HOW TO FIND THE PERFECT BLOG-LIFE BALANCE

Behind every blog, there’s a team planning and organizing before every post goes live. Sometimes the team behind the blog is simply you, especially if it’s just a hobby. I run Behind Her Curls solo with The Modalista being my personal photographer (hey girl!). Blogging is just something I enjoy to do in my free time. If I am not blogging, I’m sitting at my work office reconciling accounts or in a class on campus. I wear all the hats for my blog: the planner, creative director, creative writer, editor, the photographer (to an extent), and digital marketer. Of course some days can get overwhelming when you have numerous campaign deadlines to meet, but in the end, it’s very rewarding.

Blogging for four years now, I have managed to balance my life and my blog. I know not to take on more than I can handle and have learned through trial and error. With my iPhone, a planner, and a notepad I stay pretty organized. I will write everything down, even that ice cream date Friday at 2:00 PM. Seriously, how else could I stay sane?

SO HOW DO I BALANCE MY WORK/SCHOOL SCHEDULE + MY BLOG?

Weekends become your best friend! The weekdays keep me very occupied. After 6 pm when I am getting home, it’s gym time + studying at night. I have no time to do any blogging. This is why I utilize my weekends to blog. My goal every week is to have two blog posts up on the blog and 6-9 Instagram posts a week. With a set schedule, I am still able to enjoy my weekends outside of blogging.

THESE ARE MY TIPS

FIND A LOCAL BLOGGER FRIEND:

When I first started blogging, my brother or boyfriend would take my pictures. That was until I met Jackie from The Modalista. We met through Instagram of course and went on a coffee date. We had both just started blogging so we already had something in common and soon became really close. Now we take each others pictures and coordinate with dates or as we call them “shooting days.” A good way of finding local bloggers is through Instagram’s hashtags, in my case #DCbloggers – this is a nice way to get in contact and collaborate with a local bloggers that could potentially become long-term friendships.

Not everyone is going to understand you and that’s okay. I still have friends who don’t understand why I spend my weekends “doing blog stuff” but it’s a hobby I enjoy. I have turned down brunch invites and hanging out with my girlfriends just so I could do what I love. Like I said before, it is very rewarding. To have worked with brands who continue to come back wanting to work with me makes me feel so good knowing I am creating amazing content. So having a blogger friend who understands your lifestyle is always nice.

SCHEDULE YOUR SHOOTS:

OOTD SHOOTS — As a blogger, we know lighting is everything. We want the best pictures to create beautiful content. This means planning your shoots early while the sun it out. I like shooting Saturday mornings and try to get two outfits in one day. Because Jackie and I both shoot for each other we keep it at two outfits each. But if there’s a day she’s not in the mood, I throw in one more shoot to have more content in for the weeks to come. We start shooting around 10 am and by 1 pm we are done. Each shoot takes about 15 minutes max, we like to time them and have music playing in the background. After we grab lunch or head to a coffee shop.

FLATLAYS — You’ve probably seen my flatlays like this + this on Instagram. I love having a variety of images on my Instagram so will occasionally have a flatlay. I like to do multiple flatlays at a time. When a brand sends me beauty products, jewelry, or curly products this is a way I like to showcase them. After I get home from shooting, I take my flatlays OR do them first thing Sunday morning. I take about half an hour and create as many as I can in that time. Please let me know if you’d like a post on how I create my flatlays in the comments below.

CURLY HAIR SHOOTS — When it comes to my curly hair shoots, I do them myself. Here are a few posts of me shooting the content for myself: Q-Redew + Ouidad. I will admit they take a little longer since I have to set everything up myself. I typically do these Sunday mornings WHEN I have curly content for the blog. It does not happen often, maybe once a month where I’ll shoot three posts and that will be enough for that month.

PLAN YOUR INSTAGRAM FEED + NEXT WEEKEND’S CONTENT

I’m all about having a cohesive feed. To get that, I plan out my feed. Sunday nights— while in bed– this is exactly what I am doing. I even edit all my pictures (that will go on Instagram) all that night & plan them on the UNUM app. This way, throughout the week all I have to worry about is posting my pictures.

I also like to have an idea what I will be shooting the following weekend, which outfits, etc. Again, Sunday nights while in bed I just brainstorm.

SCHEDULE A DAY TO PROMOTE ON SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

So aside from planning my Instagram feed, I post on other platforms like Pinterest + Facebook. If you don’t know this already, Pinterest will drive traffic to your blog so use it! On Friday nights, when I am home watching This Is Us or just have the TV in the background, I take about an hour to post on Pinterest. I post all my blog post from that week up and let the re-pinning begin.

Ultimately, it’s having that balance. The ones who support you will understand and even be willing to shoot for you or help in anyway. I am beyond grateful that my hobby did turn into my own brand and soon enough I will have a TEAM behind Beyond Her Curls. For now, I will continue wearing all the hats behind my blog and always remain positive because blogging isn’t always pretty.

Remember to follow your dreams, go on girl!