How to Juggle a Day Job and an Online Business (Hint: It Ain't Easy!)

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

As you may know, I'm a social media manager by day and a small business-owner by night. After long hours maintaining the online presence of some awesome companies, I come back home to an anxious dog who wants to play fetch, a hungry husband, a heap of laundry and, of course, a jewelry collection to update. And, I didn't even start making babies yet!

Operating an online jewelry store in Dubai has proven to be a very challenging yet rewarding experience. The rewarding part is easy: utilizing my social media know-how to market my store and thus adding to my work experience (check!), picking out jewelry based on the latest trends, and making extra cash on the side (check, check!).

But the challenges lie in being able to do all the above and still maintain sanity. I went through a phase where I was losing my mind and I decided to get proactive. The results from implementing the below made me a better employee, business-owner and a wife. But be warned that it is not by any means easy and you will come across days when you want to quit it all, curl up in fetus position and die.

  1. Early Bird Gets the Worm
    One thing all mega-millionaires have in common is waking up early. It's simple: the longer you are awake, the more time you have to get sh*t done. I wake up at 6:30 am to feed and play with Charlie, my dog. Then I check my emails to see what my clients are up to (most of them are in the US or Europe and the time difference means emails at 4am).

    I then check my jewelry store emails for orders, shipment updates and customer feedback on social media (Customer service is key in this business, as I discussed in this blog post).

    Then, I go to work.
  2. Get Organized
    All I can say here is God bless Microsoft Outlook. If Outlook didn't have that heaven-sent calendar that syncs to my phone, I would be in deeeeeep trouble. I write my To-Do list for work, business and home before I start my day and color categorize them for efficiency. And I haven't missed a deadline, a customer email or doctor's appointment since.
  3. Take Some Time For Yourself
    If you are a workaholic, perfectionist, OCD/Anal Retentive type person, you will have a hard time with this one. I used to be like that until I realized every time I over-worked myself, I wasn't able to make proper business-decisions and I became consumed with negativity. That's why I take days off from blogging, Instagram-ing and updating.

    Delegation is so important when running an online store because you physically CAN NOT deal with it all on your own. If nothing urgent, I delegate the work to my sister. My husband helps, my BFFs, my mama. Anyone who asks to help, I take them up on their offer.
Now, it's your turn: How do you maintain a work-life-small business balance? Share your tips with us in the comments section below.

2 comments:

  1. Han I just read this. I am proud of you! :* Love Bitchita

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  2. You can earn $20 for completing a 20 minute survey!

    Guess what? This is exactly what large companies are paying me for. They need to know what their customer base needs and wants. So big companies pay $1,000,000's of dollars each month to the average person. In return, the average person, like myself, answers some questions and gives them their opinion.

    ReplyDelete