How To Balance Your Music Career And Day Job Music Career

Article by: Vealy 
VQS Advice Blog

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• Table of Contents
  1. Make Small Goals
• 2. Develop A Schedule
• 3. Limit Social Media
• 4. Learn To Say No
• 5. Appreciate

How do you conserve energy after a full day at your job? How can you maximize the time that’s left in the day? Kanye West worked as a retail assistant at GAP. Art Garfunkel was a math teacher. Cyndi Lauper was a dog kennel cleaner and an ear piercer. They believed, made goals, persevered, and built their teams to get where they are today. Today here’s our top 5 ways to balance your day job and your music career!

1. Make Small Goals

We have no time to waste. Write down small goals on Sunday for the upcoming week. For example, a small goal for me for Monday would be “choose the sounds you’d like for the song”, or “map your song— know where the intro is, verse, chorus… will there be an instrument break? etc”.

For Tuesday, it could be “finish writing your blog”. Everyone is different. Goals must be written down. Writing your goals will force you to clarify what you want and see the bigger picture.

2. Develop A Schedule

Two problems occur when you juggle a full-time job and your music: lack of time and lack of energy. If you work a 9-5, you really only have from 6:30 till bedtime. Sometimes less. We can’t add hours to our day. You must preserve energy that can be channeled to our creative time. Writing down the set schedule and sticking to it is key.

3. Limit Social Media

Social media is excellent for creatives. It lets us showcase our art, and network with people. However, it is designed to be addictive.  A lot of social media is not useful when you’re trying to budget your time. It’s very easy to get sucked into the vortex. Here’s the hack: plan out your content in your notes first. Set a time limit of 5 minutes max. Get back to your goals. Get back to work.

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https://vqsstudio.com/2020/08/05/preparation-for-a-healthy-mindset/

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4. Learn To Say No

Let’s admit, day jobs are draining. Say no to social media. It will still be around tomorrow. Happy hour with the gang sounds like a great escape, absolutely! Reality check, this may be the perfect time to practice discipline by sticking to the plan.  You are the person making things happen right now.  Stay on the path and respect the artist inside of you. Rest when you need to rest. But say no to things that will steal your time.

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https://vqsstudio.com/2020/02/14/5-career-pathways-for-singers/

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5. Appreciate

We all would love to just stop clocking in and do our art full-time instead. But we have bills to pay. Appreciate what you have. In reality, this temporary employment is funding your art and passion. Be present.

There is magic when you are “at the moment”. I’ve learned to have a better understanding of human emotions because of my job as a nurse. This is something that I can use when I write music and lyrics. The pain will turn to beauty.

Summary:

• 1. Make Small Goals
• 2. Develop A Schedule
• 3. Limit Social Media
• 4. Learn To Say No
• 5. Appreciate

Article by: Vealy
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