As a blogger and freelance writer I am consistently pushing my boundaries in terms of trying to get more work. Since I am on the quest to become financially independent by doing this kind of work (and other online ventures) it is essential that I do keep up with the ever increasing amount of work.
What does this mean exactly for me?
What it means is that I work pretty much 7 days a week and even though I do have the occasional day off to enjoy time with my husband, I work 12+hours/day.
This might shock some of you, but when it comes to making money from home, there is no time for relaxation. Especially not in the beginning stages. This stage lasts 1-3 years in traditional business and it is most often within the first year that a very high percentage of small businesses fail.
So why should working online in business be any different?
It isn’t! And the sooner you understand this and knuckle down, the better your own chance at survival.
I also don’t mind pushing myself to my limits. I have done this ever since I started working and doing it for myself makes it all the more rewarding.
But when the body suffers, then we have to listen. My body suffers as I’m spending all this time online without movement and now I’m paying the price!
From putting on weight, to swollen ankles and legs, to being malnourished at the same time because I forget to eat and drink enough - I am now at a stage in my business where I have to take a breather and start to find a balance.
The solution: My immediate solution to this is that I had to take a break from some of my regular client work. I have been getting a lot of repeat work lately and even some referrals which is great. But I can’t help these folk if I’m not well myself, so something has to give. In this case it is a temporary relaxation of working with this particular client of mine.
That’s another reason why I have put all my various guest blogging activity on hold. First comes health, then the money related work and then everything else. That’s just how it is when you are a freelancer.
This particular work will free up some much needed time for me to do what I need to in order to get back to balance. Eat well, sleep 8 hours/night and go for daily walks.
Monika
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Valid points - especially about health(me too!).
There’s another issue - when you have other stuff to do(freelance, study, work), how do you justify the time spent in blogging, which has no immediate returns? I am in a dilemma, but I have made up my mind to spend less time, but work harder during that time.
What’s your strategy?
I sure know what you mean Monika having recently gone through something similar where I had to take some time away from my blog. I still am finding it a crazy juggling act trying to keep on top of everything at the moment.
Balance is key and taking time to stay healthy and eat right I’m finding again are of such huge importance.
It’s good when we can recognize this happening and take actions to correct it.
Stay healthy my friend.
Sumesh: thank you for the heads up. I decided not to let loose on my blogging schedule as it is building the business for the future.
It is very easy to just say “ok I’m going to stop now because…” but if I did this, I would not only loose momentum but also my own believe into my ability to do this. Hope this helps.
Heather: thanks for your nice comment. I won’t stop blogging though as explained to Sumesh. I will focus more on my balance which is really hard to do at the moment.
Thanks guys
Monika
I usually blog when I have freetime. Most of my hours in a day are consumed by my day job. I give first priority to the day job and then to my blog. Some months back I was so busy that I had no time to think about by blog and I lost many readers. Now I am getting some time so I have started blogging again. Well as you said Monika health is wealth.
Things like wealth can be regained even if you lose but if you lose your health then it is quite difficult to get it back completely.
Monika, if you need to break for a couple of days, I can fly the flag at our JV blog - as long as it gets at least one post a day the momentum keeps going and I’m ok to keep posting!
I know exactly how you feel, because I do pretty much the same thing - work like a dog offline then spend all the time I should be relaxing working on this thing!
But as you said, it’s a young business and if you lose momentum now, the repercussions will hit later and you’ll have to wait even longer for that financial independence! So it’s work work work for me until I start seeing the money truck roll up outside my door…
Terry
[...] discusses when enough is enough when blogging, issue I’m facing lately. Also, don’t forget about her group writing [...]
Sorry to hear you’re suffering. I’ve often wondered how others have managed to do so much - maintain several blogs with regular content, plus making regular comments elsewhere. I struggle to put out two posts a week and occasionally look at my favourite blogs and forums (working full time day job)! As you are saying, working 12 hours a day everyday isn’t the answer either. Take care of yourself, David.
Shivaranjan, Terry& David,
Thank you for your concerns and encouraging words. I already fell better knowing that I have support from some of my readers.
Shivaranjan: I know what you mean. And I reckon you are spot on. I’m happy for you to have pushd through this boundary yourself.
Terry: thanks for the offer. I will pass on a post today, but will be back tomorrow with extra. Just need to relax for a few hours I think.
David: it is challenging to do all this, but as long as we can keep healthy I believe it is worth the ups and downs. It sure as hell beats a day job for me anyway.
Monika! It’s funny how the few of us who seem to see each other often enough in the blogosphere also appear to go through similar concurrent ‘phases’ in our lives!
I know exactly how you feel right now as it’s also happening to me - working on a number of projects at the same time, trying to keep apace with my blogging - I’ve put on weight, not enough exercise and spend much less time resting compared to when I held a day job. I have this problem of going really continuously at an intense pace and sometimes balance is not exactly something I excel in.
I hope you do get some quality rest and kick back for a day. Not only does it recharge them batteries, sometimes the inspiration and enthusiasm can be boosted just from a coupla hours of quiet recuperation.
Monika-
Can you add a e-mail subscription plugin to your blog? That would be very useful.
YC: Yes, it does seem to affect quit a few of us. I really need to make sure that I do take Sundays off and simply do the blogging on the various blogs I author.
All the other work can wait. I’m already much better as I did take yesterday off and parts of today. It dos make a huge difference to the batteries.
Shivaranjan: I will do this. Have you got any particular plugin that you could recommend to do this?
Thanks guys, nice to hear from you.
Monika
You know, as much as it killed me at first, I’ve started running in the mornings before MY 12+ hr days. It’s really made all the difference in the world.
If you wanna go a step further, really try and take a break or two every couple of hours and get some good stretches in. Gives your eyes a break and your body a good stretch can really do wonders.
Bush Mackel
thank you for those great tips. I might not be the runner up front, but I can certainly get back into my walking. Especially since I live on the beach, well, second row to be exact there are no excuses but my slackness when it comes to doing exercise.
I’ve done a wee bit of stretching as of late and it does seem to do wonders for me. Also walking away from the computer every now and then is great.
It’s great to see you here
Monika