How I balance blogging with a 12h a day job

I would say that I’m a full time investment banking analyst who blogs part time. I spend my weekdays in an office, and on the weekends I blog. Investment banking is not a 9-5 job – in my team, I get into the office between 7.30-8am (tends to get later and later as the week goes on), and I leave anywhere between 7.30 and 11pm – but, I’d say on average I’m out between 8 and 8.30. And this is the case everyday. But weirdly, since I’ve started working full time, I’ve become a ‘better blogger’ – my content quality has increased, my blog is more consistent, and if anything, my blog has grown since finishing university. I guess working so many hours during the week but still having a desire to maintain a good blog forces you into efficiency, and this is how I do it…

 

Get organised – plan ahead

One thing I never had when I was in university was a schedule – I’d post when I felt like it (which is fine), but I’d often lose track of when I’d last posted and before you know it a week would’ve passed with nothing new on my blog. I also wouldn’t plan my posts, I’d just post whatever popped into my mind that day, and sometimes when you’re working that last minute there’s not much flexibility regarding what you post. For example – I’ll decide I want to do an outfit post – but do I have any photos prepared? Or perhaps I want to review a beauty item – but wait, is there even enough lighting outside to take good photos to get something posted? Often, I’d end up being restricted and just not post at all. But – now that I basically spend my life in an office – I needed to get myself organised. I post twice a week – Mondays and Thursdays. Mondays (like today) I typically post some sort of advice post, something chatty. Thursdays, it’s usually an outfit post, and now in 2017, I also want to expand this to beauty posts. I probably know a good three weeks in advance what I’m posting and when (I literally have lists of blog posts planned out for the weeks ahead along with a calendar in Excel to track when I’ll need to take the appropriate photos for the posts). I think being more consistent with my blog has helped it grow – readers now know what they’re probably going to see, and when.

 

Utilise the weekends

Given that I post twice a week, I typically write up one post on a Saturday, and one post on a Sunday. I edit the photos for the posts, input the correct widgets, but all in all the posts are rough and riddled with grammatical and spelling errors, that I check during the weekdays as I prepare the posts to go live. When I first started working, I was under the impression that I could come home from work and prepare a post start to finish to go live, but I realised very quickly that this was just not possible because I would be way too tired. I learned very soon that although it’d be great to spend the entire weekend chilling, if my aim was to maintain a blog outside of working hours, then I really had no choice but to utilise the weekends when I’m fresh and have time on my hands.

Have social media scheduled

There are some great apps that you can download that schedule your social media content such that you don’t have to lift a finger – one of these is Hootsuite. I’ve used these tools in the past, but I can’t say that I’m always consistent with them (although I see there value). Usually, since I’ll be at work doing repetitive things, I’m able to ‘self schedule’. For example, if I post up a new blog (usually at night after work), I’ll retweet the post out again the next day at lunch. Since I’m usually eating, it’s ingrained in me now to automatically do this. The same goes for dinner time. Social media is a big part of blogging and promoting your posts to make sure they don’t get lost, so it’s important to always keep it in mind with regards to consistency.

 

Use all the time you’ve got

I’m currently proof reading this post to go live on my phone in the cab home from work (today was a really late night – past 12.30am), I’m doing this because when I get home all I plan to do is brush my teeth and sleep. Sometimes during my lunch breaks, I’ll even start to plan blog posts and a schedule for photos. Any free time you’ve got – utilise it in the most efficient way possible to make your life as easy as you can.

 

Enjoy what you’re doing

Blogging isn’t easy, especially when you’re trying to balance it with a full time job, hence, you really need to enjoy what you’re doing. If you enjoy blogging, everything is that little bit easier, things don’t seem like a chore – you’re doing it because you love it and you want to be successful in it. If that is your mind set, one way or another, you will find away to blog regardless of what else is taking up your time. Remember why you’re doing what you’re doing and what your aims are. And the fact that I’ve managed to start blogging more consistently, whilst working in investment banking, is my testament to that.