5.19.16 Non-Profit Consultant Lifestyle: Pursuing a Healthy Mind, Body & Spirit
One year ago, after almost 10 years touring as an indie musician, I stepped into a new career path as a freelance Non-Profit Spokesperson and Artist Program Consultant. Since that time, I have spent over 150+ days on the road touring with some of the biggest names in the music industry and traveling internationally to impoverished communities to develop new campaigns to help children growing up in vulnerable situations. To say that I LOVE what I do would be an understatement! It is a job that truly merged my passion for music, music business, touring, international travel, social justice, creative campaign development, and public speaking into one unique and fulfilling role. I didn’t go to school for this or even apply for a job in this field, I simply attempted to live out my convictions to be a glimmer of hope in people’s lives, and I wanted to be a voice for the voiceless.
If there is anyway to explain a “normal” week in my schedule, it typically involves 2-4 flights a week, a few nights sleeping on a tour bus, a few nights in a hotel, 24-48 hours at home, uber rides, rental cars, and lots of 3:30am wake-up calls. My role most evenings includes public speaking to inspire audiences to sponsor a child while my day-to-day responsibilities involve managing the relationship between artists/managers and a charity-partner like ChildFund International while building their campaign messaging and strategy from the ground up. Lots and lots of emails, phone calls, Skype video conferences, lunches, meetings over coffee, proposal writing, and contract drafting.
My go-to tools are:
- Macbook air
- iPhone 6
- Small paper notebook & pen
- Evernote App
- Apple Music Streaming Subscription
- Podcast App
To inspire creativity, the first thing I do when I enter a hotel room is move the desk in front of the window. In addition, I always travel with a small candle to light while I work. I learned both of these ideas from my friend and Artist Program Director, Jeff, who has way more Delta SkyMiles than I do.
Because my time at home is very limited, I noticed over the last year or so that I developed a habit of being a work-a-holic when I was on the road. My thinking was, “the more I accomplish while on the road, the less I have to do when I’m home with my family.” It was the right idea, but I didn’t have any balance in my life. Therefore, over the past 6 months, I’ve slowly been making some changes in my life. Maybe a couple would be helpful to my fellow freelancers out there, and I welcome your suggestions too!
- When I wake up on the tour bus, I’ve been looking for a local coffeeshop that I can walk to so that I can start my day by journaling, reading, and dropping a FaceTime call to my family while I drink some coffee out of a real mug, and not always a “to-go” cup (symbolic of attempting to not always be “on the go”). This has been a conscious effort towards a healthy spirit.
- I travel with a book, and try to carve out time to remove email and phone distractions to feed my mind by reading a physical book and learning from other people. I’m currently reading “The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable To Read It” by Peter Enns. In addition, I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts while I run or drive. I currently subscribe to the following podcasts:
- Traveling nonstop can take a toll on your physical health if you’re not careful which is why I now travel with all-weather running gear. To keep my body healthy, I love to find running trails by water or sometimes I simply run through the city where the show is taking place that night. It gives me 30 minutes to listen to music or a podcast and explore unique places in our beautiful country.
- One other component that I’ve added to my lifestyle this year was a health coach that promotes a healthy mind, body and spirit through detoxing, digestion, food/cellular nutrition, supplements, exercise and coaching. In fact, I swung by my health coach’s office in Westminster, MD when I was home a month ago and we filmed this quick little video. Check it out and then hit up my friend Casey@LT360.com.
I’ve truly enjoyed seeing so many friends on the road this year! Thank you for your support of the work that I do. I continue to get so excited every time I see another family say yes to sponsoring a child! I’m headed to Zambia, Africa in 2 weeks to do a film with CCM artist, Mark Schultz, so stay tuned for more updates.
For the least of these,
Jeremy
