How I blog with a full-time job

Automate email marketing

My email marketing flywheel is automated.

Like, it will function on its own long-term once I have it all set up.

Right now, I have an ongoing automated sequence that sends subscribers one evergreen blogging tip each week.

It’s going so well I have zero unsubscribes from the sequence emails.

Soon, I’ll have more of these sequences. They’re literal blog savers, seeing as I can’t imagine having any other sort of email marketing strategy.

Like, I can’t imagine sustaining a manual newsletter. Been there, tried that, hated it and wondered why I bothered.

Automated sequences help me NOT feel stage fright.

Write & schedule blog posts in advance

Admittedly, writing and scheduling blog posts ahead of time is not going as expected.

I wanted to publish blog posts everyday for the next 1-3 months to knock out some blog post ideas to I could have them already.

Long-term, the better strategy is to write and schedule blog posts ahead of time — so I’m 1-3 months ahead of whatever posts I’m currently working on.

Baby steps = scheduling a post a week until I’ve enough to schedule maybe two a week.

For now, I’m falling in love with blogging again. I challenge myself to put out at least one blog post per week and schedule three Pinterest Pins.

Have some kind of task rhythm

Creating a routine before understanding what I actually did blogging-wise was pointless. I don’t recommend it.

I gave myself about a month, maybe more because I fell ill with COVID in the middle, to fall into my own task rhythm.

It looks a bit like this:

• Mondays:
  • My week starts.
  • I double-check my existing automated sequences and work on new ones.
  • I brainstorm future automated sequence ideas and how new content clusters might fit into my current sequences.
• Tuesdays:
  • Write and schedule 1-2 blog posts
  • Create and schedule Pinterest Pins
  • May update current automated sequences if needed (e.g. adding link(s) to emails within the sequences)
• Wednesdays:
  • Maybe same-ish as Tuesday
  • Might take/edit photos for blog

Throughout the week, I maintain a list of blog post ideas I have in the moment.

I’ve gotten better at culling the random, obligatory blog post ideas from the ones that actually belong on my blog.

This is what works best for me right now.

If I were blogging full-time and not working at a job, I’d likely write 1-2 more blog posts than I have been, since I’d have the energy to do so.

And I’d definitely be scheduling more posts on Pinterest.

I’d have the time and energy for it.

But right now, I do not. I’m not overextending myself. I am pacing myself, doing what’s sustainable for me. I’m maximizing the blogging efforts I have the capacity for because I’m sure I will thank myself for them later.

If you need a number, I’d say I spend 10-25 hours a week on my blog. This is the full-time equivalent when working for oneself.

I remind myself of my path.

My endgame, my goals, my dream — whatever you want to call it, that’s what I remind myself of.

Because it’s what keeps me going.

It’s my origin story.

It keeps me going.

This has been keeping me going, along with my cat, because it’s my better future: One where I don’t compromise on my needs, values or wants.

I know how delusional it sounds, but I also know how much work I have put into this and how much work I am putting into this.

Even when I have stopped blogging in the past, something always pulls me back to it.

Or something reminds me of why I am doing this, why I need to do this, how this is the right path for me.

So, yeah. I remind myself why I’m doing this. I remind myself why I’m sticking it out.

At my full-time job, I remind myself it is a step on my path — temporary, not for life.

That keeps me going. It’s why I’m still at this, unable to give it up or settle for doing this as a side gig.