A Day in the Life of a Small Business Owner

Let me tell you, I thought doing this was tough when I was a full-time graduate student, working 2-3 part-time jobs at any given moment, and navigating a military deployment...now that I am doing "just" this and balancing being a mom to an incredibly busy toddler, I am realizing that was easy!

The Daily Outline

• 7am: Wakeup and get myself ready

• 7:30am: Breakfast for baby and I

• 8am: free playtime for baby, post on social media for me

• 10am: morning errands (ok, this is usually a trip to the library and our favorite coffee shop, Setlan!)

• 11am: lunchtime and email catch up

• 12pm: baby naps and work begins

• 3pm: afternoon snack & free play until dinner

• 7pm: baby bedtime

• 8pm: admin tasks, lives, etc.

The Morning Chaos

I was born to sleep in, not get up before 7am...and aren't we all? To make the mornings easier, I start with a simple five minute routine to get myself ready - wash face, brush teeth and hair, put contacts in, and wash my face to really wake up.

After the baby is ready for the day, I feed him while I listen to a podcast to wake my brain up (although my morning coffee helps with that!).

We do a lot of free play in the morning, and I usually break that up with some errands (grocery store, storytime at the local library, coffee with a fellow mama business owner).

Nap Time = Work Time

Now that baby only naps once a day, I really have to work hard to stay on task...because if I lollygag around and miss out on those 2-3 hours of time (or he sleeps for 90 minutes!), I miss a big part of my work time for the day.

Typically I will go live on TikTok for 30-45 minutes during naps. I like to connect with people on lives and show them what I am working on, as it is a great way to advertise but also be productive with custom orders and the like.

I do as many quick tasks as possible during this time, because I find that anything that requires more time - like writing blog posts or making an email campaign - is better left after baby goes to bed so I can focus for longer than a naptime.

Bedtime For More Work...

One of the reasons I like to leave longer work items for after bedtime is that I can curl up on the couch with my partner, put on our favorite comfort show, and work.

For example, it is 11:59pm and I am writing this blog so I can close out my task list for the day...although since I will finish after midnight, this may not technically count.

This is my preferred time to answer emails that require a longer response, plan ahead for events, and do things like repair market displays. You'd be surprised how quickly things can get destroyed being loaded in and out of your vehicle so much!

Key Takeaways

I feel incredibly blessed to be able to be a mom and a business owner. This provides flexibility that means I can be both present for my child and still pursue my creative endeavors.

However, it also means that I have way less time than ever before in my life to work on my business. This pressure actually works in my favor, because I always do better when there are looming deadlines!

Every day looks different, but I do my best to stay loose-y goose-y so I don't go absolutely mad. Some days I am able to give 100% to my business, some days I have to take a step back and recognize that there are more important things to handle. Our home life is going to get quite the shakeup in 2025, so I am treasuring these "peaceful" days for the moment!