I must admit, blogging regularly is not that easy for me. Because, right now the thing is….I’m really having a hard time dealing with time-management issues. I have many things on the go right now, and I have tell you the deadlines are daunting.

I debut my “Road to Santiago” Symphony suite next Feb in my hometown residence of Brantford, Ontario. The symphony and conductor want the first three orchestrations by next week (wow!) and three more by Sept. (By the way, I want to start a virtual promotion committee for that concert, so if you are interested in helping me launch this word of mouth campaign, please contact me at [email protected]

As some of you are aware, I’m also a professional trainer. This year my company Pilgrim Productions Inc and ASF Design.com partnered to launch www.trainingbusinesspros.com . Our company trains business owners and marketing professionals on various marketing topics such as internet marketing and public speaking. It was a very successful launch, and the tele-seminars are selling like hot-cakes. With weekly commitments as lead trainer on tele-seminars, you can imagine, it’s a balancing act between business management and composing.

Also, due to the article in the American Tinnitus Association, I get weekly inquiries from Tinnitus sufferers seeking information. I try to reply personally to everyone – and though it’s a time commitment, I’m happy to try. I keep thinking I should just produce a one hour seminar and offer it as a free MP3 download. If it helps one human being, then its worth it. I’ve put that on my to do list, and hopefully can have it up by August.

My house is also under renovation, and as you can imagine, needs my attention. This is by far the least of my favourite time commitments. I’d like to have that done by August, but I need to find an available plumber (which is not easy in Brantford). If you know one, send the referral my way.

Then I have the gym three times a week, which has become the most habitual time management thing in my life. Now, if only I could run all of my business as effortlessly!

I also take a few hours a week to update my website, which is not only a content management issue, but it’s also about internet markeing i.e.: search engine optimization, links, etc. It’s a rather large commitment. I hope to update my site soon to include a full store with $0.49 cent downloads, and have it run a little more smoothly.

It’s also been 3 years since I filmed my pilgrimage on the Road to Santiago, and the film is still in the safe – incomplete. I would love to have time to finish this documentary once and for all, but with the symphony due this year, that will be most unlikely that I get to it this year. There are a lot of pilgrims that want to see that movie! I’m hoping to show some clips at the symphony as a back drop to the music. (if you are a student editor and would like to volunteer on this project, I need someone to log the footage and start the process!)

I started with a few professional development seminars for artists last year www.successtracs4artists.com, and got some terrific feedback. However, I have yet to plan a fall schedule this year. If there is enough interest, I may. I’m thinking tele-seminars may be the way to go vs. all day intensive seminars. I’ll have to plan that out more thoroughly. Please tell the artist in your family about www.successtracs4artists.com

Hot on my agenda, is a profound wish for this year is to record the Road to Santiago Suite with Symphony. I’d need to raise about $80,000 to have a complete CD (which would become the soundtrack for the movie). If you know of an arts philanthropist, we are ready and willing to submit full proposals!

I’m also VP of our local business club (the Brantford Club), which would require more of my time than I’ve been affording it lately. As marketing chair, I and the team have to come up with innovative ways to interest new members. If you are looking for local business networking opportunities or just fantastic social opportunities please check it out. Good friends, good music, great food! I’ve met the nicest people there, and Nancy and I have made some really good friends there.

And so you can surmise, time management is a real issue for me. With my son and wife being my first priority, the rest of my work must be well managed. Right now I’m working 12-15 hours a day. I can’t keep doing that, so I realize I have to start working “smarter” vs. “harder”. So today and tomorrow, we are working out a time-management schedule that should get me through the fall. The time slots will include (not necessarily in this order):

* time for family
* time to be a good money manager
* time to compose and arrange
* time to work on www.paultobey.com
* time to development www.successtracs4artists.com
* time to manage www.trainingbusinesspros.com
* time to stay well and go to the gym
* time to blog, answer fan mail, t-mail
* time to volunteer at the Brantford Club
* time to practice the piano
* time to develop new projects/new business
* time for meetings
* time for golf (it’s currently the end of July and I haven’t been out once!)
* time to work on renovation
* time for friends/personal fun time
* time to book Paul Tobey for more concerts
* time to raise Money for the Road to Santiago Suite
* time to sleep
* (I’m sure I’m forgetting things)

PS. If you can recommend a great professional time management person I’m ready to pay someone to help me get this worked out!