Here are some tips on how to maintain a fun and productive workplace!
Read moreA Day in the Life of an Intern
By James Muller
The start of this internship was a little bit different than I had expected because of COVID-19 and everything that came with it. You would think that working remotely for the first few weeks of an internship would make for a confusing and difficult landscape to navigate, but it was honestly quite the opposite. Getting started with this internship was about as smooth as a new intern could hope for, and it almost felt like we were all working in the same office despite being physically apart. Part of what made this such a smooth experience, besides how awesome, patient, and communicative our team is, are the systems that we use. I’m not sure if it would have been possible to get things done in an efficient manner if it weren’t for the instant communication that Slack offered us. Slack is basically a virtual office space where we can all come together online and talk to each other in real time as if we were communicating in person. During the first few weeks as an intern, I would start the day by signing on to Slack to let everyone know that I was online, to which I was greeted by everyone online, and it genuinely felt like I was physically there, ready to work.
Fast forward to the present day, we have transitioned to working at our new office in East Nashville. It is a shared office space from a company called Three One Three, and it has been nothing but a great experience to come in every day to a bright, cheerful space where we can safely make things happen and work together in person.
Now that I’ve thought a little bit about how this internship has been productive and a great learning experience despite the strange times, let's get down to the nitty gritty of what a day in the life of an Intern at an artist management firm like Olivia Management looks like!
When I arrive at the office, I am greeted by the smiling faces of our awesome team, and then I get on my computer, log into all of our systems, and get to work! The first order of business is logging into Asana, which is an organized system for tasks that need to get done. I check to see if there is anything pressing that has been assigned to me. This would be tagged as high priority, and typically needs to get done ASAP. These tasks typically involve anything from adding artists’ shows into Artist Growth, a system that allows us to add in information about specific shows, so our artists can have an organized place where they can see all of the details for the show. Although most of the live, in-person shows have been canceled for the foreseeable future, our artists’ have been staying busy doing online shows, and finding other creative ways to interact with their fans. This has been keeping us busy, too! In order to maximize the outreach and exposure of these shows, I often find myself adding Eventbrite pages for artists’, which gives fans details about the livestreams, and a link to buy the tickets. Ruthie Collins recently added four Live Stream From the Airstream dates, so adding these shows to Eventbrite, and editing the show posters in Canva are something that I find myself doing often in my day, not just for Ruthie, but for all of our busy artists!
One of the things that I love the most about this internship is that I never know what I’m going to be doing next. It seems like everyday I am going to be introduced to a new system or process that helps our artists grow, and make money.
If you had told me a year ago that I would be helping put together a socially distanced tour for Jill Andrews, that effectively brings live music to fans in a safe way during a pandemic, I would have been scratching my head, but it has been one of the most rewarding experiences about this internship. Never knowing what I’m going to be doing next, and then jumping into a new situation where I have to learn as I go has been a great growing experience for me, and I look forward to it every day.
While I love having tasks thrown my way, and learning new things, one of my favorite parts of my day as an Intern is taking time to work on my semester-long projects. At the beginning of the semester, I chose to take on two semester long projects: writing the monthly Olivia Management newsletter and acting Wikipedia Master. Learning how to draft a newsletter in Mailchimp has been a very insightful experience and one that has really helped me learn about email marketing and writing in general. The Wikipedia Master task has been challenging, but I think a good challenge is important. I had no idea before this internship that creating a Wikipedia page was such an intricate process, but I have learned a lot in the process.
It’s difficult to explain what a day in the life of an Intern is like at Olivia Management because a typical day is not typical compared to another job or internship. There is always something new and exciting happening, but one thing that stays constant is the positive and encouraging attitude of the team. Everybody works hard day in and day out and is committed to doing their very best work to promote the beautiful music that our artists make!
Hey, you!
Yes, you! Liking what you’ve read? We’re currently on the lookout for new interns to join the team for the Fall Semester of 2020 for school credit. Contact us at mackenzie@oliviamanagement.com with your resume and cover letter attached to begin the conversation!
A Software I Use: Asana
By Emma Martin
I often find myself overwhelmed with life since there can be days where it seems like there are a million and one things to do. I used to write down everything that I needed to get done that day, in the order that I needed to get it done, but I needed to keep track of things that were long-term projects. When I started interning at Olivia Management, there were new softwares that I had to learn to use. One of which was Asana. At first, I was intimidated by the software because there was so much to learn, but I soon realized that it was going to be the most helpful software I have ever used to date.
What is Asana? Asana is a software that allows you to create tasks for yourself and others on your team. It helps you manage your tasks and your projects all in one space that everyone can edit and see. Asana provides an easy way for team members to schedule tasks that can be planned far in advance or the day of and it’s a great way to stay organized and stay on track with your schedule and projects.
How I use Asana. I start my day by going to the “My Tasks” bar and then looking at what I need to get done for the day and then look at what I have that is upcoming. On every task, you can see the due date. When a task is due that day, it will turn green and when it’s past due it turns red. I always make sure that I do the tasks that are due that day first, and then I start on the ones that are due later or ones that are long term. It’s so important to track our progress and make sure everything that needs to be done in a timely manner is done!
Taken from www.asana.com
Fun Features. Something that I really enjoy about asana is that you can easily edit the task and write as much information about the task in the task description. We can link other sites and sources, attach downloadable content, etc. Sometimes when a task is assigned to me and I am not entirely sure how to do yet, it there will already be detailed instructions in the task description that explains what the task is. Along with that, at the bottom of the task, you can create subtasks to check off and add comments having to do with the original task at hand. Another fun feature is that you can set up a task as repeating so it comes up on your task list every week or month. I enjoy this because you can still check it off as completed and it won’t show up until the next week. You can also add tags to tasks and create groups so you and your collaborators can find them easily and know which ones to prioritize. Some tags that Olivia Management uses include high priority, weekly task, intern task/project, touring, press, etc. These tags help us stay organized through the craziness of touring, releases, and day to day artist management.
This is a great software if you enjoy checking things off your list and need an easy way to organize your thoughts and tasks whether it is with a business or for yourself. Try it out! It’s free for personal use, too. An absolute game changer.
Click here to learn more about Asana, and happy organizing!