Just got fired - Time for a change!

[mongoose]

Sometimes the universe gives you a kick in the a$$.

Yesterday my chef fired me because he can't trust me to manage the bookstore i'm working in. I'm a pretty spacey and unorganized guy. Most of the time i just read books and ignored everything around me when I'm alone. I can't keep track of what belongs to where and to be honest i just don't give a shit. So its clear that his decision is fair, i would do the same thing. We even had a laugh about it and the whole thing was rather friendly and amusing to both to us.

Somehow the timing just feels right. In my free time i give piano lessons and i really love doing that. But i never had the time to teach more students. So one thing leads to another and i decided to go all in on teaching the piano. I will print a gazillion of flyers and leave them all over the city. I only need 9 new students to make more money than on my job, so it's definitely doable!

My main problem is my messy way of being. What if i can't manage my students, what when i lose track of all the dates and timetables? I see myself falling flat on my nose again when i ignore this problem any longer. But how do you do get organized when you always spaced out, in thoughts? I love to improvise, i love to just "let it come to me", i have a disdain for structure. But on the other hand i clearly see that i would highly benefit from getting my act together, even if i hate it.

So for 2020 i decided to get orderly, clean, organized and structured. This will be a big change. I will take baby steps and try to manage my way from being a spaced out irresponsable new agey artist to become a clear headed, organized teacher.

If any of you guys made a similar transition or are just naturally good at being organized i would be deepy gratefull for any advice, resources, books or other pointers...

I'm pretty excited and motivated and i just wanted to share this with you guys. I hope you start strong into the new year, may your ambitions become true.
Cheers!

 

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[SEBASTlAN]

You sound like an entrepreneur to me

 

[broswoodwork]

being a spaced out irresponsable new agey artist

What are you thinking about when you're in space on the job?

I was always thinking about running my own company with my own clients. Now that I have that, I space out and make magic wands instead of doing real work.

 

[Stargazer]

If nothing else buy yourself a wall calendar and start using it.

I prefer this type. That should sort your bookings out.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07QL9JVBB/?tag=

Dan

 

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[BellaPippin]

Not sure if you're a digital or paper guy but I'm the same way so I NEED a planner. It sounds like you could do a weekly one either those with the week on one side and notes on the other page or the ones where the week is the whole spread in columns and then you can write appointments.

Other than keep up with your students time blocks and what you have to work with each of them I don't see anything else in your way. You can set one day of the week to do admin stuff such as promoting and your books.

 

[ShamanKing]

How you do one thing, is how you do everything.

 

[broswoodwork]

How you do one thing, is how you do everything.

Idk... Einstein would forget to put his shoes on before leaving for work.

 

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[Tossek]

Idk... Einstein would forget to put his shoes on before leaving for work.

Once, I accidentally forgot to change my pyjama top for a shirt. No one cared

... But island smartness is quite common. Einstein might have been a genius but not a good cook for example.

 

[Imgal]

My biggest excuse for not having made enough progress / big enough progress / fast enough progress has always been "I'm not a structured person", "I don't do well with systems", "being told what to do doesn't suit me"

If you actually translate that it comes out at "I'm not actually sure I can do this and I don't want to be confronted by that fact by having clear figures in front of me". It's also a winner because if you have nothing to aim for you can't fail.

I'm not saying for a moment that is you at all @mongoose, but just to learn from my failing. Set your goals. Set them big, then set the small ones that will make the big one happen making them easy enough to complete in the short term, but not so easy you won't feel challenged.

That one action will get you where you need to go! Good luck.

 

[ShamanKing]

Idk... Einstein would forget to put his shoes on before leaving for work.

ah. I thought it was socks in his case.

 

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[broswoodwork]

ah. I thought it was socks in his case.

Haha. Maybe it was. I've read socks, shoes, and in some cases pants. I think, in the bio I read in 4th grade, it was his secretary remarking he walked to work, in the rain, with no shoes, but I'm getting old and forgetful myself nowadays.

 

[minivanman]

I'm still the same way after all these years. For example in the business I work every day, as soon as I make a sale, I text the information to my wife so she can record it. If not, I would be in a huge IRS mess all the time and not know if I made $1 or lost $1. I use a wall calendar (although it is on a table so I can write on it easier) and I use my reminder & alarm on my phone. I've been known to pick up my phone to put something in my reminders and start doing something else by the time I open my phone. I am BAAAAAD!!

As far as getting new clients, I was the KING of flyers....... 15-25 years ago. LOVED flyers. If I was you, I wouldn't print 1 flyer, I would get all my new peiople with facebook and probably be over-filled by Friday (Tuesday afternoon now). To me, flyers in 2020 is like riding a donkey instead of riding in a car.

 

[James Orman]

Make your own piano video course. It would scale and give you freedom of time.

 

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[#nowhere]

On how to organize your daily working and steps forward and how to frame I can recommend two books (in that order):

- The One Thing by Gary Keller
- The Motivation Myth by Jeff Haden

Read these two and act on them for the next 12 weeks.

Acting is a lot more valuable than reading, but in your situation a few crucial information pieces could be helpful. The two books talk about goal setting as well. Since you came here I assume you already have a goal in mind.

A thread from the forums that could be helpful:

Productivity System many fastlaners use or used

I still use trello everyday...

 

[mongoose]

You sound like an entrepreneur to me

Yes, this is the dream. But first things first

What are you thinking about when you're in space on the job?

Most of the time i either meditate or i think about how to overcome emotional blocks, trauma and fear to fulfill my highest potential as an artist. Also i want to share my insights and i think a lot about how to do that (which medium to choose, which language to present the information and so on...)

If nothing else buy yourself a wall calendar and start using it.

Great idea, thank you! I instructed my girlfriend to make me on (she is the crafty on) and it's already hanging on my wall.

Not sure if you're a digital or paper guy but I'm the same way so I NEED a planner. It sounds like you could do a weekly one either those with the week on one side and notes on the other page or the ones where the week is the whole spread in columns and then you can write appointments.

Thanks, I already have a weekly planer and it definitely helps. I only have to remember to actually use it, thats the main problem right now. But with the right habit it should work for me.

How you do one thing, is how you do everything.

Yes exactly! That's why i want to get my act together.

Set your goals. Set them big, then set the small ones that will make the big one happen making them easy enough to complete in the short term, but not so easy you won't feel challenged.

Wonderful, thank you! It's definitely an excuse for me, so you saw right through me

If I was you, I wouldn't print 1 flyer, I would get all my new peiople with facebook and probably be over-filled by Friday (Tuesday afternoon now). To me, flyers in 2020 is like riding a donkey instead of riding in a car.

Flyers are outdated, but they worked fast and efficient for my first clients so i will do it again. I never thought about using facebook for local services.. I have to create a fb page, then create the ad and then select the right target group and that's it right? In this case the likes on my page and the content on the page doesn't matter, it's just to get the word out? I hope i understand this right.

Make your own piano video course. It would scale and give you freedom of time.

Yes, this is my long term plan! But first i want to get experience from actually teaching in person , so i really know what students need and what works.

On how to organize your daily working and steps forward and how to frame I can recommend two books (in that order):

- The One Thing by Gary Keller
- The Motivation Myth by Jeff Haden

I adore "The One Thing", it helped me out immensely and i think it's a very wise book in general. I will check out the other book and the thread, seems promising. Thanks!

 

[#nowhere]

Yes, this is the dream. But first things first


Most of the time i either meditate or i think about how to overcome emotional blocks, trauma and fear to fulfill my highest potential as an artist. Also i want to share my insights and i think a lot about how to do that (which medium to choose, which language to present the information and so on...)



Great idea, thank you! I instructed my girlfriend to make me on (she is the crafty on) and it's already hanging on my wall.



Thanks, I already have a weekly planer and it definitely helps. I only have to remember to actually use it, thats the main problem right now. But with the right habit it should work for me.



Yes exactly! That's why i want to get my act together.



Wonderful, thank you! It's definitely an excuse for me, so you saw right through me



Flyers are outdated, but they worked fast and efficient for my first clients so i will do it again. I never thought about using facebook for local services.. I have to create a fb page, then create the ad and then select the right target group and that's it right? In this case the likes on my page and the content on the page doesn't matter, it's just to get the word out? I hope i understand this right.



Yes, this is my long term plan! But first i want to get experience from actually teaching in person , so i really know what students need and what works.



I adore "The One Thing", it helped me out immensely and i think it's a very wise book in general. I will check out the other book and the thread, seems promising. Thanks!

Sorry, I assumed you were new.

 

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[mongoose]

Sorry, I assumed you were new.

New on the forum, yes

 

[minivanman]

Sorry, I forgot that people pay to advertise on Facebook. I use the free buy/sell/trade groups for everything. I'm a member of over 500 groups locally. Why pay for something when you can get better results for FREE?

See, with FB you could already have some new clients, with flyers, it will actually take work. By the time you get the flyer printed you could already be making money from FB. Like I said, I was the flyer KING, I loved flyers...... but I love easy money more

 

[broswoodwork]

Sorry, I forgot that people pay to advertise on Facebook. I use the free buy/sell/trade groups for everything. I'm a member of over 500 groups locally. Why pay for something when you can get better results for FREE?

See, with FB you could already have some new clients, with flyers, it will actually take work. By the time you get the flyer printed you could already be making money from FB.

Have you taken a gander at the actual marketplace? You can get pretty strong results for free, and some off the chart results for $.02/ click.

 

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[minivanman]

I only use Market Place and buy/sell/trade groups to sell. I've never sold on ebay/Amazon/other sites. Market place is really narrow on what sells very well but luckily what I sell is one of the things that sells very good on there. In the buy/sell/trade groups you have to be very good at how you word things, it is Facebook and Facebook = low IQ lots of times.

 

[JLawrence]

Was in your shoes a few years ago. Fired out of the blue, new city, no savings, rent due in 2 weeks.

Here's where I started: People just copied this....and it worked! - NevBlog

Following this put me in front of a bunch of different people that
1. Allowed me to pay my rent
2. Opened up new connections and business opportunities I never would have come across prior.

You may not have any knowledge in wordpress, but the template works for any other skill you may have. If you can't think of any skills, offer basic web development like above, handle the client meetings selling your ability to get the job done, then hire someone online to handle the work for you.

My very first gig was for a psychologist who taught at a local college in addition to his Private Practice. He needed a password protected section of his website with all his lectures and public speaking engagements uploaded so his students could view them. It's a simple task, but I had no idea how to go about this. Luckily a guy in Portugal knew how for $50.

I don't do anything related to web design or consulting now, but it's a great way to get you out of your comfort zone in front of real people paying real money.

Also, you don't need to get organized. Start providing value to people and the rest will fall into place.

 

[ecommercewolf]

FTE event

 

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