Blogger and Freelancer: A Juggling Act

This is a sponsored post. Parts of this post were guest written by Alex Berger. This post contains sponsored links and content.

Since I decided to start writing about my career I figured I’d write about how I juggle being a freelancer in the fashion industry and being a blogger. Any blogger who runs their blog as a business can tell you it’s a 24/7 job. I’m always attached to my email for blogging purposes and as a freelancer in the fashion industry as well. I’m always editing, brainstorming and responding to people on social media and on the blog. Many times a lunch break consist of eating and answering blog related emails or social media tasks. As a freelancer I have agents who help me along my professional journey of working in the fashion industry. It is up to me and those agents to keep a constant open line of communication. This is equally important when you are working with companies for a blog or social media post. When I began this journey I had to figure out how I would balance it all, and you can too! Here are some guidelines on how I balance my hectic career and a blog.

Organize Yourself

This can be done simply with journals, agenda, calendars, alarms etc. I don’t do anything in the fashion industry without a notebook dedicated to the job I’m doing. As anyone who has ever worked in a creative industry knows, projects and people move way too fast to keep track of every change without a written reminder. There can also be so many different tasks you have to handle that without an organized list you wouldn’t know what to get done first. This is similar in having a blog, I have dedicated notebooks and different stationery to my blog. I organize meetings, events and posts within these notebooks to keep me up to date. These also help me track blogging numbers and goals by writing everything down. Now I’m partial to writing things on paper, but I also use the calendar in my phone to keep me on track. There are also apps that help you carve out time to focus on your task.

Experiment with all methods of organization to help you get your work done. Something is bound to help you accomplish each goal. Writing for me as well as many other bloggers begins at least three days to a week in advance. So carving time out of your busy schedule to get a post done is super important. Step away from distractions for as long as you can to work on a post. Trust me I have been there and always feel better when I have at least something written down rather than nothing at all.

Always Conduct Yourself Professionally

In all ways and at all times act professional. As bloggers we are subject to a much more of the public’s reaction than other people. When a personal matter is occurring it is up to you to decide if you want to share it and how much of it to share. I feel the same about political topics, you may be super frustrated about what is happening but you must be careful what you post. I like many bloggers post every single day to social media because it is part of the job. In doing so you will attract many comments and readers. How you respond to both negative and positive feedback is up to you. I choose professionalism over anything else, because remember being a blogger is being subject to the public. Consider your boss, coworkers, family and collaborators as being part of that public!

Educate yourself

When you are the creator and editor of your own blog or business you never stop learning. Just like when you start a new job, there are bound to be things you don’t know. Before I started my blog I did a lot of homework with the help of Pinterest and social media. Being open to mentorship and critiques works in your favor as well. People who have more experience than you do are bound to give you sound advice. In saying that learning how to make SEO, plugins, apps and networks work for my blog is something I constantly do as well.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a huge part of running a functional blog. When applied correctly it helps search engines like Google find your content. To have this work you must input a mix of keywords, tag words and links. The title of your post must also be long enough and correspond with your keywords. SEO also helps you determine how the link to your article will appear in a search engine. It allows you to see what the title, pictures and link will look like once posted. What I love about using SEO is what I call the “grading system” which signals you with red, yellow or green circles. As you write and edit your article the circles go from red to green. Symbolizing how easy your article is to read and whether it will be found easily on search engines. With this guidance it is easier to write an understandable and reachable article.

Be Flexible

Being able to collaborate with other bloggers, industry experts and people who have more experience than you do is paramount in working in both a faced paced industry and being a blogger. Dates might be changed on a collaborative project, something I’ve personally dealt with. Essentially it’s about respecting the other person’s schedule as best as possible and finding a way to work it out. Figuring out what you want to write about is also part of being flexible. I may want to write about a specific topic but might have to put it off until I get a different post done first. Finding a way to balance your needs and wants as a blogger is part of being your own boss.

I would love to be able to do everything myself, but it’s just not possible, so I have to pick and choose based on what needs to get done and what I am skilled in. One thing that a lot of bloggers and freelancers should spend more time on is digital marketing and SEO, but unfortunately most are not skilled in it. This is where collaborating with industry experts comes into play, but then you have to go through the process of finding the right marketing agency to hire. Although this can be time consuming and it can take many hours of research to learn about SEO. Some would be better off by searching for the right company to help them with the SEO process.

The NJ SEO Company or NJ SEO is the number one marketing agency in New Jersey. They are a full service marketing agency offering effective content strategies for forward thinking companies. Lead by brothers, Matt and Dan Anton, NJ SEO is dominating multiple markets – in Atlanta, Georgia and New Jersey. Matt is in charge of client strategy and execution, optimizing for specific industries, business goals and budgets for the New Jersey office. He is cited as an SEO expert and has many amazing reviews and over 100+ testimonials. Supporting a local and family-run businesses that can assist me is the way to go, in my opinion. According to the SBA (U.S. Small Business Administration), “Since 1990, as big business eliminated 4 million jobs, small businesses added 8 million new jobs.” This is just another reason to support local businesses, including NJ SEO and Matt Anton.

So now you have an insight into how I juggle being a blogger and working in the fashion industry. Organization, Professionalism, Education and Flexibility will all help you not only work in a tough industry but run your own a business as well. These paired with perseverance, a strong work ethic and using the businesses around you like NJ SEO you will be better prepared to juggle a job and a business.

How do you juggle it all? Let me know in the comments and on social media!

T.S.