Blogging & Business

Blog Boss: 5 Tips to Start Your Morning Off Right + Social Media Strategy Checklist

Today, I’m teaming up with one of my best blogging buds, Amanda from Blissful Gal to bring to you a new blogging series called Blog Boss. Amanda and I both share a passion for our blogs because we both share a passion for being our own bosses. We’re teaming up today to share some of the information and lessons we’ve learned to share with other bloggers who want to be their own boss!

I’ve been getting a lot of questions asking about what my life is like now that I’m a full-time blogger and I’ve been purposefully avoiding them. I quit working a regular job back in June and it was the best choice I’ve ever made, but I’ve definitely struggled with finding out how to balance my new life as someone who is “self-employed” Initially, it was hard for me because I bounced around three states (and across the country) since June before landing in Arizona in September.  I really hadn’t figured out what my life was supposed to look like and was really struggling with how to manage my time as someone who now worked from home.

But, now that we have been settled into our new home in AZ for a couple months now, I finally have been able to work on my schedule and routine as a blog boss. It’s a lot of work being a full-time blogger and for a while, it was really overwhelming to figure out what to do with all the time and all the ideas I had bouncing around in my head

1. Check Your Emails First Thing. I cannot concentrate or get anything done if I don’t check my email and have an idea of what’s waiting for me to tackle that day. Did I get a sponsored post opportunity? Did a potential client email me back? Are there any flash sales at Ulta? I just have to know! After my alarm goes off in the morning, Dustin and I have a little pillow talk and then I take a few minutes to relax, wake up and check my email on my phone. I don’t reply back to any of them, but at least I have a picture of what I need to tackle that day.

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2. Get Up and Get Ready for the Day. One of my biggest mistakes that I made when I first started working for myself was treating my days like vacation. I would lounge in bed until 9, get up and take Roo to the dog park in my sweats, come home and watch a tv show or two. By then, it was 1:00 and I hadn’t showered, done my hair or done anything blogging related except check emails. I found myself staying up late at night writing my posts and ignoring my husband. I realized that I needed to make a change because life wasn’t much different from when I was blogging on the side.

One of my biggest recommendations for anyone who wants to be a blog boss is to get up and get ready for the day at 7:00. Just because I’m working from home doesn’t mean I should lounge around in my bed until 9:00. I’ve learned to treat my days like work days and that means getting up, taking a shower, putting on clothes and my makeup. I’ve found that I am WAY more productive when I’m dressed and ready for the day, even if I’m not going anywhere. My dress reflects my attitude; if I stay stinky and in my pj’s, I’m going to want to just Netflix and Chill. If I’m dressed up, I feel professional and ready to take on my day.

3. Do Chores Around the House. I cannot concentrate well if I know there are dishes to be done or laundry to put away. After getting ready for the day, I eat some breakfast and pick one or two house chores to do before “going to work.” Namely, it’s doing the dishes and picking up the living room. Knowing that those chores are done and out of the way allows me to concentrate on my work without that nagging feeling in the back of my mind.

4. Go for some fresh air. Once again, before I sit down to work, I have found that going out to get some fresh air before putting myself in my office all morning really helps me stay focused. After getting the dishes going, Rosie and I either go for a quick 20-minute walk around the block or go to the dog park for about 30 minutes. Rosie will drive me crazy if I don’t take her to get her morning zoomies out and getting outside is a great time to pause and mentally prepare for my day. I find myself going over my mental to-do list, thinking about what to make for dinner and getting in the zone to own my work-day.

5. Have a Social Media Strategy to Streamline Morning Marketing. I used to sit down at my computer, start working on marketing on Pinterest and half way through my “20 minutes of pin time” would have the thought to check my twitter. I would check twitter, see a blog post I wanted to read and open another new tab. The blog post would be on the importance of using alt text in images and I would then spend the next hour adding alt text to all my images on my blog. See my problem? I was so scattered and distracted by all the things I knew I had to do, but I never actually did them all.

I’ve since sat down, thought about each social media platform that I want to have a presence on for LWR and a came up with a specific checklist and strategy to make sure I get it all done in about an hour every morning. Then, I can spend the rest of my day writing blog posts, commenting on other blogs and working on other projects. It has helped me stay on focused and has also helped me grow all my social media platforms!

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I feel like this was the biggest struggle I faced when transitioning to a full-time blogger. I had so many things on my mind about maintaining my social media presence and got so overwhelmed. So, today, I’m sharing my Social Media Strategy Checklist with anyone who feels like they are in over their head and needs some guidance.  You can alter it however you want to work for you, but I promise that if you follow through with a checklist like this, your social media accounts will become manageable and they will continue to gain traction, grow and market your blog.

If you want to get your hands on this game-changing social media strategy checklist I use every morning, just enter you email below and it will be sent to you within minutes (with some additional tips and tricks on how to use it!)

What’s your blog boss dream? How do you manage your social media accounts?