Solo to Support System
You’re not a machine. Audit the work, keep the parts that feed your art, then automate or delegate the rest - so creativity gets your best hours.
‘Ask for help, not because you are weak but because you want to remain strong’ - Les Brown
How easy is it to get sucked into doing everything and starving your creativity? Super common - and unsustainable. Being creative and “ops-brained” at once is a hard context switch; even those who can do both need recovery time.
While you can learn every role, every hour you spend doing admin is an hour you don’t spend writing, practicing, or performing. That’s why pros build teams. Dave Grohl tracked the first Foo Fighters album solo - then recruited a band because live (and long-term) it’s not sustainable to be everyone at once. Watch Hired Gun and you’ll see how often top artists outsource to specialists.
The point isn’t “do less,” it’s do the right things - keep the art, share the rest.
Weed out the boring stuff (and value your time)
List everything you do each week: music, comms, bookings, socials, money, merch, travel. Note frequency, time per task, joy score, revenue impact, and whether it truly needs you. The patterns jump out fast.
Kill the superhuman myth
If a task spikes anxiety or stalls you for days, it’s a sign to get help (a person or an app). You don’t owe heroics; you owe your best creative work.
Build your support network
Map who you can ask: inner circle (band/partner/friends), peers (other bands), local pros (photographer, tech, accountant), venue folk, and automation tools. Keep short outreach scripts handy so asking is easy.
Decide: keep, automate, delegate, or drop
Use simple rules of thumb:
Low joy + low impact → Drop.
Low joy + high impact → Delegate.
High joy + low impact → Time-box or automate.
High joy + high impact → Keep (protect it).
Streamline with one-page SOPs
Document recurring tasks (social posts, invoicing, advancing a show) so someone else - or an app - can run them the same way every time.
Solo to Support System: audit one week, choose three tasks to automate or delegate, and ship one one-page SOP.
If you’d like the Chaos to Clarity toolkit (audit sheet, network mapper, automate/delegate matrix, anxiety map, and SOP template), just say the word and I’ll send it over.
This series, the content and any observations or suggestions made are based on my personal experience, anonymised to protect privacy. Nothing here is financial, legal, or medical advice - please seek professional guidance for your own situation.