Blogging As a Hobby When You Run a Business ♡ A complete guide

A few years ago, I published two posts about how you can genuinely want not to monetize your passion or blog. I still do believe in everything written in these posts, with the sweet difference that I now have a side-hustle of my own. After a year of consistently blogging + running a business, I have come across a few practices which help me stay sane and keep seeing my blog as a passion in spite of running a business. Ready to steal my guide?

1- Make sure you do not want to monetize your blog

First, you need to make sure you do not want to monetize your blog. There is nothing wrong with it whatsoever, so if it is something you want to do, please do. You can read my post on three things to consider before monetizing your blog to help you make a decision. Keep in minde that your blog is absolutely yours and that as long as you keep being genuine with your readers, you will be able to monetize while still being read and creating enjoyable content.

2- Be honest with yourself & allow yourself to use your blog as an advertiser for your business

I am one to think that it is extremely hard to really separate blogging from the business. My blog is not what I would call “monetized” as I do not do paid partnerships or try to sell you anything I do not create myself. However, I use this blog as a platform to share my products, such as literary coaching and business advice. When you run a business, it is absolutely okay to share your offers and talk about them, as long as it remains subtle. Being a great seller is something you will have to learn, and one of the skills to master is not harassing people with products.

In order to make sure you are staying true to yourself and are not merely using your blog as a way to grow your sales, one good trick is to keep calling your readers “readers” and not “clients”. This may seem weird, but the words you put on things really influence the way you see the said things. Thus, have “clients” in business and “readers” in blogging to differentiate them, and if some end up being both, then it is great.

3- See your blog as a personal chat with people

One of the best ways to blog in my opinion is to share a more personal side of yourself. I am not saying that you should throw away the mystery, as it is both dangerous and not really elegant. However, your blog is the right place to share more about the backstage of your (business) life and self. I personally love telling more about myself on my blog as it feels almost like a “safe space”. It is of course the internet, but people who come here are usually genuinely interested in my life and opinion and are not wanting anything from me (including business). Thus, it feels more like a Sunday chat with friends, and I love it.

Once again, it does not mean having these “Sunday chats” do not help in attracting clients as I personally trust people who share their more personal sides more. However, my goal in sharing my more personal life is not gaining clients (which is only a side effect of it), and that is how I differentiate blogging from my business. My intention is blogging is to blog and share experiences and thoughts for free and for connection.

4- Use your blog as a platform to run away from your niche

Last but not least, I see blogging as a way to run away from the niche of my business. To me, this is not that relevant as my business is REALLY diverse, however to someone who has a very specific niche, running a non-related blog can be such a relief. As I wrote earlier, you can try many things on your blog and be really personal. Personally, I do literary and business consulting in my business, but my blog also hints at topics such as Academia, elegance, and minimalism. It is a sacred space for me to talk about literally anything, and this makes blogging really more of a hobby than anything else.

I hope you have liked today’s posts, and that it has been useful to you. I am still learning every day how to keep my passion for blogging free from my business while being true to myself. If you have any more tips or thoughts, I am 100% into reading them.

So what about you, do you separate blogging from your business?