Monday

The benefit of being a contractor means I was able to easily slip out of the office to go to a neighbour’s funeral – not the cheeriest of starts to the week but the setting was beautiful. What could have been a sombre setting had been designed to make you want to stare out of the window at the greenery, peacefully lost in thought.

Dave was my go-to-guy for all things gardening: he gave me advice on soil types, watered the garden when we were away, and he even potted out a bunch of tomatoes in my greenhouse – “well, you were being too slow Rebecca,” was his reason.

Back in my home office I got stuck in to updating a schedule of activities for one of my clients. This is the basis for their tactical marketing activity which shows everyone what’s going on.

It covers everything vaguely marketing related: networking events, press releases, exhibitions, case study releases, award entry deadlines, hospitality, internal events, editorial coverage, video shoots… you name it, it’s on there. It’s also what helps me to build their marketing budget.

 

Tuesday

Mummy Day! I love Tuesdays. I get to spend the whole day hanging out with my little boy who’s nearly 4. He goes to nursery three days a week, so I make the most of our time together before he goes to school and don’t check work emails or calls.

This week we did some pretty mundane stuff: Rhodri got a hair cut and we went food shopping, then we played at his cousin house in the afternoon. We treated ourselves to a chippy tea on the way home (shhh!)

Rhod’s a nerd just like me (and his dad!), so you’ll normally find us at Chocks Away watching the Beluga, doing some hands-on science at Techniquest, or watching steam trains in Llangollen.

 

Wednesday

I had a show-round at Business Wales’ Enterprise Hub, a new co-working space in Wrexham. It’s the venue for a couple of events I’ve got in the pipeline. One of them is a B2B Marketer’s Networking group. The team there are super passionate about helping start-up businesses grow and the space is versatile. If you’re a small business or freelancer that works from home, head down there for friendly co-working space and meeting room hire.

On the way home I popped into the box office for William Aston Hall to see if there were any Rhod Gilbert tickets left for his sold-out tour next year – bingo! And yes, he has the same first name as my son 🙂

I arrived home to a parcel in the porch, a book I’d been waiting for by Jo Haigh – Tales from the Glass Ceiling – what a read! I sat on the deck in the sunshine and read it in one sitting. Lots to think about and implement.

The research into the UK civil infrastructure market I had planned to do is moved to Friday.

 

Thursday

After a frantic morning trying to get out of the house, I dropped Rhod off at his grandma’s house on the way to my client’s office; a home-grown mechanical and electrical engineering company based in North Wales.

I love going to site and being part of the hubbub. The day flies by! I had a quick catch up with the MD, sat down with the various heads of departments to get the latest project updates, and then wrote a couple of new case studies.

The sales meeting happens on a Thursday too so it’s a good time to grab the account managers to find out what they need from me to support them.

There are three industry awards that have looming deadlines, so I made a start on these, ready for sign off next week.

 

Friday

Fridays are my roll-over days. I don’t plan work in so stuff that’s slipped or last-minute requests have time to get done. I also tend to catch up with any other contractors I’m working with.

I have an update call with the web developer that’s working on the rebuild of my client’s website. We’ve worked together before and have a great relationship. We went over the layout, structure and any niggles he’s come across. I also talk with the designer to see how the rebrand is coming along.

I did the half day of research that slipped from Wednesday, too. I’m helping an oil and gas company expand their services into the civils and construction markets. It involves a lot of research on LinkedIn and sector-specific websites to find and qualify companies that could use their services.

And that’s it, the week’s gone just like that!