Over the last month, on my social media break (as much as work allows), I’ve noticed a few things. Things about my life that I completely missed in the non-stop app switch that is social media. Firstly, I’m not very satisfied with my life. I keep looking for meaning and coming up short. And yes, to be honest, it’s hard to tell if it’s general dissatisfaction or if I’m going through something. But the feeling remains.
And secondly, feeling good (making myself proud and doing what I want) has motivated me. And then, I started chasing the algorithm. Which algorithm might you be asking and concerning what? The short version is all of them and everything. From Google to Instagram, Twitter to Pinterest, I was creating and somewhat existing to tick a box. Except, the box was unclear at best or invisible at worst.
IRL and online, I was looking outside myself for that pat on the back that seemingly never came.
But I don’t want to do that anymore. I don’t want to spend the next 20+ years of my working life unfulfilled and ticking boxes. And that’s precisely why I work for myself to have the freedom to create and do what feels good to me, especially when it comes to this blog. But also when it comes to living my life. It has to be my number one priority; I’m no good to anyone if I don’t find a way to put my happiness first.
And so, with all this figured out, this thought keeps popping in my head. It taunts me that I should have got a handle on this stuff already. That I should know better and that I can’t seem to learn my lesson on this one. I’ve been here before when I’ve felt disconnected from my life and threw in the towel.
At various stages throughout my life, I’ve been here before. Sitting on the steps of my first real home here, wondering if the choices I’ve made are going to create a life for us or sink us. Wondering if I’m capable, worthy or deserving. Wanting so desperately to make it all work. Exhausted by the very prospect.
But I won’t beat myself up for stumbling at this point again.
And just so that we are all on the same page, I know now that it’s time to seek some help. So that I can maintain the life I want to live and see it through using tools I’m yet to learn. At this stage, I’m not sure how much of that process I’m going to document here, but I’m permitting myself to share what I want. To stop being afraid of upsetting someone or putting a foot out of place. And to say nothing when it feels like something that is mine.
It turned out, in the end, I’m still a blogger. After reading Austin Kleon’s book Show Your Work, I realised that instead of racking my brain week in and week out for what I hope people or algorithms want, I could share what I’m loving/doing/enjoying instead. I could document the process.
Which, if I had paid attention, some of you have been saying all along. Yet everyone says a blog can’t be successful unless you focus solely on giving the reader what they want. Make it entirely about them and what they need. But I won’t survive if I do it that way. I’ve always found an overlap between you and me; we often go through the same things.
Let’s hope this is one of those times you are happy to come along for the ride.
Some of you aren’t going to believe this. Maybe I’ve claimed a comeback one too many times. But I’ve been throwing around some ‘show’ ideas for the YouTube channel too. I’m 100% not sure if I can pull them off yet, but I thought, that’s also the sort of thing you guys may want to join me in figuring out. And speaking of comebacks. I decided that while I’ve enjoyed experimenting with my hair colour again, I miss the blue. It felt like me, and I miss it. So, with some effort from the team, it’s making a comeback.
I’ve been here before, questioning myself and my ideas. Back in May 2020, I would give the blog a bunch of my effort and see what results I could get. Make a decision then if blogging was still for me after all this time. It’s hard to confront that the only real skill I’ve spent any time developing in the past decade might be obsolete.
But in facing that head-on, I learned that there is still a living to be made in blogging. Yes, it means a few more ads or affiliate links when the occasions arise, but it also means the blog is a business. Worthy of time in my work week and not just being relegated to those exhausted moments at the side.
The funny part is that maybe you won’t notice a change.
Funny haha, I mean, not funny, strange. If you follow the blog or the socials, maybe it won’t feel that different. I don’t plan on changing the topics I blog about, nor do I plan to conform to some new schedule or content plan. My haphazard style of posting will probably continue to bump from where to buy guides to rants and back again. That may all look very familiar, and I’m okay with that.
Taking a social media break has allowed me to check in with myself in a way I haven’t done for a while. Not looking at those ‘doing more than me to figure out what it is for me to share, but asking myself what I want. Everything feels different for me now. That’s what matters, or should matter, for any of us.
How amazing is it that we live in a time when women can decide to start a business, blog or personal brand and do it for themselves? For the things that matter to them like time, freedom and space to dig deeper into what makes them tick? To side hustle or create and ensure that their finances are their own. I’ll never forget how empowering it was to find, inspect and buy my own car. I imagine that feels a world away from women unable to open bank accounts without husbands or enter public bars.
The quiet of being without other people’s opinions or their fears allowed me the space to hear my own voice. To stand on my own two feet and ask the questions of myself that I hadn’t taken the time to ask in too long. What do I want? Am I happy? Why do I do what I do, and is there anything else I’d rather be doing?
The answer is I’m right where I want to be, with room to grow and options to explore. I’m a writer, a photographer, a blogger and a creative. And, since I saw my first magazine with pages of glossy advertisements, I’m a marketer. So it’s time to stop questioning all of that and start doing.
I’m back from my social media break and ready to roll.
If you’ve spent any time on Pinterest in the past year, you would have noticed the increase in ads from a certain non-diet diet company. My streams were bombarded, and despite reporting them as irrelevant or worse, they would still be there. It was not ideal, especially for a site called out for its problematic associations with eating disorder ideation in its early days. HuffPost covers the issues and their actions taken in 2012. But it seems the users weren’t the only ones feeling meh about the diet ads.
Well, it happened; Pinterest bans weight loss ads!
In a news post on their website, the company said it would also not allow ads promoting or discussing weight loss or weight loss products or ads referencing body mass index (BMI) or similar indexes. This policy came into effect July 1st, 2021, referencing a pathway to a weight-loss ad-free summer. Something that was suggested to them through their relationship with The National Eating Disorders Association. Here is the announcement post and some quotes from the article making the announcement.
Ads promoting healthy lifestyles and habits or fitness services and products will still be allowed, as long as they don’t focus on weight loss.
This policy change was developed with the guidance and advice of NEDA. “The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) applauds Pinterest for taking a leadership position as the first platform to prohibit all ads with weight-loss language and imagery. NEDA is encouraged by this necessary step in prioritizing the mental health and well-being of Pinners, especially those impacted by diet culture, body shaming, and eating disorders. We are hopeful this global policy will encourage other organizations and companies to reflect on potentially harmful ad messages and to establish their own working policies that will create meaningful change,” said Elizabeth Thompson, Interim CEO for the National Eating Disorders Association.
(Also taken from Pinterest news page)
source: Pinterest newsroom
In the Pinterest bans weight loss ads announcement article, Pinterest talks a lot about body neutrality. A move towards living and existing in a body that serves you and isn’t defined by how it looks or performs. This is something that I’ve been working towards for myself. A move that takes me away from the body positive movement that has become so co-opted and overrun. Instead, I’m moving towards something that frees me from this conversation entirely. Imagine that, a world free from discussions about the worthiness of bodies; what would be possible then?
Imagine being free from discussions about restrictions, diet pills, the newest fad diet or no-diet-diet or whatever it is being framed as. As women, predominately, imagine the time we would free up to discuss more of what matters to us. We would be free to discuss more of what collectively keeps us in our place. More of what we need and want without the restrictions of a culture focused on our bodies. I think about that all the time, how often we are controlled by this narrative of being attractive, small, or this generation’s version of perfect. What could we be doing instead?
This feels like a step in the right direction for me.
So, what do you think about Pinterest banning weight loss ads? Do you think diet ads should be banned on all social media sites? Pinterest has done it. And there are restrictions when it comes to weight loss on Facebook and Instagram. Is it time to pull the rug from under the diet industry and get back to a place where we treat each person and their body’s needs individually?
You want it, sure, but do you need it? You want it, sure, but do you need it? Are you looking to purchase a new iPad and comparing the iPad Pro to other versions of the iPad? Me too. One of the first comparisons I made when I purchased my iPad Pro last year was the iPad Pro* vs. Standard iPad. Especially when it came to the uses with the Apple Pencil. I was looking to replace my 2009 Macbook Pro for on-the-go type adventures. My Macbook Pro takes up over half the allowable weight for most checked luggage and therefore wasn’t going to work for any work travel-related goodness. I wanted a light, easy to manage and packed with features alternative, and the iPad was where I set my sights.
Part of me thinks that I should have got the new Macbook, but that is a different post.
I knew that I wanted to use the Apple Pencil, for that I blame numerous artist YouTube channels I watch. Despite not having any drawing talent and the worse handwriting known to humankind, I wanted to write. It felt old school, and I thought my love of lists would convert better to digital if I wrote them down. More on that later. So, my search started with iPads that could pair with the Apple Pencil. Easy, using it with the pencil narrowed down my choices to the regular iPad* and the Pro. (You can now access the pencil with the iPad Mini* too, more choices! I’m glad it’s not me).
From there, I dove into the rabbit hole of YouTube reviews, comparisons and unboxings. And that is when I believe the crazy kicked in. Not only did I see the reviews that said that the IOS still lacked in the whole use it as a computer thing, but I was unswayed. I learned the price of setting the whole thing up, and I made up my mind anyway. I was doing it. I got the iPad Pro* in the 12.9-inch screen size (From A$1,329) because go big or go home, I guess. Plus a keyboard case and the Apple pencil, of course. I was looking to replace a computer here.
And close to $3,000 later, the iPad pro was mine. Ouch.
As someone who spent the better part of four years working up to affording and justifying the iMac, that’s why I say that I feel like my senses left me. Did I need the 12.9-inch screen? No. Had I had an iPad before and found the lack of access to some websites I use for work limiting. Yup! But there I was going all-in when now I know that something a little more modest would have been fine. Better than fine, actually. This is usually my suggestion to anyone trying to decide between the two.
Even now, as I do more of my planning and note-taking on my iPad, a regular iPad (from A$499) would have been preferable, especially something a little smaller. The iPad Pro with the 12.9-inch screen is a two-hand job most of the time, so if you’re not so great at balancing or perching an item while you write, read or browse, go with a smaller option. While the larger screen is great when it’s attached to the keyboard case and masquerading as a laptop, I find it really hard to handle in that case to use the pencil. So, I have two cases, and when I’m doing pencil based tasks, I use the slimline flip case, and when I need the keyboard, I switch to the Logitec Keyboard.
Which yes, is just another expense and inconvenience.
But it’s not all bad news, not at all. There are soooo many functions of the iPad Pro that I don’t use. The impressive camera and the visually stunning display. There are new keyboards and trackpads available, and the software is being updated all the time. For me, it’s certainly an investment into what it can do rather than what I use it for now. At the moment, I’m ashamed to say it’s nothing more than a glorified planner. Would I repurchase it? No. But should you? Probably also no, unless you have bigger uses for it.
Yes, it’s easy to get caught up with the biggest and shiniest. But let’s get real, there is a huge price difference here. I’m not your Mum; I’m not going to tell you what to do with your money. But step away from the internet for a moment and really think about how and when you’ll use it. Think of the situation (including the fact the Pro will almost always need a surface) and what you need. Trust me, the comparables between the Pro and the standard version are pretty similar. Seriously, get what you can afford and don’t look back. There’s no wrong answer here.
That’s about it from me. I’m going to throw the iPad on charge and see what else I could be using it for. What do you think? Do you own an iPad or similar? Which version did you go with and why?
I’m not sure I know anyone who is against outfit repeating IRL; it seems like an influencer problem to me. That’s what I said to Ms Katy on her post about normalising outfit repeating. It sounds a little blunt, but you know what I mean. No one cares if you repeat an outfit. It’s sort of like normalising normal to call for the normalisation of outfit repeating. Of course, grown women wear and then re-wear the clothes they buy; it’s not a concern. But, from the responses, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe women who don’t blog feel the same pressures, so let’s talk about that.
Is not repeating an outfit something you worry about?
Me? I’m an outfit repeater. Always have been. I’m happy to wear pieces of clothing I like over and over until the time comes to replace them. Long before I had a blog where people would send me clothing for free, I paid for the clothes that built my style. The ones I loved and the ones I didn’t. The trial and error, trends and whims of fashion (as much as it was available to a fat girl at the time). And after a few years, I came out victorious!
I knew what I liked, and through blogging, often I could choose from new season items for the price of a picture or a blog post. Year after year, my wardrobe would split at the seams with even the carefully selected items. I considered the number of clothes I had reasonable, but compared to what I wear day in and day out, it was out of control.
I’ve talked about it beforetowards the very end of my official fashion blogging career. As someone others looked to when purchasing new items, I would receive frustrated messages from people who couldn’t buy what I was wearing. It was out of season or ever years old, and they would get annoyed at me for it. Sure, I get that. But instead of chasing the new thing, I urged people to build a closet of essentials they loved and be mindful of what they bought one season to another.
Outfit repeaters; I was building out and proud outfit repeaters.
I came to hate the waste of bundles of clothing that arrived for no other reason than to show me what was new. The PR emails from brands selling $10 t-shirts made under questionable circumstances. The demands from businesses who considered what I did to be so essential but somehow worth nothing. The pressure and demands of having or sharing what’s new or next. I’ve been part of it all.
Why? Well, new content is the beast that needs to be fed—having new clothes and photos, not repeating an outfit, for the sake of a blog or Instagram. And I started to say yes to whatever came my way to make it work. It’s something that I see happening to this day. What can you do when you post something new to your blog/Instagram every day of the week? Something has to give in the name content.
But it’s not real.
Step outside of that loop, and there are a few special occasions where people may feel they NEED new clothes. Want them, more likely. But then they get on with their lives. They are working with what they have, mixing and matches between pieces that would never all be the new season (unless a change in body or circumstance required it). I’m sure while there are times when you feel like you just can’t wear this old thing again, that you love the items you have and chose for yourself.
Especially as a plus-size customer. I know a lot of us who tend to keep special occasion dresses or outfit because finding something to wear when a big event is on can be impossible. For my brother’s wedding, I wore something that I’ve had for a while now. It worked, and not once did I give it a second thought; I liked it, I hadn’t found anything else I wanted to wear. Who was to know this wasn’t the first time I wore it. And I’ll tell you now, I will never let this dress go and there will never be a time that I wouldn’t wear it again happily.
I would hazard a guess that most of you reading this are outfit repeaters; happily, proudly and without considering it taboo. Good! That’s exactly what I want to hear. You know why? Because no one cares if you’re an outfit repeater. We all are, that’s the reality of having and owning clothing, of consuming responsibly and spending your money thoughtfully. The people I’m worried about are the ones who aren’t; message me, we need to chat.
…
Check out Katy’s original post and join the conversation on Instagram now.
We used to pick my nephew up from school on a Friday, and he would stay with us while his Mum was at work. Back at the start of March, with plans for a milk and cookies movie night, I bought the boxed ingredients for chocolate chip biscuit. We were going to make them together, so I thought I would keep it simple. Add stuff and stir – done and done.
But then self-isolation happened.
It was four or so weeks since we’d seen him and the biscuits were calling to me. I’ve been building my portfolio on some stock image websites as a way to earn a little side income from my photography. (Very little at this stage, let me tell you, haha). With the thought of capturing some photos as a “two birds with the one stone” thing, I baked the biscuits.
It turns out, while they would’ve been kid-friendly (super easy) they were more like biscuit cakes than cookies. I get that that is some people’s thing, but not me. I like my biscuits to be a little bit chewy, a little crunchy and a lot bendy rather than crumbly. I’m sure if I was more of a baker, I could have adapted the ingredients. But I’m not. There I was with cake-like chocolate chip cookies.
So, I photographed them anyway.
Why not. The biscuits look alright. Though chunky enough to disclose the cakiness for those of us who know what we want in a cookie. And while I uploaded the main set to stock image sites, I thought YOU might want to use some images during this stay at home period. I mean, people are baking stuff left, right and centre. Get on board. And that’s what I did.
If you click through to the free downloads page, you’ll see a link to the Dropbox folder to download the cookie images and a couple of others, I thought might come in handy. All the terms of use and that jazz are on that page too. It’s pretty basic; don’t worry about that. I hope you enjoy them; whatever you use them for. Now, excuse me while I head to Pinterest to find a decent chocolate chip cookie recipe for when my nephew is allowed to stay for sleepovers.
Download the failed cookie experiment images on the FREE DOWNLOADS page here.
Recently, I closed my MailChimp account. An account I had since 2011! 2011, team, do you remember the good old days? And if you receive the Suger News, you would know I switched to a new kid on the block, FloDesk. I’m going to talk a little more about it later, but first I wanted to let you know why I went looking for a replacement in the first place.
Now, to be fair, I’ve been with MailChimp for nine years. There was a lot to like about the platform, including a lot of the analytics and integrations. But after the integration with Shopify was ended and there have been issues with accurate tracking and sign-up form options. There wasn’t one specific reason that I decided to keep my eyes open for an alternative. A lot of little things; things that should work but don’t.
And the cost, which is always a problem when the bigger you get, the more expensive it is to keep your list. Plus, there are very few additional features or bonuses with your upgrades. When I spoke with my clients who use MailChimp about what they are paying and whether they believe it was worth the money, most had similar feelings to me. It seemed to work, and we hadn’t found better. Then I saw a tweet about FloDesk.
A little more about FloDesk
The tweet came from a fellow blogger who sells their book via their website. I knew immediately that it would work for me. That said, I haven’t done a lot recently with eBooks or Online Courses, but they are on my list for 2020. After a brief look around, I went about setting up the Suger News as a test. A couple of hours of work and I had three fully functioning lists with sign up forms and welcome series emails. I decided that night to shut down my MailChimp and bring my account over.
But that wasn’t all.
Soon I discovered how much easier it was to deliver PDF content directly through emails and found my way around the templates and analytics. Bit by bit, I wondered if my product-based business clients would benefit from how slick and easy to use it all was. So, I reached out and asked one of them if I could try the program for them. They were paying over USD 200 per month for their MailChimp subscription; we excited to try out something that might cost them only slightly more than that a year.
(with a sign-up code, see below, wink wink)
I warned them that I didn’t feel that we would get the same level of sales analytics. However, since we were tracking it through Google Analytics and the Shopify Dashboard that it was worth a look. They agreed and later that week we set them up and officially put their MailChimp account on pause. It only took two weeks of the new emails going out for them to decide to switch. We didn’t miss the analytics, and their brand fonts were already available as standard in the program (along with heaps others) making it simple to design everything from more straightforward sales emails to lengthy updates.
They too were sold on FloDesk.
And then, the final; example I have is from a friend who desperately messaged late one night saying she was at the end of her rope with MailChimp. She had written, designed and set up a free download around working from home that people were signing up for but it wasn’t delivering to them. Getting people to sign up and then not providing the content they signed up for is always a bad look. So, I jumped into her MailChimp to see if I could locate the issue. After some digging, a few tests and coming at the problem from every angle I knew to come at it from (she had probably tried them all herself too) I was stumped. It’s just one of those things that MailChimp sometimes does, I told her.
But if you want something fast, do I have the program for you!
And after some quick consideration, a play in the software, that night she set up her free download, sent an email to all those that hadn’t received it, and was back up and running. It was about that time that I thought I should sit down and write this post. After all, there are a lot of you that write a blog or have your own business. Maybe you’re battling it out with some out of date program that is too complicated for what you need or want also. So, here we are. For me, for the people I’ve talked about and a handful more, this has been a great solution. Maybe it will be for you too. Below the screenshots (provided in FloDesk as part of their Affiliate program, open to anyone with an account) I’ve put my link if you want to try it out.
If you want to sign up to FloDesk, I have an affiliate link. You will receive 50% off your subscription. Which makes it just $19USD per month no matter how big or small your list is. Want to see how it works? Create your account with that link to lock in the savings, and use the two-week trial. Check it out, let me know what you think. And if you read the Suger News, don’t you agree that we’ve been looking pretty flashy recently?
This is it! The time has come for the resurgence of the personal blog. Not that they were gone-gone or anything. But with the rise of the Insta-blogger, twitter-superstar and all the tween Tik-Tokers, blogging has been a little out-dated. Short, punchy and on platform updates seem to have taken the lead.
But not so much anymore.
In 2020, we have something to say. More than the Instagram caption will allow and more important than some algorithm deciding who will see it. On a personal blog, you can take your time, find your words, and deliver them to your audience without the interference of Zuckerberg et al.
It’s s resurgence. From the back of the dusty wardrobe, people are dragging out blogs, dusting them off, and sharing the things that matter to them. I’ve seen it with several accounts I follow. Some have done very well in the recent social media boom. A lot of them blogged before, some had stopped, and others are finding their way to a blog now. But whatever their path they all agree, the time is now.
And I couldn’t agree more.
I mean, to be fair, I’m pretty biased. Team blogger, that’s me. I’ve been in love with blogging since I published my first, tiny dinky post. And yes, I’m uniquely placed to be like, WOOOT, can’t wait. But I can’t ignore a trend towards people having space to voice their opinions and ideas; to share their story.
What’s better than that? Here on this blog, I am the boss. Sure there is still some reliance on social media to promote a post, but when it comes to subscribers (both blog and email), they hear from me because they asked to. No middle man. And certainly, no signing up only to be shown a post every week or two. My thoughts and ideas travel from me to you. The words (and images) are here just as you asked them to be.
Unfiltered. Uncensored. And most of all, unapologetically me.
That’s why I think that personal blogs will make a comeback in 2020. There are too many of us with something to say for it not to happen. I don’t know about you, but I feel like now is not the time to be quiet. To go quietly when they shut down our accounts or put us in some algorithm based sin-bin. Oh, no. NOW is the time to be heard. And I plan on taking advantage of that. How about you?
Well, it’s here. On this night, ten years ago, I discovered Blogger and an entire journey started for me. There were a number of attempts at naming the thing; I wanted something upbeat but not too wanky. Something about looking on the bright side or the positive side of life. Then, after a small spelling error, Suger Coat It was born. Right there, by the light of whatever movie I was watching, on the couch that we had bought with money from our engagement party. October 29th, 1901. We were in the Jasmine House then. A house we planned and built and thought we’d live in forever. Heck, even raise a family there. How times change, right?
It seems such a long time ago, especially as the teenage exchange student we had with us at the time just got married. It’s funny to see that amount of time pass, and yet, I feel like the same person. In a lot of ways, that isn’t accurate because I’ve grown so much. But, ten years, man. It passed so quickly. How has an entire decade passed since I wrote that very first post, anonymously, with an image pinched from Google Images?
Full disclosure, if you’re not into sappy walks down memory lane, you’re not going to be into what comes next.
This blog is home to an entire piece of my history. Our history, of the life we’ve built and the choices we’ve made that brought us here. And here is pretty great, let me say that. Good job twenty-something us, you did good, and we’re proud of you. Even better than that, to have those stories and memories live on the page is pretty special. Thought in a fit of madness a few years ago, I archived and removed a bunch of posts for goodness knows what reason. I miss them. Never do that, if you have a blog, take that from me.
Along the way, you have gotten to know us.
You came along in the early days as we tried and repeatedly failed to start a family. Those were some hard times that I found it so necessary to use my voice in. To say what was going on in my head out loud, to anyone who would listen — letting it out so I could move on. I don’t know how I would have gotten to through that before the blog. Blogs are great for that, for talking through something you’re going through. I’d highly recommend it for those needing an outlet.
Then along came the personal style thing. Something that it took me way too long to get started doing. I felt like I was someone who wrote words, not a fashion blogger (errr, they’re the same thing, for those playing at home). And not only that, it felt crazy to call me a fashion blogger. I live in a rural area, at the time, my budget was super limited, and I sure as heck wasn’t thin and perky. I resisted hard. But in the end, here we are. I’ve even had a few pieces of clothing named after me by some of my favourite brands. I mean, who didn’t recognise the Suger Tee Dress as right up my ally!
You’ll notice I still call it a plus size fashion and lifestyle blog. Fashion didn’t seem to fit; pun intended.
Along the way, I’ve blogged about pretty much anything that has interested me. Personal style and confidence being the centre of a lot of my writing when I saw the way women, in particular, plus size women were talking about themselves and their bodies. But that wasn’t the half of it. We talked about social media and blogging, lifestyle stuff and I cooked a lot, once back in the day. That’s all here too. It was truly a personal blog. Something that over the years would become known as a lifestyle blog. Emphasis on doing life MY style. Haha.
We were right there, in what was the golden age, at very least the coming of age, of Australian blogging. Along the way, we figured out how to work with brands and monetise our blogs. There were no rules, so we made them up. Together, the Australian Blogging Community came together to ensure that these communities we had built were stronger with collaborations and fair pay for the work we were doing. We would talk to each other about rates and opportunities in the interest of ensuring we were all being treated fairly. We would welcome new bloggers to the fold, celebrating their wins when things took off. It was a community of people supporting each other.
Or that was the intention.
Sometimes I wonder how we ended up so far from there. Or as far as it seems unless you go looking for things like blog link-ups and Facebook Groups filled with bloggers who, like me, still love to make stuff for the internet. We’re there in the influencers with millions of followers on platforms that weren’t even around when we started. We held meetups and workshops, attended conferences and events; not just for what we could get but to be part of it all. To see friends and make new ones. To share the room with other people who made stuff for the internet and cared about how Google Analytics worked!
And a lot of us are still here. Because whether it’s 5,000 readers a day, 500, 50 or 5, we have something to say. Give us a blank page, and we’ll be right where we need to be, saying the things that we have always needed to say to somebody. There have been many times over the past few years that I wondered why I kept blogging. Why when I couldn’t see my place in the industry anymore nor bring myself to care about things ‘they’ said I should. But I know now that I do this for me. I don’t mind if it never looks like it did before, as long as the opportunity is there. And please don’t tell me it’s on TikTok, I’m too old for that new-fangled kid’s app.
The blog life chose me, what can I say?
You’ve also gotten to know Kel. Please know I’m sorry I ever referred to him as Hubby. I don’t know WHAT I was thinking. You know that Kel loves to find himself in odd situations and on fun adventures. The stories of him taking my outfit photos, digging up our yard or renovating our dining room allowed me to share him with you too. He has enjoyed it; the original Instagram Husband (unofficially, we didn’t start that phrase, we’re not that O.G.). The way he still tells everyone he meets about my blog will never get old. He’s proud, and so he should be. It’s not just me who’s done this. He’s given a lot to this blog, and it’s as much his as it is mine.
So, today we celebrate. I’m not sure how and where, but there are glasses to be raised. Around this time last year, I tried to imagine what I would organise for today. In the end, it snuck up on me. Sorry, team. I’ll come up with a way to thank you all too, soon. Until then, all suggestions are welcome. But again, especially if you made it this far, thanks for being here. For the support and love, this blog has received in the past ten years. For all the comments and shares and the times you have reminded me who I am; thank you!
As far as being on social media goes, I consider myself pretty balanced. I work a lot online and over the years have developed ways to manage the distractions of notifications and the draw of new posts. For those playing at home, I use MUTE a lot. Like, a lot a lot. Haha. But ultimately it all works because I have a system that works, so I work with it.
But when it comes to my phone, I’m a bit of a nightmare.
Prone to flicking between apps mindlessly, I can pass hours doing nothing at all. Which can be a form of downtime or decompression for some, but it’s not for me. I ended up a bit twitchy and on edge for no other reason than social media comparison and burn out. Not ideal. My mind is often running at a million miles an hour. This sort of split and interrupted focus is a nightmare for me. And to be honest, it’s become a compulsion, and I’m not into it.
So, a few months ago, I decided to get mindful about how I use my phone for social media. I still check emails, text messages and calls the same way; the socials would be my focus. Primarily Facebook, Instagram and the Facebook Pages app with some emphasis on Twitter and YouTube. I would be excluding apps like UNUM and Buffer because I use them for post scheduling and planning for myself and client accounts. Ultimately, reducing the total hours using my phone was the primary goal.
The plan, Stan.
My plan to kick things off was to make sure my data usage tracker was on. With an iPhone, this is built-in, but I’m sure if your phone doesn’t have one included there would be apps for that. I wanted to know the time I was spending on the apps and how many pickups a day, which can be LOTS if you’re not paying attention. Have a second doing nothing, what do you do? I know what I do, I reach for my phone. Then I put it down, resume what I was doing slightly more distracted than before, and it happens all over again in another 5 minutes.
It was my goal to reduce these times/pickups a little each week. I knew this would help with overall hours of content consumed as well as breaking my concentration. The strategy was simple; I would set my phone aside, out of reach more often than not, and only pick it up when I had something to do. This alone saw my daily pick up average go from (don’t judge me) 97 pick up average to more like 60. Which, for a start, was decent enough, but there was room to go even lower. Don’t you think?
That’s what I thought!
So, my next step was to make my phone a little bit more unavailable so I could get on with what I was doing. If I were in the house, I’d leave it in the kitchen instead of taking it to the lounge where it stared at me from the coffee table. If I was in my office, it sat on my desk out of direct sight. I was working with the out of sight, out of mind theory. And it made a huge difference, and I started to notice that I wouldn’t get that ‘urge’ to pick up my phone as often. And when I did, I quickly realised that I had no reason to go out of my way to get it, to flick through apps and go back to what I was doing.
From here it became effortless to do things like leaving it at home, or in the car, when we went to family dinners or out for the night. Usually, Kel would still have his phone on him, so I knew if I were needed, I’d be able to be found. But, let’s face it, how often these days are we ACTUALLY needed that urgently by someone? I get urgent emails and messages all the time that could easily wait for the morning or business hours. It has become easier to untether myself from my phone, rather than retrain other people to respect my boundaries.
The takeaway habits
Mainly, that the world doesn’t end if you’re not checking on it every five minutes. There are times when I’ve come to a message or email later than I would have before. But never TOO late. I think too often we make excuses around being contactable that don’t apply anymore. I had to get real with myself; was I carrying my phone to be in contact with the world or as some kind of downtime buffer? We talk about the attention span of children, and I think we need to turn that spotlight back on ourselves.
When you add up the hours, the days and then compound them into weeks and months, we are wasting our lives here. That was a big takeaway for me, and I love social media. But scrolling through your phone a couple of times a day to admire the things being writing and created and shared is one thing. The way I was doing it, and I dare say some of you ARE doing it, is a waste.
Why are you flicking through the same apps when there is a world to explore and stuff to do?
Why do we do that? Is it a FOMO thing? I know for me it feels similar to not wanting to miss a day of school in case things change. As an adult, I don’t want it in my life. My social media, via my phone, isn’t something I want to be tethered to like a toddler on a leash. It’s here to give me access to the people I love and work and creators that inspire me. And even now, after being more aware of how I use my phone, it’s not always something that inspires or motivates me. I need to stop looking for those things on a screen and listen to myself more; to my life and nature and family more.
Maybe these things are universal, or perhaps they are just me. But I thought, maybe it would be fun to talk about the things you should know about working for yourself. I’m a veteran now, basically. I’ve been back full-time working for myself for a year. And in some way or another, I’ve been doing my own thing since I was 21 years old.
Though, at 21, I SUCKED at it, just quietly.
But now, let’s have some fun. I’m here to shed some light on what it looks like to work for yourself. Hopefully, you should know about working for yourself that will make the transition or life as you know it easier. Working for myself includes working at home. And even though I have a designated and slightly separate from my house office, it comes with its own distractions. Lord help me, if I were working inside my house or in the lounge where I sued to work, it would be free for all. This brings me to ‘thing’ number one;
You should know that you’ll get really into doing the dishes.
If you work from home, like me, all of a sudden, every dish to be washed and every pile of laundry to be folded will suddenly become irresistible. Your home will become the procrastination station, and this includes those tasks or chores you haven’t done in five years but are now suddenly essential! By the way, did you see my new outdoor area and recycling sorting bins? (see, exactly). While it can be easy to resist these things and call them out for what they are, I find now that it’s easier to do them. Want to do the dishes and put on a load of washing? Go ahead. In the end, it might cost you 10 minutes or so, but resisting will cost you longer. But make sure you call a spade a spade; what you’re doing here is procrastinating. Maybe ask yourself why THAT is. You know, while you’re loading those dishes…
You should know that motivation is a flighty bitch.
Let me tell you, you can’t wait on motivation to show up when you work for yourself. Know that motivation won’t show up when needed but instead will visit at THE most inopportune times. Think middle of the night, in the coffee line or just as that Netflix series you’ve been waiting all week to sit down and watch gets good. To some degree, you have to go with it. But on the other hand, you have to set boundaries around your work time and have ways to bottle that motivation for you to use later. The most important thing is not to be too hard on yourself. It’s hard to work on command when you’re the only one giving orders. It’ll take time; give yourself space.
You should know that you’ll never really feel like you’ve got it all together.
My business is pretty impressive when you look at it on paper. We work with some big companies and have great success with the regular clients we work with (life update blogged here). I still love the work, and the small team of people I have around me (not literally, digitally) are so fun and easy to work with. But even then, I have a hard time feeling like I’ve got it all together. Maybe that’s one of those goals that you never officially realise (or should stop chasing), but it’s true. Good as it gets, and as impressively smoothly it operates from the outside looking in, expect to feel (at times) that you have no idea what you’re doing or how it even works. But just get dressed and show up; no one has it all together, so you’re in good company.
You should know that not everyone will pay on time.
I hate to be Debbie Downer on this one, but you should allow for the people who pay late when you’re estimating your income. Make some allowance for those who won’t pay you at all. I’ve had this happen before – when I could least afford it too. It happens, and we do what we can to prepare for it. Sound practices are a start; don’t be afraid to ask people to pay when they said they would, get deposits for larger projects or have service agreements drawn up and signed (a leg to stand on if you have to sue them). But also, save a little more than you need to as a buffer. Be prepared for less income than expected to account for longer payment terms or to have to shake the tree. While people will pay you on time in a perfect world, it just doesn’t work that way. Be prepared; no one wants to come up short and cannot pay those who do work or supply to you.
You should get good advice and know enough to take it!
When I started my first business, the best thing I did was go to an accountant that specialised in small businesses. The stupidest thing I ever did was ignore his advice (on and off) for over a decade. I mean, young and dumb doesn’t cover that. I thought he didn’t understand MY business or what MY goals were, but really, I was a brat. Business is business and when you find someone who has proven themselves with experiences to be worthy of listening to, do yourself a favour a try to do it. I should have been saving 20%-30% of my income for taxes etc. But did I? Of course not. Did I keep my business and personal expenses separate? Pfffft, who has time for that. Not doing these small things (in the past, I learned THAT lesson) led to a whole heap of problems that could have been avoided if I just listened to the expert I was paying to advise me. Find good people and ask for their advice, and then, take it! Trusting your gut will only take you so far, and usually to places you’ve already been before.
You should know that you are not alone, even when it feels like you are.
Oh man, some days when I look at my computer screen, steaming coffee in hand and emails piled up, I feel like I haven’t spoken to anyone in days. And sometimes, that literally happens. But you should know that you aren’t alone. Others are doing what you do, and the internet is an amazing place to meet them. I feel like some one-on-one interaction (I call it using up my word count!) take a fitness class, do a workshop or head to a cafe to work and say hi to strangers. Ask a friend for coffee or lunch, call a family member or do whatever it takes to feel connected again. Do the things in my how to lift your mood post, whatever it takes. Working for yourself, especially at home, can be like living in a bubble. So, get out more.
You should know that the perfect schedule doesn’t exist.
Trust me; I’ve tried to find it. Haha. I’ve got a pretty good daily routine at the moment, but if I’ve learnt one thing in the past year, it’s that best-laid plans ALWAYS go to shit. Haha. This means that I never leave things until the last minute (because Murphy’s Law says that when things will go wrong), and I always leave space in my schedule for other things to pop up. I love working for myself. After all, it means I can be available to my family when they need me and take naps in the afternoon because it makes me feel good. Don’t get too focused on having ‘the perfect day that you forget why you do this in the first place. Maybe your perfect schedule is a five-point to-do list that you get done when you feel like it? Sound okay? Good news, you get to decide.
And most of all, you should know that your best is good enough.
If you’ve made a mistake or tried and failed, I want you to know that your best WAS good enough. I come across this concern so often working with businesses and on my own business. You can’t always get it right, and worrying about getting it wrong has stopped many people from doing anything at all. Done is better than perfect. And in my books, saying you’re sorry, you made a mistake, or you’ll do better next time is more effective than never having tried. The right people will support you in developing and growing yourself and will never ask for more than your best effort. This doesn’t mean you should be slacking off and doing things half-assed – I would never give you permission to do that. But as the old saying goes, when you know better, you can do better, and I work to that all the time. Always improving and getting better, but learning (after all this time!) that part of that is not knowing or sometimes falling short. If you tried, and especially if you gave it your best, that’s enough. (FOR NOW, haha).
And that’s my list!
Allow me to finish by saying, you, my friend, are fantastic. If you’ve made this leap or are planning it, you’re already a rock star in my books. I know the freedom and joy that doing your own thing can bring. I’m so proud of you for giving it a shot. But, the flipside of that is that we adventurous types can be hard to please. We tend to beat ourselves up or expect way more than someone else would ever expect from us. Try not to do that, okay? Yes, there are plenty of serious things you should know or do, like taxes or metrics or reporting, but in the end, the most important thing is how you’re doing. Check-in with yourself, and I guarantee the rest will fall into place.
Images by Renee Shae Photography for her Big & Boss brand – Renee is a Brisbane based photographer specialising in branding photography and headshots.
Having a work from home daily routine isn’t something I planned on. I was pretty casual about such things. But I’ve been working for myself for a while now, so it was time, right? I left my job almost a year ago, and I’ve been working for myself full-time ever since. It’s been the best! Seriously, I’m glad I leapt when I did. And if I were someone who wondered what if, I’d wish I did it sooner. The first few months involved many afternoons spent in the spa, soaking up the sunshine or napping. Then it was summer, and we ALL know how I am during summer; sunshine, naps and cocktails (see the theme here).
I call this the recovery period.
That said, I think it would be crazy to talk about my current routine without acknowledging that I gave myself plenty of time to settle into it. I’d been working hard; some rest was required. If you’re new to working for yourself or working from home, give yourself a grace period. Time to recover from whatever came before is important.
From there, I’ve settled into a routine that works for me – productivity-wise, as well as being in communication with and available for my client’s and their digital marketing schedules. Of course, there is some variation, but I’m a creature of habit. I like to know what I’m doing and preferably when, so a daily routine works for me. I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself if it’s not your thing; all of us are different. You do you, boo.
Let’s get into my work from home daily routine, shall we?
Mornings
I’ve learnt that I work better in the morning. It’s too easy to be distracted by ALL THE THINGS in the afternoon, so I focus on getting my work done first thing. The essential stuff or items with deadlines, anyway. This sees me in my office around 7 am with a coffee in hand and breakfast in my belly. After taking it into the house the night before, I’m usually returning my pencil case, a few notebooks, and a refilled water bottle to my desk.
As part of what works for me, I run an A4 page to-do list that I continue to add to or cross things off until I either use up the page or bugs me. The first thing I do is check my emails for news from my team or clients and add any new notes or work to the list. Nothing makes me happier than seeing those things get crossed out at the end of a productive stretch of work.
Around mid-morning, when the sun starts to hit me in the face, I take a break. There’s usually more coffee or a fresh bottle of water. Around this time, I might post to my Instagram story, queue up my shows on YouTube or reply to comments on the socials. After that, I usually eat something and reply to text messages or emails that have come in during the few hours I’ve been working. Then I get back to work on the stuff on my list.
Lunch
After my mid-morning break, I find that it’s usually after 1 pm before I get hungry again and the kitchen starts to call. Within the hour, I’m in the house making lunch and tidying the kitchen as I go. It can be easy to get distracted by the state of your house when you work from home, but I find that I can ignore almost anything if the kitchen is clean and tidy, the dishes are stacked in the dishwasher, and I know what is happening for dinner.
Moving forward, I would like to incorporate a walk or a swim either before or after lunch. Exercise is something that has been pushed aside a bit in the last year or so. And as someone who thrives on activity and moving my body, this doesn’t work for me. But I have space here to do it, so hold me to it, okay? Ask me about my walk or swim next time we’re chatting. I can’t keep spending 12 hours a day slumped over a screen. Must improve.
Afternoons
I have a thing for afternoon naps. Give me 45 minutes to rest and recharge, and I’ll take it. Some days that is exactly what I’ll do. Other days I sleep for hours, and some I don’t sleep at all. I’m learning to go with it and do what I need to do. Getting back into the office in the afternoon refreshed, that’s my go-to plan; lunch, nap, crush all the things.
We work with a lot of businesses that are heavily involved in email marketing, most with bi-weekly marketing emails (EDMs) as a minimum. That means afternoons are usually spent checking EDMs, checking sales figures and tweaking content plans and advertising as required. Some days this alone can take all afternoon and into the evening. Other days, it leaves time in my work from home daily routine to either get back to my list or deep dive into my emails or reporting.
That said, I tend not to work on the creative or ideas side of things in the afternoon. It’s not that I’m not capable, but I certainly have to force things a little more in the afternoons. Sometimes I book client appointments or meetings in the afternoons, but it’s usually a good time for the grunt work of my business. The invoicing, connecting with the team, book-keeping and all that essential, but certainly not flashy, stuff. By 5 or 6 pm, I’m looking to be out of my office and back in the house preparing for dinner or watching classes, courses or more youtube.
Evenings
Dinner in our house is a bit of a hit and miss type affair. Often Kel works late or drops in on friends and clients later in the afternoon or evening. So it would be unusual to see him at home before 6 pm. Sometimes this means that I’ve eaten and have settled in for a movie or scroll through the socials when Kel gets here. A bonus of not having kids is that our nighttime routine, our entire afternoon really, is way more casual around here than it would be for parents.
Part of my new work from home daily routine is that I prefer to log off when I leave my office. Sometimes I’ll post an image to Instagram or share something fun with Facebook. But there’s no work after I leave the office, and mostly I stick to it. Kel uses evenings to do quotes for his business, so it used to be pretty standard for us to be working. But doing things this way makes me wake up fresher and ready to get started if I don’t work into the night.
And then, this.
I like to work on weekends when my inbox is quieter. For better or for worse, it works for me. Kel is heading out to do the same most of the time, so it doesn’t feel strange to spend a few hours in the office. I use this time to wrap up the week or plan for the next one. You’ll usually find me starting a new page for my list on the weekend while admiring what a productive human I am.
But there’s no ‘admin stuff’ on the weekends if I can avoid it. I like to get creative and work on my blog or content for the most part. And yes, I know you’re wondering where that content has been, but I did say for the most part. Haha. Lately, we have onboarded three new clients; my weekends have been used to get them sorted.
But NORMALLY…
On a Saturday morning, I like to write my Suger News email. It is a review of my week and what I’ve been dealing with or learning. Sunday mornings, I have some fun with my photo or video editing for my youTube channel, content planning or writing. Then, I play music, courses or classes in the background, pump up the volume on some great tunes and get into the groove of making stuff. It’s the best.
When I think about it, I should probably get out more, but to be honest, this is what I’m into right now. It’s where I want to be and what I want to be doing; until that changes, I’m okay with my business also being my hobby. Right now, it’s fun, I feel good, and while I do need to do some work on the systems in my business being more streamlined, I’m good. I can’t argue with that!
There you go, team! If you have any questions about my work from home daily routine, leave them below. Want to know more about one aspect or another? Ask away. And with all that said, I’d love to hear about YOUR daily routine. What’s working for you?
Maybe you’re wondering why I haven’t commented on the Nike mannequin and the resulting shit show on the internet. ARE you wondering that? I know some of you have sent me links and articles or tagged me in your mentions. So why haven’t I had my say yet? Why haven’t I posted MY Nike activewear selfie yet? 🤔🤔🤔
Weight is not a behavior.
Body size is not a lifestyle.
BMI is not an indicator for health.
And health is not a pre-requisite for respect.
— Trust Your Body Project (@Whitneycatalano) June 11, 2019
The fact that people go out of their way to tear down plus size mannequins wearing activewear just goes to show that people don’t give a damn about a fat person’s health. They just don’t like fat people. pic.twitter.com/7gmyLcdDUg
Wonder no more because I’m here to clear a few things up! Firstly I’m not surprised. There was no shock for me that people piled on or that it became such a big story. I live in a fat body every single day. Sometimes I share photos of that body on the internet. I know how it looks out there for us.
But post after post comes out denouncing this conversation about our bodies like we don’t know they hate us. We do. Believe me, we 100% do. And I know some of you might be surprised that’s still the case, you tried so hard to fit what they wanted you to be. Or you see women with hourglass figures on the runway or in magazines and think the problem is solved.
It’s not.
Not while there is an acceptable and a not acceptable body. Not while people feel so free to comment and critic a stranger (or in this case a piece of plastic). Even go so far as to make up a fake medical history for that plastic based on fear and learned prejudice. We are never going to be good enough for them. That’s why living our lives without thought or concern for them is such a victory: we, the unacceptably fat. The ones who SHOULD try harder, eat less, exercise more or get the surgeries. But dear lord, don’t sully the Nike brand doing (right, faceless internet?)
That’s why it’s not about thin women or brands whoring products under the body positive banner; Body Positivity is a movement shifting the prejudices people live with every day in their relationships, jobs and especially access to basic unbiased health care. Not about how many likes your underwear selfies can garner, your stretch marks or cellulite or if you can prove you move your body enough to be worthy of being left alone. It’s life and death for some people, try to keep that in mind next time.
I worry about the lack of emotion it stirred in me to see those words, targeted to shame and humiliate us.
Maybe I’m broken, I wondered? Did they finally push me over the edge into nothingness? Am I resigned to my fate in this world? But I’m determined that that not be the case. Perhaps after all this time, I don’t care what they think. Or more accurately, I don’t believe that ‘their’ opinion, filled with blatantly faux concern for fat people’s health, is more valid than my own. I know what my body does and doesn’t do. What it feels like and, when I can access adequate health care in an equally biased system, what my health is like.
And none of that, my ability to fit or perform in whatever category, changes for one second that I am a person. A person who deserves respect, or at very least, to be allowed to exist without hate and bigotry being my daily experience. That seems fair, right? I should be able to have that. Then why is it so sooooo hard?
