My first 15 days as a Problogger
You may remember that I wrote about quitting my day job to become a professional blogger and Internet consultant and I would like to take the opportunity to write about the first 15 days of December which have been my first two weeks without a "backup" job.
I have to say that things have changed in my daily work routine since I quit my day job. When I had the job I had to squeeze the blog posts in whenever I found the time which was normally early in the morning before I went to the job or late in the evening after coming home from the job.
This is a thing of the past and I have more time at hand and do not feel the pressure to rush a post because of having to catch a bus to make it in time to work. What I did not do - I'm considering it though - is to define a time period for blogging and use the rest of the time without thinking about the blog or working.
Treat it like a normal job. I have my reasons for not doing that. First, news don't care about my work schedule. I would miss some great stories and had to write them the next day when they were considered old by many. Second, being self employed means that I rely on my blog earnings. I have to check if everything is up and running from time to time, check and react to emails in time, look for advertising opportunities and do a dozen different things that can't be squeezed in an eight hour workday.
The real benefit that I see is that I do not feel that much stress anymore. That's the most important aspect for me. I know how Everton was struggling to post articles to his blog while he was terrible busy in his normal job.
To sum it up: My stress level has been reduced. I have more time to post and for other activities throughout the day. Most importantly there is not that stinging thought in the back of my head reminding me that I have to go to work after working on my blog for several hours.
Best of all, this is my dream job. I never thought that there would be the right job for me - except maybe game tester, hehe - but this one proved me wrong.
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“Cypher no I’m not married – yet – and having a woman in house all the time can be a great distraction, it would surely hurt my business”
Lol! Good luck man!
Cypher no I’m not married – yet – and having a woman in house all the time can be a great distraction, it would surely hurt my business :P
Everton I don’t like Internet Cafes that much and prefer to work at home. I make sure that I meet friends more often in the evenings because I have more time then than before.
And, as I said earlier, I will learn another language and probably do some other stuff as well ;)
Hopefully one day soon I will be able to quit my day job as well. I just like the idea of having a more flexible day to do the things that I want to do, and to do my ‘work’ when it suits me.
The working alone bit does worry me as well, as it can be boring sitting at home in front of a PC day after day alone. Have you considered going to an internet cafe a few days a week?
You are not married yet? I thought you have married. Hahaha. Collect some money and marry someone. So you are not alone at home. :D
But anyway, good luck!
Nice to hear you have less stress nowadays, it’s great to have a dream job.
Thumbs up Martin ;)
Hi Martin,
I won’t tell anyone you had a part time job only (oops!). :-)
I also have a blog but choosed the rong subject and now I don’t know were to write about anymore haha :p. I think I will sell the domainname somewhere next year. But I am happy that its going well with your site, you always have good tips.
Congratulations martin!
Andrew I’m planning to learn a new language and will take courses starting next year. I have to find a counterweight to sitting most of the time at home (alone).
Perhaps you should pick up a new hobby now that blogging has become your job – use the hobby as the focus when outside of blogwork hours.
Glad it’s working out for you!
You’re making a compelling argument for not compartmentalizing the blogging activity and your regular life.
Just make sure you won’t end up without a regular life… (Though it sounds like that’s less of a risk now than it was before, with the two jobs in parallel.)
I have been running English websites since 1999 and it was only a logical consequence to create an English blog. And it was the right decision, Germany is still in the middle ages when it comes to blogging, and professional blogging.
Now you just have to make sure your little venture keeps growing :-)
May I ask you something: from the beginning you were blogging in English instead of your native language, was that just conincedence or the first planned prerequisite to your pro-blogging plans?
Good luck in the blogging field. Honestly even through I discovered your blog recently I have to say that reading it is a pleasure and I am able to learn many things out of your blog. I guess being a pro blogger is dream job for me as well -but so far I am blogging on mine more or less for pleasure and as a hobby – for the time being I am satisfied enough with the return – which is more of psychological satisfaction and friendship .