7:30am A2yo is whining and awake. I’m a sandwich, with 7yo snuggled on my left (reading) and A6yo snuggled on my right. I’m not complaining because it’s freezing. At 8:00 the house is still quiet, so I get up and start making breakfast for the kids. Dave hasn’t been feeling well the past two...
Read more →Forty under 40. Thirty under 30. Twenty under 20. {YAWN} Can we do something different now? Before anyone gets their panties in a bundle, let me say, “Good for you and congratulations on your esteemed award, that is awesome, you deserve it, I have all sorts of respect for the organization that organized and...
Read more →8-10am This person (pictured below) slept all night, thank god. No, I don’t know what he’s doing. But apparently this yoga/bang on your sisters’ door pose contributed to a good night’s sleep:
The girls get on the bus and Dave and I do some family planning. NO not that kind, thank god (again). We’ve got a good friend who works at the Minnesota State Capitol and he’s arranged for us to tour and meet one of the State Representatives. The discussion centers on whether we should take both the A6yo and 7yo — we end up agreeing that yes, with a 3:2 adults-children ratio, this could be a pleasant and successful visit.
10:45am – 1:00pm I arrive at Workaround, where I’m going to try out their co-working space. Free coffee, so I’m set:
1:30-3:00pm
3:00-4:30pm
Stop at the library to pick up books for my 7yo and settle in to work for a while.
5:00-9:00pm In which I lose containment.
We make it through, but I’m tired. Tired of running from work to family to work to family – always having some purpose attached to my actions, always having to be doing something that benefits the family or the business. Good god, I’m tired. I snap at my husband when we’re talking about little league and he wisely leaves me alone. Sorry.
This blogging “day in the life” has lost its luster. I’m bored by myself. It’s bad enough running around all day, but writing about it is like living it twice. Okay, maybe I just need to stop this and good GOD it’s 10pm already.
As my favorite character said, tomorrow is another day.
end scene.
7:30am Praise sweet cherry wine, the A2yo slept all night. I feel nearly human. What’s that, you say? Do I feel bad for starting my day at 7:30 or 8:00am? No. No, I don’t. I spent years at agencies fulfilling the role of first to arrive/last to leave. And then I spent a few...
Read more →8am Again. I’m going to DIE. I read until midnight last night, and Almost 2-Year Old (A2yo) screamed from 2-4am. I suspect he’s being tormented by those infamous 2-year molars we have yet to see ANY hint of, and a growth spurt is compelling him to wake up and require deep dish pizza. IMMEDIATELY. Being the horrible parents we are, we do not comply with his demands or negotiate with terrorists.
I get up. Again, my husband is on the scene prepping breakfast for the girls and dragging them through the morning routine. I won’t sugar-coat the rest of my day, but I’ll be honest: I don’t have a lot going on. With some recent contract changes and another contract delayed until the fall, I’ve fallen into the void that freelancers fear: today I’ll issue some final invoices, and my next project isn’t signed. YET.
This is what I always prepare for. I’m living my words. All those times I’ve talked with people who say, “How do you do it?” and I reply with something breezy like, “Oh you don’t focus on the fear of work drying up, you just keep going. And you have to trust. Constantly trust that everything happens the way it should, and there is always something around the corner.” (“Even if it’s homelessness?”, my inner doubter sneers at me. It’s obvious why I keep her buried deep down inside.)
Nonetheless, today is FABULOUS. I’m currently on a whirlwind media tour featuring… ME! I’m starting to think I should devote two weeks every quarter to solid networking…. because it is SO great getting face time with clients and colleagues, as well as people I’ve been intending to meet. For example:
10am After years of a virtual relationship, I finally meet John Marino in real life. (Another strange but nice benefit of my work and career: for some reason these hot shot agency owners will actually take an hour or more to talk with me. In a public place. Where people can see us. Where they might have to listen to me. I know….. I can’t believe it either, but I run with it.) I can’t tell you anything else, except for the fact that:
John and Sarah are amazing because they started RSP Marketing a year after I launched Rribbitz, and now they have an agency in downtown Minneapolis. People think I’m brave…. but I’m not nearly as brave as that. (plus, did you see what time I get up??)
Also? Since John has been on tv so many times, and since I have NOTHING to lose, I make him autograph his business card. Look at it:
11:30am I head to the SixSpeed office, where I rent a desk in the warehouse space. In other words, I’m surrounded by a lot of Red Bull and some energetic boys who’ve learned they don’t have to censor their language around me. Meanwhile:
2:00pm I drag myself home. The selfish baby who screamed for half the night is selfishly napping (the nerve). I give up, crack open the bedroom window and collapse for a nap of my own. Go ahead and nag at me for not pounding the pavement or making more calls or researching business opportunities. I have a news flash for you:
Even extroverts get tired.
4:00pm The girls come barreling home, A2yo is awake, and I start making dinner for everyone. We have a fairly calm evening:
10pm My husband and I have a semi-comatose conversation about the children, our schedules, and the upcoming summer activities. I read him a chapter from the book I just started, Anna Quindlen’s column entitled Goodbye, Dr. Spock. We both nearly break down with giant tears of exhaustion, gratitude and heartache. The words of Anna ring in our heads as we go to sleep and…..
end scene.
Introduction: Mommy Bloggers do something called a “Day in the Life” post. In this series, I’m adapting that blog format for my own purposes. This is a report from the trenches of full time freelancing, business ownership, parenting, and life in general. This isn’t #LeanIn, this is #FullSteamAhead.
8am I know I should get up. I hear the girls getting ready for school, the (almost 2-year old) baby babbling in his crib, and my husband making breakfast in the kitchen. It’s not my fault I slept in, it’s the dang cool morning air and the fact that OHMYGOD I HAVE TO JUST GET UP. Alas, I arise and begin the day:
10-11am Who doesn’t love an OT appointment on Monday morning? Wheee! I spend an hour at OT addressing the physical loveliness of being a lifetime arthritis patient, compounded by the energies and joys of three very active children.
11:30am I meet with a former client for lunch. She’s moved on to a marketing role at a new company and I want to hear everything: how she likes her new job, what she’s doing, her latest cruise(!), and of course how I might work with her again. I bring her another box of caramels because I’m never above bribery.
Post mtg: I realize I’m so lucky – I love catching up with people like this!! We get on the topic of “noble work” – working with companies that make real differences for people. Not always the most glamorous or sexy stuff, but it matters to a lot of people around the world.1:00pm I have 90 minutes before my next appointment, so I set up at a Caribou. I write a thank you note to my lunch date and follow up on the things I said I’d do: send her the link to a news article (relevant to her industry), research a firm she mentioned, and start a little research of my own – how her competitors are using social media. My goal with the research: find a little nugget of opportunity she can use at work and take credit for.
2:30-4:30pm Panel time! I’m really excited about this panel, where the topic is about becoming a certified woman-owned business. Within 10 minutes of the presentation, I know this is something I want to do and I’m kicking myself for not doing it sooner. More and more I think this will be so good for my business — I have so many active connections in these corporate companies that I’m anxious to take my existing vendor relationship with them to the next level. I’m eager to check out the online application and get started.
5:00pm I arrive home and all the kids are in the backyard, playing or doing homework with their Dad. I sneak into my home office to catch up on emails.
The juvenile work crew didn’t work out so well after all.
5:30 – 10pm I’ll spare the details, but it goes something like this:
10:15-10:30pm Brief family and finances update with my husband, and a review of the priority items from HIS day. We make a remarkable team, if I must say so myself.
11:00pm Start reading a new book: Anna Quindlen’s Loud and Clear.
And…. end scene.
