Ashley Boyd is a Systems Support Virtual Assistant, Certified Dubsado Specialist + Automation Junkie. When she first started her VA biz in March 2021, she just wanted extra income for her family, hoping for around $1000 each month on limited hours. Fast forward 1 year later, and in 3 months in 2022 she had already made more than in 2021 total and is on track to at least 3x her business this year. She recently increased her rates from $40 to $50/hour, has a full client roster, and just hired her second team member. Now she says, “Our family has a LOT more financial freedom than we’ve had in the past. Plus, it’s such an outlet for me amongst the chaos of 3 kids under 6!”
Here’s a sneak peek at a Day in the Life of Ashley Boyd:
I try to get up between 5+5:30 every day to enjoy some warm coffee and get SOMETHING done before the kids are up at 6:15 on school days and 8:15 on non-school days. Sometimes I just plan my day and watch TV, some days I knock out some client work.
Once the kids are up, I switch to mom life. School mornings are chaotic and filled with getting kids out the door on time with backpacks and snacks and library books and whatever else.
M/W/F – Both big kids (ages 5+3) go to pre-school (8a-12p) and my youngest (age 1.5) is home with me
T/TH – Only my oldest goes to pre-school
Thankfully the hubby (Nathan) handles school drop-off
If it’s just me and the littlest, I try to get some work done. It’s pure chaos between her crawling on me and trying to steal my pens (she LOVES pens). If either/both of the big kids are home, there is definitely no work getting accomplished.
I leave about 11:30 for school pickup at noon. As soon as we get home, it’s the lunch rush so everyone can go down for rest time around 1:30p and then I can finally do (mostly) uninterrupted work time until 4:30p or so. My youngest is the only one that actually naps and the other two are expected to play quietly in their room. There is usually tablets involved.
My parents try to help me out at least once a week and handle the kids to give me a quiet house or give me an opportunity to work at Starbucks for a few hours so I can have an entire day of focused work time.
Once the kids are up, it’s time to figure out dinner. It’s a toss-up between cooking something simple, take-out, or frozen pizza.
Nathan gets home around 5:30 and we do dinner and hopefully have some family time until the kids go to bed around 7/7:30. With three kids, it’s all chaos.
9 times out of 10, I don’t work any more until the next day unless there is something super important outstanding that I couldn’t make it to during the day. Nathan and I spend some time together then usually are in bed by 9/9:30. I also try really hard to take weekends off, but I do usually work some at least a little in the mornings to set myself up for a good week.
Our life is very scheduled and regimented and I really like it that way. It’s good for me and the kids and brings me some sanity in the chaos.
Right now, I don’t do much “self-care” beyond a good shower + face mask. I’m good with that as long as the hubs and I get the occasional day date. While we have more financial freedom, we are still trying to focus on paying off debt and increasing our savings. We also are fortunate enough to spend the kids to a private Christian school which my business helps with. I struggle to find time to do the laundry and clean the house on any sort of schedule like I’d like, and it usually happens in sections and on weekends. I’ll feel like I made it when I finally get to hire someone to help me with this!
