One of the things that attracted me to blogging as a way to earn an income was the flexibility that it gave me and the opportunity it gives me to work from home and be involved in the lives of my young family. While my wife is the primary care giver and I’m full time as a blogger I am pretty hands on where I can be and there are days (like today) where I look after the boys.
Of course working at home – whether the work is blogging or something else – is not only a great opportunity but also a challenge. The line behind work and family can sometimes blur.
By no means have I worked it all out – but this video is a bit of an attempt to record a few of the lessons I’ve learned working at home and an invitation to others who work/blog from home to share what they’ve learned also.
See the full sized video at YouTube at Family/Blogging Balance.
PS: this video was recorded on a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 Digital Camera (love it).
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Hi Darren,
Great post. It seems I have the opposite problem. As a newbie, I have been spending a lot of time blogging and learning about blogging and it has caused my work/family life to get out of balance. I am working on getting the pendulum to swing back the other way.
I like the part about setting a schedule. I really need to do that. Even though blogging is fun, it too has a place in my life; it is not my whole life.
Thanks for all the great tips.
As a blogger in the start it’s not possible to balance all the things because most of the time you have to do blogging so as to extract more traffic on the blog. the more traffic on your blog will generate more money.
After having a great traffic you will start guest blogging so that your working hours can be cut down and that time you will get to spend with your family
Darren most of us have to learn and get a lot from what you have mentioned here.
Personally I find it very difficult working from house as there are a lot of distractions and people are people, they visit you all times if they knew you were home.
I had a separate room but what the use? it doubled up for my ‘visitor’s meeting room too.While this is just another dimension of the whole thing, I do commend you on taking care of your kids and working too at the same time.
Time for me to grasp some ‘crisp’ things from you, thanks
Getting the right Family balance through blog can be helpful for all members having relatively greater system and networking.
hello
I have a few questions for you, I like the fact that u said that your family comes first as does mine. I have a 6 month old son as well and my wife works in a pain management office and I’m new to blogging and the hole making money from home/online I’ve never done this want advice could you give so someone just starting out i have alittle more time then just an hour a day but of cource my son does take up most of the day. Could u give me some advice or tell me what to be looking for.
I decided that I wanted to give you a poke and say great post. It’s great to see internet users that still use their time to put some quality contentout there, instead of beating the dead horse of spun content to populate their blog with crap. I bookmarked this site and want to see the great work continue. Thank you.
Sorry, Darren, I watched the video just because of your son, he’s so cute. :)
Just wanted to take a minute and say great post. It’s great to see webmasters who still take the time to put some quality contenton the web, instead of beating the dead horse of spun content to populate their blog with crap. I bookmarked this site and will check back often. Have a good one.
hey there Dennis. You and I both have so much in common. I have a 4 month old (as of yesterday) and I first let me start by saying that I appload you for your efforts in the large, addictive and wonderful world of blogging.
The first thing to consider when blogging is finding your voice and the nature of your blog (whom does it serve, what is your point and position, etc).
I have found that when I discovered who I wanted to attract, and the message I had in store to share with my audience, it empowered me to connect online with “like-minded” individuals. There are a few “daddy based bloggers” that follow me at http://twitter.com/thecocktailcafe and http://twitter.com/ProMomBlogger
find an audience that you wish speak to and serve (educate, empower, entertain, etc) and you can’t go wrong.
enjoy
i work from home and watch my kids; my kids are very young (toddler & infant) and i find my iphone to be invaluable, allowing me to check emails and do a few other minor timesaving web tasks while watching my toddler. No matter where he is in the house, if he’s entertaining himself for a few minutes I can at least do a little something.
Hi Darren,
Great video…so real and truthful. It is definitely a juggling act for me as well but I would not trade it in for anything else. It truly is a gift to be able to work from home and be there for my kids as well. It’s nice to know I’m not alone.
Take Care.
Sorry, Darren, I watched the video just because of your son, he’s so cute ?
Hi guys,
I absolutely love working at home. Because I find that have time to enjoy life a whole lot more then I did when I was working a traditional job everyday. By the way your son is Adorable!!!
Kind regards,
Sam
X
“the door is closed”…erm no chance with my 6 yr old as he stormed in today whilst speaking to an overseas client on Skype. The next set of ‘Beast Quest’ books was way more important than the rules…
I do work from home as well and idea of being at home is pretty cool because you know that you can always be there for your family. But sometimes, when you’re at home you can easily be destructed by the family member. So, it’s important that even you’re working at home you should be working in a place where you can’t be disturbed or you can have quiet place to think.
I am usually very undisciplined , so to organize my time while blogging, I write down my six top priorities for the day.
I leave the notebook next to me, so I can take a look at it from time to time and stay on the right track.
I learned this method from some of the books I have been reading, and it has been introduced by Ivy Lee in the in the 19th century.
Ah, next time when we see nonsense popping up here, we know it’s the handiwork of the little creature behind you.
Darren most of us have to learn and get a lot from what you have mentioned here.
Personally I find it very difficult working from house as there are a lot of distractions and people are people, they visit you all times if they knew you were home.
I had a separate room but what the use? it doubled up for my ‘visitor’s meeting room too.While this is just another dimension of the whole thing, I do commend you on taking care of your kids and working too at the same time.
Time for me to grasp some ‘crisp’ things from you, thanks
This is a great question for many of us bloggers that do have the challenge of correctly making sure we are spending and utilizing our time with our family and as well with the business we either do at home or currently working to build at home. I find myself in the stage of still getting it up and going, and find it difficult for my wife to understand exactly where I am at. I personally feel I need to start communicating better and offer her a chance to see what I am doing and working for.
Over time I feel she will understand better that it is a hobby of mine, but, at the same time I need to stress that first it is a hobby and second it is for the money.
Darren most of us have to learn and get a lot from what you have mentioned here.
Personally I find it very difficult working from house as there are a lot of distractions and people are people, they visit you all times if they knew you were home.
I had a separate room but what the use? it doubled up for my ‘visitor’s meeting room too.While this is just another dimension of the whole thing, I do commend you on taking care of your kids and working too at the same time.
Time for me to grasp some ‘crisp’ things from you, thanks
I’ve always wanted to start a business blog. But was afraid that it would be too much of a time sucker and take away precious family time. But you’ve inspired me to at least give it a whirl. So I think I’ll look into creating and starting a blog this week.
i work from home and watch my kids; my kids are very young (toddler & infant) and i find my iphone to be invaluable, allowing me to check emails and do a few other minor timesaving web tasks while watching my toddler. No matter where he is in the house, if he’s entertaining himself for a few minutes I can at least do a little something.
Darren most of us have to learn and get a lot from what you have mentioned here.
Personally I find it very difficult working from house as there are a lot of distractions and people are people, they visit you all times if they knew you were home.
I had a separate room but what the use? it doubled up for my ‘visitor’s meeting room too.While this is just another dimension of the whole thing, I do commend you on taking care of your kids and working too at the same time.
Time for me to grasp some ‘crisp’ things from you, thanks
hi darren,
working at home can truly be challenging even without kids :-) I have an office at home and work as a private lesson teacher but i also run a website where i make income from. my point is that often my work at home is not takes as serious as work outside home although i often work longer, harder and more to start the business and/or keep it running.
so glad to see you can obviously do it, you are a great inspiration!
Key Performance Indicator really possesses those seven characteristics. KPI is such a helpful tool for any business to be a successful one. Thanks for posting the tips on getting blogging balance right. Such a great help.
Yeah man! You hit it on the head. The line is not only blurry – but often just plain non-existent. That’s the thing about running your own show. It’s yours! That means you care that much more about it and want to work on it during all waking hours. I think there is an ultimate irony here in that you work so hard to be your own boss so you don’t have to answer to anyone.. Sure – That feels good. But in the end are you working harder? It comes down to goal clarification and values in my mind. Be clear on both and then make it happen if you want.
Sometimes people think that working from home is the same as working part time, but many times its more hours that going to an office. It’s so easy to jump onto your computer after dinner or at 12am. You can easily work double the time than if you went to work somewhere.
That is a very good topic to be talking about. Blogging more or less has its ups and downs really. Its really great to be working at home and be able to provide for your family. But you would also consider the amount of time you need to have to be able to be productive in blogging. Juggling your time is really a key factor also before you enter this kind of field. Nevertheless, it really depends on how you will handle things and be able to work with your partner to make things work out.
I find it impossible to work with young children around. Even once you have put them down for a nap – as you are I am so exhausted I just want to rest while they nap! So for me – to pre-school or school they must go!
On a serious note. I have to write a ‘to-do-list’ each day. Otherwise nothing productive gets completed. I do it the night before or in the morning.
Happy Blogging
Nina
Key Performance Indicator really possesses those seven characteristics. KPI is such a helpful tool for any business to be a successful one. Thanks for posting the tips on getting blogging balance right. Such a great help.
Totally agree, we should treat our family as a very important part of our life.
that is the most honest vlog I ever saw. Amazing work Darren.
I don’t have my own family yet, but I do need to deal with my parrents all the time, as sometimes they don’t understand how writing some articles on your blog can make you money. So I always shows them my results, that’s the only way to gain their trust and to leave me alone :).
It’s really great when you have office around the corner, but I think to manage that you really need to become a full time blogger and fully dedicate your self to blogging. I still can’t imagine blogging as my full time job.. maybe some day.
hi darren,
working at home can truly be challenging even without kids :-) I have an office at home and work as a private lesson teacher but i also run a website where i make income from. my point is that often my work at home is not takes as serious as work outside home although i often work longer, harder and more to start the business and/or keep it running.
so glad to see you can obviously do it, you are a great inspiration!
Thanks Darren. Another Great Post. Without a doubt getting your family and blogging balance right is the key.
Darren, I couldn’t agree more. Time management is one of the most important factors in the management of a website.
There is a quote that relates well to this situation; “It doesn’t take talent to hustle”. People need to realize that they only have so much time in a day and use it to their advantage. Otherwise, you won’t make it far, if anywhere in the blogging world.
It’s such a different environment being homebased than in an office. I think working for someone else there are less distractions but not necessarily more work done. It is easy to be distracted at home by family, the dog or anything else. The otherside of it though is that work is always there and not easy to switch off and get away from. Its much too easy to pop into the study/office to check the emails all day/night , and I’m sure many many people will still be working from home after midnight most evenings.
I guess I am one of the youngest person in here but the eldest son in my family. Balancing the time, family and of course my education has really became very difficult to me since I stepped in the blogging platform three years back. Still I have not been able to satisfy the standards I had set. Hopefully, its steady at present but I plan to set proper time management after I complete my education between blogging career and my family.
Oh man!
1.) YES, your little pirate is so cute. (I have a little pirate, too.)
2.) I love the idea of having a place. I don’t really have a place right now – unless I retire to my bedroom with the laptop, which I have done on a few occasions. But soon we’ll move and have an office. I hadn’t thought of making it my blogging office but now I am! =)
3.) OH MAN. Just yesterday I tweaked my About page again and said to twitter “I think I am finally happy with it.” Thing is, in my about page I made the statement that I’m choosing not to be a professional blogger right now because I’m choosing to spend the bulk of my time on my other priorities (I stay home and home school our 3 kids.) And then today I watch you (hello?!! PRO blogger) talk about balancing and show us your darling little pirate. Yikes! I still can’t commit to spending hours and hours a day on blogging (homeschooling, ya know) but an hour in the middle and after bed time? That I already do. Perhaps I just need to spend that time more wisely. ;)
Thank you. =)
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That was awesome dude, or shouId I say dudes. I like the honesty of your post. My Dad worked eighteen hour days, for years, so that he might keep his family in the manner they were accustomed to.
Have you checked out Vera Bradley? They may not be your style but myself I adore them. They come in many patterns and therefore are washable and also have lots of space. She includes a website and it isn’t hard to find someone who carries them. They are not cheap but they’re well worth the money if you request me.
I can easily get distracted with email or Google or Facebook or whatever when I’m trying to write a post, so now I write the first draft of a post in a notebook. That way it’s all about the writing and not about distractions popping up.
It’s really great when you have office around the corner, but I think to manage that you really need to become a full time blogger and fully dedicate your self to blogging.
A couple of good suggestions would be awesome! Thanks.
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