Tell us your name and a bit about your family? When did you become a Mum and to whom?
My name is Victoria Sully, I’m married to Ben and we live in Gloucestershire with our two children. I became a mum in 2012 and again in 2015 to Bella, currently six years old, and Reuben who recently turned four years old. I’m a full-time blogger and I run four blogs. I also have a few small side hustles such as website testing. I love to make money online and always enjoy testing new ways to make my own money. My husband Ben is an IT manager, but his passion is woodwork and creating custom built furniture which is his business in his spare time.
What’s your blog called?
I have four blogs in total. My original and longest blog is called Lylia Rose. I started in in April 2013 so it’s six years old. I have a blog called Healthy Vix which I started in January 2018, Travel Vixta which I began in November 2018. I also run the blog Wood Create with my husband and that’s around two years old.
Can you describe it in one sentence?
Lylia Rose – A UK lifestyle blog with a money angle for thoseon a mission to make and save more money
Healthy Vix – All things healthy from a plant-based diet to natural, eco-friendly living tips
Wood Create – Everything home and garden with inspiring DIY and woodwork tips
Travel Vixta – Family travel, days out and campervan adventures
When did you become a blogger and what inspired you?
I began my first blog at Lylia Rose in April 2013. I had started the website before this, but it was originally an online store selling jewellery and fashion accessories. This was my first business idea and I started the blog to try and get more people to my website and to hopefully get more sales. I first started blogging about business related things to do with the shop and items I was selling, but I rediscovered my passion for writing (I always liked writing as a child, but stopped as an adult) and the blogger in me was born!
I decided to show more about the person behind the business and it quickly turned into a lifestyle blog. After three years I managed to turn the blog itself into a business and as I am now so passionate about making money online it has changed into a lifestyle blog with a money angle. Showing others that it’s really possible to make money from blogging and other methods at home inspires me to write. I still love trying new ways to make money and sharing them with my readers. It amazes me that it’s possible nowadays to make money from home and the internet, so I find this inspiring in itself.
As I love blogging and writing, and of course being able to make money from it, I set up the other blogs to not only expand my blogging business, but also to have dedicated blogs where I write about the things I am passionate about and to keep those blogs more focused.
How do you manage working around your children?
With great difficulty! It’s definitely a challenge as I work full-time hours on my blogs and then some. There’s also no strict routine as the workload can fluctuate greatly from one week to the next, so all of a sudden I can be totally inundated with work and deadlines and it’s just me to tackle it. This can mean I have to work immediately when my husband gets back from work and staying up into the early hours.
My children are six and four at the moment. My eldest is in school and youngest is at two different pre-schools. This means I get the school day from 9-3 each day to work. It’s never enough time though as it’s only around 5.5 hours after the school runs, plus take off a lunch break and it’s only 5 hours. Ideally I need a full 8-9 hour working day, so at the moment I do have to continue to work when the children are in bed. Or if I’m swamped as I mentioned above then I’ll jump straight back into work once my husband gets back from his day job.
I was regularly working at weekends, but now I really try to avoid work on Saturdays and Sundays. I might do the odd hour here and there, or a whole day if I am really busy, but most of the time I will try and keep my blog work to Mondays to Fridays and do other side hustles at the weekends or justtake a break from trying to make money and have family time!
In the school holidays I use a local holiday club usually for four days a week, unless my husband has booked time off work. If we do have a day together or family days out/holidays then I will keep an eye on my emails during the day and complete any work in the evenings.
If the children are ill then I have to work at home whilst they are here so I will put a film on or let them use the iPads so I can work. Luckily most of what I do is via email and I rarely need to talk to anyone. It’s a lot easier for emails to be interrupted than when I have to talk to someone!
Ultimately I try to have a work routine of working whilst they are at school and again when they are in bed. I’m hoping once Reuben starts school we will make use of some after school clubs and I might be able to get more work completed in the day, or all of it. It can be quite stressful sometimes to stop work at 3pm when I’m in the middle of conversations, emails or writing a blog post. I really need an extra couple of hours! It will also be great to switch off at 5pm and then not think about work until the next day like when I was employed! Though I don’t think that ever happens when you are self-employed as I think about my business and have ideas approximately every two seconds!!
Can you describe a typical day, what tasks do you have to get done, how do you manage your time?
Every day is different, but the bulk of my day is probably made up of emails and applying for blog work. I get 100-200 emails and notifications a day. I have several email discussions going on at once to arrange paid collaborations. Ialso get a lot of cold outreach emails each day which are often not suitable, but it can take some back and forth to get all the information out of a company or individual before realising it’s not even suited to me.
I also get a lot of notifications to my email inbox, so I’m rarely out of my email inbox! I get payment notifications and also notifications from websites and Facebook about paid blog opportunities. If these look interesting to me then I’ll click through to the websites and apply.
A lot of my day is spent searching and applying for blog work. I search on social media for paid work opportunities and also in blog networking groups and various websites. Some work gets snapped up quickly so I look for work every day. I factor this into my day and spend at least one hour looking for paid work and applying.
I have payments coming in and out daily which I like to stay on top of, so a part of my day is updating spreadsheets and checking bank accounts.
The smallest part of my day is writing blog posts! Some days I don’t write any at all, but others I could write four or five. The admin of running a business, sourcing work and tweaking my websites takes up the bulk of my working days.
If I get paid work then I will always prioritise this and the admin can then wait! If all my paid work and admin is up to date then I have a list of blog post ideas and I’ll write one of these.
What challenges have you faced in with your blog and how have you overcome them?
Time is always the biggest challenge. There is never enough time to do everything and I’m always coming up with new ideas or time-consuming website tweaks! I struggle to find enough time to do everything in the day, so I have to work every evening. I’m hoping this challenge will be overcome once both my children are at school and we have the same childcare options for them both.
Marketing is also a big challenge. I love to write and would love to just write blog posts all day, but when running a blog as a business, this is not practical. Not only do I have to market myself to companies to work with me in a competitive market, but I also have to market myself to the readers of my blog and potential readers to ensure my blog does have a readership. Again, time is a factor here. It takes a lot of time to market a blog with so many different social media sites out there to utilise and then spend time on each one building a following there too. I’ve not found the solution to this yet, but it’s probably a social media manager!
What’s the best thing about being a blogger?
For me it’s the freedom to create websites and write about things I am passionate about. I love having my own space on the internet and websites I am proud of. I love to write and express myself through writing, so it’s ideal. Of course, turning it into my full-time career has probably been the best thing that’s come out of blogging for me. It is challenging as a job, but it’s also very rewarding being able to make my own income.
What are your plans for the future?
I plan to build my newer blogs up with more content and increase their metrics so they can bring in more income. It would be amazing to earn enough so my husband could leave his day job and pursue his passion in making and selling custom built furniture, whilst helping me out too! In fact, we can help each other with each business. I guess that’s the overall dream, to be more financially secure and continue working for myself and enabling my husband to work for himself.
What advice would you give for someone just starting out in blogging?
My advice would be to stick at it! If you are hoping to make money from blogging then it can take time. Everything takes time to build up – content, readership, social media channels, followings. Nothing is instant. Well, some people are lucky and go viral or grow really quickly, but for most of us it takes a lot of persistence and determination!
If you’re thinking about blogging or always saying you’re going to start a blog, then just do it! If it turns out to be a passion or career, then your only regret will be not starting sooner. You can even set up a free WordPress blog to get a taste for blogging if you’re not sure you want to commit.
Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?
I think I’ve waffled on far too much already, so just thank you for having me!
You can find me blogging at my four blogs:
www.lyliarose.com
www.healthyvix.com
www.travelvixta.com
www.wood-create.com
Or connect socially at:
www.twitter.com/lyliarose
www.instagram.com/lyliarose
www.pinterest.com/lyliarose
