Logan Honeycutt is a Digital Marketer & Operations Consultant helping brands, creatives, and small businesses with their digital marketing, branding and business operation needs. Logan is also the Founder of Artists at Scale, an all in one platform for artist development & growth.
Balance the Grind spoke to Logan about writing and releasing his first book, sleep based supplements, running his own business, productivity tools and more.
This conversation is brought to you by Teachable, a powerful yet simple all-in-one platform to create and sell beautiful online courses.
1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your background and career?
I’ve worn a lot of different hats but there are a few central themes that I feel should be known about myself:
First off, I’m a creative at heart with the mind of an engineer, this means I’m all about systems but I approach everything with an experimental mindset. Because of this, I love operational and strategy focused consulting.
Secondly, I’m a full stack marketer out of resourcefulness but my strengths are mainly in growth, content, social, copywriting, community and marketing automation. On a personal level, I’ve blogged over 100,000 words in the last 2 years and have built a following of over 20,000.
Lastly, My prior career focus was in the music space as an event marketer so I’ve had the pleasure to work with over 200+ artists, venues, and promoters, however, now I am focused on artist development and education within the music industry.
2) What is your current role and what does it entail on a day to day basis?
I am currently in a unique role as I’ve dedicated the current quarter (plus or minus) to releasing my first official book, The Artist Framework—this curriculum will also be a primary offering for my new artist development company, Artists at Scale. Not only am I writing a book, but I’m also putting together some amazing bonus resources for our readers.
The first resource is a guest interview series. Throughout these 20 interviews, I’ll be diving head first with valuable Q&A to shed light on what one needs to know as an artist. Whether it’s tactics for marketing or principles for the mind, artists can expect to learn the best from these 20 music industry experts.
The second resource that will be available to readers is a promotional bundle that consists of 20 various music industry partners. This may include music marketing tools, merchandise/design services, as well as other educational products that are useful for a self-managed artist.
Sounds like a lot, right? It is, trust me. And here’s a pro tip: Releasing a book is more than just “writing a book”.
Releasing a book also includes: graphic design, website development, landing page optimization, copywriting, marketing, brand identity, cold outreach, content creation, publishing, hosting, customer support, payment processors, charge backs, positioning, feedback and surveys, testimonials, press releases… the list goes on!
For the first half of this process, I spent 100% on writing which I’ll be honest burnt me out. I then took a three-week break to focus strictly on partnerships, interview, and brand strategy.
Now that I’ve wrapped up the majority of that type of work, I’ve gotten out of my writer’s block and gained my energy back. From here on out till launch, my primary focus will be writing, editing, and then preparing for launch.
3) What does a typical day in the life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?
I’ll be honest and say I don’t have much of a crazy morning routine so I’ll keep it short and sweet. I wake up between 7 and 8 am. I hit the gym for about an hour and a half. I make breakfast, take my morning supplement stack and then shower & get dressed.
I usually start work at around 9:30 to 10 am. The first thing I do when I sit down at my desk is open up Spotify and put on my sound canceling headphones.
Music is by far my “secret sauce” for productivity as these first few hours of the workday are for deep focused work. Throughout these hours I also make sure to get up and take breaks by refilling my water bottle.
Now it’s around 2 pm. This is when I take an hour break and make some lunch, I’ll also try to get some sun outside, play with my dogs or handle any quick chores like laundry or something. On Wednesdays, I go out for lunch and shopping but also the chiropractor!
After lunch, back to work. Typically my mood and energy level is very different than the first few hours of the workday so I’ll try and finish up anything that I left off or I’ll immediately start working in a different area of focus.
I find that it’s important to switch up tasks and the “hats” you wear to ensure you don’t get bored or tired. In these later hours of the workday, I’ll usually have a coffee break around 3:30 for 15 minutes. I make sure to not drink coffee any later than this to ensure I don’t disrupt my sleep (I also only drink decaf).
Once it hits 6 to 6:30 pm, I’ll call it a day. I’ve noticed that my productivity and clarity of thinking significantly start to lower the longer I work so I’ve embraced the idea that it’s pointless to try and “hustle” all day.
After work, I’ll spend the rest of the day on typical life stuff like going out to dinner, relaxing with friends and family, housework and chores. I also make sure to have some “escapism” in my life every once in a while whether it be trying a new dessert around the TV or killing time playing a video game.
I’m strict on my sleep schedule so I always make sure to be in bed by 11:30 pm most nights. My nightly wind-down routine has been tested over time and I always get a great night of sleep. This wind-down routine consists of sleep based supplements such as magnesium and melatonin but also yoga, meditation, acupressure therapy (Bed of Nails) and listening to an audiobook.
4) In between everything you do and all your responsibilities, how do you ensure you find some sort of balance in your life?
I’ve personally found the most impact through the “simple things” we all know about but often times forget or undermine. The mind and body are incredibly connected so you have to put a balance on both.
Here a few examples of what I mean by the simple things: Simple things for the body might be getting enough sleep, staying hydrated, getting some sun, limiting substances, getting a massage, etc. Simple things for the mind might be meditating, smiling, physical connection, tapping into your inner child, hobbies, animals, etc.
5) Are there any gadgets, tools or products can’t you live without?
My “toolset” these days has been refined down from many iterations of tinkering with tools but also my clarifying my personal workflow. I can personally say that I have tried 50+ project management tools, todo apps, habit trackers, and calendars.
Guess what? I’ve disliked almost all of them & ended up not sticking through with them.
When it comes to productivity apps, it almost seems like you end up doing more work just to manage your todos then it takes to actually get them done in the first place!
It’s also a pretty common scenario in the “productivity world” to get swept up by distracting bells and whistles or thinking about problems that you don’t even have yet when looking for these tools.
With that being said, typically the tools that I end up using are the most “minimal” feature based products which says a lot to me. Here are my top 10 tools I use every single day and couldn’t live without:
- Notion: I use Notion as my personal and company knowledge base/wiki but also as a tool for writing and ad-hoc planning whiteboard/sticky note style.
- Airtable: I use Airtable as my personal and company multipurpose database which acts as a lightweight CRM, project management tool, CMS, schedule/calendar + much more.
- 1Password: I use 1Password as my personal and company digital vault/password manager. In total, I now have over 200+ accounts stored as well as my personal identity/payment information to easily fill out forms.
- Station: I use Station as my “all in one” workstation. Station is a single app allows you to dock over 300+ business-focused apps for quick access and productivity. My top use case for Station is managing multiple email clients.
- Grammarly: I use Grammarly to help improve my content/writing/etc. Grammarly provides on the fly suggestions for correcting spelling, grammar, and common semantic errors.
- RescueTime: I use RescueTime to track my digital usage and monitor my productivity. RescueTime also provides the ability to block websites and set up goals/alerts for your productivity.
- G Suite: I use G Suite for Gmail, Drive and Docs/Sheets/Slides. I prefer Google over something like Dropbox by far. Furthermore, I use G Suite to manage branded company emails.
- Alfred: I use Alfred as a fast universal “search bar” on my Mac with just a keyboard shortcut. It’s kinda like having a Google search bar on the fly but for any website and your computer apps/files.
- CloudApp: I use CloudApp to take on the fly screenshots, GIFs and videos but you can also easily annotate and illustrate these captures. CloudApp is close to being one of my most used apps.
- F.lux: I use F.lux to alter the display of my monitor to reduce blue light and eye strain/damage. It’s a great app if you like working in the night or have poor vision/sensitive eyes like me.
6) Do you have any books that you love and would like to recommend?
It’s never been easier to learn thanks to the internet and freedom of information that it provides. Self-education is a core value of mine so I’m always studying something new.
Over the past 3 years, I’ve easily read over 50+ books. Because I have so many passions and interests, I put together a small list based on the main categories I find value in and think that you will too:
For those that are interested in building a business:
- The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
- Hacking Growth by Sean Ellis
- Hooked by Nir Eyal
For those that are interested in being more productive:
- Getting Things Done by David Allen
- Essentialism by Greg McKeown
- Deep Work by Cal Newport
For those that are interested in mind/body health:
- Change Your Brain, Change Your Life by Daniel Amen
- Your Brain on Porn by Gary A. Wilson
- Own the Day, Own Your Life by Aubrey Marcus
For those that are interested in strengthening your mind:
- The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone
- Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds by David Goggins
- Discipline Equals Freedom by Jocko Willink
For those that are interested in making sense of life:
- Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
- Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das
- Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright
8) What is the number one thing you do to make sure you get the most out of your day?
My initial thought was to write down “wake up rested” but I want to provide something slightly more actionable so I’ve gotta go with the following:
It’s critical that I start my morning and the first few hours of the workday distraction free. This means avoiding all external stimulus and consumption such as checking my phone or email but also watching TV.
When work begins, it’s important that I keep my phone on silent nor do I hop on social media or any sort of instant messenger. My biggest improvement with productivity by far has come from making sure “deep work” is done first and that I always “eat the frog” and work on my “most important tasks” to set the pace for the rest of the day.
