{"id":27882,"date":"2016-06-13T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-13T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-181994-533056.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=27882"},"modified":"2019-12-07T22:11:01","modified_gmt":"2019-12-08T03:11:01","slug":"day-in-the-life-full-time-blogger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.styletomes.com\/blogging-tips\/day-in-the-life-full-time-blogger\/","title":{"rendered":"Day In The Life of a Full Time Blogger: AKA Look I Work!"},"content":{"rendered":"

My typical day looks very different during fashion week<\/a> versus, basically, all other days of the year. I\u2019m pretty sure almost everyone I meet is convinced I just sit around on the couch all day, write a few articles here and there and just eat ice cream from a tub while watching Real Housewives. That\u2019s totally 100% accurate a few days out of the year. The rest of the time I work my butt off.<\/span><\/p>\n

Related: Check out what I do when fashion week rolls around.<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Working full time as a blogger looks slightly different from having an office job, though. For one, I don\u2019t have a \u201cturn off\u201d time where I draw the line and say \u201cK, that\u2019s it, work is done, and I\u2019m going out now!\u201d or \u201cHey, it\u2019s the weekend, no work until Monday!\u201d That doesn\u2019t exist for me, but maybe it should now that I think about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, I digress. <\/span><\/p>\n

A day in the life of a full-time blogger from start to finish:<\/span><\/h3>\n

7:30-8:30 am:<\/em><\/strong> I wake up! No alarm clock! Yay. I haven\u2019t heard the blare of an alarm clock in years, and I totally love this part of working for myself. No matter what, though, I don\u2019t wake up past 9 am. Like, there\u2019s no sleeping in, even on weekends. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"A
We wake up!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

8:30-10:00 am:<\/em><\/strong> I sip on my first cup of coffee while checking all my stats from the day before (Google Analytics\/Tweets\/Pins\/Instagram\/FB). I also look at my e-mail and respond to anything quick during this time. I also start setting up all my windows for the day: blog post window where I have the topics I\u2019ll be writing about that day, my editorial calendar (I use CoSchedule<\/a>, which is amazing), and my website admin area. I also pull up Photoshop and Lightroom with the photos I\u2019ll be working on that day.<\/span><\/p>\n

10:00am-10:30 am:<\/em><\/strong> Typically, I\u2019m on cup 3 of coffee. Yes, boys and girls, coffee is pulsing through my veins by now, and I\u2019ve practically transformed into a coffee bean. That\u2019s my cue to walk Walty, otherwise known as Walter, otherwise known as Peanut Butter Boy. My husband is usually up by now (ah, the beauty of having two entrepreneurs in the house) and he\u2019s showered and ready to head into the office. I have the option of heading into \u201cthe office\u201d, but I can honestly do just as much, if not more, work at home. The commute is SUCH a time disruptor. That\u2019s, like, 2 extra hours of work I can do instead of commuting!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A
Walty totally looks like a catch in this pic. Ladies, he’s available.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

11:00am-1:00 pm:<\/strong><\/em> Don\u2019t ask me where the 30 minutes went between the 10:30 and 11:00. I never know. Anyway, I\u2019m back home with PBB (Peanut Butter Boy), and my husband is away in the big bad office. This is when I start to get into the meaty parts of socialization. I reply to the longer e-mails that require a thoughtful response and I respond to the comments on my blog. I also set a timer for 50 minutes and start busting out an article on the topic at the top of my topic brainstorm list. Yes, I have a list of topics I work from! I brainstorm a list once a month (I have a worksheet for blog post topics if you want to do the same thing) and write a blog post or two every day. Those posts are usually rough drafts that I\u2019ll format, correct and perfect before my publish date. Toward the end of this time block, I start getting pretty damn hungry so I either scourge through the fridge quickly to see what I can come up with (nothing), or I order (yes, I usually order delivery). <\/span><\/p>\n

1:00 pm- 6:00 pm:<\/strong> <\/em>Honestly, I don\u2019t even know why I separated the blocks of time from 11-1 and 1-5:30. Everything just kind of fuses together for me. I don\u2019t have a designated lunch time, so whenever the delivery order comes, I usually eat it while still working. I try to do two post drafts a day, so I\u2019m usually still writing around 1-2pm. Then I schedule the posts out in my editorial calendar (once again, I use coSchedule) and open up each blog post draft in WordPress. This is when I do my keyword research. I format everything and make the images for each post.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once all the posts are ready, I go back to CoSchedule<\/a> and schedule out the social media blasts for the month ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A
This is what my typical schedule looks like in CoSchedule.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Right about now is when I start feeling sluggish so I vacuum the house or do some general cleaning. Basically, anything that gets me away from a computer and gets me moving a bit. I\u2019ve been sitting on the couch for close to 5 hours now, and I\u2019ve become painfully aware of the groove that\u2019s forming in the cushion.<\/span><\/p>\n

When my small cleaning break is over (it\u2019s almost always cleaning), I busy myself with small elements that have to do with optimizing the website. Somehow, that list never goes down. I also take this time to view any professional courses I\u2019m signed up for or do some general reading and research on my industry to make sure I\u2019m up to date with all the things that help me grow my blog.<\/span><\/p>\n

6:00pm-8:00 pm:<\/strong><\/em> This is where I cook dinner, drink and be merry! My husband is home, PBB goes for another walk, and we watch some sort of a TV episode together to unwind. I finally take a shower in this time slot too! I\u2019m an evening showerer\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

8:00pm-10:00 pm:<\/strong><\/em> I usually do some more post planning and all the miscellaneous, beautiful things related to blog content here. I start on either another blog post OR working on my newsletter email (which I will then pick up and continue the next day if I don\u2019t finish on the day of). This is also where I get sucked into the rabbit hole of \u201cuseful blogging tools,\u201d which I have an utter addiction to. \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>\n

10:00pm-11:30 pm:<\/strong><\/em> The ritual of reading before bedtime is now sacred for me. I read something COMPLETELY unrelated to work, blogging, entrepreneurship, self-improvement, whatever. I reach for pure fiction or classic literature which will sweep me away into some dystopian universe and make me forget I blog for a living. This has become a major way I unwind at the end of the day, and I REFUSE to take my phone to bed now. It\u2019s only me, my cat, my dog, my husband and my Kindle. (FYI, my current read is \u201cShift\u201d in the \u201cWool Omnibus\u201d series by Hugh Howey, and before that it was \u201cA Girl With All The Gifts\u201d and \u201cReady Player One\u201d \u2014> told you I had a thing for post-apocalyptic\/dystopian books.)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>\"\"<\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a>\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

This is an entirely general, top level, look of my day. Some of the things that can\/do happen within this structure:<\/p>\n