With 2 weeks left in the year, I hit one of my biggest social media goals for 2019: I hit 5,000 followers on my Instagram account.
It took a lot of work with diving into hashtag strategy, collaborating with other mommy bloggers and countless hours of editing and networking.
While all those things are key parts to me achieving this goals, I want to dedicate this last post of the decade to having a little chit chat about my greatest shortcomings as a blogger– and how I plan to better myself of course.
Admitting and diving into your failures is a hard exercise to do–especially in front of an audience. And it becomes a double downer when you do so before your celebratory photoshoot (so if you’re going to do something like this, save it for after your party 😂). But nonetheless, you can’t continue your growth until you pinpoint and correct your problems.
I also know that I’m not alone in many of these issue as a mom on social media either. So my hope is that by openly sharing my biggest problems and plan of action with you, that you too may find a solution that works for your life.
Poor work/life balance
Toping my list for biggest failures in 2019 would have to be my abysmal attempt at having a balanced home & work life. I know for a FACT that I’m not the only mom blogger to experience this either.
Part of the issue is that, for many of us, our home is our work and work is at home. Sure, some of us are fortunate enough to have a dedicated space to work, but many of us are not. And even when we do, work and home somehow keep blending together.
The best solution I’ve found thus far is to make sure I block off time for myself to work. I’m fortunate enough to have a supportive husband and a nanny who can come in 5 days a week for me. Stephen takes care of Edison in the mornings (if he’s up before he leaves) so that I can get about 3 hours of work in. Then in the afternoons, his nanny takes over for another 3 hours. I get 6 hours a day to work on my business and I get the spend the rest of the day being a mommy to my kiddos.
Perfectionism
I heard somewhere that perfectionism is the death of creativity, and I’m starting to believe that may actually be true.
I normally wouldn’t view myself as a perfectionist. I’m fine with a bit of chaos in my life and I’m always encouraging people to be content so long as they’ve given something their best effort.
But lately I’ve been finding it hard to do that for myself. I’ve pushed back deadlines and even turn down projects because I felt that I wouldn’t be perfect at it.
I’ve tossed out fully ready content because something was just a little off. I do think that its okay to be critical of your work at times, because how else can you grow? But when your self criticism gets in the way of your development, then its a problem.
It took me a long while to see this issue in myself and boy, its hard to correct! I still feel the urge to just toss out work that I don’t deem 100% great. But I’ve found that forcing myself to stick to deadlines and asking for feedback on pieces before they go live has been a great help.
Often times, things I was viewing as complete trash, just needed minor adjustments that were easy fixes. If you are not a part of a blogging/ mommy on social media support group yet, I strongly recommend you find one for yourself. These women are in the same boat as you and are generally willing to give you constructive criticism that will help you thrive and not freeze and give up.
Consistency
Something is always popping up when you’re a mom. And even when you plan in advance and prepare as much as you can, life is great a throwing you off your game.
I started 2019 off strong with a social media calendar booked through May. And then, as described above, life kinda just slapped me in the face, repeatedly.
And even though I had my best laid plans in years, I just couldn’t stay as consistent as I wish I could, and honestly, needed to be. I don’t have any advice on how I could have bettered this aspect of my work life here, but I do credit all my pre planning for saving my platform.
With most sites allowing you to schedule out content nowadays, I could upload a month’s worth of content over the course of a few days, and then pull back a bit and take care of everything else happening at home.
I HIGHLY suggest that other blogging mommies who are struggling with consistency too find at least two days a month were they can just sit down and create a bunch of content. Schedule it out in advance and this will take a lot of pressure off your back if something comes up can you just can’t post.
Task delegation
As a mom, it’s so easy to fall into the mind set that we have to do it all.
We raise our kids, go to work, take care of our homes, support our family and chase our dreams–all while trying to get at least 8 hours a sleep. A lot of us don’t even stop to think that we can actually take some things off our plate.
This was me for the majority of 2019. It took a huge toll on my mental state. I was feeling major anxiety over not being able to extend myself so thin. I felt guilty that I was having a hard time working while also watching my toddler (who gets into EVERYTHING BTW). I was stressed at the end of the day when I realized there was still so much more left on my to do list for both home and work, but all I wanted to do was sleep.
By the time I found out I was pregnant with our second, I knew things had to change for both my health and the health of my business. Enter task delegation.
We don’t have to do it all and nor should we. There comes a point in your growth were things just become too big for one person alone and I have definitely hit that. So this fall, I got a nanny. I was worried about the cost at first and also felt guilty for pawning my kid off since I was still at home the majority of the time.
But having the nanny has actually paid for itself. Since enlisting her services, I have become much more productive with my time. And that equals more opportunities and income for myself. This move has been all around good for myself and my family and I plan in delegating even more task come 2020.
For fellow mommy blogger out there, write down everything it is that you need to get done and see what you can outsource. Be in social media management or something on the home front, see what you can pass on to someone else.
2019 was a year full of challenges and transitions for me. But despite all the pitfall and missteps I’ve taken, I’ve hit some of my major goals both in business and in life and I’m so excited with how we’re finishing off this decade!
I’m excited to correct my past errors in 2020 and to just see what the future hold for the next years to come. Hopefully this blog left you with some ideas on how to over come some of the major hurtles your face as a mommy blogger in 2020.
Wishing you all the best in this new year and decade! Let me know what some of your goals are down below❤️