The next Business Basics for Freelancers class is here! I'm trying out a new venue: Caffeine Underground in Bushwick! Having it at a cafe is great because you can also get caffeine and food during the session. Please sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/business-basics-for-freelancers-tickets-48501544425

So I've been wanting to do a blog post about the evolution of my "to do" wall for awhile, and I have a free post about part of it on my Patreon. Since the business class is approaching there's no time like the present to delve a little more into it! Part of the class focuses on productivity and organizational skills, which is at the heart of succeeding at any project. I don't get into THIS much detail about the "to do wall" in the class but this is my blog and I do what I want :) The main takeaway from this is to try new and different things with managing tasks and projects to see what work, and what DOESN'T work.

I read "Getting Things Done" by David Allen and started a "to do wall" like this. I'm not going to go into the whole GTD method here, but I realized the need to divide tasks into "paid" (teaching, weekly comic) and "unpaid" (cleaning, figuring out computer problems, etc). I also made a huge category for "unpaid but could possibly lead to $" which as an artist, a lot of things fell under. There's no guarantee that I'll make a killing at comic conventions, so every task associated with those fell under that category. Also personal art projects. In any case, I realized the need to organize this further.

There, that's a bit more organized. I divided tasks into time categories, like ones that may only take 15 minutes vs a half hour. However, you'll see the "career" portion of the wall has a TON of stuff. Part of GTD is a "brain dump" which means getting everything out of your head onto paper, but the method lacks how to prioritize. So I ended up having a lot of "good ideas" on my "to do wall" that were very low priority ideas, and they became overwhelming.

TADAA!! Much better! Those previous "to do walls" were also from the time I was teaching comics part time, but when I switched to full time freelancing, I had to make a major change. I got to control how I spent every hour of my day, so what would my ideal day look like? I go over more of this in the Business Basics for Freelancers class on Tuesday August 21st, from 2-5p at Caffeine Underground, 447 Central Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11221. Early Bird tickets are $50 online and walk-ins are $55 at the door. Hope to see you there!

PS: Hope these "to do walls" weren't too overwhelming. This method works for me, but you may find a better method that works for you to keep track of tasks.

This is a lesson that I've heard on a few productivity podcasts: Sometimes you have to say NO to possible opportunities that come along that are lower priorities, so you can say YES to your top priorities and live your life the way YOU want to. This prevents you from doing a zillion things that are "just ok" and getting burnt out, saving your energy for the BEST things.

I know this NO concept sounds weird, as we artists tend to say YES to everything, especially when first starting out in our careers. This is good up to a point, where you start to get a snowball effect of projects. It's like an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet where you see a smorgasbord of all these different delicious foods, and you pile your plate really high. But then after you eat for awhile you realize there's no possible way to stuff everything into your stomach in one sitting! The same thing happens with art projects, gigs, and etc: you literally cannot do every single thing on Earth that seems like a good opportunity, or has a slight chance of opportunity/doing something just for "the exposure" (we've all heard that load of crap before). You have to take a good hard look at everything on your plate and turn some things down for your sanity and health.

For example, when I first started exhibiting in comic conventions, I'd travel sometimes 2.5 hours away for a whole day trip to very small conventions or shows with low attendance, where I didn't end up making much profit - sometimes I'd lose $. But as I've progressed in my career, and now that I have a solid 3 ongoing projects with consistent pay, I realize I don't need to exhibit in every single convention. After much consideration, I've prioritized either doing regular freelance work on the weekends, doing something fun, or just relaxing! I've learned the hard way that I need to make R&R a priority, otherwise I catch colds from being worn down. New Yorkers especially may think there is no time for R&R, but you have to MAKE time by using the power of NO.

Here's proof of the power of saying NO! Whenever I hear multiple people I respect saying similar things, I take it into consideration. From Julie Sheranosher http://www.imjulie.com/saying-no/ and Michael Hyatt http://michaelhyatt.com/027-how-to-say-no-without-feeling-guilty-podcast.html

By the way, don't worry about missing me at the large conventions like NYCC, Boston CC, Baltimore CC, C2E2, Motor City (coming up in May!) - I still intend to exhibit at those!

The Evolution of my TO DO wall + Next Business Class!

The Power Of Saying NO