I wanted to write this post for a number of reasons. Mainly I wanted to put this together because I get asked quite often - which is my polite way of saying all the bloody time - what I actually do all day. Whether it's fellow bloggers who are interested in what an average day looks like in the life of (newbie) full time blogger, or whether it's friends or family wondering why I sit at home all day or trot off to town, constantly receiving parcels and packages and wondering how the hell do I live without getting up and heading to "a job". This post will hopefully shed some light, break some myths, and more than anything... prove to myself that "actually girl, I know your to-do list is as long as your arm which makes you feel like you're the least productive person in the world, but you actually do a lot"
I will refrain from talking to myself throughout the rest of this post...
... you're welcome ;)
Next to note - oh jesus christ, enough disclaimers just get on with the darn post - is that there really isn't just an average day in a blogger's life as some days I'm up at 6am, at events/meetings all day, home really late (well, really late is 11pm for me #GrannyBlogger) and then I'll carry on working into the early hours. Other days I'm up at 6am, working from home all day and literally not moving from the same spot - bar kitchen/bathroom breaks - again working until stupidly late. Either way, what I'm trying to portray is that despite some completely ignorant knob head comments over social media that full time bloggers are girls that sponge off of their parents/partners etc. a lot of us do actually work our arses off and make a living in the process. Especially those of us new to full time blogging, because things don't just come easy, you really do have to work for it.
Oh, lastly - *cue everyone reading this' head drop to the keyboard in exasperation* - I have a little surprise announcement at the end which may or may not have something to do with Youtube. On to the post.
06:30: I wake up at 6:30am (completely pissing off annoying the other half in the process - because I love to be awake early so I can be productive and get shit done! Whilst drinking my tea and lemon water - which I've drunk every day for years because this totally cleanses the thrice weekly Indian takeaways away, right? - I go through Twitter/Instagram/social media.. replying to messages, scheduling tweets/links to blog posts and generally catching up on the world. I then reply to emails which are quite easily the bane of my life. Shortly followed by publishing a blog post and replying to the the lovely comments on my previous blog posts. FYI, if you comment on my blog, you really do make my day, just thought you should know that :)
07:00: Time for a bath/shower/whatever I have time for that day, and then to make myself look more human, i.e slap on all of the concealer in the world. Alongside many other products, as seen below.
07:45: Cleaned and Casper face-free, it's time to chose my clothes which the control freak in me usually mentally picks out the night before. Otherwise, girlfriend gonna be going through those rails for hours... 08:00: 8am and it's back to work to reply to some more emails - the ones that I don't get finished over my porridge, usually - schedule some more tweets, check my affiliate link accounts, chase up sponsored post payment, and generally just a lot of blog admin which after emails, is the other bane of my life. (blogging really isn't all fun and glamour is it?)
09:00: Time to take some blog photo's, today the photo's were for the outfit that I was wearing so alongside my Mum/boyfriend/whoever is willing to step in and a tripod... I trot off to a pre-thought out location and get snapping.
09:30: Once the photo's are done - [insert hallelujah emoji here] - I drop off my camera and head to my local Starbucks with my parents (who do actually work FYI, just at all different times of day) to procaffeinate*/steal Starbucks' wifi to upload my blog photo's. That's not because I'm a tight arse by the way - although my umpteen Primark bags might suggest otherwise - it's because I live in an area that has the lowest wifi speed in London. True story! #BloggerProblems.
*For the actual meaning of Procaffeinate, head over here to see it used in "proper" context ;)
10:30: After walking back home through the delights of South East London, I grab my stuff together, drop off my laptop and head out for any meetings/press days that I have.
11:30: I arrive at Baker Street and head to House of Fraser's ridiculously lovely office to check out their AW15 press day which was just... there are no words. Well, obviously that's a lie as I wouldn't be talking now ;) but I really was gobsmacked by how stunning some of the items were. *Spoiler: if you skip to the end of the post, you may see some video evidence of said stunning-ness*
13:00: Lunch time. I am literally the least fussy person when it comes to food, as long as it's gluten free - I have coeliac disease by the way, ain't nobody got time for faddy "I'm wheat intolerant but the pizza was worth it" types of people - and today I ended up in Itsu.
13:30: Lunch over - sad times, just because it's always sad times when you get to the end of your lunch - I then had to sprint down Oxford Street to make it in time for my meeting with American Eagle. Luckily, I made it in time, with sweat, messed up hair and just general bedraggled-ness in tow. Sexy...
14:00: Meeting time with American Eagle and a good look around their showroom. The meeting, again, was so lovely and I'm really excited to be working with such an amazing brand :) I actually have a post coming up very soon featuring their gorgeous denim - I mean, can we just take a moment to appreciate those rails of dreams? - which I'm very excited to post!
14:45: Time for the inner granny in me to rejoice, it's home time. ;) As much as I absolutely love press days and meeting brands, I do equally love getting home, putting my hair up, getting the comfies on - #BraOff - and settling down for an evening of work.
15:30 - 18:00: Back home and ready for said evening of work. This is when I crumble into a pit of self pity when I come home to all the emails in the world. I'll spend the next few hours replying to emails from PR's/companies regarding samples (which I actually turn down the majority of because they're not a great fit for my blog or I don't have the time to write about them all anymore)/sponsored posts/collaborations etc. I'll continue to write some posts, edit photographs, brainstorm some blog post ideas... and for this day specifically? Upload some video footage to my trusty old Mac to be edited. [insert shit a brick emoji here]
18:00: Dinner time. Tonight we went for Courgetti Carbonara i.e all the healthy intentions covered in a load of cheese, cream and bacon ;) It was ridiculously delicious though, I am practically Nigella Lawson these days. Minus the coke... 18:30: After dinner I unleash the granny in me again and practically delight in taking off my make up, running a lush bath and getting ready for bed. #22GoingOn82
19:00 - 22:30: This is one of my favourite times of day, I love getting tucked up into bed and carrying on working late with a glass of wine (I don't drink every night by the way... promise) and joining in with the Twitter chats - hence why my tweets are probably incomprehensible 99% of the time - In between chatting to so many other amazing bloggers, I'll write my to do list for the next day, start editing a video/post, schedule some post links for the next day and generally plan what content needs to be going up, and when. Sponsored content, whilst obviously great because a girl's gotta pay the bills somehow, takes me a while to brainstorm, plan, create etc. so I always try to roughly schedule every day. Yes, you can say it, I'm a neurotic psychopath ;)
22:30: Working for yourself means it can be incredibly hard to switch off, but I try to "finish work" by 22:30 latest. To chill out and get ready for bed, I'll watch an episode of a series I'm currently watching or read a book. Unfortunately due to the devil that is Insomnia, I don't usually drop off to sleep for a few hours but, what's a girl to do...
So that is, briefly - well, as brief as I could make it - what a typical day in my full time blogging life is like. I just wanted to take a moment to say that despite occasionally mentioning working all the hours in the world/never getting a day off, I do feel incredibly lucky to be in a position where I have been able to take my blog full time and make a living out of it. Yes, I am not by any means a "big blogger" releasing a novel with millions of followers, but with hard work - and a little freelance work occasionally on the side - I can make a comfortable living out of it, and this genuinely blows my mind on a daily basis. Blogging started off 2 and a half years ago as an amazing hobby and quickly turned into a passion that I couldn't get out of mind. I could never do this job without the support of you amazing people that read my blog - Mum, that's you I'm talking about here ;) - and I am eternally grateful to each and every one of you.
Soppy stuff over, it's time for a ridiculously exciting/shit a brick announcement. Whilst writing and photography will always be my passion, I've recently missed filming/producing/editing - I was a TV Producer before going full time with my blog - so I thought, f**k sod it, after being an avid YouTube watcher for at least 6/7 years, I decided to finally strap a pair of balls on and make a video. It's not amazing, it's not ground breaking, but it's my first video and it took a hell of a lot for me - i.e all the dutch courage [insert wine emoji here] - to actually publish it, so it would absolutely make my day... year... life... if you could check it out and *maybe* subscribe if you like it....
... or if you'll take pity on me anyway because I've only got two subscribers i.e my Mum and my Nan ;)
Before this turns into the longest post in existence, I'll wrap it up here. I really hope you enjoyed this post and got a bit more of an insight into the world of full time blogging. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments below as I always reply to every one I get :)
Thank you so much for reading. I really hope you enjoyed this post (and video [insert monkey cover eyes emoji here])
