The Value of Time
By T. Perry Bowers
I’m going to start this blog with a question: What is the most valuable thing on earth?
It’s a great question to open discussion. One possible answer could be “time” because everything is acquired in time and all business (including the music business) is conducted by time. You can have everything you need in life – food, clothing, shelter, love – but if you don’t have time, you have nothing. When we waste time we cannot acquire anything; when we lose time we lose everything, even ourselves. Another question: What do people value the least? Perhaps this could also be time – it is certainly one of the most squandered things on earth!
The other day a young man showed up fifteen minutes early for his appointment at my studio. I was happy and impressed – this promptness is rare. He wanted a tour of the studio. He told me he’d just take a quick look and get out of my hair, as he didn’t want to take up any more of my time than necessary. It wasn’t a waste of my time. Tours of my facility are part of my job – it’s the best way to inform potential clients of my services. Still, I appreciate the value he placed on my time. I knew he would be a good client if I could land him.
By contrast, I’m working with a drummer who is recording demo videos in my recording studio. He is using the studio for audio and as a setting for his video – but I’m not involved with the video production. I gave him two tours of my studio and had several phone conversations with him. He first opened the conversation with, “my budget is basically nothing.” To be honest, when someone opens the conversation with this I have to fight the urge to hang up immediately. I’m not sure what the theory is behind telling someone you’re not going to spend very much money with them. Perhaps they think saying, “I don’t have much money,” will make the business give them a “budget package”? I’ve found businesses usually do things the way they do them. You can’t call a plumber with a drain clog and tell them they need to clear it with their “budget deal.” They clear it the same way they always clear it and they charge what they always charge.
The music business is the same. My drummer client is a very nice guy and I am happy to have his business. But he needs a lot of advice for the video aspect of his project that he didn’t hire me to film or edit. His friend is filming and editing for him and I try my best to guide them, but I can’t get too deep in it. If people pay my consulting or project fee, I can guarantee my work. If people just ask for advice, I have no control over the end result or the people actually doing the work. This will only cause problems for me. If my advice is misunderstood I get blamed for it. Then they tell me it’s my fault and I need to fix it – even though I wasn’t hired to do the work in the first place! I’ll be happy to have a short conversation with your video guy if he needs some guidance, but I can’t guarantee I can help him or he will understand me. He’s your guy, not mine.
As, you can see there is a big difference in these two clients. One wants to get out of my hair before he even starts. The other is so tangled up in my hair I don’t know if I’ll ever get him out. One is willing to pay in full and up front. The other takes days and weeks to commit to making a payment. One has a few questions and sends them to me in email form so I can answer in my own time. The other calls me several times in one day with lengthy and unprepared thoughts and wonderings. Both of these clients are doing cool projects, but as I get older, I have to learn to be more discerning about whom I do business with if I still want a life of my own!
I haven’t done a lot of research into who is reading my blog – I always imagine young bands and musicians trying to get a leg up I didn’t have at twenty years old. But my guess is that I’m reaching more middle-aged people (like myself). After you’ve lived a few decades you start to realize the value of time. If you’re younger maybe the concept of how precious time is hasn’t sunk in yet. So here’s my advice for valuing time when you interface with a studio.
First, send them an email with all your immediate questions. Once you have your questions answered via email set up a tour of the studio. Be on time. Have any final questions prepared and ask them during this tour. If you like the studio and the people who run it, give them your money and book their time. If you still need time to think, make sure you know how to pay online to book your first session. You don’t need to arrange another in-person meeting just to hand over the cash. It may sound self-serving as a studio owner, but if the person you’re dealing with isn’t extremely busy and doesn’t value their time above all other things, maybe it’s not who you want to be working with anyway.
The best thing about this is when you start respecting other people’s time you are forced to take a good look at your own. If you’re a young band trying to make it in this business you don’t have a lot of time. Make the most of it.
