Blogs, jobs, babies and a bakery! Kerry (One Hull of A Mum) and Rich (One Hull of A Dad) have thousands of followers from their respective blogs. Kerry owns a delicious Vegan Bakery and is a stay at home mum and Rich works full time and they have their adorable children. How do they balance it all?
Rich, how do you balance working full time, being a father and keeping your blog going?
Since having our first child Joseph, Kerry has always said that she wanted to stay at home and look after him and other children we had as she didn’t want to put them into a nursery. I have always been OK with this. I think I balance my work life and being a father quite well. I give all my effort to my work whilst I’m there, but when my shift ends then that’s it. That’s our time.
Obviously you never stop being a parent so that always come first. Adding a blog into the mix has been quite challenging, especially now we have Alice (who is now 2 and a half). This has made it quite difficult to find the time to blog, especially this year so far. I think the best way to manage this is to blog when the kids are asleep, but then sometimes all I want to do is sit down and stuff my face with chocolate!
Kerry, tell us about the business you’re starting…
My new business is a Vegan home bakery. I offer a delivery service every week so people can order cake straight to their door! I went Vegan in September and found it so hard to be able to find treats and sweet things, so I started making my own and it went from there!
Kerry, what is it like starting your own business and juggling being a stay at home mum and running your own blog?
My blog has been side lined at the moment until I can start to find some sort of balance, I’m still answering emails and messages for orders at 10pm!
I don’t have a boss but that’s sometimes a bad thing as no one tells me when to stop, or no ones there to take over, and my home is my work so I’m at work all day long! I physically haven’t got the time to be self-employed, a mother and run a blog. I am hoping that in the next few months I can get some balance put in place to allow me to do some more blogging.
Do you share blog post ideas with each other and collaborate or do you both work independently?
Kerry: We work independently, and it seems to work like that I love to see that he has a new post out for me to read and its great not knowing what it is! I know what type of writer Rich is though so I know if we are going to a certain place and something happens etc. I know he has it down as a blog post in his head!
Rich: We both work independently and always have. I started blogging before Kerry did but I think we have both seen it as a way to get our own thoughts down in our own private space, and then share them with the entire internet of course!
How important is time management to both of you? Are you very organized with your time or are you able to go through each day on a whim?
Rich: Time management is very important to me, especially in my job. I like to plan plan plan. This is my advice to anyone really, plan as much as possible and then everything seems to go a lot smoother.
Kerry: I like to think I’m organized but truthfully I’m probably not! Although saying that I do get two children up, dressed, fed and out of the house for 8.30 every morning so I can’t be that bad!
Finish this sentence for us: If you had more time during the day you would…
Rich: Spend more time with the family. Working full time means that during the week I have a few hours after I get home before the kids go to bed and if I work on the weekend I don’t get to see them for as long as I’d like.
Kerry: GET JOBS DONE! There truly isn’t enough hours in a day and sometimes this makes me feel like I am drowning in domestic jobs! Since having two children and going self-employed I just can’t manage everything, the cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing etc. There’s just simply no time for it all. This is why time management isn’t a massive thing for me because I couldn’t fit everything into my day anyway so its take each hour as it comes and cram as much in as I possibly can!
Kerry, so many stay at home parents wonder if they should start a business. What advice would you give them about balancing it all?
My advice to them is to let me know when they figure it out! It’s the hardest thing I have ever done, yes it is amazing seeing my little business growing but its hard! I try as much as I can to prioritise tasks but work my mum life into that as well! To do lists for me are a must!
Rich, so many working parents think about starting their own blog but worry about timing and being able to produce a high quality blog that engages their audience regularly. How do you balance this?
As I mentioned earlier I have been finding this tough this year but I am aiming to get back on track. My simple advice would be to plan how many posts you want to do in a given time. I think for me it would be once every two weeks. This gives me time to plan what I’ll write about, take some good photographs, produce the post and then share it. Don’t get bogged down in the “I must produce 3 blog posts a week” game as this, I don’t think is sustainable in the long run.
Ideally, as you and your family grows will your blogs continue?
Rich: Mine definitely will, I can’t wait to write more about how the children are growing up and how they are changing, what they are learning and what I hope for them in the future.
Kerry: I hope that I can find the time again to start writing as I really miss it, I have found that since taking some time away from my writing, my mental health has taken habit of a dive so I think it’s something I NEED to find the time for as it’s something for myself!
