Happy Sunday everyone, and also happy March. It’s technically spring now right so we can all focus on the positive sunny weather that is coming our way (hopefully).
This month’s working mum series interview is with the lovely Alice Holland who founded Little Prince – a gorgeous online baby boys clothing boutique. I’ve linked the details to Alice’s website and Instagram below, but if you have a boy aged 0-2, this is the site for you. The edit of clothes is gorgeous. Lots of greys, light blues and neutrals. I also love that there is a pre-loved section to shop from too.
Alice give us some insight into her daily life as an entrepreneurial working mum in her interview below. I love that her proudest mum moment is the birth – we all forget to give ourselves credit for that. Especially as our children get older and we forget (block out) the whole process!
I hope you enjoy the interview and find something that resonates with you as a working mum. Do get in touch with any feedback, or if you would like to be featured.
Lisa
xoxo
Little Prince website – http://www.littleprincelondon.com/shop.html
Little Prince Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/littleprincelondon/
Lisa talks to Alice Holland
1.Please introduce yourself – what is your job, how many children you have, where you are from etc
I’m Alice, the founder of Little Prince | Baby Boys Boutique. I have a son called Bertie who is 8 months old and we live in Bromley along with my fiancé Matt.
2. How many days/hours a week do you work?
At the moment, I work on Little Prince during Bertie’s nap times and once he’s asleep at night so about 5 hours a day plus a good chunk at the weekend depending on what we’re doing as a family and what’s on workwise.
3. Describe a typical working day in your household (i.e. morning routines with nursery/school drop offs to evening)
I’m sure all mums will agree… no two days are ever the same! But I love to have a bit of routine and Bertie seems to love it too. So, a typical day starts between 6-6.30am when he wakes up. I get up and make him his bottle and a cup of tea for myself and we sit in bed until around 7am when Matt leaves for work. Once we’re up I do a 15-20 minute HIIT workout. I’ve always been really into exercise but now I struggle to go to the gym so I always try and do something in the morning to properly wake up. I encourage Bertie to have some independent play time here and then it’s breakfast!
We share something every morning – avocado toast, beans on toast or something else fairly squidgy. He will no doubt have it all over his face, arms, hands (and in his ears!), so then we have a bath. I know some people think sharing baths is weird but I love it! Such lovely bonding time and kills two birds with one stone (my basic motto for life). He goes down for an hour nap at 9am so I respond to emails, check my social media is ready for the day, make sure I’ve got my orders packed up and marked as dispatched etc. and have a coffee! Then we go out for the day – to the park, into town, meet up with friends/ family etc and I don’t do any work unless it’s urgent. We get back in time for his dinner at around 4pm and he’s in bed by 6.30pm so I work for 2 or 3 hours before crashing at about 10.30pm.
4. How do you balance working life with motherhood? And what/who do you rely on to make it work?
At the moment it’s working fine as Bertie comes everywhere with me.
5. What is the best thing about being a working mum?
The best thing is combining something that challenges me whilst spending all my time with my son. I’ve always been very entrepreneurial – I’ve worked from the age of 15 and have had multiple side businesses – so channelling that into something creative that revolves around him is great.
6. And the hardest?
Fitting it all in! I never look at my phone for long periods when Bertie is awake (unless it’s really urgent), so I fit the day into his nap times and the evening. I have so many ideas for Little Prince but only so many hours in the day and sometimes I have to take a step back and remind myself that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and if everything takes a little longer that’s OK.
7. How do you unwind? Balancing motherhood with work can be relentless so what do you do to relax when you’re not at work/with the kid(s)?
A hot bath followed by a glass of wine and something really nice for dinner. Both Matt and I are real foodies so a lot of effort goes into our dinners, even mid-week.
8. What is your proudest mum moment?
Probably the birth (if that counts?!). I had a home birth and the whole experience was the most beautiful day and night of my life. Excruciatingly painful, of course, but the most surreal, euphoric night ever.
9. Do you feel that motherhood has changed you, and if so, how?
Absolutely. In so many ways! It’s opened my heart up to levels I didn’t know possible.
10. What do you feel are the biggest challenges facing working mums at the moment?
I think one of the biggest ones is self-imposed – Mum guilt. It can be paralysing, and I think we should all be a bit softer on ourselves.
11. What is your proudest work achievement?
The fact we had orders in before we’d even gone live was a huge achievement and gave me the confidence boost I needed to really get going.
12. What does ‘flexible working’ mean to you’?
For me it’s a location thing. Technology has come so far now that you don’t need to be chained to a desk to do a good job, and in fact I think you can be more creative if you’re in a variety of office environments.
13. What are your go to stores/websites/blogs for your working wardrobe, and what are your staple pieces as a working mum?
I’m a firm believer that if you invest in your shoes and bags you can wear pretty much anything in the middle and it’ll look good! So I tend to go for boots from Russell & Bromley and my every day bag is the Longchamp Penelope in greige. I buy most my clothes from COS, Zara and H&M plus the cashmere range from Uniqlo is great for Autumn/ Winter. My favourite style blog at the moment is We Are Twinset.
14. Finally, what advice would you give to new working mums? I.e. those who are just going back to work from maternity leave, setting up their own businesses, or going for a new job?
This relates to starting a business and my advice is to plan, plan, plan! I have to do a daily and weekly brain dump and keep to a to do list otherwise I get completely overwhelmed. There are so many apps you can use to make life easier nowadays and I highly recommend trying to break down the weeks and months into chunks. I sit down at the start of every month and plan the next 30 days’ worth of Instagram posts using the Preview app. It’s linked to Instagram and you can upload and plan all of your social media to make sure your grid is aesthetically cohesive. Moreover, it means you don’t have to sit there every day coming up with the captions which frees up brain space to focus on more important things like marketing newsletters etc.
