Business Mums Who Love to Write #2 Gilly Woodhouse

Gilly continues my new Business Mums Who Love to Write blog series with her usual wit, charm and fantastic stories. Take it away, Gilly….

Hi Gilly, thanks so much for taking time to join us!

First things first, can you tell us a little bit about you, your biz, and where in the world you’re from?

I’m a Shropshire lass who’s lived in both London and Athens since I was 21. I’ve always had very entrepreneurial thinking and run several niche businesses over the years, particularly whilst the children were young. Having returned from Athens ten years ago with my son Toby, who was gravely ill, I needed to earn, which was difficult as I was stuck in hospitals a lot! After working with a teaching faculty of Osteopaths and treatment being massively beneficial to Toby, I got inspiration to begin Osteobiz. In the past five years I’ve worked with many hundreds of worldwide Osteopaths and grown a huge following.

Are you working on a big writing project at the moment?

Yes. I’ve been working on a unique guide for Osteopaths who want an easily accessible resource for business development. It can either be read cover to cover or dipped into for some inspiration and ideas.

What inspired you to start writing your first book?

I get asked the same sort of questions all the time, so it seemed logical to turn all of that advice into a handy guide.

Do you have a regular writing routine/schedule or do you tend to just wing it when inspiration strikes?

Somewhat unusually, I wrote the bulk of this book whilst traveling around Australia and New Zealand some months ago. Being away and having my routine disrupted, whilst still working with clients via the internet, meant that larger chunks of time opened up which wouldn’t normally be available. Since being back home, I haven’t been as disciplined but I am close to finishing the final edit.

Have you any tips you could share on how you manage to run a business, enjoy lots of quality family time, and still find time to write?

I think we can all say that we don’t have enough time but the truth is we’re not always prioritizing the tasks which create a strong business. So I have become increasingly more organized in managing my time. I have a Google calendar which syncs with my business diary and I block out time for important tasks. I also only meet with my VIP clients on 3 days a week, leaving me Wednesday for larger projects. Then Flexi-Friday means I can meet up with friends, go away with hubby for a long weekend or choose to work if I want to. That seems to work really well and I’m way more productive than I used to be. And because we’re a combined family, I set aside one Sunday a month for a Family Feast to ensure we are all in the same place for a good old roast!