I’m not talking limberness or the ability to stretch into amazing yoga positions here, I’m talking about a flexible approach to working.
We live in a world where communication is 24/7, we know that we cannot be expected to work 24/7 but for me the old 9 to 5 went out of the window a long time ago, and that was by choice.
Having a child changed all of that, I wanted to work but I wanted to do it as much as possible around him. Now, nine years on, I still work around him and it is great.
I tend to start work earlier in the day so that I can plan and write before meetings and then finish in time to do the school pick up, the rest of the work I do when he is in bed. This is the kind of flexibility I like!
Yes, there are days when I am in London and can’t do the school run, or have late meetings but the general rule of thumb is that I try to plan my diary so that I can.
Even when I’m away from home I break off from what I’m doing and do the night time story over the phone, because I want to and I can.
Working for yourself makes it so much easier to be flexible with your working hours, working with business partners who value flexibility too means that it happens and you make it work for the business.
So while I may be writing content plans, developing a campaign or strategy at 9pm, it is out of choice and has meant that I can pick up my boy at 3.15pm, lose at Cluedo, have a Lego building challenge, enforce the homework and have fun.
Social media doesn’t operate from 9am until 5pm, news certainly doesn’t and many of our clients don’t, so this approach to work is really helpful to our business.
Being flexible means that we are around for more than traditional office hours, we can respond to and deal with queries and issues that arise out of hours without seeing them as an imposition.
The enlightened feeling you get after a good yoga session is replicated by our happy, relaxed and contented flexible approach to work. And breathe….
Charlotte's Sidekick Blog 