A Day in the Life; Part 1

My alarm goes off a 6:20am and I roll over and press the snooze button to steal another 9 minutes of sleep. Almost every related article I've ever read says snoozing your alarm is the worst thing you can do, but what can I say, old habits die hard.

I stumble downstairs flick on the TV to see the news of the morning and make myself an almond milk coffee (one of those people, yes) and sit down at my desk to power up for the day.

One of the biggest struggles I face in my career is to stay connected across social media for business growth, but not become completely engulfed in the 4 inch screen which seems to rule my life these days.

I sip my coffee, and check my emails, social media notifications and phone messages. Across my roles in GLK Nannies, The Women's Collective and my social media management work I have at last count 4 email addresses, 6 Facebook pages, and 5 Instagram accounts. So needless to say this takes a good 15 minutes to scan the platforms for latest notifications, emails from clients and nannies, new enquiries for the agency.

I post new updates across my social media accounts that I've scheduled ahead of time, respond to any urgent emails instantly, but the rest have to wait because I've got a family waiting for me.

I throw on a comfortable nanny-appropriate outfit that also looks half-decent if I bump into someone business related, pull my hair into a bun and run out the door.

By 8:30 I've arrived at work and greeted by a happy squealing toddler - instant joy - and I am reminded again why I manage full-time work as well as 2 thriving businesses, and we get stuck into the morning routine.

Whilst most of my day consists of multi-level, multitasking, meal times are always free from distraction and we eat breakfast together and have a nice chat - mostly babble, of which I'm fluent in these days.

After breakfast we clean up, get dressed and head out to morning playgroup where bub gets his social interaction, and I get to chat all things parent-related with the other mums. If I get a chance I answer phone calls from prospective clients and line up any home visits and interviews for later in the week - putting them into my mental calendar until I can get to a pen and paper.

When playgroup ends, we head home for an afternoon nap and if I'm lucky bub will sleep for 1.5hours. After tucking him into bed and a kiss good night, I go back downstairs to tidy up, put a load of washing on, throw some lunch together and sit down to reply to the emails I've received that day or haven't got to the day before.

For the nanny agency busy periods meant the turnaround can sometimes be 3-4 days for new enquiries as I'm finding we get between 5-10 emails, phone calls and Facebook messages per day. I juggle my phone, lunch and computer and diary on my lap, and catch a bit of Ellen dancing out of my peripheral vision, and in what feels like a blink I hear the tell-tale waking-up cry, I put my things aside and go get bub up.

The afternoon flies by pretty quick - we catch some afternoon rays outside, playing with chalk, watering the plants and bub investigates the garden while I hang out a few loads of washing for mum. We have quiet time again in the afternoon, bub indulges in some playschool while I get 5 mins check our social media accounts again. Anything new, I report back to business partner Amy across one of the 3 different communication channels we are usually talking through simultaneously.

Dinner, bath and into PJ's, then mum arrives home for the handover. If I don't have a client house visit, or nanny spot check to complete first, I head home.

Once curled up on the couch again some 10 hours later than I was in the morning - I pencil in all my upcoming appointments, when my nannies are working and where, and give the emails/phone call once last go. Whatever I can get done today means less for the next day.

By 9:30 I've collapsed into bed tired, happy and feeling accomplished, and I set my alarm ready to do it all again the next day.