How to Run a Business With Toddlers at Home

You know those business podcasts where the guest’s morning starts with an ice bath, a five-step matcha process, 40 minutes of meditation, and THEN they leap into an 8-hour deep work session to, I dunno, “crush their Q3 KPIs”? Yeah. That’s not my life.

Honestly, my business (and my sanity) is powered by work sprints—little bursts of focused, messy (sometimes even snack-fueled) productivity in whatever pocket of time and sunlight I can grab.

If you’ve ever wondered how folks with a “real life”—the kind where preschool drop-off, sick days, and the random need for coffee shop ambiance regularly rearrange your plans—actually get stuff done, pull up a chair. Amy Hanneke and I sat down for some ordinary-but-thriving chat about how work sprints keep her business lean, creative, and, well, human.

Spoiler: No fancy project manager. No chasing a “lean-in” aesthetic. Just honest, practical routines for people just like you.

What Even Is a Work Sprint?

Let’s get the Pinterest-glossy definition out of the way: a work sprint, in Amy’s world (and now mine), is simply a focused chunk of time—could be one hour, could be three—when you actually do the work. Not plan. Not color-code your to-do list. Not rethink your whole website. You. Sit. Down. And. Do. The. Thing.

Amy, a website copywriter and brand messaging specialist (the cool kind, not the kind that tells you to find your “genius zone”), doesn’t get 8 quiet hours a day. She has two little kids, a partner, a house, and clients who want their websites to sound like them (not like a robot with a thesaurus). That means her days are built on “sprinting”—squeezing deep work into the nooks and crannies life gives her.

Vibes First: Where (and How) Ordinary People Sprint

Amy puts it in plain English: “My favorite place for a work sprint? Depends on the vibe.” Sometimes it’s her sun-soaked corner of the bedroom (because “I need the sunshine like a little plant”), sometimes it’s the basement with two big screens, and sometimes she’ll head for a coffee shop when she needs “people, but not to be talked to.”

No co-working lofts with kombucha on tap in sight. Just a good ol’ desk in the bedroom with “the best vibes”—and yes, the occasional chaos of kids.

The takeaway: Step one is not “plan your deep work for 6 AM.” Step one is chase the right vibes for you. Ordinary businesses are run by ordinary people with ordinary needs—like sunlight, quiet, or sometimes just that one table near an outlet.

The Reality of Sprint-Fueled Weeks (Yes, With Toddlers)

Let’s talk numbers. Amy’s kids are in preschool three and a half hours a day. That’s when the sprints happen. In her own words: “Not to brag, but I am getting almost nearly half of a full work day.”

It used to be two and half hours. Over the summer: zero. And yet, the work gets done. Some evenings, some weekends, a lot squeezed into those precious 3.5 hours. Amy doesn’t pretend it’s all neat or Instagrammable. She’s fast, focused, and honest about needing to blitz through her to-do list when the opportunity appears.

If you ever feel like, “I can’t run a business—I only have a few hours here and there!” you officially have permission to ditch the self-doubt. Amy’s thriving business is living proof.

How the Sprinting Actually Happens (Spoiler: It’s Not About Fancy Tools)

Here’s the (non) system:

Planning happens ahead of time. If your work sprint window is precious, don’t waste 20 minutes at the beginning of your session figuring out what to do. Amy pre-plans her sprints—mentally, using the Reminders app on her phone, or sometimes in the car line at preschool.
Set the stage, close the tabs. When she sits down, she opens ONLY what she needs for the task at hand (client’s current website, kickoff call notes, copy draft, etc.). Everything else is shut down. Notion? Nope. Airtable? Only if it’s relevant RIGHT NOW.
Brick the phone. If distraction strikes, the phone goes on Do Not Disturb—or gets physically moved away. Simple.
Coffee’s non-negotiable. And (hilariously) so are shoes. “I have to be wearing shoes to do deep work. I don’t know what it is,” Amy admits. No judgment here.

Batching, Toddler Chaos, and the Myth of the Monolithic Calendar

Are all tasks worthy of a sprint? Not really.

Amy saves sprints for “deep work”—the heavy lifting of client projects, longform writing, the stuff that demands a brain free of kindergartener interruptions. If something can be done with kids around, while watching gymnastics, or between replying to DMs in the school parking lot? She’ll do it “chaos style.”

Think replying to emails, sending quick pitches, posting to Slack or social media—those all happen in the margins. The real “sprint” stuff only happens when she’s got the house (or at least the bedroom corner) to herself.

There’s no rigid “batch your Tuesdays for content, Wednesdays for admin” system here. Amy’s tried that—quarterly plans, the whole nine yards—and found it stifling, not creative. The way she puts it: “You have to be better at the pivot than you are at rigidly holding onto a system.” You can leave your color-coded Notion board in peace: real businesses are built on flexibility.

When Life Throws Curveballs (Spoiler: It Will)

Kids get sick. Schools close for snow. Suddenly, those three golden hours are gone. Does Amy panic? Nope. Here’s how she keeps rolling:

Build in buffer time. Client timelines always include “extra” days to sleep on drafts, edit, and take time off if needed. Two weeks for a project that, if uninterrupted, could be completed in days.
Prioritize ruthlessly. If a kid wakes up feverish, the client work waits. (Spoiler: Most clients actually understand. “It’s a website, not a heart transplant.”)
Don’t pretend things are perfect. Even on the busiest days, sometimes the To Do list becomes a To Did-What-I-Could list. Ordinary success is forgiving.

If you only take one thing from this post, let it be this: You can’t run your business on the assumption that every week will go perfectly. The freedom is in accepting—and even planning for—that ordinary mess.

The Only Tool You Need? Awareness.

Amy’s “productivity stack” could fit in a Ziploc: Reminders app, Toggl for the occasional time tracking, and… that’s it? No ten-step workflow automation or “CEO dashboard.” She recommends every ordinary business owner just track your time for a while.

This isn’t about stuffing more into your schedule. It’s about knowing what actually matters, and what takes real time—so you can reserve your sprints for the important work, and let the rest go.

I’ll say it again (and maybe tape it to my own monitor): You don’t need more tools. You need to know what already works—messy, beautiful, just-like-you real life and all.

The “Ordinary” Rituals (or, How We Actually Work)

Forget the YouTube-ready vibe. There’s nothing fancy here—just shoes on, coffee in hand, snacks within reach, tabs cleared except what you need, and a list of three (maximum) things that really matter for the day.

No candles, no mantras, no 18-step “CEO Routine.” Morning routines here look like “toddler storms into room, demands Cheerios.” We’re thriving anyway.

Ready to Sprint Like an Ordinary-but-Thriving Human?

If you’ve spent too long trying to make other people’s “systems” fit your life—and all it’s done is stress you out—let this episode/blog be your permission slip: It’s okay for your work to look… well, ordinary. Ordinary is human, freeing, and just as successful as any “7-figure” myth you see on Instagram.

I’m so in. Are you?

Frequently Asked Questions: The Work Sprint Edition

1. Do I need to plan out every sprint in advance, like on Sundays for the whole week?
Nope! Amy tried that and found it stifling. She usually plans sprints in the morning—either when her kids are playing or while waiting in the car line. Flexibility matters more than a calendar that would make a wedding planner jealous.

2. What tasks are best for a sprint, and what can I do “in the margins”?
Reserve sprints for “deep work”—writing, client deliverables, anything focused and distraction-free. Quick replies, social DMs, or admin tasks? That’s chaos mode—fit them in wherever you can.

3. What tools or apps actually help with this?
Nothing fancy! The Reminders app, Toggl for time tracking, and plenty of coffee. Amy literally runs her business on these—sometimes with 20 browser tabs open for a client sprint, but almost never with a big, complicated software stack.

4. How do you handle days when your planned sprint time evaporates (sick kid, snow day, etc.)?
Build extra time into your timelines, don’t sweat the pivots, and remember: very few business emergencies are actual emergencies. Most clients understand. Plan for the hiccups, not perfection.

5. Can I do multiple tasks/projects in one sprint?
If tasks are similar (like several writing pieces for one client), great! But Amy recommends NOT mixing unrelated projects or task types. Focus on one client or theme per sprint for best results.

6. What if I don’t feel all that “productive”—am I doing it wrong?
Not at all. Ordinary business owners ride the waves—some days are hyper-productive, some days are more “reply to messages during gymnastics class.” The goal isn’t a flawless routine—it’s forward motion (even if your “system” is just shoes, coffee, and a list on your phone).

There you go, friend. Permission to run your business with sprints, snacks, and actual sunlight—no matter how ordinary it feels. Because ordinary is where your people are, and it works.