In the last few months I've been contacted by quite a few bloggers to ask how I managed to go full time with my blog. There's no secret formula - I'm as surprised as anyone that I'm managing to make a living out of this unconventional profession. The first thing to realise? There's absolutely no such thing as a break in full time blogging. Anyone who blogs full time will tell you that there's always more Tweeting, Instagramming, Facebooking, commenting, writing, emailing or editing you could be doing. Always.
So how did I do it? Exactly a year ago I left the security of a full time job in sales and marketing (without another job to go to) after taking voluntary redundancy. I decided to go freelance after enjoying a break for a few weeks to consider my future - and it dawned on me that blogging was it. There were a few monetary factors that contributed to my being able to, and continue to, blog full time:
1. The redundancy money guaranteed me a financial buffer for a few months.
2. My husband works full time so the mortgage payments were reassuringly covered.
3. We took a long, hard look at our finances and budgeted more severely than we had done for many years (and saved a ton of money in the process).
4. I started freelancing as a content writer and doing social media for an agency for a certain number of hours a week which brings me some regular money I can rely on.
What I think is helping to make my blog a success:
1. I put in a LOT of hours. All day, most evenings, and weekends.
2. I time manage and schedule everything. My working day is planned out the night before, with a list of what I need to do and when, and my posts are scheduled up to a month in advance.
3. I read as much as I can about improving your blog - and put as much as I can into practice. I want to constantly learn new things.
A year on, I can say that it's all been absolutely worth it. It's hard to avoid getting stressed but I think there are ways to make a success of things without losing the plot. It's been more rewarding than any other job I've had - I may not be earning a fortune (far from it), but I do receive a great many benefits that I'm incredibly grateful for that would otherwise cost me a lot of money. I'll be honest and say that there are days I feel totally overwhelmed - but I wouldn't change what I'm doing for the world.
I have written this post in collaboration with Twinings/Huffington Post. All content is original, however, and opinions are my own and 100% honest.
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