Ep 7: Let's Talk About Money PART TWO

In this episode, John continues the conversation in Let’s Talk About Money, Part Two,  continuing a countdown of Top Ten items, beginning with number 7.  With humor, straight talk, and a few hard truths, John explores the habits that keep musicians underpaid and the decisions that help them build a sustainable career. This episode offers practical perspective from someone who makes his living gig to gig.

Transcript

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You are listening to the Gig to Live Podcast. Welcome everyone. I'm John Bowles. I am a full-time working musician. This podcast is where I share the strategies, the mindset, and the lessons that help performers build something that works and something that lasts. We'll talk about smart moves, self-inflicted wounds, happy clients, drunk patrons, more gigs, better gigs, what to keep, what to toss out. If you gig or you want to gig, this podcast is for you. Welcome back to the podcast, everyone. This is part two of an episode called Let's Talk About Money. We are partway through a top 10 list, and today we are going to be kicking it off with number seven. So if you didn't hear the first part of this, where we uh talked about numbers 10, 9, and 8 in our top 10 list, then please go back and pick up that episode. And there's there's some really important information too, I think, at the beginning that just kind of sets the whole thing up. So I'm looking forward to continuing this today with you. Are you ready? Let's get on with it. Number seven, price for value, not just for time. Great. It's a two-hour gig or a three-hour gig, but are you bringing people in? Do you have a following? Do you do fantastic promotion? Do you keep the room engaged? Do you make the venue's job easier? If you're increasing sales and you're keeping customers in that space longer, then you're not just background noise. You are a valued asset to them. You are revenue generation, and you need to be compensated for that. Number six, have a scale. So instead of just one price, have options. You know, uh solo acoustic two hours uh or three hours or four hours. That's my max, by the way. I don't I don't do more than four hours uh unless it's very special circumstances and the pay is right. Uh but you know, scale up for the the time that you spend there. Uh scale up is it a duo? Is it a full band? Uh are you playing ceremony and cocktail hour? Uh are you learning feature songs? Are you adding a sound system? Are you adding lighting? So create some package deals and then you can adjust. Number five, don't be afraid to ask for what you're worth. If you're afraid to ask for what you're worth, it's really not about money. It's most likely fear. Fear of rejection or imposter syndrome. These are psychological issues that affect our living. Fear is income tax. Fear is the biggest tax that you will ever pay. So we have to kill it. We have to kill the fear. Now, we've already talked about having a bottom line. That's a good step towards killing fear, you know, knowing your number. Uh know that your value is a different thing than they might be able to afford. A no usually means it doesn't fit their numbers. It doesn't mean that you're not good. Another way to kill your fear is to practice giving your rate confidently. You don't have to make excuses. You know, I hope that's okay with you, or I know that sounds like a lot. No, you don't have to do that. You just say my rate for that is blank dollars and then silence. Another way we kill our fear is we just get after more gigs. The fuller our calendar, the less that we panic, because desperation often leads to discounts. Honestly, venues respect our confidence more than our cheapness. They they wouldn't lower the price of their charcuterie board for someone who says, oh man, that's just a that's a bit outside my budget. Sounds good, but I mean, could you imagine that? I took my wife to dinner for her birthday and we splurged. We usually don't go out to dinner, but we did, and it was one of those money is no object kind of dinners, uh, and we did it up. Now, could you imagine if I sat down at that restaurant and I said to the server, um, excuse me, I love this 32-ounce porterhouse meal for two. It looks absolutely stunning. But here's the thing: my budget tonight is only $50. They would look at me like I was a lunatic. And they would come back and say the meal for two is $135. Period. You get two sides, you get soup and salad as well. You know, but I say, oh yeah, yeah, you're right, right, right. I I respect that. But hey, what if you and I look at this as exposure for your restaurant? I mean, I eat here, I post about it, I tell people, this really could be a long-term relationship. They would politely explain that that is the rate. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it. That's the rate. But okay, what if I just get part of the meal? Like we leave out the sides? Well, the answer would be no. Okay, what if I bring my own fork and it cuts down on your overhead? No. I just feel like food should be about community, not about money. Could you even imagine this kind of conversation with a restaurant? Yes. Little Tommy the Wonder Voice is going to do gigs for 50 bucks. And people are going to come see him in droves because he's cute, and because he's an anomaly, and he's a prodigy. And the bar will hire him multiple times until his voice changes, or he graduates from high school, or he has to learn new songs, or his parents put him on restriction. Don't worry about little Tommy the Wonder Voice. Don't worry about him at all. Don't be afraid to ask for what you are worth. Number four, strategically raise your rates. When it comes time to raise your rates, do it strategically. Don't be random about rate changes for your existing clients for sure. Give them a heads up. I like to tell existing venues, hey, just so you know, I am going to have to raise my rates next season, and I just want you to be aware. Now, sometimes they just say okay, and sometimes they say it won't work for them. Sometimes they ask how much I'm going to have to raise. But having that honest conversation early on is super helpful. For general rate changes that don't affect repeat venues, um, think about raising your rates when your calendar fills up. You know, if it's filling up all the time, it might be time to raise your rates. When your demand increases, when your skill level improves, uh, you can command the room more, when your reputation strengthens, when you aren't stoked about playing the venue or the event, that could be a time to have a higher rate. Maybe it's far away, maybe it's odd, maybe it has too many special things that you have to adapt to. Uh, maybe there are a lot of um special requests. Those gigs you can bid high. And if they bite, okay, I guess it was worth it now. Number three is shift your focus. Have you been playing a ton of bar gigs that really don't have a lot of great payoff? Well, then shift your energy towards private events and the high-yield spaces and venues that see music as part of their brand identity. You you may end up not doing some gigs. Uh, it's not really like saying no to a venue, it's like saying yes to a bigger yes. There was a new restaurant in town a few years back, and I became friends with the owner. And I felt bad for him because he started in the wake of COVID, and I charged a slightly lower rate for him because he booked me multiple times, which is which is good. You can do that. And I told him uh we'd have to scale up after about six months. That sounded good at first. That time went by and I brought it up to him, and he said no. Now, for the life of me, I still don't know why he said no, because I brought in people all the time. I know I was more, way more than paying for myself. Honestly, I think it was a bit short-sighted because of what was happening, but that's besides the fact. He said no, and I had to turn him down from that point on so I could shift my energy towards something that was more worth my time. If you price yourself too low, you'll be busy and you'll be broke. If you price yourself correctly, then you work less and you earn more, and you'll be able to take those vocal breaks that you need. You won't have to take every single gig that comes your way. Because the goal isn't survival. Again, it's sustainability. And smart musicians don't just play well, they price well. Number two, tips make all the difference. I am so grateful for the people who come to my shows again and again, and they show their appreciation, both verbally and monetarily, and I'm often surprised by acts of extreme generosity. I feel super fortunate most of the time because tipping a server is customary, but tipping a musician is usually considered optional. The truth is, even if tipping is good, for most musicians, the majority of people at a gig don't tip. Twenty percent of that crowd may tip, approximately, on average. And a bunch of people will say how they enjoyed the show. They'll give you a thumbs up as they walk right past the tip jar. The bulk of tips usually come from a very small percentage of the crowd. Oh boy, there's so many things that affect our tips. Uh, our personality, our interaction with people, making a connection with people before the show. I think this is huge. The type of venue that we're in, what time of year it is, what our tip jar looks like. Do we have a QR code uh for our Venmo or our PayPal or both? Uh the place where our tip jar is, where you're located in the room sometimes. Sometimes I'll arrive at a new venue and I'll look at where where they have me playing, and I'll think, oh man, it is going to be some kind of miracle if I make any tips tonight, because people have to go so far out of their way. They have to wind through a crowd. They have to find the tip jar because, you know, you're buried in the corner. Now, in those places, I will occasionally make a joke about that very thing and draw attention to the tip jar, but but we don't want to be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal in that room. We don't, we don't want to constantly be reminding people about our tip jar. They won't like it. It feels awkward, and the venue hates it, by the way, too. By the way, if I feel like I'm not overstepping, I have asked venues in the past if I could put my tip sign with my QR codes by the door. I'll have multiple signs so that people can digitally tip as they leave if I'm in a really crappy spot. Now, here's a little tip about tips. Tip about the tips. I have found that when people walk by me on their way out the door and I say, hey, have a good night, you guys, nine times out of ten, they come back in the door and they drop me a tip. Because usually they just forgot. They had a great time, they loved you, but it's time to go. No big deal. They're on their way to the next adventure for the evening. So you're not guilting them, you're not manipulating them, you're reminding them. And honestly, people are more likely to tip when they are already out of their seats. Now, while tipping isn't required, all right, it's optional. In today's live music scene, it's generally expected. I mean, we're getting there, we've got a long way to go. Most musicians aren't walking away with a big paycheck. And when someone asks, how's the gig, then our answer usually depends heavily upon how many tips we receive for the evening. And the argument that you shouldn't tip musicians because they're already getting paid and should get paid more, that does not hold up if you ever hear anybody say that. Most gigs pay well below what's needed for a modest living. And restaurants, already strained by rising costs, they can't pay more without cutting live music altogether. And we want to keep live music alive, right? So guess what? We have another role to play. It's up to us as musicians to help educate in every creative way possible. Number one. I once had a musician come play at my venue when I had a business, and she was awesome. She played as part of a fundraiser that was hosted at my restaurant. So I I hadn't been introduced to her music prior to this event. It was, I said, okay, to the fundraiser, and we had multiple musicians. Man, she was so good. And so I approached her after and I said, Oh man, I would love to hire you on a Friday or a Saturday night. And before I could even tell her what we pay musicians, because I usually did that, uh, she smiled and said, Well, I don't know if you can afford me. Actually, the way she said it was a bit more rude than the way I just said it. Uh, even if she was joking, it came across as rude. And I chuckled, though, and I told her what we pay musicians. And uh, at the time, I know for a fact that we paid more than any other venue on the street. And I know this because I was also a musician, and I was a business owner who participated in all of the gatherings of the business owners in the historic district where our restaurant was. So she came back at me with a rate that was twice what we were offering. But again, she was she was kind of rude. It didn't come across as confident, it came across as defensive. And I don't think she was trying to be mean, she was trying to hold her ground, which I super applaud. But as a student of people, I knew she probably felt like she had to be forceful and stand her ground because she'd been pushed around in the past. I get that. I think she was masking her fear with intensity. And she went on to say, I know what I'm worth. It all works out for me in the end. I do less gigs and I make the same amount of money. Again, her thinking was good. Her delivery was gross. I know that I know what she wanted me to hear, but the way she said it, the way she communicated it was something else altogether. Now, I gave her grace. Uh I didn't hire her, but I told her that I appreciated her. We need to find really good ways to tell people no. Write it down if you have to. Practice it. Make sure that it rolls off your tongue, that you can say it easily. Have some go-to phrases that you use when you have to turn somebody down. Uh one that's easy for me, I said it earlier, is I will often say, that's okay. I totally understand. Thank you for the opportunity. That's that's super easy to do. Thank you so much for thinking of me. Thank you for the offer. I really appreciate the opportunity and the consideration. But at this point, my rate for this type of performance is X amount of dollars. I I'm not able to accept bookings below that, and I completely understand that every venue has a budget to work within. I respect that. If things shift on your end in the future, I would genuinely love to work with you on something. However, you say it, you come up with your own way. Short, calm, no apology, no over-explaining, just kind and professional. I highly recommend writing out what you want to say in these situations and memorize it. Uh, and then you can practice how it comes across. Uh practice uh on your boyfriend or girlfriend, your your spouse, uh, your friend. Ask them how it sounds to them. Hey, thanks so much for listening. I am glad we had the talk. Now, I don't always do this, but because I believe so strongly in the importance of this episode, of this uh subject matter, and because I know that some of you were really looking forward to this episode because you asked for it and you told me you were looking forward to it. I'm going to recap this here because I want it fresh in our minds as we head out this weekend. I want us to, you know, lead forward with confidence. So the top ten things musicians need to know about money are 10, know your bottom line. Number nine, know your zip code. Number eight, know your venue. Number seven, price for your value, not just your time. Number six, have a scale. Number five, don't be afraid to ask for what you're worth. Number four, strategically raise your rates. Number three, shift your focus. Number two, remember that tips make all the difference. Number one, know how to politely decline. Hey, thanks for listening. I wish that you and I were sitting like at a coffee shop right now talking about these things, but uh at least I'm glad you got to listen to me because I really enjoy doing this. Um, please do me a favor, subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already, wherever you listen to podcasts, and remember stay creative, stay after it, stay hired.