Parenthood changes a lot of things, especially your career.

Your child becomes the focus of your life. That’s the way it should be, but it can be hard to keep your freelance business running while looking after your child’s daily (and hourly) needs.

Your work hours shrink from double digits to singles. You’re exhausted all the time, but you’re not earning any extra. Less, in fact — much less.

This is the same dilemma I faced when my daughter was born. She’s adorable and I love her to bits, but in between tantrums, feedings, chores, and the constant fear that she’d hurt herself right that very second if I didn’t pay attention, there wasn’t much time left for anything else.

I started falling behind with work, and my balance sheets were suffering. If something didn’t change, I was going to have to start choosing which bills to pay and which to leave “for later”.

Once my initial panic settled (it took a while for that to happen, to be honest), I took stock of my situation and realized I had to make some serious changes to the business. Here’s how I made parenting work for me as a freelance blogger.

[Read more…]

Being a freelance blogger sometimes feels a bit like riding a rollercoaster.

First, you’re too busy to breathe, then you’re sitting there with not much to do. You kick it into gear to find more work and the cycle starts all over again.

It’s the old feast-or-famine syndrome and can quickly wear you out, not to mention add a lot of stress to your probably already stress-filled life.

One way to avoid the rollercoaster is to get organized and plan ahead. I know, you’re busy–who has time to plan? But, a careful, well-thought-out plan can make the ride a bit more manageable. Here’s how to do it, fast.

[Read more…]

You know those moments when you feel too paralyzed to press the Send button, or where you think “I actually suck at this”?

That’s your fear breaking out, and it sucks. I know my many fears surface on occasion, but guess what?  Star Wars taught me how to beat them.

For thousands of years before the Star Wars trilogies, the Jedi fought the Sith, a terrifying force who built an empire relying solely on their powers from the Dark Side. Because of their dangerous legend, Yoda is careful to warn young Anakin Skywalker (later known as Darth Vader) in Episode I that the origin of the Dark Side is fear.

Just as the Jedi had to deal with the Sith for thousands of years, freelance bloggers have to deal with their own Dark Sides on a daily basis (which, on a bad day, can feel like a thousand years).

We always have some sort of mental or physical fear we need to overcome. Let’s look at the top three fears that most freelance bloggers have, and how to battle them with the dedication of a Jedi. 

[Read more…]

We’ve all been there: You’ve had a long, rough day at work or taking care of the kids, then you cook dinner, clean, and spend some time with the family…

…and after all that, the last thing you want to do before calling it a day is write.

It’s not just “writer’s block”; this is something else entirely. Something more sinister.

This is burnout.

If you’ve ever written yourself into the ground to meet a deadline, then you know what blogging burnout feels like.

Yet there’s no getting around it – we’re all writers, in some way or fashion, and so it’s crucial that we learn to combat this productivity killer as soon as – or before – it sets in.

Here are 7 great tips for defeating blogger burnout before it has a chance to grab hold and kill your productivity:

[Read more…]