Five Questions With… Heather Manning
Posted on August 27, 2007 in Five Questions by DM
Five Questions With… is a weekly series on DMweblife highlighting Des Moines area bloggers and their blogs! This edition features Heather Manning of Designs by Heather Manning, a blog that’s part family-oriented and part promotion for Heather’s scrapbooking business.
1. What’s the focus of your blog?
My blog serves a variety of purposes. It lets my customers get to know me as a person. It also lets them know what products I have coming out and many times it gives them samples of my work. It’s a personal/business blog all rolled into one, like many digital scrapbook designers do.
2. What aspect of blogging do you enjoy the most?
Honestly, I love sitting down each morning for a few minutes of peace and quiet where I can just type what I feel, what has happened, what is coming up. It’s my time when my children are still sleeping and I can breathe.
3. What’s an activity besides blogging that you can’t live without?
Digital Scrapping - whether it be designing or creating my own keepsakes for my family.
4. What’s the best advice - personal or professional - you’ve ever received?
Choose your battles - It comes in handy professionally and personally with my husband and kids. :o) Professionally it comes in handy because the digital scrapping world is unlike any I’ve worked in and I have to decide what is important to go after and what I should just let lie.
5. What’s something you’ve accomplished in the past five years that you are particularly proud of?
Starting my own business - While I do sell in a store owned by another woman, my part of it is my own. I treasure it! I can stay home with my children, work in the middle of the night if I so choose. And I’m just so proud of everything that I have taught myself in order to be working in this industry. Everything I do graphic wise is self taught. I never thought I’d find a legitimate thing that I could do from home to contribute financially to our family, and then I did. It’s been the most wonderful experience!
And the Secret Sixth Question I asked Heather:
What are one or two time management strategies you use to balance your time between duties at home and the needs of your business?
I get up very early, usually 2 hours before the kids plan on getting up so that I can get my blogging and advertising done. If I have time left, I work on designing.
I’m strict on naps for the kids, when they go down for naps, I spend that time answering emails and again, designing.
The majority of my designing is done though, after I get them to bed and when my husband is off of work. (He works 16 hour days - 6 days a week) At night, he takes over with the baby so that I can sit here and work. On his day off, he also is flying solo for a few hours so I can have uninterrupted time to really concentrate on things that I want to create.
When the kids are awake, that is their time with me and time for us to get stuff done around the house that needs to be done. And after I get some work done on my husband’s day off, that is family time. We usually go out to eat, maybe go to a park, anything that would just give us time for each other.
I believe, now that I am more established in the field that I am in, I am going to start taking one day off a week where I don’t even turn my computer on. That way I can give myself some much needed time where I can focus on other things that I enjoy.
Des Moines-area bloggers: to be considered for this feature, just drop me an email with your name, location, and blog address, and answers to the five questions I’ve asked here. I’ll reply with your “Secret Sixth Question”!
subscribe to my RSS feed!
Comments
3 comments to “Five Questions With… Heather Manning”
Leave a Comment
-
Get Updates!
-- OR --
Thanks for featuring me! So neat!
Hey Heather, I’m glad you are pleased and I really do thank you for coming around here and reading/participating! ~ J.
[...] what I forgot to tell you? I was featured over at DM Weblife. How fun is that? It is a neat website that has all sorts of things [...]