Smart Use Of Time

Monday February 11th, 2008 - Chicago, IL

Finally a productive day of work. Finally. I’ve been floating around randomly like a fish turd lately with no real direction and that needs to stop. I think it’s doable to have a lot of things going but there has to be some kind of a plan in place with a logical order. I have a tendency to be all over the place and for whatever reason it’s a constant struggle to focus.

Mondays have been my busiest day of the week and I don’t mind it at all. It was back to a full day today after a couple of weeks of from Zanies. I still had to be at the WLS studio to be on Jerry Agar’s show so that makes it a full day. The train leaves at 6:55am and it’s a ten minute walk to the station a few blocks away. Today seemed longer due to the cold.

I had my jokes already written so that felt good. Rather than try to sleep or just sit there staring out the window I started reading a mail order book I just bought on Ebay. I am on the hunt for anything and everything I can find about the mail order business to help get a plan together so I can actually make this idea pay off. So far I haven’t sold one thing yet.

I’ve acquired a nice collection of mail order books to browse through and if I don’t buy another one I’ll have enough reading for at least the rest of the year. I’m set on books for the time being but that doesn’t mean I still won’t keep looking for them. I want to acquire as much knowledge as I can about this business and have a heads up approach as I begin.

‘257 Ways To Avoid Wasting Money In Mail Order - And Grow Richer!’ is the title of the book and I must say if I was the author that wouldn’t be the title I’d choose. I decided to buy it because I hadn’t heard of it before even though it cost me $13 plus $3 shipping.

Normally I haven’t paid even close to that for most of my books because I fish through a lot of thrift stores and rummage sales but I thought this was a good gamble so I risked it. I am very glad I did. It was a short book but packed with useful information for someone like me who is starting out. The author really spelled it out and made it easy to follow.

It was short enough where I could get through most of it in my two train rides and it got me in a good mindset about how I want to run my business. It was filled with useful tips a person at my level could really use. I try to be the same way with all my comedy students. I know they’re not always ready to hear what I say but I say it anyway in case someone is.

I got home at 3:10 and checked email and took a nap for an hour and then got in my car and started driving into the city to host the show at Zanies. I stopped at the UPS store and picked up a load of mail and then went next door and got my dry cleaning so it was a very productive day all around. I wasn’t rushed so I wasn’t in a high stress mode. It was calm.

The Zanies showcase was absolutely fantastic. The audience was small in number but a great group of people who wanted to laugh. The lineup of comedians this week was really strong too and it was good for everyone. I sat back and watched the comics destroy and it was fun to observe. They worked hard. I got paid. THIS is something I could get used to.