Building a Business: How I Run It Day-to-Day

Welcome to Part 2 of my Building a Business series! I’m three months in now with Bone & Bloom and learning so much every day with plenty of mental notes being constantly filed away, noting things like “that was great, I’ll keep that up” and “okay that wasn’t the best strategy, scratch that forever.”

If you’re new to this series (read Part 1 here), I’m in the thick of building my business and I feel the need to remind you that I’m certainly not sharing tips as a seasoned pro, but rather as a person documenting her journey who is in her first few months of doing this full-time. I also don’t want anyone to read these posts and think that it’s been “easy” (though the cards have played out in a way that have really shown me that this is what I’m meant to be doing), so trust me when I say I struggle to find balance between all the titles/roles I hold in my life. I know all new moms can relate, and being a business owner too only triples those roles. In short, I hope this series inspires you or gives you something to relate to if you too are pursuing working for yourself. Also, don’t let this scare you… it really is the best and so worth it! I wish I had done it sooner.

For today’s post, I’m sharing my systems and processes — basically what tools I use to manage my clients, and how I stay organized and run my business day-to-day, especially as a mom. I think things (and when I say “things,” I mean nearly every aspect of my business, including my systems and processes) would look a lot different if I had started it when I wasn’t a parent and when I was under different circumstances, but I also don’t know if I would have had the drive to take it full-time without the motivation of my daughter and the circumstances I was under. Never did I think I would be growing my business jobless, but in case you needed another reminder: everything happens for a reason. If you’re looking to start your business or are searching for new tools to enhance your current flow, this may be helpful for you.

Bonsai
First and foremost, I’d be nowhere with Bonsai. I could write a love letter to it, because it’s been that integral for me. Bonsai is a subscription service that offers proposals, contracts, client CRM, time and task tracking, invoices, accounting, taxes and more. I’ve been using it for proposals, contracts, invoices and payments since Day 1 and it’s been immensely helpful. It keeps all of my stuff organized in one place and the templates help speed up my workflow so much. When you’re hustling to build a business, you want to feel confident that the important stuff is squared away, and Bonsai achieves that for me.

Google Drive, Google Docs & Trello
I use these a lot for sharing files and collaborating on content calendars. For getting up and running quickly with clients, I’ve found that using tools they’re already familiar with helps speed up the process, eliminating the learning curve and allowing us to get going right away so they can start seeing results sooner rather than later — so I love Google tools for that reason. I’ve used Trello at a previous job and it’s a great option for organizing content and tasks as well, so I also have clients that I use this for. I’m sure that my usage of these tools in my business may change one day, but for now, they work and I like them.

Calendar app, notes app/physical to-do lists
These help me stay organized currently, but I’m still working on perfecting my process for task documenting and completion. I like to write down everything I have to do (because as a mom, I wouldn’t remember a thing if I didn’t), from what days I need to follow up with people to when I need to publish client social media posts, reply to emails, work on content calendars, design graphics, etc. I try to categorize them by level of importance and what needs to be done first, second, third and so on as well.

Email & phone
This is a given, but I always have to be on top of my email, as it is my primary form of communication with my clients (second and third being texts and phone calls). I prioritize responding to clients in the morning, then tackling my to-do list after. I try to do my phone communication during standard working hours, but I definitely send a lot of 10 p.m. emails, as one of my best “working pockets” of the day, as I like to call them, is after my daughter goes to sleep at night.

Social media
Lastly, with social media being integrated in the work I do, I spend a lot of my time posting content, stat tracking and researching trends for my clients. It’s also another way I connect with possible new clients and promote my business as well, so there’s a lot to do here on a daily basis. I promise, you don’t want to see my Screen Time.

That pretty much sums it up!

One last thing I want to add — as moms and/or business owners, we don’t give ourselves enough credit. I get so caught up in my never-ending to-do list that I don’t stop to take the time to recognize and be excited about the fact that I’ve successfully brought this to fruition.

Abby, how cool is it that you get to do this??? Why do you never ever bask in that?!?!

In stating this, I want to remind you to take a breather and absorb how far you’ve come. Really, I’m serious. Sit down, let the stress melt away a bit, and think about where you came from and where you are now. Review everything that went right to get you here, everything amazing you did and what you learned to land you in this exact spot.

Be proud of yourself.

You’re doing better than you think.