Guest Blog: A day in the Life with Lauren: Flexible Working Mum and Founder of Mumming.org, Co-working and Events Community
Hello POM Blog reader! I saw Laura do a shout out for guest blogs and thought I’d give it a go. Just a quick intro- I’m Lauren, I’m a work-at-home mum to Leo, a 22-month-old ball of energy and madness (mine and his!) I work for Skype remotely in digital marketing and social media management- with the rest of the team being spread across the world. I absolutely love the flexibility and the fact I don’t have to commute. I can’t stand being at home all day though. I came to realise I wasn’t being productive and felt I was going mad with no one to just chat to about what was on TV last night, whether that be something important on the news that brings on a meaningful debate or just talking about how ridiculous the items of ‘swimwear’ the Love Island crew are wearing are… I mean how you can go around on TV wearing something equitable to dental floss with frills on is beyond me.
Anyway, so that basically led me to set up my brand new biz which is a co-working club for work-from-home mums with a pop-up creche called Mumming. We come to work together on our dream businesses and share ideas whilst having a proper good coffee! As well as that, I’m also training to be a Social Media Consultant with my other Biz Social Chocolates. Just a bit on my plate then!
My Day- Obviously I picked a more interesting day- sometimes I literally just work at home all day!
6:50am- Alarm goes off and drag myself out of bed- really want to master waking up more energetically but not there yet!
7:00 - Leo wakes up and starts calling out for me.
7:05-7:50 – Normal morning rush getting ready to take him to the childminder. Husband normally gives him breakfast whilst I quickly get dressed.
8am- Drop him off at the childminder who lives just around the corner. Deal with the normal tantrum when we have to walk past the playground without going in.
8:15-9:00am – Back home and now have a chance to do hair and make up quickly before logging in to check work emails and ping my colleagues over Skype. Deal with anything urgent.
9:00-10:15am- Head to the train to go into central London for a Mothers Meeting event run by the amazing Jenny Scott. Work whilst on the train hotspotting on my phone. By the time I arrive I’ve cleared important emails and finished a couple of other tasks. (Doesn’t always work well but today it did!) Realise I left my umbrella that I’ve had for years on the tube- doh!
Jenny Scott - Founder of Mothers Meetings
10:30am – Arrive at the venue slightly rain-logged in Bethnal Green and chat with some lovely mums whilst we wait for the event to kick off. It’s in a really nice venue that has the feel of a historic town hall building with high ceilings, stained glass and wooden rows of seats. Pretty much everyone is sporting either a Baby Zen Yoyo (the super lightweight pushchair of choice for London mums!) or a baby sling. I feel a little ‘naked’ having come childless! Talk to another mum about this and she’s feeling the same way… even more so having had 3 children and being her first time out in the day without any of them since she can remember!
11-1pm – The event consists of a panel of 5 different speakers sharing about everything from leadership as mums, public speaking skills, self-care, business start-up learnings as well as set times for ‘mingling’ when we are sent off with different coloured name badges to find others with the same colour. It sounds cheesy but actually was fun and everyone super easy going.
1pm – Realise I have a work call set up for 1:30pm so quickly relocate to the café are next door within the hotel which I noticed walking into the event… it’s a lush room full of plants and funky lights (see photo!) Think how lucky I am all I need is WIFI and a laptop!
1:15-4:30pm – Work from the café- have a really proper good coffee (love my coffee) as well as lunch. It comes to £18 which isn’t cheap, but I always think it’s the price for sanity… I need to get out and talk to people! Most places I want to work from won’t be the sort of place you could bring a packed lunch, and I never have anything decent in the fridge to make a packed lunch with!
5:30pm- Catch the train home from Waterloo – manage to score a seat which is amazing during rush hour!
6:30pm -Get soaking wet on the walk back from the train station. Arrive home just the same time as my husband and son as he does the pick-up on Mondays. Have a mini-play with Leo before he goes up for bath time. He’s going through a phase of only wanting me so after a tantrum with my husband trying to bath time, I go up to help and he immediately stops the crocodile tears- my hair stays wet! Get into comfy baggy sweat pants and hoodie, put Leo to bed with a couple of books and nice sleepy hug.
7:30pm- After sneaking out of Leo’s room Mission Impossible style, have the dinner my lovely husband prepared whilst I was sorting Leo out. It’s nothing posh- a veggie burger from the freezer and veggies.
8pm – Log back in to get a bit more work done. There is the never-ending to-do list both for my day job and my new business. Since our TV in the lounge is currently broken awaiting repair, my husband is watching sports on his iPad, it seems like a good opportunity.
10pm- Head up to bed after sending an email promoting an upcoming event I’m organising. Husband is asleep still holding his iPhone. Yes I’m cheeky enough to take a photo of this!
11pm – Get in bed still checking Instagram and replying to messages… another bad habit I know I need to disconnect a bit more.
Well that’s it really- hope this has been interesting in some way shape or form – perhaps if you’re thinking about changing jobs or finding something flexible and thinking about how to bring a bit more variety into your life. Feel free to get in touch with me if anything tickled your fancy. Lauren@mumming.org