Showing posts with label hard work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hard work. Show all posts

Thursday, 20 October 2011

Work Life Balance anyone?


It's hard to be in business and be a Mum

My former work life
- the only thing that's the same is the no. of coffees!
Anna and I have a system, it's not perfect and really neither of us keeps to it but we're in the early stages so we're trying to stick to it. You see – we're supposed to work 4 days on and 4 days off. So I'm supposed to switch off for the 4 days Anna is rota'd on and visa versa. This includes Saturday as a work day. We have a pretty spreadsheet to track our days, a holiday system and an IOU days system. It's all very organised but doesn't take into account one fatal flaw. Anna and I.

Neither of us switch off on our rota'd off days, OK so we don't blog, Facebook or watch the sales inbox but we both work those days in our own separate ways... Anna will do more press work and I'll do more website stuff. Each day, every day. It comes with the territory of starting a new business, you just don't switch off.

I'm actually writing this blog at 11.30pm on a Sunday, Daddy DayCare is watching some movie by himself while I tippy tappy at the laptop. He'll come and find me every now and then to see if I need anything [aka 'have you finished yet?!'] and then he'll pop back to his movie for a while. Needless to say he's been a little neglected for a while.

He's not the only one. While I still keep 100% of my attention on my daughter, I do find myself watching my iPhone far too often – sorry to say at least once a week I'll look up and she'll have her head cocked to once side and will have emitted a 'eee?' noise. Heartbreaking. I'm more than happy to put the phone down, if the laptop is on and I can hear the email 'bing' for those all important sales emails.

All weather gear
Just to quantify things a little for those that don't know me, I am very much a Mummy. My Daughter and I spend hours a day playing, we spend time gardening, reading, playing ball, swimming and being outside. Both of us have waterproof trousers and jackets so that we can play in all weathers and we often do! But we have our indoors moments as well, which is when I fall into the temptation of working and turn to the technology.

So I'm trying to keep a life work balance, it's hard but it'll be worth it, as long as I have managed the balance just right! 

The result of all this hard work is the website http://www.unikgifts.co.uk and the lovely products you find there.

[Please note DangerBaby and I are meeting Anna & The Naughty later today to walk around RHS Wisley - the kind of work life balance I like!]

Monday, 15 August 2011

A day in the life of Sarah and unik IT HQ


Typical day here at u-ni-k IT HQ, minus some of the really crazy bits!
0530 – Look at Daddy DayCare blearily – wave as he leaves for work.
0700 - Go and get DangerBaby who is shouting 'Da DA!!' from her cotbed. Explain that DaDeee is at work. Let baby run around upstairs looking for him and take her downstairs once she realises that he really has gone to work.
0730 – First cup of coffee of the day, phone on and laptop on
0740 – Breakfast. Cheerios / Toast / Piece of fruit
0745 – Quick check of emails, rescue Bunny Bunny from being stuck together with Cheerios.
0800 – Take first sip of coffee having left it somewhere while making the baby breakfast!
0805 – Plug in laptop whose battery is at 3% after late night working. Turn on Cbeebies / Milkshake for the little one who has been pointing and shouting at the turned off TV
0830 – Consider Mummy having some breakfast but start second cup of coffee instead. Then have breakfast. Check emails again!
0835 – Notice that greenhouse has been open all night as I worked too late and forgot I was supposed to tidy up garden before going to bed!
0900 – Finish cleaning up the last dropped Cheerio that I can see and turn off the TV that's not being watched as baby has moved into the soft room to play the piano. Quick check of the emails and open up Dreamweaver knowing that I can't do much until baby nap time
0930 – Garden time! Where it's a little chilly for us still in our PJs
0940 – Washing machine playtime [help Mummy unload and load back up]
0945 – Find second cup of coffee for first sip! Shower time.
1100 – Back downstairs, put first wash on, check emails, open up work not completed last night. Cbeebies back on. Milk for the little one and start searching for blog ideas for me!
1115 – Start preparing lunch for the little one. I cook everything from scratch and usually forage in the garden for some of the ingredients so prep starts a good 45mins before eating.
1200 – It's time for lunch.
1230 – Nap time for her. I knit while she settles – about 15mins. Then work time for me. Blog, Webpages, Emails to makers and press friends.
1400 – DaDA! Time to go and get the humanbean-fullofbeans up from her nap.
1401 – Garden time! Kick the ball, climb & slide down the slide, swing, pick up bird poo and give it to Mummy. Pick some flower buds off the plants. Move soil around in pots. Look for strawberries, look for cucumbers. Consume anything we find that looks ready to eat. Play push a plastic bike that is too big for us around. Make a den with our blanket. Remember about Mummy's water butt, turn the tap on and splash about in the water that is collected in the bucket that now lives under the water butt tap. Get soaked!
1430 – Upload blog! Tweet blog, FB Blog link. Water stop for baby as we do this. Back outside for more garden funtime.
1530 – Snack time and perhaps a visit out to the shops for 'essentials' . Check emails, respond to emails, tweets and FB posts.
1600 - Shop or garden centre or friends house visit for 30mins of being somewhere other than home.
1700 – Milk time again. Check emails, respond to emails, tweets and FB posts. Retweet blog link for our US readers. Indoor play time, soft balls, noisy things, tents with our blanket, help Mummy peg out some washing.
1730 – Tidy up time! Henry Hoover out, washa washa washa (dust) everything in site. Put some toys away (take toys back out). Finish cleaning up yet more discovered Cheerios from the morning. Detangle DangerBaby from the hoover, put hoover away. Start supper preparations. Check emails, send updates, review 30+ emails from Anna and prioritise which ones to read first.
1800 – Bedtime hour on Cbeebies. Calm reigns in the house.
1830 – Supper time for little one.
1920 – Daddy DayCare home – Go mad for 15mins! Mummy tackles the work she stopped doing at 1400hrs to play with baby.
2000 – Bath, Brush teeth, and Book for the little one.
2020 – Bedtime so Mummy knits until she sleeps.
2035 – Sleep for baby
2040 – Supper time for tired parents. Sometimes we even manage a glass of wine with supper.
2100 – Work for Mummy – TV or games for Daddy!
0000 – Sleeeeeep. Need to do it all over again tomorrow.