Behind the Blog: How Do You Divide Up The Work?

Update: We wanted to make sure you knew about our podcast interview over at Food Blogger Pro. In the interview we chatted about how to have a successful blog as a partnership. We explain how we started, how we work together as a team, and how we keep the working relationship healthy. Hop over and listen when you are done reading this post! 

This week we are walking through a Behind the Blog series to give you a picture of what happens behind the scenes at Thriving Home. Yesterday we responded to “How Did Thriving Home Start?”. Make sure to check it out!

One question we often get asked is “How do you have time to blog?” or “How does it work to co-blog with someone?” or “How do you juggle it all?” Hopefully after today’s post you’ll get a picture of how we have managed to divvy out all of the tasks and make it work for our lives.

How do you divide up the blog work?

(answered by Polly)

Blogging as a business is much more than writing. That’s why we’re so thankful to work as a team. In this post, we’ll explain more about our working dynamic and what it takes to keep the blog afloat.

One of the first things we discussed in our partnership is that life comes first before the blog. We agreed that we never want the blog to cause stress or be a burden to us or our families. That being said, there have been times that one of us carries the weight more than the other. We just try to communicate about upcoming busy seasons or plan ahead when one person might be MIA for a while.  So far it seems to have worked.

As far as when we get blog work done, that differs for both of us, based upon the season of life. Simply put–it’s a juggle for both of us!

We find odd times to work. One example is when Rachel was driving by my house and swung by for an impromptu meeting in her car. You can guess how productive that was. Haha!

We laugh because many, if not all, of our brief phone meetings end in “Uh oh, I gotta go!”, as we hear some kid crying or fighting with another.

We have gotten to a point where we both work about 15 hours a week on the blog. We also work on some evenings, as well. It’s quite normal for us to be chatting on the phone around 10 p.m. about something blog-related. Gotta use up that kid-free time!

Many people are exhausted by the idea of working at odd times or after the kids go to bed, but I can speak for both of us when I say we enjoy it! It’s a hobby and a creative outlet that I look forward to. Yes, there are evenings where I have no desire to blog and on those nights, I don’t. That’s one of the beauties of this job: it’s super flexible.

What the average reader may not know is there is so much more to blogging than actually writing a blog post. In the beginning days, we naturally fell into different roles that we were more gifted at. Later, it helped us to lay out some job descriptions, but we VERY often help each other out and cover each others’ tasks. We are all about team work. Here is what our current job descriptions look like:

Rachel:

• Apply for and work with affiliates
• Oversee ad networks
• Business Relationships
• Oversee Facebook/Twitter
• Payroll/Taxes
• Oversee Weekly Menu Plan

Polly:

• Graphic design & site design
• Weekly Email
• Edit photography as needed
• Oversee technical side of site/hosting
• Administrate and communicate with private sponsors
• Oversee store and verse card sales
• Oversee Pinterest/Instagram

Rachel & Polly:

• Generate blog content 2-3x per week
• Apply for/write sponsored posts that fit our blog
• Help develop products to sell in our e-store
• Network with other bloggers to sell products (i.e. verse cards)
• Recruit private sponsors

This is just a peek into what it looks like to blog as a business. Because we want to help anyone get started on the right track, we have created a fabulous packet of information that we know will be helpful to anyone considering blogging for profit. Swing by and check out our Blogging Basics: 15 Steps Towards Earning Income from a Blog.

Related:

Behind the Blog: How Do You Make Money?

Behind the Blog: What Do Your Husbands Think?

Behind the Blog: What Do you Want Readers to Know?