As beginning bloggers and small biz owners, we hear about a lot of things we can and can’t do. What we need to do to be successful. What we should avoid. How many blog posts we have to write per week. How often we need to post on social media. I could go on and on…but I won’t.
I know I’ve read many times that you have to hustle those first two years. And I mean really hustle. Every. Single. Day.
And that’s what I’ve been doing. I haven’t spent enough time with my amazing husband, I avoid plans with friends, and I rarely venture away from my computer desk. Because I’m serious, I want to succeed, and I need to hustle.
But the 9-5 has been cuh-razy for the last couple of weeks and it will continue until the end of October. Crazy as in 12+ hour days, weekend hours, no lunch breaks, etc. Pretty exhausting.
And even though I didn’t want to, I had to put all my plans for my business and blog on hold for a couple days while I focused on the 9-5 without becoming overly exhausted.
I didn’t write any blog posts. I didn’t work on any products or courses. I didn’t do any client work. I didn’t send a newsletter. I didn’t work on getting my name out there.
And you know what?
Nothing exploded.
I’m not headed for failure. My blog traffic has coincidentally gone UP, in fact, and I’ve even made a couple new online friends that I wouldn’t have met otherwise.
And after my little break, I’m even more excited to get back to work. It was actually refreshing!
All that being said, I still had some stuff going on, even though I wasn’t manually doing anything.
- I was a blog post ahead of schedule, so that post published on Day 1 of my inactivity
- I had my source boards for BoardBooster filled up so I was still pinning 100 times per day, without actually pinning anything manually
- My Buffer had some posts in it, so I was still sharing content every few hours on Twitter
- I was ahead of schedule with my clients so I was okay with taking a small break
My lesson? You can take time off, but it’s best to have systems in place that make everything run as if you were there. (Highlight to tweet that!)
So here are my tips to keep everything moving while you’re away so you can relax, recharge, and do what you need to do.
Stay Ahead With Blog Posts
In an ideal world, I’d say that we should be at least two weeks ahead with blog posts at all times. I know there are bloggers out there who take a weekend where they buckle down and write all their posts for the entire month.
Being ahead and having blog posts scheduled will keep your traffic normal if you have to be away – expectedly or unexpectedly.
Schedule Social Media
I am completely in love with Buffer and BoardBooster.
A couple times each week I go through my Bloglovin’ feed to fill up my Buffer and add pins to my source boards for BoardBooster.
I have Buffer set to post 4 times per day and BoardBooster is set up to pin or loop 100 pins per day. (If you want to learn all about BoardBooster, I very highly recommend Pinfinite Growth. You can see my results here.)
Give Yourself Some Breathing Room With Clients
I schedule anywhere from 1-4 weeks with my clients, depending on the project. And sometimes, depending on the client, we just go with the flow!
I was ahead of schedule with one client and having technical issues accessing the site of another so I was able to take 2 days off without any issues.
In the future, I’ll be sure to schedule a little extra time on purpose, just in case something like this happens again.
Pop In And Say “Hi”!
Even though I had some posts scheduled on Buffer, let’s be real, Twitter is great for procrastinating. Needless to say, I popped in a few times to respond to tweets and make some real interactions.
I even took part in the #fireworkpeople chat which was completely amazing and I met some great ladies!
p.s. If you want to get work done really slowly and make a lot of errors, I highly recommend participating in Twitter chats while you work 🙂
Enjoy Your Time Away!
All that being said, whether or not you have systems in place, enjoy your time away, relax, and recharge.
Remember that hustling doesn’t mean you can’t take time for yourself. (Highlight to Tweet that!)
Even if you didn’t have any content set to automatically go out, worrying about it wouldn’t get you very far so you’re better off to just take the time for yourself! I’m guessing everyone will still be there when you get back, even if your traffic temporarily drops.
We all need a break here and there, so don’t get into the trap of feeling overworked and burned out.
This side-hustle stuff is supposed to be fun!
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