Print

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

[Daniel Postilnik]

I definitely want to see that video....

However, as a small local sound company, I don't pay my employees that much ($12.50/hr); so I make sure they get to do the fun jobs and I try to shield them from the boring (speakers on sticks public address) jobs.  However, as business starts to pick up I will have to stop doing the low-end jobs myself -- it's just not cost effective.

Randall, assuming you don't have gigs to send your employees to every day, how do you keep them occupied in a way that is useful/costeffective? Do you have an unlimited list of shop tasks for them? I'm on the verge of hiring someone for the summer but I fear I won't be able to give them consistent work because of how much I manage to handle on my own (perhaps to the detriment of my health as well).

[James A. Griffin]

The long, convoluted, point I'm trying to make here....

Perhaps the thread can be re-named with this as topic.

[Randall Hyde]

I definitely want to see that video....

Randall, assuming you don't have gigs to send your employees to every day, how do you keep them occupied in a way that is useful/costeffective? Do you have an unlimited list of shop tasks for them? I'm on the verge of hiring someone for the summer but I fear I won't be able to give them consistent work because of how much I manage to handle on my own (perhaps to the detriment of my health as well).

I don't.
All of my "employees" have day jobs. I generally have to give them at least a week's notice when I have a job to ensure that they are available. I have four sound engineers, two lighting designers, and about a half dozen road crew who do jobs for me. I used to subcontract most of these tasks, but I went completely legal this year and hire everyone through a temp agency (employee leasing company, actually).

Almost everyone associated with my company does it for the fun of it (except two sound engineers, who take on several other gigs other than the ones I do), even the road crew stuff. I personally do sound only when I can't get someone else to do it (e.g., two or three concurrent gigs or I do a boring "speakers on sticks" kind of job that the others would't be interested in doing for $12.50/hour).

I know my pay isn't outrageously cheap in the area because the Riverside Fox Theater, who happen to use a couple of my people, pay $15.00/hour for monitor board operators and less for the road crew (this is for touring broadway style shows and National "B" acts).

Consistent work isn't a promise I make to anyone I take on. OTOH, because this isn't my "day" job, I don't mind sending people to do jobs that I barely break even on (like that $300 Farmer's Market gig I talked about) in order to keep them occupied and to allow me to continue not having to take off time from my real day job (I'm a contractor, so that's easy to do, but I make about five times as much money as a software engineer as I do as a sound guy; so for the health of the company, it's best if I do the software contracting).

It also helps that I'm not a real giant fan of operating the sound board. That's the fun part that *everyone* wants to do; so by letting the sound engineers run the board rather than being the owner and doing the fun stuff myself, I keep a lot of people around for extended periods (my average turnover is about two years right now and my most senior guy has been with my five or six years now).  Fortunately for me, I actually prefer the logistics side of the business and solving the problems that arise as opposed to "twisting the knobs". I started this business because I wanted to do lights. Still don't do that much in the lighting area (and I usually let someone else do that task, too), but it's all worked out.

Haven't worked real hard at trying to make money with the company; I started out as a total ankle-biter (from the "I didn't know what I was getting into" point of view) and am happy to say that I've managed to cover all my costs (equipment and otherwise) at this point. Maybe someday I'll actually start to make money doing this :-)

As for hiring employees, let me suggest you take the same route almost everyone else does: start off subcontracting the work out and see how that works. Eventually, especially if you work for larger institutions, you'll need to prove you have workman's comp insurance and you pay all the appropriate taxes. Finding a good employee leasing company is a wise step at that point. When you get to the point you keep people on full time, that would be a good time to bring the stuff in-house.
Cheers,
Randy Hyde

[Bradley Perry]

I definitely want to see that video....

http://www.youtube.com/user/thenosboss#p/u/65/iwf9b58gMQc

[Gus Housen]

You are lucky we have guys banging down the door to offer the same thing for $500-$600 per day

[Daniel Postilnik]

http://www.youtube.com/user/thenosboss#p/u/65/iwf9b58gMQc

Brad, I'm guessing you're the subject of this thread. I couldn't get the video working, perhaps because I'm in the US?

Randall, I've had success grabbing guys from a local provider of independent production labor (for whom I also work occasionally). Basically, I work with them on a gig, see that they're capable, and hire them to babysit my gear when I have another gig elsewhere. Is this what  you mean by subcontracting or are you referring to outsourcing the job completely?

[Steve Kelly]

As written somewhere above, the Free Market system will work all the kinks out.
It may not be a perfect system, but it's the best we got.

Cheers,
Steve 

[Vince Gibbs]

I have to say that I was impressed by the guy's video.  It has me thinking about making one simillar to that to showcase my gear and also a second part to show my gear in action on a real live gig.

Then post it on my website.  I'm thinking it could be a great marketing tool.

[Bradley Perry]

http://www.youtube.com/user/thenosboss#p/u/65/iwf9b58gMQc

Brad, I'm guessing you're the subject of this thread. I couldn't get the video working, perhaps because I'm in the US?

G'day Dan,   if the video link doesn't work for you ......Go to the YouTube site & type in the search box ....'Brad's Sound Company'
    Brad

[Glenn James]

Hi Brad,
I made a conscious decision not to identify the competitor in my postings but was asking a question of others who might have identified others in their markets whose decisions on pricing and marketing were having a negative effect on their local industry.
I can only assume anybody who prices their services well below the local average and makes claim to having the best equipment around certainly needs to have a serious thought about finding a new way to market their product. A race to the bottom is a race where everybody loses.
Brad, your YouTube video is well made and does give a good look at your equipment and I am sure it has been a good marketing tool for your business. You have some OK gear and for many of the local acts and some touring artists your sound is as good or better than what they are used to.
Are you aware other companies are using Meyer, Lab Gruppen, TurboSound, Ecler, AT and others? There are seasoned operators who can really make these systems come to life and truly sound their best. Any system using these components with a good operater and crew is at least as good as your rig so stating you have the best system in town is not true.
I have no intention of getting involved in any personal or professional wars so please take this thread for what it is worth. We should probably have a conversation one day and discuss where our ventures could benefit one another to help make our local industry stronger.
Have a think about your marketing strategies and the affect some of your decisions will have at a local level and consider you may (will) be better off getting every 2nd gig at the right money vs doing every gig at 60% of its true value.

[ProSoundWeb Community]