the parents and we get to write one back. The first few weeks of school are usually busy with things like that. Next week we’ll have my 7th grader’s Back-to-School night and we’ll start with Girl Scouts, Dance, Chorus, and auditions for the school play.
9:00 p.m. Bedtime for the kids and part 2 of my workday.
9:00-11:00 p.m. A lot of times I’ll save editing for the evening because I can at least sit next to my husband and pretend I’m watching our favorite shows. Sometimes he’ll go to bed without me if I haven’t finished what I’m doing. I hate going to bed when something is not done because I’ll toss and turn thinking about it all night.
So that’s a little peek at my day. September kicks off a super busy season for shooting family sessions and I make the insane decision to launch an e-course in November! If you are interested in learning how to capture your family more creatively, no matter what kind of camera you have, you should totally sign up for The Sweet List.
