Behind the Scenes with Believe Notes

There are a lot of big things happening for Believe Notes, and I am super, super excited! Big things mean busy weekends and evenings, since that's really the only time I have to work on my stationery business. I work full-time in corporate America during the day, which means my entire brand needs to developed on my "off" time. It's busy, but it's so incredibly rewarding.

I get a lot of people asking me how I do it all. How do I manage my time? Well, the answer is, not very well! I spend almost all of my spare time working on designs, photographing recent projects, blogging, researching, and recently I'm focusing on trying to network more.

A typical weekend for me begins around 6:30 or 7:00am. Yes, it's early, but I have a lot to do. And no, I don't use an alarm.

Here's an idea of what a typical Saturday or Sunday looks like:

• 7:00am: Wide awake, stepping over the sleeping Miss Juliet to get to my Tassimo for some caffeine. 
• 7:15am: Check emails, facebook, twitter, instagram, blogger, pinterest, and etsy.
• 8:20am: My husband comes home from work, which wakes up Juliet momentarily. I tear myself away from my computer long enough to greet him and ask how his shift was. Sometimes, on Sundays, he brings me the newspaper, flowers and some bagels. This is why I love him.
• 8:45am: Back to my computer. At this point Juliet wants to cuddle and go back to sleep, so she usually waits for me in my office before eventually curling up by my feet. 
• 9:30am: The sun is perfect right about now for taking some pictures of recent projects. I wish I was more skilled with my camera....
• 10:15am: I want to make a bow as a photo prop. My bows look like poo, so I turn to Martha Stewart.
• 11:00am: All the pictures are uploaded, and it's time to edit them. I still haven't perfected taking pictures of my work, so I rely on the editing. But it's a timely process, and I need to reheat my second cup of coffee. 
• Noon: Juliet is starting to wake up. She piles a bunch of toys at my feet. Maybe I should take a break and play with her. 
• 1:00pm: Time for errands - I stop at the Post Office first, to drop off orders. Then it's off to Target, Walbaums and TJ Maxx, which are right up the street from me. TJ Maxx, although never on my actual errand list, tends to take up the majority of my shopping time (and budget). Whoops. 
• 2:30pm: Lunch & cleaning before returning to my computer to finish up whatever I was working on in the morning. My plants look thirsty. Maybe I'll give them some water. Maybe I'll see how long they'll survive without the water...
• 3:30pm: I try to draft a bunch of blog posts for the week and schedule them to auto-post during the week. Sorry if that spoils the excitement for everybody, but I am not magic, and I cannot be at two places at once. So, while I'm off in corporate America during the day, my blog is programmed all nice and nice. I decided to do this because I've noticed that I have a larger audience during the week - and since I put a lot of time into my blog posts, I want to make sure they reach as many people as possible.
• 5:30pm: Time to wake up the husband and attempt to make dinner.
• 7:00pm: Husband and I hit up the park with Juliet. All the neighborhood dogs meet at the park next to our development every night. It's like a big ol' doggy play date. 
• 9:00pm: I can barely keep my eyes open. My husband and I do some more chores around the house. I head back to my computer for a little while, but by 11:00pm I'll most likely be passed out on the sofa. 
• 11:15pm: Time for bed. 

The busier I've gotten, the messier my office has become (as you can see in the title picture). Although, my favorite accessory is Miss Juliet, who is always by my side when I'm in my office - I couldn't even take a picture of the space without her leaving her spot. I've also had to pull an upholstered chair from my dining room to replace my favorite orange captains chair (which is now shoved in the corner). My butt was literally starting to go numb from the lack of support, ouch! I'm also in desperate need of more storage space in my office, and I'm trying to save up some money to build out and entire wall unit for my desk. 

Le'Sigh. Now you know a little more about what my day looks like, and how I barely manage my time. How do all of you manage your time? I hope your days (and desks) are as cluttered as mine!