As a relatively new blogger, I’m four months into my blogging journey, I want to put it out there that I have found that there is kind of a stigma around blogging.

At first, it came from friends and family, then even my own son, who shouted ‘that’s not a real job’ when I was talking about an article I was writing.

Which is kind of strange because I’ve committed myself to blog full time, seven days a week for the past four months and I’ll admit, even I think to myself sometimes, this isn’t a job…

So why is this? And why is there a Stigma around blogging?

My Work History

Well, first of all, I want to point out that I’ve had some tough jobs over the years…

I’ve been a pot wash in a really busy restaurant. I took the job because I had no experience in kitchens and I wanted to be a Chef, and the guy who owned the restaurant was a master chef finalist so I hoped he might see promise in me and train me in the kitchen, which he did, eventually…

But first, it meant getting really dirty, scrubbing people’s leftovers, having boiling pans being thrown at me in every direction. Having stressed out Chef’s shouting at me and a whole load of burns and cuts.

I still have nightmares about it. It was a really fast-paced and super stressful environment and I’d finish my shifts with hands that were numb after being submerged in the water for hours. It truly was the worst job I’ve ever had, but it got me the experience I wanted and a foot up the ladder and it looked good on my CV…

I also worked as a street salesperson, working for 100% commission. Selling energy to people is hard work. It takes a huge amount of energy and superhuman people skills to stop someone in the street and switch their gas and electricity.

It must be the most boring topic to talk to people about it and you have to be quick to respond to people. You need buckets of sass and witty comebacks.

The constant barrage of negativity and awful comments that come your way are so very draining and it hurts your feet. I’d work 12 to 14 hour days and sometimes I wouldn’t make a sale which meant no wages.

I’ve also volunteered a lot, which is good for the soul, but not so much for the bank account. I used to the chef in the evenings just to get a decent meal every day.

In all honesty, when I read that all back I realise my work history isn’t normal. I am an incredibly hard worker and have built up a strong work ethic. But, I was using all my energy, my brainpower and every people skill I had to adapt in all kinds of situations.

It’s not really until I started blogging that I realised I’ve done all this because usually, I make myself too busy to think. I’ve been charging forward for so long I never really stopped to take it all in or realise just how much stress I was putting myself under.

Then comes the pandemic and I’m forced to stop. I stopped for the first time since leaving education and I realised I was going to have to start to do things differently because the stress and the constant on switch wasn’t doing me (or my family) any good…

As to why I keep myself so busy, well that can be for another blog post for another day but I think this is why even I don’t see blogging as the hard work it really is.

I don’t see blogging as work because I have so much more free time now and a hell of a lot more energy than I used to.

Yet, I’m still pushing myself daily, in so many ways. I’ve had to learn multiple skills over the past four months, skills that I didn’t know before, they’re not necessarily difficult, once you get the hang of it, it’s just there’s a lot that goes into blogging…

In all honesty, I think this is why people don’t really perceive blogging as a real job, because simply put, I don’t think they understand just how much work goes into running your own business…

I thought this would be a good post to do today to both inform people who are thinking about blogging and wondering what it’s really like to work as a blogger and for those non-believers out there who think blogging is ‘not a real job’ because let me assure you it is…

The Many Roles of A blogger…

So a blogger is the ultimate multi-tasker, if you thought you just have to write a blog post and forget about it, you’d be wrong, so very, very wrong.

Enter the Copywriter…

So there’s a bit more that goes into blogging than just sitting down and writing something. When I first started, I was just blogging my little heart out, which felt awesome, but if you want to monetise your blog and start working with companies, you need structure and a niche…

You need to stop writing in a passive voice and learn how to connect with your audience.

Sloppy sentences won’t do and you need to research keywords, you need to backlink posts and study companies that you want to work with.

It’s also a great idea when you first start out to produce articles about products that you like for instance, depending on your niche. This way when you’re pitching to companies you have examples of content you have produced. While this is great for getting brands to work with you, it also means for the first few months (or even the first year) a lot of the content you write will be for free.

Then to top it all off you need to proofread your content. There must be zero errors if you want to not suck…

Read my post on blogging tips here.

Social Media Manager…

Again, I had no clue that I would spend four times the amount of writing the blog post, on publishing the content on social media. When I first started I sucked at social media, I thought I had it in the bag and it would be easy… nope, I was so wrong.

I ended up studying for a diploma in social media marketing because it had me totally stumped. I am now on my way to being a qualified social media manager and I even have a client lined up for when I finish. How awesome is that? I can earn an extra income by managing his accounts while I blog.

Content Creator…

So when I first started blogging I was just firing content out on every platform. For a start, it was exhausting and also it was completely unproductive.

My content was rubbish because I wasn’t putting any thought into it. I was sporadically posting on all kinds of platforms. I thought I was nailing it…

Nope, to be a content creator you need structure, routine and a schedule. It takes vision, planning and commitment. You have to be disciplined and motivate yourself to produce content on your schedule. Miss that schedule or deadline and it could cost you followers or a payment, ouch!

It helps to have things prepared in advance, although that one I’m still struggling with.

Anyway, there’s a lot of thought that goes into content creation, some extra roles include:

Photographer

Make-up Artist

Model

Photo Editor

Researcher (sweet places to get photographs and weather specialists)

Equipment Carrier (Cameras, stands, toddlers are heavy)

You also have to make your own coffee (especially when you first start to save money). I went to Costa for the first time on my birthday after four months of blogging. It was the best birthday present ever.

Read about my birthday here.

All joking aside, you also have to be

An Accountant…

Invoices, spreadsheets, tax worker outer, seriously guys having your own business is hard work. Still, I actually enjoy this side a lot more than I thought I would.

The money I do earn is mine, I don’t have to make someone else a profit anymore and it’s another skill set I can add to my CV if everything else fails…

Customer Service Agent

Your social media post offends someone, a company is unhappy with your content, an angry blogger doesn’t like your content? … guess who has to fix it all… yep, it’s you also, although thankfully none of this has happened… touch wood.

Website and Graphic Designer

So obviously you can pay someone to do this for you, but if you’re just starting out the likely hood of you paying for this is unlikely…

You’re also gonna want to add coding to that list. Computer skills are essential.

Blogging means Business

So there you have it guys and gals, a comprehensive look into why blogging is a full-time job. The thing is, I don’t think I’m stressed out because I’m passionate about what I do. I love blogging and I can’t see myself ever going back to my life as a chef unless I have to.

Work shouldn’t stress you out, if it does I can assure you you’re not passionate about what you do.

There’s also a new era coming. The pandemic has crushed the economy and online businesses are more profitable than ever. 2021 is an awesome time to start that blog.

It takes a lot of hard work and patience but you can make a living by blogging. You can earn money from home, not get stressed and be a mummy, or stay at home daddy or whatever it is you want to be…

Self-employed, unstressed and passionate blogger…

First Coffee in four months!

Soph

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