Confessions of a Baby Boutique Owner

People often ask me what exactly do I do all day?? As you can see, summer is extremely busy with birthday dress orders. A typical work day for me begins around 6am (I can hear your groans). I have many customers on the East coast so it is already 9am there and my email box is likely full and voicemail will have messages waiting to be returned. After chugging many cups of coffee, I answer emails, print orders and often times, begin monogramming. I used to have this outsourced, but found it to be much more cost effective to have my own machine. This is my most time consuming task- each name has to be properly set up in the computer and the clothing item has to be hooped (centered exactly and not sloping in any way). Much harder than it looks! After monogramming is done, I work on wrapping orders, printing labels and preparing orders for shipment. The rest of the day is spent editing photos, coordinating with my seamstresses, looking for new products, etc. Before I know it, it is afternoon. When I first started, I did not have any limits or boundaries. I was always working, checking email and had no definitive line between work and play ("play" meaning taking care of other matters, like my kids). I quickly learned to separate the two or else pull all my hair out from constantly being pulled in so many directions. Some things I do to help keep my stress under control is I always go for a morning run, I always stop work at 4pm and only work the weekends when absolutely necessary. I think it is super important to find a balance when you are a work at home mom.

And sometimes it is important to play "hooky"! My husband and I recently packed up the kids and headed to San Francisco for the day (Only 90 minutes from our house). It was a weekday and I had a ton to do and felt super guilty, but once there, it felt so nice to get away. The kids loved running around on the beach and I realized it was important for them to get away too