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[Scott Holtzman]

I really need to learn to say no.

A guitar player for a band I occasionally work with dry rents from me.  All my gear was out tonight so as a favor I rented a PRX system from another shop and had it delivered to his gig.

I was making my round and decided to stop by and say hi.  I got to the gig and there were 4 PRX 728's and 2 735's plugged into one outlet with a crappy home warehouse extension cord.  The guitar player was using a two wire extension cord and they are playing on a trailer underneath an easy up.  I started to get really worked up.  I pointed it out and he was oblivious.

The winds started to pick up and I asked where the tarps are.  No tarps to be found.  I threatened to toss the mains on top of the drum kit and made mention to the band my name was on the line for this system.

I barely got the covers on and the rig put up before I was drenched.  To top it off the band is paid out and he made no gesture to settle up with me.

Once the band left I lit him up. 

No matter what the circumstances I should not let someone get to me.  To top it off I have to learn to say no.  No good deed goes unpunished.

[Art Welter]

Scott,

So the "dry rental" turned out to be "all wet"...

Art

[Bob Faulkner]

No matter what the circumstances I should not let someone get to me.  To top it off I have to learn to say no.  No good deed goes unpunished.

What a pain in the ass...

No matter how long you work with someone, it needs to be business only, especially if it involves anything related to your business.  Too often, emotions get involved with the situation, when we should actually look at it from a business perspective and treat it as a management-problem.  I find this helps when keeping personal/emotional issues under control during business related matters.

Just like investing... never invest in a stock based on your emotions (how you feel about the stock).  Invest based only on expected results and risk.

[Bob Leonard]

Scott,
There will be times when the customer deserves a good verbal kick in the ass. Obviously you did right by this guy, and obviously he didn't care. It's your company, your wallet, and you did the right thing

[g'bye, Dick Rees]

Only one way to walk:

https://youtu.be/-874e-JWo9g

[Dennis Wiggins]

Only one way to walk:

https://youtu.be/-874e-JWo9g

I feel for you Scott; been there.

This predicament makes me think of JJW's "Up Against Wall..." -just kickin' hippie's. a**es and raisin' h***.

-D

[Scott Holtzman]

I feel for you Scott; been there.

This predicament makes me think of JJW's "Up Against Wall..." -just kickin' hippie's. a**es and raisin' h***.

-D

Thanks guys....Cooler heads prevailed today.  I first apologized for my conduct (not my position) then engaged in a helpful discussion of powering.  I still don't get the guy, he said that powering was "on him" and he knows minimum one circuit per stack.  To me there is no adequate explanation for abdicating your responsibility. 

This is another reason why cover bands (generalizing) and low compensation events truly suck.  Professionalism is all but devoid in the mirk at the bottom of the barrel.  The problem is if you get a little taste of the clean water at the top it is hard to go back to the bottom.

Frankly I would rather be grilling burgers at the shop, working on gear, making contacts etc. then going out on marginally profitable gigs.

[Mike Sokol]

Frankly I would rather be grilling burgers at the shop, working on gear, making contacts etc. then going out on marginally profitable gigs.

As in "I lose money on every sale, but make up for it in volume".

[Stephen Swaffer]

I think one of the hardest lesson's to live by, in most any new business, is that just because a job ( sale) is profitable does not mean it is a job you should be doing.

[Scott Holtzman]

I think one of the hardest lesson's to live by, in most any new business, is that just because a job ( sale) is profitable does not mean it is a job you should be doing.

Absolutely and when you have a partner and lean toward consensus (keep my bargaining chips in reserve for important stuff) you end up doing running in the margins and managing by exception.

To me going off process has to be wildly profitable or it's usually not worth the time effort.

It's funny how these conversations all end up to small business workshops.  One of my goals is to hope to have time as I "age out" to work with SCORE.  Passing on and nurturing young entrepreneurs is critical.  The mentors I have had over the years have been priceless.

I get accused all the time of not being hungry anymore and forgetting what it's like to live check to check.  I have no doubt that's true but it also gives me the bandwidth to build better business. 

My partner is 20 years younger than I am.  We have some interesting discussions.

[Mark Cadwallader]

As in "I lose money on every sale, but make up for it in volume".

As heard in Alaska:  "Remember, we cheat the other guy, and pass the savings on to YOU!"

[Ron Hebbard]

As heard in Alaska:  "Remember, we cheat the other guy, and pass the savings on to YOU!"

Where's that 'Like' button?
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.

[Kevin Conlon]

I think one of the hardest lesson's to live by, in most any new business, is that just because a job ( sale) is profitable does not mean it is a job you should be doing.

I do not work on certain motorcycles for these reasons. It costs more than you made to keep the end user happy. Sometimes it is hard to find that fine line.

[Tom Burgess]

I just want to know where you got some PRX 728's.  I'd kill for some of those! 

[Scott Holtzman]

I just want to know where you got some PRX 728's.  I'd kill for some of those! 

Typo 718xlf

[Jack Arnott]

No matter how long you work with someone, it needs to be business only, especially if it involves anything related to your business.  Too often, emotions get involved with the situation, when we should actually look at it from a business perspective and treat it as a management-problem.  I find this helps when keeping personal/emotional issues under control during business related matters.

I am a bit in disagreement. Generally speaking you are of course correct. But if Scott is like me, he does make decisions based on emotion rather than business. This in the manner of helping out people that you like, and want to succeed, but will not bring a lot of revenue your way. I also agree with Bob Leonard that an ass kicking is in line. (Verbally) I don't think Scott crossed any line here. Sometimes (Scott's call on this one) an emotional response will get through better than a carefully worded businesslike response. This in a situation where when Scott gets angry, he gets the clients attention in a way he would not have without doing so.

Scott got angry, was emotionally aware to understand this, and seemed to get his point across to the client by doing so. Also it made Scott have to come to terms with what the client is about, in his business model.
No harm, no foul.

[Stephen Kirby]

As in "I lose money on every sale, but make up for it in volume".

I said this to a finance manager once and she replied "Exactly".  "No, it's a joke" I told her.  Then she explained (this was in the late '90s just before the dot com crash) that the stock market (at that time) responded to top line revenue.  And that by making more sales, even though some were losers, the increase in revenue was driving up the stock price.  Thereby making the company (and it's executives) more valuable.  I kind of see a bit of a return to this mentality with the stock market flying under the assumption that corporate taxes will go down and the financial sector will have looser regulations.  That was a real lesson in funny money back then.  If tech busts again, I may need to hustle sound gigs for awhile.  But not being publicly traded would have to make money the old fashioned way, with actual profit.

[Scott Holtzman]

Some good points.  My kind comments went unnoticed. 

3 weeks have passed now.  In retrospect I should have simply said we need to correct these safety violations at the break or we can't continue.



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