A Day in the Life of a Girl Boss

I love my job. I love being a girl boss that sets my own rules. I love that I get to do what I am obsessed with for a living. But it's probably not the life everyone visualises.

Mostly people get to see the glamorous side of being a photographer and girl boss. They see me shooting on wedding days, going to awesome locations around the country and meeting clients for coffee dates. But there's a whole other side to being a work-at-home entrepreneur...the office days. It can be easy to believe the office days are just as glamorous with neat desks, pretty little to do lists, a spotless house and strong lattes. I'm here to let you in on the truth.

My day technically begins when Matt gets up and goes to work. Although I always have good intentions of getting up with him & having breakfast together, we both know I'm a horrid morning person, and so he leaves me lying in bed a little longer. I set my alarm to wake me up in another half hour and then I'll spend a good 15 minutes scrolling through social media before my feet even hit the carpet. 

Now let's get real, like really real...If I know I'm not seeing clients today & don't have to go anywhere you'll find me dressed in yoga pants (that haven't actually seen the yoga mat for ages), a comfy sweater, no make up and hair not done. Yeah it's not glamorous at all.

Work generally begins with me cleaning the kitchen, getting the fire going, maybe putting a load of clothes in the washing machine & making myself breakfast along with that all important first coffee! Once the caffeine hits the system I head to the office (or the couch) with my laptop. First up is attending to my inbox. Then my day is set out in front of me with a life-saving workflow program which lists tasks for all my shoots and tells me on a day-to-day basis what I need to be doing; from scheduling meetings, sending invoices, finishing edits, delivering products and more. My morning consists of setting about getting things on the list ticked off. As a side note friends often ask me if I struggle with getting stuck on social media while I work, because it's not like my boss is going to breathe down my neck if I am. Funnily enough I think I was worse with social media when I had a boss! I guess being my own boss might have put things in perspective?! Unless I'm posting content or replying to messages within groups, I don't even have Facebook open on my laptop during the day. 

If the weather's fine I stop at 11am for a walk to the mailbox & around town with Henry dog. Then it's back in front of the laptop until about 1pm when I realise I'm starving! I stoke the fire which has almost gone out and chuck my lunch in the microwave to heat. If I'm lucky it's leftovers from last night's dinner. Otherwise it might just be 2 minute noodles. Yeah I hear ya. Now I'm useless at actually stopping for any length of time for a lunch break, I scoff my lunch, scroll through Facebook and then head back to the laptop. I like to think of it as my saving grace for being such a slacker at actually getting up in the morning.

In the afternoon I realise things such as that I haven't unloaded the washing machine from this morning, I've forgotten to get something out for tea or that my headache tells me I need to be drinking more water. And I continue chipping away at my to do list and emails. It gets to 4pm and Henry reminds me it's time for some fresh air - recently we've been throwing a ball in the field if the weather's nice.

The later part of the afternoon I sometimes set aside for jobs that aren't on the day-to-day list - things like updating the website, new blog ideas or developing content for a workshop. Somedays though there's just too much editing to be done. I work until Matt gets home, about 6pm, and then I shutdown the laptop and enjoy the evening with my family. I help with cooking tea (just kidding, we all know I don't cook), I guess at answers while watching The Chase and snuggle up beside Matt & Henry on the couch.

There's many habits I need to work on in my daily routine. I wish I could say I was perfect and sit at a clean white desk in heels, hair & makeup done with a latte in one hand & pretty coloured pen in the other. Or even that I take regular breaks, don't work late nor check emails outside of my work hours. But I do. And this is real life. This is a day in the life of a girl boss.