A DAY IN MY LIFE AS A BLOGGER
My day starts at 4.30am, I get up and shower, then I go for a run, just a couple of miles to shake off the cobwebs as they say, and then back home and showered again, ready to start my working day.
TIME TO START WORK
I have a routine that I follow religiously, am a lover of coffee and I really can't operate without it, so before I do anything the coffee machine is buzzing away.
Now I don't know about you, but I write everything down on little notelets, from a post title to phone calls or meetings I have to attend, but I also write down a load of irrelevant stuff, like feeding the dog, turning on the washing machine, or even paying a bill, because I get so immersed in what am doing I tend to forget things, so I use my notelets as a visual reminder, and it really works. Once I have done all that it's time to start writing and it's 7.30 in the morning.
LET THE WRITING BEGIN
Now this part of my working day I enjoy the most, but like everyone else there are days were everything goes wrong and I just want to pack it all in, but when that happens I just keep telling myself why am doing this for, and that is, I love to write about things am passionate about, I love the independence that a work from home blogger brings me, I love the interaction with clients (MOST OF THE TIME) but most of all, I am in charge of my own future, and it's down to my efforts what that future holds for me.
My workload varies, but most of the time I am dealing with between 3/6 clients on a daily basis, and I have contractual deadlines to meet, so what I do is set up a timetable every morning, similar to the ones you have at school, and I set up a word count that needs to be completed in every session, and the word count will vary depending on the size of the project and the deadline time, so it is a bit of a juggling act but if you set your mind and organise yourself properly you will retain control of your workload. Some times you do take on more work than you can handle, although I try really hard not to, but when that does happen I outsource that work to another blogger who you trust can complete it to your clients specs. Once you start dealing with the same client on a regular basis, that client will be more willing to stretch the deadline, so it is important to regularly keep your client updated and form a working bond with your clients.
I always set aside 1/2 hours researching the topics I am writing about, this for me is the most important part of the day, Because to write about a topic you haven't researched will show in your work, and you will not keep those clients very long, you know yourself that if you are reading a blog post where it is obvious the author has no real knowledge about the topic, it makes for bad reading, so like I said I always make sure I have an acceptable amount of knowledge on the topic, and if I feel that I won't be able to do it justice, I will not take on the work. My writing starts at 7.30 and I try to finish by 6.00pm
CLOSING THE DAY
Now at the end of each day I always go through everything I have done in case of error, and once I am happy I will either publish the post or let the client know it is ready for them to review, now sometimes I could get the same post back 3/4 times for edits, am afraid that is something you have to accept.
The very last thing I want to tell you about is on the topic of physical and mental health, You must look after yourself, eat regular meals, but I don't mean eat while you work, take a proper meal break, and when things start to feel they are getting on top of you, STOP, take a break, think things through, relax and only go back to it when you are ready, you are in control, you will be surprised at the results.Take care of yourself and you will be the winner.