Working as a shopping channel presenter

I have been working as a shopping channel presenter for the past 18 years or so now.
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Andrea Binks

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I have been working as a shopping channel presenter for the past 18 years or so now. The business has changed vastly over this time and our job as a TV Host has had to change to suit the new requirements of the role. Whilst personality is still a huge part of our job we now focus more on the sales aspect and reaching targets.

My day starts at 3.15am I know can you believe it….3.15am….scary right. I actually don’t mind this wake up call in-fact I prefer it to my late night shows as it means I can read my children bedtime stories and then jump into bed at the same time as they do.

I leave my home at 3.30am…again I know this seems really strange. When I speak to friends they can’t understand how I can wake up, get up, be awake and on my way within 15 minutes but for me it works. As soon as I am out of my bed I am wide awake and ready to go. A quick wash of my face, brush of the teeth and I am good. Oh I do shower the night before incase you were wondering.

It takes me an hour to drive to the studios. I love this time. Alone in my car- there is little or no traffic to have to contend with at that time of the morning and I usually listen to a podcast, audible books or to my favourite tracks to keep my mind active.

I have listed some of my favourite podcasts and audible books below. More often than not with a good audible book I get really excited to get into the car so I can go back to where I left off, this really spurs me on in the mornings or after a late shift for sure.

I usually arrive at the studios at 4.30am and the first thing I do before getting out of my car is send my partner Matt a quick message to say I have arrived safely- he always wants me to check in with him and I love that about him.

Then it’s straight into the make up room- make up out- hair straighteners on- bag sorted and then I’m getting myself made up. We don’t have make up artists at the channel I work for but I have been so used to getting ‘on-air’ ready that I am fine with that and to be honest I think that would just slow me down in the mornings. For any beauty and make-up fans I have listed what make up I use below. I am sure you know I only use Arbonne products as I love the fact they are so pure. Please check out my ‘Beauty with Binksy’ vlogs for tips and tricks too. I then go over my hair to make sure it doest look like I’ve just jumped out of bed and then it’s time for a lovely cup of tea.

I am really into clean eating and am often following a 30 days to healthy living plan so my favourite breakfast to have during prep time is ‘crunchy homemade granola’ with almond milk and stewed apples- yummy. It keeps me full all morning. I have listed the recipe below for any clean and leaners reading.

By this time it’s around 5am so I take my tea and granola upstairs to meet my producer and go over our plan for the day. Depending on what we have scheduled we will decide on which items we would like to promote. We choose a 6.30am ‘early bird special’ an 8am Deal of the Day which is usually something new or an item that is on a special promotion and then a 9am pick of the show. We will discuss how the first two hours are going to go- usually if it is a set theme like lifestyle (this tends to be my forte and beauty of course) we might do a clearance style show until 8am then slow down when more viewers are watching.

We are live for 4 hours as a team. It is only the director who will change during these 4 hours. I prefer this as it becomes a real team effort between the producer and I. We have targets to meet for our show and I like to make sure I am achieving the best results for the customer. We get a 2 minute break at the top of each hour where we can have a quick chat with the producer to see if we would like to change our plan or not and can use this time for a quick toilet run. I know this sounds like madness but it is surprising how much you can fit into this 2 minutes when you really have to. We are live for our show from 6am-10am although the channel is live 24 hours. So when we finish at 10am I will hand over to the morning presenter who is on-air from 10am-2pm and de brief with my producer to see how it all went and what worked well or not if the case may be.

Then for me it’s home time (the producer has another 8 hours to go yet) It usually takes a little longer for me to get home due to there being more traffic on the roads at this time but I now know almost every inch of the M25, both ways, lol so I tend to know when it will be busy and which routes to avoid.

I get home and usually will open up my emails as I run two other businesses from home so I will follow up on anything that needs to be done and then if I have time I will do my exercise regime. I am currently following the 80 day obsession plan that is run through beach body. I find it so easy to follow and I can fit it in at home which really helps to save time. Please do check out my review on beach body of you would like to know more about that.

Then my favourite part of my day is to collect my children. I have two boys Carter is 10 and Cooper is 9. Cooper always comes running out of his class and throws himself at me- I have to admit I absolutely love this. Carter is a little more reserved but I will always get a kiss and a cuddle.

We then go home and the boys will play whilst I make some dinner and then I might join in- they love to play super heroes and I have my own ‘super hero’ character Mummy Ra that they like me to play. I even have my own ‘Mummy Ra’ costume…..I do love being a mummy. We might go out on our bikes or watch some TV and then it’s bedtime which is just so special to me.

Time with our children is so special and I have always made an effort to read to my boys every night. We have read lots of children books like all of the David Williams ones, Roald Dahls collections, Middle school, diary of a wimpy kid etc but they also enjoy books like War horse and Anne Frank. We read in my bed and they have their set sides and this time is when we chat and laugh and cuddle, I thoroughly cherish these special times.

After stories they go into their own beds and if I am working the next morning I have a quick clear up downstairs and then it’s off to bed for me too. If not then I generally sit in my normal place on the sofa and watch criminal minds, drinking tea into the wee hours- usually dropping off at some point through the second or third one. Seriously I don’t know what it is but I love that series.I hope you have enjoyed a little insight into my life as a shopping channel presenter.

Please do follow me on social media and share my blog with anyone you feel might find it interesting.

Much Love,

Andrea

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