A day in my life…
I’m sat at my desk in the study at home. We don’t live in a mansion, but it is an old house and so it has a study. It’s actually a through room from the lounge. The dog is laid on the floor beside me. I used to work from the spare room upstairs and our son had his laptop in the study, but he’s a gamer and likes to get loud when playing with friends. If we tried to watch TV in the evening, it would be near impossible to hear it, so we swapped rooms and now I can spend more time with the dog too.
He’s a Newfoundland called Rocky. He’s adorable, but also a bit dim, but I love him very much. He keeps me company now that Chunky (my husband) works away. Chunky lost his business during the Covid lockdown in 2020. He worked in the music industry, mainly on live events. The music and events industry was hit hard as soon as we went into lockdown. Fortunately he had passed his HGV licence the year before, and so literally overnight he became a truck driver working away Monday to Friday and only home for the weekends.
Known as a ‘tramper’ in the industry, he sleeps in his truck cab four nights a week, sometimes more if working overtime, while I’m at home with our son and the dog. So the dog keeps me company and I love being able to work with him laid at my side. Until he starts Zoombombing when I have a business meeting, then he’s a pain in the bum. It can be quite surprising for other people on the call when they see a giant black dog try to jump on my knee and lick the screen, but mostly he just wants to say hi to everyone. Newfies have this belief that everyone loves them you see. They don’t understand that there could ever be anything more interesting than them making their presence known. It’s just how they are.
Today is Boxing Day 2021. I hadn’t planned on working today, but Chunky has gone clay pigeon shooting and the little one is still in bed, so it’s me typing and the dog sleeping next to me. No Zoom calls today so he’s happy to just nap.
I’ve been creating some social media posts and started one called ‘Don’t pretend your business is bigger than it is’. I started writing and the copy was getting a bit too long for Instagram, so I thought it might be worth writing a blog post about it as I had quite a few feelings on the subject.
After I finished writing I realised that I should definitely be leading by example. I haven’t tried to make my business appear bigger than it is for many years, but I still think I could do better when it comes to sharing more about my life and the behind the scenes of running Pink Giraffe. So here I am, writing about my day. I hope it’s interesting and gives an insight into what it’s like to run my business. Perhaps you’re currently thinking about starting your own sewing business and wondering what it actually looks like behind the social media posts and beautifully staged photographs.
Well, it’s very much like any ordinary life really. There’s nothing too spectacular about running a business from home. The internet has made it easier than ever and you don’t actually need much to get started anymore. But if you’ve got drive and ambition and you want to make it work, you can.
Hopefully this will give you some courage to give it a go. If you’ve been dreaming of running your own sewing business, then just go for it. I’ll be here if you need a hand getting started or growing in the future. I’ve got a free Facebook group and some free resources to help you make it happen.
You can find them here….
Free Resources:
Pricing calculator
Product Costing Checklist for Sewists
Equipment checklist
Croquis for designing clothes or costumes
Facebook Group:
