by Kimberly Jurgen
1. TIME
How often do you lose hours to the social media rabbit hole or half a day to a binge watch, which you realize only as Netflix asks if you are still watching? Do you also feel like you don’t have enough time in the day to create marketing materials or work on a monologue?
For one week keep a detailed calendar of your time. Include everything you do every minute of each day. This diary will give you a starting time budget to see where your patterns and black holes of time are.
Then use one of these great apps to help with time management. But the catch is, you have to USE the app once you download it. And all of these are free, so if one doesn’t work for you then you can check out another one until you find the perfect fit to help you manage your time.
- TimeTune
- Brain Focus Productivity Timer
- Any.do
- Evernote
Or you can go old school and set a timer before you open FaceBook.
2. MONEY
If you don’t already create an annual budget, then I encourage you to do that today. For the developmental actor (meaning one who does not yet have a resume filled with tv guest stars or supporting roles in well-known films), a financial budget includes general training and specific training for your career goal. For example, if your plan is to work in action films, stage combat and martial arts are skills that will increase your chance of success. Budgets should also include headshots (meaning photographer, makeup artist, photoshop, printing, uploads to casting sites), reels, marketing (printing, envelopes, postage, etc), networking, professional memberships (to casting sites, union dues and organizations like Women in Film), subscriptions, research, transportation and parking fees. And more.
Once you create your annual career budget, divide it by 12 and you’ll have a sense of what your acting business needs to thrive in 2017. It will also show what you need in addition to your living expenses each month.
If you need income to fund your goals and a very flexible work schedule, consider these possibilities where you can make up to $1000/week depending on your availability and your weekly budget goals:
- Rideshare driver – Lyft.com (see if a friend is a driver and you might both get a bonus when you become a driver)
- Housekeeper – tidy.com/homekeeper/
- Dog walker – wagwalking.com/dog-walker
- Pet sitting – sittercity.com/pet-sitting-jobs/ca/los-angeles
- Work from home using your creative skills – fiverr.com
- Become a Tasker – taskrabbit.com/become-a-tasker
3. NEED HELP?
If you are feeling overwhelmed, our How To Hit the Ground Running class covers these and many other subjects that will help you have the best year ever. For details about the class and the topics covered, click here to go to our Career page.