A Day in the Life: Then vs Now
So this is a good follow-up from last week’s blog about CEO blocks so if you haven’t listened to that episode, make sure to do so! I am going to share a “day in the life” type blog post today, and I figured I would share from when I was first starting my business, and then what a “day in the life” looks like now!
So let’s get into it, starting with what it looked like when I FIRST started my business.
I’ve talked about it before, but when I first started my business my oldest son was 16 or 17 months and I was about 6 months pregnant. I didn’t have any childcare, and my husband worked 40 hours a week about an hour away, so add in 10+ hours of commute time a week, he was gone A LOT.
But that is why I was drawn to working as a virtual assistant because I could make it work for my life and my schedule!
Most days looked like this:
5-6 am we would wake up (I say we because Luke, well now both kids lol, are early risers). I stopped trying to force “waking up before my kids get up” because it wasn’t happening.
We would wake up, have breakfast, I would usually have a cup of coffee, and review my work day, we would maybe go on a walk or go to the park, just kinda hang out in the morning!
And then around 8 or 9, we would head to the gym! Now my greatest WFHM hack is if you live somewhere that has a gym with childcare, get a membership. My midwife was actually the one who recommended this to me (shoutout to Britt) – but she was like find a gym that has childcare, get a workout in, and then take some time for YOU.
So the gym we started going to you get 2.5 hours of childcare a day – and it’s like a kid’s camp situation. You drop them off, and they just play, do activities, have music class, and all kinda fun things. You can’t leave the building, but I didn’t care about that bc that wasn’t the point for me. I just needed consistency and time to get some things done.
I would do a 30-45 min workout (even if it was just a walk), and then I would bring my laptop and sit at their cafe and get about two hours of work in! It was awesome. And I am right there if they need me to change a diaper, or if they needed me for literally any reason. But I had some time to focus on my work.
Then we would head home, have lunch together, and Luke would go down for a nap. So this was my second work block time which was usually all I needed! He would nap for maybe 1.5-2 hours, maybe 3 if I got really lucky! And I was able to finish most if not all of my work during that time. Once he was up, depending on if my husband opened the golf course or closed he would either be home around this time or not until 7 or 8 pm as a side note.
After a nap, we had a snack, played/ran errands/etc until dinner time, and then bath and bedtime!
NOW everything looks a lot different. We have two kids, my business has grown in a different direction (not as much client work and more coaching, more education, and mentorship), and tbh, we aren’t in the best routine right now because we are going through some transitions!
My husband actually was offered a position at his dream golf course that is really close to our house and once he starts, he will actually be part-time which is awesome. What is so cool about the whole thing is that they asked him if he wanted to be part-time or full time and he really wants to be able to spend more time with the kids and us together as a family so we decided that part-time would be great, with the option of going full time but only if he wants to. And he will also be able to spend a lot more time doing lessons and teaching which is what he really loves doing so it’s working out really well!!
That being said, we also decided to take the kids out of daycare since he will be home more. If you didn’t know, which I did a podcast episode on this a couple of months ago, the boys have been in childcare in some capacity since January, well October for Luke, but January for both of them.
But in this season, it just feels good to have them home and work around that. So my husband and I are tag teaming our schedules and figuring out kinda what it all looks like now! Since he hasn’t started his new position yet, we don’t know his schedule so I am just going to give you kinda an overview of what I THINK it will look like now, but it could change because we really just don’t know right now!
So we still have our gym membership with kids camp, so my plan is to keep with the gym with the boys in the mornings, and for the first hour, do a workout, and then the second hour to an hour and a half – get some of the little tasks off my plate (answering emails, random admin things… basically anything that would take me five min or less). If Curtis is off, then he will come to the gym with us, and instead of that second hour I get some work done we will probably play pickleball because we are obsessed.
Then once we get home it’s usually snack or lunch-time, and naps right after but if you are a parent to two or more kids, you know that them napping at the same time isn’t always something you can count on haha. But in a perfect world, nap time would be my main work block because both kids are sleeping!
Now here is the thing, I don’t want every time my husband is home, for me to lock myself in our bedroom to work while he hangs out with the kids. We’ve had seasons like that and at the time it was necessary for me to get what I needed to get done, done. But I don’t think that is going to be the case this time because I am obviously further along in my business. But I know that probably one day a week or so, that will be the case which I think is good because then he also gets one on one time with the boys and that is something he enjoys too!
I also plan on batching a lot more of my work so one day a month that he is off, going to a coffee shop and writing all my podcast scripts, for example, and then another day I will record them all. I think prepping this way will be super helpful for myself, my family, and my business!
So anyway, my “day in the life” right now is changing, so I don’t have too much to say about it! I don’t know exactly what it will look but it is funny because it is kinda going back to the schedule we had when I first started… Working during naptime and at the gym here and there. But this time with a different business structure and two kids instead of one!
Once we get a schedule down, I will share it on Instagram or maybe even do an updated podcast episode in case ya’ll are curious. But that’s all I have for you now! What I hope you took away from this episode is that there are so many ways to build a business that supports your life, and not the other way around.
Links & Mentions
❊ The Discovery Call Blueprint
❊ 100 IG Post Prompts for VA's
❊ 30 Days to VA Starter Guide & Checklist
❊ The VA Roadmap
❊ Follow me on Instagram: @yourbehindthescenesbff
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