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When the events industry finally reopened last August and work came flooding in, I found it very hard to say no to anything. Although I already know that I am not a person who can work for weeks straight without any time for myself, and am usually very careful about that, it was very tempting to try and build my bank account back up as quickly as possible by pushing myself as far as I could go.
As freelancers, we are responsible for our own schedules, and no one but ourselves is going to step in and say hey, maybe taking all that on isn’t a great idea. The instability caused by the various COVID variants circulating also made it extra tempting to overbook myself and say yes to everything – it was unclear many of those shows would end up actually happening.
I have coworkers who go weeks or months without a single day off, but I already know that working like that is simply not sustainable for me. The short-term benefits would not outweigh the massive burnout I would end up feeling.
The strategies I have found that work best for preserving some time for myself when working are the following
I’ve started putting days off into my calendar in the same way that I put workdays. Sometimes I list them a specific activity like ERRAND DAY, sometimes I just leave it as DAY OFF. Having it in writing makes me less likely to change it.
I’ve been in this industry long enough to know that in regular times, I need time to recharge after working 5 days straight. When scheduling work, I try not to go past blocks of 4-5 days on, 1 day off, or 6-2 at most. Obviously, this isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, but it also helps me mentally to know I am planning some breathing room into my schedule if it’s a really busy month.
I’ve often felt conflicted and reluctant about blocking off time for vacations, family events, etc. far in advance when I don’t know what my work opportunities for that time period look like yet. But in the scheme of things, there will always be more shows, there will always be more opportunities, and it won’t be the end of the world if I miss one.
As I said above, the rules I have for myself aren’t unbreakable. But for me, it helps to have a clear reason why I am going to push myself beyond what is healthy for me. Maybe there’s a show I really, really want to work on that extends a string of shows from six days to seven. Maybe my venue is offering overtime when it usually doesn’t, and I want to take advantage of that. Maybe it’s an opportunity with a new company that I can’t pass up. Maybe I need the money. Knowing that there is a concrete reason I am overworking myself and that it is only temporary helps me stay focused and get through the work at hand.
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The mission of SoundGirls.org is to inspire and empower the next generation of women in audio. Our mission is to create a supportive community for women in audio and music production, providing the tools, knowledge, and support to further their careers. SoundGirls.Org was formed in 2013 by veteran live sound engineers Karrie Keyes and Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato and operates under the Fiscal Sponsorship of The California Women’s Music Festival, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. In 2012, Karrie and Michelle participated in the “Women of Professional Concert Sound” panel at the AES Conference in San Francisco. The panel was hosted by the Women’s Audio Mission (WAM) and moderated by WAM founder Terri Winston. Terri brought together five women working in live and broadcast audio. The groundbreaking panel (which also included Jeri Palumbo, Claudia Engelhart and Deanne Franklin), provided young women and men a glimpse into life on the road, tips and advice, and a Q & A with the panelists. More importantly though, was how incredibly powerful the experience was for the panelists. We had all been in the business for 20 years or more, yet most of us had never met before that day and within minutes we bonded like long-lost sisters. We were struck by how similar our experiences, work ethics, and passions were and wondered why our paths had never crossed and how our careers would have been different had we been there to support each other through the years. Each of us are strong on our own, but together we were even stronger and a powerful force. We were empowered. Each of us had been asked hundreds of times in our careers: Are there other women doing sound? How did you get into sound? How would a young woman go about getting into sound? Through creating SoundGirls.Org, we hope to establish a place for women working in professional audio to come for support and advice, to share our success and failures, our joys and frustrations, and for empowerment and inspiration.
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