As a blogger and business owner there is one thing I have done recently that has made all the difference in my days and weeks. A planner. I used to just keep a running list of blog ideas I had on a piece of paper. I had a Word document as well for that and for items I wanted to add to the Etsy shop.
As I’ve been getting busier with both the blog and the shop, those methods just weren’t working for me anymore. So I decided to start using a blog planner. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find one that did everything I needed it to. I was using pages from about six different ones and it still wasn’t meeting my needs.
So many of the planners were set up as weeks or days not months. This is great for bloggers who post every day but I only post 2-3 times a week. I didn’t need all the resources those planners offers. I also couldn’t find one that let me keep track of my Etsy shop as well.
So I decided to make my own. That is how my blog and business planner came into being.
The monthly calendar pages are the pages I use the most. This is where I write down everything I need to do. Black ink is for posts, blue ink is for things I need to go for the blog, and purple ink is for things I need to do for the shop. As you can see, I also am a big fan of white out. Life has a tendency to change on me.
The next thing I use the most are my future blog post pages. This is the place where I write down any ideas I have of things I want to write about.
My next favorite page is my Etsy shop organizing page. I love having a place on one page to keep track of orders, things I want to make, how the shop is doing, etc.
One thing I have done to customize my planer is to cut a blank piece of cardstock and tape it on the inside of the back cover. This has created a pocket to hold other things.
There are a bunch of other pages including expense/income trackers, affiliate program trackers, inventory pages, and much more, but these are the ones I use the most. I honestly can’t believe how much easier my days have gotten when I have my plan written out. I still use a white board in my kitchen for my home things to do but I love being able to plan out my month better with the blog and business. I wish it hadn’t taken me so long to decide to use a planner.
Now, you might be thinking, “Is she just taunting us with this planner? Do we have to create our own too?” Nope! Well, you can make your own if you want to. But if you would rather have someone else make it for you, I am offering this planner for sale in my Etsy shop.
For $10, you get the PDFs of all the pages. You are in charge of what you print, how many of each sheet, etc. You can either put them in a three-ring binder or, my favorite, take them down to your local office supply store and get it bound for less than $5.
Leave a Reply