I’ve been blogging for 16 months now and I still feel that dizzying frustration with it. I must admit, by now, I thought I’d be further than this. I still feel a little stuck and well new to this, even though I’m not.

I have to keep reminding myself that I have developed so many skills over these last 16 months from both blogging and starting a business. Has it been challenging? Yes, remarkably!

Did I think it would go this far? Absolutely not. I’m still stunned that I’m doing this full time- it was something that I dreamed about doing, for so long. There’s obviously a lot of things that I like about blogging!

But, it was difficult and as much as I love blogging, I don’t want to say it is easy, when it’s not. There are certainly easier businesses or side hustles to start!

I get the feeling that this will be the toughest year yet, for me and my little blog, but who knows what is on the horizon? A crystal ball sounds alluring at this stage… or perhaps not. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

Anyway, I thought I’d sum up things that I’ve learnt about blogging full time. Just the bad things I’ve noticed so far. Maybe I’ll write something a bit more positive, like 20 amazing things about blogging, but for now, here’s 20 things you should know.

20 Bad Things about Blogging

I want to make it abundantly clear that going for your dreams often requires you to make sacrifices. It’s not easy, so it won’t be all daisies and rainbows, but it will be worth it!

1. Starting a business is lonely!

2. If you let stress get to you, you fail.

3. Everyone will think you’re nuts, “why not just get a job?”

4. You become fair game for people to fire insults at.

5. Pinterest pins will give you comfort.

6. If you neglect your personal relationships, they will fall apart.

7. You drink soo much coffee.

8. Social media is hella addictive and it becomes your new social life.

9. You realise who your friends are.

10. You have to happy – all of the time, especially on social media.

11. If you’re inconsistent you loose followers and stats, which becomes gruelling and tiresome.

12. People think you’re narcissistic if you post photographs of yourself.

13. You have to be good at meeting deadlines.

14. People will try and take advantage of your newbie-ness… “Hey, could you just add this link in here for free?’ “We don’t offer payments but we’d love you to write this for us.”

15. The better you get at blogging, the lonelier it gets!

16. Your perfectionism will reach new heights, think waking up at 4am wondering if you used the correct hashtags on Twitter.

17. Life is just as relentless, except you still have to run a business at the same time. Did you think life would get easier while you’re busier? No way.

18. If you take a break you don’t get paid!

19. You start to wish you weren’t a writer, it has to be one of the most difficult, unpredictable and turbulent careers – partly because it makes good writing material.

20. You have to make sacrifices, like giving up your nice reliable job, or selling things to pay the bills- like that antique you never look at, or cutting down on things you enjoy, such as food or heating.

In conclusion

There’s a lot of good stuff about blogging, but I rarely see anyone write about the bad stuff. Of course, I missed the most annoying thing off this list, which is nobody understands what you do for a living, ever– and you have to explain it to people- at least once a day.

It’s also very difficult to keep the stamina going as it requires a lot of patience, persistence and determination. I’ve already briefly covered this in my post blogging isn’t a real job, but I thought I’d share it anyway because it’s so relevant.

Sure, blogging has it’s downsides- but so does everything else. Thankfully, I can stand the bad and love the good stuff. But I still thought they were worth pointing out.

Funnily enough I’ve just been nominated as blogger of the month by Get Blogged so I must be doing something right.

Thanks for reading,

Soph.