The Ultimate Blog Podcast - Create a Weekly Blog Workflow That Works for Your Life

Episode Date: August 26, 2025

Have you ever scribbled down endless blogging to-do lists on sticky notes, feeling scattered and like you’re holding everything in your brain? You’re not alone. Many bloggers start with great intentions in their workday, but end up overwhelmed, burned out, and unsure of what to prioritize. That’s why having a plan is so important. On this episode of The Ultimate Blog Podcast, Amy and Jennifer share how to create a weekly blog workflow that works for your life. Tune in to learn the four key buckets of a weekly blog workflow, practical tips to build a plan customized to your life, and a resource can help you along the way.🔗Check out the show notes for this week's episode!🆓 Get our free Blogging Systems Blueprint🖱️ Try ClickUp for better project managementDo you love this podcast? Say thanks by leaving a positive review and/or rating!  

Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Podcast. This podcast is the podcast we wish we had when we started blogging. I'm Amy Reineke and I'm Jennifer Draper. Our episodes dive deep into how to monetize your blog, sharing unique insights and practical tips. We bring you in-depth interviews with successful bloggers and experts who offer valuable, actionable advice. Our mission is to educate, support, inspire, and empower you in your blogging business. Welcome to The Ultimate Blog Podcast. So for many of us, it is back-to-school season, which kind of feels like the start of a new year in so many ways.

And I think for myself, for Amy, for a lot of people in our community, it's a great time to just kind of step back and evaluate things, how things are working in your blogging business. and to make adjustments. And so we thought today it would be great to talk about creating a weekly blog workflow that actually works for your life because I think a lot of times we have great intentions. We have a really long list in a notebook of things that we want to accomplish. And we end up just feeling stressed out and burned out and not really accomplishing much of anything because we have so many things on our list. And, you know, we'll be, we'll be chatting

and we'll have a sticky note and we'll write something down and that sticky note disappears and we're like, what did we talk about the other day? What did we talk about? What were we going to do? It was a great idea. Yep. But I don't remember what it is anymore. This is a peek into Jennifer and I's business for the first four years. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because you try to implement things And it just, it's just a struggle. It really is. And it never really all came together. And I guess I'm going to, for a lack of a better word, I'm going to say clicked for us until we had Casey Ackerman on the podcast. And she shared with us about ClickUp, which is a project management tool and task management tool that we ended up implementing that same day because I was like, yes, this is the answer to everything. And, you know, I've had a lot of answers to everything, but this one actually has been. It has been a tool that we committed to. And I think that's the big thing that has worked for us in helping our business stay organized.

And so we've been using that for like, what, three years now. And I have no idea how we ever functioned before that. Now we know what's on our list. But not only that, we know like how much time we have available. We know what's realistic. It just helps. many ways and helps us document some of our processes and just being more intentional about what we plan to work on and what's going to have the most impact. So we're going to talk more about

that here in a few weeks. It'll be on episode 196. So stay tuned for that. We'll be talking about different tools that we use in our business to stay organized and to get stuff done. But today, what we really want to talk about is just creating a plan that works for your life. So what we talk about today, you don't have to go out and say, okay, well, this is how Jennifer organizes her blog workflow. This is how Amy, you know, keeps track of the podcast, all that stuff. You don't have to copy what we do. We just want to give you some tips to get started so that you can create a plan that will work for your life. Yep. And that's the advice that we really want you to hear is not like to necessarily copy our exact plan, but to know that where we want you to feel

challenged today is that you need a plan. And if you don't have a plan, then you, you You might feel like you're not getting where you want to be with your blog or with your business. You might feel this perpetual overwhelm. And so the challenge is to, one, just recognize where you are. And let's kind of have a mindset shift here that we're not looking for the perfect workflow. We are just looking for a workflow to go with. One that you are willing to do.

One that you are willing to use. One that you are willing to implement. Something else I want to make sure to say here, as we're saying, speaking about like a blog workflow, this does not need to be complicated. We can keep this very simple, very straightforward, very to the point. You don't need anything fancy at all. Yes, we use ClickUp personally. That's what we use in our business and we each independently use it for our businesses and personal life and whatever. But just know that like whatever it is that you need, the goal is to get out of the rat race that's currently living in your brain that you feel like

you can't get done what needs to get done. Like we're all creatives and some of us, me, have a really hard time like putting that down to paper. Like you kind of just want to go with the flow and that was me for so long. Like I just want to do what's in my flow. I would like to ask you how your flow is working for you. And if it is not, then it's okay to add a little structure. You can still have that energetic flow, but also add some structure in. So we all have, like, different things that we have on our plate. It's not just your blog or your content creation business. A lot of us are raising kids.

We might have another full-time job. We might deal with energy levels. Hello, perimenopause, for those of you listening, who might be in the same boat as we are. Some weeks and months, we have more energy than others. But we have to just focus on where our capacity can be. at a given time based on basically the rest of our lives. And no, this is the workflow that we need. Being realistic with where your commitments are and what your time is, I think is really,

really important. Next week, we are bringing on a roadmap member who is going to speak about that specifically with her interview, talking about knowing the capacity and your time inventory and how important that is and knowing like what you can actually do to avoid burnout and knowing what you want to do and having that workflow. She also shares a workflow that I think is going to be really helpful for those of you who are maybe building a blog plus like a content creation channel. So tune in next week for that episode because I think it's going to be really helpful.

But let's shift that mindset first and foremost that we're definitely today not like challenging you to create some like really complicated workflow. We just want you to start thinking about what do I need to make this business flow better in my life and work alongside my life. to where you don't have to feel like I have to be a mom or be a blogger, but there's no way I could ever do both. Yeah, I think the key is to look at the commitments that you have in your life, in the priorities that you have in your life.

And what we've talked about a lot of times is you've got to see how much room and time you have for the blogging piece of your business. So for example, right now, I have created a new workflow for myself to test out for this fall. Like I said, I feel like it's a new year. I often work like six to seven hours a day. But what I've decided is, as I'm estimating how much time things are going to take me, I'm planning for less in my day. So I'm going to maybe assign myself five to five and a half hours worth of work. And then that way I've allowed the space for all those realistic things that happened throughout the day. And I've actually created a list that I can get done.

So I think that's the hard part is like, okay, I'm going to pack it to the max i'm going to get everything done but actually if you pull it back a little bit and you say what's really important i think you'll actually get more done so let's talk about some of the core elements that you could have as an example of a workflow for your week so when you're thinking about being a blogger there's going to be a few areas that you're going to want to focus and this isn't a this is exactly how you have to do it but if you're going to start prioritizing as a blogger first and foremost you're thinking, number one, content creation. If I don't create content, I have nothing. And so blocking off time for that will look different for everybody because if you're a recipe

blogger, you're having to test recipes, photograph recipes, things like that. So depending on the types of content you're creating, that could be a different amount or a different time commitment, but how many blog posts do you want to create a week and what goes into that? Do you need to have time to test something. Do you need a photograph? Do you need to write? You need to edit. So think about all the different components of creating content. And that can be like your number one bucket. And then you go to your second bucket and you're like, okay, content promotion. So once I've created the content, how am I going to get the word out? How am I going to share it? How am I going to get traffic to it? So how much time you're spending on SEO optimization, how much time you're spending

sending out emails to your email list to share this? Are you going to post it on Instagram? Do you get on stories? Do you put it on your feed? Are you creating pens and Pinterest graphics? You probably won't be able to do all of those things. But looking at that aspect of the content promotion, you want to share about it somewhere. So make your plan, like where are you going to spend your time there?

The number three bucket with your weekly workflow will be like your admin task. So that's kind of unavoidable. Not always the fun part of blogging, but, you know, updating your plugins, doing your site updating, planning out things, answering emails, just all those random things that come up. And just try to remember that you need at least a small bucket of time for those things each week so that you don't fall behind on those and end up, like, having a plugin that's outdated causing your site to break or something like that. And then the fourth bucket would be learning and growth. And we don't want to forget about that.

I think it can take a backseat a lot of times. But it's important to, you know, stay on top of new things that come out. Are there any new opportunities? Are there any new skills you can build? Can you make connections within the community that might, you know, you might be able to do like a podcast swap or a blog swap. or share about somebody on Instagram, whatever, you can collaborate with people. So making a little bit of time for learning and growth is also like one of those really

important buckets. And so what you need to do is just think about like, are you a part-time blogger? Are you a full-time blogger? And how much time do you have? And then if you take those buckets, how much time do you want to spend in each of those buckets every week? And your buckets may or may not look the same or different, but just, you know, labeling yours, what's in each of those. Jennifer said, especially with the promotion. Obviously, promotion is really important. We recommend having a blog post and then your email list.

And that should be your top two. But from there, you likely are going to either promote on social or Pinterest. You might not be in a season that you can do both of those things. And so understanding that you can't do it all. And that's going to lead us into this next part of the episode that we want to share, which is about building your plan. And I think that this is where we can get ourselves into a little bit of trouble is that we're going to compare our plan to somebody else's plan. And that's not the task at hand here. You're going to need to sit down and ask yourself, what are my non-negotiables? What are the things that are on my to-do list each and every week? What are the things in my life that are important that they're happening no matter what? Do you have to get your kids to and from school? Do you have to work your day job? Do you have appointments that you have each and every week? Things like that. Those are going to go into that time inventory. first so you can get a very clear understanding with how much time do I actually have?

Like Jennifer said, what she's doing this year is saying, okay, while I usually work six to seven hours a week, I'm actually only going to have about five to five and a half hours worth of tasks because it never fails. I think it's whether you work at home or whether you work in an office. We all get interrupted. I think it's just part of working in general. We all get things thrown our way that we were not anticipating at the beginning of the day. So planning for those is really smart to where you can end the day feeling accomplished. And then you know, okay, at a minimum, I should be able to get these things done. Yes, you're going to have heavier days than others for sure, but knowing like we have to

keep this buffer for when life happens or an emergency happens or, you know, something comes our way that we weren't planning for that day. Also, assigning specific days and tasks to those buckets that you. you have, I think is going to be helpful. So if you know that you are creating blog content on Mondays and you're just writing, maybe you don't have to get up and do your hair and do your makeup and all that. But if you're getting up and you're creating video content or you are creating like photos or things like that, then you might need to get up and get more quote unquote ready. So knowing how that is also going to impact your day, I think is important because

our day doesn't start when we sit down at our desk. Our day's starts when that alarm goes off in the morning. And that's, I think, where we can get ourselves into trouble is when we think that the day's going to look one way. And then you're like, oh, no, I was actually going to take some photos today. And I didn't get ready this morning. Well, you just lost 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how long it takes you to get ready. So if you know what is on your plate for that day, I think that you can go into that day feeling like prepared versus feeling like you're backtracking. Like, oh, I just got to take a quick shower real quick. I got to get ready. you're just starting a cycle that is going to end up in you feeling unaccomplished. And we're speaking

about this from personal experience, quite honestly, which is why when we had Casey on the podcast to talk about ClickUp, why we got off and started implementing it right away. And there is a shift. When you go from having no workflow to then creating a workflow, I want you to know that that growth is, it's inevitable. You're going to have growing pains. You're going to have like, this isn't working for me. Or maybe I actually need to only plan four and a half hours of work. Or maybe I actually only have two hours of work, knowing that that is fluid and it doesn't need to be like this thing that fits into a box, but you can absolutely adjust accordingly in order for you to feel successful. And having a lot of grace for yourself and your business,

I think is really, really important. So know that going into when you're creating your plan that you might have these great ideas in the beginning and be willing to shift and be willing to pivot. If you stay stuck in the cement there and you're unwilling to move, that's when we get really frustrated. And I think that's when we feel burned out. Towards the end of the summer, Jennifer and I were both feeling like, oh, gosh, I don't know how we're going to get everything done. And I think we felt like we dropped the ball on some things. And finally, one day we had a conversation and Jennifer just said, I have an idea. For the next two weeks, can we just say we're getting done the necessities, we're taking care of our members, we're getting our blog, our blog,

podcasts out. But like from there, like, we, we just cannot take on anything new at this point because we have to get through the end of summer. And we're both, we're not going to get mad at one another if we feel like something didn't get done. We're just going to give ourselves grace as we end the summer. And that was an expectation that was like, oh, thank goodness. Because I didn't want to feel like I wasn't holding up my end of the bargain. I know she didn't want to feel like that either. But like, we knew what our capacity was. So understanding what your capacity is to where when you're building your plan, you're not frustrated that you're not doing more. You're just accepting that this is where I am right now and that's okay. You are going to have months and seasons that you're

going to be able to work harder or work longer. Embrace those seasons, but you also got to be willing to embrace the seasons that you have to pull back a little bit, but have a plan for those seasons. So there are things that you're going to need to keep on top of. So keep that rolling taskless that way you know, like these are my expectations every single day or every single week that I have to do. These are my must-dos, but then knowing that there are some other things that, like, they can fall off or whatever down the line if you need to push them back. That is why having it written down or in a content management system is going to be really important for you. So this week, our call to action for you and our challenge is just to create a very basic

draft of it that you can implement for this fall season. Like I said, you can adjust it. It doesn't have to be written in stone. In fact, I would encourage you not to. We want you to be willing to stay consistent with blogging without it feeling overwhelming. That's just going to take time and energy to figure out what that looks like for you. So in order to help you with this, we created a freebie for you. That way we'd love for you to download. You're going to be able to find that at the ultimate blog podcast.com slash systems. And what this blueprint is going to give you are some sample ideas for repeatable schedules that you can follow. One is if you have less time in the day, one is if you have more time in the day. But either way, what it's going to help you do is to focus

on the tasks at hand that are going to help you in your blogging business to feel successful, to feel like you have a little bit more control of your time and your tasks. And so you can hopefully make progress, which is then going to lead you to be able to grow your blog. So I think that these systems and workflows are something that all bloggers need. I don't think it's like at any level of success. Like, oh, all of a sudden, now this is when you need to start implementing this. If you are a brand new blogger, I cannot say this enough. Do it now. Start your systems now. If you have these systems in place now, it will only serve you well. I promise you, please learn from our mistakes. And just know that having a system and a workflow ready to go for you from the get-go, you're going to

learn very soon what your capacity is, how long it takes you to do tasks, and you're going to feel much more in control of the growth of your business. So go ahead and grab that freebie. It's in the show notes or it's at the ultimate blogpodcast.com slash systems and let us know how you like it. I would love for you to share with us how this is helping you. But also, I would love to know, like, where you feel like you need the most support in regards to systems. You can either email us. You can reach out to us on Instagram. Instagram. If you're listening on Spotify, after you leave that rating or review, that means so much to us, you can also leave a comment. And we can reply to comments on Spotify. So we can help you there too. But that's how we can also help you in regards to like where we can support you with systems and workflow. That way you can feel in control and like you're propelling your business forward because that's the whole goal. That's why you hit play today. So thanks for tuning in. Be on the lookout the next couple weeks. We have some really impactful episodes coming out. talking about content batching. We have Jesse coming on next week to talk about going from

YouTube, then to adding a blog. And then we're also going to be sharing in an episode in a couple weeks about the tools that we use. So have some really exciting things planned here. And we can't wait to share them with you. So have a great Tuesday. Thanks for listening to The Ultimate Blog Podcast. If you'd like to learn more about building your blog, visit theultimateblogpodcast.com backslash newsletter to get signed up for our email newsletter. If you enjoyed this episode, we'd love for you to share it with a friend, subscribe, and leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts. Thanks for tuning in today and we'll see you next time.