Why Routines? How having a Nonspeaking Child with Autism Made Me a Better Business Owner

1 day ago
2 min read

Woman in sunglasses and child in a hat indoors. Bold orange text reads "Mango Mompreneur" with additional text about routines and business.

Hi, I'm Alicia, co-founder of Mango Marketing Co, and the “mama” at Mango Marketing Co. If you read my last post, you know I'm a mompreneur with 2 kids. My youngest daughter has Nonspeaking Autism, and if there is one thing being a parent and caregiver has taught me, it's that routine is not optional. It's survival (for all of us).

Routines look like this:

I must have complete flexibility all day, every day, but our schedule needs to be the same. Same wake-up time, meal time, bath time, bed time, every day. No negotiations.
Cooking and cleaning before anything else. Always. This girl can eat…a lot of fruit. And we all feel more regulated with a clean, organized space.
Transitions get a warning, and the daily schedule/activities get communicated. This makes it helpful for my other daughter as well.
When the routine breaks, everything breaks.

Kids with high support needs thrive on predictability. It is a fundamental requirement. My daughter does not care that I have a client call…she cares that it is snack time. I probably do, too, because I am usually surviving on coffee and a handful of nuts before the school drop-off.

So I started treating my business the same way when it comes to routines:

Client communication goes out at the same time every week. (8am scheduled emails, thank you, Google Workspace!).
I batch my creative work for the same window daily.
I give myself transition time between mom mode and bad bitch mode. (or as all of you know it, Co-founder mode).
When something breaks the schedule, I have a backup plan, so everyone stays regulated. Well, most days.

I was already good at building systems and routines before becoming a mom. I am an eldest daughter and a Capricorn, I am the system. I just had to learn to build them for my business too, beyond our CRM program.

You cannot pour from an empty cup, and you cannot run a business without structure, especially when your life has variables nobody planned for.