I’ve been blogging for over seven years. I’ve been able to do this while also working full-time.
Today I want to share tips for those who are considering starting a blog while working full-time. As I mention in my recent post 7 Years of Blogging as a Side Hustle – Should You Start a Blog? blogging can be a great side hustle. If I had decided against starting a blog over seven years ago, my life would look a lot different today.
With that being said, blogging – like any side hustle – can take a lot of time. The problem is that once you account for your 9-5 job there isn’t a ton of free time. It’s not easy to consistently carve out time for a blog week-after-week. If you are motivated to start a blog and build a brand, you can overcome these time constraints. After all, thousands of other bloggers have done it – why not you?
Commit to Six Months Before You Start Blogging
Before starting Young Adult Money I had started a few other blogs including a political blog and a group blog focused on music, as well as a couple other short-lived projects. I spent a solid year deciding whether or not to start another blog because I didn’t want it to be another blog that I ended up abandoning.
Because blogging burnout can hit relatively quickly, I recommend new bloggers commit to at least six months of blogging. If you can get past blogger burnout and get into a rhythm, you have a good chance of sticking with the blog for the long-haul. Way too would-be bloggers, myself included, abandoned a blog after just a few months.
Use a Calendar to Carve Out Time to Work on Your Blog
There is no way I would have been able to run a blog, let alone write a book, while working full-time unless I used a calendar. If you aren’t in the habit of using a calendar, you will want to start. If you want to be a successful blogger it’s vital that you know exactly where your time is going. I even put in “drive time” in my calendar so I don’t forget about all the time that I need to set aside just to get to and from places.
The real benefit of keeping a calendar is carving out specific time for blog work. I carve out one-to-three hour chunks to sit down and work on my blog, typically after work a couple days a week and some time on the weekend. Especially when I was writing my book it was so important that I have that time carved out.
Remember: Writing Blog Posts Is Only Part of the Work
Many new bloggers are shocked at how much time it takes to do all the “extra” stuff that comes with blogging. Between working on your blog design, growing your email list, promoting your content, and everything else, writing content ends up only being a portion of the time commitment that blogging requires.
It’s important to think about your blog as a brand, especially in today’s world. Ultimately you will likely branch out of solely producing written content. You don’t have to start a podcast, or start putting weekly videos on YouTube, but you may end up writing a book, being a podcast guest, or produce social media content to a greater extent down the road. It’s exciting to see your blog and brand grow to this level, but it does take more time.
Start by focusing on consistently publishing blog content, but keep in mind that there is an endless number of other things you can do to grow your blog and brand that you may want to carve out time for in the future.
Write Down Topics and Ideas as Soon as You Think of Them
The one thing I miss about the very early days of my blog was the huge list of topic ideas I had. After all, I was starting from scratch so I had a ton of topics that I wanted to hit on. Over time that wears off.
To keep a strong pipeline of ideas I suggest writing down ideas as soon as you think of them. For me, that means jotting them down in a notebook. For you that could mean typing them in your phone. Whatever works. This will keep a healthy list of ideas that you can refer back to when it comes time to write your next post.
If you want to take this a step further, start outlining blog posts ahead of time. For me, if I have a blog topic picked and a general outline complete, I can write the post relatively quickly. And with a 9-5 and a tight schedule, being able to write a post quickly is a big benefit (just make sure quality doesn’t suffer).
Use an Editorial Calendar
Not only do I suggest keeping a list of your topic ideas, I also recommend that you use an editorial calendar. An editorial calendar is simply a calendar that you use to plan out future content.
I can tell you from experience that having the next few weeks of blog post topics laid out on a calendar can be really helpful. Even if you never get ahead more than a week, having the topics on the calendar makes you subconsciously start thinking about what the posts will look like for upcoming topics.
You can grab a free copy of my editorial calendar template here.
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Blogging while working full-time isn’t easy, but if you stay motivated, get into a rhythm (i.e. planning content ahead of time using an editorial calendar, constantly write down new ideas, etc.), and are intentional about setting aside time for your blog, you absolutely can succeed.
If you have any specific questions or just want to drop a line, please reach out. I would love to hear from you. Knowing other bloggers who also were working full-time while blogging was really helpful when I first getting started – and is still helpful today.
Getting Your Blog Set Up
There are free blog options such as “Blogger,” and many people make the mistake of starting a blog on one of these free platforms. I’ve seen many (too many) bloggers go through the headache of transitioning from a free hosting platform to a paid, self-hosted one like Bluehost and some have spent an entire weekend going through the process and working out bugs. Don’t make that mistake!
The process can be so complicated that I completely abandoned one of my Blogger blogs instead of go through the headache of transitioning to Bluehost.
If you want to start a blog that makes money you are going to want to start one on Bluehost. Bluehost offers many benefits, including:
- Affordable – By using my link you get hosting for just $2.95 per month, which is less than $36 a year.
- Free Domain Name – You will get a free domain name when you sign up for hosting on Bluehost using my link
- Extremely Easy WordPress Installation – Bluehost has a “one-click” WordPress installation
- 24/7 Tech Support – Bluehost tech support is available 24/7 and has been outstanding every time I’ve used them
- Attractive to Advertisers – Having a self-hosted blog is attractive to advertisers and will make it easier to make money blogging
- 30-Day Money Back Guarantee – If you cancel within 30 days you receive a full refund on your hosting service
- Extended Money Back Guarantee – If you cancel after 30 days you receive a prorated refund for the remainder of your hosting term
As you can see there are many benefits of using BlueHost to start your blog. With their money-back guarantee there is very little risk of starting a blog through BlueHost.
If you want to start a blog on BlueHost click here to get the lowest possible price and a free domain name and then follow through the rest of the tutorial.
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Could you go into a little more detail why self hosting is best? Personally, I don’t, the blogger network has been nice to me and has provided some free viewership ( via the next blog button).