Re: Forgetting gigs. How do you not?
Okay, there's been lots of practical tips here for various solutions so i won't belabor that point. I'd just like to add my personal perspective from nearly two decades of successful freelance audio work.
Having this happen to you once is almost a rite of passage. However, either you do whatever it takes to make sure it NEVER happens again, or you will not have a successful career in this business. You might still get gigs. But you're never gonna have a successful career. That's just a fact.
Here's the deal. I am a VERY absent minded person. And this has ALWAYS been my biggest worry. So i have made it my habit to do WHATEVER I HAVE TO to make sure it never does. At different times that has meant different things. But it has always meant significant effort. And in one particularly embarrassing episode it meant calling every client i had [nearly 20 at the time] and asking them to please tell me when i was working for them because i had lost my paper calendar in a regrettable washing machine accident. Embarrassing yes. But i didn't miss a single gig as a result. And i learned to keep my calendar electronic and backed up in several places all the time. I look at my calendar as my personal food source. And i like not starving. I suspect you like not starving too.
Take it from an old guy. Your reliability reputation is by several orders of magnitude your most important asset. And the higher up the food chain you get, the more important it becomes. At this point i derive probably 95 percent of my living based on my reliability and ability to work well with others. My tech skills are almost an afterthought.
tl;dr Don't beat yourself up over this. but... NEVER LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN!!!! Good luck!!
Okay, there's been lots of practical tips here for various solutions so i won't belabor that point. I'd just like to add my personal perspective from nearly two decades of successful freelance audio work.
Having this happen to you once is almost a rite of passage. However, either you do whatever it takes to make sure it NEVER happens again, or you will not have a successful career in this business. You might still get gigs. But you're never gonna have a successful career. That's just a fact.
Here's the deal. I am a VERY absent minded person. And this has ALWAYS been my biggest worry. So i have made it my habit to do WHATEVER I HAVE TO to make sure it never does. At different times that has meant different things. But it has always meant significant effort. And in one particularly embarrassing episode it meant calling every client i had [nearly 20 at the time] and asking them to please tell me when i was working for them because i had lost my paper calendar in a regrettable washing machine accident. Embarrassing yes. But i didn't miss a single gig as a result. And i learned to keep my calendar electronic and backed up in several places all the time. I look at my calendar as my personal food source. And i like not starving. I suspect you like not starving too.
Take it from an old guy. Your reliability reputation is by several orders of magnitude your most important asset. And the higher up the food chain you get, the more important it becomes. At this point i derive probably 95 percent of my living based on my reliability and ability to work well with others. My tech skills are almost an afterthought.
tl;dr Don't beat yourself up over this. but... NEVER LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN!!!! Good luck!!
