I guess it’s a good thing I’m going to Phoenix, Arizona tomorrow!
Friday in St. Louis: High of 34, Low of 27 (all temps Fahrenheit)
Friday in Phoenix: High of 73, Low of 46. MUCH BETTER!!
So I’ve got my “spring” clothes packed, and I can’t wait. I haven’t been out to AZ in about two years, so this trip is long overdue. And after my little race on Sunday, I’ll have four days to relax and celebrate, before returning to the cold.
Race day weather: Partly Cloudy, High of 73, Low of 52. I think that’s actually hotter throughout than the Lewis and Clark Half in October…I hope it’s not too hot for me to run decently! I am planning to run in black capri leggings, a purple tank top, and start with a light jacket. I’ve got a special “13.1” Sweaty Band for the occasion as well.
Can you tell I’m excited?
I do have some teaching to do beforehand, and one last training run to squeeze in. I’ve got 8 students at the school followed by 9 students at home. I just hope some of them have practiced since last week—I think I gave out some darned good practice assignments last week, and there shouldn’t be any excuses—after all, most of the kids had a snow day, perfect for extra practice, right? *sighs*
I do have to finalize the Solo and Ensemble stuff before I leave, but I’m also taking my laptop with me so I don’t get too behind on “business” stuff. I need to streamline the paperwork/email/phone calls process. I spend way too much time doing that sort of thing each week without actually getting everything done. Maybe I need to dedicate a certain block of time on a few days to working on that stuff (and nothing else)?
What is generally involved?
- Inputting payments into my computer program
- Invoices and receipts
- Dealing with special events such as concerts/contests—planning, emailing parents, memos
- Rescheduling lessons
- Resending invoices for parents who haven’t paid
- Returning phone calls from potential and current students
- Returning phone calls from potential and current clients (wedding business)
- Returning emails from the same
- Putting together wedding contracts
- Signing checks
- Taking checks to the bank
- Planning classes
- Making practice charts
- Keeping up on repertoire ideas for the groups and orchestra
- Xeroxing of important handouts for the students who continually lose them
- Keeping travel bag clean and up to date (some music I use on the go and at home, I have to make sure it gets back into the bag afterwards)
- Directions to gigs
- Organizing gig music if needed (for instance, getting trio music or quartet music out, making sure I have the correct songs for the event)
If I have a week with regular teaching and a wedding or too, that is all the stuff I might have to get done! Obviously the phone calls and emails vary, the invoices are primarily a end of month thing…but many of those things have to be done at the end of each teaching day or by the next morning for sure. I often feel overwhelmed by the paperwork (computer work, what have you.) I am thinking I should just dedicate, say, 1 hour, three days a week to this stuff and then stop. Does anyone else deal with this stuff in a better way? (Other than having a personal assistant…) When I get back I may try that—scheduling a few hours a week to dedicate to the about list as needed, and then not go past that time. Maybe an hour Tuesday, an hour Wednesday and an hour Friday? And if I don’t need that time, great. If I need more time, I’ll just have to carry the work over till the next day. Then again, emails I generally want to respond to quickly. But I could do that once or twice a day rather than all the time? Help??
(I’m actually writing this on Wednesday night, and I’m exhausted, but I want to read a bit of War and Peace before bed, so I apologize for any incoherentness.) Have a fabulous Thursday!