In the last few months I’ve been neglecting my own projects in exchange for client projects. Not smart. I mean I have excuses; job cuts in the writers market, fewer jobs around, and just because I’ve been busy in general, but if you’ve got some personal projects going it’s not wise to ignore them. Why not?
If you pay for hosting for your own blogs, that’s money down the drain if you’re not making money with your blogs. While some of my blogs make a little money just sitting around, they could make a lot more if I actually worked at it.
Your blogs represent you to a point. I have my links to a couple of my own blogs in bios of mine online and in the sig line of my work email. If a potential client clicks on that link, they may not realize that it’s my blog, and mistake it for a client blog. No updates is a BAD sign of my productivity level.
It’s good practice. You can make mistakes on your own blog, play around, see what works best, and mess with ideas that you can’t screw with at client blogs. Why not use your own blogs as a learning experience?
Your blogs, when well done can drive traffic to your client’s blogs which one, clients like, and two, if you’re paid in any sort of page view revenue, can increase your paycheck.
When you don’t update you lose any traffic base you’ve built. It’s like starting all over from scratch – blah.
If you can learn to make money with your own blog, you’ve got some back-up for when client blogs go belly-up. It takes a long time to create some decent income with your own blogs. The only way to make it happen is to keep up with your blogs. While blog income is unstable there’s still a chance you’ll hit on a good niche and make some money. However, when you ignore said blogs you lose any shot at making some of your own blogging income.
So… when times get tough, are your own projects the first to lose your attention, or do you try to make time for them anyhow?
FYI – I may be back with some new blog and online writing gigs later today if time permits so stay tuned.
I’ve found myself slacking a bit on my blog, not so much for clients (because I’ve been very slow in that area as well) but just because I’ve been more motivated to do things around the house and have been taking my kids out now that it’s nicer. Not exactly slacking, but not putting as much as I should into the blog. I was just guilting myself into posting when I stopped by here. I guess it’s a sign
I am very lucky to have an excellent assistant who seems to have the knack of being productive when I’m busy with other clients. If you look in my archives and notice weeks where J’s done a lot of posting, those are the weeks I was too busy to even look at my blog.
I do make a point of putting my stuff for me on my To-Do list alongside the stuff I need to do for clients. Sometimes I get writer’s block trying to do stuff for them, so I switch over to my own stuff, which is much easier to write. Once the juices are flowing, I go back to my paid work.
I haven’t updated mine since May 8! It’s on my mind though.
You inspired me to update my blog today. I’ve been slacking on it due to an extended project that just won’t end. I’ve felt terrible about it but haven’t done anything about it until today.
I was raised a Catholic, so I usually hate guilt, but this is a good excepting where it got my blogging ass back in gear!
Ah, I’m glad I’m not the only one. I have periods of slacking then really good posting periods. The trick is to only have good posting levels all the time. Sigh.
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