One of my favourite interior blogs is The Life Creative by the lovely Chris Carrol.

I was lucky enough to work with Chris the other week on a ‘styling the perfect vignette’ post.  It was so much fun and Chris was so lovely that it had me thinking, what does Chris do in his day? I know he is running one very successful blog with T.V segments and magazine appearances under his belt, but I wanted to know more, learn more from a successful blogger.

Image of Chris’s segment on the Morning Show image credit here

I am sure you all do to, so here it is, a day in the life of Chris Carrol, and boy is he a busy bee.

Thanks so much Chris..

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Let me start this post by declaring that it’s 12.38pm and I’m currently sitting at  my computer in my Peter Alexander’s.  The heater is on, there are two cats at my feet and I have numerous article deadlines I need to meet.  This, dear readers, is the life of a full time blogger.

Before I took my blog full time I envisioned my days would be taken up by champagne lunches, shopping with friends and laptops in the sun.  It is, of course, altogether different (for me, anyway).  Blogging full time is single handedly the hardest thing I have ever undertaken – with so much of my time spent on tasks that might not make me any money at all.

I guess money is the first rings people enquire about when I tell them that I blog full time – and it’s a hard subject to cover quickly.  Some weeks I’ve made double what I was making in my role as a Sub Editor, while some weeks bring me no money at all.  It’s like any small business, really; there are ebbs and flows, and you’ve always got to be looking for new avenues and channels with which you can increase your income.

I’ve worked incredibly hard on making The Life Creative what it is today and what’s to come from it has been nothing short of amazing.  I rarely take time to reflect on what I’ve achieved in 18 months, but now is a good a time as any right?

I’ve been featured in Real Living magazine, styled a shoot for Inside Out and appeared in two of my own segments on The Morning Show.  I’ve also filmed campaigns for eBay and Howards Storage World.  I did this with no help from an assistant, agent or special contacts.  I just tried, hassled, worked hard and eventually people took notice.  That doesn’t mean that all of those people wanted to pay me, mind you, but it was nice they took notice – and to say you’ve been on TV after blogging for 18 months is a pretty good deal I reckon.

Chris styling up a storm on the Inside Out shoot image via here

A day for me consists of writing blog posts, editing photos, contacting PR’s and brands to find content, pitching myself to media to try and spread the word about the blog and a slew of other tasks; newsletters, site updates, invoicing, attending events and so much more.  It’s editorial, design, marketing, PR, accounting, data entry and so many other roles all rolled into one – and sometimes as a one man band it can get rather overwhelming.

Is it tough? Most certainly.  But I wouldn’t give it up for a second.  If your thinking of taking your blog full – time, the best advice I could give you is to plan, plan, plan.  I didn’t do enough of it when I started out ( slight delusions of grandeur and naive enthusiasm) and I’d be better placed now in terms of finances if I did.

Drop me a line some time if you ever want to hear more, get some advice or connect with the blog: thelifecreative@gmail.com

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Wow, thanks so much Chris, told you he was a busy bee and isn’t he just the nicest guy.  You can read my post on The Life Creative on ‘Styling the Perfect Vignette’ here.

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Image via The Life Creative