Dance Teachers – would you like more time?
Do you always hear yourself saying that there’s never enough time in the day?
That you wish you could have more than 24 hours?
That you feel like you are on a treadmill sometimes?
That you are always so busy?
That life seems to be one big rush?
It doesn’t have to be that way!!!
It really doesn’t!
Check out our top tips on how to make more time! And to believe that it truly is possible!
Here goes!
Look at what you are doing
Have you ever written down on a sheet of paper what you actually do Monday to Sunday?
Go on, we dare you. Get a sheet of A4, mark off M/T/W/T/F/S/S and AM/PM and write in all the things you HAVE TO DO
When you’ve done that – take a good look at it – and trust us here as we are not ones to write things down, but it really does work – are you surprised at what you are doing and when?
Do you enjoy all those things on there?
Are there any jobs/chores that you absolutely hate doing?
Can you delegate any of the personal chores? i.e. can a pal or partner help – can you alternate who does it each week?
Can you delegate any of your work, realistically? With the jobs you hate to do, could you pay someone else to do them whilst you go out and do what you are great at?
One of my weaknesses is dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s – I am a passionate dreamer with tons of ideas but then need someone to ensure all the relevant paperwork is done – it’s far better for me to pay someone who is amazing to do it, taking the burden from me and allowing me to do what I am good at which is marketing and getting Popdance in front of the relevant people.
I worked for many years at the start of Popdance on doing everything myself – budgets were tight, I couldn’t afford to pay someone to do the jobs I hated – but I soon realised that in order to grow Popdance, I needed to shift my priorities and realised my skills were far more beneficial to the company if I streamed them into the marketing side and the customer side – getting business for the company – after all, that’s what pays the bills!
Letting go and taking that leap into delegating was a big step, but one that has paid dividends.
Now we are not saying that you need to take on additional staff and have an additional salary on your books – but it’s worth thinking about. Who do you know who may be good at doing all the stuff you hate? Is there a friend, a mum at your school, or even look at a VA – all of which can be taken on on a freelance basis – you only pay them when you need them. No complications, no tie-ins – help there when you want it.
Obviously you need to be clear about what you want, how much you will pay and the length of time you will work together, or whether it’s a rolling contract – but it’s a lot simpler than it sounds.
The other thing to do is look at whether you can have set days for set things – i.e. can you shift things around so that Mondays, for instance, are your admin/invoicing/clean the house days?
That you book a block in your week for marketing/social media scheduling etc
Doing similar things in a block ensures you get more out of it – i.e. if you are in marketing mode in one session, you can get tons of ideas and lots done rather than doing a bit here, a bit there.
Also planning in a bit of “me” time gives you something to look forward to and some time out from your “busy” schedule.
It’s all very well being “busy” but are you doing what you want to be doing and are you making the money you want to make?
If you are not then stop a minute – what do you want to do? How can you achieve what you want to achieve? Is it by running around here, there and everywhere, or could you do what you love and make more money if you just stopped and looked?
Definitely worth thinking about – sometimes, doing less, can make you happier and make you more financially secure – sounds mad but it’s true.
Plan what you want to do and how you will get there.
Set yourself targets and work hard to achieve them.