From morning routines to afternoon workflows, our Day in the Life series gives us a peek into fellow female entrepreneur’s day-to-day lives. Join us in today’s feature – offering an intimate look at the challenges, triumphs, and routines that fuel this week’s founder’s success in every area of life.
Tell us about your business- what type of work do you do?
I’m the Founder of Knockout Directive, which is a brand and publicity consultancy that works primarily with service providers and lifestyle brands on holistic strategies that define their unique position in the marketplace, and amplify their stories.
Around half of my clients are corporate retainers – larger businesses that need additional support with ongoing marketing and PR efforts, pretty much the classic depiction of a ‘consultant’. The other half of my clients are small businesses and solopreneurs that don’t necessarily have the budget for a publicist on retainer, so I’ve designed publicity coaching programs that teach them how they can implement these amazing tactics themselves.
What’s the first thing you do in the morning? How do you start your day?
So here’s the thing – I always thought that, to be considered a ‘high performing entrepreneur’, I had to join the 5am club. But honestly I love sleep, and the fact that I no longer have a corporate job that requires me to wake up at a certain time was enough to convince me that there were other clubs better suited for me.
So I typically wake up around 7am, and I have a strict no-phone policy for myself. When I wake up, the phone has already been on Do Not Disturb mode since 9pm the night before, so I don’t check notifications or even the weather. When my alarm goes off, I immediately try to focus my thoughts on gratitude by thinking of three things I’m grateful for that day. Then I get up, and head to the bathroom to get ready.
If I have calls or meetings, or really anything that involves seeing humans other than my partner, I will do my hair and makeup and put on ‘outside clothes’. I would say this is the case at least 3 – 4 days per week. If I’m NOT going to see clients or people, I do a simple morning skincare routine, pull my hair into a slicked back bun, and put on sweats. After that, I head downstairs for a green juice and breakfast, and then take my dog for a 30 minute walk (only if it’s not raining – he’s a bit particular that way). After the walk, I make a latte and head upstairs to my home office to start the day.
How do you organize your work day?
So, I am extremely Type A and organized. It’s one of the best qualities you can have as an entrepreneur, because I generally know how each week and day is going to go before it starts. I have an extremely detailed and color coded Google Calendar, and I time block my client work, appointments, and literally everything else, at least 2 months in advance. Of course I leave room for flexibility, but this coordination helps me see how much availability I have for new clients, especially if I’m planning to take some time off.
I’m slowly getting to a place where certain days are designed for certain tasks. For example, Mondays are for strategy development, Tuesdays are for coaching and discovery calls, etc. I think this will help me be more efficient in my work because I’ve never implemented that sort of structure before, and it can be super challenging to jump between focused work and Zoom calls.
Walk us through the rest of your day.
I usually start my work day around 9am, and I always start by reviewing my emails first in case anything has come in overnight. I don’t usually respond right away, but I like to know if any additional tasks have come up that will need to be added to my list for the week. I will also check my Media Monitoring software on behalf of my PR clients, to see if any new mentions have popped up. I usually reserve mornings for my most focused work (like copywriting, or content planning) because that’s when I find I have the most discipline.
I typically work until around noon, and then I take a break for lunch and a workout. Lately, squeezing in the workout has been tough, because if any last minute calls come up, that’s usually the only time slot I have available, and I’m not great at holding that time for myself (working on it, though!). My productivity levels usually take a dip in the late afternoon, so I try to push most of my calls or lighter tasks to this time. Sometimes I forgo work completely and go get a facial or manicure instead, and I usually wrap up my work day around 4 – 5pm. After that, I take my dog for another long walk, and then try to spend time cooking a healthy meal for my partner and I. He’s also a business owner – he works in landscaping – so he’s literally ALWAYS hungry, and I usually find myself racing against the clock so there’s something for him to eat when he gets home. If I had a longer afternoon of work though, he’s great about helping out or picking something up for us on his way home.
After dinner we clean up, and if I have any work-related tasks that need to be wrapped up, I’ll finish them right after dinner. That way I can change into my comfies, light a candle, and spend the rest of my evening watching Bravo.
Do you have a team? If so, how do you work together?
I don’t have a consistent team just yet – it’s in the works! But I do have a handful of contractors that support me with various clients, usually on graphic or web design. Because we work on a fairly casual basis right now, we communicate via email, and everyone works quite independently to meet their deadlines.
I do know that I need more consistent support on the PR side of my business however, so I’m currently working on formalizing a plan for an Assistant to come on board to help out on those projects, and with my Knockout brand more broadly.
What do you do after work?
After work is always different. I usually go to a Reformer Pilates class twice a week (which is why I don’t get too hung up on skipping my lunchtime workout), or I will have dinner with friends or go to various self-care appointments. I also LOVE learning new skills, so the latest addition to my extracurricular schedule is stand-up comedy classes. I love standup comedy and learning how to perfect this skill myself has been on my list for a long time. I also strongly believe that this type of skill development strongly supports my public speaking skills, as I grow that branch of my business as well.
Tell us about your evening routine.
I really take my wind down quite seriously, as I find that evenings are prime time for my anxieties to bubble over. Obviously being out and about is a good distraction for this, but if I’m spending an evening at home, I usually spend some time watching some of my favorite reality TV shows. Around 9pm I start getting ready for bed with a longer skincare routine, and I either read a book or write in my journal. My strict no-phone policy comes into play at this time too – Do Not Disturb kicks in at 9pm, and that’s when I try to work on regulating my nervous system and creating a calm environment for sleep.
What are your tips for work/life balance?
I’m really passionate about work/life balance, and to me the most important advice I can give is to be flexible. In the early days of my business I would schedule my days so tightly with client work, that if I ended up not feeling well, or if I decided I wanted to go run errands in the afternoon instead, it would throw off my schedule for the whole week. It didn’t take me long to realize that that is definitely not how I want to run my business or live my life, so I’ve moved to a much more flexible model where yes, I’m still accountable to get work done, but it doesn’t have to be so rigid. Color coded time blocking on my Google Calendar is the most practical way to assess how much I am ‘working’ versus how much I am ‘living’, so I tend to use that as a reference for scheduling, and I’m pretty good at intuitively knowing how much focused work I can actually accomplish in a day.
What do you look forward to most every day?
The amazing thing about being a business owner is that you never know what wonderful opportunities might materialize on any given day. For me, receiving an invitation to speak on a podcast, or seeing a new client book a Discovery Call reminds me how impactful my business is, and I just really look forward to these special ‘unknowns’.
Second to that, I look forward to spending time with my partner and our dogs. Obviously running a business isn’t all butterflies and rainbows, so it’s important to stay connected to its greater purpose, which is supporting a life that’s fulfilling and comfortable.
How do you practice self-care?
For me, self-care typically involves rest. So that means holding strict boundaries with work and technology, and knowing that the more inner work I can do through fitness, journaling and reflection, the more successful my business will be.
Besides that, vacations are a big one for me. I worked in corporate marketing for 10 years before starting my business, and would really maximize my limited vacation time the best that I could, to see as much of the world as possible.
Now, as a business owner, it’s actually really easy to shy away from taking those trips and time off because there always feels like there’s SO much to do. But I try to take 2 weeks off every quarter to travel, because exploring new places and making new memories is such a wonderful source of inspiration for me. Travel really is the activity that makes my heart flutter.
