When I started YouTubing and Blogging I was also a full-time student as well as a part-time (back then) businesswoman. I really wanted to start a blog and a YouTube channel and I mainly started it for fun during my summer break from University. It was an outlet for me to get my voice out there and be heard which was something I was not used to and had never done before. However, once I went back to my halls of learning it did become a lot of work to keep things going especially when trying to balance running a business as well as a blog/channel and you're education. So I've concocted a list of things that helped me to run all four at the same time.
1. Schedule. Schedule. Schedule.
If not the most important thing ever! it's to schedule. I scheduled in all my uploads, all my blog posts, all my business hours and all my essay deadlines. I made sure to reach all these BEFORE that date, by scheduling even more. For example, if I had an essay due in for 25th October, I would trick myself into thinking it was due on the 15th; this makes me get things done sooner and if you do need that extra couple of days then you have them if you need them. I did the same with my channel, if I wanted a particular video uploaded on a Tuesday then I would make sure to have it done and uploaded by Saturday so that I can then schedule the upload and not have to worry myself about it anymore and focus on the next video that needed to be done.
I did this with everything, there were a lot of scheduling uploads on the Blog and the channel whilst I was also writing essays and running a business in the day. As for when you post on your blog or YouTube channel that is completely up to you. Whilst I was in university I uploaded twice a week, once on a Tuesday and once on a Sunday. These were the days that worked better for me but if you feel like you need different days or maybe you only want to upload on one day a week or once a fortnight even then you can do that.
Scheduling also works with your social media accounts too, I made sure to schedule all my tweets, Instagrams, Facebook page updates ... the lot! I mean I did tweet myself when I was online, it's not like all of my tweets were scheduled in but whenever I posted a video or a blog post I made sure to schedule a tweet to go along with it.
2. Keep a Planner
Kind of going along with the previous really, if I didn't have my planner I would be completely lost! Honest, I don't know where I would be or anything because I have all my schedules wrote in there so I know what needs to be done by what date and what I need to start thinking about and what deadlines are coming up and blah blah blah... it's a whole bunch of boring stuff really but it's so important to keep because it keeps you on track which in turn makes sure you don't lose your schedule. I also find the ones with a notes page in the back nice as you can write a different blog post or video idea down so you don't ever forget about them and if you can't film or write it at that particular time then you can come back to it and write about it in the future. You can also get online planners so there's no need for you to have a physical book if you don't want one.
3. Keep a To-do list
On my laptop I have a digital sticky-note that has a to-do list wrote on it, these are things that need to be done TODAY! every morning once my laptop is on I will write my to-do list, sometimes these are short and sometimes these are long. I make sure to write down everything that I need to do that day and then I start working on them... ticking them off as I go. This has multiple different things on, here are a few things for example:
- Edit Thumbnail for this weekends video
- take photos of Primark Clothes for the Blog
- Research topic's for University Essay
- Spend 2 hours on the business
- Export Video footage from camera to laptop
- Schedule Tweets for the upcoming week
- upload *insert video name here* to YouTube and write the description
- add in links to my most recent blog post
- Add annotations to upcoming weeks videos and update last weeks
- clean makeup brushes
... you get the idea. These are all the things that I maybe needed to do that day and I would tick them off as I do them. If you really put your mind to something you can go straight to your target and achieve whatever you want. Plus, there's no better feeling than an empty to-do list at the end of the day because you've ticked everything off.
4. Prioritize
Education or business ... or both in my case are way more important than your blog or YouTube channel. I hate to say these things as YouTube and blogging is something I am passionate about but sometimes you have to face reality. Your GCSE's, A-Level's, Diploma's or Degree's all need more attention than your blogs and channels and should be the top of your priority list. Now, I'm not going to sit here and say that you definitely need these things else you'll never get anywhere in life because I know of people online who are well known and they don't even have GCSE's and they are very wealthy. Not that wealth determines your success but you know what I mean!
What I do know though is whilst you are in education it's important to give it your best shot and strive for the top of every ladder that you climb on because this will build your appreciation for hard work which in turn will help with your channel or blog. However, your channel and blog will always be here, they aren't going anywhere if you miss an upload because of your education... big deal! There are thousands of people who would give anything just to be in education so we have to value and cherish every moment of learning. Now I'll admit I'm not the best person to imitate when it comes to this as when I was 17 - 20 money came first! Education was out of the window if money was involved, this is something I have worked on now and can finally say I'm not as obsessed with getting money as I was 3 years ago and I now wish I would've just chilled through my college and University days and actually took time on my assignments rather than search the Internet high and low for my next £££££££'s. That was my case, but if you have rent to pay or other things that can't wait then I would definitely focus on the business aspect of things more as you do need money to survive. Your YouTube audience/readers and teachers even can wait but the government won't if you owe the government money... you owe them money and they are going to want it asap! The difference is your audience and your teachers are human, they understand that things can crop up and mess with the plan, the government isn't human, it's an entity and they don't understand how things can crop up. As long as you don't make a regular thing of it, your teachers will understand and should do everything they can to support you but please don't get yourself into debt and a lot of trouble by getting your priorities wrong. It's just not worth it.
Kind of a no brainer here, things don't land in your lap. You actually have to work on things regularly in order for them to work. If you don't work on your business it will fail; if you don't work on your education, you will miss deadlines and you will fail; if you don't work on your blog or channel ... well, you won't fail but it will just become stagnant. You have to consistently work on things and in time they will work. I've been uploading on YouTube for 5 years now and I'm still here, uploading constantly, I left my blog for a while and it went stagnant but now I'm back, this is important to remember, hard work... works! but always bear in mind number 4.
5. Work Hard
Kind of a no brainer here, things don't land in your lap. You actually have to work on things regularly in order for them to work. If you don't work on your business it will fail; if you don't work on your education, you will miss deadlines and you will fail; if you don't work on your blog or channel ... well, you won't fail but it will just become stagnant. You have to consistently work on things and in time they will work. I've been uploading on YouTube for 5 years now and I'm still here, uploading constantly, I left my blog for a while and it went stagnant but now I'm back, this is important to remember, hard work... works! but always bear in mind number 4.
that's it! that's all, it's a difficult one but it is possible. I always made sure to have everything in order and you can do the same too. Anyywayy, I do have a YouTube channel if you're interested in subscribing there to see more of me on a regular ... or you can follow my socials so you know when I post :) Thank you for reading I really appreciate it, I hope some of these tips help you to keep the balance between whatever you are juggling right now :)
Thank you Guys, I'll see you next time!
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