POSITIVE PUBLICITY by Camille Mola

Months ago, I asked on my Instagram story if blog readers would be interested if I began writing career-based posts, and it seemed as if many people were. Well, several months later, I’m finally getting around to writing a career post. Being that this blog is called Positive Publicity, I should probably have a chat about what exactly it is that I do in “real life”. I also love reading career-advice posts from other bloggers, whether blogging is their full time or part time job. In fact, Keep Calm and Chiffon’s and Alex & Mike’s posts about their careers and blogging really inspired me to write this post!

In this post, I’m including some questions I often get. This post will most likely cater to bloggers who also have full time jobs, but I think everyone can get something out of it. So let’s get into the good stuff…

Is blogging your full time job?

Blogging is not my full time job; I work full time in the PR/marketing department of an opera training academy. Some background on me: I graduated college with a degree in PR and am lucky enough to work in a field I’m passionate about. If you’re currently studying PR or communications, there’s a strong chance your professor will have you make a blog for a class. If not, creating a blog is a great way to learn even more about PR (think creating and maintaining a brand identity and storytelling) and to enhance your writing skills. Plus, your blog can serve as a creative outlet and as a portfolio of your work.

At work, my day-to-day consists of media relations, ironing out the strategic plan of the season, managing social media accounts, drafting blast emails, occasionally designing advertisements and much more. I love music and I love PR, so for me this is a dream job. I also occasionally work with other bloggers and influencers through work, which I’ll talk about later in this post.

I would also say that having a blog keeps my skills sharp in my day-to-day professional PR life. This includes sharpening my graphic design skills, attempting to improve my HTML abilities and more.

So you’re a part time blogger, what’s that like?

A great deal of time-management and passion, as any side-hustle involves!

When it comes to creating a content calendar, here’s usually how it goes down for me. Whenever I have an idea for a post, I’ll either write it in my Notes app on my phone or write the idea as a new blog post title and save it as a draft. Then I’ll gather photos and any other necessary information for the post. When I feel like I have an hour or two in my day to sit down and work on it, that’s when I’ll do it. This means finishing up a post in the morning before work, after work or on the weekends (which is when I usually finish my posts and plan out my social media content for the week). This can also include finding time to work on other projects, like editing photos, creating graphics or making a media kit (which I finally did!).

So aside from getting a post up for a brand, I don’t stick to a particular blogging schedule, which is ~ scandalous ~ to say as blogger. For how my brain operates and for my mental health’s sake, I know I’ll get stressed and blogging won’t be fun to me anymore if I try to be too strict with myself. Everyone works differently, and this works well for me.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not very organized. I rely heavily on making lists (it’s the Capricorn in me). A physical list helps me visualize exactly what I need to accomplish, plus there is so much satisfaction in being able to cross something off of a list.

Many of my blogger friends are also part time bloggers who have full time jobs, so it’s always a great benefit being able to talk to them on how they do it all.

What’s it like being a blogger but also working with other bloggers?

It’s an interesting and really fun dynamic for sure. I would say one of the benefits is that I have a good idea of what a blogger is looking for when it comes to working with a brand. As a blogger, I love working with brands that are clear in what they’re looking for, can provide a unique and interesting experience that my readers will enjoy and communicate well – these are things I strive to do when working with other bloggers. The blogger community here in Philadelphia is awesome, and on a personal note, it’s great being able to work with bloggers who I really admire and do amazing work.

PR professional and Philadelphia blogger Deepika shared some of her thoughts, too: “I work in PR, so for me, I see the thought process of a brand when they are selecting bloggers/working with bloggers as well as the bloggers thought process. This is a huge benefit to me, because when I’m pitching brands, I have a better sense of what they are looking for and what metrics they feel are important.” 

In conclusion to my essay: stay organized, make connections (I know, I know, networking isn’t everyone’s favorite!), jot down lists and your ideas, keep going (find your motivational playlist here), but don’t forget to cut yourself some slack!

Would you guys like more career posts? Let me know! I hope to do more of these posts to encourage readers of the blog to be the best boss person you can be. Any other questions? Leave a comment or send me an Insta DM. As always, thanks for reading! <3