If you’ve been following me for some time now, you know that I wear multiple hats—mom, career woman, blogger, etc. I often have people ask me how I have time to manage so many different roles in my life and why I took on blogging. You’ve probably heard it a million times, “love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life.” While I do agree with that, I think passion and ambition are so much more important in this case.
I started Aly & Co. as a hobby and it’s truly become a passion of mine—sharing a glimpse into my life, documenting my family’s adventures, etc. it’s a blast! On the flip side, it’s also a lot of work. Growing a blog, engaging with your audience, curating content, taking/editing photos, managing relationships with brands, paid partnerships, etc. It takes a lot of time and I often have to limit how much I can do at one time.
Like many other moms, I’m on that “naptime hustle” and since I actually work during the day, I have more of a “bedtime hustle” going on. I work Monday through Friday and get home around 5 p.m., which is when I spend family time with the girls, we do dinner, bath, the usual weekday routine. The girls fall asleep around 9 p.m. and that’s when I pull the laptop out and get to work on the blog. I answer e-mails and send out pitches, edit photos and manage all the tasks I mentioned above (I broke it down for you a bit better below).
Monday through Thursday from 9-10ish is when I am able to get caught up with all things related to the blog. Having a set time to work on the blog makes everything seem much more manageable. I don’t have to worry about taking time away from the girls and we’re able to enjoy our time together on the weekends.
This chapter in my life is so fun and exciting and I’m enjoying the journey. The girls and I have been able to try new things, go new places and I look forward to sharing more along the way.If you like seeing content like this, shoot me an e-mail at alyandco.blog@gmail.com!
I just started my blog and am amazed at how much work it already is! The fact that you work full time too is incredible!
Thank you for this! I already have two full time jobs – my actual job and being a mom – and I have found that building my blog is absolutely another full time job. It’s hard work and there are so many facets that it’s easy to go down a rabbit hole and spend entirely too much time in one area!
These are great tips. It can be a struggle keeping it all together with little ones. It’s all about time-management for me.
I totally get the nap and bedtime hustle! With my twins getting more mobile it’s harder to work while they’re awake. I love the image you created to help new bloggers!
Love the advice…trying so hard to build my blog
I wish I could figure out the sleep thing. I”ve determined mine is just a night owl. He wants to hang with us until we”re falling asleep at 10. No matter his age, outside of that first six months, it takes an hour to get him to totally wind down and sometimes even more. And we don”t start bedtime routine until 8pm so, that is rough. We”re outside in the evenings, too. Maybe if we weren”t both working and I was with him all day I”d be able to send him to bed at 7pm like some parents I see, but getting home and trying to do a 7pm bedtime sounds insane. Worked as a baby/1 year old, but not now.
This is great, I have a similar routine, but it is from 9-11pm. Otherwise nothing would get done lol. Rose @ Our House of Love
You manage to get all your blogging duties done in just one hour per weekday evening! That’s very impressive! You must be very efficient
It is an amazing amount of work to run a blog! I never realized until I started! Naptime and bedtime are when I try and get work done, although since I’m also pregnant and moving, I haven’t been able to dedicate as much time as I want…
I am a SAHM with three littles and I also work full time from home outside of my blog. When I first started my blog I definitely underestimated everything it entails. I have a to pull nap time, bed time, and quiet time hustles throughout my day or I would never get anything done. 😩 Thank you so much for sharing!