Balancing Full Time Social Media & Full Time School

Another common question I get asked as a young social media Influencer is, "how do you balance a full time job while also being a full time student?" My answer to that is simply, "organization."

Life as a Student

Currently, I am a Ball State University senior studying graphic design. (Ball State is based in Muncie, IN). My hope is to eventually take my career in the direction of social media management while also being an influencer still as well. While I would LOVE to be a social media influencer full time by itself post-graduation, I need to be able to also have another position connected to it to provide insurance and benefits for myself and future family. As of right now, I am planning on multitasking and doing a full-time position with influencing as well! Practicing time management in college while being a full time student with a full time position has really been beneficial and helped me manage multiple tasks and such at once. While my plans may change, this is my current one for right now!

The Reality

While it may look from the outside like social media is a breeze and is simply "posting random snippets of my life online," it is FAR from that. It is a job that NEVER ends and I am CONSTANTLY working. It's a job filled with intense financial planning behind the scenes, shifting around meetings so I can still go to class on time, and even driving hours away to events just to circle back home that same night! When I go on vacation, it's hardly a vacation because I am focused on getting "vacation content" for my feed and/or doing beachy brand deals with businesses. My email inbox NEVER closes, and because a lot of the brands I work with are international, I have to keep in mind of the time zone differences that are all across the world. For example, sometimes I have to work past midnight on a business collaboration if the brand I am working with is in a place such as Australia that is in a completely different time zone than me. (Over 15 hours to be exact). This can become exhausting and very mentally draining because the work never stops. I go from working on homework late straight into working on work for brands and then straight to bed! In class a lot of times, I am multitasking and working on brand deals, designs, or responding to emails. (Sorry to my professors, haha! It's the truth, though). However, I LOVE. IT. Absolutely adore it, to be honest, and I wouldn't want it to be any other way!

Organization

To stay organized, there are several things that i do. For context, I am a HUGE planner. Google Calendar (the app and website) is my BEST. FRIEND. I use it to plan absolutely everything on! I use the app on my phone and it's synched to the website on my laptop to keep everything connected. I kid you not, I probably check it 15+ times per day to make sure I'm not missing anything and to look ahead to days coming up. I also keep several notebooks and planners to write down to-do lists for the day, week, and month. Typically, I will even break down my month on a monthly calendar spread and plan out content, both organic and paid. I use lots and lots of different pens and highlighters to keep everything color coordinated and organized. I also make sure the planners and notebooks I use are all for separate things. (Ex: ALL of my schoolwork is kept in separate notebooks of their own and I have special content planning notebooks for content planning and scheduling). Organization is key, but organization is different for everyone! This is just what works best for me!

XOXO,

Hannah Mullen