Traveling and blogging is work!
After the last post about the fact that Daria went to China, and you see, I'm going to Sochi, received a couple of comments that, they say, what the hell am I having fun. And then it dawned on me that in the course of some people all travel blogging is considered some kind of entertainment, as if you are sitting all day by a palm tree, and money is dripping from the sky for you for a couple of posts a month. Moreover, this is probably how people from the outside (who do not know anything about Internet business), and novice bloggers, he himself was like this at the very beginning, probably from the outside (who do not know anything about Internet business)..
Somehow I already raised this question (a typical blogger's day), but it was just blogging. Apparently, there is less nagging about regular blogging, because there are no travels (which are so teasing). Do you think travel blogging is leisure or hard work? :)
The content of the article
Blogging is a job
Surely, those who have been blogging for a long time or engaged in their websites know that all this activity is akin to the usual work itself, when you sit at the computer all day long, write batches of articles, give tasks to freelancers, analyze all kinds of different statistics, look at the envelopes of affiliate programs, you administer and so on. In fact, in any company with an office that has its own website, there is a separate person or even a department (marketing + web development) that does the same. The difference between such a department and bloggers / webmasters is that the blogger / webmaster does not go to the office and the scope of his work is simpler. Although the top bloggers, for sure, also have a similar department and people on the salary.
Despite the possible picture outside the window, you also have to sit for hours at the computer
After a few years in this area, little of my first year's romantic views remain. Most of the work is routine, weekends and free time can be even less, because you do not limit yourself (yes, and everything usually starts from scratch), earnings are not as stable as the salary. In addition, working at home with a child (or without) is often difficult, and as a result, you still need to rent an office. I wrote about this in pros and cons of freelancing. This is probably why many blogs are blown away and do not reach attendance, because you have to work and earn money. As my friend tells me, there is a business, and there is self-employment, and your task is to come from one to another, and it must be borne in mind that the business operates according to certain laws.
Okay, that's not what I mean. Only in the last year, I realized that I need to arrange a weekend for myself, because before that I did not have one. You sit for 10-15 hours a day and work there. Unfortunately, it turned out effectively only in the first years, when there was enthusiasm and enthusiasm, but it’s hard for a long time in this mode. So, rest assured, there is nothing easy in blogging, if it brings money, and there is no freebie, do not even look for it. Yes, if everything is done correctly, then you will not have to plow around the clock, but in terms of hours and actions, it is not much different from working in the office, it will be about the same, only the work format is different. Well, and you need to understand that it is direct business to do, and even passive, so that you can only work for an hour a day, not everyone is given, either on the Internet or in real life.
Travel can be work
Moving on to the next more controversial point, travel. It seems to me that most people live by the stereotype that travel is only entertainment and recreation. However, any trips can be business trips. When an office worker travels to another city / country, for some reason, no questions arise. But if you are a travel blogger, then you kind of rest all the time :) Yes, you can go, do your business, and then have a little rest in this other country, but don't office workers have days off?
Traveling is work! Photo by Katya Kuchina.
From my own experience, I have long understood that a trip for work and a trip just like that are very different from each other. In one you rest, in the other you work. Travel work is usually of two types - you lead a group of people, acting as a guide, or you collect information for your website (my version). Well, I'm talking about work related specifically to travel, because any other freelance is no longer so tied specifically to travel..
On all trips I take pictures, research, check something on myself, in general, collect information for my articles. It would seem that you sit at home, hire a person to write everything to you, but there is one big problem in this - the quality of information provided by a third party, which you cannot even check. Frankly, I once tried to buy articles where places were described where I had not been at all, and so there were so many mistakes then it turned out that I gave up this venture. There is also a second point - profitability, the purchase of high-quality travel information does not justify itself in most cases. So this format is more suitable for me personally - I am going somewhere, more or less delving into the country / city, I write a lot myself, and I can buy some content if necessary. This is how she works as a travel blogger. Try it sometime and you will understand that working trips are not at all like all inclusive in Turkey..
True, again, you have to maintain a balance, because if you only travel, then there will be no time to write and maintain sites. As a rule, travel in this case takes only a small part of life. This is what happens to me, I remember, I went to Thailand for 2 months, and then I wrote about him for a year and was nowhere. So now, I get out somewhere a couple of times a year in total. In this regard, wintering is convenient - you live for six months in one place and you do not even need to travel, because it will be enough to describe everyday life (shops, services, looking for housing, etc.).
And by the way, somehow I posted a post about the fact that I already I live without work and without rest for 3 years, just about a similar format of work. So, after all, sometimes you need to go somewhere just like that, without a camera and without a task to describe everything upon arrival, well, if, of course, you need a non-working trip. True, I have not yet started doing this, the maximum I can go to the Moscow region in one day ... Although the last such trip intended to be just a vacation, but became a working one (rest on the Oka), could not resist, maybe this is already a professional illness such.
Everyone's choice
Do not think that I am here trying to justify the complexity of this type of work. No, difficulties are a relative concept, it was difficult for someone in the office to draw engineering networks in AutoCAD (this is me about myself :)). Any person has the right to choose a job that suits his abilities and character, there are no universal solutions. I do not exclude that I will get tired of travel blogging too someday and I will do something else..
Only everything will have to be tested on our own experience, what is suitable and what is not. After all, the pictures of travel bloggers are really very beautiful, straight heavenly life, as if a person does not work at all. But in fact, these pictures (sitting like this with a glass of juice on the ocean shore) can separate days of work that are not written about properly, and which someone may not like at all. Here, however, some people judge other people, their work, lifestyle by some snatched moments that reflect only a small part of a person's entire life.
It reminds me of an iceberg, when only the top is visible, and everything else is under water and the eye is not visible. For instance, downshifting, what they don't think about him, but in reality he can mean completely opposite ways of life. Hence, then, people get frustrated when they try themselves in the role of a blogger, traveler, or the same downshifter. Any term can be written on this list and it will not justify itself if a person's expectations were overestimated, or he bought only positive moments. As, they said in one film, happiness does not last for years, it lasts for minutes, but for the sake of these minutes it is worth living. So, if some goodies (money, work format, climate, sun, fruits, nature) «do» your day, it will be worth it. But you will have to check everything on your own skin..
P.S. Be healthy and work at your favorite job!