10 Ways to Survive Fun-Employment Alone – Part II

Tips for independent artist-managers and manager-artists
by sim1ontharun

6. Stay organized. I've got a Three-a-Day Theory, which encourages independent consultants to schedule no more than three major meetings (or tasks to accomplish) per day. Of course, you can try to squeeze in multiple tasks, but holding yourself to just three things a day is refreshing. You'll want to continue your successes when you see that you can do what you set out to do. I recommend The Inspired Office for mid to large businesses, but there are many other individuals and businesses that can help you stay on task.

7. Know your city and the people in it. Join groups, find mentors and peers. Get involved. Form a collective, volunteer, or mentor youth. You never know what circles overlap, especially if you live in a small city like Washington, DC. Don't underestimate the power of a diverse network of people and professions. I have had the pleasure of organizing monthly Smart Chicks Brunches with Holly Bass and Carolyn Malachi for the last year or so in DC. In this short time, we've built a network of over 70 women of all ages and professions who want to support and inspire one another and the list keeps growing. This has been an invaluable space for my growth as an artist-manager and human being.

8. Make yourself heard. Write for a blog or community newspaper, join a board of directors, or learn how to use social networking to communicate with a larger group. Above all, don't be afraid to hype YOURSELF. On the Internets, readers respect a clear voice. Also, this might seem obvious, but try to keep business cards on you at all times, even if you're just running around doing errands. Independent artist-managers have to be "on" at all times, as our social networks are constantly overlapping on and offline.

9. Get uncomfortable: set goals, set benchmarks. Harness your fears into courage. Set seemingly unattainable goals, then meet them. It helps to share your goals with others. That way, people can ask you if you ever completed your novel about tribes in Burma or finally gotten rid of all but 20 of your possessions? I am stuck on the idea of threes--it just feels right in my experience. Evaluate the three most important things to you every six months. This has proven a useful strategy to me and the six-way artist-manager collective I co-founded called clutch. But, of course you can experiment with your own benchmarks. Just make sure to have some type of benchmarks, whatever they are for you.

10. Value personal and professional time equally. Don't overbook (remember: three-a-day). Gather strength from those who know and love you. Harness that energy and think of it all as part of one process leading you to accomplishments at your own pace. Don't segregate your personal and professional Selves. In the words of Tyler Durden in the film Fight Club, "You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world."

*Bonus Tip: Take a day off! Studies all say that time off leads to increased productivity. It's difficult to press pause when you're your own boss, but do make it a priority to give yourself some down-time. Apart from yoga classes, I had a total of three full days off my first 60 days as an independent consultant. I can now share with you, three out of 60 is not enough! If I can't enjoy my life because I'm busy trying to enjoy my life, there's something wrong with that. I might as well work for someone who will give me paid time off!

We often think of our professional and personal goals as contradictory, but it doesn't have to be that way. In fact, that's what I've loved most about my journey towards becoming an independent businesswoman: I've finally allowed myself to value my personal and professional time equally and now cherish both more than ever.

The verdict: #funemploymentFTW