Blogging Tips

I remember when the pundits told us that working online would be the key to our own personal freedom.  I remember they told us we’d have more free time to spend with friends and family when we decided to start working from our own homes. It all sounded so great for somebody who grew up in the 1970s and I had great visions of working from the back of a reconditioned VW bus with flowers painted all over the sides.

Then reality hit, but don’t get me wrong this one’s not bad.  Working on the web (and blogging is only part of what I do) has been the best career move I’ve made because finally I’ve become my own boss. Still, there are things you need to learn on your own when you start working on the web and once you understand search engine optimization and have a good background in writing that you can bring to the table, a few tips about time management can come in really handy.

That said, here’s a few things I’ve learned through trial and error.  These work for me but I’d love to hear about what you do to make those waves of blogs manageable at your end.

Don’t Be There Until You Get There

First off I learned in the years I’ve been doing this not to think about what I need to do until I’m in front of my laptop. At first that’s hard to do and I’m sure many of you who work in the industry might even say next to impossible, but I’ve got a little technique that works for me. A day planner is essential for me to keep things straight and jotting down notes there as I go along generally helps me to get everything done without forgetting anything.

I also need to make sure to understand that I can’t will blogs out faster than my fingers will move.  Like most lessons in life, I need to keep relearning the one that says you can get a lot more done with a little preplanning and a calm disposition then you can with that Bull-In-The-China-Shop attitude that I was sure would work if I kept it up long enough.

Here’s where I like to use the day planner again.  Usually by the end of the day I can see something that I didn’t get done and transfer it over to the next page.

Eyes That Are Bigger Than Your Tummy?

Finally, I need to keep in mind that the amount of work I take on means more money but I also need to be able to do it in a professional manner.  There’s really no easy way for any of us to gauge how much work we can really take on at any one time and I guess that’s one of the big obstacles we all need to overcome in freelance work.

Still I find it’s really helpful to sit down and time myself every once in a while and then average at those times to get a good idea about how much work I can do without stressing out.

That way I’ve got a benchmark to use when I’m searching for more work or being offered some because in the end sitting in that VW bus only to pull my hair out defeats the whole purpose.