The number one question people ask me is, “How do you do it?”
For those that have no idea what I’m talking about, I manage a full time career in Real Estate aside from this blog. Between the blog, and Real Estate, I work anywhere between 55-65 hours a week, on average. I know…I know… it sounds crazy. And somehow, on top of that, I manage to have a pretty great social life – so I’m not complaining.
So how do I do it?
HOW I BALANCE WORK AND LIFE + MY BLOG
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Try
First off, let me say: you can do anything you put your mind to. You just have to try.
Most of us have no idea what we are capable of, because we’ve never just stepped out on a limb and tried. That’s something the blog teaches me daily – to just try. I knew absolutely nothing about code or editing when I started this blog. And, although I’m not the best coder or editor, even now, I know a pretty good amount to get me by.
Same goes for Real Estate. I knew so little about it when I started but I was fully committed to learning, and was blessed to be taught by some of the absolute best agents in town. Now, I have other agents tell me that they learn from me through the closing process! You never know what you are capable of until you just try.
Know Your Strengths
There was a point when I thought I had to do everything on my own, to keep my brand and blog authentic. But you know what…there are some people that are WAY better at SEO than I am, and can slay an article for me in 30 minutes that would take me half a day to figure out. #aintnobodygottimeforthat I have also hired someone to manage my Pinterest account, so that my content gets out there, without much effort (in that arena) on my behalf. Don’t worry, I will ALWAYS be the one to manage my Instagram and blog posts, but when it comes to promotion on sites that don’t require ME to engage with my audience, I’d rather leave it to the experts.
It’s ok to hire out, and in fact, I think you should hire out, in order to continue toward the path of success. If you are bogged down at work doing menial tasks – hire an assistant. It might be scary to employ a team under you, but more often than not, it’s going to take you to the next level, by freeing up more of your time to do what you do best.
Wake Up Early
I read on HuffPost that 90% of executives wake up before 6am, and 50% of self made millionaires wake up 3 hours before their work day begins. I think about this every time I get out of bed at 6am. I accomplish more for myself and this blog in the hours of 6-7:30am, than most people do in the first 3 hours of their day. Getting up early allows me the space I need to get blog tasks out of the way, so that I have the mental capacity to focus on Real Estate the rest of the day. Besides, I feel like I am more fresh in the morning than I am in the evening, and get my best/most creative work done at that time.
Hard Work
It’s not easy, but I do it. I do it because I love it. I often go weeks before I actually have a “day off”, because my weekends are usually spent either showing houses or doing photo shoots, editing, and writing blog posts. (Shout out to my husband, because he is putting in those hours with me. And yes, photo shoots are work!) There are days when I’m so completely burnt out that I go to bed at 8:30pm, and others when it invigorates me so much that I’m ready to take on the next thing. At the end of the day, I just listen to my body and what it’s telling me. (Sometimes, a dose of self-care is essential. See this post.)
And, as far as balancing my social life – you just make the time for the things that are important to you. My friends are at the top of that list.
I hope you enjoyed this post! If you have any questions or tips for how you balance all the things in your life, I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
By the way, I was featured on the Living Local show this week. For those that might have missed the segment, I touch on this topic a bit more there.
Love this post! It's so inspiring to hear how you balance both, I definitely going to work on waking up early!Anika | anikamay.co.uk
I think at the end of the day we will always make the time for what we want to do. The blog is such a great place to learn, grow, and try. You can be your own boss, do project you want to do and take time off when you need to. Also, seriously in love with that dress!https://www.iamchiconthecheap.com/