I found this out at my first job, back when I was a Content Strategist at a tech marketing agency. Internally, we were always running hot – like, three projects behind, two weeks late on everything, always barely keeping fifty spinning plates in the air, every so often dropping one with an impressive crash.
I might have assumed that this state of general overwhelm was unique to our company if I hadn't also witnessed it in every single one of our clients. I worked with 20-30 businesses in any given month; I worked at the agency for six years. I saw behind the scenes at hundreds of companies, and not a one wasn't busier and further behind than us.
This is probably due to something broken in me, but I found it all funny.
Here we are, us buttoned-up business people, each of us hopelessly self-important, coming into work each day to rush around like bothered chickens. We're smart and fluffed up and frantic. We've got it covered.
This state of affairs lends itself to comedy, but it gets really funny when you watch how we rationalize our busyness: Everything is always just about to get better. Sure, we're under the gun now, true enough, but just wait! We're problem solvers who are about to fix it. Next week we're hiring an intern, and that'll do the trick. Or next month we'll have finished this task management system migration, and from there life will be a breeze. Or next year we'll have finally finished onboarding this big client, and then we'll get back to business as usual.
But business as usual is just more busyness. Anyone can see that.
So what's all this have to do with music marketing?
Good question. Two things, I guess, neither of which is novel advice:
- You and I should probably stop waiting to do things.
- You and I should probably do less.
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1. Stop waiting to do the things you care about.
I know this is trite, but if something matters to you, please just go do it. There probably won't be a better time when you're less busy. If you want to make that record, make it. If you want to play that show, book it. Stop waiting.
I speak from experience as a chronic procrastinator. Procrastination is problematic for projects with deadlines, because it leads to late nights and bad work. But it's even worse for dreams with no deadlines, because it leads to non-existence.
I put off launching Two Story Media for years while I waited for the right time. I put off recording my own music for years while I waited for the right connections. I'm currently putting off writing a book while I wait for the right words.
If I hadn't been shaken from my apathy by people and circumstances out of my control, I don't think I'd ever have moved. And if you don't move, you won't move.
At this point, I've learned my lesson. But I'm still learning it.
2. Do less.
This is actually the main idea I had in my head when I sat down to write today, so of course it's taken me until now to get to it: Man, there is just so much pressure to do so much.
E.g., here are a few of the things that people told me to do last week – like, explicitly and directly told me that I should do, via comments and emails:
- Test a new playlisting service
- Test another new playlisting service
- Test another new playlisting service (I get these requests a lot)
- Learn more about TikTok ads
- Be on TikTok
- Delete my TikTok
- Test an influencer campaign
- Try actually replying to an email, dammit
- Hire a thumbnail designer
- Run Google ads
- Learn how to blink
Etc.
It's an overwhelming list, and it doesn't even include all the other things that smart-sounding, good-looking people are talking about on social media. The more I read and watch and listen, the further behind I feel. One solution is probably to read, watch, and listen to less. But surely the major part of the solution is to do fewer things.
At a practical, music-marketing level, here's what I'd say:
Get really good at one way to reach new people.
I don't care too much what that one way is; it might be making videos on TikTok, or writing on Substack, or running Meta ads, or whatever. I've seen people build full-time careers on the backs of each of those things. The truth is that there are a bunch of different marketing tactics that work, but not a single one that works when it's done badly.
Do one thing really well and you'll find your fans. Please stop feeling like you have to do everything.
Okay, one last thought:
Not everyone's busy.
I mean, I'm definitely busy. Come on. This week I'm feeling like a bothered chicken again, which is another way of saying it's a normal week. Part of this probably really is seasonal; sometimes there are things that have to be done. Most of my friends have young kids right now, and I can't imagine being unstressed when you have to keep little people alive.
But still: The people I most admire seem to move more slowly than I do, even when things around them move fast. At least, they always seem to have time for me. They're less like bothered chickens and more like waiting owls – not just because they're old and wise, although they usually are, but because they're still.
Busyness is normative and stressful, and also pretty darn funny when you step back for a minute to watch it. But it's not, I hope, inevitable.
– Jon
Jon Anderson
Founder @ Two Story Media
Surprisingly Bad @ Catching Chickens
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100% Human Guarantee
I wrote this, not AI.
Today's random photo: They opened this new Asian-fusion place in Downtown Frederick. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks cool. At least it had a long enough line to convince me that other people think it's cool.
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P.S. – Last week's newsletter was about the importance of community. You can read it here.