Lifestyle Benefits of Being a Blogger

I’ve been lucky enough to have been interviewed a few times over the last couple of weeks, and a common question has been about the lifestyle of a blogger, so I thought it was time to write a post on the subject.

It’s only in the last few months that I have been able to realize these benefits, in my transition from part to full time blogging. In the early days of this business, I was working full time at another job, and if anything my lifestyle really suffered, with some ridiculous working hours. So what are the benefits, now that I am full time?

Clothes

Fortunately, I live on an island where nobody ever wears suits and ties, but despite that, there is a standard business outfit, which for guys is a shirt, jeans and good shoes. Whist that’s not too uncomfortable, it’s still a uniform you have to adopt to appear businesslike. I love the fact that I don’t have to do that anymore. I can conduct my business in shorts, t shirts and flip flops. I don’t need to shave everyday if I don’t want to and I can even come and do some work in my pyjamas if an idea strikes me first thing in the morning!

Time

This is the big one for me, and I suspect for most bloggers. I still work hard – probably more than a full time week for most office workers. But, I’m in total control of that time, and I really, really enjoy that feeling. If I want to take the whole day off tomorrow to go diving, I can. If I want to get up at 4AM, do a load of work, then spend a few hours just reading, I can. The truth is I generally work normal hours, but when I want to do something different I just do it. I cannot over emphasize how amazing this feeling is. I’ve been “The Boss” in my offline business for years, and in theory I could take off whenever I wanted, but in reality you end up suffering with guilt because you “should be working.” The net runs 24 hours a day, so as long as I put in the time and do all my tasks, it simply doesn’t matter when I do it.

Family

Closely related to the above, is the benefit of spending more quality time with the family. In my previous work, I would leave home before my daughter was up for school and get back at around 6, by which time she was out meeting her friends, homework done. We’d have a brief chat over dinner and then she’d head to her bedroom. Now, we have breakfast together, I’m here when she comes home from school, I can get involved in her homework and we just see far more of each other. My wife is also part of the blogging business, so we arrange our time together accordingly – we’ve invented the concept of the “Blogger’s Picnic”. Most days we make up some sandwiches, jump on the scooter and go and eat our lunch on the beach or in the hills. Despite having worked together for years, we have never before taken time out together away from work to eat and relax.

Chores

When you’re working a conventional job housework, and the other little repairs that need to be done around a house, tend to get left until the weekend. I seemed to spend most of every Saturday doing stuff I had been saving up during the week, and then there was the weekly shopping! Now, all those little housework jobs get done as soon as they need doing. Instead of having to do a mammoth sweep and mop through the house, we tackle a room at a time – spending 10 minutes sweeping is a great short break, and it means the house always looks good as well!

Saving Yet More Time

I mentioned shopping in the previous paragraph – we always used to shop on a Saturday, because we were working during the week, just like everyone else. Inevitably, so did everyone else! And that meant long lines and lots of stress. Now we shop on a Tuesday or a Wednesday morning – the shops are empty, everything is smooth, and we save loads of time! We apply this to everything – we quite often need to visit and report on tourist attractions for our travel blog, and we go on a Thursday, which is the main holiday “Changeover” day, so there are very few tourists around. I would guess that being able to do things when places aren’t busy is actually saving us four or five hours every week, as well as a great deal of stress.

Getting Fitter

I always struggled to motivate myself to get on the bike or go to the gym after a full day’s work. Now I can do exercise when I want – which I means I’m getting some! I can also spend some time shopping for and preparing food, which means I’m not grabbing a calorie laden snack or burger on the run as I used to. The result is, we’ve both list weight and are both quite a lot fitter than we were before we became full time bloggers.

Those are the key benefits I’ve enjoyed so far, but I’m sure as I ease into my new lifestyle, there will be others. Interestingly, the public image of someone who works online for a living is of a pasty faced, unhealthy geek without a real life. My story is the opposite, I spend more time outdoors than ever, I’m fitter and healthier, and I’m way more relaxed! What’s your story?

If you liked this, maybe have a look at:

1/ When Mashable Tweets……..

2/ What happens when you guest post on John Chow?

3/ More time for blogging – the two hour blogging session