Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Chris Hindle]

Same thing as you on the charity gigs.  Nobody gets a discount. My price for my services is what I charge. If I choose to write a check as a donation, that's my decision in the end.  It's amazing how a $500 discount gets zero recognition, but a check for $500 as a donation gets you paraded around like a hero.

A lesson I learned over 30 years ago.
"Charity" gets an invoice, and I MAY issue a personal check if it's a charity I would support.
Chris.

[Tim McCulloch]

Mostly agreed.  However, the actual dollar amount isn't the deciding factor. It's paying an appropriate amount for the services being offered.  There are some pretty high paying jobs that planners nickel and dime down to non profitability that become even more stressful than smaller jobs.  But, that does seem to happen less as the events get bigger.

Same thing as you on the charity gigs.  Nobody gets a discount. My price for my services is what I charge. If I choose to write a check as a donation, that's my decision in the end.  It's amazing how a $500 discount gets zero recognition, but a check for $500 as a donation gets you paraded around like a hero.

^^^ This.

[Jonathan Johnson]

I've got a van full of equipment, and a head full of experience.
I'm sorry, NONE of that comes for "free". EVER.
Are the Caterers free? Party decorations? Floral arrangements?
I'm sure the head organizer pays a nice price for her Mercedes, Gucci purses and what not.
"Exposure"? I am turning down jobs all the time. I don't need "exposure"
I need 2 more of "me", and 2 more loaded trucks!

Many of the other service providers also provide consumables: food, party decorations, and floral arrangments are all things that are used once and disposed of. Obvious expenses over and above labor.

But for sound operators, they only see the service: the labor you provide. The gear? You bring that, but then you take it away to use another time. Almost no consumables. Maybe a few batteries and some gaffer's tape, but that's cheap, right?

So there's a perception that if you charge $2,000 for a 4-hour event, that you're making $500/hr (more than many lawyers!). What they fail to see is the overhead costs: equipment depreciation, maintenance, van fuel, insurance, etc -- and the 2 hours before the event setting up, the 1 hour after rolling out, the time spent cleaning and organizing gear afterwards at the shop, the professional development (learning new things). In the end, that $2,000 invoice might net you, personally, $400 -- the price the low-skill, unprepared bottom-feeder charges to "run sound" (and loan all the gear for free).

[Craig Leerman]

After many years in the biz I learned it was better to turn down a bad job than have a bad gig.

My crew and I don’t need the headaches and I certainly don’t need a bad reputation because some promoters and customers don’t have a clue.

[Keith Broughton]

After many years in the biz I learned it was better to turn down a bad job than have a bad gig.

My crew and I don’t need the headaches and I certainly don’t need a bad reputation because some promoters and customers don’t have a clue.

This is an important thing to understand and actually implement!
Many do not.

[Dave Garoutte]

This is an important thing to understand and actually implement!
Many do not.

Back in my mechanic days, the owner would get mad when I turned away junk motorcycles.  I got that it would just earn us a rep for working on junk.

[lindsay Dean]

Here's what I learned a long time ago , even though sometimes it might slip my mind.

      It is wise to be nice to everyone
 because everyone knows someone.

[Keith Broughton]

      It is wise to be nice to everyone
 because everyone knows someone.

Quite true so it pays to say "no"...nicely

[Tim Hite]

After many years in the biz I learned it was better to turn down a bad job than have a bad gig.

My crew and I don’t need the headaches and I certainly don’t need a bad reputation because some promoters and customers don’t have a clue.

When I first started up Bad Quail, I was given this exact advice by LAB members. I thought I could pull one off and make a name for myself. One local municipality still won't talk to me 5 years later on, despite the local Chamber of Commerce going to bat for me.

I also have a bottom feeder locally that I refer people to when they ask me "what's your cheapest speaker?" He thinks I'm great.

[ProSoundWeb Community]