Kachi Tila Adesina is this really fascinating 28-year-old Lawyer that we love so much. She grew up in Lagos, Nigeria and moved to the UK a few years ago. She’s got two first class law degrees and a Cambridge LL.M. By day, she puts these qualifications to use as a corporate lawyer in London. By night, she transforms into a blogger! She is married to Tola. They met at the University and have been together for nine years now, and married for about 3 years!
Her blog is a mash up of lifestyle + travel + interesting everydayness.
In this interview, we ask Kachi a couple of questions about how she started blogging, the role of sharing intimate personal stories with people and how she stays productive (she’s got a day job and her awesome KacheeTee blog. So, we had to ask about productivity).
For Creative Girls: What moment(s) led to creating KacheeTee.com? Did something happen or you had a eureka experience that led to blogging?
I didn’t particularly have a Eureka experience. I think at some point, I felt the need to write, inspire and reach out. It began to feel like a burning passion. I wasn’t totally clear what I’d write about and how personal it would be. I was also really afraid of starting out and being a bit more public. But I decided to just go with it – and if I failed, I’d at least know I had tried and perhaps then, the voice in my head would finally go shut. But so far, so good, and it’s definitely one of the best decisions I’ve taken in life. It’s made me such a better person.
Shyness is an interesting thing, especially for writers. On one hand sharing your stories is essential for your art, on the other hand, the ‘shyness monster’ attacks you. In the beginning, did you or your husband feel shy about sharing your personal stories? How did you deal with that?
I felt (and still feel!) shy about sharing. One minute I think ‘oh I should put this post up’, the next minute, I’m thinking was that TMI? Should I take it down? This obviously stems from how much of a ripple effect social media can have and how far it can travel. Were it limited to just my blog and perhaps readers, maybe I would feel less shy. But people could easily munch and re-share your posts and there’s very little you can do about it.
Nonetheless, I think it’s important to share our stories. But we must exercise a lot of discretion. I’ve had some few people say “oh you didn’t need to say that on your blog” – But then again, the many who come back to say that personal story inspired me or had an effect on me, makes it worth it. That said, I think I tend to share broad details – capable of showing the picture without being overly personal. And I always run any personal posts by my husband to be sure he’s fine by it as well.
We feel like your productivity game is a 100{7516946f8b0c1a6ede41439c3ae11d430d01c6cb1788b8e4cf8ff90b3f78e65d} or close to that. How do you combine your day job with writing & publishing? How do you stay productive?
Honestly, I feel like my productivity game is barely half of that. When I’m able to blog every week day, promote effectively and still attend to all of life’s other matters – then maybe I’ll agree with you.
However, I think I’m able to combine both at the moment somewhat effectively because I don’t particularly have a lot of competing interests – and there’s a bit of a stable routine in my life. I’m able to fairly predict how my day job will go, and thus work around it. I attempt to make use of fringe times – so as long as I have my phone with me, blog posts ideas or drafts can happen anywhere.
One thing I wish I could do more is to write and schedule posts in advance. I’m such an impulsive / at-the-moment writer most of the time, such that once I write a post, it’s honestly what’s on my mind at that time and I feel I just have to hit the publish button lest it becomes stale and I don’t feel it anymore. But this dampens productivity sometimes.
I also think having the right tools and enabling environment can be a booster. I realized that I’m so unproductive when I attempt to blog on a laptop. A desktop works best; I’m able to sit upright and just get on with it. So I had to make a huge commitment to invest in an iMac. Finally, I think my genuine passion for writing and blogging keeps me productive! There’s probably no substitute for that.
How do you come up with new posts/topics? Is it a case of ‘I need to write on the blog tomorrow’, or a constant dose of inspiring experiences you want to share with people?
So when I started blogging, I had a list of blog ideas, and I just kept adding to it when inspiration struck.
A year and a half down the line – some of those initial ideas will never get written because I’m like ‘huh, what was I thinking?’ Or the inspiration for that particular post has faded. Some will morph and merge into other ideas and some will still get written. So there’s that list, which I revisit once in a while.
Then, there’s the case of ‘I need to write a minimum 12 posts on the blog per month’. So at least 3 a week. Every month, I make an attempt to think up 12 -15 blog posts for that month. 15, because some will get thrashed, others would get started and then I’d d lack the words to complete them in that time. In making up this list, I try to ensure that there’s a good spread across the various areas I write about. Broadly, these are Lifestyle, Travel, Inspiration, Career, Relationships, Faith & Blogging. Some posts like Faith related ones can’t really be pushed, so I tend to write that very much on impulse – and if I have no relationship or career related post, I don’t force it. I also have a few constant interview segments; so in the preceding month, I’d have made an attempt to determine the content and interviewee for those.
In all of these though, I try to maintain some form of flexibility- so nothing is cast in stone, and things can get moved around based on how I feel.
Generally, a lot of the posts stem from my daily experiences – conversations with people, observations, something I read, a tweet on Twitter, a movie, anything! I pick up my phone, write a few bullet posts, and later transfer it to a proper note pad. Sometimes, I get requests from readers to address certain subjects – and so I add it to the list as well.
On a more relaxed note, what’s the first thing you do when you get home?
Oh dear! This is such a routine these days. I drop my handbag on the dining table, and head into the kitchen – opening up the fridge and pots to find something to eat. I’m always famished!
Your favorite travel spot.
I hardly have favorites of anything (well except maybe a favorite person and a favorite blog. Lol!). Plus, I haven’t really traveled that much. But so far, every travel experience is often different, unique and loved in its own way.
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