The freelance hustle

Freelancing is not an easy option like some might think - oh no - it is a full on hustle to try and earn enough to cover the monthly outgoings. Sure, it is flexible which is a blessing but guaranteeing that you will get the same amount of work every month is damn hard!

Since I went freelance about two years ago I have experienced the ups and downs of it. This blog is like my side hustle, I have months where I do get income from sponsored posts and more recently I got my first bit of income from affiliate adverts. Then I'll have months where I barely get anything. Before this time (my blog had already been running for two years) I had not made any money from it as I hadn't really looked into it - I had not heard of domain authority and I hadn't joined any agencies.

Before Christmas I got a bit cocky as I was occasionally getting up to 4 sponsored posts a week - but inevitably after Christmas, it has slowed down a lot.

I am not going to lie, I am not keen on doing lots of sponsored posts I prefer to write about and share things that I love - but I also have to be sensible and know that our bills are covered.

I can't solely rely on my blog as a regular income at the moment. As many of you may know I also work as a virtual assistant. I have 3 regular blogger clients who I help out every week at the moment, I help with things like social media, blog admin and sourcing content and doing graphics and logos. I also help on an ad hoc basis with a glamping site and do some social media for festivals.

In between these jobs I work Wednesday to Friday lunchtimes at a school - this is my guaranteed wage of just over £100 per month.

My virtual assistant work can bring me between £250-£400 per month. I often find myself working on Sunday mornings finishing bits off for people and I tend to get paid weekly via PayPal.

This is not pocket money - nope - it goes into the pot to pay the bills and with a huge one I'm expecting in April (probably near on £2k for our leaseholder expenses and having to have a new front and back door fitted as part of it) I need to try and claw in any extra I can.

My blog varies greatly but can bring anything from £80 to a couple of £100 per month sometimes more. This involves a lot of work. Bloggers are all applying for the same opportunities - like vultures around a carcass.

You need to prove your worth and have good engagement on social media as well as good traffic through your website and a decent domain authority. The higher all of these the more money you will be offered. This does involve being online a lot - I mean every day engaging with your readers.

I am a great believer in the law of attraction and laugh if you want to - I do practise my affirmations of gratitude. On the days that I feel that I am not doing very well, I think positively, I am worthy to receive, on these days I have had emails come to me offering me work - I even found a £10 note on the pavement.

I also have crystals, incense and, if I feel the need to, I use sage to cleanse the flat of negative energy. Haha!

If you are a blogger or have taken the leap to being self-employed and you feel like things aren't going to plan, keep trying, I did, and things are improving. I still don't earn enough to pay tax... yet, but I am confident that I will get to that stage soon. First and foremost, I am a mum of three and all that I am doing is for my family.

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