I guess some people would say my husband is my Instagram Husband, because he takes my photos. However, I would say that he is more my business partner. I want to take you through how we make working on a business together work!
Let me give you background. Back in mid-2016 I told my husband I wanted to start a blog. To be honest he really didn’t know what that meant. My husband already had a photography business at the time, so naturally I hire him on as my photographer and paid him with kiss. Haha! We lived in our apartment at the time and would go out in our courtyard and take photos.
We had no clue what we were doing and our photos reflected. All that mattered was we were doing it. I took a blog break due to a rough pregnancy, which was honestly a blessing in disguise. During this time I really strategized what I wanted my blog to be. When I came back, I was serious, clear on the vision of my blog, and knew I needed my husband’s help to make it all happen.
Once I started blogging again in 2018 it honestly took off. Its crazy what walking in your purpose will do! I went from making no money to what some would consider full-time blogger income. This does not happen alone, and want to be transparent that running a blog as a business takes work, and multiple hands on deck.
I am grateful that my husband offers his time, smile, and efforts to make this all happen. Some people have said to me my husband would never do that. So I am grateful for this. If you do have a partner that is willing to be your business partner in your blog I wanted to share the areas my husband helps.
Photographer – Rick takes about 90% of my images. This has been extremely helpful on saving money. Starting out a blog you aren’t naturally receiving income, and paying for a photographer early on was just not in the budget. Lately we have have been trying to have Rick only shoot half of my content. Yes, taking the photo is a pretty quick portion, but editing can get time consuming. And we decided that there are other parts of the business that we could use his efforts. With the launch of our family Youtube channel we want to have him spend more time there. However, I am confident if I didn’t have him as my photographer early on my blog really wouldn’t be where it is now. It allowed me to be able to get consistent with my content.
Editor – I write all my blogs, but my husband edits almost all my blog posts. Then I will fuss at him for missing something. LOL!
Finance manager – Getting income from your blog can get a bit convoluted. When you start monetizing your blog you will often receive income many different ways and from different vendors. I will get paid via paypal, ACH, paper checks. Then at different times. Geesh…I needed help. He know creates my invoices, made a spreadsheet of my blog accounting. Manages when invoices are due and reminds me when I need to reach out to vendor for payment. Oh…and the dreaded taxes. Being a business owner is no joke!
Even if you don’t have a partner to help you with this. If you are monetizing your blog, you need to carve out time in your week to work on the financial piece of your blog.
Cheerleader – The first person I call when I get a deal of any size is him! Rick cheers me on and gives me the motivation to keep going. When I was contemplating starting to blog again after having Cyrus he pushed me to get out there. Have someone in your corner to encourage you to keep pushing.
Sounding board – One of the most common things I come to my husband on is should I accept a deal. I have been working hard to really refine my brand and only work with companies that are true to me and my brand. Believe it or not I will come to him when I get an offer from a brand and ask his thoughts. Another thing I come to him about is giving me a second eye on a questionable picture. Rick is not my Yes person, because I don’t want that. I need someone that will give me honest constructive criticism.
Model – Being a mom and family blogger I often have brands that don’t want just me. Ha! They want to see my husband and family. I appreciate his willingness and rarely ever fusses about it! I know Rick is more comfortable behind the camera, but lately has been a lot more open to taking photos with me.
IT Support – My husband most times tells me to step away from the computer whenever something is going wrong on in the IT realm. He handles all of my IT issues that come up and fixes anything that breaks. Although I am sure he will tell you most cases it’s user error. HAHA!
I am going to be transparent working together is not always easy, and as my blog has been growing it has caused the need for him to grow his responsibilities. It takes work. I want to share a few tips to help you with your partner.
Be patient – I can’t stress this enough! Especially if your partner is taking your photos. Yes, my husband already took photos but taking blog photos is a bit different. If you look all the way back on my photos you will see the progression of us getting better with our photo quality. There would be some times I would be irritated that the images came out blurry, and I wouldn’t be able to use them. I had to be patient with my husband. As I am learning, he is also learning. So to reduce any unnecessary arguments, just be patient.
Designate roles – To make our business run more efficiently there are tasks that we divide and conquer. I simply can’t do it all. Recently, we started our Newton Family Vlog. Rick is owning the back end of this, because it is too much for my plate to worry about the editing etc. We’ve found designating roles has allowed us to knock out more responsibilities, and stay in our lanes.
Work/Life Balance – I am not going to lie I am in a busy work season. We both work full time and have this growing blog that will only grow with more time that is put into it. When we get home we start working on the blog. This can take up a lot of our personal time. Lately, we have been standing firm on creating off-work hours. Our marriage and family needs this. I know have needed to remind myself that email can wait. No matter how large you grow create that off-work hours to allow you time to pour into your marriage.
This has been such an unexpected but pleasant journey. Never in a million years would I ever have thought I would get to grow this blog with my best friend. I know this won’t always work with every couple, but definitely wanted to share with you all how we make it happen, and tips to help you!
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