Making the next step in the PA biz... Let's hear your thoughts

Re: Making the next step in the PA biz... Let's hear your thoughts

Brent Handy said:
When I was a touring engineer, I never had people on my tech rider, only gear.
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Sure, my rider had a bunch of gear on it too. Never people- though I would request the same techs with tour packages.


But, I'm hardly dealing with "C" level artists, and they're happy to see a fully functional PA 99% of the time, regardless of the brand. I'm not bidding on A, or even B level national shows. I'm dealing with local festivals that have a few thousand people tops, hotel corpy gigs, or even bar gigs. Sure, I'll get a picky rider here and there, but it's not an issue to rent what I need those few times per year.

My rig handles 90% of my gigs, I call in bigger guns and production manage anything else.



Evan
 
Re: Making the next step in the PA biz... Let's hear your thoughts

Brent Handy said:
Because they were the wrong drivers, they sounded bad. REALLY bad.

I was told by the system tech that they bought the EAWs unloaded at an auction. The company was owned by a music store. The owner did not want to put the TADs and RCFs in there, so loaded them with Peavey. It was terrible. Oh yeah, they used Peavey x-overs too. There was no time alignment, etc, etc.
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I would not jump so fast as to say the Peavey drivers were the issue. But rather the MISUSE of the drivers.

The drivers may have been perfectly fine-but it was how they were misused that was the issue.

They could have been loaded with the wrong type driver and crossover from any manufacturer and the results would be the same.

Don't blame the tool if it is being used wrong.
 
Re: Making the next step in the PA biz... Let's hear your thoughts

Looks like the advice was good from quite a few folks. Looks like you are on your way.

One thing that I can add here is on the gear you have. I was in the same boat and doing hard rock was hard on equipment.
I noticed that a local sound company, now the largest, always had nice shinny new stuff to rent out.
i found out a few things along the way. I was using racks of 700b amps and they started launching. Couldn't afford SAE at the time so I was off to Blueball to see my old friend from Clair, the late Dave Wenger. He could fix a Phase like no one I'd ever seen.
we spent hours on talking about speakers, phase measurements, power response, designs, how to build drives over many Millers lites. I must say that my less than scientific mind solved a problem he was having with the 10 speaker he was making for the pre-Bose Panaflex.

He gave me an idea but I never got to use it. Be a dealer for the lines of stuff you are using. You buy it at cost, rent it, have it for sale all the time at just above what you paid for it. That way you would sell the slightly used stuff and buy new to replace it. Made sense to me.
my stuff would never get tired and still be a value to someone who wanted to save a few bucks on slightly used gear.
My rental inventory would stay fresh, and that is important to some clients, and I would not have stuff blowing up during a show.

Dave was one hell of a guy. I miss our chats, not so much the Millers.
 
Re: Making the next step in the PA biz... Let's hear your thoughts

Ivan Beaver said:
Ah-young grasshopper-you have started to grow up.

You can take the following advise for what you will-but please do consider it.

First you have think about what you REALLY want/need to do. NOT what your heart tells you (like I made the mistake of doing when I was your age).

You have being living the "glamor" side of the business. But you might want to consider is the whole "business" side of the business.

How do you want to see yourself in the future-Having a huge pile of the latest cool gear that makes lots of noise etc-and driving a 20yr old van that none of tires match?

I never thought I would ever get out of the PA rental-but am glad I did. Don't get me wrong-I still enjoy a gig every now and then (you never get it out of your blood)-but not every weekend and holiday.
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No way - And I thought you were a new age computer geek with a Droid in each hand working numbers in your head and stuff like that.
I stand corrected and apologize for my earlier misconceptions. And this is some good advice you gave him. Nice common sense stuff.
 
Re: Making the next step in the PA biz... Let's hear your thoughts

Sorry to drag up a thread from the dead, but I wanted to do another yearly check in. :)

2014: my first full year running a business as a full time gig. Man, what a task!

When I finished up 2013, I noticed a trend in my company's growth. Looking back at previous year's gross income, I was able to develop a formula that seemed to flawlessly carry over from 2011, to 2012 to 2013. So, for shits and giggles I carried that formula over to predict 2014 and I kinda laughed when I saw the number it produced. I thought to myself "yeah right, no way." And I'll be damned, but here I am sitting at the end of 2014 looking at that exact number I came up with a year ago. "Holy shit" was the first thing that came to mind.

2014 was an overwhelming success. I learned a ton as a businessman, and I learned a ton as a regional PA provider. I also learned, that if you have a goal, and work your ass off toward it, you can in fact do the seemingly impossible. Over the past year, I learned which markets I can serve well, and settled into my niche. I found out what makes a ton of money, and what just sits in the shop collecting dust. I learned that pushing yourself just out of the comfort zone can earn a ton of respect and success. And that's the plan for 2015 as well.

For those of you playing along at home, I was able to purchase my mid-sized line array, a nice digital console, invest heavily in a bunch of the same shit(mics, stands, powered speakers, cable trunks, A/C, ect) and most importantly, make money with all of it. On the horizon for 2015 is a new, larger shop to make prepping and sending out shows easier, and to allow room for more expansion.

Thank you to everyone who has helped in any way possible along the way. Tim, I've finally got my business plan, and it's making money every day. For anyone just starting out: if you can dream it, you can do it. I started off as that 15 year old kid with ambitions to be something. Fast forward 10 years, and I think I'm well on my way. :)

Here's to 2015 being the best year yet!




Evan
 
Re: Making the next step in the PA biz... Let's hear your thoughts

Well done Evan, keep going and maybe in a few years you'll be one of the Big Players it's been fun watching you learn.
Happy Christmas fom this side of the pond and may next year be good to you and yours. G
 
Re: Making the next step in the PA biz... Let's hear your thoughts

Thanks for the update Evan. It's fun to read about others in a similar journey. I too have been growing exponentially and really loving hearing the experiences of you and others as we grow into the next generation of providers.

May this year be even better than the last!
 
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