But the reality of full-time blogging may not be precisely what you imagined. Sure there are a lot of positives, but there are also some unique challenges that come from working for yourself and from working online. Here we will look at what some of those are, and at how you can deal with them.
Working From Home
The first problem you'll find with being a full time blogger is that you'll be working from home. Now, that may not sound like a bad thing in itself, but when you aren't used to it it can be a challenge in a number of ways.For one, you'll find yourself feeling cabin feverish from staying indoors all day, and then there's the lack of social interaction and fresh air. In short, you can find yourself spending all day in your pants and not speaking to anyone for hours on end - not a good look.
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So what's the solution? That's not to work from home. Just because you're not in an office doesn't mean you have to literally sit in bed all day - you can go to coffee shops, you can work sitting in the sun, or you can even travel somewhere new on the bus and try working in a museum or another town.
I will often get around the problem of not having any colleagues as well by meeting my friends at their workplaces at work. Rather than interacting with people I don't like (or sitting alone), I'm getting to spend more time with the people I love and care about.
Productivity
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The other problem that blogger will face starting out, is how challenging it can be to remain focussed and productive when they've got no boss breathing over their shoulder telling them to get on with work. This is something that will improve with time, but here are some tips to help you:
- Organize a clear schedule for each day and make sure you include some breaks in there to recharge your batteries
- Make a to-do list with the least threatening tasks at the start. This way you'll be more likely to start work and you'll be more likely too
- Try watching something on YouTube that has no sound so you can watch something interesting while you type. This makes it easier to focus when you're writing something boring.
- Find ways to make your articles more interesting to you. That way you'll find it easier to focus on them and get less distracted.
- Don't stop to make tea and don't check your e-mails until you've written a certain amount. By making these 'rewards' you will be more likely to actually get on with work.
Lack of Job Security
Working for yourself means you won't have the same security and steady income that you would have working for an organization as an employee. This can be scary at first, but the solution is to make sure that you have multiple income streams so that you're unlikely to lose all of them at once.This might mean having several blogs and monetising each of them in a number of ways (AdSense and selling your own product for instance). This way you'll make your business more resilient, but you should also keep a 'rainy day fund'.
Telling People What You Do
This isn't the biggest problem in the world: it doesn't really matter what people think you do. Still though, it can sometimes put you on the spot when someone asks what you do and some people will assume that you're really a bum when you tell them you're an 'entrepreneur' or that you 'work online'. |
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As a blogger, you can say that you're a 'webmaster', that you 'write for the internet' or that you 'run a website'. All those get a good reaction I've found. But ultimately who cares? You're making money from something you love and you don't have a boss. Call it what you like!
John MillerAbout the Author:
John Miller is the author of this post and he enjoys writing about his work experiences at WebFirm, a company providing services to improve the online profile of its clients. Whenever he isn’t busy, he enjoys spending time with his family.
