Side Hustle Ideas: How to Balance Blogging with a 9-to-5 Job

Every side hustle, including a side blog, will require you to make the most of every spare minute you have per week. That can be exhausting. With organization and a few sacrifices, however, it is possible to balance blogging with a 9-to-5 job until your blog becomes your only job.

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You hate your 9-to-5 job. I get it. Or maybe you don’t hate your current job, but you don’t feel valued enough or don’t make as much money as you need to. I get it, too.

You’ve been frantically researching side hustle ideas. And it seems like starting a blog is the best option. After all, as blogging has low investment costs, you can start your own business even on a tight budget. 

Also, any 20-minute breaks throughout your days are welcome to keep your blog moving forward.

Related: This Is How Many Hours Bloggers Work Per Week

On the other hand, if your goal is quitting your 9-to-5 job to become a full-time blogger, you’ll need some patience.

To grow a blog until it generates a full-time income, you need to invest in learning SEO. After that, keep in mind that blogging is 2 to 3 years of hard work until it starts paying off.

So you’ll have to learn how to balance blogging with your 9-to-5 job until blogging becomes your only job – but with a much lower workload than a 9 to 5.

Read on for the best 7 tips on how to run a blog while working a 9-to-5 job.

#1 Never forget your whys while still doing the 9-to-5 job

You decided to balance blogging with a 9-to-5 job because you had specific goals. Hence, never forget them – because you will have hard days. Days in which discouragement, fatigue, and laziness will test your motivation.

We never think about those days when we are making plans for the future, excited about our new side hustle. But everyday life can be extraordinarily exhausting, especially when we have a full-time job and a side hustle to run.

Some days, you’ll be sitting in front of your laptop feeling mentally exhausted. You’ll wonder why you’re working double if you haven’t started to see any side money yet. So, more than ever, you’ll have to remember why you started balancing blogging with a 9-to-5 job.

One thing that can help you in these days of discouragement is having a journal or even a folder on your laptop or phone containing things that inspired you to start. It could be some notes with plans for the future or interviews with bloggers who were in your shoes before they succeeded. It could be reminders that the sacrifices you’re making have an expiration date or even photos of a property you want to live in in the future when you’re making enough money from your blog.

#2 Plan and organize your tasks ahead to save more time for your side hustle

I confess I’m not the biggest fan of stopping to plan every minute of my day. But I admit that this is the only way to make things happen.

Time management is of utmost importance to balance blogging and a 9-to-5 job.

It doesn’t matter if, at first glance, it seems impossible to juggle all your blogging-related tasks with your 9-to-5 job and your personal and household responsibilities.

With organization and planning, anything is possible! 

What you need to do is first set your priorities. That is, list all your weekly tasks and cut out what is not absolutely necessary. (But remember that breaks to rest and take care of your mental health are absolutely necessary, okay?)

Then you need to control your anxiety and impatience related to your blog’s growth. 

I understand that you want to make the most of your blog in the shortest possible time. However, you have to accept that your time is limited. 

So the best thing you can do is fulfill your blogging-related tasks little by little – but efficiently.

And remember that it takes Google 8 months to trust your site and start showing it in searches. That’s how blogging works regardless of your speed to complete all your blogging tasks. In other words, there is no reason to move in such a hurry, as not everything depends on you.

#3 Test several different schedules to balance your blogging tasks with your daily job

You’ll have to experiment with different schedules to find out which is most productive for you.

Some people can balance blogging with a 9-to-5 job better when they stay up late to blog and sleep an extra hour or two in the morning.

I, for example, don’t function very well at night. I don’t even appreciate nightlife fun all that much, to be honest. For me, the night is for sleeping. Mornings are my way to go when it comes to being productive.

If you’re like me, going to bed early and waking up an hour or two earlier, before you have to go to your 9-to5 job, might be the best time to run your side hustle.

In addition, the chances are good that you also take care of household chores. In these cases, taking a single day out of the week to do all the household chores can make your week more productive than taking a couple of hours a day, every day, to do the chores.

#4 Keep all your weekly meals frozen for more productivity

Is there anything more stressful and time-consuming than having to go into the kitchen to cook every damned day?

Cooking not only consumes our time but also drains us mentally. Every day, the same washes, cuts, boils, repeat.

No. Just no.

To balance blogging with a 9-to-5 job, you need practicality in your everyday life. 

And there’s nothing practical about preparing meals every single day.

So the best you can do is plan your meals (and those of the children and family members you are responsible for, if any) for the week. You’ll have to face the stove for a longer period, but only once a week.

Separate all portions into small pots in a practical and easily accessible way. Then freeze everything and don’t even think about cooking for the rest of the week. Instead, focus your mental energy on working hard to go from a side blogger to a full-time blogger.

#5 Put your brain to work on the way to the 9-to-5 job

If you drive your way to your full-time job, take this time to listen to an informative Podcast.

Learn about SEO, marketing, creative ways to make money as a blogger, and whatever else you can learn about how to improve your blog. And definitely listen to interviews or success stories about those who started from scratch and are now successful bloggers!

And don’t forget that you, too, can find ways to be productive on public transport!

In addition to listening to Podcasts on your headphones, you can also make good use of your hands that aren’t busy driving.

I mention in my article with 15 time-saving blog writing tips the importance of making a list with the structure and key ideas to be covered in the blog post you are writing.

That boring time you spend on public transport facing other people who didn’t want to be there either is great for organizing and listing ideas for your next article.

So, on the way to the 9-to-5, in your own car or public transport, make the most of this time to move towards your goals.

#6 Make your weekends more productive

When you run a side hustle, it’s hard to escape having most of your weekends dedicated to the side job.

But when will my life begin? – you ask.

Many side bloggers take advantage of their free weekends to catch up on their blogging-related tasks. This is a realistic way to keep your blog moving forward when the week is too busy.

Plus, you don’t have to spend all weekend working on your side hustle. A few hours in the morning can be more than enough to catch up on your tasks!

#7 Cut out useless distractions

Here’s the truth: You won’t be able to balance blogging with your 9-to-5 job without making some sacrifices. Having a full-time job and a side job demand wise choices.

And what choice could be wiser than cutting out useless distractions like spending too much time checking social media? Or those boring series you binge-watch just because you didn’t have anything better to do instead?

Take the test: The next time you open some social media app or streaming service, check how much time you spend on each app. Then honestly answer yourself if that time made you feel fulfilled in any way.

On the contrary, it is more likely that that made you feel empty. Even dumb for thinking you could have done something actually useful instead.

This is the kind of distraction you have to cut out of your life to use your time more wisely.

Besides, using social media less is not even a sacrifice! This will improve your mental health, make you more productive, and give you more free time to work on things that really matter. So go for it!

Bonus Tip: Taking a few hours to rest is essential to keep a productive blogging routine counterbalanced with a daily job

I’m all for productivity. I do believe every day can — and should — be a productive day.

However, burnout is a real phenomenon. That’s why it’s important to have some time to rest.

Even if it’s just lying in bed thinking about nothing for two hours on the weekends. If it makes you relax and recharge your batteries, do it!

How to Balance Blogging with a 9-to-5 Job —Conclusion

I started my first blog in 2016, Be Productive Every Day being my third one. It took me a year and a half to go full-time as a blogger with my first blog, but at that time, Pinterest still genuinely worked for bloggers. (These days, Pinterest basically only gives us crumbs if we don’t pay for ads.)

Nowadays, blogging takes 2-3 years to start paying off. And until then you need to keep paying the bills. So no quitting your full-time job right away, that’s the only way possible.

The good news is that it is possible to balance blogging with a 9-to-5 job as long as you keep motivated, make wise choices, and get organized.

Don’t give up. Keep pushing until the side hustle becomes THE full-time job!

Need help starting a blog? Click here to learn how you can start a blog that makes money today, even if you have no experience as a blogger! (Hint: You don’t need to know how to code to be a successful blogger!)

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