By: Sara Urquhart. Photo by: Justin Hackworth.
When you work in a flexible industry like ours, putting in the
hours you need to can be challenging unless you set up a structure to support
great work habits, especially you’re balancing other responsibilities like
parenthood or a full-time job. Consider these tips for creating a consistent
schedule.
Decide when you’ll work. Sounds simple, but
without making this decision, your day will fill with other obligations. You
may have to work on your social media career in the wee hours of the morning
before the rest of the world wakes up, or late at night after little ones are
in bed. It may require getting childcare midday during the week, or
establishing expectations with your spouse about who is responsible for what
and when. Likely it will be a mix of strategies that will keep your schedule
open for work.
Create—and use—an editorial calendar. Again,
deciding is the first step. Decide on content, styling and photos, writing, and
collaborations ahead of time. Taking the time to plan means you aren’t
scrambling at the last minute, or missing posts because they aren’t ready.
Include time spent working on your
business, and not just in your
business. Schedule time for blog innovation and experimentation—things like
investigating new platforms and emerging technology.
Consider batch creation. If a few hours here and
there doesn’t suit you, it might work best for you to set aside an entire day,
or even a few days, to pump out multiple blog posts, tutorials and styled
shoots. Continue to plan and generate ideas between these power days without
worrying that you’re falling behind in executing them.
