I recently saw JessWho write a freelancers week in the life post which I found super inspiring. I love Jess’ content and think her content is so exciting for young professionals. I asked her if she wouldn’t mind if I did a similar post, she very kindly said yes, so today I’m writing up my ‘week in a life.‘ Many of you may know that I run two magazines but a lot of people may not know the full ins-and-outs of my working week so hopefully you’ll find this interesting!
Monday
Monday’s are always important for a fresh start. I always go into the office on a Monday to work on the magazines. We have a marketing agency in house too so we all catch up on what needs to get done in the week and we get jobs down on the to-do list. Catching up and assessing the week is so important, it holds us all accountable and helps me start the week better. I really notice when we don’t catch up.
I tend to do all of our social media marketing on a Monday so it’s set up for the week ahead too. I block out specific time to do this to ensure it gets done. I mostly work on Northampton Life and Inside Cambridge and share my time between the two publications now, whereas I used to just have the one.
I normally come home on a Monday absolutely shattered from all the planning and thoughts for the week. I’ll catch up on emails when I get home and then chill in the evening with Dan. He tends to get home half an hour after me so it’s nice we can share dinner cooking etc together. We always sit down for dinner together and catch up on our day.
Tuesday
Tuesday’s actually differ as I work for the marketing agency on a Tuesday. I came on board in running our marketing late last year and am helping with the day-to-day social media of our business, account management and web design. I help with web building, social media and anything digital marketing. It’s great to change up my week, help in the business and be involved in the digital side of things too.
I catch up on the magazine and any other work when I get home on a Tuesday as the magazine does tend to need my attention daily so I will always catch up on what I need to do when I get home. I probably over-work but I have a lot of drive for it and believe the harder I work now, the better it will pay off in the future.
Wednesday
Every week differs when it comes to Wednesdays. I generally have time in the office on a Wednesday for the magazines. I often book in meetings for this day too. As I generally plan my own week, Wednesday’s tend to be whatever I need them to be. Sometimes I work from home or recently I have had things to do in Cambridge so I mix up my day depending on where I’m needed.
Everyday I work on my blog in some aspect whether its scheduling content, writing it or photographs. I don’t have a strict blogging schedule so content tends to go out as and when. I’m looking to get more content out during the week but I tend to get busy with the magazines more so than the blog.
Thursday
Getting closer to the weekend and Thursday’s are again a flexible day. Sometimes I’m in the office, sometimes home or out and about. When we are holding our monthly business awards Thursday’s are the day I block out for filming as they tend to be the most convenient for us all.
When I’m filming I will be driving around the county taking interviews of our sponsors or our nominees for local Northamptonshire businesses who are nominated for our respective monthly award. This is always a lot of driving but it’s great to get out and about and meet the local business owners.
Again like most days, I’m home before Dan and we take dinner in turns. We don’t get up to much during the week but there are times where we go out for dinner or I have a work event on a Thursday evening. Most recently we’ve had charity events such as trampoline dodgeball or quiz nights which always break up the week.
I often book in events or reviews for Thursday nights, it breaks up the week and keep anything ‘work’ related, to the working week!
Friday!
We’ve made it to the end of the week and Friday’s tend to be my favourites. I work from home pretty much every Friday with the exception of any coaching or meetings. I knew that when I went self-employed I wanted to make at least one day a ‘me’ day. This doesn’t mean I don’t work – far from it – but I get to work on my projects and finish up all the jobs in one day. If I’m needed for any extra freelance work then it tends to get put into Friday’s schedule.
Friday’s tend to be all about the blog when I can and I can get my photos and reviews done this day. It also helps when I’m home on a Friday if we need any builders/work/appointments done as I can be home instead of Dan taking time out of his annual leave which is always a bonus. Dan gets home after 5pm and now it’s getting sunnier we tend to pop to the pub or open the gin on a Friday night to celebrate the weekend.
I relax in front of the tv, watch a film or head out to the local and just enjoy the weekend.
The Weekend
So whilst I try not to work too much on a weekend, sometimes things come up that I will work on. These tend to be things like the odd tweet, facebook status or instagram post. Since thats when our audiences tend to be online most, we need to be aware of that where possible.
You’ll also find me spending a casual lazy Sunday blogging as I find it quite relaxing and still consider my blog a hobby even when it does bring me opportunities.
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So that’s my working week in a nutshell. Every week differs because of the nature of the job and I’m very flexible within what I do as after all, I am my own boss. I love what I get up to and the variety of work I do, I don’t think I could do a 9-5 same work day in day out again, it just isn’t for me but I know some people need that security.
In terms of things like annual leave, pension and sick pay – well this is all on me. I’ve only been off sick for one week out of my year of freelancing so I’d say that’s a pretty good deal and I have a team that will take over where needed too which massively helps.
I hope you enjoyed seeing a peak into my life and know that I do a bit more than just the magazines and my blog now too!
Photos: Ami Ford Photography