Monday 9 March 2020

From Hobby to Girl Boss

(picture credit: weheartit)

AD | Hello my lovelies, happy Monday, I hope you're all having a really wonderful positive start to your new week! I'm going to be sharing my top three important tips which have helped me with my journal from my blog is a hobby to it becoming this wonderful place where I am my own boss...

| People Don't Actually Believe Blogging Is Hard Work and You Will Become Very Lazy | This one annoys me so much, and I know any other blogger who takes their website or social media page seriously will agree with me too. Along your journey you will meet people who are small-minded and think "working from home" means "lazying on your sofa eating junk food and watching Netflix all day", fat chance - I wish I had time to binge-watch Netflix and catch up on the millions of awesome shows and movies. I do agree that some days when the weather is dancing-it-down (raining for you non-scouse folk), my mood is glum and like anyone I have a to-do list as long as my arm I can feel extremely lazy and I'm so tempted to put things at the back of my mind and hope little elves or fairies will come and do it all for me over-night like in the children's story "the elves and the shoemaker". But I pull myself out of my rut and stay to stay at motivational as possible...

| Music Is A Lifesaver When You're Feeling Unmotivated | Whenever I'm having trouble concentrating on an article, or need some motivation or focus in my day I put on some music and just ride the sound like a surfer would ride a wave. I am one of them people who loves music, like LOVES music, I have a playlist for everything: motivational morning, cooking, cleaning, in the shower, in the car, emergency dinner with friends-over, parties, blogging, you name it and I have a playlist on either Spotify* or iTunes for it - and I highly recommend you getting into the habit of doing so too!

| Blogging Becomes Your Primary Focus, You Need To Make Time and Space For It | Touching very briefly on needing to create a blog-life and a personal-life from my Blogging and Sponsorship Tips article, you need to first have yourself a blog-life where you have a space in your home or a day in your week that is just for blogging and nothing else - just make that this is somewhere in your home that is quiet enough for you to concentrate, tidy and motivational to you. You can set your space up anywhere you'd like - your bedroom, your spare bedroom, the kitchen table, the sofa in your living room, anywhere. I recommend even trying your local library! As for life, that's when it becomes a little bit more tickly. You'll need to get yourself a calendar and schedule everything (and I mean everything) in it. Because blogging will become your main focus and you can sometimes forget super important dates - I forgot my wedding anniversary one year! Over time you will be able to handle it more and you'll become really skilled with time management and balancing life and blogging.


I wanted to share these small bits of advice just encase any of you are thinking about going full-time as a blogger or are wanting some advice and insight into doing so. Wishing you all so much love x

With love, Alisha Valerie. x

71 comments:

  1. Great post. I’d love to blog full time. But I know how hard it would be. I struggle so much now with full time work and a family x

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  2. High-five on the first point! I've been wanting to watch The Witcher on Netflix since before Christmas but haven't had the chance because of how hectic blogging is. Sometimes I even forget how to talk to humans because I often talk to our dog during the day. It can be isolating but if you look back at your hard work and progress, it can be very satisfying. All the best with your blog :)

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  3. You've got some great points! I LOVE life as a blogger, but I definitely tap into the power of music to keep me motivated quite regularly.

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  4. Some great points here. You have made your blog very successful and you should be proud :)

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  5. These are amazing points, music is always such a good one for me as it helps keep me motivated when I'm feeling uninspired x

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  6. I'd love to blog full time, maybe I will in the future, who knows?! I hate the assumption that people think blogger's don't work hard, we really do! I wish people would realise how much hard work we put into our blogs! x

    Lucy | www.lucymary.co.uk

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  7. These are great tips. I always to-and-thro between wanting to blog full time and staying in my current profession, I think i am too indecisive to be able to go it full time!
    I have to agree, music is always a great motivator for me to get stuff done!

    Thanks for sharing :)

    Aimsy xoxo
    Aimsy’s Antics

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  8. I agree 100% with all of these! Blogging is 100% hard work. When I'm not at my job, I'm working on my blog so it's like when I'm not working...I'm working. And at my job, you don't have set days or times you're working...just when they schedule. So I have to set my blogging schedule accordingly. I want to make this my career and work for myself as well and it's hard man and for people to think it's so easy is just annoying.

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  9. Keeping up with my social media is a full work week on its own. Being your own boss isn't easy especially since you are the one who has to keep you motivated.

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  10. Oh I'm there with you! Just 2 days ago I was attempting to celebrate a big win on the collaboration side of things with my friends and only ONE showed any sort of interest and was genuinely happy for me. The rest behaved like nothing because they don't even bother to ask how much work it takes to get a proper collaboration, let alone create a whole campaign. They assume I just get free stuff and that's it. God, it frustrates me so much! But on the other blogging is also my happiness project, so I'll focus on that. x

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  11. Blogging really is hard work. Loved your bits of advice!

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  12. These are great tips!! I definitely need to learn to make /set aside a time in the week to blog, which isn’t always easy during (especially uni term times) but would still help me stay on schedule.

    Great post !!

    Karen x| thekcomponent.com

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  13. Hey! I love the style and feel of your blog.

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  14. Someone was just saying to me yesterday that I need to carve out hours in my day for strictly blog stuff. My goal this week is to stick to two hours my son sleeps in the early morning. Great post!

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  15. This has some great tips in it! I would love to be able to blog all the time, but I'm working full time and that keeps me fairly busy. So trying to find the time can be tough, but I manage somehow because I just love it! I will be using this article in the future though, as it's really useful!

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  16. Great post. I’m currently in the process of leaving work to become the main carer for my autistic kids, with my blog being my focus as work. I take both very seriously, and both require a lot of work, which some people fail to understand.

    Music is vital for my motivation!

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  17. Love this post! You're right it is a lot of hard work, especially lately for me when I'm trying to get my friends to read and/or share my post, to help my blog grow. I don't think they see it as a real job, I've found most of my support with blog related stuff comes from strangers... not friends and family. Seems like your friends should want to support you, right? I don't get it.

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  18. Great post, I definitely agree with the points made by you!
    Super content, will definitely be checking out more of your posts. xo

    xoxo Olivia | http://www.oliviaandbeauty.com/

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  19. Not believing that blogging is hard work especially resonated within me. Being committed to any kind of journal project is definitely hard work in and of itself. I think doing the research into pushing the journal or blog in front of the eyes of people is also equally hard work that gets overlooked so often.

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  20. Music is always such a motivator for me!

    Love, Amie ❤

    The Curvaceous Vegan

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  21. Such a fabulous post

    @kthanksbye__

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  22. These are some great tips and can be applied to so much more than just blogging. Also, my blogging is still as a hobby but I found this really useful to. Definitely loving the idea of having some blogging space! Great post!

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  23. Blogging is difficult. I’m motivated but it’s hard to keep up.

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  24. Haha so true that there's that misconception that if you say you blog for a living, people think you don't do anything :)) But it's the complete opposite. There's tons to do especially if you're a one-person team. I agree with having a dedicated blogging space. It helps a lot :)
    https://www.izzymatias.com

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  25. Blogging isn't easy as it may seem. Especially doing it consistently with same passion for it.

    Totally agree with you!

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  26. Great post, I'm always motivated by music too.

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  27. Nice post! I'm hoping to go full time with my blog in time, so this really puts into perspective what needs doing. :)

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  28. It annoys me a lot that some people don't recognise the hard work that goes into creating a successful blog! It has become a huge focus in my life, just after my priority of university work. I can't wait to focus a lot more on my blog after I've graduated from uni! xx

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  29. I have a 9-5 job and have to fit my blogging around it. There's so much to do, but I love doing it. Maybe one day it can become full time!

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  30. Definitely! Love these points. I had someone asking me for tips recently on how to get into blogging full time and one main point was that they are aware it is far from easy to do! It's a constant hard work kind of job that you can't be lazy with.

    Thanks for the fab post!

    Stay wonderful,

    Louna x

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  31. What excellent tips and truths that blogging is a job.

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  32. I couldn't agree with the first one more! The second you tell someone you work from home they assume you have all the time in the world to do absolutely anything you want or you just watch TV all day like you never have to do any real work. It's so frustrating x

    Sophie
    www.glowsteady.co.uk

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  33. Yess girl! I could not agree with this more! I am loving having to work from home for work now but there is a real stigma to actually doing work!!
    Rosie
    loverosiee.co.uk

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