Delegate Your Work!

Written by Ruth Marlene Friesen


It's a number of years ago I heard a Elizabeth Elliott, say * a woman should learn to delegate any work that a child or helper could do, so she could focus onrepparttar work only she could do. That made a profound impression on me.

Inrepparttar 124034 past year or so I've had it come back to my mind a number of times, andrepparttar 124035 more I think on it,repparttar 124036 wiser that thought appears.

Just think, of allrepparttar 124037 little chores that are part of your basic daily routine. In how many is it conceivable that someone might learn to do that as well, perhaps better, than you?

If you gave up makingrepparttar 124038 beds, preparingrepparttar 124039 family's breakfast, and washing dishes, how much free time would you have to do creative writing?

If someone else mowedrepparttar 124040 lawn, sweptrepparttar 124041 porch and driveway, wateredrepparttar 124042 flowers, could you check on a discouraged friend by phone and lift their spirits? Or create a gift to take to them?

If you've been overwhelmed with far more to do than is humanly possible, maybe it's because you were never meant to do ALL those things. You are hogging work that someone else ought to be doing.

I Am Finally Living My Dream! (How I left the corporate world at age 44 to pursue a career as a musician.)

Written by Jim Hudak


Even in grade school, I knew I wanted to be a musician…full time, as my career. I firmly believed it was my "calling". Early on, I determined that in my case, as a musician, there could be three sources of revenue: live music performances, record sales, and songwriting royalties. It took many years, but finally it has happened as I envisioned it as a young boy. As I nearrepparttar age of 50, I can say I am living my dream as a musician…performing, recording, and songwriting!

This wasn't by any means a direct route. I forgot about followingrepparttar 124033 yellow brick road.

Alongrepparttar 124034 way, I have taken a few side roads…newspaper delivery, landscaping, outdoor maintenance for a school district, restaurant busboy, boxing and stocking groceries, bartender and tavern manager, lumber yard and hardware sales, real estate sales, selling entertainment discount books door to door (and successfully, I might add!), doing voiceovers for commercials, acting as an "extra" for films and television, concessionaire at sporting events, umpire for youth athletic games, painting houses and remodeling buildings, apartment manager, music librarian…. andrepparttar 124035 "big three" long term: 1. 16 years as an executive with ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) and SESAC where I received an incredible up-close view ofrepparttar 124036 songwriting and legal side ofrepparttar 124037 music business. 2. Five years as an employee and store manager for a six-store chain of record stores, learning just how many thousands of recording artists there actually are and getting to attend an unlimited number of free concerts. 3. Four years as a traffic, news, and sports reporter for over 50 radio and television stations. This reporting experience was invaluable. Besides allrepparttar 124038 behindrepparttar 124039 microphone experience, I sawrepparttar 124040 competitiveness, professionalism, (usually) low paying, corporately controlled world of broadcasting - firsthand. The highlight was flying daily in Cessna planes and helicopters, providing traffic reports for stations inrepparttar 124041 San Francisco Bay Area.

Wow! That’s quite an assortment of jobs. Talk about a diverse view ofrepparttar 124042 world.

But…all that time, I saw it only as a means to an end. My real goal was to play, record, and compose music, FULL TIME. It was just so hard to do on an ongoing basis and still payrepparttar 124043 bills. I would get gigs from time to time that would last anywhere from one night to three months. I never played "Top 40" radio hits, but insisted on playing what I believed was music with integrity or at least music close to my heart. While I wanted to perform mostly my own compositions, I was willing to also play songs by my musical heroes. You know, those singer-songwriter types that were not always household names: John Prine, Bob Dylan, Gram Parsons, Jerry Garcia, and of courserepparttar 124044 Beatles and James Taylor.

But whether I played as a soloist or in groups, sustained income just wasn’t there. Finally as I neared age 30,repparttar 124045 thought of a steady paycheck became too good to pass up. I took a job as a Field Representative for ASCAP. It required my selling copyrighted music licenses to all types of businesses who provided music for their customers. I spentrepparttar 124046 next 16 years never having to worry much about money. I also enjoyedrepparttar 124047 varied experience,repparttar 124048 travel, andrepparttar 124049 solid education in learning about that part ofrepparttar 124050 music business that so interested me - it was a valuable chapter in my life. But althoughrepparttar 124051 financial worries were gone, I spent so much of that time unhappy! I knew I had to get back torepparttar 124052 artistic pursuit of my music.

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