Nobody ever has enough time to do everything they want to do. That’s a fact! Most of us want to do more, but can’t seem to find enough hours in a day to do it. That’s why we all need to focus on the really important stuff and just do those items. Get other people to do the dirty work for you!
Letting go of some tasks are needed if you want to be able to focus on what you deem to be the most important things in your career and life.
Bogging yourself down with doing everything is a sure fire way to run yourself into the ground. Do you often wish for an extra hour of time to pursue what truly makes you happy? Then you are in need of a task tuneup. Look at what you are doing each day and those tasks that you hate doing. Then find somebody else to do them for you.
Most musicians really enjoy creating and performing music. Let’s create more time to do those things.
You’ll find yourself doing other things like social media posts, website updates, graphic design, headshots, restringing guitars, booking gigs, writing press releases, and the countless other things that are needed to do as an indie musician. Start thinking about delegating those tasks that aren’t as enjoyable to people who actually enjoy doing those things.
Send out an email to your list or social media post and ask if one of your fans is good at social media and would like to join your team as your official social media manager. Odds are you’ll find somebody who would love to do this for you. Ask your friend who does graphic design for a living if they would do some side work for your band. Find a local photographer who is looking for models to shoot if you could join forces to give both parties what they need. Before you know it, you will have cleared loads of time from your calendar. Plus, you end results will probably be an improvement because the person doing those tasks enjoys them.
Sometimes delegating work happens within the band among the different band members.
Mojo Radio‘s singer, Adam, is an amazing artist. He can draw cartoon characters like a pro. He was given the job to come up with poster artwork from time to time. He was also not great at delivering posters around town. That was where I took over because I was good at this. Don’t force somebody to do a task that they’re bad at and expect them to excel. Instead, find out what things they do well and exploit that talent.
If you are having a hard time finding people to do certain tasks then head to the internet.
It has never been easier to find people to do almost anything task at a reasonable rate. Check out places like Fiverr, and Upwork to find somebody to help you out online. The people on these services become your virtual assistants. That sounds pretty nice, doesn’t it? Now tell your new virtual assistant to write up a press release for your new album release.
“Delegate but don’t abdicate” ― Derek Sivers
These are wise words from a wise man. You can let others do the work, but you must always stay in control of the work being done. People that you hire won’t be invested in your music brand as much as you are. You are the one in charge and need to make sure the tasks being handed out are being completed to your expectation. Think of yourself as CEO of your music brand.
Your homework is to write down all the tasks that you do every day. Write down everything even personal items. Then rate those tasks 1-10 with 10 being the most enjoyable. If you have a lot of 1s and 2s on your list then you now know what tasks you need to delegate to other people. Maybe one of your “1” tasks is mowing the lawn. Pay a neighborhood kid to do that so that you allow yourself more time to enjoy doing things you truly love. You’ll start to find that you look forward to tackling your “to do” list. You’ll find your day is being spent on enjoyable things and feel more content as a side effect. Plus, all those pesky errands still are getting done in the background.
What are the tasks that you consider your dirty work? Leave a comment below and let me know.
Photo by Denniz Futalan from Pexels
One thought on “Get other people to do the dirty work for you!”