I never thought I would ever be writing this post. When I was younger (and the internet was pretty new), I used to see all of these blogs on Blogspot and Blogger. I remember starting an account on LiveJournal (does anyone remember that?!) where I would talk about my daily life because we all know the life of a 12 year old is exciting. Fast forward to a year ago, I remembered how much I loved blogging when I would see Minimalist Baker’s recipes and blog posts. Now I’m blogging full time and I feel so grateful! I wanted to talk about the pros and cons of being a full time blogger but I wanted to note that I absolutely love doing this and my life. However, just like any job, there will always be something you don’t like!
Pro: Working From Home
There’s nothing more that really needs to be said for this. Being able to work from home is absolutely amazing for someone like me. I’m a major homebody and quite the introvert. Working from home has decreased my anxiety and stress so much. I don’t think I have ever been this happy with what I do for work. It’s nice to be in the comfort of your home, being able to work in my office, bed, couch, porch, you name it! Not having to drive 30 minutes to a job and being stuck in an office for 8 hours is truly a blessing and I will always be grateful.
Con: It gets pretty lonely
While it’s amazing to work from home, it can get incredibly lonely. I spend most of the day by myself getting work done for the blog, IG or just tidying up the house. I find myself talking to Ophie a lot! Since the majority of my friends/family work 9-5 jobs, I can’t even go out to see them during the week, which can be a bummer for sure. I do go on walks often and I think that helps a lot. Eventually I think I’d like to join a club or weekly fitness classes to meet new people!
Pro: Set Your Own Hours
I think its so useless to force people to work 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week. When I had office jobs, I can confidently say I probably worked 4/8 hours and spent the rest of the time just coming up with stuff to stay busy or just didn’t have the concentration to do anything else. I think it’s completely unnecessary to work 40 hours a week, and that’s an absolute pro about being a full time blogger.
I usually start working about 9am, take a break around 12pm, and then I’ll probably get back into some writing around 3-4pm! Sometimes I’ll work at night when I have a deadline. Being able to take long breaks in between my work helps me stay focused and productive with what I do.
Con: No One Will Cover You
Going along with setting your own hours, if you decided to take a day off no one will cover for you. Basically if you don’t work, the work won’t get done! This can be a major con if you’re a very busy person and just don’t have the time to get everything done. If you’re sick with the flu for a few days, no one will be there to cover and keep your work going.
Pro: No Supervisors/Managers
Being your own boss is honestly pretty darn cool. For one, no one can fire you. I have worked a few office jobs where there have been some micromanaging supervisors. I just absolutely hate people like that. The idea of managers and supervisors are just silly to me in some situations. No, I don’t need someone to stand over me at my cubicle while I do data entry work, thanks. To add on to this, office politics are the absolute WORST.
For those who don’t know, office politics can be both good/bad. I think they’re all dumb. An example of bad office politics is a coworker constantly emailing you when you make a mistake and CC’ing your boss in every email. Another is passive aggressive emails about dirty dishes in the kitchen. Just completely unnecessary things that don’t add anything to your work.
Con: Unsteady Pay
This is something that can deter anyone from leaving their comfortable job where they get a weekly or biweekly paycheck. Some months, I do really well. Others, not so much. It can be unnerving. I will definitely say that this is the most driven I have been to be successful in my entire life. Having unsteady pay has also taught me how to be more frugal, and that money isn’t everything. So even though this is definitely a con, there are some pros about it that I love.
Pro: Freedom of Creativity
My previous job I worked at, I would spend the entire day counting cash from the department’s registers and filling out deposit slips to send to the bank. It was monotonous and boring. It was that job that made me realize I was wasting the best time of my life counting money for someone else. Being able to create my own content and be proud of my work makes all of the cons worth it for me. Just being able to write this blog post, create graphics, and show it to the internet make it worthwhile.
Con: Lack of Motivation
This is particularly difficult for me sometimes. I’m the kind of person who is always thinking ahead. I’ll be doing a task and be thinking of the next task I need to do. This causes me to feel overwhelmed so I end up just hiding under a blanket from my responsibilities. I’m also easily affected by the weather! In the Winter, I just want to cuddle in a blanket all day. In the Spring/Summer, I just want to be outside enjoying the sun. In the Fall, I basically want to live in the dead leaves that fall.
I do take some steps to stay motivated which I find really useful! Check out my post about staying motivated!
Whether you are thinking about blogging as a full time job, or just needed to motivation to pursue your dreams, I hope this helped! I know how scary it can be, but I promise it’s worth it.
Like this post? Check out my post on starting a blog!
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