After virtually a decade of making and some years of working remotely, turning into a mother in mid-2024 made consistency and work-life steadiness my largest challenges.
Earlier than I knew it, I used to be burnt out, questioning myself, and barely staying productive. TL;DR: I discovered myself spiralling, and it felt just like the partitions have been closing in on me.
In the event you’re a creator, small enterprise proprietor, or marketer juggling distant work and parenting, you understand precisely what I imply. Fortunately, this season didn’t final too lengthy.
After a number of messy months, I discovered a easy system—together with some good outsourcing—that now helps me:
- Submit 2-5 instances every week throughout LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube
- Develop my viewers (from ~7k to ~10k) and increase engagement (from ~50 to ~80+ per put up)
- Join with potential employers
- Nonetheless have time for shopper work, household, and relaxation
So right here’s the tea. ☕
1. Work with a hybrid content material assistant
I work with a content material assistant who helps ideation, taking pictures, design, modifying, and logistics. We meet in particular person 2–3 instances per 30 days to batch-create, and I pay her a retainer price. She additionally attends occasions, like events or outings, with me to assist seize moments for vlog-style content material.
This association works as a result of it:
- Lightens my psychological load
- Retains me accountable (as a result of I’m paying for it!)
- Permits for versatile collaboration relying on my schedule and funds
- Boosts my distant work productiveness
To align expectations and keep agile, we talk by way of telephone calls, e-mail, and WhatsApp conversations.
💡
You don’t essentially want a full-time rent. Begin small—even a number of hours a month could make a distinction. It was a simple rent for me as a result of she’s my cousin, who’s additionally a social media supervisor with nice content material creation expertise. However you may get yours by means of referrals or an open hiring name.
Outsourcing goes past human capital, although. Automation can also be the place the magic is, which brings me to my subsequent level.
Creating constantly isn’t about having the most effective content material technique or making out-of-budget hires. The proper instruments—whether or not free or paid—can maintain your manufacturing quick, organized, and scalable, even on a decent schedule.
For instance, I used to ship my publication, The Worthwhile Content material Marketer, so haphazardly that its development plateaued. As soon as I mastered ChatGPT prompts and started scheduling social media posts with Buffer, although, I spent much less time writing and posting—and extra time rising my Substack.
Listed below are the precise instruments my assistant and I depend on essentially the most:
Device
Function
Hack
Canva
Designing fast, clear graphics
Save 3–5 templates for various content material varieties and create a model package for constant + memorable visuals
CapCut
Enhancing social movies (short-form and YouTube)
Use the app’s ready-to-use transitions and caption kinds for simple, professional-looking movies
Buffer
Scheduling social content material forward of time
Schedule posts as quickly as they’re able to keep away from a pile-up or missed days. Be open to guide posting or in-app scheduling if obligatory
Google Sheets
Making a content material calendar and monitoring what’s been printed
Go away room for freestyle posting. Generally the best-performing posts are the spontaneous ones
iOS Notes app
Observe-taking, drafting captions, and creating to-do lists on the go
Let go of perfectionism and simply braindump. You may refine later.
ChatGPT
Tremendous-tuning concepts, doing fast analysis, and turning tough ideas into polished textual content
Keep away from copy-and-paste. Information the AI with strategic prompts and watch it elevate your voice.
Selar
Promoting digital and bodily merchandise like books and 1:1 classes
Construct content material and CTAs round your merchandise to drive regular gross sales
I don’t use each instrument every day, however I mix them primarily based on my workflow every month.
I would jot down concepts in Notes whereas cooking, then refine them in ChatGPT earlier than a shoot. My assistant might then design and edit all of the posts in Canva and CapCut, whereas both of us updates the calendar.
Fortunately, most of those instruments are both utterly free or include strong trial variations, letting you discover them with minimal monetary funding.
💡
Begin with free or trial variations, and solely improve whenever you’ve confirmed your workflow or monetized. And, for those who’re snug, give your assistant entry to your instruments and social accounts to maintain issues on observe.
In fact, instruments solely work if you’ll find the time to make use of them. Right here’s how I carve that out of my very packed schedule…
3. Use late-night deep work classes
With a toddler and freelance work, my days move by rapidly. So generally, I take 2–4 targeted hours after bedtime to:
- Generate content material concepts
- Reply to emails
- Full shopper deliverables
- Document content material
- Monitor analytics and replace my content material calendar
This isn’t ceaselessly — it’s simply what works in my present season of life. For context, I wrote most of this text late at night time whereas my child slept. No jokes. 😂
In the meantime, past not having time throughout the day, I’ve additionally change into fairly nocturnal because the pandemic lockdown interval. And I do know I’m not alone.
💡
If in case you have early mornings or childcare assist, regulate your “deep work” window to suit. Additionally, set a cut-off time (mine modifications every night time relying on once I begin) and maintain a heat drink or a light-weight snack close by, moderately than countless caffeine. Prioritize one “must-finish” job every night time for a way of accomplishment.
However right here’s the factor: incessantly working at night time is unsustainable. You might fall into an countless cycle of unproductive days and sleepless nights. And take it from somebody who’s been there, you actually don’t need that. That’s why, moreover the occasional nightcrawling, I additionally counsel you
4. Go to co-working areas as wanted
When I’ve tight deadlines or want uninterrupted daytime focus, I e-book a co-working house. It:
- Helps me get extra finished sooner
- Supplies a psychological shift from house life to work mode
- Prevents me from working all night time and being drained all day
- May be paid for every day, weekly, or month-to-month, relying on funds and particular wants
My native house prices about $3/day and a targeted session simply pays for itself in shopper work. Exhibit A:
On this present day, I had a number of deadlines to satisfy and knew that even with a babysitter, I wouldn’t be capable to end all of the assignments if I labored from house. So, I went to a close-by work hub for a number of hours and completed the remainder at house, principally throughout my late-night deep work classes.
💡
Use co-working for “sprints”. E.g., ideate and add 2 weeks of content material to your calendar, apply to your weekly dose of job alternatives, or full pending initiatives which have been dragging on.
Even with all the following pointers, you’ll be able to’t really optimize what you don’t measure. Therefore, why you should all the time
5. Monitor outcomes
I don’t use any sophisticated instruments for monitoring social media engagement—simply the built-in analytics in every platform (e.g., LinkedIn) and Buffer’s weekly e-mail studies.
Each month, I:
- Evaluation follower development and engagement (likes, feedback, shares)
- Determine which posts carried out greatest
- Search for patterns (format, matter, time of posting) and regulate future content material concepts accordingly
A method this has performed out is that we observed LinkedIn had a scarcity of video content material creators, however folks really admire them greater than you would possibly suppose.
We started posting extra LinkedIn movies and considerably elevated engagement. Useful list-style posts (job suggestions, network-building recommendation, sensible sources) additionally carry out very well on the app.
Need extra detailed insights? All paid Buffer plans embrace an easy-to-use report builder. This checklist of 11 prime social analytics instruments can also be value exploring.
💡
Choose one key metric per platform (e.g., shares on Instagram, DMs on LinkedIn, or feedback on Twitter) and observe it month-to-month. This helps you make small, data-backed tweaks with out getting overwhelmed.
So sure…
Creating constantly is difficult
It’s even tougher for those who’re additionally a mother or distant employee with out the correct construction.
Unsure the place to start out? Right here’s my advice: Enhance no less than one a part of your course of and watch the way it reduces posting gaps and burnout.
Significantly. It may very well be turning your messy notes into an organized calendar, or taking pictures video content material for the subsequent two weeks on a Sunday to unlock your weekdays.
Belief me, your future self will thank us! 😎
