If you think balancing blogging and your full-time job is impossible, then you’re wrong. You can do both at the same time successfully. I worked and blogged at the same time when I first set up Fashion and Style Police. I had a customer service job in Manchester which I hated. I had to commute for over 4 hours to and fro work, on the slowest, most unreliable train service ever. So trust me when I say my job experience was not pleasant. Apart from the commuting, I hated the job itself. It was an office job and all, but it was not for me at all. It was killing my creative mind slowly so blogging became an outlet for me. But I won’t deny the fact that it was a lot of work, running a blog and having a full-time job. I had to plan and organise every aspect of the blog to get things going.
From my experience, if you love writing, have a good plan and the right mindset, you can achieve this easily. In the beginning it may be a bit tricky but you will adjust to it in no time. The trick is to use every minute you have efficiently and stay focused. You can blog and work full-time by:
Assessing your daily activities
Observe your daily routine. Write it out in a journal if you have to, so you have a clear perspective of all your daily activities. Next to each activity write down an estimate of how much time you spend on it. It doesn’t have to be exact; a rough estimate will do.
You’ll be able to see how much time goes for non-productive tasks like watching TV, chatting on Whatsapp, or going on social media. You can use that time for writing your blog posts, editing pictures, scheduling tweets, sharing your content on social media, or whatever you need to do for your blog.
You can also use time spent commuting to reply your blog comments, read and comment on other blogs, send emails and connect with your readers.
Being creative with time
If you want to balance blogging with your full-time job, you don’t only need to make use of already existing free time but you also have to create time. Waking up an hour early gives you a head start for the day. Use that extra hour to work on your blog. If you are focused, that one hour is enough to do a good amount of work on your blog because you likely won’t have any distraction. In addition to that, make use of your lunch time. Let’s be honest: no one uses one hour to eat lunch. Share your lunch time with your blogging activities.
Planning your blog posts
If you have your blog post ideas ready, it saves you time spent thinking of them. Have a notebook or a handy app to take note of post ideas, especially those that crop up at weird times. Writing an outline for those ideas even if it’s a sketchy one helps. Have an editorial calendar where you write down which blog post you should work on. The idea behind this is that as soon as you have free time, you can start work immediately.
Scheduling blog and social media posts
Automation is your best friend. Automating your posts allows you to have your content up automatically. Scheduling your tweets in advance helps get your tweets out when you want them. Make it a habit to create content in advance and schedule them. This will help you save and utilize your time effectively.
Do you blog and work full-time? How do you balance them both?
[ Smiles ] Yes, scheduling blog posts do work for me!
Ah good Renard.
Excellent tips. As the school year approaches, I have been afraid that I will be less active like I was last year. This gives me an excellent starting point! Thanks.
Ah glad it does..Good luck.
Very useful tips. I am finding it increasingly difficult at times to balance family and work life with my love for blogging.
Yea it can be hard.
I think these are great tips if you want a successful blog. I do all these things and work from home!
Nice one Jenny.
Oh yeah for automation. If that didn’t exist, then I don’t think I would be blogging. Great tips!
Thanks Jaklien.
Great tips there! I really want to do tjis in the future. I scheduele posts anyway so will try and keep up with this xx
Cool Viki xo
This is great advice! I work full time and sometimes struggle finding time to blog as I am still relatively new. Definitely having a schedule helps
Yea it does Sarah.
Great tips! I started working full time recently and I blog. It was tricky at the start (and still is some days). I prefer to write in the morning and using the time I have during my commute was the best time to write draft ideas.
Thanks..Smart decision..
Great tips – I find solo parenting and juggling my children as well as blogging as my ‘job’ tricky to manage – I need to plan a bit more! Kaz x
I can imagine.
Yes to planning your content ahead! I managed to keep my blog going alongside three different jobs by knowing what I was going to be posting, when 🙂 Scheduling tweets is super helpful, too 🙂
I think as long as you enjoy blogging, it’s possible to find time for it!
Jess xo
http://www.theindigohours.co.uk
Yea true that xo
Good tips hon, for me its extra tricky coz I have 2 jobs and I blog, 1 job is full-time in Berlin the other is part-time for Naij…scheduling posts is a big help and planning on doing more of that in the future. You just need to be super organised and set goals amongst other things ( :
Thanks hun..Organisation does help.
I just love stripes in the summer. You look great! I have a small notebook which I use to plan future content whilst on the go. Anything that I think would make a good post I’ll jot down in there. It can be difficult juggling a full-time job and blogging but planning ahead really helps.
Thank you. Planning does help.
I do both! I tend to take a whole bunch of outfit photos in one go so I can edit them all and start queuing the posts up. I usually have at least 2 weeks queued up, 3 posts a week. Picking themes for posts can help, I post about my wedding every thursday which I think makes it easy!
http://www.kittyramblesalot.com
Ah nice. Organisation helps..
Great tips and hats off to all you guys who manage to do such a fab job on your blogs and work full time x
Thanks Sarah..
Yes I blog and work two full time jobs, I am struggling but moving to London is starting to help because it means less time travelling. I use my journeys to write blog ideas and write to do lists.
Smart decision..Well done.
I work full time, freelance and blog so I know it can be tough but as long as you’re organised then it can work x
Yea true that xo
Great post Stella. I am a stay at home mum at the minute but I never have time to do anything!! Because I don’t organise my time properly!! I find if I do get up that bit earlier, I have more time for everything. It is hard getting up early at the minute with this heat though.Ha!!
Thanks Claire…It is so hard now with the sudden heat. I am struggling too.
I find it hard to get blog poss written around the children they take up so much of my time. Great post x
I know all about that. Thanks Melanie.
Great post. I schedule all mine as it’s easier to get all my content out.
Jordanne || Thelifeofaglasgowgirl.co.uk
Yea it is..
Fab post, I run my blog as a business around my kids, one of which has Autism & other health issues so time management is a major thing for me too. Love the first idea of writing down timings
Yea it works..
Great post. I’ll have to try some of this. I’ve been working part time for a couple of years and am going full time in September as well as being a single parent my two girls that are under 4. Blogging is my hobby and I really need to get more organised!
Thanks Nay. Goodluck with it all.
Organisation is definitely key. Between work and the kids it isn’t easy to juggle everything, I utilise my lunchbreak and have certain evenings to dedicate to blogging. I also think the smart phone is my best friend, I can catch up on bits when I get time – like waiting for appointments xx
Yea the smart phone is the best.
yep you need to be well organised to do the both.. some times still theres not enough hours in the day for every thing.. great list
Yea I know..
Greatly and immensely helpful! Scheduling is work ful for me!
Glad it is Shadey.
I work three jobs (my blog is one of them) and I’m raising my toddler. It’s hard work, but I do it. I allocate time really well, I write lists everyday of what I need to do and in brackets next to it I put how long roughly it’s going to take me. E.g. schedule social media (15 minutes) Write a blog post (1.5 hours) and that way, if I have a little section of time (like my toddler taking a random nap) I can quickly squeeze another task in there and know I will finish it. xx
Going to start adding how long I have for each task now..Fab tip Chloe xo
Such an important post! Great points and valuable tips 🙂
https://loxandleather.com/
Thank you x
These are all great tips Stella 🙂
I blogged and worked full time for two years and actually got more done than I do now I blog for a living. Mind you, I didn’t have a threenager in my house back then! LOL
Louise x
Having kids at home while working is hard..Lol.