I’m going to let you in on my week. What does my average week look like.
Let me start on a Monday morning. My husband tends to wake me with a cup of tea (or more recently lemon in hot water) and once I’ve drunk that, I get my daughter up and make sure she is getting ready for school, whilst I get myself ready for the day. Once she’s had breakfast, her Dad takes her to school, and I start my work day.
I will have already planned out my week in advance, so I know which client I will be working for first, and what deadlines I have to achieve in the week ahead. Plus I will be clear on what meetings I have in the diary, and whether they are virtual or face to face, and so require travel time.
Before I make a start I do a quick check of my varying email accounts, both client and my own, just to check I don’t need to change my focus or plan for the morning. I also check a couple of WhatsApp groups I belong to. Assuming I don’t need to replan, I start my client work. If something has come up means I do need to replan my day, to accommodate changes/’urgents’, I sort that as a priority before getting started.
My client work is very varied. It can involve MS Teams or Zoom video conference meetings; or it can be work I have already committed to deliver which I can just sit down in my study, at my laptop and complete. I could be using one or several of varying software packages including, but not limited to, Canva; MS Visio; MS Word; MS Excel; Facebook/Meta Suite; Trello; Capsule, MailChimp, MailerLite etc. or be on a specific client system.
Stopping only to make the odd tea (or maybe coffee), I work through until I break for lunch. I don’t tend to take a long lunchbreak, just long enough to grab something (hopefully healthy) from the fridge to eat. If I am super organised, which on a Monday will depend on what I’ve been up to at the weekend, I may have something prepared a roasted chicken breast, or possibly some hard boiled eggs. Alternatively, I may have a portion of homemade soup prepared, ready to be heated up.
Back to my desk, either to continue with the work for the same client, but more likely I will do work for a different client. Sometimes I work for several clients in a morning, depending on the nature of the work, and the other deadlines I have to meet. But often I split my day, so I am working for one client in the morning, and another in the afternoon.
My afternoon breaks for the school run. And then I become Mum’s taxi for my daughter’s clubs, and get the dinner. Whilst she is in her clubs I get back to work. Either at the club, but more often than not, I have the time to come home and go back for her later, or her Dad may take a turn. So it’s back to the study to finish my work day.
Getting my daughter in bed is the next priority. And then I do like to be sat down, relaxing, by 9pm; 9:30 at the latest. It is then I find something to watch on the TV, sometimes even with my husband.
Tuesdays tend to be very similar to Monday. But on a Wednesday I spend the morning in the offices of one of my clients. I enjoy these hours in the week. It takes me back to when I worked for a company, and went into the office on a daily basis. There is something about that human connection. It really helps with the work I do for them, because I get to build relationships with the individual staff, which really helps when I am representing their company in adverts etc. I understand their ethos, and get to hear what’s going on. I know I’m a ‘virtual’ assistant, but sometimes meeting and working face-to-face is what is required.
Thursdays vary, I do try and do an exercise class first thing on a Thursday morning, but don’t always make that, depending on client deadlines. I like to do an hour’s spin class. So when I get home from that, I get ready for the day. On a monthly basis I network on a Thursday lunchtime, which is another part of my working week that I really love. Again, it is the human connection. My group is so supportive, I really look forward to the monthly meetings. I work for the remainder of the morning and afternoon.
But then my husband has to be responsible for clubs the rest of Thursday, because at 6pm, I turn into a Guide Leader. Well, I’m always a Guide Leader, and of course, it isn’t just 2 hours a week. But my priority has to be Guides on a Thursday evening. I live in Milton Keynes, but Guide in Luton, don’t ask, so also have to travel.
Fridays are 50:50. Half client work (once a month, Oyster Flame month-end) and half me-time. I don’t work on Friday afternoons, unless I absolutely have to. I do a Pilates class which ends with a relaxation session, which is such a nice way to end the working week.
Weekends are family time. Currently with no clubs, but you never know, my daughter loves to sign-up for anything on offer. But whilst that lasts, I try to lay-in a little on at least one of the weekend days. We read together, I supervise homework, baking and other craft projects. Plus of course we have lots of days out with friends and family.
Sometimes my Guide life extends into my weekend, whether that be planning, shopping, or an event. But what I do try to avoid is having to do client work. Planning for my week ahead is something I either do before I finish on a Friday lunchtime, or I do sort that over the weekend, so I am all ready for the week ahead.
This is what my average week looks like, during the school term-time anyway. Of course, school holiday weeks vary considerably from this. They are much more of a balancing act.
If you’d like to be one of the clients I am helping during my working week, please get in touch.