by Christopher Harris The Rights of Fans
I’ve titled this part 1 as I rather suspect this could get close to 100!
Each week the new weekly excerpt can be found here:
Part of trying to have a go at becoming a part-time writer means finding the time to create on a part-time basis. As I begin what will probably be two years of teaching myself the art of writing and publishing, it’s essential to build the right foundations to support that ambition. In this case, it means streamlining my vintage business into a part-time operation by working a bit of magic: cutting down dramatically on the hours while trying to maintain the same profit.
One part of that is reorganising my storage warehouse, where I keep all the vintage items I sell online. At the moment, it’s an absolute mess. I’ve only been able to work part-time over the last six weeks due to a bout of tendonitis that’s left me hobbling around. So I’ll have to spend a good chunk of the summer sorting out the warehouse so I can run the business effectively on fewer hours. That inevitably means there will be limits on how much time I can devote to following this new pathway.
That said, after going hell for leather last week and ending up in a bit of a funk, I’m taking things slower this week. Spending some time clearing out the warehouse is on the cards. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t carved out a few hours a day for creative work.
Monday was a surprisingly valuable day. I realised that all the hashtags I’d been putting on WordPress were basically ineffective. Usually, I’d just type a hashtag and a word and press the load button, assuming that was good enough. What I learned on Monday is that every blog post actually needs an extra set of hashtags placed at the end of the article—five or so—because they work differently. With the help of a collection of post-it notes, I started working out the correct formats for each platform. It was one of those sessions that felt fiddly and time-consuming but might prove pivotal to long-term success. You can spend endless hours getting nowhere in the early stages of learning something new, but every so often you pick up something crucial almost by accident.
I also dipped back into my old Instagram accounts to research what to do next. I posted a couple of things just to get back into the habit and did some reading about best practices. I’ve decided to set up a new Instagram account because my existing ones have been used so sporadically that, although I’ve had quite a few followers, the engagement has always been pretty terrible.
Meanwhile, back to LinkedIn. My wife has been kindly handling most of the proceedings herself, as she’s much better at administration than I am. We’re still locked out of LinkedIn, apparently because I tried to put a block on the account as soon as it was opened, which was flagged as spam. So I suppose I either need to start a new account or wait for them to get back to us.
On the bright side, I got my first like on Substack!
I tried setting up a new Instagram account, and—predictably—I failed because my existing accounts and logins turned the whole process into an administrative headache. I even set up a new email address, but after an hour I still couldn’t get it to work properly, so that’s another job for my wife’s expertise.
Despite all the faffing, I managed to complete four blog posts and finally did some editing on my short story, which had been sitting untouched for four or five days and was starting to annoy me by lurking in the background.
A lot of groundwork has been going on lately. Blissfully, I no longer have to waste time trawling through Google’s sponsored ads and tedious YouTube videos trying to pick up tips and ideas. The miracle that is ChatGPT has made things so much easier—it simply rolls out what I know to be sound information based on my own experience. And when I can tell it’s just producing generic SEO nonsense, I say, “In my experience, it doesn’t work like that,” and ChatGPT comes back with an alternative that usually makes far more common sense.
I’m going away for ten days next week on Friday. I’m hoping the break will help everything I’ve been learning to sink in properly so I can come back focused on setting up my social media accounts. After that, I plan to spend a few weeks posting plenty of content to build up a decent portfolio. I’m conscious that if anyone follows or connects with me and they aren’t genuinely interested in the same things, it’s a weak connection. I’ve always preferred quality over quantity and proper engagement.
So a week of consolidation after last weeks dive into manicness! Views are of course low, two weeks into a two year project. Mind you, the football views continue to amaze me, and whilst I am trying to move away from football, it is a nice boost having the recognition and the proof in the pudding, if you stick at it, it will come good.
#Part Time Writing #Vintage Business #Creative Journey #Learning To Write #Social Media Setup
The Rights of Fans. 