For some reason, some people believe that being a blogger is a walk in the park. Often all they see is what we get; the days out, the ‘free’ stuff, easy money made from messing around on social media. If I’m being honest I get why people think this, it does appear to be an easy choice for those that want to make a few quid. I hate to disappoint those with such an opinion though, I’m afraid it’s much harder work that us bloggers are letting on!

What people don’t see is the stressful side of the job. They don’t see all of the hard work that goes into maintaining a blog, the technical side that sees one task take literally days to complete. They don’t see the day-to-day mundane side of blogging. The things we have to do each and every day, that’s right no days off, just to maintain a presence and keep things ticking over. They also don’t realise how hard it is to maintain multiple social channels. Suddenly the fun side of social media becomes a chore as we try to make our mark on the influencer world. If it was as easy as clicking publish, we’d all be millionaires.

The harsh reality of becoming a blogger –

In actual fact, blogging is not all sunshine and roses. It can be incredible stressful at times and can leave us full-timers wondering why we bothered starting up this ‘blogging thing‘ in the first place. Yes there are perks to the job, but as with every other job that has benefits, they have to be worked hard for. I know I’m not alone when I say I worked on my blog solidly for an entire year before I made a dime from it. Blogging is a labour of love and it’s not to be taken lightly. Doesn’t seem so glamorous now, hey?!

This summer I stepped away from my blog for a few weeks. I felt like I wanted to take stock and reevaluate my direction. As it turns out, I was just a little burnt out, all I needed was time away from the screen to get my spark back. You see, because blogging is such an all-consuming job we don’t get to take holidays where we can just switch off. You can guarantee that I lost money in those few weeks and as a blogger that was a conscious decision I had to make. Take time out for myself and my family and make less money, or carry on full speed ahead missing out on quality time with my girls but make a packet. Not an easy decision, but I’m confident I made the right one. Just another on of the pressures of being a blogger.

To highlight just how stressful this line of work can be, I got in touch with some of my fellow bloggers to find out what they find most difficult about the job;

Victoria from Lylia Rose: ‘The never ending amount of work to do and playing every role – copywriter, accountant, photographer, receptionist, website designer, applying for jobs daily, etc. It can be overwhelming sometimes and I feel like I need to clone myself!’

Mandi from Big Family Organised Chaos: ‘Uncertainty! Will you get enough paid work in this month to cover the bills, will the payments you are due be paid on time, will you end up doing a full working week with no money to show for it, and why are you still working at midnight because you HAVE to get that post written before the deadline but the children have needed you for everything all day!’

Nicola from Mummy to Dex: ‘Personally, I find it stressful when I have to negotiate fees. I always worry I’ve put people off with what I charge. I guess I suffer from imposter syndrome and doubt my capabilities as a blogger.’

Nickie from Typecast: ‘Comparing yourself with other bloggers. Seeing other bloggers work on a campaign you thought you pitched well for but didn’t get. Finding enough hours in the day to hit deadline.’

Emma from The Mini Mes and Me: ‘When clients don’t pay on time and you have to chase and chase and chase them for money owed. I think sometimes they forget that blogging is often the main income for many.’

Lisa from That British Betty: ‘I get frustrated that I can’t spend as much time as I’d like to on my blog – I KNOW I could make it a success if I had more time. I work 45 hours a week in PR so often come home tired and don’t feel like doing even more writing! I also miss out on cool brand events as I can’t drop everything and attend an event at 2pm on a Tuesday.’

Michaela from Adventures of a Yorkshire Mum: ‘When people assume that everything is an ad. People commenting on Instagram ‘aren’t you supposed to #ad this’ annoys me as, if it was an ad, I would mention it. And I don’t want to have to write ‘this is not an ad’ on every post I do! ‘

Natalie from Plutonium Sox: ‘The thing that annoys me the most is that people assume because I’m at home I’m not working. I had a deadline to meet for a post this morning, so had to get it written yesterday. Youngest is still on half days at school this week so I literally had a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening. So instead of being able to get my head down and work, I helped my dad with some land registry searches in the morning and helped my husband with building a bed in the evening. When we move I’m putting a home office at the far end of the garden and a ‘sod off’ sign on the front door.’

Thankyou to all who made this post possible!