A Neat Gig Opportunity

Good morning decomposes Jared judge. Welcome to another episode of The Gigging Musician Podcast. This is gonna be a fun one, I want to share with you a crazy gig that I'm currently negotiating that came through my network, which is why I've been really harping on building up your network in the last couple of weeks. Alright, so have you guys ever played a gig at 7am mean either as a very early gig, but it's super cool. So this gig was a or is it hasn't happened yet. It's in a couple of weeks, still negotiating it is for me to play and entertain, for a fun golf tournament, for an association of massage administrators or people who, who do massages, set a golf tournament. And it is at the first tee off, or the tee off for the first hole of this golf tournament. So super fun sounding gig very early. I'm not a morning person. But it was just such a fun opportunity that I couldn't pass it up. And so I got this email a couple of days ago, it's probably a week ago, or so by this guy. He had a lot of things in his email signature, like VP of Communications for this four letter acronym, company, and executive director of blank. So this guy, clearly a bigwig, email signature had logos and everything. And he says, a very short email. And it just goes like, hey, it's Found You was looking for some live music, some entertainment, something fun for the first tee off for our golf tournament. Last year, we had a comedian wondering if this you would want to do something like this. And then in his offer, he did put the dollar amount that he was able to offer for the gig, which I will admit is lower than my standard. But the gig you know, you always have to evaluate getting opportunities, versus, you know, the trade offs of what you might get paid. This is by no means a low paying gig. But it's not what I would typically charge for like a wedding or a corporate event happening in a in a ballroom. So he told me what it was all about. Give me the location. It's on a golf course, in South Denver, Southwest Denver. And I was thinking about it. And I said, sure that sounds awesome. One question. I'm an electric violinist. Do they have electricity? By the first tee off? And he said, Oh, I don't know. Last year, the comedian had some sort of battery powered thing that he could figure out. Like, okay, cool. I'll look into it. And so I was looking on a bunch of websites, including Amazon, about what would it look like to get either a battery powered PA, which would actually be awesome for future gigs. But My one concern? Well, first off, those things are more more money than I was anticipating spending on this one gig, it would definitely cost me more than getting paid for the gig to buy one, which I'm not opposed to buying when in the long term. I just wasn't planning on this expense right now. The other option was generators. And so I also was looking into generators. My speakers are rated at 2400 watts max. Like that's their peak. And so I needed to find a generator that could hold up to that. And if I were to buy one, well, it would cost more than the battery powered PA system. So that also was off the table for now. So then I thought well, I could rent a battery powered speaker. And so I called up a couple of guitar centers around me and talk to their rental department. Ask them hey, do you guys have battery powered PA systems for rent? And both stores said no, we don't. But we do have some for purchase. And again, that's back to square one. So no dice there. But then there's like, well, you could probably rent generators right? Beside just Google it. Generator rental near me. And then I found out you know, Home Depot, Lowe's, those kind of, you know, tools, the tool shops, they rent generators, and I was looking at the wattage rating found out I could get the cheapest or the lowest rated model, which for a daily rental, which that's what I would need to do as a day rental. Because the gig is so early Home Depot, I don't even think is open at 7am I don't know I didn't actually check the hours. But nevertheless, I don't really want to wake up any earlier than I have to. So I'd be renting this the night before, and then returning it the day of after the gig is done. And that would actually just be 66 bucks. And so one final thing though, this was actually the first thing I did is this would have been the easiest. It's actually called the golf course. And mentioned this situation, mentioned them negotiating, playing for this golf tournament, at their first tee off, is it possible as their power by, is there power outlets by the first tee off? And they said no. And said, Well, how far away is the clubhouse? It's maybe I could run an extension cord. Like, oh, yeah, it's about 500 yards, which is roughly a quarter of a mile. And I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to run cable, a quarter of a mile. I don't even know if that's possible. I'm sure it is. But extension cords definitely are last year than like traditional power lines. Plus, I don't have a quarter of a mile of extension cords. So that was no dice either. Which is why I landed upon renting a generator. And these are quiet generator models. Plus, I keep it kind of far away, I've got a couple 100 foot extension cords. So I will run it from further away from the TF. And then the sound from my speakers should cover up most of the the sound the noise of the generator. Because if you've ever used a generator, you know, even the quiet ones generate some noise. So yeah, 66 bucks a day, I emailed the organizer of the gig saying, hey, look, I called the golf course no power. But am I able to rent a generator? Are you able to cover this cost? And then within five minutes of me sending that email, he said, Heck, yeah, I'll cover it. So it looks like we're at the five yard line. I said, my contract. And I'm gonna require payment in full because the gig is only a couple of weeks away. And, you know, it's all in his hands for now. I will follow up later today, see if he got the contract. But regardless, what a fun experience. And I hope that that really demonstrates how willing I am to solve problems. And as gigging musicians, that is one of the ways to propel yourself to the top is by being willing to solve problems that nobody else is. In fact, as I was doing this, as you might know, I am in a coaching program myself. It is like a marketing coaching program. That's where I really learned how to be a good marketer and not not just a good market, I want to be a great marketer. Because I know that marketing is the solution to all of our problems, whether it's we want more gigs, we want more private lessons, students, we want people to listen to our music more we want people to buy our merch, marketing is the solution. And so I was chatting with one of my coaches in that program, and just saying, you know, I gotta gotta take this phone call. And that's where I was chatting with the golf course at the time. And then I came back to the coach and just caught him up. Yeah, as the golf course, negotiating a gig that there's no power. And he was telling me, you know, he knew somebody in his area, he's from Idaho, musician from his area who he actually bought a battery powered PA system. And in his area, there is a lot of remote gig locations, like campgrounds, and parks and wedding venues that are like barns that don't have power. And he actually said this musician makes a killing, because of that one unique advantage, which was he was willing to go out and solve a problem that no other musicians were, which was the power problem. And so because he's the only musician in that area, who can literally bring power with him. All the other musicians have to say no to these gigs. So when somebody's saying, hey, I need a guitarist for my backyard barbecue. And they're getting no I can't do it no power. No, I can't do it, no power. And then they finally get the one person who says yes, I can bring my own power. Boom, it's game over. He gets so many bookings just from that one. unfair advantage, which I think is really cool. Probably feels great for him, plus his bank account. And so that's his willingness to solve problems. And yeah, so this golf course gig golf tournament gig I should say, I got that through my network, which, again, is more proof that you got to start building your network. Your network should exist beyond musicians. If you're only talking to other musicians, you're leaving so many gigs. On the table, but I'm not a huge fan of the saying you're leaving so much money on the table. But when it comes to gigs, like absolutely like maximize your gigs and maximize the quality of those gigs. And that doesn't happen by networking with more musicians. It happens by networking with people in the events industry. So that's my recommendation to you be willing to solve problems and start networking, do it. If you listen to my podcast a couple of weeks ago, or a couple days ago, that was a big one about networking. And so now is your time. And I want to give you the gig Vault, which is a pre built network. Even if you have no connections at all, you have no idea where to start. This is a list of venue and event planners, who there'll be your first your starting point for your network. It's like pre And I'm gonna give that to you for free, as well as the done for you. templates of what to send them and even video trainings of what to do after you send the email that is all baked into your free trial, a Fulltime Music Academy that you get for free when you get the free gig vault. So go to FulltimeMusicAcademy.com/venues Get your free gig vault today. Start building your network and solve some problems. Alright, thanks for tuning in to another episode of The Gigging Musician Podcast. Remember, "You are just one gig away!".