Here, sitting on my sun bed in the Canary Islands melting away and making the most of 33 degrees in my new bikini which I’ve taken a selfie of and promptly Instagram-ed as I know back at home it’s drizzling away in true British summer school holidays style. I’ve also brought my laptop and have sneaked in a couple of hours of scheduling time (with a cold beer of course) whilst the kids were splashing in the pool with Daddy. A few months ago this was not me!
In fact we’ve not always had foreign holidays since our children were born. Having a son with Autism, air travel has always been a challenge that we weren’t ready for until now.
When the children were very little I was fortunate enough to not return to work but to be honest, even if we had family close-by to help which we don’t, I would have found it difficult leaving my little boy in specialist childcare. All the therapy sessions and intensive interaction for my son that I did at home for those early years would have been very difficult to keep up with and fit in whilst maintaining a job. If I’m totally honest I guess my mental health may have suffered too. Flexible work is what I need.
The reason why I talk about journeys is that I’ve recently been on my very own new, personal and academic journey.
A very good friend of mine suggested I joined a similar training course to one that she had just graduated in social media. Digital Mums sounded like something very technical that I would never get my head around. After all I’d been out of the corporate world for so many years!
Now both children had settled at school, I found myself ready and wanting to challenge myself although I had no idea how much I was capable of anymore.
I signed up for the six month course with Digital Mums for something to wake up my brain and do something for me. Maybe also to prove that I could still achieve something in my own right.
I already had an extensive sales background so marketing and social media would really compliment this.
We were asked to run a grass roots campaign to showcase our social media skills and were given the choice of which subject to choose in the form of a movement. I had decided I knew the most about special needs and education therefore I would do that. I had my first 1:1 webinar with my tutor who spoke to me about my second choice which was a fashion movement. She quite rightly explained that dealing with special needs is my daily life. She showed me that I could have fun with a fashion movement even though I don’t consider myself as a fashionista by any stretch of the imagination! This was about having fun and pushing me out of my comfort zone. Fun was certainly not what I thought this course would be but actually, looking back I’ve had so much fun laughing at myself in disbelief of what lengths I went to get that perfect selfie, or the most unlikely places to be Tweeting whilst being an already multi-tasking mummy!
Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Linked In, Google +, Snapchat, all of which were almost alien to me however, Herts In Fashion was born and about to get real!
The course consisted of Twitter chats in the evenings when the kids were tucked up in bed, course guide hangouts and webinars, reading lessons, watching videos, completing assignments. Not to mention running the campaign with daily posting of articles on my channels about which outfits suit different body shapes and displaying inspirational quotes to encourage women like me to love their bodies. Taking selfies and pictures of flat-lays – all were things I was never used to doing and a far cry from my full time mum job role. It didn’t take me long to realise that I needed to be on this journey that I was preaching about to be able to really get to grips with it and sound real behind my brand. I learned so much about the subject too.
Researching fashion history facts by visiting museums, writing blogs, attending fashion shows in London, going live from my campaign pages, collaborating with other businesses, running competitions and giveaways, advertising, attending a session with a personal stylist and hosting a TwitterChat with a well-known stylist company as a guest answering questions asked by the audience. These were all things a few months ago I’d never have thought I’d be capable of and the list goes on!
The other Digital Mums student’s campaigns were also of huge interest to me and a positive learning opportunity. Following and supporting each other has made me learn so much from my colleagues. Our peer group supported each other amazingly. It’s so great that any day of the week, any time of day or night, there was always someone super supportive at the end of a WhatsApp message! I’ve loved following their campaigns and these have given me a confidence boost too. My peer group’s campaigns have shown me a great insight into how to professionally manage local, community-feel channels. They’ve taught me so much about healthy eating and fitness. I’ve learned the huge importance of ethical fashion, living and business. I already have a passion for spicy food and have enjoyed fuelling this with following a very successful food campaign. I also have so many more ideas of how to incorporate and prioritise me time and the importance of mindfulness to become a better working mummy and will carry on using all of these learnings for many years to come.
I enjoyed our weekly conference calls with a peer group of women I’d never met before the course but we will now hopefully be firm friends forever.
Years ago, at the start of the social media era, I was the one who always used to harp on about “never, ever joining Facebook” as I used to think it was an invasion of privacy etc. etc. I had so many arguments against using it years ago! One day, when my kids started nursery I realised I had missed out on a mums night out as I wasn’t on Facebook to receive the invite! From that point on, after realising I should move with the times, I slowly began to accept social media reluctantly. However, now after seeing the workings of social media management, behind the scenes and from a business point of view, learning the content strategies and methodology, it has really changed my perspective. Who would have thought that I would find myself about to embark on a whole new career in the subject. The best thing is that it can be a job which can be fitted in around children (and holidays)!
Six months down the line I guess I expected to come out the other side less rusty with some polished skills and some new social media tactics to take to a business role, but I never expected to emerge with a whole new outlook on life too. Flexible working really is a possibility now and also a new found sense of me having the confidence to feel good about myself. If you are still pondering over whether to do this course and do something for you, my advice is just go for it and follow your dreams!
Herts In Fashion 
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