Meet Elna Cain of Twins Mommy!

I started reading Elna Cain’s blog Twins Mommy this summer, not realizing how new it was. She has been sharing a ton of information about growing her blog, social media and list building. If you haven’t checked out her blog I highly recommend starting with 17 Ways Mommy Bloggers Can Grow Their Email List Overnight.

I was so excited she agreed to answer some questions about how she manages to blog, freelance and raise twins.

1. Tell me a little about yourself

My name is Elna Cain, and I’m a mom to twin preschoolers. I’m also a freelance writer and blogger. I write for OptinMonster, Blogging Wizard, and other digital marketing clients.

I also created a course for aspiring freelance writers and coach bloggers interested in getting paid to write.

I recently started a new site, Twins Mommy, where I help stay-at-home moms and mommy bloggers become successful mompreneurs.

2.How long have you been freelancing?

I’ve been freelancing for a little over two years now. My husband also works from home, and he’s been helping me with web development and design for my blogs.

3. How do you find freelancing jobs? Or do you have regular clients?

Right now I have several high-paying clients that request regular content from me. I also have about a dozen ad hoc clients that email me when they need content.

Currently, my inbound marketing strategies have been helping me land clients. Prospects read my content online, visit my website and contact me for writing work. I also receive referrals for work too.

When I first started, however, I relied heavily on job boards like ProBlogger for work.

4. What made you decided to start Twins Mommy?

My main blog up until this year was my freelance writing blog on Elna Cain. I provide tips for new freelance writers.

But, I wanted to branch out and write about working from home and the challenges that come from working from home with little ones. So, I created Twins Mommy. At first, I branded it as a work from home site where I talked about my twins and what I did for work.

But, then I decided I wanted to try my hand at growing this new blog. This changed the brand and content of my site to helping stay-at-home moms and mommy bloggers become mompreneurs.

My content now focuses on growing your business, email list, and traffic.

5. How do you manage to write for two blogs and your clients?

It’s a challenge for sure!

I’m a pretty fast typer and can type 1,000 words in under an hour. And since my niche is digital marketing, most of my clients require topics that are easy for me to write about.

My two personal blogs also are in my wheelhouse – marketing and freelancing – so coming up with topics and writing about my experiences is easy for me.

The problem is finding time. I only work part time, since during the day I take care of my twins. The weekends are all family time so in a typical week I don’t work much on my business.

So, the best thing that helps me is batching my work. I try to write all my content for Twins Mommy, then for Elna Cain and then for my clients. I also rely on outsourcing when I can. I have a copyeditor that saves me a bunch of time on my client work.

6. Do you have a set daily schedule?

My schedule is fairly consistent. The house wakes up between 7:30-8:00 a.m. The twins eat breakfast while I drink my coffee and check my email.

Once breakfast is finished, I’m on mom duty until nap time. During this time I do chores and fun activities. The twins are signed up for gymnastics and skating.

During nap – usually 1.5-2 hours – I work on my client work or personal blogs. When the twins wake up, I’m on mom duty again.

I’m lucky to have extra help. Family members usually stop by and take the twins outside and play while I prepare dinner and do last minute chores around the house.

From dinner to bedtime is family time. We may do a family walk, play inside or watch a movie.

Bedtime is around 8 pm, and I go back to work from 8pm-10:30 pm.

My husband and I relax – finally! – watch our favorite shows and go to bed. I squeeze a shower in there too!

7.What are your favorite tools and resources for blogging?

Right now I’m loving Tailwind and IFTTT.

Tailwind is a Pinterest scheduling tool that lets you automate your pinning strategy. When I started using Tailwind, I pinned around 25-50 pins a day. Then I moved up to 100-150 and over the summer I was pinning around 200 pins a day.

But I recently moved down to 100 pins a day and felt this is a good number to stick to for now.

Tailwind makes it easy to schedule my pinning. I go to my Pinterest profile, choose a board and schedule five or six of my popular pins, pins of guest posts I did, or pins that have a content upgrade in the post. I also schedule my freelance writing pins and pins in my group board.

I use IFTTT to automate my Twitter strategy. I primarily use Twitter for my freelance writing business but started sharing it with Twins Mommy.

I set my IFTTT recipe to alert Buffer when there’s a new event in my Google calendar.

I schedule tweets for both my blogs, my lead magnets, guest posts and other posts where I’ve been featured.

This is what my social media Google calendar looks like: 

8. How can the average mom fit these kinds of businesses into her life?

Being a freelance writer is a great business for stay-at-home moms. It’s flexible, doesn’t require a lot of your time and if you’re a blogger or enjoy writing, it can be a fun way to make a living.

For me, offering a service generates income the fastest than any other monetizing method out there.

I think the best approach is to learn what you want to do online and practice it as a side hustle first. Then make a schedule and stick to it.

9. What are the best resources to get started as a freelancer?

There are some great blogs out there that can help you get started as a freelancer. Careful Cents is jam packed with tips and strategies for freelancers. One of my sites, FreelancerFAQs not only covers freelance writing but freelancers in general.

If you need help, I do offer coaching, and I do have a course for freelance writing.

10. Final thoughts?

Being a mom blogger is a great way to meet other moms and feed your creativity. I love blogging and writing, and it’s great feeling to know that I can make a living with something that I love to do.

Thank you, Emma, for interviewing me!