A Day in the Life of an Entrepreneurial Mom: A Monday in October gives an hourly snapshot of what a real mom’s schedule looks like as she balances work and motherhood.
I often tell my blogging and social media friends, when they say they don’t want to bore followers with the mundane details of their life, that THOSE MUNDANE DETAILS ARE EXACTLY WHY PEOPLE ARE THERE. I’ll admit it – I’m nosy. I want to know what’s happening in your life – even the weird nitty gritty stuff! And I know that the biggest responses I get on my Instagram feed and stories are from the random details of my life.
That said, here’s a little inside scoop – a day in the life of an entrepreneurial mom if you will – of a normal Monday in October!
Every weekday morning I wake up at 5am (I’m playing around with the idea of waking up earlier, but 5am just comes so dang early. Not there yet.) The first thing I do is sit down and read my Bible, which I always felt sounded so pretentious or holier-than-though, but it’s literally the only consistent time I have to read. So I do it, usually with a cup of coffee in hand. I’ve been reading through the Bible in a Year program from She Works His Way, and I’m only 9 weeks away from reading the entire Bible this year! It’s been so transformational – as it should be – and I find myself craving that time. Even the days when it’s literally a million names I can’t pronounce, I know God is there.
After I finish reading I listen to 15 minutes of personal development podcasts, make my to-do list for the day, and crank out about 20 more minutes of work before my oldest gets up.
Once he’s up it’s all hands on deck with fixing breakfast, packing lunches, quizzing on books and vocabulary, and then getting him to school. On Mondays this year my younger one doesn’t have school, so I take a few more minutes to do things like wash my face after I drop big brother off at school!
My favorite thing in the morning is using my PMD Cleanser (you can shop it here) with Beautycounter’s Counterman Daily Exfoliating Cleanser. Yes, it’s a product from the men’s line but it smells great and works so well with the PMD – I’m just going for it. My skin feels so smooth afterwards!
This particular Monday we had a meeting with a friend from our church, so Nate and I grabbed coffee over our conversation. Sometimes staying at home is so perfect for my introverted personality, but it feels so great to get out and have adult conversations throughout the week too! This Monday was no exception, and even though I was tired (#4yearoldsleepregression) I felt super energized after some coffee and conversation!
I took my little guy home for a few minutes to start a load of laundry, run the dishwasher, and throw something in the crockpot for dinner. Then off we went to another fun thing: story time!
Before and after story time I like to let my little guy play on the playground, especially if the weather is nice. He’s still napping (I’m not pushing him to drop it y’all…), but it helps so much with bedtime if I can make sure he gets a ton of activity in throughout the day as well. This day he played his little heart out, and we left after he was completely a sweaty mess!
While I prepped some lunch for him I threw him in the shower to play and rinse off before nap time. He loves it when he gets to do that mid-day!
While he eats lunch I get in a quick workout. Mondays are a HIIT day for me, and while I usually do a workout from FASTer Way to Fat Loss, I knew I’d have to do a quick one today. I went with a cardio workout from Beachbody instead, and it did the job…although I love exercise and always wish I’d gone a little longer.
Things to do though! Nap time is my MAJOR work time most days, so I try to make sure I’m set up to dominate those work hours. Sometimes that means shorter workouts (and that usually means I try to do something more active in the afternoon).
After I get my little one down for a nap I scarf down some food before my mastermind group. Y’all, I’ve gushed about this group before on social media, but it’s one of the best things I’ve done for my business this year. I always feel like the dumbest one in the group (100% fine by me), and I’ve learned so much from these powerhouse women! We do a call every other Monday, so today I try to break my fast before we hop on the call.
(By the way I took a photo of our call and it wasn’t flattering for anyone…so I didn’t post it. Ha! I’m that girl that won’t post something unless everyone looks cute. Sorry not sorry!)
After our call I make an acai bowl and crank out work for both my blog and Beautycounter business. Since I know many of you will be here wondering how I make it all work you should know this: every day is different. There is no magic formula; the magic is choosing to show up every day. Consistency is key to all of it, so while every day is different and hectic in its own way, I choose to show up the best I can with the time that I have.
On this particular day it means the following:
- Beautytcounter: follow up emails, processing sample requests, and giving recommendations based on skincare quizzes.
- Heather’s Dish blog: editing photos, pinning photos on Pinterest, and keeping up with my editorial calendar.
- Other: brainstorming ideas for my soon-to-be released newsletter, and plotting out different business ventures for 2020.
There’s never enough time to get it all done, but I would rather make a dent in sizable list than be wondering what to do with my time!
Pick up line time! After I call it quits for the afternoon in work we go to pick up big brother at school. I usually let little brother snuggle in my lap since he’s still waking up and the car is in park. I’ll take my snuggles any way I can get them!
After we pick up big brother we usually go run/play for a while outside. The weather right now is just so perfect, it’s hard to stay in for long at all. This particular day we went to a playground and ended up staying for a couple hours.
For my fellow mamas with kiddos in school, we always have the after-school hangry moments so I make sure I bring snacks and get them outside to run off some energy. We haven’t started a lot of activities yet, but I love that they get to just do unstructured play right now. It helps so much with focus for homework later too!
This is a very sarcastic thumbs up by the way. I apparently let them stay out too long playing, and they hit a wall that resulted in lots of fighting. It wasn’t pretty for any of us. YAY MOM.
Because of the whole hit-the-wall situation, dinner that night was Caulipower Cheese Pizza. No, it’s not perfect, but it did the trick. While I was baking this off my older son finished most of his homework, which makes it a lot easier to get them to bed at a decent hour. I am definitely a proponent of doing homework as soon as you can!
While the boys ate and my dinner was cooking I hopped in the shower. I like to sit and eat with them typically, but I knew my only chance for a shower was then and there. So it goes – this is one thing that it’s really easy for me to mom-guilt myself over (“Heather, you’re ruining them if you don’t eat with them every.single.night.”) but I try not to let it get to me. I felt a million times better afterward, which I like to think made me a better mom anyway!
The rest of the evening before bedtime (8pm) is filled with finishing homework, playing on the piano, shower time for the boys, reading, and then getting to bed. It’s a rush, and not something I took pictures of…but you get the drift.
After they went to bed I did another 60 minutes of work, trying to finish up that afternoon’s unfinished projects, and then I took 40 minutes to fold laundry and watch Poldark. It’s the final season, and is the perfect distraction to the boring yet NOBLE work of folding clothes!
So there you have it – a normal, albeit random, day in October for me. The thing I love about working at home for myself is that I have the freedom – and have for the past 7 years – to do the things I need to do to prioritize my family’s needs (as well as my own). I’ve done the office job, the retail job, the fitness professional job, and while they all gave me unbelievable opportunities, there’s just nothing like seeing something you’ve built from the ground up. The next year holds many changes and upgrades, but for now I’m so thankful to have built something that allows me to find balance on a daily basis and show my sons what a working mother can be – present, available, and there for them while simultaneously doing work that helps provide for them.
If you have any questions feel free to comment below or email me any time at hsdisarro (at) gmail (dot) com!
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