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So today I’ve decided to share a more laid-back blog post. It has officially been 7 months since I started blogging with this brand new blog! So, I wanted to share 9 things I’ve learned in the past 7 months and share some experiences with you as well!

I hope to be able to give you a realistic look into what it takes to be a blogger so you know what to expect!

LESSON 1: BLOGGING IS TIME CONSUMING

This is probably the first thing I learned! When I first started blogging I didn’t realize I’d be spending ALLLLLL of my free time blogging. Of course, I spend all of my free time blogging because I’m obsessed with my blog, but it is a lot of work! Not only that, but you will spend so much time on the computer!

Starting a blog is basically starting a business when your end goal is making money. So, if you don’t have the time to commit to blogging, it will take you much longer to start making money!

To give you an estimate of how long I spend on blogging a week, let me give you a break down.

-Tuesday/ Thursday/ Friday/ Saturday– I work my normal these days, usually a 9-5 but I can still get in 4-5 hours of blog work.

-Monday/ Wednesday/ Sunday – My “days off” for the week. Since bloggers don’t get weekends, I basically spend all day working! I can work from 8/9:00 am till 11:00 pm. With breaks and chores, it usually ends up being an 8-11 hour day.

TOTAL:

-Hours spent at my 9-5 job: 30 hours a week
-Hours spent on my blog: 40-53 hours a week

While you can totally run a blog on less if you wanted, this is the amount of time and effort I put in to keep this blog running in the direction I want it to!

LESSON 2: TIME MANAGEMENT IS KEY

Even with all of that time I spend blogging, time management is still the key. There is still not enough time in the day to get everything done that I want to get done! 

I use the Pomodoro Technique to make sure I stay on track and get everything done that’s on my to-do list. I also like to use a time blocking method as well to make sure I am as efficient with my time as possible!

LESSON 3: SOMETIMES “DONE” IS BETTER THAN “PERFECT”

Have you ever heard the saying perfectionism is the enemy of success? It really is! If you spend all of your time making sure every blog post is perfectly worded, every graphic is aligned to a T… you’ll never get anything done.

Now, that’s not to say just start slapping up half-assed blog posts hoping to sell products, but that does mean that it doesn’t really matter that much if you say “I had a really good day today” vs “I had a really great day today.” 

Don’t use that as an excuse to be lazy, but use your best judgment and move on!

LESSON 4: MAKE A TO-DO LIST

It is so important that you outline your days so that you know what you need to get done. You don’t want to be flying by the seat of your pants every day. You might not have that much time in the day, so you want to make everything you’re doing count.

Make goals, make a to-do list that help you reach those goals and go after them at your own pace!

LESSON 5: SUCCESS WILL NOT FALL INTO YOUR LAP- YOU HAVE TO CREATE IT

This is one thing I learned a while ago. And I learned it quickly. This isn’t my first blog, I’ve had two others before it and with my second blog, I was putting even more crazy work hours into it. I’m talking 1-2:00 AM hours into it.

And the more hours I put into that blog the better results I saw. Even if I took a break, my blog continued to grow! All of the hours I put into Pinterest paid off and my blog was growing on autopilot!

Eventually, I packaged all of the knowledge I gained and put together an e-course to help other people see the growth that I was!

If you want success, you have to work for it. You have to learn and implement and eventually it will come to you.

Recommended: 10 Mistakes Bloggers Make

LESSON 6: NOT EVERYONE WILL BELIEVE IN YOU, SO YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE IN YOU

If you don’t believe in yourself, you’ve already set yourself up to fail! Mindset is everything when it comes to running a blog. You have to believe that you can do it or you won’t have the motivation to get where you need to go.

Sometimes family and friends won’t see the vision that you do. They probably have never heard of blogging and haven’t looked into all of the online success like you have. All they know is going to school, get a degree, rot in a tiny cubicle for the rest of your life. They were not conditioned to become business owners and dreamers.

Lucky for me, my family is okay with my blogging career. They’d probably like it better if I had a more “traditional” job but they see I am becoming successful so what more is there to say?

My fiance is my biggest supporter. He believed in me before anyone else did. Even when I start to doubt myself, he is right there to remind me to keep going. It helps to have someone like him in your life, but if you don’t you have to believe in yourself.

It also helps to connect with other bloggers who will be able to lift you up as well!

LESSON 7: DON’T BE AFRAID TO INVEST IN YOUR BLOG

This is another big lesson. There seems to be this mindset that you’ll invest in your blog once you start to make an income. This seems pretty backward to me.

If blogging is like a business, think about any other business. If you were going to be a baker, would you sell cakes before buying the ingredients? You physically wouldn’t be able to because you’d have no products to sell!

Every business comes with little up-front costs. You need to invest if you want to make money. While you don’t really have to invest in courses (although I recommend it to fast-track your way to success!) You really could learn everything on your own, if you wanted to.

The number one thing I recommend you need if you want to make money is self-hosting. Blogging on a free platform is not the way to go. Learn how to go self-hosted here!

Interested in what else I invested in my blog? Check out my blogging resources here!

LESSON 8: TREAT YOUR BLOG LIKE A BUSINESS

So I’ve said this a few times so far. But you may be wondering what that means and how you can treat your blog like a business.

-CREATE A BUSINESS PLAN

A business plan can be as complicated or as simple as you want it to be. What I’ve done to create my business plan is outlined my goals for the year, then broke it down for each quarter of the year, and even down to each month. I’ve organized them on a board in Trello to keep track!

-OUTLINE HOW YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE MONEY

The next step is to figure out how you are going to make money and create a plan. There are so many ways you can make money online!

• Ads (Passive income, but slow unless you have a ton of views!)
• Affiliate income (My favorite form of income! You recommend products you like to your readers. I learned everything I know from this course here!
• Sponsored posts (You work with brands in exchange for products/ money)
• Making your own products (The best way to make an income since you get more of the income!)

LESSON 9: MONEY IS NOT INSTANT

When you first start out blogging, you see that everyone else making money and they make it look easy- it’s not! You need a lot of hours and a lot of time to make an income. And everyone’s path is different, so don’t compare your journey to others!

Money will come eventually, but it will not be a get rick-quick option!

I have learned so many lessons in the past 6 months with this blog, and even more with the 2 years, I have been blogging as a whole! In the end, blogging is so much fun and I can’t wait to keep going!