An early start in Manchester

My day

5.40am: My first alarm goes off, but I’ve been making mental lists of things to do for half an hour now. I check my email and flick through my calendar to see what my day looks like. Five minutes later, the second alarm gets me out of bed and right into the shower.

6am: I read the news whilst I dry my hair and then listen to BBC News videos while I do my makeup. I’m all caught up with the world now.

6.40am: I jump in the car or the tram and head into Manchester.

7.10am: The office is peaceful and I’ll have it all for myself until 8am, so it’s time to check my to-do list and tackle some of admin/HR tasks I couldn’t get done yesterday. I make myself a cup of coffee and some breakfast and dig in.

8am: I do a bit of brainstorming on my own to come up with ideas for a pitch which the business development team can use to draft a proposal document. I love this part of my job!

8.30am: I catch up with our commercial manager and talk about teams capacity and potential new hires.

9am: I look through the slides for a client meeting we have at 10am one last time and print them off. I then catch up with the account manager involved to agree on upsell suggestions.

10.00am: The client meeting goes well - we review the campaign performance and discuss a couple of upsells which could help the campaign become even more successful. Fingers crossed, they’ll sign them off!

11.20am: I get back to my desk and scan through the 30 emails I received. I reply to five urgent ones and delegate a last-minute client request before rushing to the next meeting.

11.30am: I get together with a few members of my team and an account manager to discuss content marketing strategy and creative ideas for a contract renewal pitch. We’re all set on the ideas now and all I need to do is prepare some slides.

12.30pm: The social media planners for an important client are ready, so I sub them and add some suggestions for amends.

1pm: I heat up my packed lunch - veggie stew and couscous. I don’t dare head out in the Northern Quarter, where our office is located, in case I end up buying an unhealthy snack. I eat at my desk while answering emails and reading The Daily Mash. 

1.30pm: I type up a personal development review for one of my team members.

2pm: I put together a last-minute report for a big client. They’ve just asked us to send over all key stats before end of play, as they have an important internal meeting tomorrow. I type as fast as I can.

3.30pm: I have a one to one with one of my team members. We discuss successes and challenges they’ve encountered over the past couple of weeks.

4pm: I go to a new business briefing - we’ve generated a new lead and we have secured a pitch with them next week. It sounds like an excellent prospect and I’m excited to come up with creative ideas for them.

4.20pm: I answer all outstanding emails and sub an article for a guest post one of my team members wrote.

5pm: I get in the car and drive to “the wall.” I spend my evening bouldering (it’s indoor rock climbing without ropes) with my boyfriend and a friend. We have a chat in between routes and challenge each other to go beyond our limits. Any stress I might have accumulated is easily forgotten, as my head is now busy trying to figure out how to get to the top of the wall without falling off.

8.30pm: Time to jump in the shower and cook dinner and a packed lunch for tomorrow, whilst I frantically answer the emails I missed whilst climbing.

9.30pm: We settle down on the sofa to watch some sailing videos on YouTube and daydream of snorkeling in the Caribbean. I also send a few WhatsApp messages to my family back in Italy to see how they all are.

10.30pm: Time for my last email check and a bit of reading in bed. It doesn’t take long for my eyes to get sore and I quickly drift off.

Elena Manighetti, head of content marketing at Manchester-based digital marketing agency theEword