Time Management and Branding

Focusing on too many projects at the same time can be a real hassle. Often times people get overwhelmed and fall into a dwell in their productivity. This was one of the first problems I’ve dealt with as a music producer and musician. I asked the question multiple times in panels with music industry professionals if it’s better to take on multiple projects at a time or just focus on one when I first started my career. I always got the same answer to just focus on one thing that I’m good at. What they didn’t mean is only focus on one project at a time. They meant to focus on selling my brand and my skills. Since I’m a producer, my skills are in gathering elements of musical composition and arrangement to ensure the vision of who ever my customer is.

When I first started playing music I was a bass player. This opened an entire world of music for me, so I started studying every single aspect of it. I also tried assembling bands while I was in the military, but was unsuccessful due to being deployed all the time and people not showing up. This frustrated me, so I decided to learn everything on my own. I bought one of all the main instruments and tried to learn them all at once. I’d play drums one day, bass the next, and then keyboard at the end of the week on a rotating schedule. What happened though is that I sacrificed my time on each instrument by continuously switching, and this got me nowhere. So I decided to just work on playing bass and producing. So that’s my brand. People can associate me with doing those things well. The keyword there is ‘well’. Often I see people entitling their positions or skills as something way more than what they’re good at. When professionals see that they don’t take you seriously. I had the pleasure of briefly working with someone at school on a project, and I asked him for his business card. When I looked at his card half of it was filled with his title and skills. The problem is people have trouble believing that you are good at so many things and sometimes it seems too arrogant and narcissistic.

When you focus on one thing or a group of small things you have more control. You can finish one thing and move onto the next. This is more satisfying than having twenty projects that are in the first step of completion. You can establish goals to meet and achieve them easier. It allows you more personal time because you’re not too focused on many projects that take up your time. Sometimes projects will disappear because people lose interest, or have their own work that’s taking up their time. The older you get, the more this happens. The goal should be to get better at managing ‘quality’ time between a few projects, so that you’re not constantly worrying about them.

Some tips to help you with your own time management and branding are:

1. Focus on what you are good at, or things that peak your interest the most

2. Use something like the iPhone iCal to help remind you of events

3. Use Notes or Notepad to help you jot down ideas (you can always return later)

4. Network like crazy. Do not let a chance to talk to someone with similar interests get by you.

5. Have a great attitude

6. Know what your comfort level is

7. Take time to work on your brand and image (website, social media, portfolio, resume)

8. Share you content

9. Act professional and like you can contribute to or know someone that can help with someone else's goals

10. Have fun, and find your passion (You will want to do it all day, or apply everything you learn to that one thing)