Menu
CEOs / Interviews

Balancing the Grind with Evan Price, Founder & CEO of Artist Collective

Evan Price is the founder & CEO of Artist Collective, a Chicago-based music education resource centre on a mission to bust music industry myths once and for all.

Learn how the most successful leaders, artists, founders, executives, writers and athletes structure and manage their days. Sign up and stay up to date!

1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?

For starters, I have never worked a full-time job in my life. I have always worked part-time gigs to support my own entrepreneurial endeavors. So I never really got a real taste of the 9-5 life. I’m sure that comes with its own downfalls as well though. 

My current role as CEO of Artist Collective requires me to be very involved in all aspects of the business. Through the years, I have found myself building out various arms of the business, bringing someone on board to run it, then moving on to the next arm.

I luckily have an incredible team with me now which gives me the support I need and allows me to simply add a cherry on top of whatever they are building.

2) What does a day in the life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?

So I have a home office (as a lot of us do right now lol). So I wake up about 8-9am, put my feet on the floor and say out loud “this is going to be a good day”. This is a daily habit I started while reading a book called Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg. This helps me start my day on a good note. 

After that I make my bed, meditate on it for 10 min, hop in the shower, make my coffee, and sit down at my computer (usually checking emails and attending to urgent matters first.

Most of my days consist of 3 things:

  • taking calls
  • making content
  • completing tasks 

Calls are either sales calls with potential clients or coaching calls with existing clients to help further their music careers and work through their roadblocks.

Content creation is a larger part of what I do as well. Editing training videos for our YouTube page, writing blog posts, cutting posts for Instagram or social media. Our content is how people are educated about what we do for artists and what expertise we have.

And then any other tasks that need to be done to keep the business afloat like chatting with people in the DM’s, whipping up a PDF for a client, being a guest on a podcast, or answering interview questions.

3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?

Oh for sure. For 2 weeks, myself and the head of our marketing department traveled to California for his 30th birthday. We would work in the mornings and in the car and vacationed the rest of the time.

We were able to camp in Joshua Tree, jump out of an airplane, and visit a few clients while there. I am very used to mixing business with pleasure like this. We balanced it very well I think.

4) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?

A healthy work-life balance looks very different for everyone I think. The key is to be very self-aware of your own body and emotions so you can identify when you are burning out or not reaching your goals. It truly is a balancing act.

In the past 3 years I have focused on this “self-awareness” piece heavily in my own life. I do this through meditation, journaling, and open discussions with my friends and colleagues. We must all define what is “too much” for us and draw a line in the sand when we feel ourselves reaching that point. 

5) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?

Time-blocking has been a great tool for me recently. I am a very visual person so seeing what I am doing on my calendar helps me visualize my balance. I will have calls, time for emails, content creation, and even personal time blocked out on my calendar.

I also make sure I have “me” time to refill my cup and recharge. I will put my phone on do-not-disturb or even turn it all the way off for periods of time to keep me from scrolling or answering messages that aren’t really that urgent. I can’t help anyone if I am not at my best so I find it very important to make this time for myself.

6) Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?

The book I mentioned before is a fantastic read on this subject. Tiny Habit by BJ Fogg. He gives you a formula in creating or breaking habits. The secret is in starting small and working your way from there. I pass along the techniques from this book to my music clients for their own lives. 

7) Are there any products, gadgets or apps that you can’t live without?

I use a piece of software called Calendly that helps me streamline my calls. Any client or potential client that wants to book time with me can go to a specific link and book a time that works for them.

Calendly looks at my existing calendar and cross references with any conflicts to help me avoid double bookings. This is cut out so much time for me with figuring out the perfect time to talk, avoids conflicts with time zone differences, and more. I don’t think I could live without this now.

8) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?  

I would love to hear more about Gary Vee’s balance. He talks so much about “hustle” and “just doing stuff,” but he doesn’t talk much about the importance of balancing that with personal endeavors. 

9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?

Yes, whether you are a CEO, a janitor, or an intern we all need balance. You must stay in tune with your body and mind to find this balance. If you are disconnected with both of these you will continue to burnout or not meet your goals.  You can only “hustle” or “grind” for so long before you start to give out. 

Before you go…

If you’d like to sponsor or advertise with Balance the Grind, let’s talk here.

Join our community and never miss a conversation about work, life & balance – subscribe to our newsletter.

Start-up Founders, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Accelerators – hear them all talk about their stories where they went wrong, what went right and what they learned!
About Author

Hey there! I'm Hao, the Editor-in-Chief at Balance the Grind. We’re on a mission to showcase healthy work-life balance through interesting stories from people all over the world, in different careers and lifestyles.