How I Start My Workday + Creating Your Own Routine

I recently had a discussion with someone about figuring out your full time “schedule” of sorts and creating a routine that works for you. When I started I thought I had to maintain a 9-5 mentality, but in reality, that was a large portion of what I was trying to escape. See, my brain doesn’t quite work like that. The first few weeks of me trying to mimic those same ideas proved to be unrewarding, unproductive, and unmaintainable.  That was a lesson I learned pretty quickly – yes, have a routine, but make sure it’s a routine that you can work with.

It’s definitely still a work in progress for me. My current living situation (moving in less than a month, woo!) forces me to work around other people’s schedules, which I find mildly annoying, but I’ve figured out what is best for right now and definitely have a plan for what will adapt when I move.

Here’s the thing: I’m not a morning person. I’m not. I have read so many articles and posts about how the early bird catches the worm and I should have six hundred things done before 7am. But before 7am? I’m a straight-up zombie. I’m gross – mean, slow, and foggy. I spent some time figuring out when my “power hours” are an adapted my schedule accordingly. That’s the point I want to make with this blog post – all those productivity tips only work if it actually works for you. Be self-aware and take notice of yourself and adapt a schedule that fits best with you. Are you worthless at 7am? Don’t schedule hard and thought-requiring tasks then. Are you falling asleep at 2pm? Schedule your daily walk or exercise then to pump yourself up. We all have these glorious ideas and thoughts about working for ourselves but then we fall into these regimented routines that don’t actually allow for our best selves to shine (and produce)!


First: Workout (Not Because I’m Awesome, But Because It’s Mindless)

My best day starts with me waking up around 7:00, but laying in bed for about 15 minutes just reviewing the day in my head. Sometimes I’ll check my phone, but usually I just lay there and just kind of think/doze (I hit the snooze button to make sure I don’t fall all the way back to sleep). I like this slow wake up because honestly, I don’t really want to wake up, so it makes it a little easier to digest. I’m completely worthless to do anything requiring heavy thought for a little while after waking up and I don’t really want to drink (re:  be dependent) on coffee, so I choose to do my yoga routine instead. I recently joined a gym that includes yoga classes and they have a morning power yoga class everyday, which is awesome. I used to do this at home, but having the class is actually a lot better for me because it forces me to get up and do something and not “take the easy way out”. By the time the class is done I am much more awake and ready to tackle the day (and my roommates have cleared out so I don’t have to worry about our conflicting schedules).


Second: Inbox Tackle Numero Uno

I’ll do my morning “get ready” personal stuff and be ready to sit down and really work by 9:30-10:00am. My first task? Jump into my inbox. This is honestly a matter of “doing the hardest thing on your to do list first.” My inbox ranges from complete disaster and barely treading water most days. In my personal life I am the person who reads your text message, mentally responds, but doesn’t actually respond for three days. I have to make a serious effort to not do this in my business, because obviously that is not how a business should run. Something that I have learned helps me is to draft responses to emails the night before (when my brain is the sharpest, thanks Art School) and then send those out in the morning. It gives me a little pep in my email-step because I start my daunting task by already being ahead. So I navigate through my inbox, sort things, star things, respond to the simple ones, and formulate a to-do list based off of other ones. This takes about 30 minutes usually.

Ideally I’ll get to a place where I only check my inbox three times a day (morning, midday, and late afternoon). At this point I still have the tab open all day and get the alerts on my phone, which really isn’t the most productive. Something I do incorporate into my business practice that helps is designating days as “admin” days versus “client” days and so on. So I do check my inbox everyday, but I don’t make a point to actually clear it out/fix everything/respond to non-urgent emails unless it’s an “admin” day. If you struggle with focus and feel like swamped I definitely recommend creating a weekly schedule that balances admin work, client work, product/business work, and so on. It’s helped me immensely and let’s my mind turn off thinking about everything at once and focus on the day’s tasks.


Third: Get Social

By now it’s about 10:30am. I’m generally hungry at this point so I’m on my first snack/breakfast (a banana if I’m not starving, eggs if I’m feeling like trying). I move onto social media. Social media used to consume my day. I’d sit on Twitter endlessly. The switch happened when I got too busy to function and social media was the first thing cut from my to do list. I don’t recommend that, at all, but it helped me break the feelings of “NEEDING to be there.”

For a while I attempted to buffer my whole week on Sunday or Monday, but that felt overwhelming and I would find excuses not to do it. Now I buffer my day out in the morning (sometimes going a few posts ahead into the next day). This might not be the most productive, but as I mentioned earlier, it’s what works for me - and that is the best kind of routine you can create. 

In this thirty-minute block I am buffering for Twitter and Facebook, going through the daily Facebook Group posts I’m involved in, and pinning for about 10-15 minutes. I’ll hop on Pinterest again in the evening and check Facebook occasionally throughout the day (because I find a lot of clients there, so I like to scroll through and answer questions/be available).


The point of this post isn’t necessarily to tell you how you should schedule your morning, but more to help you realize the opportunities that exist when working from home/for yourself and that you can embrace a non-traditional schedule. Sure,  I don’t get started until about 10am, but I also work later into the evening.  I may work a half-day in the middle of the week if I need to schedule some sort of appointments or if I want to take a long lunch, but I also work some weekends and make up time then. Allowing that kind of flexibility into my life/schedule is a huge part of why I craved this sort of work and though it might have felt counterintuitive at first, I relish in the non-traditional now.

What sort of routine do you maintain? Let me know in the comments! 



Six Lessons I've Learned Since Making The Leap To Full Time

We passed my six months full time mark earlier this month (woo!) and I thought I should share with you six lessons I’ve learned over the past six months of doin’ this thing full time. As some of you may know, I went full time on December 1 of last year. Technically I guess it was December 2, because on December 1 my cat, all my belongings, and I drove the 7 hours from my hometown to Charleston, South Carolina. My leap into full time wasn’t very well planned out. I was leaving a part of my life behind in a rush and with the support of my parents managed to move all my crap from southwest Florida to central Florida (my hometown) on a Friday and then turn around and bring it all up to Charleston on a Monday. This came with a solid two weeks of planning before hand (when I put in my two weeks notice). So… a leap of faith, or stupidity, launched me into full time.

My goal was to find a job in Charleston. It really was. At least something part time. But December hit and things just started…working out. Falling into place, if you will. Granted, I wasn’t paying rent or utilities at first (crashing with my sister was so, so nice), but still… things were working. So I didn’t find a part time job, I just kept chugging away at TheCrownFox.

In February I moved into my own place and thought, okay, now I’ll find a part time job. But things just kept working and I was busy, and booked, so I didn’t. It’s been an interesting transition, to be honest. In the same way that freelance has the “feast and famine” danger, my mindset has the “feast and famine” danger too. It’s been a real personal battle figuring out my weaknesses (sticking to a schedule) and my strengths (interacting with clients). But six months in I can say this: I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in a really, really long time and I’m not too worried about how it’s all going to work out. Which for a worrier is a pretty good feeling.

Here’s six things I’ve learned over the past six months that hopefully help you in your own business.


MAKE A SCHEDULE

Hi, so important. It is the easiest thing in the entire world to waste an entire day if you don’t have a schedule. You’ll be “working” on something (non-important, like updating the icons on your sales page) and suddenly it’s 4:00pm and you’re like “what did I even DO today?!” 

Make a schedule. Then actually STICK to it. I get really intense with my schedule because it’s very easy for me to make excuses or find something that suddenly becomes very important (it never is). I break down into 15 minute blocks what I should be doing every day. I make myself literally write it down on a piece of paper to hold myself accountable. If you have the tendency to fall on the lazy side (hi, I live in the most fun city ever, it’s easy to get distracted) then be strict, be regimented, and be intense with yourself. 


DON’T BE AFRAID TO SAY NO (OR NOT RIGHT NOW)

I ran into this issue in March/April of this year. I said yes to EVERYTHING. I overbooked myself client wise because I was too afraid to say no to a project or tell them I could work with them on a projected date. Instead I just slammed my schedule so full that I was panicking all the time about getting things done, and making time for blog posts, and other content creation. My business saw a dip overall because I was less accessible during those times, and it has honestly been a struggle to get back on the bandwagon since then in some instances – like making time to be present on social media and growing/fostering relationships.

So my advice for you is this: it’s okay to tell a potential client that xyz is your availability. If they are going to work with you, then they are going to work with you. You have to focus on doing what you can, when you can. 


CREATE INCOME STREAMS

In our world “feast and famine” is a real thing and it’s really scary. Especially if you just up and quit with no real savings base (woo). The best thing to do is to get some money coming in from other avenues. Host a masterclass (I’ve done two: Systemize Your Branding and 404 Page Masterclass). Affiliate for companies you use and love. Create Ebooks (Building Your Base). Sell templates on Etsy. Heck, it doesn’t even have to be business related – babysit some kids in the afternoon, or drive Uber at night. Just make sure that you don’t have to feel that pit in your stomach when a client doesn’t book and wonder how you are going to pay rent.

In our world creating a course is a very popular income stream. I think creating a course is a phenomenal idea but I will say from my own personal experience that you should be prepared for A LOT of upfront work in creating course and the potential of a crash and burn. I tried to unsuccessfully launch a course earlier this year and am still licking my wounds a little bit, because I was (and still am) convinced it’s a good idea. But that being said, there’s a lot of ways that positioning, timing, reach, etc. all come into play, so even if a course doesn’t work out on round 1, doesn’t mean it’s a total lost cause. I say this to say that if you are HARD UP for money and getting worried about bills, I wouldn’t start with a course. I’d start introducing your value in smaller scales first so that people come to associate your name with good products, quality information, and actionable content. This might seem like a controversial statement, but I am basing that 100% on my own experience. 


TAKE BREAKS

Here’s one that is essential to your sanity. Even on your hardest, busiest day – take a breather. Even if it’s just a 10-minute walk around the block or a trip to the drugstore – do something else. Let your mind wander a bit. Nothing adds to stress like being immersed in a stressful situation all day. You started working for yourself for freedom, right? Give yourself some.

If you’ve already acknowledged your ability to get distracted (like me, ahem) then make sure you schedule your breaks in a way that they end at a certain time. So a yoga class that has a definitive end is a good solution. A show on Hulu that rolls right into the next one is not a good solution. Take smart breaks.


FIND OTHER PASSIONS

Building off of breaks, it’s also a good idea to develop an interest outside of your business. For starters, your friends are going to get really bored of hearing you talk about blogging and Pinterest and things that don’t make any sense to them. But more importantly, you can’t lose your life (or the freedom) to sitting at a desk all day. That’s the opposite of why you got into this! So find other passions and make time to enjoy those.

Your mind will thank you, your work ethic will thank you, and you will find it easier to stick to a schedule when you know you have to finish something so that you can go enjoy your new underwater basketweaving hobby (or whatever it is you take up). I’ve been trying to find my other passions in the form of some sort of physical exercise these past few months – I’ve tried Barre (and I love it!), running (I really want to love it, but ugh), and strength training (weirdly my left arm is stronger than my right arm).  It’s nice to walk away from work and focus on something else entirely. In the same way that the best ideas come to you in the shower or at 2 in the morning, some of my best ideas recently have come while I’m focusing on not falling over while trying to run.


ALWAYS BE LOOKING FOR CLIENTS

So, here’s something that I’ve learned the hard way. Three times. I don’t carry business cards around with me because I have always worked online, with online clients. That’s bitten me in the butt now THREE TIMES. You think I would’ve learned after the first time, right? Nope.

This is a big one – when you are out there finding your other passions, taking breaks, etc. still be looking for clients. Everywhere. Because they are everywhere. I still get a little awkward when people ask me what I do because I feel really young and silly being like “I own my own business.” But why should I? I own my own business. That’s SO cool. I’ve been working on being more confident in saying that (and carrying business cards) so that I can constantly be looking for clients and bringing in inquiries. 


Phew. This ended up much longer than I realized. What have you learned in your fulltime boss mode lately? I’d love to hear. Let me know in the comments below what new discoveries you’ve made lately!