It’s getting to that time of the year when everyone tries to get organised with all that gift buying. Christmas can be such a wonderful experience and I love giving gifts that I know people will appreciate and enjoy. I like to put a lot of thought into the gifts I buy and this year I have been trying to buy from small businesses, or other work from home mums. Not only am I getting quality, hand-made gifts for my loved ones, but I’m supporting my fellow small business owners. This makes the gift buying that bit more enjoyable and removes the part I really don’t like, shopping in large crowds! So this way, everyone wins.

As well as preparing for Christmas and getting the gifts sorted, I’ve been spending a lot of time working on my new business. It has enabled me to have a bit of extra income, which is a big help at this time of year. The skills I am learning from this new business have also really boosted my confidence and I can see ways of using these skills across both my businesses. The way in which my new business works means that I can communicate with customers as and when I have the free time, so it doesn’t affect my time with Maya. I can prioritize my day around what I need to do with her and slot in time for placing orders, checking payments etc when she is otherwise occupied, or asleep! We had a lovely evening last week when Carl was out with a mate and me and Maya had some quality mummy/daughter time. I was able to actually sit back at one point and think, this is what it’s all about. I knew that I had that time to play with her, then and there and once she went to bed, then I could do some work for my business. That is the ideal work/life balance that I have been looking for in my job. I finally have the time I want to spend with my daughter, but I also have the time to work and make that bit of extra money.

The satisfaction that I got from finally thinking, yes, I have that time, was amazing. If I can have that, then maybe other people can to. Maybe I can be the one to give that gift of time to others. Through offering my services as a Virtual Assistant to others that don’t have the time to sort everything they need to do, my hope is that I can give them that time back. The time they can then use to spend with their families. If you have a small business and you need someone to take away the time-consuming tasks from you, so that you can have that time back, please get in contact with me.