How I focus on doing what I love
*This post was written by Author Alex Berger and is sponsored.
If you are a small business owner and/or a blogger, you know that time is essential and it always feels like it is getting away from you. When most people look at a website, all they typically see are the pictures and text throughout. They are there to read the content and gain insight on what the company or blogger is posting about. Most of the time (I would say there are a few people that are exceptions to this), people do not know how much work goes into maintaining a website. There are hours upon hours that need to be dedicated to pitching to companies (if you make an income from writing), website maintenance and online marketing. Aside from blogging and running a small business, even big companies focus on these same things: website maintenance, PR, and SEO + online marketing.
If you are like me, you don’t love spending every minute of your free time on marketing and maintenance. When it comes down to it, I am writing a blog because I love it. Businesses are providing products to you because they love it (and also want to make money). So, I asked myself the question, “How can I focus more on what I love and less on what I don’t love about running a website?” This is what I came up with:
- Plan out my time each day
Planning out my time each day is so helpful because I can stay on track. While I am still waking up in the morning, I always start off with a few mindless tasks to help me wake up. This could range from social media management, editing pictures, responding to emails or sometimes even just getting ready for the day. After the day gets going, I will always start off with my most important task while my brain is still at 100%. This could be working on a deadline, going to a meeting, or doing something important with my family. After I get my number one task done, I will complete all of the smaller tasks of the day. I will also throw in some non-business related tasks like laundry and cleaning. I make sure to leave a lot of room for errors and “slack” in there and I am never upset when I have to transfer tasks over to my next day. As long as I get my top 1-3 “tasks” done for the day, I am fine with it!
- Always put what I am passionate about first
I love finding out what is up and coming, what you ‘need’ to do to have a successful website, and what does not work with online marketing and search engine optimization, but sometimes, there is such thing as too much. If I focus so much on having a successful website, the writing on my blog will be put on the back burner and my content will get progressively worse, which is not what I want at all. Putting what I am passionate about first helps me stay true to why I started my blog in the first place. I did not start it to see how others are successfully running their websites. I did not start it to spend hours learning about SEO. I started it to do what I love, like I mentioned above and ultimately, that is what matters and that is what I need to put first when it comes to my business and blog.
- Get help with my online marketing needs
This is the key to how I put my website content first. Instead of spending time learning about online marketing and SEO trends, I hire an affordable company to do it for me because SEO is SO important for your blog and/or business. This not only saves me time and frustration by trying to learn it myself, but I get the best results this way because they are professionals. New Jersey SEO agency, NJ SEO is the number one New Jersey marketing agency – they beat out every agency in the area and they have case studies to prove that fact. Don’t just believe what they say, though, believe what their customers say. They have over 100 reviews and recommendations since 2006. They have a few reviews on their website and more if you Google “NJ SEO.” NJ SEO’s goal is to listen to what you would like to accomplish with your website and create a custom plan, specifically for you. One unique ‘feature’ that NJ SEO provides to their clients is that they do not start at 9am in the morning and end at 5pm in the evening. They are constantly working, at all hours, to provide the quality service that their clients deserve and this is just one reason why their reviews are all phenomenal.
NJ SEO was created when CEO, Dan Anton originally came to his brother, Matt Anton about starting a social network for gamers. This really resonated with Matt & he started researching information on how to promote a website online. This led to his new-founded knowledge on SEO. After a lot of research, he was able to take the social network website to a new level and began to rank in competitive phrases on Google. This led to a job as an online marketing manager at Liberty Travel, a billion dollar travel agency, and then finally to NJ SEO, where they planted their roots in New Jersey, where Matt lives and Atlanta, where Dan lives. Matt is listed in the top 62 SEO marketers here, cited as an SEO expert, and has many other reviews, testimonials and endorsements, as well.
Matt Anton with his family
- Form a community
Community is SO important. Even though writing is one of my passions, it is still very challenging and not many people relate to it. This is why I believe that joining Facebook groups, Instagram pods and having other friends that are in the same business as you are is very important. Without a tribe of people that understand what I go through each day, I really don’t think I would be able to get through each day like I do! I owe everything to the people that keep cheering me on and pushing me to be the best I can be.
Being an entrepreneur and running a website is hard work, but when it comes down to it, being able to do what you love is totally worth it. These simple ways to be able to write more help me a lot and hopefully you can relate and use this as a guide to help you put down more of your ‘maintenance’ work and focus on what makes you happy!