Juggling family life and creating weathervanes - how it works for us.

On the website it says that the business is 'run around family life', so I thought I'd write a post about what this looks like day to day, and how we juggle family activities with running the business. We are very lucky in that running Black Fox Metalcraft together allows David and I to split parenting duties as equally as we want to, meaning no one is working mega long hours to support the family, and no one is  at home day after day with toddlers; it means both areas of our life can be more enjoyed and appreciated. With the workshop being 100m away, it's easy enough for one of us to sneak in a couple of hours welding here and there, and work late into the evening when we're busy. If we were commuting to a workshop 15 mins away as we did in Manchester, this would defintely be more difficult and less likely to happen! Photo below taken on the twins first trip to the new workshop, soon after their 2nd birthday, enjoying wearing our welding masks.

Before the twins were born, we simplified the website and removed products that either take too many hours to complete such as the weathervanes being hand painted in colour, or jobs that require two people to make them as we knew that we'd rarely be in the workshop together any more. This was definitely a smart move and took away some of the potential stress in that first year.

It's great having the flexibility to work when we want - it's certainly something we appreciate massively now we have a family, but it has also taken a pretty huge amount of self motivation especially in the early days of meeting the needs of baby twins 24 hours a day. There was a point when the girls were about 6 months old where we closed the business to new orders just to catch up on everything and really get organised as we were just so sleep deprived. Everyone said 'it gets easier' and it definitely has done, though I'd put some of that down to the 23 hours of funded nursery places we've been getting since the girls turned 3! It's allowed us to develop some sort of routine, and even both be working at the same time. Though it's surprising how quickly a 6 hour day goes when you've got to do the dog walk, pick up a bit of shopping & then drive home, there's not actually that much time left for work so we just have to prioritise. Orders already placed are always top of the list, with non essential updates to the website and blog posts much further down and often getting missed, which does have a knock on effect on our SEO & therefore the amount of orders we get.

I think one of the hardest things about juggling work and family which was echoed up and down the country during lockdown, is working from home when the kids are in. For me this means design work, gilding weathervanes and hand painting signs. If the twins are having an amazing time with David I want to stop working and enjoy that time with them, or when it sounds like everything is going pear shaped I feel I should stop work and help out. By far the most difficult thing for me though is in the long winter months when one of the twins brings yet another illness back from nursery - looking after poorly toddlers while not well ourselves and also keep a business running can feel next to impossible but we somehow make it through, and the sun eventually starts shining again.

This time next year Ada and Imogen will be off to school, which will mean a little more time can be devoted to Black Fox Metalcraft again. Like they say, it does get easier, and though we have less money than if one of us had a regular job, we are able to be there for our small people whenever they need us. With them having just turned 4, I'm aware of how quickly this time is passing by, and we are defintiely glad we're able to make the most if it.