#WorkSpaceWonder

Working from home was a dream come true for me at one point in time, it was something that I had wished I was in a position to do for a long time, and as amazing as it was, it turns out working from home can sometimes be harder than you may think.

Much harder.

First of all your hobby becomes your full time job.

It's something that you go from doing in your spare time, to actively full on working on, setting goals and really developing a brand. Everything has to be consistent, and you have to make sure that your brand is exactly how you want to be perceived.

I made the decision years ago to have my entire brand over hauled, it gave it a fresh new look and was something that made me really happy, the only thing it was really missing was a few mascot costumes! I guess you could say that Lux filled that role.

When you're working from home people don't really seem to consider it as working, because you are not going out to work in the conventional way (and let's face it blogging and freelance writing is a new age sort of job, especially when you are your own boss!). 

People call upon you for a favour that hinders your bottomless to do list, the dog decides he needs a 2 hour walk because he quite simply won't settle when he knows you're in the house, or you have to go and pick your poorly child up from school.

So yes, on a good day working from home is a dream come true, but there are so many things that can and do go wrong. This chain of thought got me thinking about my ideal work space, and I have to admit that I do have a pretty good setup (now that I have managed to invest in a desk chair!), and not to mention that I can work in my dressing gown and slippers if I so desire (and do when the weather gets colder!). 

There is no fighting over the office temperature, no freezing under the air conditioner, and I can quite simply revel in the cosy warmth that I covet. As I type this I am wearing the thickest fluffiest cardigan that I own, and I have matched that with a rather nice pair of slipper socks. At least this way when the doorbell sounds and I am face to face with yet another delivery driver, I won't have to look quite so embarrassed. 

So what would my #WorkSpaceWonder be?

Ideally I would like a dedicated office space, right now I have my desk setup in the front room, but ideally to have my very own office with a door I can shut on the world would make life so much easier. Right now that is not an option, but this means that my two other family members are forever placing paperwork, toys and everything else onto my desk. It's not ideal, it can be rather annoying... And I have to clean my work space off most mornings before I can even sit down at it. It feels like I am forever having to sort through paperwork that isn't mine, I try and leave only my to do list and essential work load on the desktop, but they of course have other ideas...

I had a pretty good setup all in all, it's a constructive place to work and above all else I can be flexible, flexible for friends, for family, for the pup. Working here, working from home allowed me to go and visit my Granddad in the care home on a weekly basis, it meant that I got some special extra time with him, it might not always be an ideal circumstance working from home, but how lucky am I to have been able to take that time out of my working day to spend with my Granddad.

I am now back in an employed position, and I have to say that I love being back in an office environment, but it is nice to know that my home set up is still here whenever I want to dust my self employed hat off.

Blogging is how I make a living

Being self employed and working from my home over the last few years has shown me how incredibly valuable it is to have a space dedicated to work. Somewhere I can sit down with a computer (especially since I upgraded my laptop to a full size desktop spec!) and have everything I need within easy reach.

I have spent so much time putting my little home office together, especially the fun bits like adding in some character and really being able to make the space I sit and blog, an enjoyable place to be.

When I started thinking about what I wanted in my little work bubble, I just had to include an A4 light box on my wall here because I like to leave myself encouraging messages, right now 'Get Stuff Done' seems to be the motto I need in order to get actually get stuff done...Well that and a rather strong cup of coffe... or Two... if I do so much as glance up, there I am telling myself to stop checking my Instagram and carry on writing!

Of course as much fun as it has been to focus on the arty side of having a dedicated office space, I have also had to think realistically, as there is so much one does need when they work from home. I have purchased a lot of nice office supplies from Engelbert Strauss, it's amazing how much ink a blogger can get through!

When people ask me what I do, and I tell them that I'm a 'blogger' I have gotten some rather funny looks, because even in 2017 the word 'blog' or 'blogger' is still a relatively new concept. I have explained what I do so many times that it just rings out of my mouth before I have given them the title some days, but more often than not I would say that I run a website and write the content that I feature on said website. It definitely seems to make my life easier, as everyone knows what a website is!

That being said though, the next question on everyone's lips is... 'but how do you make money out of a blog!?' And again this can sometimes be quite tricky to explain to someone who didn't even know what a blog was 5 minutes ago!

Blogging has been a real eye opener for me, a hobby that has somehow over time evolved into what it is today. Sometimes I have to punch myself and take a step back from this online space that I have built from the ground up. To think that up until just under 3 years ago, only close family and friends even knew about my online persona and I kept the secret for many, many years.

When I got made redundant back in 2014, that was when the cat started to escape the bag that it has been guarded in for all that time. More people were naturally finding out, and as the time passed by, I started to feel more confident about what I had built.

I guess looking back, the main reason I didn't ever say anything was because I liked having the freedom to write about what I wanted. If I wanted to speak anonymously about my then day job without any social repercussions (not that I would ever go into details of who, what, when, where, because there has to be some form a line that I wouldn't cross! I definitely didn't want to end up in the company search terms on Google if you get my drift!), but it allowed me to speak freely about my personal experiences, and that meant that I could be as honest as nature intended.

To this day I still swear by honesty, because honestly is the only way that I intend to write. Whether it's about my personal life, Leo or a review that I am writing for a company, whatever I say reflects on me. Self integrity is key when you are in a position that might encourage someone to purchase the product off the back of something that you have written about an item or product. I want my readers to be able to trust what I say, if I loved something then I will tell you, and I will equally tell you if there was something that I didn't like, because at the end of the day your experience reflects on me.

Being a blogger that works from home is an incredible privilege, but it is also work. At times hard work. If you have a deadline to meet, a video to record, edit, publish, photos to take, photos to edit, a feature to write, check and compile with the rest of the content that you have created, and then throw in having the kids out of school, you will soon see just how much time and just how much effort is poured into a blog.

I have been lucky enough to work with some incredible brands over the years, I have been sent products that in some instances I could only have ever dreamed of owning. I have attended some fantastic events, met celebrities and had a taste of how the other half lived, but none of this stuff has just been handed to me. I have had to work for it, produce content and socially share my personal thoughts and opinions, but it's easy to look in from the outside and not see just how much work goes into it.

I say this because people see these at times extravagant parcels being delivered, they comment on how amazing it is that I get 'sent so much free stuff', and there was one instance where my income was referred to as 'free money'. YES. FREE MONEY! Of course I couldn't let that one slide, so I turned the situation around. I said that so basically he went to work and they gave him free money for sitting in an office all day. Just because I don't go out to work, I am still putting in time and the content I create, is how I make money. It's no different to a self employed stone mason, or builder, or window cleaner, hair dresser or anyone who makes a living working for themselves.

There are times that I really do have to bite my tongue, I do get that people don't understand the concept, and at times it can all seem quite elaborate to the outsider peering in, but what they don't see are the late nights spent putting it all together before it even goes live.

Hitting the publish button is the final stage, when the content and the pieces of the jigsaw have all been pieced together.

Well... until the social media promotion begins.

When Blogging becomes your JOB!

Everything in life starts off as a dream, an idea, a wish for your future. 

It may come to you in a way that seems completely random, you may even wish upon a star, but once you have those butterflies, that feeling and those stars in your eyes, there isn't much that you wont do to get you where you need to be. 

Dreams are creative ideas that light a spark in your soul, they provide you with direction and a purpose. 

They say life doesn't throw anything at us that we cannot handle, and it's so true. You can be dealt a hand that has the power to completely ruin you, a route to destroy you. You take that card and you rise up, you navigate a pathway out of the embers that were sent to burn you, and you see it as a pathway out of the darkness. The destruction ceases and you find yourself opening the next chapter to your life.

This year was my card, I have lost not one, but two jobs. In April I was made redundant and in August my shining light went out at a second position, where I can't help but feel that I was taken for a ride, but you know what? I left both with my head held high. I left smiling, I didn't stop smiling. I found a way to navigate around it and make the situations work for me. 

I didn't think that almost 2 months later I would be sitting here and writing this post, but here I am. I am now a full time blogger, I am sustaining my entire existence through a passion that I developed four years ago. I am fueling my car through a hobby that was born in the wake of Leo's arrival. I am doing something that I head over heels love, I am doing something that I quite honestly didn't believe was possible.

When I lost my position in August I wasn't worried. I didn't cry, I didn't shout. I didn't even pass blame. It was what it was and I was going to handle it like I handle everything, I picked myself up off the floor, dusted myself down and I moved on. I decided that I wasn't going to apply for any new job roles, I didn't even have a look to see what was available. My heart wasn't in it, and this time I decided to forget what ever my head was telling me, and just listen to my heart for a change. When I was made redundant in April my head told me to get straight back out there again, and my heart told me to give full time blogging a try. 

My head won out and look where that got me...But I knew that as one door closed, another was opening, I knew that I had something special at my disposal. My blog. I had an opportunity to see where this door that was opening and closing in the wind would take me if I gave it a chance and propped it open, I have always had the opportunity to earn a few pennies through my blog, but I didn't know if I could earn a full time wage through it. I didn't know if it was practical, if it was realistic, if I could do it or if it was even possible. 

I now know that it is possible, because I am doing it, and it really is the most amazing surreal feeling. I cannot quite believe that the place I write all of my inner most ramblings is enabling me to stay at home and do what I love. Today and for the foreseeable future I take Leo to school in the morning, I work from home, I attend blog events and I even get to attend gym classes at the leisure centre. In fact the world really is my oyster these days. If I want tomorrow off, then I know that I can take it. I am my own boss, and I absolutely love the flexibility that comes with it. Yes I have deadlines to meet, but that's absolutely fine. I have invested in a diary and write absolutely everything down, I really don't know how I functioned with out it...

I was looking to move out again in the next couple of months, because it is high time that Leo and I get our own space again. It's still on the cards, but I am giving it a few more months just to see how money goes and make sure that I am not jumping the gun. What I am most looking forward to about moving back out is getting my office set up, making it a place that I can happily sit and work on my musings.

What to think about when blogging becomes your business:

- How much money do you need to earn through your blog to cover all of your over heads?

- Have you built up a network of regular contacts that you can work with on a monthly basis to meet your financial needs?

- Do you have the self motivation and dedication to work on your blog?

- Considering procedures (health and safety plans) that you may need to put in place should you look at taking anyone on and really taking your blog to a new level.

I don't know where the next few months will take me, or if I have just been incredibly lucky these last few months, but what I do know is that I can raise from the ashes of absolutely anything. I can be kicked down, but you best watch me get back up stronger and more determined than ever. 

I am so thankful for the incredible opportunities that I have been blessed with because of this here blog. I take absolutely none of it for granted and I know that I am a very lucky lady. I also know that I work hard, and that these things are only possible because people believe in me and what I do. 

I am rather excited about the next couple of months and taking my blog to an entirely new level. A level that I didn't ever think was within my reach, but when you are thrown to the ground and you try again, that's when magic happens.