A Week in the Life: A Behind the Scenes Look at My Life & Business
The first time I did a “Day in the Life” video for YouTube,
I felt so silly…
I mean, MOST days are full of scheduling out social media posts, brainstorming and planning out upcoming launches (like my Burnout-Proof Business Bootcamp!), talking to speaking and coaching customers, recording podcasts and YouTube from my 497 sqft studio apartment, and taking morning walks along the water at my fave spot…
When it’s sunny that is. ☀️
Riveting, right? 😉
But, I get asked ALL the time: “Ellyn, what does your day-to-day life look like these days?”
The truth is, having these kickass Notion systems, automation, routines, habits, and mindsets that I’ve built into my life is a big part of what helps me create a business and a lifestyle of more freedom and less hustle.
Sure—I’ve got chunks of time where I’m glued to my computer writing and planning and brainstorming … and chunks of time when I’m having my own lip sync dance party to Imagine Dragons on a walk … and chunks of time when I’m still tutoring my students … and chunks of time where I’m sipping wine with a bestie at dinner OR huffing and puffing on a hike.
… and I know that lots of my followers want to figure out how to build a side business that they love that becomes your full-time while keeping your family, friends, and life in focus, too.
If you want to walk a mile in the shoes of an outgoing-introvert, scientist-turned-entrepreneur, single thirty-something, PNW-based Auntie, coach, and speaker…keep on reading!
Spoiler alert: I’m a pretty un-glamorous, normal girlie over here—no outfit changes or helicopter dates” here. 😉
So, here we go:
Monday—April 8th…
This week, because I have a very consistent schedule this week. I try to wake up around 7-7:30am. I’m pretty slow when I get up in the morning, so my mornings tend to look like meditation, journaling, reading, and I’ve been trying to incorporate more stretching.
On a typical morning, I might also go for a walk. Still, every morning this week I’m joining a masterclass to learn more about using LinkedIn for Lead Generation and LinkedIn Marketing. So, every day from 9-10:15am, I’m going to be on that call and to help me get in some movement, I’m going to be walking on my walking pad during this time. I’ve been finding this is probably the best time for me to use my walking pad while I work!
This week will probably be hit or miss in terms of WHEN I’m going to do my Power Hour—it might be before the LinkedIn Masterclass or after, but it will happen sometime on Monday.
I also recently went through my Daily Planners and added in the tasks specific to that days theme. And on Monday, it’s ALL about planning and learning. So, after my morning, I’m going to dive into my planning and learning theme. I’m going to…
Review my last week
Plan for my upcoming week
And spend some time diving into my Weekly Learning
After that I may or may not work, that might come later, and then I dive into my student work for the day.
Mondays are a heavy student and tutoring day for me. I generally have students from about 2 to 8 p.m. Then, I call it a day, either spending my evening reading or (admittedly) watching Netflix.
Then, I wind down with my evening routine usually by doing my evening reflection, doing a little stretching and maybe meditation (which I’ll admit I’m inconsistent with), but I LOVE ending my day by reading fiction before I go to bed!
So, that’s Monday.
Tuesday—April 9th…
Again, my mornings are going to look almost exactly the same this week. I’ll get up, meditate, journal, and read, stretch, then hope on the LinkedIn Masterclass call on my walking pad. I’m going to have to be super diligent tomorrow morning to get my power hour done BEFORE the masterclass because I have a lot of client work and calls on my schedule for Tuesday.
After the Masterclass, I have another webinar that I’m planning on joining about creating a signature framework. I want to slot in my workout right after this call but before my theme of the day really kicks off: client work.
Then, I have a call with one of my clients. We’re restarting after taking a few weeks off after she (👏🏻👏🏻) went on vacation.
Then, I have a couple of tutoring sessions in the evening on Tuesday and another webinar on Tuesday evening about growing my speaking brand and business.
The theme for Tuesday is ALL about client work, so anytime I’m not working with clients on Tuesday, I’m going to focus on the clients that I already have. I’ll be prepping for upcoming speaking gigs and doing some of the client work (Notion work, etc.) that I have on the docket for my clients.
Then, Tuesday evening I’m getting together with a new friend that I met through a business networking group. We went and got pizza at a really cute place I’d never been to before!
Wednesday—April 10th…
I don’t know what was into me this morning, but I woke up at like 6:45am—before my alarm! Who am I? But it was really nice to not have to move so swiftly through my morning and get to enjoy things even more. I meditated, made my morning mocktail, read on the couch, and completed my morning 5 Min Journal! Then, I checked into my day! I’ve talked about my Notion Morning routine before on YouTube, but it’s gotten a bit of an update recently. Drop a comment below if you’re interested in seeing my updated version!
Then, I hopped onto the day’s webinar for the Lead Gen Masterclass I’ve been in all week, but this week was a LITTLE bit different! I really wanted to go for a walk and swing by the local market to grab a couple things, but I knew I wouldn’t have time if I waited until later. So, I tuned into the webinar via phone and walked while I listened through a local park before swinging by the market on the way home. It was only about 25-30 minute walk, but my big focus lately has just been to MOVE more and I think this fits!
After the webinar (which was really good today!), I went off to one of favorite parts of the month—CONTENT DAY! I go to a content day with EmpowerPNW—a local networking group and I LOVE going to the content days because we help each other create content, film, brainstorm, jump on trends, etc. Today was REALLY fun because I brainstormed content, filmed a couple of reels, wrote captions, and just generally
Then, once I get home I do my own content work! But this week, I wasn’t doing so much content work, but getting my Free Subscriber Hub set-up for my Burnout-Proof Business BOOTCAMP, which I’ll be running for FREE from April 14th - April 20th!
Just like the rest of the week, I switch gears into tutoring work in the afternoon. Similar to Monday, I have a big stretch of tutoring in the afternoon on Wednesday. I have students from 2-7pm and then, I’m done for the day.
Thursday—April 11th…
Mornings? The same. Morning routine. Power hour and LinkedIn masterclass—but the only difference is that on Thursday, I run a FREE weekly coworking group! I’ll be doing double-duty on Thursday because the LinkedIn Masterclass during coworking! Yay for a juggling act! Join us for coworking here >>
Then, Thursday is another client-focused day, but it’s a little bit of a juggle of client and projects on Thursday. I have a client on Thursday morning who is REALLY working on leveling up her systems so that she can ramp down the overwhelm and chaos that she feels in running her business. We’ve got a LOT of work going on in creating themed days for her.
Then, I’m switching gears to my Burnout-Proof Members Club this week. I’m going to be doing a training in my membership all about project management and some of the things we need to be thinking out re: best practices for managing your projects so they allow you to have a life!
Thursdays are USUALLY a day off from my tutoring job, but I do have one appointment later that day to support a student who has an exam on Friday, but the rest of the day on Thursday is just for me. There’s going to be a BIG focus on some of my projects. So, I’m going to look at the projects that I have going on and the #1 priority and that’s going to be my big area of focus.
Then, I’m headed to my friends house on Thursday night. We’re having a little “slumber party” because on Friday, fun things are happening!
Friday—April 12th…
I am so excited for Friday because on Friday, my friends and I are getting together and heading up North from Seattle to Artist’s Point for a hike/snowshoe. We’re bringing both because, honestly? I have no idea what the weather is going to be like, but I’m so excited. My friend Naomi has been bragging about Artist’s Point for years and I’ve been dying to go! Yay for actually being able to!
I’ll post pictures and any shenanigans on Friday.
This is a NO WORK day for me and I—non-negotiably—take at least 1 of these days off this week.
Saturday—April 13th…
This is also technically going to be a day off, but because of this LinkedIn Masterclass, I’m going to be starting my day very similarly to the rest of the week. I usually do my morning routine anyway (it’s just slower and more relaxed), then the LinkedIn Masterclass, and then I’m going to take Saturday as a Life Admin Day/Declutter Day!
I’m going to deep clean my apartment (especially because I might be having a photoshoot here next week!), I’m going to take care of some of the little decluttering, cleaning, just life things that I need to take care of.
But, really? This is going to be a chill day! Unless I have a date…TBD on that!
Sunday—April 14th…
This is another work day for me, but it’s honestly a PRETTY light one. My morning is the same as usual, including the LinkedIn Masterclass, but this is also the day where I’m KICKING OFF my Burnout-Proof Business Bootcamp! At 5pm PST / 8pm EST on Sunday, I’ll be doing my FIRST live inside of the BOOTCAMP!
I’ll also be touching base with (as it stands now) about 5 of my students. I’m about 50/50 on Sunday with what students I’m working with that are test prep vs. which students are academic students. Then, I’m trying to get in the habit of doing my weekly review on Sunday (or Friday) instead of waiting until Monday!
So, that’s a week in my life! It’s unglamorous, but balanced! At least in my perspective. I’ll update this post over the week with any things that looked different than I planned!