Can you take blogging seriously & work full time?

Let me set the scene:

After a long days work of creativity, meetings, brain storming, implementing and executing it’s only a natural feeling to want to spend your evenings sipping chilled wine vegetating in front of the TV, all before we start all over again – right? (At least, if you’re an alcoholic coach potato who takes inspiration from Homer Simpson.)

It’s this strange desire to create, contribute, engage and dream big that keeps many, if not all bloggers going. After recently starting a new job I started to question whether or not I, or any other blogger for that matter could REALLY take blogging seriously AND work full time…

I soon began indulging in bloggers debates on the topic, what their own personal views are and their end goal. One thing was clear, working full time or not taking blogging to the next level of self-employment is no easy task. Truth is, after seeing family and friends go self-employed in different walks of life it has revealed the real-life struggles such as paying the bills, making ends meet and keeping the motivation up to power on through when you hit a brick wall. I talk about self-employment because blogs are usually created through a passion, and wouldn’t indulging in your passion full time be an ideal situation for most?

Blogging is no doubt an art. It’s much more than taking pretty photos, prancing around in your latest eBay bargain and writing some waffle to amuse your audience. No – it’s much more. It’s a constant battle to get your work seen and your opinions heard. It’s photography, editorial, creativity, design, promotion, networking, SEO, analyzing, monetizing, constant brainstorming; oh – and sheer damn determination and self-control to produce all this after a long day.

Truth is, a blog is an ever evolving, constantly changing, and morphing creature. A diary of your likes, dislikes, thoughts and ideas, it’s a piece of you that you’re tirelessly trying to share with the rest of the world, hoping your write up will be of use to someone out there.

So, can you work full time and take blogger seriously? I say yes, but you’ve got to have a focus and an ambition for your blog. If you have no focus, when you finally get too busy with life it can take a back seat, and sometimes it needs to, just like you need a holiday from work. If you’re a blogger fighting the good fight to find some motivation, or even if you’re thinking of starting a blog, you can do it even if you work full time. Make sure you’re clear what you want your blog to be, merely an indulgence into your passion, to learn more and meet like-minded people, to create a sort of time-capsule of your ideas that you can one day look back on, to add to your CV and show off your initiative, to watch your traffic and engagement grow, and finally, to take it to the next step and make some money. Truth is, a blog consists of all the above, a passion, some love, and some damn hard work.

Now it’s time to take my own advice and buckle down to working on my blog! Happy blogging.