During my maternity leave, I made a decision to really work on self development, knowing that becoming a mummy would be challenging and push me beyond anything I’ve ever done before. I was doing pilates most days, watching videos about goal setting, learning about branding and reading Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert but for all the good it was doing me, I was worried about my future career prospects….
When one of my London friends mentioned Digital Mums I had no idea what she was talking about but the idea of a training scheme just for mums somehow really appealed. I took a look at their website and instantly fell in love with the idea of #workthatworks – training mums in social media management so that by the end of the course they are job-ready and can start freelancing around their family life. Sounded amazing and I loved the fact that running social media campaigns incorporates so many creative elements; writing, great visuals, graphics and imaginative content. I signed up.
Alongside the on-boarding info and course overview, I was also put in a ‘peer group’ (like a class) with 7 other mums and politely told to get on a ‘Google hang-out’ (er, what?)* and get to know them. We called ourselves the Momumentals and have a Whatsapp group too so we can all stress out together – nothing like exchanging cry-face emojis to make you feel better after all. Just kidding. Fist bumps all the way in this sisterhood.
We have just come to the end of week 4 and have already participated in a couple of webinars, learned about tone-of-voice, created pie charts (ha! not done one of those since St John’s Middle School!) and chosen our target audience, or ‘personas.’ Truth be known, I’ve already learnt more about social media in 4 weeks of lessons than in 10 years of being a Facebook user.
I’m only at the beginning of my 1year course (11 months to go!!) but so far so good. I’m enjoying the challenge of getting to grips with new stuff and moving into the digital world. I think my future self would approve of my ‘up-skilling’ and in seizing opportunities like this one too. After all, it’s not just about opening new doors and career possibilities but reminding myself that beyond the nappy changing and weaning, I am still me, just the new, improved, multi-tasking, digital version.
I’ll update on the course once we really get going after Christmas and let you know if my emojis usage has progressed to smug face or face palm…
If any other Digital Mums out there (or anyone else for that matter) want to throw in their two pence worth, please leave a comment below. I’m off to study…. (insert ‘geek face’ here…)
Zoe x
*for the record, a Google Hang-out is a fancy-pants name for a video conference call. So now you know…