Own Your Time Amanda Hughes
I’m joined this week by Amanda Hughes on Own Your Time.
In today’s episode I’m going to be chatting with Amanda Hughes.
Amanda is a passionate small business brand photographer, podcaster, and bestselling author based in Ayrshire, Scotland. With over a decade of entrepreneurial experience, Amanda specialises in empowering small business owners to elevate their brands through affordable, high-quality photography. Having started her journey as a wedding and event florist, she later transitioned into brand photography, combining her creative eye with a deep understanding of what small businesses need to thrive.
A devoted wife and twin mum, Amanda balances her bustling family life with her professional ventures. She’s the proud host of The Growth Addicts Podcast, an Apple Top 50 show, where she shares business tips and insights from inspiring guests. Amanda also authored the Amazon #1 bestseller, The Sunday Club Social Media Planner, a tool designed to help entrepreneurs streamline their content creation in just one hour per week.
Whether it's through her engaging podcast, brand photography membership, or digital guides, Amanda's mission is clear: to help small businesses not just survive, but thrive.
Let’s get into it…
In this episode we cover:
Amanda Hughes
Amanda’s journey from a wedding florist to a brand photographer.
How Amanda balances family life with a demanding business schedule.
The power of planning and time management in achieving work-life balance.
Insights into Amanda’s bestselling Sunday Club Social Media Planner.
Tips for small business owners to effectively plan and execute social media content.
Read the transcript:
Please note - this podcast episode was transcribed by an AI tool, there may be some typos or errors.
00:00 Welcome to Own Your Time, a podcast for small business owners. Get ready to harness your most precious asset, your time, with intention, enabling you to create a life that thrives in simplicity, ease and joy.
00:17 I'm your host, Sarah Stewart, Glasgow-based time management expert. My approach combines the wisdom of traditional time management strategies with the transformative power of mindfulness.
00:30 My commitment is to help you to get more time for the things that really matter. If you are ready to ditch the hustle culture and overwhelm and instead embrace peaceful productivity, you are in the right place.
00:43 In today's episode, I'm going to be chatting with Amanda Hughes. Amanda is a passionate small business brand photographer, her, podcaster, and best-selling author based in Airshire, Scotland.
00:57 She is over a decade of entrepreneurial experience. She specialises in empowering small business owners to elevate their brands through affordable, high-quality photography.
01:08 Having started her journey as a wedding and event florist, she later transitioned into brand photography, combining her creative with a deep understanding of what small businesses need to thrive.
01:21 She's the devoted wife and twin mum and she balances her bustling family life with her professional ventures. And we're going to get into that in the episode.
01:30 She's the proud host of the growth addict's podcast, an Apple Top 50 show where she shares business tips and insights from inspiring guests.
01:40 And I was one of these guests so you can hop on over after you've listened to this, to listen to my episode on Amanda's podcast.
01:49 And she's also authored the Amazon number one bestseller, the Sunday Club social media planner, which is a tool designed to help entrepreneurs streamline their content creation in just one hour a week.
02:01 And I also have a copy of her planner too. So whether it's through her podcast, brand photography or her digital guides.
02:10 Her mission is clear to help small businesses not just survive but thrive. So let's get into the conversation. Amanda, welcome.
02:20 Hi. It's so good to have you on the podcast. This is nice because I've been on your podcast and now you're coming online.
02:28 And so I say that it's so lovely to be the other end. It's lovely. So I'm gonna guess that some of my audience will know who you are.
02:41 And they may well have listened to our podcast together. But why don't you and your own words tell us a little bit about you and your business?
02:51 Sure. So hi, I'm Amanda. And yeah, thanks so much for having me on. I loved our episode when you were on Growth Adix.
02:59 So it's a pleasure to be on your podcast. Thank you. So yeah, I'm joining you from Ayrshire today. It's a nice, sunny, bright day in Ayrshire in November, which is nice business.
03:12 It's hard to wrap up what I do into one sort of title. And we discussed this as well. I think this is a problem when you're self-employed and you start exploring other avenues, doesn't it?
03:22 It's not just as simple as one title. So there's a few things that I do business-wise, but they all have the same goal and that my goal is to help small business owners grow their business in various ways.
03:33 So I've mentioned the podcast, I have the Growth Addicts podcast, where we're all addicted to growing our small businesses, cover various topics on there, like our episodes on time management and the importance of time management and planning in advance, We've covered topics like working with your menstrual
03:50 cycle, self-publishing of loads of things. So it's a bit out the box, I like to think the podcast, or we just cover loads of topics that can help small business owners.
04:02 I like to think it's a place you can go and just grab a cup and sit down and kind of tune in on a conversation.
04:07 It's less than a conversation. We've come away with a few notes to help you put something into place, if that's something you've been thinking about.
04:15 Yeah, I think that was the one thing about your podcast that I really liked was that like the the goal is for people to then like take away something practical that they can go away and do.
04:26 So I do really like that about your podcast. Well, thank you. And it wasn't something that was necessarily the start, but it's time went on and I thought, no, I wanted to be more.
04:34 where I wanted to be a mix between a sort of workshop and a just listening to someone's conversation or almost more than that feeling like you're there that you're sat with two business pals and part of the chat.
04:46 So yeah, as you know yourself, it's all working progress isn't it? Very much still learning. So learnings we're going along with that one, but loving doing that, I'm a brand photographer as well for small business.
04:56 I work exclusively with small businesses. I have a brand photography membership where you sign up over the year and get two shoots a year.
05:03 so that's fully booked for next year, which still feels incredible to say. Wow, I've had an absolute ball working with small businesses doing photography this year.
05:12 It's just been great fun for me on this. It feels very selfish saying that's a job, because I really enjoy it so much.
05:19 I've been to some lovely places, seen some lovely workplaces, been in some lovely beaches. Yeah, so brand photographer's ball business podcast.
05:27 This is where I'm trying to remember myself, you're saying, and then a new sort of addition to my business is Get Seen, Get Sales on Instagram, The Mentorship.
05:40 So I've actually just recorded my next episode, which is all about how this came to be because my business started off as a brand photography and then has just evolved and evolved into this.
05:49 But this is a mentor group group mentorship, for small business owners who want to grow Instagram. So if you're new to Instagram and just don't know where to start, or you've been there for a while, you know your I do clients on Instagram, but you're just putting all this time in and getting nothing
06:04 back, then that's a place for you to be. And it's a fantastic place, so I'll share with the listeners, like I'm in the group at the moment, and the support, like that community, the community, like it really is lovely.
06:22 And it sort of goes along, I've got my planner next to me here right now. So a sort of TV.
06:29 Yeah, you've got your planner as well, so don't forget to talk about that, which is great. I love my planner.
06:37 I love my planner. And that is so surreal, just still seeing people with it. Seeing you having it there and I met a client, a photography client for a coffee, a couple of months ago she turned up my planner and I was like oh my gosh that's so it's just so funny to see these things in the wild isn't it
06:54 ? So yeah I have my Sunday Club Social Media planner and Sunday Club because that's when I do my planning, I take an hour and a Sunday to plan, I have done for a long time, but other planning days are available so don't be too old for Sunday's not for you.
07:08 So yeah Sunday Club Social Media planner is a lovely, as you see there, say there's got one is pen to paper planner, it's a yearly planner, undateed page per week for you to plan your content for the fall and week, which is just such a little key to success, honestly, because who has got time and headspace
07:26 to think up content on the go through the week? I mean, you have spontaneous content comes to you and often it's the content that does really well, might just be fun, lighthearted, but your serious kind of nurturing and conversion content, the stuff that's really going to build your community and really
07:42 lead to sales. Who can think of that in mid-week when you're up to your eyes in it? I don't know, not me, so yeah, I've got the planner, but I think we're going to talk a bit about that later as well, in terms of time management.
07:56 So, yeah, so got photography. All as I say, with the underpinning of helping small businesses grow photography, podcast, planner and your membership and of course blog and private emails and stuff so yeah community is an absolute heart of my business it's really important that I feel connected to everyone
08:18 that's in that community and they feel connected to me and we chat often you know and just yeah I love working with small business owners it really is an absolute privilege pretty awesome people and you like I definitely get that from your content, you know, the importance of community and yeah, it's
08:38 a great group that you've got. So can we, before we sort of delve into the business, can we chat a little bit about your personal life?
08:47 Because I know that you've shared sort of, you know, openly online, you're a twin mum. You know, so there's that sort of time management side of things when we think about your family life.
09:03 Do you want to maybe share just a little bit about that and maybe thinking about, you know, how do you then prioritise everything that you have going on in conjunction with your business?
09:15 Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, I have twins, I boyguero twins, they're four now, so we're born in 2020 and it really does fly in, doesn't it?
09:24 The saying that the days are long but the years are short has never been more true. So, yeah, so boyguero twins and when a few weeks after they were born, my son started making some sort of odd movements and he was really unhappy.
09:42 But, you know, babies are unhappy for a lot of reasons, so it's hard to pinpoint these things, but this from about two or three weeks old, up until about four weeks old, we were just in and out of hospital constantly, and diagnosed with colic and brushed off as a few things, but a mother's instinct is
10:02 very strong and I know they think I was just acting crazy, but I knew fine well something was seriously wrong, I just bit of a fight for diagnosis at the start, but when he was around 4 weeks old, he received an epilepsy diagnosis, a pretty rare and catastrophic form of epilepsy as it's described called
10:26 infantile spasms, so poses a severe threat to development at those early stages. So yeah, we literally met with the consultant and had one hour to go home and pack our life's up and moving to hospital, remember their first months after that?
10:44 Yeah, so an M and we did come home, oh, we'll remember this, the dog ran out, the front door and ran off, that day.
10:51 Oh my gosh. One of the things you remember, isn't it? And I was like, what is happening? So that's what happened.
10:59 We had that hour to pack up and get up to hospital. We had to get these seizures which these odd movements were seizures, had to get them under control as soon as possible.
11:10 So the short version of what's happened in the long, the last four years. So we were in hospital for months locally, we got transferred to Glasgow Children's Hospital because our local hospital could kind of take in as far as they could.
11:24 So when you did specialist care, we spent another few months in there. So yeah, the first few months of our baby's life, so a lot of their firsts happened in hospital.
11:33 And as you maybe mentioned at the time that I had my own business at the time before I did the business that I'm doing just now.
11:40 So my first small business was wedding and event floor history, the floral design boutique. So that had been going for a long time as well established, weddings were put to years in advance, absolutely loved it.
11:53 But then when I was pregnant in January 2020 and then of course Covid came along and what down was announced in March 2020, so my diary emptied anyway, weddings were being cancelled, venues were closing and then of course I found out it was pregnant with twins, so you know that all happened.
12:12 So just to kind of put work life in there as well when all this was going on, everything work life was just on hold anyway, so that was happening in the background.
12:23 So yes, we're in a hospital for quite a lot, quite a long time and then we finally got seizures under control for almost a year, would you believe?
12:33 So that was happened in the October. And then it was around end of August September, where our consultant had said, you know, things only can really good on the medication.
12:41 We've been seizure free. Let's have a chat about what to do next. In terms of we might start reducing this medication, see how we go on?
12:50 It's funny though, because again, that mother instinct, there's nothing like it. And I just, I thought, I don't know, that that doesn't feel right.
12:58 And then literally within a week of that phone call, seizures started again and they started with an absolute vengeance. In an out hospital constantly, I'm talking hundreds of seizures a week all day.
13:11 Oh my gosh. It was awful. And we were just up in medications, trying new medications, chasing the highest dose. A bit nowhere would never go 24 hours without a seizure.
13:24 it really it really was an awful time for us as a family and of course for actor his little body as well you know um it wasn't even a year old at that point oh gosh this continued again just trying to give the short version here then a new diagnosis where it was diagnosed as refractory epilepsy which
13:45 means drug resistant so we had maxed out all the options for medication and none of them were working so it was considered then drug resistant.
13:54 Archer had also started to acquire a right hemiplegia, so witness on the right side of the body, which led to them thinking that, well, knowing as well, three MRIs, that the heaps having focal seizures, which means these seizures were coming from the left side of the brain.
14:08 So, and that again, and these always these extreme appointments of news, we were told, and one that was refractory, there was no more medication to try.
14:17 He was developing a right hemiplegia, which would probably be a disability for life on the right side, and also that the only next option that might work would be neurosurgery, where they go in and disconnect left side of the brain permanently, and a bed to maybe stop seizures.
14:35 Might stop seizures, but, so that's a might, and what it definitely will do will cause permanently, permanent disabilities on the right side and a 50% loss of eyesight so apparently visually impaired so you can only imagine that decision that decision was put to us you know it wasn't like we're rushing
14:56 them in for emergency surgeries like this is an option if you want but the other option is continue like this and his seizures were now in black and white considered a threat to life so that's the options we had oh my gosh yeah so So that was a tough time, a really, really tough time.
15:16 How do you go in about making a decision like that off? Do you remember we got home that day? So that was Edinburgh Children's Hospital.
15:24 I remember coming out of that appointment and having to unclench my jaw. I didn't even realise, but it had totally locked.
15:29 Just so tense. I don't even know where to start. And then when we got home that day, he had 10 seizures within an hour, and the decision was made.
15:41 We couldn't continue like that. we had to try something. So we pretty much made a decision there, although we wrote a lot of pros and cons list, we were counseled really well with the top neurology department Glasgow and Edinburgh.
15:53 We had a lot of support to answer questions. Every question we had, we were put in touch with another family who had this, their son had this surgery.
16:03 I think at the time it was about five or six years prior, so we got to meet him and he was living a seizure-free life, even with these disabilities, he was still living a very full life.
16:14 So yeah, a lot of support, and we made decisions to go ahead with the neurosurgery, which was two years ago now.
16:21 So we had that just after he's second birthday. So again, another few months in hospital between Edinburgh and Glasgow, total rehabilitation after the surgery to walk and talk.
16:32 And he's just a trooper, he really is. So always touchwoods but two years just two years passed in subterranean September and we've been seizure-free since.
16:42 Wow. Yeah, so it has been, has been Hellen Earth. I don't think there's any other way to describe it that really has been Hellen Earth.
16:53 But here we are today. He is a thriving four-year-old. If you first met him you wouldn't know the half of what he's been through.
17:01 He is talking and walking and I dug out his Justin with his visual impairments, he's got a 50% visual loss on the right side of both eyes.
17:10 Okay. So, you know, he can only see at the left, but how he's adapted to that is just incredible. He is a strong, a strong little guy, he really is.
17:20 And bless him, he won't even realize a half of what he's been through, you know? He, yeah. So, so it has, of course, left and with those permanent disabilities in the right side.
17:29 So the right hemiplegia that had already started to present itself before the surgery, is now very, very prevalent as they had to really learn to walk.
17:38 His foot dropped into a dropped position, so he has to wear an EFO, like a splint on his foot, keep his foot in a position and prevent those muscles from shortening and staying that way.
17:47 Okay. And it's dangerous that he's got no functioning in his right hand really at all, so that requires constant occupational therapy weekly, twice weekly.
17:57 While he's young, early intervention, to try and get as much out of that hand in arm as we can for him for adult life.
18:05 So at the minute he might be able to bring his hand up and like hold a bit of paper and draw something with the left, but the hand itself doesn't function on its own for like fine motor skills, doesn't open or close or anything.
18:14 Okay. So now the stage we're at is there's a lot of appointments. Yeah. I mean there's always been a lot of appointments to be fair and now it's therapy appointments, neuro appointments, checkups, that kind of thing but he's never very very, very good place for what we are eternally grateful.
18:32 The surgeon who did his surgery will never not be on my mind. He'll get a Christmas card from me from the day I go and leave this earth.
18:40 Yeah, because as far as your concern, he performed a literal miracle. So, wow. That's the actual short version, even though it's quite lengthy.
18:50 I imagine with the long versions like that. I'm at like Amanda, wow. Yeah, it was a lot. Yeah, so, so that's that's personal life and of course all the time we had another, we've got a daughter as well, their twins, you know, so she comes through all this with us as well, or she's something else, she's
19:09 a very smart kicky, she's very smart, but she's been through a lot as well, she's been separated from us a lot, overall that when we were living in hospital, it just wasn't a place for her to be you know so she was at times in hospital staying with us but it was really difficult for everyone so at times
19:24 she was staying with my sister and come back to us and yeah so a lot in her young life as well but um now we're back home as a family and yeah it means a lot yeah and and so how like you know you're doing so well with your business like how do you manage that around all the medical appointments and things
19:46 that you have. I am planning, planning is, I mean, it would all go to put, if it wasn't for planning in advance, absolutely.
19:56 So, yeah, again, just to touch on that because I've mentioned that I had the way to an event floor issue is this and now what I do is very different.
20:02 But, you know, at that time, I've worked with a lot of wedding suppliers and we were always talking about small business growth and Instagram and whatever, you know, and I always enjoyed that conversation.
20:11 And I've always enjoyed photography. So after all of that happened, let's say we got out of hospital, it was just before Christmas or on December for after the surgery and then around January February is when I really started to feel it.
20:23 When things started to get better, I seem to fall apart. I think all that everything I've been in amongst that was holding me together and then I just, you know, so I had a chat with my lovely GP, she was just so good and we had a really holistic chat about what things I enjoyed because I'd lost all
20:43 sense of myself, you know, I wasn't working anymore. I could tell you anything you needed to know about epilepsy and I mean anything, like boom, boom, boom, to the point sub of the doctor should ask if I had a medical background, but just I was just soaking it all in, it was so important to know it.
20:58 But I had no clue what I enjoyed doing. So we spoke about what I enjoyed doing and when I finally got there as like I really enjoy photography always have done from a very young age, I remember taking my camera into the chemist to get my film developed so yeah I was like you know I love not just photography
21:16 but the whole editing process as well and my doctor was like lift your camera and take it everywhere you go with you you know my big camera so that's what I did so my business actually evolved from doctor's orders I started taking my camera everywhere and then a few small business friends had asked if
21:31 I wanted to come and shoot some behind the scenes with them and I was just so glad of the experience and something to do and it really became that work was a distraction and a break and something I enjoyed and it was just such an awesome outlet and a creative outlet as well and then it rolled from there
21:45 into working with other small business owners and doing shoots and gain an experience to what is now a major part of my business.
21:53 I love how that happens. In terms of time management around that so when that started to, at first I was thinking I'm never going to be able to work properly again like you know I was a kind of a full-time carer for a long time, not just in the way that a parent to twin youngsters is a carer anyway,
22:14 it's much more than that. There's a lot of medications to distribute and yeah, a lot more comes with it when you're a parent carer as opposed to a parent which is hard enough as it is.
22:26 And I did think I don't think I'm ever going to be able to manage this. What you just do, don't you?
22:31 When it's something you really enjoy and that's when planning became even more prevalent. So I've always worked wise, planned on a Sunday night for the week ahead, in terms of what I had done that week, but also planned my content for the week ahead.
22:44 So I've done that for a long time. But now that plan became even more important, where the first thing I would slot in would be archer's appointments.
22:51 And for a long time, I'm talking three or four appointments a week every week for a long time. So really recently that that started to calm down and started to spread they might be born nightly, monthly, that kind of thing.
23:04 And they're in nursery now as well, which is incredible and a lot of our therapy teams go and see them in nursery too.
23:09 Oh wow, which is really good. Yeah, and freeze me up. And I know he's getting the exact same care there.
23:15 Our therapy team are just like part of the family. They're just so good. So good. So yeah, your question, sorry, it was about time management and planning is absolutely the keys.
23:26 I need to know on a Sunday what's happening in the week ahead. I've got a calendar on my phone. I've got a calendar on the wall in the kitchen so that John knows as well.
23:32 My husband what's going on. We have a shared calendar. I have a pen-to-paper calendar like hello. I must have met a took-from-ever podcast session.
23:41 The one point of, Was it called? Yes. I call it now the master to-do. Nice. But I've got a lid.
23:50 I'll rid of a lot of excess there and put a lot of to-do's on this main thing, but yeah, planning so on a Sunday I need to know what's happening in the week ahead, archery appointments come first, anything that's happening with the kids, and then I slot in my work time roundabout that.
24:04 And again, since our podcast episode I started doing time-walking, because I think before I was quite unrealistic about what I could actually achieve in a working day, and some days my working days are quite short, you know, if the kid's going to nursery at nine, time I get home, tidy up the chaos as
24:24 the house of getting 204 nursery and then actually settle down for work at 10 o'clock and I have to wrap up about two-ish to them or dog and go back and get them.
24:35 So something should really only got four hours to dedicate to work you know. So I think I was being unrealistic before our chat but what I could actually do in a day.
24:44 So now as well as my planning, I also sort of write out on my master to do on the computer, what I want to achieve that week and then I break it down into the days and the times next to it, which is making such a big difference.
24:57 So now I know that task takes me around in a while, whatever I can be realistic and it saves me feeling pretty crap at the end of the day, like I didn't get half of the things done.
25:06 We didn't get half of them done because there was no time to do them. You were never going to manage it.
25:11 This is a much more realistic way of working in I love it so thank you for those tips. Amazing, I love that.
25:18 For me, the planning and the time blocking, it's just so key to getting things done. Yeah, I love that. I think also you touched there on you know the stuff for the kids goes in first into your calendar and that's that's a similar approach that I take as well like the non-negotiables go in first and
25:48 so for me that's stuff for the kids and then also like my exercise and sort of the self-care part for me goes in and then the work starts to fit around it.
26:01 And you touched on the fact that, you know, I love that your doctor was telling you to go and do something that lights you up.
26:09 And now that that's become your business, what are there other things? And I know obviously that you'd love it and it will bring you joy, but are there other things that you're doing like just for you for fun or like maybe first like I don't I don't love the term self-care but yeah what are you doing
26:30 for you? Yeah yeah you know it's probably a good thing for me to think about because I think at one point I probably went from one extreme to the other.
26:39 I probably went from being so engrossed and epilepsy and everything to then so engrossed in work. So I just replaced one sort of extreme intense thing with another and I was enjoying it but you know it had to be the balance obviously some sort of harmony doesn't there so over the past over this year
26:59 I think yes I turned 14 February and I know I don't look at Sarah right you don't have to go and you don't look at so yeah turning 14 February I think that was a bit of a milestone to start thinking about that like right okay this is still a bit hectic, you know, alone very lucky and grateful to be enjoying
27:19 work. It's still work and there has to be other things. So I've dipped in and out of yoga over the years, but I'd say this year I've got so much more intentional.
27:28 Intentional was my kind of word from a 40th year. Wanted to be more intentional with what I do my time and I want there to be time for me in this life as well.
27:37 So I haven't got to the point where I'm time blocking for me and I would love to be I love that you do that and I think everybody should do that.
27:44 It is so important. The whole have to put your own mask on first, etc. You know, it's just true. So I'm not quite there yet, but I do you'll get every day, whether it's five minutes for an hour, whether it's in the morning, or just before bed, or it's at one time, you know, whatever, but I'm just kind
28:00 of slotting it in. And there's some days where I would like to do the hour, but I only do five minutes because I've not made proper time for that.
28:08 Excuse me. And that's the thing is we'll be turning a hobby. what started as a hobby photography into business as well.
28:14 It's kind of taken a hobby away and it's not to say that I don't enjoy it because I do, but it's different now and that's the trade off isn't it?
28:22 That's fine. So I've actually just started some little projects like I've started hand sewing. Nice! So good because you know this is going nowhere with a business idea, right?
28:35 I've just made a yoga bolster and it's like Frankenstein's yoga bolster. It is so that about ten times at the back but I made it, I made it from an old dress that I was never going to wear again and it was just the time, it was so intentional and mindful just sewing.
28:51 I don't want to use a machine, I want to create it with my hands, it gets me away from a phone, it gets you just so focused.
28:58 I love it so I'm just like find myself saving fabrics to just make something like nice. I'm so random but I'm really enjoying it so yeah I'd I've got yoga going on, got some little projects, just some little fun projects that are never, ever going to be anything business related.
29:17 And then just spending time with friends and family and getting a bit out and about. And gosh, I mean, I was just being able to enjoy our time without worrying about seizures is incredible for John and I.
29:28 Like, we were at a wedding at the weekend there. And I'm like, oh my god, I feel like I don't have a care in the world.
29:34 just sitting there with a glass of wine at the wedding and I knew the kids with my sister and we know she knows what she's doing with meds but also you know not a procedure for a long time so it's not the forefront of our mind as much as it was and like because before you know we couldn't leave them
29:50 for long you just couldn't because it's that's a huge thing for somebody else to manage even my sister who I'm incredibly close to you know it's still massive for somebody else who's not their parent to be dealing with a seizure.
30:02 You can only imagine how scared it can be. So yeah, just for us to even enjoy our time, yeah, that in itself is lovely.
30:12 I would like to start scheduling in me time. That's something I'm going to take away from this. Nice. Yeah, the thing I do, so I do sometimes struggle to sort of just sit, so I do like to sort of be doing something.
30:28 And what I've taken to doing and I spent a lot of time at the end of last year was Lego.
30:36 So I've got so much Lego from the kids and it's something that I really loved like my inner child loves Lego because I spent a lot of time like building when I was younger and so I spent last Christmas like trying to organize and sort some of the Lego and I was like you know we just had such a mishmash
30:59 of pieces everywhere and I was trying to then like rebuild some of the kits that we had and stuff. And that brought me so much joy, like, you know, favourite TV show on and the little ego and just tinkering about, like I loved it.
31:14 Yeah, and you're not striving for perfection, you're just purely having fun. In fact, I just read a book recently and I'm not quite finished at one of the h***** books by Mike.
31:23 Oh, I forget his second name. I don't know if you've seen them. And he talked about the of life and it was something about Lego because I'm sure it's Danish made.
31:34 Lego itself literally means like let's play or something, I need to send you that later. Yeah, there's something about Lego that it's origins as from that.
31:43 I've sent you that one later and I'll find the book. Yeah, it's good. Love that. Yeah. And like you, you know, I'm not making a business out of Lego.
31:53 So there's no way I'm planning on monetising it in any way, so it purely is just for play. And as an entrepreneur, that's refraction, isn't it, because you can't help but see opportunities in various things, you know, but something you enjoy, if you're an entrepreneur minded like that.
32:13 But to just do something where you know that's an absolutely no chance is nice. And have you, have you always been entrepreneurial, like from being a kid, growing up?
32:25 Well, looking back, perhaps, I mean, I had my little alacarct kitchen, I had older brothers and sisters, and I always remember selling them cups of doubleton juice for like five pounds.
32:36 But my older brothers and sisters would have friends and, well, a great business idea and they paid it. Nice. So I guess thinking back then, however, you know, life-taching all sorts of Western turns doesn't it?
32:49 And I worked in banking for a long time, for like 13 years and made up to a branch manager within one of the retail banks chains, but I hated it.
33:00 My absolutely hated it. It was never fulfilled. God, it was just awful. And that's why then at the time, I had taken a flourish to course as well, because I knew I wanted to try being self-employed, but I just didn't know what with.
33:15 You know, I knew it was something I wanted to try though, So even if it ends up hating, it had to scratch that itch.
33:21 Yeah, I definitely knew it was something I wanted to try and now I cannot imagine being employed. So John says I wouldn't last two minutes employed, now.
33:33 It's hard going back when, for me, the freedom and that flexibility as well to be able to work around kids and things.
33:43 things, like it's, yeah, it really is, makes a massive difference. Although there are, like I do see shifts in the corporate space and, you know, the corporate jobs that I did have, they were flexible to a degree, so yeah, I think it can be found if you look hard enough for it.
34:06 Can I circle back to the planning? So just then starting to think about like your business. So, what sort of tips would you have then for the small business owner that's, you know, maybe feeling a bit overwhelmed?
34:22 Like I know you and I are both massive advocates of planning, but like from your perspective, what might they do to help stay on top of things?
34:32 Yeah, plan, definitely plan in advance. And this planner was born out of on a Sunday night on on my own Instagram, my own business Instagram, I just just to casually jump on like, oh, that's me doing my planning for the week on stories, and I can occasionally name that Sunday Club, anyone else doing
34:47 planning, join Sunday Club, but you know, sometimes you're in your own profession and you just presume everybody's doing the same thing, like everybody knows that and everyone's planning in advance.
34:56 Well, I was inundated with messages, people like, oh, what is it you do? How do you plan? What do you, what, you know, what's the process?
35:03 That's not what I'm gonna do this, do this, that's the next thing and they're like, right, you know, jotting that down.
35:07 And that's how this idea came out. And I was like, should I put this in some sort of document? I think at first I was just thinking something printable and then it evolved into the idea of a desk pad.
35:17 And then it evolved again into what it is just there that you showed as the planner, which I published on Amazon.
35:24 And it became an Amazon number one best seller within a few hours of its launch. How incredible is that? Yeah, and over.
35:32 So it comes with a lot of free private Instagram page as well, we just chat about motivation and check-ins and just kind of reminders and things like that and there's over 70 business owners in there so it's just incredible but yeah tips I would say from the planner taking it from the planner because
35:49 that is the my process that I share in there is do it on a weekly basis and by all means planning your week ahead like I've said there I have to take kids into account and whatnot or any appointments or anything first off because they're non-negotiable But in terms of your content, so you're so made
36:07 at social media content for your small business, do it weekly. And first thing to do is look at your insights on your platforms or whether you use a scheduler, you've got insights on there or Facebook or Instagram or whatever it might be.
36:20 Look at your insights for the week before and jot them down and start taking a note of them so that you can compare week on week and see what's working and what isn't.
36:28 There's so much information in there that you can learn from, and honestly if you're not checking them, you're missing a trick, that can base so much of how you go forward.
36:37 You can take the information from there. So looking at insights, what worked well the week before, and then thinking about your priorities for the week.
36:45 So have you got a class coming up this speaker perhaps the following week that you want to promote? We've got a product that's not selling great that you really want to give a bit of spotlight too.
36:54 We've got a service that you really want to get out there and you freebie whatever it might be thinking about your priorities for that week and we're doing all this before we even think about rules or carousels or whatever we're actually put out there.
37:06 What's working well just now, what isn't and what are my priorities for this week? And then we've got the Monday to Sunday and it's not boring columns or anything, it's a big squiggly blob where you can just write all your notes in and just start hashing out some content ideas, but the planner will also
37:27 help you bear in mind content pillars, and this whole attract nurture, convert strategy that I use. So was to keep one to keep your content interesting, but also to create that sort of sales funnel, which is essential when you're a business.
37:41 You know, there can't all be sales heavy content. It can't all be just value educational content. It has to be a real mix to sort of lead to client from being a follower to a pain customer.
37:53 So planning with strategy planning with strategy planning with purpose don't just throw it out there because it's unlikely to work and it's your wasting your time.
38:03 You don't have time to waste. Yes, love that. Yeah. From small business owners as I don't have time. Well, as you don't have time, you definitely need to be planning in advance.
38:12 It's like that whole meditate, meditate for half an hour unless you're busy then meditate for an hour. Yes. Yes. The bit like planning as well.
38:21 So, and I have got that planning process down to an hour. I take an hour and a Sunday night after the kids are down and hash that out and I always schedule at least my Monday post so I know that's out the way because Monday's just 10 to just kind of eat you up a little, don't they?
38:38 And then at least going through the week, I don't have to think it because I've already done the thinking on the Sunday night, but some of our planners plan on a Thursday, a Friday a Monday, whatever, whatever days good for you, just as long as it gets done before the week swallows you up and takes away
38:55 . Yeah, love that. And I think you're right, it's the, I talk a lot about planning and planning that are schedule and again, like looking holistically at work and personal life and whatever, but it's the taking the time to reflect.
39:10 So from a schedule perspective, if it's thinking about, okay, so what worked last week in terms of my schedule, what didn't work, and so on.
39:19 And it's sort of a similar process, but through a lens of like thinking about your social media. And yeah, I love it.
39:29 Yeah, there's so much you can learn from looking back, isn't there? And I think from being in the group, like this whole, I forget the three words, nurture, attract, what was the other one, convert.
39:43 So this has been sort of, I think you've opened my eyes to that being part of the group because I think what I've been doing is probably an awful lot of the nurture and the education piece but less so the like I'm the people that are in my audience, I am giving great value, but I'm not, I'm really attracting
40:07 new people and I'm not converting the people that are over there. Yep, that's a full problem, so that's been really great, sort of learning more about that from you.
40:20 Hello, good to see you, I'm glad. I kind of like in that process to a bit like Dayton, so like the attraction phase is a bit like, you know, we're just met, we're all, we're looking good, we're putting our best foot forward where there's the attraction phase.
40:32 And if you're liking that to Instagram where you're trying to put out sort of relatable, shareable content, maybe fun, lighthearted content for people like, well, that's a bit relatable or that's me, quite like that.
40:44 I'll have a look at that profile, I'll follow along quite like that content. And then you've got the nurturing where in a relationship, you're maybe a few months in, you're starting to get to know each other a bit better, seeing, you know, a bit more deeper, a bit behind the curtain about what that person's
40:59 like, that's the nurturing content where it's like if you've got a brick and mortar that's behind the till or your online service provider a bit of a peek into your personal life you know which could just be out walking the dog or making dinner and having a chat just as if you're in FaceTime or sharing
41:15 educational pieces about your industry which helps position use an expert you know let them know you know what you're talking about here without actually talking about your offer you're just talking about your industry as a whole, getting to know you better, and then convert.
41:29 In the Dayton world, whatever you do, conversion stage is entirely up to you. But in the sales world, that's where we're putting that relationship from just a follower, who just liked your content, who then got to know you a wee bit better, who then becomes a pain client.
41:45 That's the idea. year. Yeah, love that. What a fun analogy as well. That's good. I'm only dating with that simple, I guess.
41:56 Oh my gosh. Yes. So it really is so interesting. I'm learning a lot from the group. So yeah, I shite out there.
42:09 Love having you there. Is there anything else Amanda that you would like to share with the listeners. Oh, I just want to think so.
42:18 I think you've got a good chunk of my life story there, Sarah. Thank you for sharing so openly and honestly as well, like that, what a story.
42:30 And it's all, it is so interesting to then heat it through that lens of like time management as well because that has been a massive of challenge clearly.
42:43 So it's interesting to hear your insights on it. Thank you. It's been lovely to share. So it was nice for you to be able to hear things back, isn't it, and kind of reflect on how you've come, I guess, which is nice.
42:57 So no, not at all, nothing else to add. Just plant, plant, plant. Yes, love that plant, plant, plant. Plant doesn't have to be a laborious task.
43:06 You know, make it fun. Tag it onto something like, You always plan with your favourite drink, you have some of us have a glass of wine, big cup of coffee, nice hot chocolate, you know, and settle down to do it.
43:16 No fear distractions, it's some time for you and your business so don't try and make it nice if you can, not something that you dread.
43:23 And then think of the, think of your Wednesday 30th self, they're going to be so grateful for your past Friday Sunday self.
43:30 Yeah, 100%. I think that a lot of people maybe find planning restrictive and they don't like the thought of planning in advance because, you know, is it then taken away the spontaneity or, you know, whatever, but like I find by planning in advance, I get more time back, which then allows me more time
43:58 for the fun, the adventures, you know, whatever that might be. So it's thinking about how can you reframe planning and that comment around thinking of your future self, I think is really, really impactful too.
44:16 Yeah, and I think I was one of those people, Sarah, before we spoke about time-blocking, I have here, a little bit before I thought, oh geez, come on, like, you know, I don't want to allocate every minute of the day.
44:26 But what I'm actually finding now that I'm doing a time-block for my day is rather than like hastily in a rush, logging off at 20 past two and only walking the dog for 10 minutes because then I need to go and get the kids and logging off at two because I know I'm finished then I'm having a tidy up, getting
44:41 the house in order, I'm taking the dog in nice walk, a nice half hour, 40 minute walk before I come back and then go and get the kids.
44:48 Like so it's freeing up time for the things that I enjoy as well and when it comes to content planning, definitely don't rigidly plan out your week to the point where the good idea comes tea and wednesday you can't share that because I've already got that you know planned for wednesday absolutely brim
45:04 for spontaneity and those fun reels that you just want to pop in or stories you just feel like popping up on absolutely but just make sure the bones, the foundations are there of what matches your business priorities and your business goals make sure they're there and anything else you slot in is just
45:19 a bonus. Love that. Such good takeaways and insights. Thank Thank you Amanda. Yeah, welcome. Thank you for having me. Where can the listeners find you online?
45:31 Oh, you can find me on Instagram, it's my favourite place. So I'm Amanda Hughes.uk on Instagram, comment, find me there.
45:41 Yeah, just like the chat on there, like a fun reel, very big fan of a fun reel. Yeah, and I'd love to hear from you if you get any questions to talk about content plan and then my DMs are always open.
45:52 Amazing. Well, thank you so, so much, and I'm sure I will chat with you soon. Absolutely. Speak soon, take care.
46:00 Bye, bye, bye. Thank you for joining me on another episode of Own Your Time. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review if you can.
46:14 Connect with me on social media for additional resources, community engagement and updates. you'll find me on Instagram at sarahstewart.co.uk.
46:25 Until next time, bye for now.