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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Audioeast" data-source="post: 16830" data-attributes="member: 194">Re: Working for CheapLove it!! Groin Level!! I consider myself around belly button level but i remember being the ankle, the knee, and the nuts or clam. I was tired, pissed, broke, and was sick of collecting so much money, doing so much work and being left with nothing but debt. I was contacted by a ''business consultant'' - '' can we come in and talk to you for an hour? it will be free'' Hell ya i thought.....but what can they teach me that i dont already know! i know it all! ya well 5 hours later (ya he stayed for 5 hours) i still thought i had wasted my time, but after about 5 days the mans wisdom finally started to sink in. 1)I was loaded with mostly low end, pain in the ass clients,He called these ''undesirable clients''2) I wanted to do larger events that paid more, more often than i was - he called these ''desirable clients''3) i had problem employees - he suggested a way to screen for better employees4) he suggested ways to stop wasting my marketing budget and steer it towards those ''desirable clients'' within 6 months i raised my prices, started doing a better job at qualifying my clients for their needs and budget. I dropped my C-rig's all together and sold the vans they were used to haul it around. some of my c-rig clients moved up to our B-rig at 2x the price. most bailed and i suggest they go to the ankle biters i sold my C-rigs to (nothing wrong with them cuz they are profitable at that level - im not) We opened up time and truckspace for our A-rig clients and in the summer thats all we do.But every winter i get reminded that this is a viscous biz and when its the dead season you cant underestimate who will become an ankle biter just to keep their guys busy. This month (the really dead season) I was contacted by a promoter i regularly work with who is CHEAP, always wants something for way less than its worth and always conveniently forgets to tell you about the extra work involved. He verbally gave me the gig and i put it on the books (i sent him the contract but he almost never returns them) I for some reason felt weird about this one and hounded him for the contract - no returned calls, finally he gets back to me and says ''contact my new production manager'' - who didnt return my calls either. he finally did to let me know he got another company for the same price for more gear.Now keep in mind im quoting 40 LEDs on 2 trusses, 16 boxes of Line array, 12 subs, 8 Xarray wedges + stereo sidfills, dual 48 consoles, 10 bands including 3 nationals - all day event. this would typically be a 4-5K event. i did it for signifanctly less, he tell me he got the big boys down the street to bring in 16 Meyers, 12 subs dual digital desks, 16 movers, backdrop for less.... now i KNOW they would charge 8-10k in season for this rig. so i explained to him that i thought it was great that he got them for that price and he agreed it was not going to happen reguarly (or ever again) and that i offered my discount as a token of mutual loyalty, but now that i understand that there is no loyalty my prices will no longer be discounted, so when the busy season comes around you will be paying full boat if im even making myself available and they can then choose to go to the really expensive house or find themselves a new bellybotton biter. In the end i replaced that gig with a double stack b-rig, with a projector and screen and it pays a $100 more than i would have been making from that pain in the ass gig. This from a client that understands the value in what we do and does not burn bridges by always looking for the bigger better deal of the moment.</blockquote>

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