Juggling my Day Job & Being a Blogger

3 June 2018

 
I work full time Sunday to Thursday at a fashion boutique around the corner from my house. I'm lucky enough to work a job that aligns itself a bit with my daily passions. I enjoy my day job, I really do. I also enjoy being a blogger/instagrammer. 

What started as just a hobby has now become a proper second job. I also am a Community Marketer for Bumble Australia. So that's two side jobs on top of my regular full time job. 
Juggling them is not easy at all. If you've been watching my instagram stories you would have seen that I've had to stop stuffing around after I get home of an evening, and actually spend time working on my other jobs. 

If this is what I want to do, then I need to put the effort in. 
But it's not just about having enough time. There's 168 Hours in a week. Take away 49 for sleeping, and another 45 for my day job, that leaves 74 hours left to work with. Which seems like it would be enough but it's not that easy. 


Instagram isn't a Solo Job

I often need someone to take a photo of me for my instagram. I'm lucky enough to have a very generous boyfriend who is good with a camera. We only have one day off a week together, and he also plays soccer on that day. That is a very small timeframe that I can get photos taken of me in daylight hours. 

The Saturday that just went? It rained and was dark all day. I managed to get some indoor photos done, but I guess better luck next week.


I need the Daylight

I'm just a regular person. I don't have a studio with all the appropriate lighting, and honestly I don't need it. Because natural light is perfect. Except when I can't use it. Now that daylight savings has ended, it's completely dark when I get home. That's about 4 days a week that I can't take any photos at all, just because of the lighting. On Sundays, if I'm lucky I get an hour of sunlight after I finish work. Just like today, except it was pouring rain and completely dark because of the clouds. 

I try to take my photos during my first day off. The photos that aren't of me, or that I can take using a tripod if necessary. If I miss the daylight, I literally just have to wait until I get the chance again. Which is hard if the photos have a deadline or due date.


I Can't Attend Events

I have no idea why this is the case, since I know a lot of bloggers who actually do have to work a regular job as well as being an influencer. But all of the brand events are at terrible times. Thursday Nights especially. I don't finish work that late on a Thursday, lucky for me. But most events seem to start at 6pm at the latest, and they're generally 2.5 - 3 hours travel away from me. 

Not only would I have to finish work a lot earlier in the day, I then have to include that travel time. I've also been invited to a few weekday events that are on around lunchtime. It can be seriously disheartening, and it's not about not getting to go to cool parties. (Okay maybe a little bit) But not being able to network and show that you're serious about getting involved. 

I also am often invited to events with less than a week's notice. Which means there is literally no possibility of attending at all. 


I Only Have 2 Days Off

Technically I have 2 days off my main job. But that's when I'm meant to be relaxing and socialising. Not trying to do as much as I can of my other two jobs. But that is the case. If this is what I want to do, then I need to put in the time and the effort, and I do!

Not everyone understands this though! Other bloggers and influencers, they get it. Instagram doesn't always look like it is hard work but it is. It takes a lot of time, and planning to get everything done.

It's really cool to see all your hard work pay off. But there's a lot of work that goes into getting to that point. 



Can you relate? Leave a comment if you're on day job/blogger struggle street...  



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2 comments

  1. This was such a good post and really interesting to read as someone who's a full time college student + part-time jobbing at a retail store + blogging. So tricky!

    Hannah | coffee with hannah

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  2. Totally agree that blogging and working full time is tough, even just back in the day when instagram didn't exist maintaining that balance as well as socialising and doing all the regular life admin stuff was hard enough for me. Blogging is just a hobby for me, and I don't really spend much time on instagram, and I still find it difficult to keep up sometimes, so I totally agree that a huge amount of work goes into maintaining all the different platforms and it’s really tough sometimes, especially when you miss an opportunity to take photos or work on things because of the weather or other commitments on the one or two days a week you get off.

    littlehenrylee.net

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