This admirable mom and marketing manager juggles both roles with much fulfillment and growth, since she works in a remote worker set-up. She shares marketing tips as well as insights on the experience.

Titled “A Day In The Life Of A Woman,” this series celebrates the women in our lives. From the everyday to inspirational, the series aims to highlight women from various fields and share a bit of the diversity we experience every day.

Also called the Queen of automation, Nin Abayata joined Connected Women last December. She works diligently preparing the marketing for the product team, Mailchimp automations for contributors, and advertising campaigns. She is a determined autodidact, designer and free spirit. She balances all of this with being a hands-on mom.

Below is how a day goes for this mom and marketing professional:

4:30 AM: Wake up. If I slept early last night, instead of working on urgent projects, I would wake up at 4:30 in the morning to start my morning routine. Even if my waking time varies, the routine is fixed in the following sequence: Drink water, free write, plan the day and read. This is based on last night’s review.

4:30 AM-7:30 AM: Morning routine. I realized that if you care a lot about what you do and you want to go carpe diem, there’s never enough time to prepare. Knowing this, you’ll realize that you don’t need the snooze button. I consider free writing and meditation almost equal. I would put all my thoughts into paper, without judgment and care of the usual rules of writing. This is the most powerful part of my routine, the 20% effort that clears up 80% of my tangled thoughts.

From my free-written notes I would highlight the actionable things to flesh out what’s practical. These are the things I would lay out in my timeline as I plan the day. After I empty my mind on paper, I would fill it again with something new from a non-fiction book. Non-fiction books can be speed-read, skimmed, fleshed out of something practical enough to set the mood of the day.

7:30 AM: Around 7:30 I would start to take a shower and activate “parenting” mode. Prepare breakfast and spend some time with my son by taking an early walk with him before I get to start working at 9:00AM.

8:30 AM:  30 Minutes before 9 AM, I would start to review work messages from yesterday to get the gist of what my day will look like, what I need to do and what’s urgent.

9 AM-12 NN: I spend the first few hours of work on communications, catching up with messages and handing resources or things some of my co-workers need from me for them to start to work. I spend the first hour reviewing my tasks and a few hours delivering what was needed from me, to make sure that I’m not blocking someone else’s progress.

12 NN: I take lunch at different hours. If I take a lunch break at 12:00 I’d start by preparing and having lunch with my four–year-old son Harry and later enjoy a quick read.

1 PM-5 PM: A total opposite of being an expert at anything, I work across several sub-teams at work. Instead of focusing on one single area, I study and work on several areas, look at the bigger picture and see how every specific progress contributes to the ultimate goal.

Working in marketing is about understanding people– what they need, what makes them tick, their pains and frustrations. I try to understand their behaviors and preferences not to use it against them, but in order to know how we can give more value and serve them better.

Working at home can be a literal pain in the behind. Since I’m susceptible to back pains and headaches, I make sure to spend a few minutes in the afternoon for 15-minute siestas and 7-minute stretches.

6 PM: After work, if my partner is in Cebu, we would be preparing dinner or have dinner outside as soon as she arrives. A passeggiata after dinner is a must for me, and it’s the only time of the day when I get to bond with the whole family.

8 PM: I will start to do freewriting again to review the whole day. Most of the time I would spend a couple of hours every night on social media, catching up with friends and watching funny cat videos.

10:30 PM: I usually bring a book to bed to help me sleep. I prefer bringing fiction to bed, the type of books that I can read slowly and be engrossed with, taking me days or weeks to finish.

The Pros And Cons Of Working Remotely

Nin says that working remotely has allowed her to spend more time with her son. “Time that was spent on commute is now spent reading more books and studying massive open online courses,” she says. “If I didn’t work online, I would have to spend the hours for my morning routine on commute. I wouldn’t get the chance to spend more time with my son, read books, travel and I’ll be too tired to enjoy a walk with my family after dinner.”

She does admit that there are challenges though. “Working across sub-teams can be overwhelming,” she shares. “It’s great to look at the bigger picture and go back to Earth to tell the story, until all your tasks pile up and you don’t know where to start.”

Embrace Failure

She also has advice for those who want to take on marketing roles, especially in startups. “Don’t be afraid to try and fail. Embrace the opportunity to fail and learn if you get the chance. I’ve learned from advertising that you really have to make mistakes at first in order to optimize. The faster you make mistakes, the faster you improve and arrive at that ’sweet spot’ where everything is efficient and effective.

And most importantly, plant your feet firmly on the ground and don’t forget your purpose. Oftentimes we’re too caught up with ’doing’ that we forget who we are and what we’re here for—what we’re hired for. Believe that everything you do creates a ripple that impacts humanity as a whole.”