But, there are a few downsides. Working for yourself means you’re sort of always working. Even when I’m not at my computer or in my office, I’m thinking about work. I’m also on my phone a lot, editing pictures, editings reels, and replying to DMs. And while I do have a couple employees to help me manage things, I still have a hand in every single project and piece of content that goes out — especially since a large part of my business is sharing my life. Staying organized and on top of my deadlines takes lots of effort, but I think I have a pretty good system in place at this point in my life.

I get asked about my work and business quite often, and most people want to know what tools I use to manage all the things. There are a LOT of apps and softwares I use for my business, but I thought I’d share the 8 most helpful ones, since I’m not sure I could manage my day to day without these. They make my life SO much easier and I hope you’ll try them too!

If you’re interested in learning how you could also make money online, I have a 3 part course that teaches you the basics called “Let Me Pick Your Brain”. I know how to build a strategy vs. getting lucky and blowing up on TikTok. My approach is something you can learn and implement — no matter your niche or audience size. Since I can’t meet with everyone over coffee (I wish!), I recorded these trainings for you to watch at your own pace. You can re-listen, pause, take notes and implement. You can buy the recordings of these live sessions here, or join my waitlist for the next round of live classes here.

My Favorite Work Apps & Tools

Asana

My MOST used app/software is Asana, which is a task and project management tool. It helps me say on track, keep projects organized, and hit deadlines. I love that I can see my project progress, track the tasks I assign to my employees, add subtasks to each larger project, and see it all visually. One of the most helpful features is commenting back and forth on tasks. That prevents my inbox from being blown up since all the back and forth conversation for one task is contained in the task itself.

Asana has a desktop version and an app, but the desktop is the only version I truly use. We have a lot going on in our Asana and the app just doesn’t feel helpful to me.

Here’s a snap of my employees Asana dashboard. She was helping me pull this post together, which you can see on the right!

ConvertKit

While Asana is probably my most used tool, ConvertKit is my most important. And that’s because ConvertKit is my email provider, and email marketing drives a significant portion of my income. I know that some people say that email is dead, but that’s not the case at all for me. You do have to pay for ConvertKit to use all the bells and whistles, but it’s well worth it.

Another reason to join ConvertKit (apart from it being a super robust email platform) is their new Creator Network. This is a new feature that helps you grow your email list faster (and more authentically). Essentially the Creator Network lets you cross-promote other creator’s newsletters to your audience (and vice versa) to collaboratively increase email list growth. Very cool.

Email on Autopilot

If you use ConvertKit (or plan to), you’ll want to become a member of Matt Molen’s Email on Autopilot course. Matt teaches you everything you need to know about successful email marketing, and his course is a gift that keeps on giving. He hosts webinars monthly that I always attend, and he is the first person to help me out when I have questions regarding my email marketing plan. Seriously, everyone who is trying to make money online needs to take this course. I took his course and joined his mastermind group after using ConvertKit for 7 years and still learned so much. He’s truly the best of the best when it comes to email marketing and he’s a super nice guy on top of it. Sign up for his course here.

Lightroom

I use the Lightroom app to edit EVERY single photo that I publish online, whether it be on my blog or on social media. You can purchase presets from photographers and online creators which you’re then able to import to Lightroom. I typically apply a preset to my image and then tweak the settings a tad. The app is free to use, but the desktop version is not. I don’t use the desktop version since I’m just editing small batches of photos, but my employee (who’s actually a photographer), uses a desktop version since she edits large batches of photos like weddings. The app is all you need for small batch or one-off edits.

Canva

Canva is similar to Adobe InDesign, but much easier to use for non-designers. Professional graphic designers always use InDesign, but for my needs Canva is perfect. I use Canva to make graphics for LTK or the blog, remove things from photos (like my house number!), and to create things like my Media Kit and PDFs I want to share. Canva has an app and a desktop version– I find the desktop version easier use.

I also love that you can share design templates with others using Canva, so if you’re making a template that your team will also use, you can share that without messing with your own original work. From Canva, you can download your work in any format: JPEG, PNG, PDF, etc. You can even edit videos on Canva.

Planoly

If you’ve ever wondered how bloggers get their Instagram accounts to look so cohesive, it’s likely because they’re using an an Instagram planning app like Planoly. Planoly is an Instagram scheduler tool, where you can pull in a bunch of photos and drag them around your grid to see how they look together. Then, you can post directly from Planoly! I love that I can see what my content will look like for a few weeks out. You can pay to add multiple users if you have a team that will also need to use Planoly.

Voxer

Voxer is a walkie-talkie app. It’s the easiest way for me to communicate with my TeriLyn Adams team and Beautycounter team in a text-like format (without actually using an iMessage group chat). You can send texts or voice memos and the voice messages are saved in the thread. I love that I can listen and talk to my team without having to sit down to work. I usually answer Voxers while I’m doing my makeup or driving. It’s a casual form of communication, so I’ll use it when I’m going back and forth with someone about something that doesn’t require an email. I LOVE Voxer. And it’s free!!

Project Broadcast

Project Broadcast is a platform where I can send a text message to a whole list of people, using a number separate than my cell. You know when you opt-in to an SMS campaign to get a coupon code on a website? It’s similar to that, but I use it for communicating with my team rather than sales. I find that the chances of something seeing and reading a text are higher than an email or Voxer in most cases, so sending a message via Project Broadcast (along with an email) is my best bet at making sure I am able to get information across to them. Sometimes I’ll even shoot them a text with Project Broadcast to tell them that I sent them an email they need to read.

Get 50% off your first month of a monthly subscription or 10% off you first year of a yearly subscription at signup with this link.

Notes app

The notes app that comes on every iPhone is one of the most useful tools for my daily tasks, if you can believe it. I like to make my daily schedule or quick lists right in that app. And since my laptop is a Mac, the notes will also be right there when I sit down to work in my office. I usually brain dump my schedule the night before in my notes app so that I can make sure to time-block things I need to complete!

I don’t suggest using the notes app with a team, but it’s great for quick personal things. Sometimes I’ll copy information from an email or an Asana task to my notes so I can quickly reference it throughout the day without having to actually be in “work mode” to see it. This is especially helpful if I have a bunch of things I need to edit on my phone since it’s so easy to pull up the Notes app to reference on the go.

Gusto

Gusto is a payroll service that I use to pay my team. You can add contractors as well as full or part-time employees to Gusto, and it’s a GREAT way to manage payroll efficiently (and legally!). I love it from an employers perspective (easy to set up, easy to use), and Hannah, my full time employee, loves it from an employee perspective. Gusto is also where I set up PTO and where Hannah can go in and request time off. It’s incredibly user friendly and they have a great customer service. I use it to pay my hourly and flat rate contractors as well.

This link will get you a $100 gift card when you join and use Gusto.

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I would LOVE to know if there’s a tool you use that I didn’t include. I’m always looking for things to make my life easier! If you have a recommendation, drop it in the comments below

The post My Favorite Work Apps & Tools appeared first on TeriLyn Adams.

I also think posts like these are helpful when you’re in a similar situation or will be soon. I really enjoyed reading some of my friends’ day of the life posts to know what to expect at different stages with an infant and toddler! Obviously all children are different, and your day in YOUR life is going to look totally different than mine, but I appreciated reading my friend’s blog post about her life with her children because her kids are older than mine, and she has wisdom that I don’t have yet. (Michelle’s posts were particularly helpful since she’s also a runner and works for herself!)

There was a period in my life where I used to work 50-60 hours a week (even up to 80 hours a week at one point) and it’s crazy to go back and read what a day in my life looked like back then! So if anything, these posts are fun for me to have recorded for myself, and I hope that a few of you gain something from them as well.

A Day in the Life with Thomas at 22 Months

Being a mom is truly the best thing that’s ever happened to me. And while it’s not possible to work as much as I used to, that’s become my new normal and I’m okay with it! I know that babies don’t keep and I’m SO grateful that I’m able to spend so much time with Thomas during such a fun phase since I now work for myself.

Okay, below is what a typical day looks like with Thomas at 22 months old! I feel like we JUST had his one-year birthday party! It’s time to start planning his second birthday party!

Here’s an average day in my life these days! The times vary a lot of course, but this is typical. Mondays or Fridays, I often take a “mom day” (i.e. we don’t have a nanny) and I go on a field trip with him and only work during his nap!

6:00

My alarm goes off, I grab my robe, make a Nespresso and grab my Bible & devotional book. I’ll usually have a quiet time from 6:15-6:45.

Since someone always asks what Nespresso pods I like, the Intenso and Stormio are my favorite! I also love the half caff pods and the decaf Melozio. (Here’s how I broke my caffeine addiction – I used to have 8+ cups a day.)

6:45

By 6:45, I usually leave the house to run or I’ll head downstairs to my office to work until Thomas wakes up around 7:30.  Tommy always gets him in the morning so he’ll start yelling “DAD!” pretty quickly after waking up. Once we all come downstairs around 7:45, I eat 1-2 pieces of toast for breakfast #1! (I never workout fasted or skimp on carbs.)

8:00

If I didn’t run earlier, I run around 8:00 or 8:30. If it’s a mom-day, I might attempt to do a Peloton strength class while Thomas plays. Or I’ll run with him in the stroller if it’s not too hot. If I don’t work out, I eat, I eat breakfast and work for a bit. In the hot summer months, I’ll make a smoothie to eat and share it with Thomas since it’s one of the only ways I can get him to get in some vegetables that aren’t cucumbers!  I freeze leftover smoothie into popsicle molds for Thomas which he loves as an afternoon snack. (My favorite smoothie combo lately is frozen blueberries, frozen banana, kale, Ripple milk, 1 scoop protein powder, chia seeds and ground flax.)

9:15

By 9:15, I hop in the shower and starting getting ready for the day. While I’m getting ready, I film videos for Instagram reels. My reels are generally focused on beauty or fashion, so this time of day works best since I’m already putting on makeup and getting dressed.

9:30

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I go to pilates. If it’s Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, I’m usually working at this time, drafting and reviewing blog posts, writing newsletters and catching up on emails.

11:30

Mid morning, I’ll usually film reels. I use my tripod or my nanny to help! Sometimes Thomas joins me for reels too.

12:00

At noon I make lunch and eat with Thomas. He was such a good eater when we first started solids, but now he’s pretty finicky. He currently loves grilled burgers, plain pasta, unsweetened non-dairy yogurt and blueberries. I typically make a salad or eat leftovers from dinner the night before.

12:30

I put Thomas down for his afternoon nap at 12:30 and pray he sleeps for a while. My nanny usually leaves at this point! Every so often he nurses before his nap. (See Thomas’s nursery here! It will change shortly when we move!)

12:30 – 2:30

This is work crunch time! My work in the afternoon typically involves like editing reels, reviewing more blog posts, strategizing for upcoming content, triaging emails, etc. If he wakes up before 1.5 hours, he’ll usually just play in his crib for 20-30 minutes. Once he starts yelling “MOOOOOM!!!” I get him.

2:30

Thomas is up! We play for a bit in his room (he loves puzzles and pulling socks out of his drawers). Sometimes I return phone calls during this time too. I often rotate his toys during this time too. I try to swap out what toys he has out every 2 weeks. It’s so fun to see how he plays differently with older toys as he ages! (We LOVE the Lovevery playkits – they age so well with him!)

3:30 – 4:30

I run errands (groceries, returns, post office, etc) in the afternoons. We often stop by our new house to check on renovation progress.

4:30

I start to organize things for dinner. We might hit the park around 4:30 if it’s not too hot!

5:30

I start dinner once Tommy gets home, and he takes Thomas out to the backyard to golf (he’s OBSESSED).

6:30 – 7:15

Eat and clean up the kitchen. We also play Jeopardy as a family. Thomas is pretty good.

7:30

Short walk with Thomas. If he needs a bath, we skip the walk and let him play in the bath longer!

8:00 – 8:30

Thomas goes down sometime between 8 and 8:30. Tommy cleans the kitchen and puts up the bath stuff while I put Thomas down. S

8:30

Tommy goes to the golf course to hit balls in the evening, and I typically clean up around the house, fold laundry while watching a TV show, put away clothes, etc. I sometimes read a book during this time too!

10:00

Head up to bed, unless I’ve started a new show and then I don’t go up until 11, oof! (Pirate Gold of the Adak on Netflix was so good and got me all off schedule, ha!)

Anddd that’s it! Does this look anything like a day in your life? Let me know in the comments!

The post A Day in the Life with Thomas at 22 Months appeared first on TeriLyn Adams.

I used to work 50-60 hours a week (80 at one point!) and that is not the case anymore! Being a mom is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and it’s just not possible to work as much as I used to, and that’s okay! I keep reminding myself that this time of life will FLY by and I’m SO grateful that I’m able to spend so much time with Thomas during such a fun phase since I now work for myself.

Below is what a typical day looks like with Thomas at 9 months old. I drafted this before we had a nanny so this has changed a bit, but this is what it looked like when I was trying to balance being a mom, working out, doing stuff around the house and working. Now that we have a nanny from 8-2 each day, Tommy is able to head into the office earlier and I can get more work done between his first and second nap! We’re so so so grateful for Bre, our nanny, and Thomas adores her!

A Day In My Life as a Mom

As a note: I don’t always wake up at 6AM, but I try to so I can have a little quiet time.

6:00

Wake-up, chug a glass of water, make a cup of Nespresso, head into my office to get an hour of work done.

7:00

I get Thomas out of his crib, never past seven. Sometimes he wakes up early but he stays in there until 7 and just plays in the dark. It’s kind of hilarious to watch him on the monitor. I nurse him in our bedroom around 7:15 and we all have family/coffee time together in bed. This is one of my favorite times of the day!

7:30

I make a piece of toast with peanut butter (Costco has the best PB of all time) for my pre-workout snack and eat that while I pump if necessary (it was on this day!). Sometimes I also work on my laptop while I pump. Then I put on my workout clothes.

8:15

Workout — usually a 30 min Peloton bootcamp or a run. I try to do a five minute core class and a five minute stretching class after my main workout! While I stretch, I upload my workout to Strava. Tommy feeds Thomas breakfast while I work out.

Sometimes I’ll run with Thomas, which has become SO special. I love this jogging stroller.

9:00

After my workout, I snag a quick breakfast, almost always a Daily Harvest smoothie these days – it’s quick and helps cool me down! I nurse Thomas at 9:15 and put him down for a nap at 9:30.  Get 3 free Daily Harvest cups in your first order with this link & promo code TERI.

9:30 – 10:00

Shower and quickly get ready for the day. I always do my hair & makeup, even though I work from home since I just feel better when I do. I also get dressed in real clothes every day – I save athleisure for the weekends since I’ve learned I don’t really love athleisure in the warmer months! While I get ready I’ll listen and reply to Voxers from my Beautycounter team.

10:00

Sit down to work in my office! I’ll review things that Hannah has worked on and catch up on anything that needs immediate attention, e.g. emails from brands, sponsored content deadlines, etc.

11:00

Thomas wakes up sometime between 10:45 – 11:00. I get him up, nurse, take him on a walk (in this stroller), and make lunch for both of us around 11:45. Tommy gets home a few minutes later and we all have lunch together.

12:00

While Tommy is home, I do some house stuff (laundry, prep for dinner,) and work a little bit more.

1:20

Nurse at 1:20, and then Thomas goes down for a nap from 1:45-3:30. (This nap varies…sometimes it’s a little over an hour and sometimes it’s almost two hours.)

2:00

While Thomas naps, I grind out work. This is typically my longest stretch and I’ll try to power through as much as I can.

3:30

When Thomas gets up, we play – he LOVES everything we’ve gotten in Lovevery play kits. If I have a recipe to test, we do that together in the kitchen. Sometimes we’ll go on a short walk, other times we sit on the porch and sometimes we FaceTime my parents in Utah. It just depends on the day.

4:30

I nurse Thomas again at 4:30 and we just hang out until Tommy gets home. Sometimes I’ll stick him in his bouncer while I prep things for dinner or fold laundry.

5:00

Feed Thomas dinner. He’s currently LOVING salmon and avocado.

5:30

We go on a family walk when Tommy gets home. Thomas LOVES his stroller and usually babbles a lot while we walk. It’s another favorite time of day!

6:00

Now for Thomas’s favorite time of day: bath time! After his bath, I nurse him again or give him a bottle and put him to bed around 6:30.

6:30 – 7:30

Dinner! Once Thomas is down, Tommy and I make dinner together and catch up on our day. This particular day I made pineapple salsa crockpot chicken tacos. After we clean up dinner, Tommy usually heads to the golf course from 7:30-8:30 and during that time I work if I have something pressing, read, call my parents or one of my brothers, or watch one of “my shows.” (This Is Us or The Undoing)

8:30

After Tommy gets home we watch a show together. Right now we’re watching Bosch (a recommendation from the my FB group) and we are ADDICTED.

10:00

Until we started Bosch, I went to bed around 10:15. But lately, I’ve been staying up until about 11:30-12 to watch Bosch and it’s killing me the next morning. So…. I need to remedy that soon, ha!

Anddd that’s it! Does this look anything like a day in your life? Let me know in the comments!

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The post A Day in the Life with Thomas at nine months appeared first on TeriLyn Adams.

While I loved my corporate career, I got to the point where I needed to choose between climbing the ladder and growing my own business. My blog starting taking more and more of my time (even after having it for 10 years!) and I was just working too much (sometimes 80 hours a week). I also knew what I valued more than anything was flexibility. Given that, I knew that it would be better for me to work for myself vs. someone else.

I wanted to be able to see my family in Utah more than once a year for a few days. Counting PTO days stressed me out and I never had enough. I wanted to have a Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday I had more than one day off. And I wanted to have more control over where and how I worked.

I made a plan to leave Corporate America about 8 months before I actually did it, so I could financially ramp up to where I needed to be. And then I gave my notice in March 2019. It was a HUGE blessing to leave when I did since shortly thereafter my sweet dog, Maizey got sick and I had all the flexibility in the world to take care of her before we said goodbye. And for that, I will ALWAYS be grateful.

Day In The Life Since I Left Corporate America

While it took me a while and some trial and error to figure out how I wanted my days to go when working for myself, this is where things have settled for now. There are always exceptions, e.g. if I have an appointment or a photoshoot, that shifts things around. But, for the most part, this is what days look like. And I’m lucky that it looks pretty much the same even with the COVID-19 work-from-home orders.

6:00 – 7:00

I wake up sometime between 6:00 and 7:00. What time I wake up depends on what time I get to bed the night before. And, while I NEVER used to use the snooze button, I’m guilty of using it now! I spend about 30 minutes drinking coffee in bed, and catching up on news, answering social media direct message, and scanning my inbox (but never replying) on my phone. I VERY rarely respond to emails on my phone – it’s so much more efficient to do that with my computer so I wait until I sit down to work to do that.

7:00 – 8:30 am

I get out of bed, eat a pre-run snack, grab my laptop and I start working. Sometimes I start working earlier if I was up earlier but I love to knock out 1-2 hours of work before I do my workout. I might have a second cup of coffee but I don’t crave it nearly as much as I used to (I cannot believe I used to drink 8+ cups a day!!!!) And I work from the couch for this little portion in the morning – it helps me ease into my day.

I go through my inboxes and answering emails from Beautycounter customers, my A Foodie Stays Fit team, my Beautycounter team or brands. Clearing out emails help me feel like I have a clean slate for the day without something lingering over me.

If all five of my inboxes are in a good place (rarely but occasionally), I’ll start writing a blog post or do some work on my next big project, whatever that is. (Currently, getting my online running course ready to launch is my big project!)

Before I break for a workout, I write down ALL of my to-do’s for the day and then write the numbers 1, 2 and 3 next to the top priorities. Using the Notes app on my computer, I also roughly outline my day by hour (similar to what I’m going here) so I can estimate how long each task will take and see what’s reasonable to actually complete. I almost NEVER get through everything I map out!!

8:30 – 9:30 am

Workout! Some days I run, other days I ride the peloton. If I’m not sure if I want to run, I’ll often go on a 10-15 minute walk first to see how my body feels. When I go on a walk, I typically answer messages on Voxer from my Beautycounter team.

Tank | Shorts | Watch

Tank | Leggings

If I do a shorter run or ride, I’ll do some PT exercises or strength training for 15-20 minutes. Since all the gyms are closed, nearly everything is body weight or using light weights – I only have 3 lb and 8 lb dumbbells! That’s a big change from my CrossFit days and even from my solo lifting days, but I’ve enjoyed the change!

At the end of any workout, I always always always stretch for at least 5 minutes.

Tank | Leggings | Shoes | Watch

9:30 – 10:15

Finish my workout, make breakfast and watch the news while eating. My go-to’s lately are eggs, toast, berries and avocado or this smoothie. (You can get my free breakfast ebook here for more of my go-to breakfasts. What I crave changes as the seasons change!)

10:15 – 11:15

Shower, do my hair and do my makeup. I usually listen to a podcast or audio book while I get ready. Sometimes I start a load of laundry too.

11:15 – 12:30

I sit down in my office to work! After my morning work session, task prioritization list and day outline, I know exactly what I’m working on first. What takes priority varies by day – sometimes it’s a blog post. Other times it’s a newsletter or an email to my BC team. Some days I’m recording videos for my online running course, other times I’m on Instagram stories, other times I’m reviewing work my A Foodie Stays Fit team has completed. My priorities and tasks change every day which is part of why I love what I do!

Top | Pants | Earrings

12:30 – 1:15

Break for lunch! With all the restaurants being closed, my husband has been coming home for lunch a lot which is a nice break during the day! I usually make a salad (get my salad recipe ebook here) or an open-face sandwich (this is my current favorite). Sometimes I’ll reheat leftovers from dinner and other times Tommy will pick up lunch for us (Village Juice, West End Cafe and B.L.L. are some of our go-to’s). Before coronavirus, I had lunch dates 1-3x a week with friends or potential business partners. I love that Tommy and I get to eat together more often these days.

When I was working in Corporate America, I was always rushing to knock things out during my lunch hour, whether it was errands or letting Maizey out while I ate lunch at home. I was so worried about the hour time limit all the time, even though I was salaried! And when I worked at Goldman Sachs, lunch breaks were NOT a thing without the commentary “Oh muuuuust be nice to take a lunch break.” It’s nice to enjoy lunch now!

1:15 – 4:00

Back to work! I usually take a break around 3:00 to go walk around the block and respond to any new Voxers that came in. When I schedule calls with brands or anyone on my AFSF or BC teams, I try to schedule them between 2-4. That’s when my productivity naturally wanes and phone calls help keep me on track since I’m accountable to someone else! If I need to test a recipe, I’ll usually do it around 3pm. I often run to the post office during this time too – I always have multiple things to mail every week!

4:00 – 6:30

This is my favorite part of the day because it’s, without fail, the most productive part of my day. (Although, my morning work time is nearly tied for that honor.) The late afternoon is when I knock out tasks that take big blocks of time. While my phone is on Do Not Disturb almost all day, I often put my phone on airplane mode during this time so I don’t get any distractions. (Tommy and my family can still reach me if necessary via text since my laptop gets my texts so I’m not entirely unreachable!)

If I’m fried, sometimes I wrap things up around 6:00 and go for a walk to unwind from the day before starting dinner.

6:30 – 9:30

Wrap up work, start dinner, eat dinner and spend time with Tommy. We always play Jeopardy while we eat and after cleaning up the kitchen (which Tommy does most of), we’ll watch a show together. Lately we’ve been watching The Voice, How to Fix a Drug Scandal and Billions. We fast forward most of The Voice since we like the performances the best, ha! If we happen to eat dinner early, we may go to the golf course and play a few holes, or go on a walk. Or, sometimes we’ll do that before dinner and eat a bit later.

9:30 – 9:45

I head upstairs to get ready for bed. I wash my face (this is my skincare routine), Tommy and I fold any laundry that needs to be taken care of, and I’ll get in bed to read. (Tommy usually comes up a little later.) To be honest, I usually scroll Twitter for quite a bit and read a few articles from there before I turn to my book. I’m currently reading A Gentleman in Moscow.

10:30 – 11:00 

Lights out! Somedays I’ll have lights out by 10:15 but I just haven’t been tired lately. A late bedtime leads to waking up later than I want, but I’m not willing to scrimp on sleep after doing that for FAR too long! Then I wake up and do it all over again!

What I Learned After Leaving Corp America

I don’t have to follow a traditional 9-5 schedule or workout super early

Since leaving Corporate America a little over a year ago, it took me a while to realize that I don’t have to run at 6 am just because that’s what I HAD to do for years. (This post has tips on how to wake up early to run!) I used to fantasize about waking up early to work and then running when I needed a break. And then, when I left Corporate America, I didn’t let myself do that for a while even after fantasizing about it!

I think partly because I wanted to run with my running friends and partly because it was so ingrained in me that it was “best” to run first thing! Now I’m happy with my late morning run. I do still struggle with the fact that I don’t get ready until about 11 am most days but that’s okay! I’ll let go of that unnecessary guilt someday soon!

I feel guilty or lazy for not following a traditional schedule

Along those same lines, I often feel like I’m not working enough because I don’t work the normal 9-5 hours. But I work plenty! After working 50-80 hours a week for over a decade, I could do with some 40 hours (or less!!) work weeks.

I like to work before working out

Like I mentioned in my timeline, I work for 1-2 hours before I work out. I am really able to focus during that time and that time kind of disappears. Sometimes I forget what I did during that time until later in the day when I think about something I need to do, and remember, “Oh! I already did it!” And I really don’t mind jumping into work right away and it makes my workout even more enjoyable since it’s a break from work.

I like having a weekend

I used to work every single weekend. And while my work never shuts off, I do my VERY best not to open my laptop over the weekend for work unless completely necessary or unless I really want to. Having those two days to do life and disconnect from work is so luxurious and so necessary. I also try to post less on social media and let direct messages sit until Monday since that’s work too!

I love when I wake up early (i.e. before 6)

On the days that I fall asleep early (i.e. around 10), my body often wakes up around 5:30 and I LOVE IT, mostly because I love how much work I get done in those early hours!! I wish I could make a 5am wake-up happen every day but I am not willing to sleep less than 7 hours anymore! Sleeping 5-6 hours a night while training for the Boston Marathon marathon and working 80 hours a week was NOT a good thing. (And yes, I am well aware that my 7-hours-of-sleep will change if we ever have kids.)

 I prefer working from home vs. an office

I got a private office in a co-working space for a few months since I was struggling at home without any social interaction. After we lost Maizey, Tommy and I both thought it’d be good for me to get out of the house a bit. Turns out, I didn’t really like having an office. You can read this post that compares working in an office to working at home.

I’ve found it’s much more efficient for how I like to do life and work to have a home office. It allows me to work early and then run. When I went into the office around 11 or 1 every day, it felt like a waste to even get everything together to go to the office that late. I also like being home to knock out small tasks throughout the day, like laundry. And, I’ve notice I go on a LOT more walks when I work from home since it’s easier to just walk out the front door! (And walking helps my stress!)

When I had a corporate job, I preferred being in the office most days. I really liked most of my coworkers and sometimes it’s just easier to discuss thins in person! Working from home 1-2 days a week was ideal! But since shifting to blog and work for myself full time, I like to be VERY productive when I’m working.

And let’s be honest, an office isn’t always the most productive place. People interrupt you to chit chat, meetings are unnecessarily long, there are lunch outings with coworkers, coffee breaks, walking to and from a parking deck, etc. There’s a lot of wasted time! Maybe I’m a workaholic (okay, definitely) but I like to work without interruptions unless they’re on my terms!

What’s your ideal work day if you could do ANYTHING with your schedule?

And now it’s 6:30 pm and it’s time to wrap things up! I’m hitting publish and stepping away from my computer!

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The post Day In The Life Since I Left Corporate America to Blog Full Time appeared first on TeriLyn Adams.

I worked in Corporate America for 13 years and recently left to work for myself, blogging and also launching a few other businesses. I am consistently asked by friends in real life and on the internet how I “balance it all”, particularly in the last year as people could see demands on my time ramping up.

• How do you fit in blogging, Beautycounter, Best of Winston and all your other projects?
• When did you find time for marathon training?
• How on earth did you fit in all of that on top of a Corporate job?

In short, it wasn’t pretty. I worked 80+ hours a week. For over a year.

And until you’ve worked 80 hours a week, you probably don’t quite get what that looks like, day in and day out.

How many hours a day is 80 hours a week?

On average, 11.5 hours a day, 7 days a week. And I’ll show you what my life looked like for the past year+ working hours like that.

I do NOT share this to brag or to complain.

It’s also not something I’m suggesting you aspire to.

I share this so you know that I don’t have any secrets to “fitting it all in.” Habits that help, yes. Productivity hacks, some.

But mostly, I worked my butt off. And that’s the real secret: I just worked a LOT.

I also wanted to share this so you have a realistic sense of what it took for me to get to the place where I felt comfortable quitting my “stable” job and how I fit everything in. I didn’t just quit to follow my passion, without a plan, without building up emergency savings, without diversifying my income stream. It was a planned out, and a strategic decision.

But lots of things got sacrificed along the way.

So, I hope you can learn from my experience and do things a little differently if you find yourself overworked and overwhelmed. I shared at the bottom of the post what I would change, in retrospect. And it’s not necessarily working fewer hours. (UPDATE: I left Corporate American and work for myself now. You can read what a day in the life looks like now in this post.)

First, a quick background on my career…

13 years in Corporate America

I started working in Corporate America starting in 2006 after graduating from Brigham Young University; my first job was with Goldman Sachs as an analyst.

I started my first blog during college in 2004 (a personal diary of sorts) and then launched A Foodie Stays Fit in 2009 as I found myself writing more and more about food and workouts. And I’ve had my blog ever since, while at the same time working for massive corporations, including BB&T and Wells Fargo.

My blog is part of the reason I was hired for my last two positions, managing social media campaigns for BB&T and Wells Fargo. And that’s something I never could have expected when I graduated with a Finance degree. (You can hear more about my career path on this podcast.)

To be honest, I don’t think I ever worked 80 hours a week in Corporate America. 60 hours, yes. And maybe a week here and there were I worked 60-70 hours, but in general, I had pretty good work-life balance.

When I was working, it was intense, to be sure. Tons of meetings. Lots of deadlines. Lots of pressure. But I set good boundaries and didn’t make late nights or weekends the norm, nor the expected. But eventually, the combination of Corporate America AND side hustles became too much, altogether.

So, here’s what a typical weekday looked like:

Work before work

5:00 – alarm goes off. Get coffee and start to work, answering emails or drafting a blog post.

5:50 – leave for my run

6 – 7:30 – run

Sometimes my runs were a bit shorter, but in general I was usually gone for 90-100 minutes during the week since I had a high mileage training plan leading up to Boston.

7:30 – 8:15 – shower, eat breakfast, get ready

While I was doing my makeup, I listened to messages from my Beautycounter team and my blog team (I have five part-time employees) and replied. (Thank goodness for Voxer voice messages which allowed me to multitask.) I also chatted with Tommy while he was getting ready during this time.

8:15 – 8:45 – answer more emails/finish writing 

8:45 – 9:00ish – Corporate job begins

Sometimes I was online earlier depending on the day but on longer run days, I was definitely pushed for time. I worked from home sometimes, but also live only 10 minutes from the office which helped a LOT.

Corporate work day

9-6 WORK! My mornings were spent working on emails, projects, reviewing creative, etc. I almost always had back to back meetings/conference calls from 12-5, including right through lunch. Sometimes I had them later in the evening too since I worked with many people on the West Coast.

On the rare days I didn’t have meetings through lunch, I would try to get some fresh air and/or catch up on more blog work or answer questions from my team.

I also had therapy appointments during my lunch hour 1-2x a month since I started having regular panic attacks over the last 6 months, related to the stress of trying to “balance it all.”

Work after work

6:00-8:00 BLOG WORK – wrap up my Corporate day and continue my work day

The work varied by day, depending on deadlines and my content calendar, but it included:

• writing posts and newsletters
• taking photos and editing photos
• phone calls with brands
• phone calls/voxers with my team (blog employees & beautycounter team)
• reviewing contracts for blog partnerships
• working with web developers on new functionalities — or broken things!
• SEO research
• replying to emails
• finding my outfit items to link for the liketoknow.it app, and uploading those outfits
• scheduling social media content
• answering questions on Instagram / direct messages

I usually walked Maizey sometime during this time and would answer more Voxer/text messages while walking. Or, I’d call my parents.

8:00-8:30 – dinner

Simple meals were KEY. Grilled meat + roasted veggies/sweet potatoes or microwaved rice were on repeat.

Work after dinner

8:30 – 9:45 – more work while Tommy cleaned up dinner

Yep, working in PJs and all. My days started and ended like this.

9:45 – 10:15 – hang out with Tommy (we usually watched the Great British Baking Show together )

10:15 – 10:45 – wash face and wind down. Wind down time = answering Instagram messages while lying in bed and then reading a book for about 10 minutes.

10:45 – lights out – hopefully. I was often up until 11:30 if I got wrapped up in answering emails or messages on my phone…

And then it would all repeat with a 5 am alarm clock the next day.

Work on the weekends

On weekends, after my Saturday long run (18-22 miles), I would work for 4-6 hours. Tommy and I tried to spend time together with just us or friends on Saturday nights since I protected my Friday nights, knowing I had a long run the next morning.

After church on Sundays, I worked another 4-6 hours. On Sunday evenings, I grocery shopped and prepped for the work week ahead – reviewing meetings and deadlines, coordinating schedules with Tommy as needed for any home repairs (more on that below), etc.

How many hours a day is 80 hours a week?

During the week, I worked about 13-14 hours a day. But, realistically, it was more than 14 hours a day since I was generally always answering my team or taking phone calls when I was doing something else, like walking Maizey, getting ready or folding laundry.

Weekends had an additional 8-12 hours or work.

If you add things up, I was working 80+ hours a week.

Total that up and I was working 70 hours during the weekdays and 8-12 more hours on the weekends. So, my hours ranged anywhere from 78-82 hours a week.

This was my routine during the week for the past 12+ months, including Friday evenings. Of course there were exceptions here and there when I had something in the evening I couldn’t miss, but this is what I did nearly every day.

What’s did I miss out on?

• Time with Tommy
• Time with friends
• Giving Maizey attention
• Any meaningful downtime
• Hobbies
• Sleep

I only saw Tommy for about 1 – 1.5 hours a day during the week, max. But I did try to spend more time with him on the weekends.

I skipped many of his work parties. I turned down invitations for lunch, dinner or drinks with friends. Phone calls with my family didn’t happen nearly enough.

Poor Maizey would try to tell me when it was time to stop working. I still have so much guilt over ignoring her when she’d beg for walks, particularly since she is aging and I know time with her is so precious.

Again, I’m not proud of this. But, I don’t want people to think that I have some sort of magic powers. My magic power is that I’m willing to work hard, excessively hard. And that’s often to the detriment of other things.

I was only getting about 6 hours a sleep which is NOT ENOUGH, especially during marathon training when I was running 55-60+ miles a week.

What about vacations or hobbies?

When I traveled for work or to see family, I had to work while I was gone or else I would just get BURIED. I didn’t take any true vacation other than Ireland last year. And whenever I got back from traveling, I was severely behind and people would start contacting me multiple times asking if I got their message/email. And that led to more anxiety.

I’ve truly forgotten what my hobbies are and have had to intentionally work to remember and rediscover what I used to enjoy with leisure time. Walks without my phone. Hiking. Baking. Reading. Meditating. Golfing.

Is working too much bad?

I wasn’t balanced working 80 hours a week. I never had enough time to get everything done. No matter how much I worked, I constantly felt behind. Time with Tommy, friends and family got sacrificed. Sleep was sacrificed. But, I knew the end goal and I was willing to put in the work to meet that goal.

I am NOT someone who drops the ball or is slow to respond. But balls dropping became the norm — missed calls, delayed replies, lost text messages — simply because I could NOT get to everything in a day without sacrificing my sleep even more. I simply couldn’t keep up, even as I hired more people to help me.

And balls dropping caused more anxiety for me. (I could write a whole post on managing stress and anxiety, if you’re interested.)

I just started reading the Passion Paradox and I feel like it’s going to touch upon these same things. My passion was launching my businesses. Training for the Boston Marathon. I was very unbalanced — and what that book argues is that achieving big goals creates an inherently unbalanced life.

What I wish I had done differently

Even though it was all worth it in the end, there are some things I wish I had done differently to make everything a little less painful.

• Prioritized even more ruthlessly

I’m really good at planning my workload and making sure the TOP priorities get done each day and each week. But, in hindsight, some things I thought were priorities weren’t.

• Meditated more regularly

I used meditation as a coping mechanism when I hit crisis mode and was spinning, unable to focus. I think if I’d truly developed a daily meditation habit, it could have helped me cope as a whole — and think more clearly about those priorities! Instead, it happened maybe 1x a week.

• Scheduled time with Tommy at the beginning of the week

I was constantly exhausted and no desire to do anything fun. But, if I had made it a priority to figure out when we could both be together and be truly present, that would have helped us have more consistent, quality time. Again, those priorities.

• Let friends & family support me more

Most people had no idea how much I was working or how much I was burning myself out. No one knew about the panic attacks. And I have SUCH an incredible support network that I know it would have helped have shared more with close friends.

As I did eventually share, I was met with “How can I help you manage this without adding more stress?” And my answer was to get me away from my desk, to force a break. So one of my friends would meet me for lunch each month, even when I was totally miserable company and I’m pretty sure I just vented. But I CHERISHED that time.

So, there you have it. Now you know my secret – I worked too much.

But, in the end, I still say 80 hour work weeks were worth it, as miserable as I was for a short period of time, in the grand scheme of things. Because so far, I LOVE working for myself. I still feel behind, I still have too much to do.

And I at least feel like I have control of the direction I’m heading and will eventually be able to swim and look ahead, rather than drown. (Never mind I am actually a terrible swimmer in the literal sense. Bad analogy. )

Plus, a HUGE part of the reason I wanted to work for myself is to have more flexibility to spend with those I love. And that has already started happening.

In the past week few weeks, I had long lunch with a friend, went on a walk with another friend, visited my family in Utah, and played golf with Tommy. And on a few occassions, I took Maizey on two walks a day. And I’m SO GRATEFUL for time with all of them.

How do you cope when you feel overwhelmed?

I’d love to learn from you since we all have periods of feeling like this, whether it’s from work, family, health or some other challenge. I’ve been overwhelmed at different times in life from other factors and the one thing that I find consistently helps is connecting with those who love and support me. And yoga. Yoga is always good for me.

The post A day in the life with a corporate job, blogging & marathon training appeared first on TeriLyn Adams.

I never had the confidence that I could own or run a small business… but here we are, and I’m beyond grateful.

Despite watching my dad run his own small business as I was growing up, and watching my brother (who is basically the boy version of me) run two incredibly successful businesses, I never had the confidence that I could do that too. And the entrepreneur class I took in college seemed like overwhelming chaos.

But now, 10 years after starting my blog, I own a small business. I never imagined my blog would lead to this, but I absolutely love what I do. And I now realize that being a entrepreneur is EXACTLY what I thought it was in college: overwhelming chaos. But it’s also the best chaos.

I love being the CEO, CFO, CMO and everything in between. It works all the parts of my brain, hone my strengths and forces me to learn new things along the way.

I love having employees and trying to be the best possible boss. Without them, I couldn’t keep up my blog , especially since I still work in Corporate America.

I love having an amazing group of women I get to work with through Beautycounter. They inspire me daily and have become some of my closest friends.

And I LOVE the friendships I’ve formed with all of you over the years through this space I’ve created on the internet. Some of you I’ve met in person but most I haven’t; but I still consider my blog friends to be real friends.

Thank you for supporting my blog and giving me the confidence and encouragement to keep it all going, all these years. Your comments, likes, and messages mean more than you know. And owning my own small business means more to me that I can express. I’m so proud of what I’ve built — and I couldn’t have done it without all of you.

The post THANK YOU appeared first on TeriLyn Adams.

The post Where Was I: Clues #2 and #3 appeared first on TeriLyn Adams.

Including Ali from The Healthy Hostess. (Yes, those are her natural curls. Yes, I agree that it’s unfair.)

Betsy from A Dancer in the Kitchen (She lives in Utah! So fun to make Utah connections. She told me where she got her adorable dress and I knew exactly where the store is. Things like that are so fun!)

Katie from Healthy Diva Eats. (She is sooo incredibly sweet!)

 And Heather from Heather’s Dish and Faces of Beauty. (I’m obsessed with her dress. And I’m now laughing at how short I look in this picture since I had taken off my heels at this point.)

And after looking at all these pictures, I realized I really need to stop putting my hand on my hip in pictures.

During the meet and greet, Megan, Sarah, Ashley and I sipped wine and tasted the Alexia fries that we bloggers were voting on for the next flavor.

We went into the Gala Dinner and proceeded to entertain ourselves by tweeting each other incessantly.

While the Mr. Tyler Florence cooked for us.

 Dinner was served. I had the pescatarian dish. Lots of shrimpies.

And then the next morning was the farewell brunch. The best part was the view.

But the best part of the entire weekend, among the beautiful sites, the tasty food, and the content sessions, was the wonderful people.

The post The Last Foodbuzz/San Fran Post…I Swear appeared first on TeriLyn Adams.

I also attended Ashley’s photography session about moving out of Auto. After her informal session last year, I switched from Auto to Aperture Priority. This year, I moved from A/P to full Manual. I was so proud of myself. Ashley really is such a great teacher.

I skipped the last session and went to grab a bite to eat with Kath, Ashley and Mama Pea before the Tasting Pavilion. I knew from last year’s experience that there wouldn’t be a lot of real food (other than the Alaskan Seafood stuff) – mostly sweets, beer, cheese and snack stuff. So I filled up on a salad and some soup at a cute little French restaurant.

We dined al fresco with a great view. Gosh, I love San Francisco.

After eating quickly, I headed up to the Tasting Pavilion to help out at the Alaskan Seafood booth. We had a great view behind our booth!

And a view of great food in front of us! It was so fun to see one of my recipes being served to a crowd! Even more so since I didn’t have to prepare it!

I was so excited that I got to hang out with Danielle from Alaskan Seafood again. She is so cool. She lives in Alaska now, but actually went to high school with Ashley from The Edible Perspective. Small world!

Given that Ashley won Foodbuzz award for the Best Photography Blog and did a photography session, she got stopped for camera help quite a bit. She was so nice and willing to help everyone. Of course! She deals with fame quite well.

Tyler Florence deals well with his fame too.

These biscotti were incredible. So perfectly crumbly without being too crunchy. They’d make awesome stocking stuffers.

I also tasted some chocolate that was made that very same day. Man, it was good. It’s crazy how chocolate comes from something like this. Shore is purdy though.

The Bloom Gin booth was my last stop in the Tasting Pavilion. This little concoction was delicious.

It was a good thing I grabbed the gin last…it got me through a much-longer-than-anticipated walk. We mapped a route to get to the Ferry Building and were expecting a 1 mile walk. It must have been at least 3 miles of walking. In the rain. Uphill both ways.

Ashley, Mama Pea and I had a great time chatting and taking in the sights though. It was a perfectly overcast day.

We finally made it to the Ferry Building.

It was totally worth the walk. Vegan donuts and Blue Bottle Coffee were awaiting for a little pick-me-up. My legs were pretty tired after walking in my boots for that long!

I bought two – Kaffir Lime and Green Tea. One for a midnight snack and one for a breakfast snack the next morning.

And a beautiful soy cappuccino hit the spot on the dreary day.

San Fran, you saved me. Or at least your food did.

The post Save Me San Francisco appeared first on TeriLyn Adams.