Claire Quansah, founder of Quansah Consulting, set up her own consultancy to support small and medium comms and creative agencies last year.
Prior to launching her own business, Quansah was the former head of client and business development at Social and was previously Red Havas’ operations director where she was client lead for consumer and B2B brands including Greggs, Pets at Home and Sodexo.
Now, Quansah is an advisory board member for BME PR Pros and The Blueprint diversity mark, as well as serving as a mentor and tutor for The Xec leadership scheme.
As a talented industry leader with a wealth of experience, she shares a recent week in her life with us…
Monday
After a 6:30 wakeup, it’s the usual Monday morning chaos in the Quansah household. From finding swimming kits, water bottles to dragging a teenager out of bed, we leave the house around 8am.
After dropping my youngest at the childcare I jump on the tram into Manchester. It gives me 20 minutes to read the news and complete a Wordle.
I make it into Piccadilly nice and early to catch a train to Leeds. Thankfully there are no cancellations or delays so I make it in plenty of time. Today I’m meeting a client for a planning session. After a recent restructure and refocus, we look at the different processes that need to be put in place to support the new business structure.
It’s difficult to hear the challenges that agencies are going through, but I really enjoy listening to and trying to find a way forward.
By the time I’m back in Manchester the day is pretty much done, so there’s only a bit of time to plan a few emails (to send in the morning) and check the status of some ongoing work.
The evening is spent poolside watching my oldest’s swim training. As someone who just about got their 50m badge, I’m in absolute awe that he does 400m as a warm up.
Tuesday
Gym session at 5am (yes, I’ve become one of those people. Sorry!) is a great way to start the day. As much as I hate the early start, it gives me energy and clarity for the day ahead and can be done without interrupting family life and schedules. Plus, it’s done and out of the way so I can’t make excuses in the evening.
I spend the morning working from a coffee shop in central Manchester. There are some great cafes with decent Wi-Fi, which make a nice break from working at home. This morning I’m focused on a client who’s been with me since the start of Quansah Consulting. A planning session with the team on Zoom, followed by some research and writing.
Once lunchtime comes along, I leg it across a rather wet Manchester city centre to attend my first AGM for Bloom North, the professional network for women in the communications industries. I recently joined the EDI committee to support their ambitions for the region’s creative industries to be more representative and inclusive. Whilst we have a big job on our hands, it’s really exciting to hear some of the plans and to meet other members.
Speaking of representation, I spend some time promoting the launch of the Pros Awards which I’m really excited about. They are the first awards in the comms industry to celebrate Black, Asian, Mixed Race and Ethnic minority talent and inclusive campaigns. I’ve been involved with BME Pros (creators of The Pros Awards) for nearly six years. Even though I’ve done mentoring and advising for them, seeing these awards come to fruition was probably my proudest moment. Seeing so many talented, often ignored, professionals get the spotlight they deserve was really special. This year will be even bigger and better.
2:30pm and its time to rush back on the tram to make it back in time for a school pick up, to then drop the youngest at a class for 330 – can’t forget the snacks! Arrive home rather soggy and spend the next 40min wondering what to do with that free slot of quiet time. Before I know it, its time to leave and no, I didn’t do anything productive with that 40 min (this happens every week!)
Once we are back home and I’ve dished out yet another snack, I spend some time catching up on emails whilst he does some TimesTable Rockstars – if you know, you know.
Wednesday
I try to keep Wednesdays flexible to allow for ad hoc work requests and my own planning. As January is known for being quiet for freelancers, I’m filling the time by catching up with people, so my morning is full of calls. I’m making a real effort to speak with people I’m connected to on LinkedIn, but don’t actually know. It always seems strange that there are people who I seem to know a lot about and engage with online but could easily walk past in the street.
After a quick lunch whilst watching the news I spend the rest of the afternoon working on some training materials. I’ll be running a session for an industry body about client development. It’s for entry level PR practitioners who want to understand the world of new business a bit more.
The other presentation is about how to be a better line manager. I have a bee in my bonnet about the lack of training and support our industry gives to line managers. They have such an important role to play in people’s development and retention, yet they are generally left to their own devices. I’m on a mini mission to change that!
Once I’m done with the presentations, it’s time for pick ups, homework and dinner, then various extra-curricular activities to ferry kids to.
I try to avoid working in the evenings unless its really necessary, but sometimes I find it easier and less pressurized to review documents etc. at the end of the day.
Thursday
After wishing I’d stayed in bed instead of going to the gym, I spend my morning doing client work. A mixture of research, writing and reviewing their plans for the year. Then we make the final touches to some content to go out on social media and send to their clients. As a self-confessed completer-finisher, it’s a great feeling when something we’ve worked on a for a couple of months finally gets out the door.
As it’s a relatively dry day I go for a walk to get some steps in and run some errands over an extended lunch break. I’m still getting used to the fact that I can take more than one hour if I want to.
A quiet afternoon is a chance to do some work on Quansah Consulting stuff. From research, catching up on webinars, social media planning or even the dreaded finance. There is a lot of valuable content available for freelancers and startups, but it can be difficult to find time to digest it all. Dedicating a slot every week (ish) means I can commit to it.
Quick pick up and change for the youngest to get to football, Thankfully my husband helps with coaching so I get to stay home.
I’ve been invited to judge a few industry awards programmes so make a start on reviewing some entries before family commitments start. It’s always interesting to see what work people are put forward for awards and how they present it.
Friday
After the Friday school run, it’s time for my monthly check-in call with this year’s cohort of The Xec leadership programme. It’s a scheme developed by BME PR Pros for UK-based Black, Asian, Mixed Race and Ethnic Minority (BME) PR and comms professionals, which aims to create the next generation of BME leaders. They pack a lot of learning into each month, on top of their full-time jobs, so taking the time out to reflect and discuss is extremely useful for them.
As an employee, I spent 14 years working four days a week with Fridays off, so I try to keep some free time at the end of the week. But as I’m still in the early days of my business, I can’t be too precious about that just yet, so have arranged a couple of new business calls.
I’m a fan of a good to-do list and like to start my week prepared, so will finish my day by updating my lists for the coming week. It means I can map out my week, prioritise tasks and start my weekend without worry. It also means I’m ready to go on Monday morning. To be totally honest, I will write down any tiny task just so I feel the sense of satisfaction when I mark it as complete.
Then it time for a wet walk to school followed by more extra-curricular activities, catching up with friends, ready for a weekend of family time.
