August is always one of those strange months isn’t it? Despite what you’re doing – working part-time, full time or if you’re a stay-at-home parent – come August everything is thrown into disarray.
That’s certainly the case in the Wright household anyway. The beauty of working for myself is that I get to join the family on days out and trips away.
When I worked full time as editor of a national magazine, I would miss out on these opportunities and creating family memories, so I count my lucky stars that I can finally join the rest of the Wright clan in enjoying summer.
The website went from strength to strength last month, so much so that I ended up being at number 12 in the HIBS chart – my best rating to date! As I thought, this was short-lived and I’m now back up to 25, but it was great while it lasted!
So things blog-wise have moved slowly this month, but I’m hoping they pick up a little in September. I need to get myself a schedule that I can put up on the wall and stick to it to help guide me through the days and weeks. I’ll be able to look at it without having to remember what I need to do – a blog post here or there, magazine press days, Britmums’ blog posts etc… in fact, I think everyone could probably benefit from some sort of schedule. I just worry that once I start to write down the things I have to do, I won’t stop!
Collaborations
Because I took on a few blogging assignments in July, I knew the beginning of the month would be a busy one for me – tricky when you’re juggling kids and mini staycations, but I managed to agree to a couple and brought in a tidy little sum of £400.
Who I met
It was lovely to arrange to meet Alex from Living Pretty Happy in London. When I spoke to a good friend of mine recently, she was intrigued as to how I managed to meet and make friends with Instagrammers.
Of course we’re all real people behind the squares and I explained that there are people I tend not to follow (those I don’t have anything in common with mainly!) and align myself with positive, happy people – people who are doing good, have nice things to say, tend to look on the bright side (but are realistic) AND either love travel, interiors or can just laugh at themselves. People like me.
I think we’re all attracted to people that we see a little of ourselves in aren’t we? Not sure it works so much for VIP and I – we couldn’t be more different I think. Still, Yin and Yang and all that…
Back to Alex – we ended up hooking up in Covent Garden and then walking over to see Wayfair’s pop-up shop in Soho, followed by lunch at Brewdog.
It was a lovely day out – really enjoyed it and Alex is definitely my kind of girl. I think she’s going to the Borderless blog event in September, so hopefully we’ll catch up again then.
Epic fails
Well, had you seen me delete the sub-heading of ‘vlogging’ on this blog post, then you’ll know that I had planned to post a video this month, but failed miserably.
It wasn’t for the want of trying though – I genuinely did take some footage this month, but it’s just a case of assigning time to edit it and that’s where I went wrong. Still, I’m not beating myself up about it – it’s just one of those things.
Blog learning
I recently came across an app called StoryPop which is a templates and collage editor. You can set the mood of your Instagram and snapshot stories with unique templates – and the great thing is – there’s more than 70 free templates to choose from, with more being added weekly. Worth checking out to offer something a bit different to everyone else!
Income report
The side hustle (a monthly community/lifestyle magazine that I launched in March with my business partner) has had its second most successful income this month – great given that we didn’t make many sales calls!
We managed to withdraw £450 each, which is always lovely to be able to do – but we’re aiming to be back on top of our game in September – touch wood.
Other income streams in October:
- JustPark £47.04 (I rent my driveway for parking and also use JustPark for when I’m visiting hospitals, town centres, stadiums, airports etc) here’s £10 to get you started!
- Top Cashback: As I bought a few goodies online in August – including a toilet seat, new cloakroom taps, some hospital mattresses (that’s another story – or rather, blog post) and a school reading book, I earned back £13.17 in FREE cash for shopping online! Check it out for yourself
Total August Income: £910.21
Out and about
I didn’t plan to attend any blogging events this month – and good job. I’ve been to Margate twice on mini staycations, Dorset and Maidstone for overnight stays, plenty of day trips and ended up in hospital with an infection.
Sometimes, life just gets in the way of achieving things – but this month I seem to have been able to predict that it would – and steered clear of making any other commitments.
I have however signed up to attend BorderlessLive in early September – described as “A festival fused with a conference and exhibition for aspiring and established content creators and influencers..”
Needless to say I’ll be reporting on how it went in my September blogging month!
August Blogging Month At A Glance
What was great? Publishing more blog posts than in July!
What wasn’t? My lack of video production/editing.
Goals for September: Get my schedule (and mojo) back!
20 comments
I have had a brilliant month blogging wise in August, whereas the rest of the year has been awful. Fingers crossed it carries on
Fantastic to hear Kara, that’s great! I’m keeping everything crossed the success continues…onwards and upwards! xx
August is always a strange one for me too, I barely made any month in August but you did really well.
If it’s any consolation Anosa – my August is usually pretty pants too – especially with the summer holidays! I think the success was a bit of a one-off and some luck thrown in for good measure!
It was great to meet you in person too Lauretta – such a fun day out, feels like I’ve known you for ages even though that was the first time we actually met. So inspired by what you’ve managed to achieve this August (plus fitting in time for fun mini-breaks too!) I wish you an even better September and look forward to catching up with you at Borderless xx
Yes I agree Alex! And it was great to see you again at Borderless….we could just talk all day couldn’t we?! Really pleased we hooked up and I look forward to the next time! XX
It sounds like you had a really productive month considering August is supposed to be so quiet. I hope you’re feeling better now.
Thank you Jennifer – I certainly am…good days and bad days but mostly good! 🙂
Well done on still managing a good income. I had heard that august would be quiet but I have found it to be crazy busy which I really wasn’t planning for with four kids at home!
You’ve done incredibly well Laura and should be really proud of yourself. Managing running a blog is hard enough, but with 4 kids go contend with – that’s practically impossible. Put it this way, I’d be useless!
Well done on getting a decent income from your side hustle this month despite not many sales calls – that’s a great achievement!
I really think it was a one off Rebecca – I’d love to try and replicate it of course, but realise that I need to put in much more work if I want to pull in some more profit.
August sounds like a great month for you. I took a step back from my blog as I wanted to take some time off and enjoy family time.
That’s a really good idea Jenny – and a sound move. You can’t beat family time – something I’d like to do more of too.
Sounds like you’ve had a productive month. I’m going to Borderless Live too, I’ll definitely say hello if I see you there. I’ll be the super short girl, haha.
I’m the super short girl too – so we can be super short together! ha ha! Let’s hope it’s a great event Kacie and we get a lot out of it xx
I’m also a blogger and I really want to start meeting up with other bloggers and attending events, I’m just too shy at the moment :/
Ah Claire – once you do it once or twice you’ll find it much easier. What you could possibly do is arrange to meet another blogger beforehand and then go together – strength in mumbers!
I hope you’re feeling better now after your visit to the hospital. I’ve been reading about how slow August can be especially on the financial side of things. I think I’ve once read that it even affects the stock market.
Thanks very much Hannah – I didn’t realise that August had such an effect – but it’s made me feel better that’s for sure! Thanks for reading x