Tips For Managing Your Blog When You Also Work a Full-Time Job
If you’ve been around this blog for a while, then you probably know that I am a teacher besides being a blogger. My husband and I actually both teach at the area elementary/middle school near us (which works out pretty well for a carpooling situation!).
I also, of course, have this blog! I’ve been blogging for a long time now, although several years of my early blogging endeavors were more of a college-musings type journal under a different domain name. I rebranded to Just Bee the summer of 2014 (bought the “dot com” and all!) and haven’t looked back since! 2014 was when I really decided to take my blog seriously and delve into the world of all things blogging!
Blogging is a passion of mine and something I care so much about! It is totally different from what I do in my full-time job and has served as the perfect creative outlet for me. (I mean: writing, photography, social media, and community? What a great combo!) I’m sure you fellow bloggers feel the same way. 🙂
However, life is busy, and Just Bee cannot just write or manage itself. Therefore, I have had to learn ways to manage my time and my blog well so that I don’t let things slip. I’ve committed to writing meaningful content and staying fairly consistent 🙂 and I want to keep it that way!
I’ve been wanting to write a post on this topic for a while now – because for many of us, blogging is not currently a full-time job or our sole income. Many of us who blog work at least from Monday through Friday, and many bloggers also have struggled from time to time with managing a blog consistently in our “off hours.”
Today I’m sharing my tips for blogging when you also work full-time! These are things that work for me and will hopefully help you in your own journey!
Blogging Tips For When You Also Work A Full-Time Job:
** Note: none of the links in today’s post are affiliate links. I’m just sharing what I love and what works for me!
1 // Brainstorm blog post ideas on the go. I use Evernote to manage my notes and absolutely love it! Even with a free account on Evernote.com, you can access your notes on multiple devices. I love the flexibility of being able to jot a note down on my phone and pull it up later on my computer. I have a note called “Blog Post Ideas” which I use to keep track of any ideas I have when I’m out and about, wherever I am.
RELATED READING: Blogging Inspiration Workbook — if you need more inspiration, then this detailed workbook with my 6 strategies will help you get out of your rut!
2 // Set aside post-writing time. The hardest part for me is probably the fact that I feel most motivated to write mid-morning…and that is when I’m busy doing other important things like teaching children. 🙂 So, I’ve just had to learn to structure writing time into my schedule at other times and on other days not during the school week. Typically, my writing happens on Saturdays or Sundays, soaking up afternoon sunshine and sitting either on our bed or the couch by the fish tank. 🙂 Setting aside time to write blog posts has been a game-changer for me. It has really helped me to make sure I get 2-3 posts written per week!
This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t write a post and immediately publish it, (I still do that sometimes) but this system is what seems to work best for me.
3 // Schedule what you can ahead of the time. This was another big game-changer in the blogging department. I like to use my free account on Hootsuite, although I know a lot of other bloggers also enjoy CoSchedule. On my Hootsuite account, I’ve linked up both my Facebook page and my Twitter account. I LOVE Hootsuite! It allows me to schedule any social media promotions (of my posts or others’ posts) in advance.
I do not do blogging tasks during the work day while I’m teaching, so scheduling things ahead of time is amazing because then I can still share posts at optimal times like the lunch hour or mid-morning, or early afternoon…you get the idea. I wouldn’t like it if my social media accounts were always silent all day long. And it would be no fun if I felt frantic like I had to post things as soon as I got home at night, so this is a great fix.
4 // Have a set template for designing social media graphics. I use Canva to create all of my graphics for the blog. It is such an easy-to-use program and I love how I can just use free elements when I don’t want to pay for anything! On my Canva account, I’ve saved a couple different templates (for featured images and for Pinterest images) so that I don’t have to start from square one every time. This way, I can stick to similarly branded graphics and still have the correct sizes for social media.
RELATED READING: DIY Photography Backdrop For Blog Photos
5 // Pick yourself up when you’re in a rut and jump back in again! Any blogger who’s been blogging for a while has probably hit a rut at some point. Either you find you’re lacking inspiration, or you go through a crazy-busy season…
This is not to say that I don’t drop the ball at times — there are a few times a year when my posts slow down or stop for a little bit, or my social media promotion/interaction gets pushed to the wayside. But I always try to pull it back together and get on top of things again! (That’s a big part of keeping it going – just gathering your thoughts, taking a deep breath, and jumping back in again!)
The trick is then to find the motivation and commitment within yourself to start again. I’ve found that whenever I don’t blog for a while, it’s a slippery slope of starting to blog less and less, and personally that’s not what I’d like to happen with my blog right now. I know that we all go through different seasons of wanting to blog more or less; I just really love blogging so much that I try to jump back in whenever and however I can!
RELATED READING: How to Stay Inspired As a Lifestyle Blogger
6 // Decide on your level of commitment to this and find ways to stay passionate about it! This one’s a bit related to #5. My level of commitment is currently this: that I want to blog 2-3 times a week, interact with this awesome community here and on social media, and continue to build my email list while doing the occasional sponsored post. This will most likely change over time (and I’m not totally sure what the future will bring), but this is the level of commitment I have decided to have with Just Bee right now. Therefore, I’m also committed to finding inspiration from other bloggers, from interactions with readers, in my everyday musings/thoughts, and in the world around me. It has been such a beautiful, encouraging journey and I’m excited to see what the future holds!
Are you a blogger too? Do you work full-time? How do you manage your time and streamline things so you can still enjoy blogging? I’d love to hear your time-management and simplification tips!
These hints are so helpful! I love my blog, but working a full-time job that’s an hour from home eats up a lot of time! I’m definitely going to incorporate some of these tips into my blogging life.
Thanks, Lauren! I’m so glad to hear the post was helpful to you! 🙂 Definitely – some of these scheduling ideas can help especially when you’re on the road a lot!
Scheduling has been a HUGE help for me! I used to write on the spot and while I think there’s nothing wrong with that if that works for people, it didn’t work for me because then I’d only write when I felt like it or had time to. Instead, when I have the time to write, I try to write at least a post or two a week to schedule. It seems to work for me and helps me to get some content out there without huge lulls.
Yes! Scheduling is so great! I remember thinking, why haven’t I been scheduling things up until now? 🙂 Your system sounds great, Ro! Thanks for reading!
Setting aside time specifically for blogging has really worked for me. And also investing in social media scheduling! It’s so great to have that all posted for you.
Since I’m a student at the moment it is a little easier to slot in blogging when I feel like it so I’m a little worried how I will cope when I have a full time job!
Yes! I’ve wondered if I should invest a little more (money-wise) in social media scheduling. It just seems like a great way to approach things and keep content flowing 🙂 Hopefully these tips can help you for when you have a full-time job, too! You can do it! Thanks for reading along!