How to be a Social Media Manager (with kids at home!)
If you are searching for the perfect work from home opportunity, Social Media Managing might just be it. Have kids at home? Here are my tips for how to be a social media manager (with kids at home!)
As a social media manager, I have worked from home in 3 main life scenarios:
- with kids in school
- with kids at home
- and as a homeschool mom
I can guarantee you that I have tried every routine and system in the book, and have a TON of tips for you.
Today we’re going to walk through tips for Scenario #2: working while you still have kids at home.
If you have kids at home all day, you have precious little time to put full focus on your social media manager position.
The idea here is to CREATE time blocks in your days where you can have full focus, and to MAXIMIZE those time blocks.
How to be a Social Media Manager (with kids at home!)
Daily Routine Tips
One of the main things you will need to figure out is how to create pockets of time where work at happen.
Ask yourself the question, “When can I create a consistent pocket of time each day for uninterrupted concentration?” This is huge. You don’t need hours and hours, but in order to do your social media manager job well, you will need blocks of time where you can concentrate on the tasks at hand.
Spend some time intentionally building space for this time.
Here are some suggestions or questions to get you thinking:
>> Could you become an early riser?
If this is a possibility for you,wake up an hour or more before your kids and knock out some work for the day.
>> Does your gym have free daycare?
Usually, as long as you are on the premises, they don’t actually care if you are working out or not…. Just sayin’.
You could check the kids in, get in a quick workout, and then spend time on your laptop.
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>> Could you create a playdate exchange with another mom?
Maybe your kids go to her house for a couple hours per week, and you offer the same.
>> Are you a night owl?
Put those kiddos to bed, and hop onto your laptop.
>> Could you try to create a rock solid quiet time routine for your kids in the afternoon?
Even after they are old enough to be done with naps, quiet time is not only a life-saver for your workload, but also a great skill for them to develop.
Try getting a child clock for their room. We have one we love. You can set it for a certain amount of time, and it will turn green when it’s time to come out of their room. I use this clock for the morning, and also quiet time. This way I KNOW that I have until 7am before littles come out to join me, and I also know I have a solid 30 mins to an hour of quiet time in the afternoon.
Create time for Meetings
As a social media manager, you will not only need time to get the work done, but you will also need to be able to meet with the clients you are working with.
I suggest that you create at least 2 times per month where you are absolutely free for meetings. You will need to meet with the company whose social media you are managing in some way every so often. This could be a meeting with the marketing manager, or the owner of your company, etc.
These meetings may be in person, on the phone, or on the computer. But in any case, you will need to be present and engaged. So it’s likely that you’ll need to find some childcare for these times.
Here are some ideas for creating time for meetings.
>> Can Grandma take the kids 2 mornings per month?
>> Could you hire a sitter for 2 mornings per month?
>> Does your spouse have a day off during the week to take the kids out?
>> Could you exchange kids with another mom friend for 1 morning per week?
(You take all of them one morning, and the next week she does the same – allowing you 2 free mornings per month.)
Now here’s the key to this working: Try to batch EVERY single meeting and phone call into those free mornings. Show up prepared and ready for ALL of them so you can pack them in and bounce from call to call.
Honestly, I used to do this exact thing. My mother-in-law would come and hang with my kiddos one morning per week. My kids LOVED those mornings. And I went into an office where I managed social media and had back to back meetings all morning. Knocked all of them out for the week, and usually even snuck in time for a latte in peace at the coffee shop before I came home!
Tips for Managing the Household
Reality here. There are a limited number of things that you can do 100% in your days.
If you are working from home as a social media manager, and being present with your little kids at home, you will HAVE to choose some things to NOT be awesome at. You will HAVE to batch some things and get them off your plate. (and that’s OK! No mom-guilt allowed.)
Tips for minimizing housework & life chores.
Tip #1: Do everything you can to minimize errands.
Instead of grocery shopping, do grocery pickup (or even delivery if it’s available in your area!) Create an Amazon “subscribe and save” list for all of your vitamins, toiletries, etc, so that those items just magically show up each month.
Automate every chore in life that you can. Have your bills auto-withdraw so that you don’t have to remember to pay them.
Tip #2: Batch life tasks to save time.
Plan a freezer cooking Saturday (and get your family to help!) You can take one day and prep suppers for a month at a time, saving hours every week.
Crockpot meals are your best friend! Plan crockpot or freezer meals for every work day so that as much time as possible is freed up for working your job. Also, lots of crockpot meals can be prepped on the weekend and saved in a gallon ziplock bag. Then on the morning of, you simply dump the meal into the crockpot and turn it on.
Prep YOUR lunches a week at a time. On Saturday or Sunday afternoon, prepare lunches for yourself for the week. This way, it’s as simple as walking to the fridge and grabbing your lunch. Also, as a bonus, you will have a healthy lunch ready, so you don’t grab junk food on a whim.
Working Hours Tips
And now, some tips for those hours that you ARE working! You’ve created the blocks of time to get it done, there are a million things going on in your life… and it would be really easy to be distracted and inefficient the whole time.
Here are some tips to keep you on track and to get as much done as you can during those blocks of time.
Related Posts:
How to Get One Month Ahead on Social Media Posts for your Business
How to Batch Your Social Media Posts
>> Decide ahead of time what you will be working on.
Make a very focused list. Brainstorm ahead of time if you need to. This way when you sit down to that precious, uninterrupted hour or 2, you are not spending any time deciding what to do.
>> Work in priority order.
Decide what thing is THE most important and knock it out first. And so on. This way if a child does come down from their nap early for some reason, at least you got the important things done first!
>> As much as possible, laser-focus your work time and also your quality time with kids.
The very reason you are home with them is because you WANT to spend time with them in these formative years! You don’t want to be spending the whole time on your laptop or phone. Set a certain amount of time that you will work and then put the laptop away.
Try out these tips and you can build a thriving business as a social media manager, and also enjoy being with your kids in their “little” years!
If you are considering becoming a Social Media Manager, it can be the perfect work from home opportunity that allows you to make extra income, and also be home with your kids.
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