Christina: (00:01) You are listening to the Scaling of Freedom Podcast, and if you are an online coach or course creator, you are in the right place. I’m your host, Christina Bernhard. I’m an ads agency owner that gets an inside look every day on what’s working and what doesn’t. In the online coaching space. I’m here to share with you what we see works in our agency as well as what we see happening and changing in the industry. Stay tuned to uplevel your coaching business to have the freedom you want. Let’s get started.

Christina: (00:30) You are listening to episode 179. In this episode, I’m going to go over my schedule as a single mom entrepreneur and how I’m juggling it all so far. Um, I’ve been loving doing these episodes and I’m loving, how many of you have reached out to me to say that you related to it, or even more so? Actually, the most people who have reached out are people who have said that they are an entrepreneur and they are considering becoming a parent also. And so that has been really cool to see because I completely understand what that place feels like, because, you know, before I had my daughter, I was just like, how is, how is this gonna be possible? Like, I’m ready to become a mother, but like, is my business actually ready for this? You know, at what point in business are you ready to take a maternity leave or to be able to juggle more than one thing?

Christina: (01:24) Is that something I can even do? Um, and then I went into it as a single parent. So as a single mom, I even more so was like, am I seriously going to be able to do all of this? Um, and we have survived thus far. So my daughter is eight months old. She’s actually about to be nine months. Um, when this goes live, I think she’ll, she’ll probably be nine months. Um, so it’s been, you know, we’re still in the first year, um, and it has been, it, it’s been pretty difficult, but, um, it has been, I mean, beyond worth it, if I even need to say that. I mean, it’s, I would do this a hundred times over. Um, so I will say that, um, before I get into this, that my daughter has had no health issues at all. So I’m very blessed for that.

Christina: (02:08) So I am speaking from a place of someone who has a daughter with no, like, extra needs when it comes to like, um, health and, um, and things like that. So we’re very, very blessed there. Um, and for, uh, my perspective as well, like I said, I’m a single parent and I also, um, I don’t actually have any help currently outside of daycare three days a week. So I’m going to kind of talk about my schedule, um, and I’m gonna talk about my schedule, not just with my daughter, but also with work and how I’ve been kind of, um, scheduling things and what kind of flow my week looks like and what’s been working for me. And then also what we are about to start transitioning into, because I’m also about to change the schedule a little bit because, um, things at the agency are just picking up at the moment.

Christina: (02:58) So I really, I, I, I need more, uh, work time. Um, so currently, um, I will say before I had my daughter, my business was scaled to a place where I had a team and we were pretty dialed in. So, um, very blessed for that. Uh, I was very intentional with that and created all the SOPs necessary, necessary to be, um, able to step away for a little bit. Um, and then also that team, like I said, was in place. Now, I will say that I had a team in place really well, and then I actually had to let someone go and she was a very key role in my company, so I did have to replace her a little bit close to about two or three months before my daughter was born. I can’t remember. Um, so that’s not really ideal. So ideally I would’ve had someone integrated a little bit longer than that.

Christina: (03:48) But, um, the, the girl that I, uh, replaced her with, um, she did a phenomenal job, so it was actually very smooth, but it’s just like, it could have not happened that way because hiring and training, you know, those things take a lot of time and I don’t really want, um, someone brand new on my team in those scenarios, but things happen, right? So, um, ended up being fine. So my maternity leave went really well, and, um, I have a podcast about that. I actually have two podcasts about that. If you wanted to check those out, go ahead and check those out. Um, I went over what my plan was, and then I did a recap after my maternity leave was over and what I would’ve done differently, um, and, uh, what I feel like I did really well. So now we are more in the just like life, like maintenance, , well, sort of maintenance.

Christina: (04:34) I mean, everything’s always changing as you know, if you are a parent, um, that first year is, uh, just rapid changes. Um, and it has been really crazy because I feel like I cannot keep up with how fast she is like progressing, like I, every day it’s just like three new skills, , it’s just insane. Um, and then with all of the phases, I’m constantly having to relearn a whole new phase, like, you know, solids or like, you know, solid set. Now I can like chop things up smaller and like, you know, just all these things. And with that, um, has been, it’s been more difficult because it’s, it’s such a mental load of, you know, getting through that first year. And then also I’m adjusting to being a mother at all. Um, and also making sure that I have the mental capacity still for my business because I create income with my brain and that’s how I make money.

Christina: (05:26) And so whenever my brain is full of like what highchair to buy and like what, why she’s not sleeping or wake windows and nap time and like all these things and like, I could go on and on and on on the mental load of things. Um, especially nowadays I feel like it’s, you know, with social media and stuff like that, there’s just so much information being thrown at you all the time that it’s just so hard to not fall into the trap of like trying to do everything so perfectly. And, um, as you know, you might relate to this as well if you’re an entrepreneur, but a lot of us who are very high achieving, like we tend to want to be like, we tend to kind of be that personality sometimes of wanting to go above and beyond and, you know, try to make everything perfect.

Christina: (06:10) And so this can make it even more difficult. So that’s one thing that I’ve had to make sure, especially with scheduling and things like that, to make sure that I still have like, plenty of mental load for all of it. And so I’m gonna talk about, I’m gonna first start talking about my schedule and what that looks like, but I’m also gonna go over systems that have made this doable for me, um, to be able to have that mental load, uh, with, you know, being a parent and then also having enough mental space and capacity for my business and to work. Um, and then also just some other like, tips and things that I’ve used to make life easier. So first let’s talk about my schedule. So my daughter goes to school Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and she goes full-time on those days. Um, we, uh, we were doing, we were at a different daycare and then I moved neighborhoods in Austin.

Christina: (06:59) And so I moved her daycare. Um, and I had to like, as soon as she was born, I had an i, I had a feeling that I was gonna want to move to this neighborhood, so I put her on the wait list cuz it takes months and months and months to get through the wait list. Um, so I’m really glad that I did that cuz it actually lined up perfectly to, with our move. I only had to commute to the other daycare for about three we three weeks, so that’s not bad. Um, so she does those Monday, Wednesday, Friday. This new daycare does close an hour earlier and I can’t believe that that hour makes such a difference. like, I really have like struggled a little bit to adjust to that, but it’s, um, it closes at five 30. So what I do is Mondays I try to have no calls on those days.

Christina: (07:44) And, um, initially that’s what I was doing with my maternity leave in the first probably six months of my daughter’s life. I barely, um, was selling it all. So we were really posting in the agency. We still signed some clients cuz we do get clients through referrals and, um, I was still posting on Instagram and things like that, so we were still signing clients, but it’s not as, not as rapidly as we normally have. And I’ve been just embracing that I’ve really needed the, the agency to kind of like coast a little bit, um, so that I can balance these. Um, so I have been able to successfully for at least up until maybe a month or two ago, um, to be able to have my calls only on Wednesdays. So on Mondays is like head down. I just get as many tasks done as possible.

Christina: (08:30) Like, and when I say like as many tasks as possible, I’m like so serious, I put my phone away, I would turn on some music and I would just focus like I’ve never focused before. , I feel like before my daughter, it would’ve taken me two to three days to do what I do sometimes now on a Monday. Um, I, I truly mean that for me personally. Whenever before my daughter, I felt like I had so much time on my hands that I would find myself like scrolling social media in between tasks and doing things, um, and stuff like that. And so it would take me so much longer, uh, to do things. And now I’ve been able to really condense time and focus and I am kind of shocked at how much I can get done and, you know, just a few hours at a time.

Christina: (09:12) And so that, like, if that’s something you’re worried about, like I will say that at least for me personally, and I’ve heard this quite a bit, like people have said, um, that, you know, becoming a mother makes you like, helps you like stay on track and focus and things like that because you really do only have this chunk of time. Um, and like I said, I don’t have any help outside of daycare. So like, this is it . So like I have to make sure that this time is like I’m capitalizing this time, uh, or on this time and I’m making sure that I’m not wasting a single moment of it. So I try to do that. And then, um, what I’ll do is in the afternoons, um, so I get done as much as possible in the afternoons I will start prepping my daughter’s food, um, for the week.

Christina: (09:55) So I do meal prep on Monday afternoons for her. Um, and then I try to do as much like household things as possible just cuz I can do some household things with her. But, um, I, it’s mostly just the maintenance stuff that I can do with her, but like the things that I need to like, you know, like wash the sheets and like all that stuff, it’s just so much e it’s so much easier and faster to do certain things and like mopping and stuff, like, she’s like crawling everywhere and stuff like that. Mopping is just while she’s here is just like not a good idea. Um, so, you know, just doing things like that, um, when, you know, to help, uh, get ahead of those things. Um, and then also, um, I try to have about an hour of like me time or rest on Mondays, but it, I will say honestly it probably, it doesn’t usually happen.

Christina: (10:40) It’s very rare that I actually make that hour. Um, I should probably make that more of a priority, but I’ve really struggled to try and get like the meal prep and the household and all the, the work tasks done all in one day. Um, especially before five 30. So, um, that is what my Monday looks like. Wednesdays are just all calls. And then I also try to get done as many tasks as possible. So I’m doing a lot of, um, filming, um, podcast recording, a lot of content stuff on Wednesdays, um, as far as like face to camera things. Um, and then also, uh, client work, like any client work that I have. Um, then, um, so Wednesdays are usually a very full workday, so I don’t usually do like much household things or errands or anything like that. Um, and then Friday I will have no calls ever.

Christina: (11:30) Um, and that was something I did before my daughter, I don’t have calls on Fridays, um, and Fridays is more so like things that have to do with the business, but also content creation. So I do my podcast outlines, I do um, Instagram captions, um, and things like that. I do content planning, um, so a lot of planning things, planning like things. Um, I like to work outside of the home cause I do work from home. Um, and so on Fridays I like to work at a coffee shop, um, just to, because I’m doing more creative things, so I am more creative whenever I’m changing my environment. So I go to different places, um, on Fridays. So that’s what my work schedule looks like. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have my daughter all day. Um, and so I try to work during her naps. So I actually used to be able to get away with not working much on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Christina: (12:17) I would just do like my email and Slack. I’m always in email and slack all the time, honestly. Um, so that’s just on my phone. Uh, so that’s something that’s just kind of standard most of the time. Um, and then on the weekends I usually check it at least once or twice a day. Um, and then, uh, but I used to not have to really sit down at my desk and like work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but that hasn’t been the case lately. Um, like I said, the client load is just like picking up and so our workload is, my workload is, um, increasing a lot. So I’ve had to work during her naps on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Um, but luckily now my daughter has not napped very well until recently. So now she at least gives me like an hour, hour and a half nap twice a day.

Christina: (13:02) So I’m able to, like I said, like just superwoman, , like, just totally dashed through some tasks. Um, and sometimes I can actually work with her, so if I sit on the floor with her with my laptop, sometimes she’ll, you know, just independently play it. I can just be right there, um, working. But for the most part, um, I try not to really do that. I’d rather work during her naps. Um, I’m not really worried and this is just, this is a controversial thing, um, but I’m not really worried about like not spending enough time with her because I spend so much time with her. Like we have a lot of quality time together and I’m very blessed to have that. So if I spend, you know, an hour or so during her wake time to work, I don’t feel like I’m like taking away from her childhood or anything like that.

Christina: (13:51) Um, we have all day Tuesdays and Thursdays and then Saturdays and Sundays. And then in the evenings we, she goes to bed at eight, I pick her up at, uh, school at five. Um, cuz I don’t, I, they are close, they close at five 30, but I don’t like to cut it close so I go pick her up at five. So we have five to eight, so we have every evening together. Um, and mornings are super chill cause I don’t have to be at an office at a certain time. So like, we spend a lot of quality time in the mornings. So like, anyways, not that I have to explain myself, but like, I just wanted to point out another perspective just because I’ve heard of people saying that like they don’t want to work around their children. Um, I don’t, I personally don’t see how I will ever get out of that cause I will always be an entrepreneur and, um, there’s just always, there are just always seasons, you know.

Christina: (14:35) Um, so before, like I, like I said, I was fine not working Tuesdays and Thursdays really, um, because it like the, we were just kind of coasting, but we are heading into a season where it’s getting more busy. So, um, we’re heading into a season where I’m gonna be on my laptop more and, um, uh, I still feel like I have plenty of quality time with her. So, um, I do that on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So on Tuesdays sometimes I do have team calls, so I’ll put my team calls because on my team calls, like a lot of my team has kids too, so there’s just like babies and and kids and stuff like that. So it’s not really a big deal. We can still focus and get through our calls and do the things that we need to do, um, even with the kids in the background.

Christina: (15:15) So, um, I like to do that because it opens up client call time for my days that I have, um, daycare. So I don’t want to block times, um, for, um, the time I have childcare, um, with team calls where I can technically take those with, um, my daughter. So, um, one thing that is changing, um, is that on Mondays, like I said, I used to have calls only on Wednesdays. Unfortunately, that has not been working out because the, the call load has just increased so much. So I’ve had to, um, uh, open up Mondays. So I have calls on Mondays now as well. Um, so that’s what the, my schedule looks like now and how I’m flowing through my, um, my work tasks and what those look like for each day. Um, what I’m doing is, right now my daughter’s on a wait list to go to full-time daycare.

Christina: (16:05) So as soon as we get a spot, she’s gonna be going to daycare on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And my plan is to, um, in my days earlier, but have all of those days because what I’m struggling with right now is, um, I am struggling with not getting burnt out from having to work such long days on those days that she’s at daycare. So I like, you know, once I’ve been really focusing and working for so many hours, it’s just so hard for me to like, keep going, especially the days that I have calls, whenever I have calls, it’s just, I’m very introverted so they drain me. And if I have like six or seven calls that day, and then I also have a full workload of tasks and I feel like I have to get all of that done because that’s the day that I have daycare.

Christina: (16:52) It is just exhausting and it takes everything out of me to like, keep going because I just wanna take a break so bad. And like, I do take little breaks, but like, I wanna take a break, like, like, like take the afternoon off , like, and so I can’t do that obviously. So, um, I think it’s gonna help a lot whenever we go into full-time daycare. But I, um, whenever I do that, I know that I’ll be able to have longer evenings with her so I can pick her up sooner, like at four or something. Um, and so that will be, I think, just a better distribution of my work tasks. Another thing too that has just recently changed is my daughter is now finally like, knock on wood, I hope it’s not just a phase or something, but as of right now, she’s starting to mostly sleep through the night.

Christina: (17:36) So she has, her sleep has been extremely challenging. Like, not like she just still has a night feed or something, I mean like waking up like every hour. Um, and it has been like that since, well actually when she was a newborn, she slept better than she did after four months. So it, I’ve hired the experts and all the people and things like that. And the consis consensus has been that, um, she just needs to be more tired and be more active. So we thought when she started crawling that it would get better, but she started crawling right at six months and um, she, it didn’t really help. Like it helped, but it didn’t really work. She was still waking up at least three to four times a night. Um, I gave her a later bedtime, like all these things. Another thing too is that she wasn’t hungry, so she wouldn’t drink her milk during the day.

Christina: (18:23) She only wanted to drink it at night. And so I can’t force her to drink milk. So, um, the sleep consultant told us that she had to just get like, like burn enough energy where she was like, at some point she’s gonna be so she’s going to be more hungry during the day. And that is what has finally happened. Crawling didn’t really help, but she’s been starting to stand and, um, pull herself up on things. And so the standing for whatever reason has done it. , like she’s been so tired, um, and so hungry. So she, uh, is constantly like pulling herself up on something and then falling, pulling herself up, falling, pulling, and it’s just really wearing her out. Um, so I feel like we’ve taken a turn, but that has given me so much more energy to be able to work so much more.

Christina: (19:08) Um, and just stay , like stay just like, like with that mental load. So that is what my schedule looks like. Um, now I’ll go into the systems that have made it doable. So this is how these, the things that I’ve implemented on how to make it actually all kind of work, . Um, so the first thing is scheduling all home tasks, so, or errands and things like that. So anything that I have, you know, whether it’s like, you know, her meal prep or you know, stuff to do around the house, even laundry, even washing my hair, like everything goes into my schedule. So I have my go Google calendar and I have one of the calendars that is just my schedule and I go in like, um, today is actually a Friday that I’m recording this. I’m not usually recording on a Friday, but um, I go in and on Fridays and I schedule out my following week and I schedule every single thing, like which days I’m gonna wash my hair, which days I’m gonna do laundry.

Christina: (20:02) When I’m like the literal time of that day I’m going to do that. And so I move things around my calls, um, and you know, just fit everything in. Um, and this really helps to not have to worry about like errand. So if I need to go get my tires checked or I need an oil change or I’m running outta gas, when do I need to get gas? Like literally everything. I make a running list of things that need to get done. Um, and I, uh, start just plugging it into the calendar. This helps because during the week, like I just sit down and do this one day a week. During the week, I don’t have to think about like what needs to be done. It’s already decided for me and it’s in my schedule and I, all I had to do is just follow the schedule and I have to hold myself to that because sometimes it is tempting to like not follow the schedule cuz you might just not feel like doing that at that time, even though a week ago you scheduled yourself to do that.

Christina: (20:53) I make myself do it. Um, and has really, really helped. Second thing is I have a meal service. So for the first probably six or seven months, like this is fairly new that I started doing recently. Um, her first six or seven months of life, I’ve cooked all of my meals, even early postpartum. I cooked all of my food. I’m, I love to cook so I can, I’m pretty fast at putting stuff together, but, um, it got to a point whenever my daughter started to eat solids and I started to prep things for her, it got really stressful, um, to try and meal prep and plan things for her and for me. And so I decided to, to, um, invest in a meal service for me. I use Cook Unity, um, if that’s helpful at all, but I’ve tried a few of them and they are by far my favorite.

Christina: (21:37) And that has been amazing to have delicious food. It’s fresh, it’s never frozen, and it’s, um, just in my fridge. Like I already have lunch and dinner. I do 12 meals a week, so I only have two meals a week that I will eat out or eat something else that I make at home. Um, so it’s just like, it’s so, so helpful. Um, that’s been really helpful. Um, I don’t know how long I’ll do that because I do personally love to cook, so at some point I’m, I know I’m gonna stop doing that, but right now it is really, really working . Um, and then also it helps with, at the end of the night I just have my daughter’s, um, dishes and stuff and my dishes are just a fork. It’s amazing . Um, so really, really cool. Um, and the, the cook Unity is also a no waste company, so their packaging is all, um, compost and stuff like that, so it’s really cool.

Christina: (22:24) Um, and then the other thing too is um, I do meal prep for my daughter. So Monday afternoon, like I said, I meal prep all of her meals for the week. And um, that is really helpful too because in the evenings after a long workday, I just pull out one of her plates that I’ve already pre, pre plated and I can just heat it up and give it to her. Um, sometimes they’re not plated because I don’t have enough plates for like the whole week. Um, but I can just easily plate it, but everything’s cooked and ready to go. Um, another thing that I started doing was with my daughter, I needed to meal plan for her, which I know this, I feel like this sounds ridiculous to do for like a small baby, but like, I literally had to meal plan for her and, um, it was getting, it was just getting so stressful to constantly have to come up with like what to feed her.

Christina: (23:09) And so, and she has breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Um, and she started that when she was six months old. And um, so I started doing that a month at a time. So I would sit down on a Friday afternoon and I would, I have a spreadsheet and I would plan out her entire like breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the entire month. , I know probably sounds ridiculous, but it has been so helpful because I only do it once a month and then I don’t even have to worry or think about planning. And also what I do with that, um, that planning is I will already do, I have a column next to that week that is my grocery list that I, I need. And then also what I need to prep in bulk and what I need to prep that’s fresh, that I need to prep more, like closer to when she’s gonna eat it.

Christina: (23:53) So that has been so helpful because every week I just look at that one column. Whenever I’m ordering groceries, I order what’s on there and then I can just, on Monday afternoon I look at what I need to prep and I just do that. So, um, that has been really, really helpful. Um, another system is very consistent night and morning routine. So I have a routine for everything pretty much, but like the night and morning routines are really, really helpful. So in the evenings I have my daughter’s night routine. Um, we just do, um, uh, we play and we do, um, dinner, uh, her solids, um, and then bath and then she, um, we clean her up and stuff like that and we go and uh, we’ll sometimes play a little bit or read a book and then, um, it’s bottle and nighttime. And then I have a routine for after she goes to bed and that is to prep for the next morning.

Christina: (24:43) Um, especially if it’s the night before daycare. So I’ll prep my smoothie in the morning. I put everything in my blender, like my blender cup and I put it in the freezer. Um, and so in the mornings I just pull it out and I let it sit for a little bit and then I make my smoothie. Um, but everything’s already in there. Um, and then I will prep like her bottles and stuff for daycare the next day. Any clothes that she needs, her sippy cup, like her solids, all those things. Um, so I do all of that the night before. And then in the morning I just make sure I have a sim, a morning routine. And it just helps me cuz I felt like before, especially on daycare mornings, I would just kind of be like, I don’t know what order to do things or like, I feel like I’m forgetting something.

Christina: (25:22) like, I don’t know why. It was just so difficult to figure out how to get myself ready, get her ready, get my breakfast stuff, get her daycare stuff put together. Like, I don’t know, it was just like, I kind of struggle with it. But now I have a routine. I also have a whiteboard that is on my, um, wall in my kitchen. It’s a very small, like little whiteboard and I have my routines written there. So if I ever, like, I know it sounds probably crazy, but like the mental load can be a lot. So anything that I can just take out of my brain and just make it super simple, that has been so helpful, that has been key. So I can just look at it, I don’t have to think about it or like try and find in my brain and like re recall what I’m supposed to be doing.

Christina: (26:02) I can just look and see like what the routine is like check, check, check. Um, and then the last thing that’s like, I guess sort of a system, um, is keeping my house organized. That is huge for me. Um, so anytime if she grows out of something or we’re not using something anymore, it goes like we, I have, uh, some storage outside and so I do have a couple of containers of things that I need to donate. Um, it at, at minimum goes into that. Um, I will take, uh, and make sure every Sunday the fridge gets cleaned out. So that’s another thing that’s actually something I did before my daughter and I’ve kept that up, um, that way my refrigerator, I can just see everything that I have. Um, super, super important for me personally. Um, any like cabinets, drawers, things like that. Um, I just try and stay on top of it.

Christina: (26:51) Um, I know it probably seems like a very extra thing to do and I mean, it is like if you’re in over your head, like I wouldn’t worry about the junk drawer and I do have a junk drawer that like, it’s, it’s kind of a mess in there. But like the other stuff, like my dishes and my pantry and stuff like that, I do like to keep it organized and just throw things out that I don’t need or don’t use anymore and just make sure that I’m donating as much stuff as possible because it really does make things so much more difficult if you just constantly have clutter or every time I open a drawer or open a closet or something like that, there’s just stuff everywhere and I can’t find anything like that. For me personally, just makes everything so much harder. Um, laundry, I stay on top of laundry, I do laundry every other day and it’s just me and my daughter.

Christina: (27:34) Her clothes are like super tiny, like I can do like a million of her clothes in a load, but I stay on top of it. And I also have, um, laundry days for like sheets and like the blankets on the couches and stuff like that. Um, so I just try and stay on top of those things, um, so that things don’t get piled up. Um, so that’s been really helpful for me. Other little things that aren’t really systems, but things that have made my life easier is the first one. Um, having a daycare close by that has been super, super helpful because right now her, the, our old place in her old daycare, we were about like six or seven minutes from daycare, so it was super easy. And then whenever we moved, she still went to that daycare for a while and it’s supposed to be only 15 minutes of a drive, but with traffic, if you’ve ever been in Austin traffic, um, it changes things.

Christina: (28:27) So there were days warnings where it took 45 minutes to get her to daycare. So that was, and I wasn’t really that worried about it cause I knew it was temporary, um, but it was just like, yeah, this would suck to be like day, day by day. So right now, um, her daycare is only a four minute drive. It’s so, so close and it is like so easy to go pick her up and drop her off. Um, so that’s gonna, that’s huge. Um, and then trying to go to bed as early as possible. So this, I’ve been a little bit more lenient on because my daughter has been actually sleeping, but it used to be like she was up, like I said, every other hour. Um, it has been , oh my gosh. Um, so I would try to go to bed as early as possible, so she would go down at eight and I would try, like, I would still have to shower and like a lot of times, like her solid meal was like all over the floor still and like all these things, so I’d have to clean up and everything.

Christina: (29:19) Um, and then I would have to do my night routine to prep all of her stuff for daycare the next day. And like all these things, I try to do it while she’s still here in a wake, but I want to play with her and spend some time with her. But also sometimes in the evening she’s so tired that like, she won’t make it like she just like needs to sleep so bad and she’s like fussy and stuff. So I would just try to speed through that stuff as, as quickly as possible and get to bed, um, and, you know, be off my phone and all of those things so that I could sleep. Um, now it’s n that’s not as important since I can go to bed at nine or 10 and I can still get decent sleep now that she sleeps better. Um, and then another one is delegation.

Christina: (29:57) So I feel like I was good at this before delegating, and this is a business thing, um, but this has just made me even better at it. So I feel like before I was pretty good at like delegating, you know, things that I knew that I didn’t have to do, but now just even more so I like, if there’s something that I don’t have to do personally, I I task it out to someone. Um, and this has just been really helpful so that, you know, those like Mondays and um, even we Wednesdays, whenever I have my head down, I’m just trying to get done as much as possible. Any time spent on things that someone else on the team can do, it’s just, it’s such a waste because you’re already a little bit in and over your head. So just having those things delegated out and being good at, you know, passing things along, um, has been really, really helpful for me.

Christina: (30:43) Um, just two more things, um, working on my phone as much as I can . So again, this might not be for everyone and there’s a lot of controversy about this, but I personally, um, it works for me to be able to just like check email and slack and things like that on my phone, um, so that I’m not having to rely on time that’s at my desk. Um, and, you know, my daughter’s like sleeping or at daycare or something like that. Um, it is so much easier just to check my phone real fast and see if there’s an important email. Now if it’s something, if it’s an email with like an action item that I need to do, like an ads manager or something like that, I will either delegate it out or, um, I will, you know, wait. But if it’s just communication questions, things like that, things I can address or, you know, task out, um, I just do that from my phone, um, when I’m not by my desk.

Christina: (31:28) And then the last thing is grocery delivery. I don’t even remember the last time I like went to the grocery store and bought groceries. Um, I, I feel like most, I feel like most people do this, but maybe not. Um, I’m sure the grocery stores are still busy. I don’t know. But this has been really, really helpful because, you know, having to go to the grocery store part, go in like, I mean, Instacart for the amount that you pay is so small for the amount of time that you save. It’s unbelievable to me that like, I, I don’t know that I will ever go grocery shopping unless I like, want to for whatever reason. There’s just no point. Um, so I just get all of my groceries delivered. Um, and that has been really helpful as well. So , this is definitely a longer episode than most of mine.

Christina: (32:15) Um, but I hope that this is helpful and I tried to give as many details as possible because I remember wanting, and most, like I said, most of the people that have reached out to me about these episodes are, um, people that are wanting to become a parent and they’re considering it, but they also have a business and they’re not sure that they’re going to, um, be able to balance it all. Um, I have a lot of people reach out to me on my personal Instagram, so they probably don’t listen to the podcast, but, um, also people, um, reach out and talk about, um, being curious about being a single mom by choice. So that’s something that, um, that I did. And, um, also if you’re a single mom by chance or anything like that, um, hopefully you found this helpful as well, uh, to know that, you know, it’s, it’s doable and it’s possible.

Christina: (33:00) And, um, there are many women before me that have shown this, but also as a business owner, it is different. It’s very different than having an office job because you’re trying to, you know, for one, I mean my income is reliant on me having the mental space and the mental load to, um, or having the mental space and the mental capacity to be able to, um, keep that going and to, you know, I use my brain to make money and so it has to be in tip top shape and everything has to be super organized. And, you know, especially with like my daughter’s sleep issues and things like that, I don’t have a partner to like tag team that with me or even I, like, I would take most of the nights even if they could just take her for two hours in the morning so that I could like sleep in or, or two hours in the evening, whatever, just like even an extra two hours would have changed my life in the past year.

Christina: (33:51) Um, but you know, you just find ways like I, I’ve found ways and, um, it’s totally doable, but it does take some, you know, I, for me personally, it takes systems, um, and routines and it takes a lot of, um, being intentional with my time and, um, just not wasting it. And, uh, just like scheduling those things out. Those have all been, uh, life changing and really how I’m able to keep up with it. And I do have times where I feel overwhelmed, but I will say most of the time I feel like I got it. Like I feel like I got, I’ve got the hang of it. Um, and it is because of the cms. If I was just kind of like trying to take things day by day, I, I don’t know how that would work for me. Like I really need to schedule out the week and then just follow the plan. Um, and of course things happen, you know, to the schedule and things like that, but for the most part, if I just follow the plan, um, then everything gets done. So hopefully you found this helpful and, um, if you have any questions, go ahead and reach out to me on Instagram. I’m, uh, Christina d Bernhard on Instagram. Um, would love to hear from you and I hope you guys have a really great week.