People ask me what I do all day, and the honest answer is: a bit of everything, in fragments, between snacks. UGC content creation with a toddler is not a tidy job. It's a patchwork — ten minutes of filming here, an edit at naptime, an email reply while lunch is heating up. Here's what one real day looked like, from start to finish.
Being a UGC creator with a child means accepting that your best work might happen in the fifteen minutes between breakfast and a meltdown.
6:30 am — Before he wakes
Zayn doesn't get up until seven, so I use the first half hour for the things that need quiet. I check emails from brands, look at briefs that came in overnight, and write a rough shot list for the day. Coffee. Always coffee. I don't film anything yet — the light isn't right and I'm not camera-ready, and that's fine.
7:00 am — The day begins
Zayn appears. We do the morning routine — breakfast, getting dressed, the slow process of choosing which cup is acceptable today. I don't film any of this. Some moments are just for us. But I am paying attention, because the best content ideas come from noticing, not from performing.
9:30 am — First shoot window
If I'm filming a lifestyle piece for a brand, this is the window. The light in our living room is best between 9 and 11, and Zayn is usually happy enough to be in the background or occupied with something on the floor. I set up the ring light, prop my phone on the tripod, and shoot.
It's never as smooth as it sounds. Today I needed to reshoot the opening four times because Zayn kept walking into frame asking for a banana. The banana made it into the final cut. It was better than what I'd planned.
12:00 — Lunch and a break
We eat lunch together. I try not to look at my phone during meals, but I'll admit I sometimes check if a brand has replied. After lunch, Zayn goes down for a nap, and I have roughly ninety minutes to do the real work: editing, writing captions, sending pitches, and if I'm lucky, eating something myself.
The nap window is the most productive hour and a half of my day. It's also the most fragile.
2:00 pm — Edit and send
Naptime is for editing. I cut the morning footage, add captions, export, and send to the brand. Then I look at the next brief on my list and plan tomorrow's shots. If there's time left, I write — either a blog post or a newsletter. The writing is what keeps the whole thing feeling like mine.
4:00 pm — Afternoon with Zayn
Zayn is up. We go out — a park, a walk, sometimes a coffee shop if I'm feeling brave. I bring my phone but I don't film. This is our time. I've learned the hard way that if I'm always in "content mode," I miss the actual life that the content is supposed to be about.
8:00 pm — After bedtime
Zayn goes to bed at seven-thirty. I use the next hour to reply to messages, plan the next day, and maybe — maybe — watch something. Most nights I fall asleep on the couch by nine. It's not glamorous, but it works.
What I've learned
The biggest lesson from two years of doing this: the content gets better when I stop trying to make it perfect. The brands I work with don't want a polished ad. They want something real. And the only way to get something real is to let the mess in — the banana in the frame, the toddler noise in the background, the fact that I forgot to brush my hair.
That's the whole thing, really. UGC isn't about making content. It's about documenting a life that's already happening, and trusting that the life is enough.