Balancing a full time job with blogging and a social life can be overwhelming to say the least. Throw in a wedding to plan and it can be down right exhausting. Luckily it doesn’t feel like work because I enjoy what I’m doing. This past year has been very busy, but very rewarding. Treats and Trends has started to gain more traction, our wedding is almost 100% planned and I’ve worked at a job that I enjoy for more than a year now! It’s taken a while, but I’ve finally found out how to balance everything as best as I can. Hopefully other bloggers reading this will find these five tips helpful.
{1} Blog about what you are already doing, wearing, cooking, etc. I have found that posts come naturally when I just go about my life without worrying about what to post next. I tend to blog about what I cook or wear and also about what I do with friends, family and my fiancé. It’s pretty easy to twist an activity into a post (like a vacation or a day exploring local breweries).
{2} Always keep a notebook (or your phone) handy to jot down blog post ideas. On my hour lunch break, I like to walk to Starbucks and sit outside writing blog ideas in my notebook. Then when I’m having bloggers block I can look back and use one of those ideas. I find inspiration in the most random places. The other day I was sitting in traffic thinking about how much my life has changed since I moved to Vegas, so I thought why not write a post about it?
{3} Be flexible. I write an editorial calendar that is a month or two out so that I make sure to plan posts according to holidays or certain occasions that will be trending on social media. Although I try to stick to this plan and pencil in times for photo shoots, life happens and things change. I will have my weekend to-do lists planned to a T, but then my fiancé will say his friend invited us to dinner or to a pool for the day. There goes my plan, but it’s okay because spending quality time with him and friends is also important to me. I’ll postpone the photos and whip up something else later.
{4} Know what your time is worth. If someone from a PR agency or brand reaches out about working on a post that doesn’t fit your blog or you aren’t interested in, it’s ok to politely say no. It’s easy to get in the habit of saying yes to everything when your blog starts getting noticed, but you have to draw the line somewhere. It’s important to put yourself first sometimes and not worry too much about being a people pleaser (which is very hard for me). You can’t say yes to everyone, but when you do agree to collaborate, it’s important to put your best effort into the post so that you can build a lasting relationship with that brand.
{5} Enjoy it! If you enjoy what you are doing, it won’t feel like work. I continue to put a lot of effort into my blog because I get so much enjoyment out of it. Stressing too much about your blog can make you forget why you started it in the first place. I started mine as a creative outlet where I can share what I’m passionate about, so if I start to lose that passion, it’s not worth it anymore. Hopefully it will grow to the point where it can be a full-time career or lead to other opportunities, but until then I plan on enjoying this balancing act!
PS You can see my office space here!
