As I am sitting here writing this… My scene looks like this…

A table slurred with colored pencils and markers… Stickers galore.  Ryan drawing his 5th snowman of the day.  ( He is obsessed with Snowmen & the color Red).  Olivia working on Math & Bri on her handwritting.

In the midst of it I am writing a blog post, answering emails, and scheduling sessions.

The other day we had an awesome little get together with The Rising Tide Society.  If you haven’t heard of this and you are a creative small business owner I would definitely check it out!  It is such a great place to find encouragement, help, and camaraderie.

The topic was for this months discussion was on Daily Routines.  And I am by no expert on routines.

Before Luke & I were married and even into the beginning years of marriage… I was definitely a Type A person.  I always kept a detailed planner of my day, week, and month.  Everything had a place and if it was out of place… It drove me crazy.

However, over time and 3 kids later I have definitely relaxed.  I have come to learn that my idea of perfection and order was not worth everyone else’s unhappiness.

I get asked ALL THE TIME how do we do what we do.

And I am by no means superwoman and we by no means have it all together.   We are still learning what works and doesn’t work for us.

With all the interest and questions I thought I would share 3 things that we do that work for us.

1. We are A Team.

I believe this is the most important aspect of who we are.  Everything we do from getting out of debt, to parenting, to running our business… We come together as a team.  We are realizing that we are better together.   Having this mindset that we are for each other and rooting each other on helps us accomplish things and be more productive then we would be on our own.

2. We each have our own roles.

This is a BIG one.  Establishing roles definitely has helped us.  In the beginning we tried to both have our hands in everything.  From editing, to packing equipment.  It was like we were both trying to do everything and not trusting the other one enough to hand it over.  Once we each discovered our strengths and weaknesses, we realized how much we compliment one another.  I am more the blogging/editing/social media queen.  And Luke is the Technical King.  Handing over and trusting each other has definitely lifted some weight and responsibilities off our shoulders.

3. Have a Relaxed Daily Routine.

So I do have a daily routine.  I have to.  My kids education is in my hands now and that is something I don’t take lightly.  Their schooling is my first priority everyday.  So every morning we set up and and usually work until around 2 each day.  However, I can hand over activities and worksheets for them to complete without my complete supervision.  I also do only email corresponding, blogging, and some scheduling.  This is because I can step away if they need me and It’s easy for me to go back to where I was.  All our editing is done in our office and I usually do my editing after school or in the evening when Luke is home.

You will noticed that I said relaxed in regards to our routine.  I have learned that having a strict routine actually stresses me out.  Life is full of interruptions and things happen.  By keeping a light relaxed schedule I am open to those interruptions and I can deal with them with a much better attitude when they happen.

3. 1/2 Bonus Tip!

Ha!!  I just wanted to share one bonus tip that I learned from another mom that was a small business owner.  She told me that she does one full load of laundry everyday!!  I used to have a laundry day but that just sucked the whole day dry of washing, folding, and putting away.  By doing one load a day helps keep the laundry down and now with the kids older I put them to work by having them put away their own clothes!

And I know this blog is long, and if you are still reading.. God Bless You!

I just want you to know that Yes I do get overwhelmed at times.  Yes, it can still get really stressful at times.  I have come to realize though that if you are married, there will be times of feeling overwhelmed. If you have a kid, or a multiple of kids… You will be overwhelmed at times.  If you run a business.  You will be overwhelmed at times.  And it is okay.  It is normal.  There is no right answer to make everything perfect and smooth… Because perfection just does not exist.

So here’s to you small business owner! You can do this and my way of doing things might not be your way of doing things… And that is okay!  Just do you!!!

Thanks so much for reading and following along!

-Ash-