Well friends. It’s been a busy month and it’s really only the first week of October. I feel like I’ve been going non-stop since, well I don’t know how long. I feel like an update and just a “what’s going on” post is needed.

So, O+P (that’s me) is really busy. I know that my posting here on the blog hasn’t been as frequent, so maybe I should explain. Blogging and freelance, online work is weird. And most people in my real life really have no idea what I do all day. I think most folks think this is just a little hobby and from time to time I post a pretty picture or two. But, really this is more then a full-time job. Right now my business has some momentum and I’m working, on average, 12 hours a day. I’m not complaining. I’ve worked for almost 6 years to make this blog the business that it is today. But, I feel like I should give my faithful readers a little more behind the scenes look at what I actually do.

Yes, I do create content for this blog and all my social media outlets, even though it doesn’t seem like a lot is going on right now. But, I also do a lot of work that you guys never see. The other work I do is still work I love, but it’s really more to pay the bills, so that I can blog for a living. Yes, I do create sponsored posts for my blog, but that doesn’t bring in enough income to really be a full-time salary. So, here’s a little of what I do that you don’t see.

1. I’m a one-women show! I had an intern this last Summer, but she’s back in school and working full-time. You wouldn’t believe how much time I spend emailing, researching, book keeping and scheduling (I need a manager!). Making, styling, shooting and then editing pics is just a fraction of my time, even though I wish that is all I had to do.
2. I do some design consulting for clients locally. Right now I have 3 homeowners that I’m working with. I love this part of my job. I help folks with tasks like picking out paint colors, styling their mantels and bookshelves, shopping for furniture, or sourcing lighting options. If you want my opinion on design, I’m happy to tell you what I’d do!
3. I do quite a bit of freelance styling and photography. Just this last week I styled and shot a whole bunch of products for a company. These projects can take up a whole week of my time (hence the lack of blog posts). These are images that you won’t see on my blog. A lot of the time, companies hire me to create lifestyle images of their products that they will either use on the website or on their social media channels. I never intended to be a photographer. I always loved photography, but somewhere along the way of blogging I taught myself how to style objects and then photograph them.
4. I also do some social media consulting locally and work on creating content for local company’s Instagram accounts. After 6 years of blogging, this is something I have experience in and have learned a little bit about what works and what doesn’t work.
5. And last, but no least, I contribute to a few other blogs, right now I write for Ehow and Emily Henderson Design. These are awesome opportunities for me. It’s the blogging and content creation that I love, but it’s also an opportunity for me to get more eyes on my work. Yep, believe it our not, a lot more folks are heading to Emily’s blog everyday then they are to mine.

Ok, this might have been a boring post. If you are still reading, you really are the faithful follower that I thought deserved to know what was going on.

So, Is this interesting? Do you like knowing a little more about the behind-the-scenes? It’s messy and not curated at all, but you can follow me on snapchat for a more realistic look at my day to day (I’m @oleanderandpalm over there).