Need to Get Things Done? Go hang out on your Thinking Rock for a bit.

Strategies for promoting and selling online are not the only things that technology can help independent music businesses with. Efficiencies, workflow and time management are often just as critical.

I’ve been using David Allen’s Getting Things Done system for - well - getting things done. I fall off the wagon from time to time, but it’s amazing how well the system works when you actually use it.

But I’ve struggled to find the piece of software or online tool that does the trick for me. Sure, it’s designed as a paper-based system, but it really appeals to my inner geek — who, as it happens, shares a lot of interests with my outer geek. I may actually be geek all the way through.

Cue Thinking Rock - a fabulous bit of open-source software from Australia. Huge thanks to UK DJ & promoter Marc Reck of Mr Elephant Presents for recommending it to me.

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Okay, so there’s no such real job as a “virtual intern”, but I’m just going to pretend and see what happens.

New Music Strategies is at the point now where it needs to expand a little. I’m looking for a volunteer worker to do a bit of research and information management, so that I can focus on the analysis side of things here at NMS HQ and build up that side of things.

I mean — if I’m going to go around sticking ads in, then I better up my game in terms of the content I’m giving my readers, and I’m going to need a bit of back end help to make that happen.

You don’t have to live in the same town, city, country or time zone as me. You just have to be interested in the music industry and the online environment, have an email address, a good grasp of RSS and a working familiarity with del.icio.us (and possibly Diigo)… and you’ve got to want to actually do the job.

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One of the unfortunate things about the internet is that there are always people that can do what you do cheaper and better. Fortunately, that’s also one of the great things.

A while ago, I read Tim Ferriss’s book ‘The 4-Hour Work Week‘. You can see why the title immediately appealed to me.

And while I’m in favour of doing less work for more reward — and spending more and more time doing the kinds of things I love doing — mostly I actually already love what I’m doing.

That said, there were some really good ideas in the book.

However, one thing I had immediate problems with was the idea of outsourcing my more menial administrative tasks to India — something that is actively recommended in the book. Alarm bells ring. Surely this is something that exploits foreign workers, destroys jobs for local people, and puts me more or less in the same sweat-shop club as a certain sneaker manufacturer…

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Less accounting? Sold.

I’ve been doing a bit of a hunt for accounting software recently. I’m getting the odd bit of work over and above my lecturing job. A spot of writing, the odd seminar — that sort of thing. So I need to keep track of invoices and receipts.

Trouble is, I hate accounting. Loathe it with a fiery passion. Don’t want to spend any time at all doing it. I can have the most organised music collection on the planet, but debit card receipts spill out over my desk most of the time.

When it comes to accounting, less is definitely more.

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