Sneaky Thief

"Sneaky Thief" got your attention, did it?

Well it should. But no, I'm not talking about some nefarious person on the Internet, but it might as well be, because it can steal business from you. More on that later.

The sneaky thief isn't a person, The sneaky thief is the distracting, time-sucking electronic quicksand spam emails you receive. All of it probably isn't even "spam" per se, but could be stuff that you signed up for!

I'm just as guilty as anyone reading this could possibly be. I just spent at least half an hour of valuable time to unsubscribe from different email newsletters. All kinds of stuff - health information from WebMD, recipes and special offers, really old business groups, and the like.

I think one of the problems we creative folks have is that we are just so gosh darn interested in EVERYTHING! But it becomes clutter.

I've had a problem lately of emails being "lost." I wondered if it was because I had my email account for so long, there was just so much junk in it that that could be bogging it down. So I took a closer look. There were a lot of email newsletters that I really don't read anymore. Either the information isn't something I'm into anymore, or I just don't have the time. But I realized I would just delete them out of habit. Deleting is fine, but the problem was that there would be a new email from the same newsletter the next week! So it was like shoveling snow while it's snowing. Running in mud, to use another nature analogy.

Well duh! Time to unsubscribe!

Most emails have an 'unsubscribe' link at the bottom (they're supposed to, but not all have that...sneaky jerks!) Safe Unsubscribe links are easy and convenient and follow the same format, which speeds up the process of unsubscribing from many mailings. Other sites have unsubscribe pages but some are made so you really have to do a lot of reading to make sure you actually tell it to do what you want. They do that so it will be harder for you to leave their list.

Now this unsubscribe process is ridiculously long when you have 100 to do. So here's my advice for what it's worth.

1) Before subscribing to anything, really think twice about how important it is to you. Do you really need it?

2) Review your junk emails on a monthly basis, so you can rid yourself of the time-sucking albatross more conveniently.

3) When you check your email, try not to quickly click 'Delete,' instead think about whether you really need that subscription or what-have-you any more. If you've received a newsletter from the same site or organization before and you've routinely deleted it, it's time for it to go.

I mentioned at the beginning of this post that those extraneous emails steal business from you. How so?
I have so many emails that I didn't see all of them. It has caused me to be late in returning correspondence. That's death for any business.

Time Management Tips for Freelance Artists

In cleaning out my desk, I always find interesting things. I am a collector of clippings, etc -- but not so much a good organizer of these clippings! So I often have to just be brutal and throw a lot of stuff out. But sometimes there are clippings/notes that are too good to throw away, but where to put them is the problem -- so I realized that putting it in this blog might be the best place for them.

Here is one of them, called Time Management for Freelance Artists.

• Ask yourself, what can I do right now to get started?
• Know exactly what you're doing and why.
• Concentrate on what you're doing, live in the NOW.
• Work with as much energy and enthusiasm as you can.
• Know when you are working and when you are not.
• Spend as much time as possible on priorities.
• Eliminate procrastination!
• Know your specific goals and your specific motivators.
• Think of time spent in waiting rooms as creative time.
• Invest time in exercise. Walk, run, join a fitness club.
• Keep your long-term goals always in view
• Pinpoint your most productive times of the day and use them to your greatest benefit.
• Set your own deadlines, and be a tough boss.
• When possible start every job when it is assigned even if your client doesn't need it until next week. You'll do a better job than if youre under unnecessary stress. Sloppy work doesn't pay.
• Avoid interruptions whenever possible.
• Learn how to say "no" and "goodbye."
• Know how long things take and always add on some more time for good measure "just in case."
• Establish high quality leisure and rest time
• Plan your day around routines that are a necessary part of your lifestyle -- showering, meals, daily chores and errands. Such regular routines are easy to plan around.
• When you can't be interrupted, kick on your answering machine and call them back later.

I do not know where this came from. I've had it for years, as you can tell by the reference to the answering machine! Just replace that last one with "if you are creating, let your calls go to voice-mail and call them back later."