I thought I’d share what my regular week looks like.
I use a Bullet Journal (BUJO), and whilst mine might not be quite as pretty as the one pictured, I do love it, and I control my weeks pretty much just using that (and my online calendar). It saves having the many loose pieces of paper for lists that I used to have sat about. Now it’s all in one place, so I always know where to look.
As with everyone, my weeks are a balancing act. I wear many hats, I am a Virtual Assistant (VA), so a small business owner, a Mummy, a Guide Leader, a PTA volunteer (secretary), as well as a wife and home owner.
As a VA I have varying clients. So I need to balance one client’s work against another, throughout the available hours in my week. Each day, and month, is different, which is one of the things I really like about being a VA. The variety it gives me.
I have a mix of regular clients, who give me work either on a retainer basis or who are long term clients. And I have shorter term clients who might want a one-off piece of work done, or a project that has defined start and end dates. This mix works really well. But does mean I need to plan and be productive.
One of the reasons I started working for myself was to give me flexibility. Now I need that flexibility to work around my daughters busy schedule. She is in her final year at primary school, and like most children these days, does a lot of clubs after school. So I turn into a Mummy taxi from about 4:30/5:00pm each day, except a Thursday, when I turn into a Guide Leader.
My daughter is now of an age where I can at least drop her off and pick her up later from the clubs. Whereas I used to have to just sit and wait, and often I found this was dead time. I tried my best to be as productive as I could, and found many places have wi-fi, and cafes with tables and chairs, and some with electric sockets to plug your laptop into. So I was able to make that work as best I could, carefully planning my time. Thankfully her current timetable gives me a few extra windows of opportunity for work, or I use the time for personal admin and tasks, that I used to have to fit into the school day, in addition to work.
Since COVID, my husband has been hybrid working, so helps with the school run in the mornings. Again giving me more opportunities for working, or clearing the decks at home so I can get started on client work that much sooner in the day.
My regular day starts at 6:45am, when my alarm goes off. I prioritise drinking my glass of water for the day (don’t mock me, yes just the one glass, but it’s one more than I used to drink). Then I wake my daughter, and she gets ready for school. This is also the time she reads to me, and if time, I read to her too. This is something I like to prioritise in the mornings, to make sure we get it done. Once she’s had breakfast, and I’ve done her hair, her Dad takes her to school.
The day is now mine, so once I’m showered and dressed, I might put a load of washing on. Then get the house tidied, just a 10 minute tidy, before I set to work. I refer to my BUJO, which tells me what I have planned for the day. I set myself 3 top priorities for the week, at the top of my BUJO weekly spread, to make sure I am prioritising my time in the way I need, to achieve what needs to be done.
I check for pre-arranged meetings, as these will dictate the shape of my day. Many of these are online, but on occasion I will have a meeting elsewhere, involving travel time. If this is the case, I try to use that opportunity to pick-up any shopping I need, or drop things to the charity shop, or post office etc. so I am only out in the car once during the day.
I am lucky enough to have a study at home, so have a dedicated workspace. This is where I sit for the majority of the time, whilst I am working. On occasions, when I need to think something through, I will move my laptop to the kitchen table, and sit with a different view. I often find this helpful. I may even play music whilst I am thinking that also seems to help me. If this doesn’t do the trick, I will head to a local coffee shop. Cafe Nero in Kingston is my go to, if ever I need a different environment to work or think in, although if I have more time, the Cosy Club in the city centre is very nice. But these are rarities, my regular week is pretty much all spent in the study, fuelled by tea and coffee I make for myself.
My client work includes managing email boxes, creating Canva images, managing projects, creating newsletters, creating and posting social media content, research, maintaining databases, amongst other things. I record the time spent on each clients work in Toggl, a time recording system, as I go along.
I stop briefly for a lunch break, but can’t afford to take too much time away from my client work, as I have to finish at 3pm, to go on the school run most days. Sometimes my daughter does an after school club, and then I can work through until 4pm.
I try to keep Friday’s free of client work, in my BUJO. I keep the time for my business admin, and sometimes I meet a friend for coffee or lunch, or maybe even treat myself to a spa treatment to relax. However, I don’t say ‘no’ to clients, and equally, if I have been busy during the week, and I am behind, I will do more client work on a Friday morning to catch-up before the weekend.
I stop at lunchtime on Friday’s and get ready for my Pilates class (I’m a newbie to this, I only started this month, previously – pre-COVID, I exercised first thing on a Thursday morning). And that’s the week over.
I do sometimes go back to work of an evening, depending on deadlines coming up. And of course, some days I get invited into school for a reading workshop, ‘how you can help your child at school’ session, or an assembly. I also volunteer with the PTA at school, so sometimes go into count money, sort uniform, or man a stall. If I have taken time out of my working day for this kind of thing, then I will catch-up in the evenings. But I do try to avoid working at weekends, and prioritse that as family time.
Some of the business admin I do on Friday’s includes planning and scheduling my own social media. I am also responsible for the Girlguiding Bedfordshire LinkedIn page, so schedule posts on there for the week ahead too.
As I plan and control pretty much my entire life, not just my working life, in my BUJO, I tend to update this most evenings and spend time at the weekends creating ‘spreads’. I really enjoy it and find it not only relaxing but that is gives me a chance to use my creativity. This approach also means most evenings I am not only marking everything off that I have achieved that day, but also checking the day ahead, so when I wake-up I know my plans and priorities.
A regular day for me is not that regular, but I hope this gives you a feel for how I operate. If you are interested in working with me, please get in touch.