Running a business and homeschooling…. the unperfected art of not cracking up

And…. rest

Nuts, isn’t it? You work hard to build your own business; invest, work, train, train a bit more, take the low paid jobs to get you started, keep training, keep learning, keep improving, work, work, work and get to a point where it’s starting to pay off. You know you are delivering excellent value, your clients can see that, and it feels like it was all worth it. 

Then someone asks you to do it with a jelly on your head whilst roller skating down Ben Nevis. Or, to do it whilst becoming educator-in-chief to a bunch of small people who now live in your house 24/7. Same difference.

Scaling back or slowing down hasn’t even come up in conversation between Julie and I, we’ve both worked too hard to get here, and we’re not about to start compromising the plans we have for 2021. There have been plenty of heads in hands and reading up on the iOS 14 updates while overseeing single digit multiplication, but we think we’re getting better at this, and whilst we are a long way from rescuing that jelly and still look very inelegant on our roller skates, we’re optimistic about our goals for this year. Heading into week four, what’s holding it all together?

Working to our own rhythm

I’m an early bird, Julie’s a night owl. Trying to put the hours in late in the evening to get things done was totally counterproductive for me. I’m hopeless after 8pm, but can be pretty good at 4.30am. We’ve worked some odd hours over the last few weeks, but almost never at the same time, and that’s worked better than we thought. We largely keep all of our communication with each other within the working day, and do long, uninterrupted stretches under the cover of darkness.

No time for pretence

It’s taken a second lockdown for it to really sink in that millions of parents are working and homeschooling, and it’s fine not to pretend otherwise. I decided last week to stop saying, ‘I’m on a call, if you really need something get Daddy’. My workspace is more visible than Daddy’s so now I just say, ‘I’m on a call, if you really need something it’s OK to come and ask’. I don’t think there’s anyone we work with who would be horrified at a small person making a brief appearance in a call at the moment, and the kids definitely appreciate me being more available. How many times have I been interrupted since I started saying that? Once. They rarely urgently need me, but are happier when they know I’m there. And I’m really pleased they’ve stopped dramatically dropping to the floor and commando rolling behind my desk when I’m on a call. That just made me laugh, which looked rude to whoever I was talking to as they couldn’t see the ridiculous antics going on at my feet.

Good times!!

Zoom junkies

‘Zoom?’ is probably our most frequent WhatsApp message. We’ve been working together since long before the pandemic, so Zoom is an old friend, but during lockdown we’ve probably increased our zooming tenfold. A five/ten minute chat can eliminate several emails, and no one needs a bigger inbox at the moment (or ever). In the crazy business of educating and working it’s easy to lose focus on both, but once we’re in front of each other we can resolve problems more quickly, get things agreed and get back on track. But our zoom chats are also a window out of our four walls, and it’s good for the soul to hear about someone else’s husband’s creative DIY projects.

It’s impossible to be everything

Between the human resources in each of our households there simply isn’t enough slack to homeschool the kids for a full day each day. In the first lockdown, when engaging in education felt much less compulsory, we largely opted for the feral approach in our house, and it did the kids no harm at all. This time, much to their credit, the schools are on it. I thought this would make life easier. It hasn’t. Watching the red ‘overdue’ assignments stack up in Teams is really demoralising and has been making me feel like I’m failing them. I’m starting to get over that. They’re not at an age where sitting in front of a computer all day is productive to learning, so as long as we get some done, they can fill the rest of their time turning cardboard boxes into pirate ships, singing to the dog and playing outside.

Picking up the threads

This isn’t just during homeschooling times, but it’s more important now! One part of being a team of two that I love is that I don’t ever need to sit for hours and my desk and grapple with a piece of work I’m struggling to finish. This mostly happens when I run out of creative steam and I just can’t get the words to work, and funnily enough this happens more when peace is in short supply! Either the trusty Zoom call again, or I just frustratedly fling it in an email to Julie and she pulls it all together. Likewise, when a deadline looms but a child needs his/her Mum, we can pass the baton. We both work on all the accounts we run, so it’s dead easy (and very useful) to pick up each other’s loose ends.

Laughter

At home and within the business. Letting go of the uncontrollable and relishing the funny when you find it is like a huge shot of sanity.

Celebrating the wins and being Chief Cheerleader

And there have been more wins than we expected this month! We each know how hard won they are, and we’re not going to scrimp on the back slapping. Nothing’s more motivating than feeling like you’re doing OK, and Julie has a lovely habit of replying to emails with the opener, ‘Well done’. Always makes me smile.

Time out

Finally, with the focus every day being on the amount we can all manage to get through without losing the plot, getting better at learning when to flip the lid and walk away has been invaluable. There’s little room for error in ads management, and gritting your teeth through another twilight session, or when there’s no chance of any peace, is counterproductive. Likewise, your best and most creative ideas never come when you’re exhausted or irritable. It’s been an eyeopener to realise how much time is saved if I give up when I’m swimming against the tide, and just set the alarm for a bit earlier the next day.

Are we cracking up? Yeah, a little bit. Are we proud of how we’ve adapted? Absolutely! Is it an unexpected test of our suitability as business partners? Definitely, but I think we’re doing OK on that one.

*** For obvious reasons the above has been written in more tiny sittings than I can count, please forgive any incoherence ***

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