Working for Myself: Favorite Tools, the Current State of Things, and Some Recent Designs.

Someone asked me the other day how I have time to work 20 hours a week and run Little Leaf. Simple – I don’t take days off, I take hours off.

I work at the high school Monday through Wednesday, and work at home Thursday through Sunday. Instead of having a weekend that is completely free of work, I just take a few hours here and there to do ‘weekend things’ – going grocery shopping on Thursday morning or watching a few episodes of Friends on a Saturday afternoon. Sure, it’s challenging to squeeze it all in and make dinner, keep up with the laundry, and attempt at maintaining a clean apartment, but add in the fact that I am taking care of a toddler those four days, and fitting in my design work is an exercise in crazy intense spurts of productivity.  For example, Gabe took until 10pm to fall asleep last night (GAH), so I stayed up late to finish a blog design. Not ideal, but that’s life with a baby.

A few tools that make running my design business easier: PayPal, toggl, Todoist, LeechBlock. PayPal invoicing is so convenient. I use toggl religiously to track my time – blogging, answering design emails, working on advertising, editing photos, and design projects. I want to know how much I work each day, how much time I spend on each project, and how much time I’m spending blogging. And LeechBlock keeps me focused and accountable to how I’m spending my time *cough*FacebookandTwitter*cough*. Todoist is great for keeping track of all my design projects – I can make a to do list for each project –  ie: Header Round 1, Install, Final Invoice, and so on. I can also set deadlines for myself – so I know what I need to do this week and what can wait.

I also use my Erin Condren planner to keep track of appointments and remind myself of what to I need to get done each day and week:

And I made a (very loose) schedule for my week days to figure out where all my time is going and attempt at feeling more organized (packing lunch the night before for work, going to bed earlier, and so on.) While I don’t really follow it, it’s helpful when I’m trying to determine when I have the most time to design:

I dislike schedules because they make me feel like I lack choice and I prefer spontaneity, but sometimes I just like to pretend I’m all Type A and stuff.

I still struggle a lot to get it all done. And not to mention that I have a sorely neglected Etsy shop that is becoming mostly custom orders. I still adore sewing, fabric, and coming up with my own patterns – I loved sewing Gabe’s adorable birthday bunting (I might even do a tutorial on it…two months later.) – it’s just that sewing is harder to do while Gabe is awake (pins and scissors are more hazardous than my laptop). Plus, my sewing machine and fabric stash are in his bedroom, so sewing during naps requires some forethought and planning. Alas.

I get why moms working from home hire nannies and babysitters for a few days a week and I salivate at the thought of how much I could get done! I just don’t make enough money to justify that; and, part of the reason I want to work from is to see Gabe more often. Working from home with a baby is not the most efficient  if Gabe doesn’t nap or sleep well, it can throw my whole day off- but it’s my reality and we’re making it work.

So. That’s how I do it all. Or don’t.

I’d love to hear from other work-from-home mamas on making it work. It’s a unique, lovely challenge, to be sure. :)

Now! Time to share what I’ve been working on recently…

thatShortchick | Blogger Design
that Shortchick wanted bright green, but lots of white space. A bold, modern look….without being too much. Since my design philosophy is a bit ‘less is more,’ she and I worked together on her great return to the blogging world.   She took a few months off from the blogging world, but is baaaaack and pretty. Check out her blog design here.

One Fine Journey | Blogger Design

Vicky is a new mom to Norah, who was born 8 weeks premature and with a serious medical issue that has required a few surguries. Vicky and Norah both inspire me with their grace and strength. Vicky is rather new to the blogging world, and is a typography nerd like me (we both have the same favorite font), so we had fun working together. Also, I went to college (and spent a semester in Hawaii!) with Vicky. She is seriously one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet.  Check out her design here.

A Geek Tragedy | WordPress Self-Hosted
Abby migrated to WordPress and got a new design all at once. Exciting, right? She wanted an airy design, something she wouldn’t get tired of looking at, but would still set her apart. Professional and fun. A clean, unique font and subtle textures in the background and sidebars heading make her site bold without being overwhelming. The design should never take away from the blog posts – it should just make you want to read them more. Amen. Check out Abby’s blog design here.

Confessions of a CLE Habitant | Blogger Design

Allison just launched her new blog name, Confessions of a CLE Habitant with a new design and I was absolutely delighted to be a part of it! She just moved to downtown Cleveland and is quite the shopper – so her blog will reflect that. I’m so excited for her new beginnings. Check out the blog design here.

Margaret | Funeral Program Design

I’ve designed plenty of resumes, wedding programs, wedding invitations, and thank you cards…but this was this was my first program design for a funeral Mass. Margaret’s grandmother was a proud Irish Catholic, so I designed a simple program to show that. I was honored to do it for Margaret, who seems just lovely. Why are all my clients seriously the best people?