Feb. 14, 2023

#186 - Mickey Williams / Gig Life

Show Notes
Transcript

Mickey grew up in the temporary crew business through his family, and just recently started his own company, Gig Life. He talks about a lot of the challenges and opportunities in the crew business currently. Hope you enjoy. Brought to you by .

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Hello.
And thank you for joining me

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today on geezers of Gear episode
number 186.

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Today's episode is brought to
you, by act entertainment.

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at act Academy today.
Okay, here we are on gives of

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Gear episode number 186 and so
thanks for joining me today and

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another great guest actually a
gentleman, I don't know.

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So I'm looking forward to
talking to him and learning a

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bit about them and we'll talk a
little bit more about that in a

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minute.
But first of course, I want to

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talk about a couple of of
things.

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So it is February 14th today.
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.

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And of course, the Super Bowl
happened, two days ago today is

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Tuesday, it happened on Sunday.
And for those of you who are not

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in North America, you may not
care, but the Super Bowl is one

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of the largest in sporting
events in the world.

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I think it might be the largest
single sporting event in the

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world.
And, you know, it's just It's a

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pretty big deal every year.
It's just one of those things

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that we get pretty excited about
over here.

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It's a football game but it's
also an extravaganza.

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It's a huge event.
All the stars come out and and

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you know, the funny thing about
the Super Bowl is not only is

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the halftime show really as big
as the game, but the commercials

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are as big as the game.
And so it's funny because you

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know for a sporting event,
usually the commercials are

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really just a good time to go
grab another beer.

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Or or another slice of pizza or
some more wings.

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But instead people are actually
glued to the television to watch

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these commercials.
And there were some really good

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ones this year in a couple of
Music, based ones one, the one

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with Paul Stanley and Ozzy
Osbourne, where they're saying

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you can't call people in your
workplace rock stars you can't

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use that word.
You know you're they're not rock

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stars.
They're just people who did a

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good job or whatever we're rock
stars like what did you do to

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become a rockstar?
It's pretty funny.

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It's a great commercial if you
if you Paul Stanley, rock star

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commercial, you'll probably find
it on YouTube or whatever and

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then the other one is Dave Grohl
where he's talking about

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Canadian music and and Canada in
general and it's a Crown Royal

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at I think or some whiskey at, I
believe it's Crown Royal, but

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another really good music based
commercial.

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So again, I mean, you can
probably Google those.

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I'm sure they're all over
YouTube and other platforms as

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well.
The Thoughts on the game, you

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know, I'd love to get messages
emails, whatever feedback from

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you on your thoughts on the
game.

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I thought it had the possibility
of being one of the better games

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that's happened at least in the
last 15 or 20 years.

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I was not a fan of the call at
the end and I had no, what do

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you, whatever you want to call
it, dog in this hunt or horse in

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this race or whatever, you know,
for me, I didn't care who won.

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I just Like to watch a good
entertaining game and I thought

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it was a great entertaining game
and then for an official with a

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couple of minutes left to not
allow them to play the game out

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calling what was arguably a
penalty you know even the guy

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who did it said yeah it was
definitely a penalty but they

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hadn't called that penalty
through the whole game.

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Why would you call it with two
minutes left?

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You know, when it had all of the
makings of an epic finish like

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it was going to be a huge
finish.

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Regardless of which team won and
it probably still would have

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been Kansas City.
But, you know, bummer bummer

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that it ended that way.
Bummer that it was a

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controversial call, you know,
the officials I think have done

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a relatively miserable job
overall this year.

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And you know, I know it's
shocking that someone would

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complain about officials in a
football game, but here I am.

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And so the game aside, what did
you think of the halftime show?

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And again, it seems to be a very
controversial topic because

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people are split on You know, of
course, old school.

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Folks want to see the Rolling
Stones and they want Prince

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brought back from the grave
because Prince was the greatest

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show ever.
And I happen to agree, I think

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Prince was an incredible.
It's a hard one to beat that

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halftime show.
You know, I personally liked the

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Michael Jackson one even though
a lot of people didn't, the

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stones were amazing, Paul
McCartney was amazing.

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You know, I thought the Justin
Timberlake thing with Janet

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Jackson was amazing, even with
the traversée on the wardrobe

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malfunction there that she had,
which wasn't much of a

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malfunction at all.
It was planned, obviously, you

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know, where did this one rate on
all of those?

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I got, to be honest.
I'm not a Rihanna fan, I don't

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like her music.
I don't really know her music.

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Of course, I've heard some of
the songs that work work, work

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work that one.
I've heard that a billion times.

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I'm not a fan.
Do I think it was pretty

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awesome.
That a woman went On one of

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those Decks that most of us
would be scared to death to fly

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around on and she's I don't know
how pregnant but she was

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obviously quite pregnant, you
know, good honor.

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I mean that's fantastic that she
was able to go up there and

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perform the way she did on those
flying decks.

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And and again, not my music, not
my thing, you know, if it was

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Mick Jagger floating around on
those decks.

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I would have thought it was the
coolest thing I've ever seen in

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my life but Because it was
Rihanna Met, didn't do much for

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me.
The guys, in the marshmallow,

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Michelin outfits, didn't do
nothing for me.

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And guys, girls, I don't know
what those people were to be

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perfectly honest.
I think, you know, it was all

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over the place, but I didn't get
it.

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And so, yeah, I mean, but moving
on, from the music and the

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actual performers the show was
incredible, you know, was it up

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there with the best ones ever?
I don't know.

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Like, I try not to rate them
like that, because they're all

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different, you know, I thought
the one last year was

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incredible.
I didn't love the music in that

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one either, but I liked it
better than this because I like

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the old school rap stuff, it's
pretty cool.

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But from a show standpoint, you
know, this was right up there.

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This was really really good.
Those floating decks from Tate

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were incredible.
The stage.

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I think it's all access that.
Did it incredible?

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Really good job.
You know, I think people know by

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now, how much time you're
allowed to get that in and A

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out.
It's it's unreal like how that

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all has to come together and and
then strike at the end and get

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off the field and the
limitations that you have with

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what you do to the field and on
the field and stuff, the field

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is, you know, sacred ground.
So you can't mess with that.

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So the stage was cool.
The lighting was was very cool.

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I think it was a shit ton of
those new VL fixtures or not, so

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new anymore, but I think they're
called 3600.

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There was hundreds of those.
You know that there was a lot of

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automation going on from, I
forget the companies that were

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doing it but I think it was prgs
followspot system, the what's it

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called?
Ground support and then the

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other one, the one from Europe
which named always escapes me

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but really, really super cool.
And you know just I thought it

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was a very cool looking show.
I thought the fireworks, of

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course, we're incredible from
pyrotechnic.

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Oh And yeah, so for me, you
know, I give it claps, I think

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it was very good.
I enjoyed it again.

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Not so much on the music but for
sure on the show and so this

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week I actually have three
episodes, I think I'm going to

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kick out.
I've got this one today and then

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I've got one on racing, believe
it or not.

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We are actually going to get my
son on a podcast, which I've

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been bugging them to do for a
year and he's finally going to

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do and he's going to talk about
his He's in this year in Europe

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and what's going on over there?
And how that's all going to work

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out.
So I hope you'll listen to that

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one but more exciting.
For me is I have Faust orsatti

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recording tomorrow and Fausto.
For those of you who know him, I

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don't have to tell you but for
those who don't know, him

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fausto's been in our industry.
I'm going to guess here.

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I think it's very close to 50
years.

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It's definitely 45 how old is
he?

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I'm trying To think how old he
is, at least 40 call it.

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And so you know, he started at
Komar when Komar.

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First got into, I think even
before their first moving

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lights.
And so, you know, he's been an

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engineer and a very smart guy in
our industry for a very long

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time.
I'm really looking forward to

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having him on.
And, of course, today I have a

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gentleman named Mick Williams,
who operates kind of a gigging

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employment agency and he'll
probably kill me for saying that

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because I think on his website,
he says, we're not a gigging.

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Employment Agency, we're more
than that.

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So we're going to learn about
that today.

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His company's called gig life.
I was intrigued.

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I thought we should discuss this
since you know, we're always

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talking about gear.
We're always talking about

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shortages of gear how you know
post covid, it's been a huge

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problem, getting gear.
But of course the other possibly

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even bigger problem has been
humans, you know, getting people

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continuing to bring people in
the industry and manage those

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people and get them on gigs and
match people with gigs and

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stuff.
So that's that's what he's

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doing.
And so I look forward to talking

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about it with a true bona fide
expert for once.

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So, there you go.
Welcome Nick Williams.

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So, welcome aboard here, Mick.
And I've just learned that it's

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actually Mickey, right?
It's like yes, sir, Mickey I've

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been calling you Mick through
the introduction that I just

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did.
So I hope I didn't offend anyone

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but welcome and and I'm glad to
have you on your one of the few

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people.
I Out on that.

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I really had no knowledge of and
didn't know prior to bringing

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them on.
So I'm kind of looking forward

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to learning along with our
audience.

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You know, about sort of your
history and learning a lot about

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the labor market as well, which
is a Hot Topic these days

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obviously sure.
Sure, absolutely, yeah.

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I mean, I think you're either in
exactly the perfect place or

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you're a masochist.
So I want to figure out which it

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is by the end of this podcast.
All right?

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Yeah.
So You know, first I know that,

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you know, by Geezer standards,
you're kind of young and and so

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you've been in the business I
think around 10 or 12 years,

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right?
Yes, as I bet, it's about been

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about 10 years.
I did my first gig in 2012, a

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little over two hours, I should
say.

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So going on, 11 years now.
Yep.

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So how why, what got you into
this business?

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It's actually a family families.
What got me into the business

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prior to that?
You know what my background is

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really?
Corporate corporate banking, I

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worked for marketing advertising
company owned a couple of my own

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businesses and it's my parents
actually my stepdad more,

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specifically, he's been in the
business for quite some time.

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He used to work for an old
Amphitheatre that's in Columbus,

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Ohio, which is woven from, and
he was working in ticket sales

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there.
So he kind of knew the industry

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worked in the industries.
An old radio DJ, you know, work

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in Southeast.
Ohio is an old disc jockey Be so

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fun.
Yeah, so that's kind of how I

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got into it.
He got into the labor business,

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working for a company back, back
in 2012 13, 14 somewhere around

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00:12:55,100 --> 00:13:00,100
there.
Okay, and he basically called me

223
00:13:00,100 --> 00:13:02,700
up one day and said hey I have
this gig.

224
00:13:03,100 --> 00:13:06,900
It's a buckeye country Festival,
you want to come work it with

225
00:13:06,900 --> 00:13:09,700
me, okay?
So I'm like, sure what are we

226
00:13:09,700 --> 00:13:11,600
doing?
Is like I'll show you when we

227
00:13:11,608 --> 00:13:14,500
get there and so that was my
experience, you know, my first

228
00:13:14,500 --> 00:13:17,300
gig is a festival.
And I'm there and I'm working be

229
00:13:17,300 --> 00:13:20,100
stage and I've got the easiest
gig you've ever you could ever

230
00:13:20,100 --> 00:13:22,100
ask for his back line for be
stage.

231
00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:25,400
Oh, that's so that, that was
kind of when I fell in love with

232
00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:28,500
with with Live Events and I was
your father-in-law's company

233
00:13:28,500 --> 00:13:31,100
called it's show Pros.
Okay.

234
00:13:31,100 --> 00:13:34,700
And it doesn't still do it.
Yeah, they're still in business.

235
00:13:35,100 --> 00:13:38,200
I actually just left there at
the end of last year and then I

236
00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:40,100
started my own company in
January.

237
00:13:40,100 --> 00:13:43,400
So gig life is as relatively
young you know we just opened up

238
00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:47,500
in January of this year.
It's our last year 2007.

239
00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:50,200
This year of this year though
your brand-new.

240
00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:51,900
You're like a month old.
Yeah.

241
00:13:51,900 --> 00:13:53,800
So my company.
Yes, absolutely.

242
00:13:53,900 --> 00:13:59,800
Wow, you heard it here first
folks that's wild.

243
00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:03,100
So has that created?
Is there something going on in

244
00:14:03,100 --> 00:14:06,600
your family now like is, is that
problematic because you're doing

245
00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:10,200
basically the same thing, right?
I wouldn't say it's problematic,

246
00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:13,400
you know, things just were not
working out between the three of

247
00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:16,500
us my parents and I, and yeah.
Sorry there was time for me to

248
00:14:16,508 --> 00:14:19,800
go on my own and I kind of these
things made it higher.

249
00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:21,700
I wanted to do things that's
cool.

250
00:14:22,300 --> 00:14:26,200
And obviously right now in the
labor market, it's big enough

251
00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:31,000
that, you know, competition is
welcome, I guess you would say,

252
00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:34,400
absolutely absolutely.
Wow.

253
00:14:34,500 --> 00:14:39,300
So so you're in Columbus and
they're also in Columbus, their

254
00:14:39,300 --> 00:14:42,000
company started in Columbus.
They do have an office in

255
00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,800
Columbus as well, but they're
Florida as well.

256
00:14:45,100 --> 00:14:46,200
Okay?
Okay, cool.

257
00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:50,300
Good interesting.
So the company's brand new.

258
00:14:50,300 --> 00:14:55,100
So, you know, do you have some
built-in clients just from

259
00:14:55,100 --> 00:14:57,900
having been in the business, 10
years and taken really good care

260
00:14:57,900 --> 00:15:00,500
of people or do you have to go
out prospecting for clients?

261
00:15:00,500 --> 00:15:04,100
Now, a little bit of both little
bit of both, you know, obviously

262
00:15:04,100 --> 00:15:07,500
I needed to let people know that
I was in business for myself.

263
00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:10,600
I actually just did my first gig
this past week.

264
00:15:11,300 --> 00:15:14,300
I was a corporate gig which is
my main background, is in

265
00:15:14,300 --> 00:15:18,600
corporate audio-visual.
Okay, and that's when I started,

266
00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:23,000
as mainly what I did.
And then, you know, after this

267
00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:25,900
shutdowns and covid, we got more
into rock and roll and the

268
00:15:25,900 --> 00:15:28,500
festivals and fairs.
So it's kind of been full

269
00:15:28,500 --> 00:15:29,800
circle.
Now, I'm getting back into the

270
00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:33,400
corporate audio-visual, which is
as where, you know, I started

271
00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:35,600
and right.
And we had a gig last week, so,

272
00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:38,900
yeah, yeah.
I mean, it's congratulations and

273
00:15:38,900 --> 00:15:42,600
good luck to you on that.
Obviously, I think, you know,

274
00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:45,300
it's a great time obviously to
start in that business because

275
00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:49,600
Cuz there's just a huge need all
circles.

276
00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:52,600
Like, I mean, you know,
festivals need more people and

277
00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:56,100
companies that Supply festivals
with people need more people,

278
00:15:57,300 --> 00:16:00,100
you know.
And and so you're kind of like a

279
00:16:00,100 --> 00:16:01,800
Marketplace.
I mean, you're not totally

280
00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:05,200
dissimilar to what I do with
gear source, which is sort of

281
00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:08,300
connect, people who need stuff
with people who have stuff.

282
00:16:09,300 --> 00:16:13,200
So you're a Marketplace for
talent in a sense, or 44 crew

283
00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:15,000
people.
Yes.

284
00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:18,100
And so is the bigger problem for
you.

285
00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:23,400
So by the way, we could have a
separate conversation offline

286
00:16:23,500 --> 00:16:26,600
about this because I have a huge
amount of experience in it. 20

287
00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:32,700
years in Marketplace experience
but every Marketplace has

288
00:16:32,700 --> 00:16:36,100
something that's called the cold
start problem which is usually

289
00:16:36,500 --> 00:16:39,300
which is its compared to like a
chicken and egg problem.

290
00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:45,000
Basically, so you either have
customers and you need product

291
00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:46,500
or you.
Of product and you need

292
00:16:46,500 --> 00:16:50,800
customers.
And so which is a bigger problem

293
00:16:50,800 --> 00:16:53,200
for you.
Is it the Cargobob need for

294
00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:57,000
crew?
I have the need for for

295
00:16:57,200 --> 00:16:59,200
customers at the moment.
I've got plenty of crew.

296
00:16:59,300 --> 00:17:03,100
Okay, so just a little bit of
history on my experience as a

297
00:17:03,100 --> 00:17:06,700
crew chief and it can labor
coordinator and managing shows.

298
00:17:06,900 --> 00:17:12,200
Last year I did over 200 shows
by myself, manager Burr, or I

299
00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:15,400
recruited tired and coordinated
over 1,000.

300
00:17:15,599 --> 00:17:17,099
New hires.
Wow.

301
00:17:17,500 --> 00:17:20,700
And I love Sho Pros.
We had about 1,500 people active

302
00:17:20,700 --> 00:17:24,099
in our payroll and before I
started there was maybe a

303
00:17:24,108 --> 00:17:27,300
hundred.
So I, you know, I've grown quite

304
00:17:27,300 --> 00:17:28,800
a bit.
I've done everything from Arena

305
00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:32,300
shows to festivals to helping
out with the van Gogh

306
00:17:32,300 --> 00:17:36,700
experience.
So my experience with managing

307
00:17:36,700 --> 00:17:41,100
labor in and managing labor and
coordinating labor is is fast.

308
00:17:41,100 --> 00:17:43,500
I mean, I can do it.
I know that I have the

309
00:17:43,500 --> 00:17:45,400
experience, it's really just
letting people know.

310
00:17:45,500 --> 00:17:48,600
Oh, that I'm out there because
I've got a labor pool of over

311
00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:52,900
3,000 people across the country.
Yeah, so that's just where I'm

312
00:17:52,900 --> 00:17:54,500
at.
I mean I've got plenty of Labor.

313
00:17:54,500 --> 00:17:56,700
I know the players.
I just need to plug them in.

314
00:17:56,800 --> 00:17:59,900
Yeah.
And so just so I understand how

315
00:17:59,900 --> 00:18:04,400
this works with a company like
yours if I am putting on a

316
00:18:04,408 --> 00:18:07,800
festival or I'm a sound company
or whatever it is and I need to

317
00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:10,100
hire labor.
Am I paying you or am?

318
00:18:10,100 --> 00:18:15,300
I paying the people directly?
Preferably, if the way that I do

319
00:18:15,300 --> 00:18:17,000
it is through me.
Yeah.

320
00:18:17,500 --> 00:18:20,400
And the reason why is so I can
put them on W4 so I can pay

321
00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:22,400
them.
Take their taxes out properly.

322
00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:24,300
Whichever stayed.
I'm in making sure that I'm

323
00:18:24,300 --> 00:18:26,000
taking out their taxes,
properly.

324
00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:28,800
Yeah, well, so the insurance
part, you know, making sure

325
00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:30,600
they're properly.
Insured, making sure they have

326
00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:32,600
workers comp protecting the
employees.

327
00:18:32,700 --> 00:18:35,900
Yeah, a lot more like the union,
you know, that's the way we

328
00:18:35,900 --> 00:18:38,700
would do it.
I don't really do the 1099

329
00:18:38,700 --> 00:18:43,100
contractors stuff, very rarely,
but most That I hire are going

330
00:18:43,100 --> 00:18:45,700
to be W to employees.
Wow.

331
00:18:46,500 --> 00:18:49,300
And I think that helps with both
with both sides because it helps

332
00:18:49,300 --> 00:18:52,700
protect the worker because right
now, that's one of the things

333
00:18:52,700 --> 00:18:55,600
that we're seeing in the
industry is that the workers are

334
00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:57,700
starting to have a lot more pole
in the industry, they're

335
00:18:57,700 --> 00:19:00,800
demanding more money.
Yeah, there's an antique more

336
00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:02,100
protection.
They're there.

337
00:19:02,100 --> 00:19:07,300
They have the upper hand, I
think I've noticed the swing and

338
00:19:07,300 --> 00:19:10,500
in a lot of the the movers and
shakers in the industry or

339
00:19:10,500 --> 00:19:13,300
slowly coming around to that.
You know, they got to pay a

340
00:19:13,308 --> 00:19:17,500
little bit more of the 1099,
people across the country and

341
00:19:17,500 --> 00:19:21,800
having shows and 40 different
states and stuffs in the past,

342
00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:23,800
it's going to be in the past.
I mean, people are going to get

343
00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:25,800
started getting in trouble for
that kind of stuff.

344
00:19:25,900 --> 00:19:29,500
Yeah, they really need to be
careful when they are 10 1919,

345
00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:32,500
you know, thousands of
contractors across the country,

346
00:19:32,500 --> 00:19:35,300
it gets pretty messy.
So yeah, I've stopped doing all

347
00:19:35,300 --> 00:19:40,000
that it's by the books,
legitimate, they added.

348
00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:43,300
The reason I do this is because
I grew up as You know, I started

349
00:19:43,300 --> 00:19:46,500
the bottom of this industry
working as a stagehand.

350
00:19:46,500 --> 00:19:50,100
Yeah, there in the trenches
building stages and I see these

351
00:19:50,100 --> 00:19:52,200
people struggle that love this
industry.

352
00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:54,400
Okay.
But it's a tough industry to

353
00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:57,200
survive unless you become
specialized and you continue to

354
00:19:57,200 --> 00:19:59,800
network and progress.
It's a taut.

355
00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:01,000
And you know this.
Yeah.

356
00:20:01,900 --> 00:20:03,900
So that's kind of where I'm at.
It's good, it's good.

357
00:20:03,900 --> 00:20:07,200
But when it's not, it's really
bad through, you know, like I

358
00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:10,800
literally, you know, talked some
people down off the bridge

359
00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:13,900
during covid.
You know, people who hadn't seen

360
00:20:13,900 --> 00:20:19,500
a paycheck in 12 months.
You know, that's difficult.

361
00:20:20,100 --> 00:20:21,500
It was wrong.
It was really rough.

362
00:20:21,500 --> 00:20:24,500
And we did like you said, you'll
be lost a lot of good people and

363
00:20:24,500 --> 00:20:27,600
I was one of the challenges that
I faced when I came back from

364
00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:32,600
covid was okay.
Now I need to hire and I was it

365
00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:34,300
was like starting over.
It really was.

366
00:20:34,300 --> 00:20:37,900
I mean all the old list I had
were just they were bad.

367
00:20:37,900 --> 00:20:41,100
I had to basically build a whole
new roster locally where I'm

368
00:20:41,100 --> 00:20:43,300
based and And we grew
Nationwide.

369
00:20:43,300 --> 00:20:47,900
Yeah, I went from working
regionally 45 states to over

370
00:20:47,900 --> 00:20:50,100
twenty six states in one year
too.

371
00:20:50,100 --> 00:20:52,900
And that's the explosive growth
that the industry's scene and

372
00:20:52,900 --> 00:20:55,200
there's a lot of labor companies
like me that are seeing the same

373
00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:58,600
kind of growth.
So when you say, you're paying

374
00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:02,700
people on W-2s, are you paying
full time salaries to people

375
00:21:02,700 --> 00:21:06,800
whether or not they work?
Not necessarily it's more like

376
00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:10,700
They're just they get their
taxes taken out so it's an

377
00:21:10,700 --> 00:21:11,900
hourly.
W2 still?

378
00:21:11,900 --> 00:21:16,000
Yes, now really do I say, yeah,
you're not, you're not putting

379
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:19,200
them on X salary whether or not,
they work during those times.

380
00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:22,400
And sometimes you make out, and
sometimes they make out its,

381
00:21:22,700 --> 00:21:25,800
they're still booking hours.
Yeah, it's still booked by the

382
00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:30,300
hour, but the thing is, is that
me as if I'm telling people

383
00:21:30,300 --> 00:21:32,900
where they need to be, what time
to be there, when to take a

384
00:21:32,900 --> 00:21:37,300
break when to eat, yeah, they're
no longer a contractor, right?

385
00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:39,700
So Legally.
I need to take taxes out, and I

386
00:21:39,700 --> 00:21:43,000
need to make sure that I'm
providing them with those basic

387
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:44,700
benefits.
Yeah, you can get in trouble

388
00:21:44,700 --> 00:21:48,700
when you're when you're
basically having employees, but

389
00:21:48,700 --> 00:21:52,800
you're paying them on 1099s for
long periods of time can

390
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:54,500
certainly get in a bit of
trouble with that.

391
00:21:55,000 --> 00:22:02,100
Wow.
So So you said the you need more

392
00:22:02,100 --> 00:22:04,500
customers.
And so that's probably where

393
00:22:04,500 --> 00:22:08,900
most of your focus is is going
out to a lot of those you know

394
00:22:10,500 --> 00:22:14,900
whether it's a tour or it's a
whatever it is and and saying

395
00:22:14,900 --> 00:22:17,000
hey here I am.
Yep.

396
00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:19,600
Yeah and I'll tell you do
prospecting is my main goal

397
00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:22,200
right now.
I got a lot of good stuff in the

398
00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:24,100
works.
I think this is going to be a

399
00:22:24,100 --> 00:22:27,500
good year.
You know typically in the

400
00:22:27,500 --> 00:22:29,400
midwest it's a little All right
now.

401
00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:32,000
So march/april things will
really pick up.

402
00:22:32,100 --> 00:22:37,600
Yeah, they will, you know, it's
been it's been a little lately

403
00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:40,500
last couple years they've been a
lot of last-minute bookings you

404
00:22:40,500 --> 00:22:42,000
know?
And because labor has been in

405
00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:43,300
short supply.
Yeah.

406
00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:47,500
So people are finding that their
labor resources will, you know,

407
00:22:47,500 --> 00:22:50,800
they either book too late or
they might fall through or, you

408
00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:54,500
know, their shows fall a little
short sometimes and that's where

409
00:22:54,508 --> 00:22:56,200
I can.
I'll pick up some of the slack

410
00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:59,100
and bring in some people.
Yeah I have a I have a A friend

411
00:22:59,100 --> 00:23:02,700
down here in Florida who has a
as a labor company.

412
00:23:03,300 --> 00:23:08,800
And I saw him last week and an
event and we were talking and I

413
00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:11,600
said, you must be killing it and
he goes, man, it's so hard right

414
00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:13,900
now.
You have no idea because, you

415
00:23:13,900 --> 00:23:16,800
know, he's struggling to get
people then half the time.

416
00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:19,500
The people he gets her a little
bit flaky and they don't show up

417
00:23:19,500 --> 00:23:22,600
on time or they show up stoned
or they show up, you know,

418
00:23:23,100 --> 00:23:27,100
whatever or they you know,
they're klutzes and they fall

419
00:23:27,100 --> 00:23:30,300
and hurt themselves or drops.
Thing or whatever, you know,

420
00:23:30,300 --> 00:23:33,800
just all kinds of different
problems that he's having in the

421
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:37,900
past 18, 24 months that he
didn't have prior to that for

422
00:23:37,900 --> 00:23:41,900
the most part, right?
So and I think a lot of that

423
00:23:41,900 --> 00:23:45,400
comes from just bringing new
people into the industry, right?

424
00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:50,700
Like trying to expand your labor
pool, which doesn't sound like

425
00:23:50,700 --> 00:23:52,700
it's that much of a problem for
you.

426
00:23:52,700 --> 00:23:55,600
Like, it sounds like you've got
access to great people.

427
00:23:56,600 --> 00:24:00,800
It's just more on the other
side, but You know if and when

428
00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:04,100
that is a problem.
Like when you are short on

429
00:24:04,100 --> 00:24:06,700
people or when you see a problem
coming or something like

430
00:24:06,700 --> 00:24:11,600
covid-19, has people left the
industry, do you have some way

431
00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:15,600
of bringing in new people and
training them and making sure

432
00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:20,600
that they're you know safe and
and not going to injure somebody

433
00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:23,800
else on the job or screw
something up like how are you

434
00:24:23,808 --> 00:24:27,300
dealing with all that stuff?
Why is, you know, it depends on

435
00:24:27,300 --> 00:24:29,100
the event.
I mean, when you're talking

436
00:24:29,900 --> 00:24:33,200
corporate versus rock and roll,
you know, you're talking to your

437
00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:36,000
porn animals there.
It's like, so I can touch base

438
00:24:36,100 --> 00:24:39,600
quickly on the corporate stuff
where I'm finding most success

439
00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:44,800
on the corporate stuff is just
traditional labor.

440
00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:48,400
Recruiting, you know, using
things like the online job, job

441
00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,300
postings, job boards.
Yeah, indeed indeed.

442
00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:55,200
Just good old-fashioned resumes
and sourcing text that way, but

443
00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:57,700
the me Your schools are good to,
you know, you have like Full

444
00:24:57,700 --> 00:25:02,100
Sail, Ohio Media School, the
media Schools.

445
00:25:02,100 --> 00:25:05,100
They're really good.
A lot of the the students to go

446
00:25:05,100 --> 00:25:08,200
through those those they want to
be, you know, producers and they

447
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:12,100
want to work in the television
and broadcast it stuff like

448
00:25:12,100 --> 00:25:13,800
that.
Well, what they don't know is

449
00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:18,300
there's this whole other
industry of audio-visual, then

450
00:25:18,300 --> 00:25:21,000
they make pretty good money.
So that, you know, companies

451
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:25,300
like Encore and smart Source,
they need audio visual text.

452
00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:29,200
And so I've been communicating a
lot but these schools saying,

453
00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:32,100
hey, you know, bring some of
your students in let's train

454
00:25:32,100 --> 00:25:35,200
them through the audiovisual
gigs that we get.

455
00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:38,200
And then you know, we opened our
eyes to a whole another source

456
00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:43,000
of income for them that hey if
broadcast doesn't work out or if

457
00:25:43,100 --> 00:25:45,700
you know I can't get a job
working for this TV you know

458
00:25:45,700 --> 00:25:48,200
sports check for Fox News or
something.

459
00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:51,100
Yeah I'm going to fall back on
on that side.

460
00:25:51,300 --> 00:25:55,000
Now as far as the staging stuff
goes well sorry to interrupt but

461
00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:57,100
the other thing It's really
important about what you just

462
00:25:57,100 --> 00:26:00,200
said is, is, you know, people
come out of school and they want

463
00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:02,100
to start at the top of the food
chain or whatever.

464
00:26:02,100 --> 00:26:05,700
And I get it, you know, there's
their eyes are huge, you know.

465
00:26:05,700 --> 00:26:09,000
They're, they're, they're like,
I'm going to go work for ESPN.

466
00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:14,100
The problem is, you know, you
got to kind of take some baby

467
00:26:14,100 --> 00:26:16,700
steps to get up there.
But one of the great things

468
00:26:16,700 --> 00:26:20,500
about coming in and doing a sort
of shows through a labor company

469
00:26:20,500 --> 00:26:25,000
like yours or even, you know,
through a company who just does

470
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:29,700
different Shows or whatever is
you build your network and and

471
00:26:29,700 --> 00:26:33,700
you you're not only learning but
you're proving yourself to some

472
00:26:33,700 --> 00:26:37,100
people and then, you know, later
on, they go oh I remember that

473
00:26:37,100 --> 00:26:39,200
kid.
He worked for me on a, you know,

474
00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:42,500
whatever show and he did a
really good job and I remember

475
00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:45,600
he said this thing that really,
you know turned me on to that

476
00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:47,600
kid.
So I'll take him on any of my

477
00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:50,700
shows that kind of stuff is
gold.

478
00:26:50,700 --> 00:26:53,300
Like, that's the value that you.
Those are the checks you can

479
00:26:53,300 --> 00:26:55,300
cash later in your career,
right?

480
00:26:57,200 --> 00:26:59,700
That's what I'm trying to do.
You know, is, is I value the

481
00:26:59,700 --> 00:27:03,800
people that are working for me,
you know, people that I'm

482
00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:07,000
working with and helped help
build them up and help them be

483
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:09,700
successful in this business
because it's about the numbers

484
00:27:09,700 --> 00:27:12,100
to me.
Yeah, it could be successful and

485
00:27:12,100 --> 00:27:14,100
they can make a career out of
this, they can get to where they

486
00:27:14,100 --> 00:27:15,600
want to be, and I can help with
that.

487
00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:18,300
That means more to me than just
accidentally.

488
00:27:18,300 --> 00:27:22,100
Yeah together.
Yeah, no, I completely agree

489
00:27:22,100 --> 00:27:24,800
with you.
That's that's all there is to

490
00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:27,100
it.
Like, I mean, you know, I

491
00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:30,700
started in this industry and and
have worked in it for a very

492
00:27:30,700 --> 00:27:33,000
long time.
Trying really hard.

493
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:35,200
Every step of the way to take
care of people and do the right

494
00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:37,700
things and work harder than the
people around me and stuff.

495
00:27:37,700 --> 00:27:41,600
And that gets you, you become
memorable at some point whether

496
00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:43,500
you're remembered for good or
bad things.

497
00:27:43,500 --> 00:27:45,300
I don't know.
But you know, you become

498
00:27:45,300 --> 00:27:47,800
memorable and then you know,
when you try to get somebody on

499
00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:50,100
the phone, it's easier to get
them on the phone or you try to

500
00:27:50,100 --> 00:27:52,000
get a gig.
It's easier to get that gig.

501
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:54,900
You jump to the front of the
line because you've done

502
00:27:54,900 --> 00:27:56,800
something.
Remarkable in the past or

503
00:27:56,800 --> 00:27:57,500
whatever.
Right.

504
00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:00,700
Right.
So yeah.

505
00:28:00,700 --> 00:28:08,100
So I mean, You know, tell me,
give me some sort of education

506
00:28:08,100 --> 00:28:11,300
on the the business because I
really don't know very much

507
00:28:11,300 --> 00:28:15,200
about the labor market.
Like, I know that we're

508
00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:18,800
constantly dealing with supply
chain issues and stuff, when it

509
00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:22,800
comes to gear, and my focus has
primarily been on gear, while,

510
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:26,100
you know, every time I do one of
these podcasts, I'll ask whether

511
00:28:26,100 --> 00:28:29,300
it's a lighting designer or an
audio engineer or someone who

512
00:28:29,300 --> 00:28:33,600
owns a touring company, or
whatever it is, I'll say, Say

513
00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:38,300
you know, is it gear or people?
What's your bigger problem right

514
00:28:38,300 --> 00:28:40,300
now?
And, you know, they really have

515
00:28:40,300 --> 00:28:45,200
to think about it because the
answer is both but, you know, I

516
00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:47,500
think they're sort of
neck-and-neck, right.

517
00:28:48,900 --> 00:28:50,400
Yeah, they are.
I mean, you know, I don't really

518
00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:52,200
deal whole lot with the gear
side.

519
00:28:52,300 --> 00:28:56,200
Yeah, the really been on on that
side of the business.

520
00:28:56,200 --> 00:29:00,800
It's primarily been in labor.
Yeah, I've worked for some some

521
00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:03,500
companies and help them with
their inventory, you know,

522
00:29:03,900 --> 00:29:07,400
loading unloading trucks
Warehouse, stuff got familiar

523
00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:11,100
with their gear and I was far as
the, you know, the that part of

524
00:29:11,100 --> 00:29:12,300
it.
I really don't know a whole lot

525
00:29:12,300 --> 00:29:15,600
about the labor.
I mean, it's a tough situation

526
00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:20,100
to be in because You know,
laborers at a premium it really

527
00:29:20,100 --> 00:29:23,900
is and I think that people are
finding that out and so all I

528
00:29:23,900 --> 00:29:28,500
can say is that it's just, it's
not cheap anymore.

529
00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:30,700
Yeah.
People are starting to realize

530
00:29:30,700 --> 00:29:33,000
that and it's because the
laborers, have the upper hand

531
00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:35,200
because they know that they can
demand more money.

532
00:29:37,100 --> 00:29:39,800
And so it's kind of like you got
in my opinion at this point is

533
00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:44,400
that you pay for what you get I
mean where are we at now as far

534
00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:50,300
as like you know, a typical And
what are they making a day or

535
00:29:50,300 --> 00:29:53,900
whatever?
I would say 25 to 30 an hour?

536
00:29:53,900 --> 00:29:56,500
Yeah.
Is the, I think the most people

537
00:29:56,500 --> 00:29:58,500
are shooting for about $30 an
hour.

538
00:29:58,900 --> 00:30:01,800
Yeah, they Jam, which is about
half of that, right?

539
00:30:02,300 --> 00:30:03,800
Yeah.
I mean, I used to, prior to

540
00:30:03,808 --> 00:30:05,800
covid you're looking at 17 to
22.

541
00:30:06,100 --> 00:30:08,000
Yeah.
Well we're paying anywhere from

542
00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:13,200
25 to 30 an hour and consistent
so it's gone up quite a bit and

543
00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:15,100
who absorbs that additional
cost.

544
00:30:15,100 --> 00:30:20,400
Is it the is it the Aunt.
Is it the mean is it the end

545
00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:24,100
consumer?
That's a good question.

546
00:30:24,100 --> 00:30:27,800
I think that I know, but for me
it's a little bit of both.

547
00:30:28,700 --> 00:30:32,200
Some of the clients were able to
get them to negotiate higher

548
00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:35,200
rates to cover some of those
costs because you know, that's

549
00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:38,500
everything's gone up.
Yeah, you know pull everything

550
00:30:38,500 --> 00:30:42,200
in general just with inflation
in general but a lot of it has

551
00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:45,400
been us assuming those costs
just because we want to continue

552
00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:46,600
doing business.
Yeah.

553
00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:49,100
So it's kind of a mixed.
You got companies that are still

554
00:30:49,100 --> 00:30:52,400
paying kind of similars, you
know, rates to what they Paid

555
00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:56,000
prior to covid and then there's
companies are realizing that

556
00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:58,200
they can't continue to do that
if they want to continue to get

557
00:30:58,200 --> 00:30:59,300
Quality Labor.
Yeah.

558
00:30:59,300 --> 00:31:01,600
And that's really what the
problem is because when I go out

559
00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:05,000
there and tell people well the
jobs only going to pay 18, 19,

560
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:08,400
20 dollars an hour that really
limits the quality of Labor that

561
00:31:08,408 --> 00:31:11,500
I'm going to get which is really
going to reflect on the show and

562
00:31:11,500 --> 00:31:14,100
it just in my opinion is it's a
headache.

563
00:31:14,100 --> 00:31:17,200
It's a hassle.
And if you want to write a true

564
00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:22,500
quality professional production,
yeah then get rid of that and In

565
00:31:22,500 --> 00:31:24,700
Europe, just pay people decent
wage and it all come.

566
00:31:24,900 --> 00:31:27,300
It's very cliche but you do get
what you pay for.

567
00:31:27,300 --> 00:31:30,200
You know you pay peanuts you get
monkeys or however that goes but

568
00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:34,400
you know and I would think like
one of the things for corporate

569
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:35,900
shows.
You don't want guys showing up

570
00:31:35,900 --> 00:31:39,100
with, you know, a
Harley-Davidson t-shirt and the

571
00:31:39,100 --> 00:31:41,600
crack of their ass hanging out
of their jeans or whatever,

572
00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:44,300
right.
Like you want nice show blacks

573
00:31:44,300 --> 00:31:47,500
and nice and clean and their
hair tucked back behind their

574
00:31:47,500 --> 00:31:51,000
head or whatever, right?
Because the corporate clients

575
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:53,100
going to see those people.
Exactly.

576
00:31:53,100 --> 00:31:54,900
I was going to say, it's not our
clients.

577
00:31:54,900 --> 00:31:58,100
It's their client.
It's the they have the rules.

578
00:31:58,100 --> 00:31:59,400
You know?
No, piercings.

579
00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:01,000
No.
You know, they're wanting

580
00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:03,800
really, that's still a bang.
It really is.

581
00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:06,900
I ran into a problem at a hotel
and there was a facial,

582
00:32:06,900 --> 00:32:08,400
piercings was a thing.
Hmm.

583
00:32:08,500 --> 00:32:10,700
And to me, that was, you know,
it was asinine.

584
00:32:10,700 --> 00:32:13,000
I'm like, really.
This is, you know, 2022, it's

585
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:15,800
like, but it's still a thing and
it's unfortunate.

586
00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:18,100
It's what this is.
I mean, I could see Disney or

587
00:32:18,100 --> 00:32:21,800
something, but I that surprises
me that that that would be an

588
00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:24,500
issue.
About mention the hotel.

589
00:32:24,500 --> 00:32:28,600
But yes, it was a hotel and it
is under little rules, you know?

590
00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:30,800
That's interesting.
And they actually said something

591
00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:34,500
about it to stay.
Did my dad now we since then,

592
00:32:34,500 --> 00:32:36,400
you know, you know, everything's
good now.

593
00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:39,900
We work through it.
But yeah, my guy said home for

594
00:32:39,900 --> 00:32:44,600
facial facial piercings and I
was like, hey Lee really, that's

595
00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:47,900
what causes the, how hard I work
to provide quality paper for you

596
00:32:47,900 --> 00:32:49,500
guys, and these guys are Great
Tech.

597
00:32:49,500 --> 00:32:53,100
I mean, yeah, easy, and he has a
nose piercing in a A scene in

598
00:32:53,100 --> 00:32:55,600
you're going to send him home.
Yeah.

599
00:32:55,900 --> 00:33:01,800
I mean that's, you know, again
maybe in 1985 or something but

600
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:05,200
you know like II don't know, it
can't still be the same, but I

601
00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:09,600
remember Disney employees
couldn't have hair past their

602
00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:13,700
shoulders and I doubt it's still
the same today, but, like, even

603
00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:18,200
lighting designers sound
Engineers Talent, you know, men

604
00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:20,700
couldn't have their hair past
their shoulders and they

605
00:33:20,700 --> 00:33:23,400
couldn't have earrings.
And in their ears.

606
00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:26,000
I'm not even talking about
facial, I'm just saying an

607
00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:29,800
earring in your ear, you
couldn't have again.

608
00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:31,800
I'm sure that rule has changed,
you know.

609
00:33:32,900 --> 00:33:34,500
With it is.
It's becoming a lot more.

610
00:33:34,500 --> 00:33:36,100
Yeah.
A lot more accepting.

611
00:33:36,100 --> 00:33:38,200
Let's just.
Yeah, you know there's there's a

612
00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:41,600
lot more crossover now between
you know Festival people.

613
00:33:42,500 --> 00:33:46,300
You know tour people and
corporate AV, there's a lot more

614
00:33:46,300 --> 00:33:47,200
in my opinion.
I don't know.

615
00:33:47,208 --> 00:33:48,500
It might have always been this
way.

616
00:33:48,900 --> 00:33:50,900
I don't know.
But, you know, a lot of the

617
00:33:50,900 --> 00:33:53,100
people that I employed they They
can do it all.

618
00:33:53,100 --> 00:33:56,400
Yeah they can they can run a
corporate breakout room but they

619
00:33:56,400 --> 00:34:00,500
can also go you know, climb the
stage if they yeah they will.

620
00:34:00,500 --> 00:34:02,800
They're willing to do it.
These people are cross-trained

621
00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:04,900
and a lot of different aspects
of the business which is pretty

622
00:34:04,900 --> 00:34:07,300
cool.
Yeah, you're not Union, are you?

623
00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:12,199
I am not.
I mean, I'm on the the call list

624
00:34:12,199 --> 00:34:16,800
for my local 12 in Columbus, but
I never did really go to Union

625
00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:18,900
because I've been working for my
family's business and yeah I

626
00:34:18,900 --> 00:34:22,900
felt really wasn't the right
thing to do to be Union and run

627
00:34:22,900 --> 00:34:26,300
a private company so yeah.
Yeah, that makes sense.

628
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:34,600
So yeah covid had to have
changed things in a big way like

629
00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:36,900
first of all you know, you were
working for your family

630
00:34:36,900 --> 00:34:39,199
business.
Are you guys pretty much shut

631
00:34:39,199 --> 00:34:40,900
down during covid?
No.

632
00:34:40,900 --> 00:34:43,400
Yeah, absolutely.
Like completely shut down.

633
00:34:43,900 --> 00:34:45,400
Yes.
Yeah, we were working.

634
00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:47,500
I remember I was just talking
about girlfriend about this

635
00:34:47,500 --> 00:34:50,699
earlier today but it was March
7th 2020.

636
00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:55,000
I was setting up for the Arnold
Expo in Columbus Ohio, which is

637
00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:58,400
the bodybuilding competition.
Yeah, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

638
00:34:59,500 --> 00:35:02,800
And that's the day that we got
the call that the event that we

639
00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:05,200
were setting up for which was a
cheerleading competition was

640
00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:07,900
canceled.
So we just done, we had just

641
00:35:07,900 --> 00:35:11,300
finished Finished setting up the
load in and two days later we

642
00:35:11,300 --> 00:35:14,400
came in, we loaded it out,
didn't even have an event but

643
00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:16,900
that was the first major event
across the country.

644
00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:20,500
If anyone remembers that started
the domino effect of everything

645
00:35:20,500 --> 00:35:24,200
else, canceling it was so over
the next week or two.

646
00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:27,400
I'm sitting there with my with
my family and we're just

647
00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:30,100
watching a news this events,
canceled that Ben's canceled

648
00:35:30,100 --> 00:35:34,400
Facebook, social media and were
like, oh my God, what are we

649
00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:37,300
going to do?
And that point, you know, we

650
00:35:37,300 --> 00:35:38,800
were just starting to to take
off.

651
00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:42,000
We had just decided to take the
company National because prior

652
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:44,200
to covid.
We were really just a regional

653
00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:47,200
player based out of Ohio, a
little bit of regional work

654
00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:51,500
stuff in the midwest.
Yeah and then so it was a two

655
00:35:51,500 --> 00:35:54,900
thousand eighteen or nineteen.
We decided we were going to go

656
00:35:54,900 --> 00:35:58,400
National so we just started put
a national footprint out there.

657
00:35:59,500 --> 00:36:01,900
So it really it sucked.
I'm not gonna lie.

658
00:36:02,500 --> 00:36:04,700
It is hard.
And for over a year, we were

659
00:36:04,700 --> 00:36:07,200
just adding water.
So you guys didn't try and pivot

660
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:12,100
and do labor for hospitals or
something like no, no.

661
00:36:12,100 --> 00:36:16,500
I mean, I yeah, I know it I
ended up getting a job and just

662
00:36:16,500 --> 00:36:20,300
find out through it, you know.
Luckily my mom was a retired

663
00:36:20,300 --> 00:36:23,100
teacher, so she had some income,
she was able to support herself

664
00:36:24,300 --> 00:36:27,000
though.
You know, and well but the best

665
00:36:27,100 --> 00:36:28,700
it was it was it was awful but
it was a blessing.

666
00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:31,400
Blessing.
Because after things open back

667
00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:33,700
up after covid, things went
gangbusters.

668
00:36:33,700 --> 00:36:40,800
And we've since then growing the
company tremendously Wade, still

669
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:45,500
allow me to gain so much more
experience and understanding and

670
00:36:45,500 --> 00:36:48,400
able to open my own business.
Yeah, I can continue to grow

671
00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:50,300
myself.
That's that's awesome.

672
00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:56,500
So, during covid, did you also
have like, your, your stack of

673
00:36:56,500 --> 00:37:00,400
Diaries, the people that Work
for you, where they come in to

674
00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:02,700
go and please help me, you know,
I need a gig.

675
00:37:02,700 --> 00:37:05,500
I need a gig like they're there
for, I mean.

676
00:37:05,500 --> 00:37:07,000
Yeah.
There were people that were, I

677
00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:10,500
mean, the river and, you know,
it was a rough time for all of

678
00:37:10,500 --> 00:37:11,900
us.
I know a lot of people went out

679
00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:16,200
shorted or dashing and yeah, we
in and just anything to good to

680
00:37:16,207 --> 00:37:16,700
make end.
Yeah.

681
00:37:16,700 --> 00:37:20,400
That was the only good news is,
because everybody became remote

682
00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:22,500
and and stayed at home and
stuff.

683
00:37:22,700 --> 00:37:26,600
It opened up a lot of Amazon,
jobs, and doordash and all that.

684
00:37:26,600 --> 00:37:30,400
And, you know, I guess for A
laborer, who's used to making

685
00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:31,900
17, 18 bucks?
An hour?

686
00:37:31,900 --> 00:37:34,700
That's probably reasonable money
to go do those things.

687
00:37:34,700 --> 00:37:38,300
And in some cases, I know guys
who you know, worked for staging

688
00:37:38,300 --> 00:37:41,500
companies and left, and went to
Amazon, and never came back,

689
00:37:41,500 --> 00:37:44,600
because they're making more
money, it's a cleaner job.

690
00:37:44,600 --> 00:37:46,800
They've got benefits, it's full
time.

691
00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:51,300
They don't have to hustle for
work, you know, so I get it

692
00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:56,400
right, but it's know you
probably don't know.

693
00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:01,300
Young lady named sooner Ruthie
She's a lighting designer who

694
00:38:01,700 --> 00:38:05,200
she's done, kiss and Coldplay
and the Muse.

695
00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:08,400
And lots of lots of big acts,
really one of the most talented

696
00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:11,900
lighting designers out there,
but I was talking with sooner

697
00:38:11,900 --> 00:38:13,000
about it.
And she said, one of the

698
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:18,100
problems in our industry is that
people think we're a bunch of

699
00:38:18,100 --> 00:38:22,400
carnies, you know.
They think that it's just for

700
00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:25,800
fun, right?
And they don't realize that you

701
00:38:25,800 --> 00:38:30,200
can come into this industry.
Make Seventy-five to a hundred

702
00:38:30,207 --> 00:38:36,000
thousand dollars fairly quickly
and stay in the industry all the

703
00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:39,200
way into your 60s or 70s and do
very well.

704
00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:42,300
It's a really good gig and you
can see the world on the touring

705
00:38:42,300 --> 00:38:46,300
side of it specifically but you
can see the world and do things

706
00:38:46,300 --> 00:38:49,700
that you never would have done.
Had you not joined the industry

707
00:38:49,700 --> 00:38:54,700
and she said so it's not just
training, it's also education.

708
00:38:54,700 --> 00:38:57,700
So it's going out to those
schools like you talked about

709
00:38:57,700 --> 00:39:00,400
and saying Hey, you know, here's
an opportunity.

710
00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:03,200
I know you all want to be movie
directors and producers and

711
00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:05,400
stuff.
But here's an opportunity to

712
00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:09,300
stick your toe in the water and
get on some of these shows and

713
00:39:09,300 --> 00:39:12,600
get close to this gear and get
close to the people that will

714
00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:14,400
make a difference in your life.
Right?

715
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:18,100
Absolutely.
So education education is a big

716
00:39:18,100 --> 00:39:22,100
thing and I, you know, through
the the impact that covid had

717
00:39:22,100 --> 00:39:25,000
where everybody ended up short
on people, I know a lot of

718
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:27,700
regional like touring companies,
lighting companies, sound

719
00:39:27,700 --> 00:39:34,300
companies AV Companies who have
had sort of like job fairs and

720
00:39:34,300 --> 00:39:37,500
where they bring people in and
they have classes like, you'll

721
00:39:37,500 --> 00:39:40,200
go through a couple of these
different classes where you can

722
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:43,800
see how things are done or learn
about learn about audio, learn

723
00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:45,700
about lighting, learn about
staging.

724
00:39:45,700 --> 00:39:48,800
And then at the end, they go,
okay, which discipline would you

725
00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:51,500
be interested in joining in to,
you know, I want to get into

726
00:39:51,500 --> 00:39:55,400
staging that looks fun, you
know?

727
00:39:55,400 --> 00:39:59,900
So I mean to me the whole Even
thing is a pretty important

728
00:39:59,900 --> 00:40:03,100
aspect of making sure that our
business stays healthy, we have

729
00:40:03,100 --> 00:40:07,600
to constantly be turning new
people in as people are either

730
00:40:07,900 --> 00:40:11,600
aging out of it or just joining
different Industries or

731
00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:14,300
whatever.
Yeah, absolutely.

732
00:40:14,300 --> 00:40:16,400
And I agree with that and that's
something that really is

733
00:40:16,400 --> 00:40:19,700
something that I stand behind
and I want to get more involved

734
00:40:19,700 --> 00:40:23,100
with that coming up with ideas
on how to do that.

735
00:40:23,100 --> 00:40:26,400
Is a challenge one.
Is I have though as far as

736
00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:31,100
training new people and what I
what I try to do to myself is

737
00:40:31,100 --> 00:40:34,900
like if I'm doing a Rina shows
or if I'm doing like rock and

738
00:40:34,900 --> 00:40:37,300
roll and stuff, you know this
goes along with Tori and stuff

739
00:40:37,300 --> 00:40:39,400
because this leads right into
it, right?

740
00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:42,100
Yeah I think a good way a good
way for stagehands to get

741
00:40:42,100 --> 00:40:45,000
started in general.
Is an arena show is a perfect

742
00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:48,200
place for people to get started.
I know that sounds crazy but you

743
00:40:48,200 --> 00:40:51,500
know when you got 100 people
working there you start people

744
00:40:51,500 --> 00:40:54,700
lo you start them as pushers,
okay?

745
00:40:54,800 --> 00:40:56,700
You got to start them in there
don't you know, maybe put them

746
00:40:56,700 --> 00:41:00,700
on the carb team having build a
stage, hire more people that are

747
00:41:00,700 --> 00:41:02,700
experienced and not in bring
people in that way.

748
00:41:02,700 --> 00:41:05,500
So Arena shows in my opinion or
perfect ways to get people in

749
00:41:05,500 --> 00:41:09,000
the door and get to get a good
understanding of how a show goes

750
00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:10,300
from start to finish.
Yeah.

751
00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:15,100
And as far as corporate work,
The what I try to do is I try to

752
00:41:15,100 --> 00:41:18,600
get people into the hotel's as
just a general set.

753
00:41:18,600 --> 00:41:22,600
Strike Tech by shows that have
maybe a half a dozen.

754
00:41:23,200 --> 00:41:26,900
You know, 8 10 12, set strike,
text may be setting up a big

755
00:41:26,900 --> 00:41:30,400
General Session, some breakout
rooms and get them in that way.

756
00:41:30,700 --> 00:41:33,700
Obviously have more experienced
hands there to help them do the

757
00:41:33,700 --> 00:41:37,000
on-site training for me.
So I'm one person I can't really

758
00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:38,400
do a whole lot when it comes to
me.

759
00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:39,900
Yeah.
You know what, I wish I was at a

760
00:41:39,908 --> 00:41:44,000
time so you know working with
companies like Encore with, you

761
00:41:44,008 --> 00:41:45,500
know, they've got so many
hotels.

762
00:41:45,800 --> 00:41:49,100
If you have if you work with
Encore, that's a great place to

763
00:41:49,100 --> 00:41:51,600
get audio-visual.
People trained in and through

764
00:41:51,600 --> 00:41:53,400
their been use build
relationships with them and say,

765
00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:56,400
Hey, you know, one day, while we
set a couple days aside and just

766
00:41:56,400 --> 00:41:58,400
go over some basic audio visual
stuff.

767
00:41:58,400 --> 00:42:00,500
Yeah.
Even the Arenas and stuff, we

768
00:42:00,500 --> 00:42:02,600
should be doing trainings at the
here at the arena.

769
00:42:02,600 --> 00:42:04,500
Is it?
And having some of those hands

770
00:42:04,500 --> 00:42:06,100
on training we should be doing
that.

771
00:42:06,100 --> 00:42:07,900
Absolutely.
I mean there's definitely some

772
00:42:07,900 --> 00:42:10,500
liability issues when it comes
to some of those things.

773
00:42:10,500 --> 00:42:14,300
Of course like you put you know,
you got an Show going in, it's

774
00:42:14,300 --> 00:42:16,200
pretty hectic.
There's a lot of people moving

775
00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:20,000
pretty quickly and stuff and
some green people can certainly

776
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:22,800
get in the way real quickly and
accidents happen and stuff.

777
00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:27,400
But like, I've thought of ideas,
like, you know, even just basic

778
00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:32,000
simple job fairs, like, putting
ads in local papers saying, hey,

779
00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:33,800
there's a job fair.
Do you want to join the

780
00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:37,600
entertainment business and get
involved at the ground level and

781
00:42:37,600 --> 00:42:42,000
make up to 50 thousand dollars a
year in your first year or

782
00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:44,200
whatever.
Free.

783
00:42:45,300 --> 00:42:48,500
You know the first 50 people are
free or something like that for

784
00:42:48,500 --> 00:42:54,700
this job fair and you have 75 80
100 people show up and you

785
00:42:54,700 --> 00:42:57,500
really just go through.
Hey, you know, here's a slide

786
00:42:57,500 --> 00:42:58,900
show.
Here's these are some of the

787
00:42:58,900 --> 00:43:01,300
things we do.
Here's what it looks like.

788
00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:03,800
Here's what the job, looks like,
blah blah, blah.

789
00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:07,200
Sign up here.
And if nothing else you got new

790
00:43:07,200 --> 00:43:10,500
people on your, you know, call
sheets or whatever, right.

791
00:43:10,800 --> 00:43:17,400
And and probably Out of the, you
know, 50 people who show up 15

792
00:43:17,400 --> 00:43:21,400
people are 20 people sign up and
out of those 20, probably like

793
00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:26,200
three or four or five may stick
it out and actually say, hey,

794
00:43:26,200 --> 00:43:28,500
you got anything for me?
Hey, you got anything for me and

795
00:43:28,800 --> 00:43:31,000
eventually they turn into
something, but that would be one

796
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:33,000
way to do it.
You know, another thing would be

797
00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:36,500
to pair up with the schools and
actually go to the school and

798
00:43:36,500 --> 00:43:43,000
say Hey I want to come in and do
a speaking thing for you know,

799
00:43:43,100 --> 00:43:46,100
People that haven't decided what
they want to do with their life

800
00:43:46,100 --> 00:43:51,100
or whatever, but yet they're
ready to graduate, you know, can

801
00:43:51,100 --> 00:43:54,000
I come in and speak to these
classes or these types of people

802
00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:56,500
or whatever it is?
Yeah.

803
00:43:56,500 --> 00:43:59,300
And that's what I'm going to do.
That's what I plan on doing.

804
00:43:59,300 --> 00:44:01,700
Yeah.
I know years when you're small

805
00:44:02,200 --> 00:44:03,800
yeah it ended.
The biggest problem is that

806
00:44:03,800 --> 00:44:05,500
we're all so busy.
Yeah.

807
00:44:05,500 --> 00:44:07,500
It must be specially.
You know, pose covid.

808
00:44:07,500 --> 00:44:09,700
It's been just just Balls to the
walls.

809
00:44:09,700 --> 00:44:12,400
They really has is they are so
much work.

810
00:44:13,200 --> 00:44:16,200
And everyone is so busy and it's
just finding the time to do this

811
00:44:16,200 --> 00:44:17,000
stuff.
Yeah.

812
00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:19,200
You know and putting the time
that you know, the time they

813
00:44:19,200 --> 00:44:23,200
offered in the, the salesman in
me and I've been a sales guy, my

814
00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:25,900
whole entire career.
Basically, I'm a entrepreneur

815
00:44:25,900 --> 00:44:30,100
but I've always been a sales guy
but the sales guy and me tells

816
00:44:30,100 --> 00:44:33,400
me stop prospecting and you'll
have nothing but free time in

817
00:44:33,408 --> 00:44:36,300
the future because you won't
have any shows, right?

818
00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:38,700
So you should always be
prospecting.

819
00:44:38,700 --> 00:44:42,200
You should always be trying to
fill those those lists with

820
00:44:42,200 --> 00:44:44,500
people and stuff.
If and, you know, whether it's a

821
00:44:44,500 --> 00:44:48,500
half hour a day or two hours a
week or whatever it is, but, you

822
00:44:48,500 --> 00:44:51,800
know, figure out a way to
schedule, time to do those

823
00:44:51,800 --> 00:44:55,300
things because you have to
constantly be refreshing your

824
00:44:55,300 --> 00:44:59,600
lead list or whatever, right?
It's super, super important.

825
00:45:01,300 --> 00:45:03,200
There was something else I
wanted to say, and I forgot

826
00:45:03,200 --> 00:45:07,700
while you were talking and I
didn't want to interrupt, but

827
00:45:07,700 --> 00:45:09,900
yeah.
Oh, what about, you know?

828
00:45:09,900 --> 00:45:13,500
And it's not my greatest topic
or anything because I think it

829
00:45:13,500 --> 00:45:15,900
happens naturally.
But what about diversity?

830
00:45:16,100 --> 00:45:21,400
Like, are you looking, have you
done anything with either trying

831
00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:27,900
to promote for young women or
people of color or, you know,

832
00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:34,200
any other group sort of to to
help add more diversity to, you

833
00:45:34,200 --> 00:45:39,000
know your list?
Have I done anything specific to

834
00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:41,400
do that?
No, but do I hire equally?

835
00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:43,100
Absolutely?
Yeah, it's me.

836
00:45:43,100 --> 00:45:45,400
That none of us has ever been an
issue and never will be.

837
00:45:46,500 --> 00:45:52,900
We hire, if you are Willing to,
you know, work and and you're,

838
00:45:52,900 --> 00:45:55,700
you know, you have the
qualifications, you know, or

839
00:45:55,700 --> 00:45:58,800
your The Experience depending on
what you're doing, you know,

840
00:45:58,800 --> 00:46:01,200
we'll let anyone that wants to
do this.

841
00:46:01,500 --> 00:46:05,600
Try this.
Yeah, we are the at the

842
00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:07,300
industry, they always like to
say, you know, like we're you

843
00:46:07,308 --> 00:46:10,000
know, we're a second chance
business, you know, will give

844
00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:11,800
anyone a chance to prove
themselves, right?

845
00:46:11,800 --> 00:46:14,700
Yeah.
So yeah, there's, there's no,

846
00:46:14,900 --> 00:46:17,000
you know, there's no.
Yeah.

847
00:46:17,600 --> 00:46:19,900
Well I mean that might be
another Other another way to

848
00:46:19,900 --> 00:46:23,200
bring in more people is you know
again going back to that job.

849
00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:26,400
Fair thing go out and post ads,
you know, in inner-city

850
00:46:26,400 --> 00:46:29,700
neighborhoods and stuff where,
you know, people don't have a

851
00:46:29,700 --> 00:46:32,200
lot of opportunities or they
don't think they have a lot of

852
00:46:32,200 --> 00:46:35,600
opportunities and say, Hey, you
have just as much opportunity as

853
00:46:35,600 --> 00:46:38,000
the guy who lives over there
across the street in the nice

854
00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:39,300
neighborhood.
You know?

855
00:46:39,300 --> 00:46:42,700
Come come try this, you know
this might be a great career for

856
00:46:42,700 --> 00:46:45,200
you.
That's a great idea that

857
00:46:45,200 --> 00:46:47,600
definitely is that I won't
charge you for that one.

858
00:46:47,600 --> 00:46:50,400
Mickey that's a freebie, you
know?

859
00:46:50,500 --> 00:46:52,900
But as they get better, as my
ideas get better, I'm going to

860
00:46:52,908 --> 00:46:54,700
have to start charging you.
That's, that's where the

861
00:46:54,700 --> 00:46:57,000
business guy and meek.
Yeah, I'd like to see.

862
00:46:57,000 --> 00:47:01,000
I'd like to see labor providers
be treated more than just the

863
00:47:01,000 --> 00:47:02,400
numbers people.
You know what I mean?

864
00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:04,300
Because your ideas are all good
in Grand.

865
00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:06,900
A lot of the lot of my clients,
I'm not speaking badly about it.

866
00:47:06,900 --> 00:47:10,500
It's just, they, they, they
think that, you know, it's just,

867
00:47:10,500 --> 00:47:14,000
it's if I want to do those kinds
of things and provide that kind

868
00:47:14,000 --> 00:47:18,100
of quality of service as a
temporary labels labor provider,

869
00:47:18,900 --> 00:47:21,600
it's good for the for the for
the corporate side but in the

870
00:47:21,600 --> 00:47:24,400
staging World a lot of it's just
a numbers game especially for a

871
00:47:24,408 --> 00:47:26,800
lot of companies.
It's just a numbers game.

872
00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:29,600
Yeah and I don't really want it
to be that way because I really

873
00:47:29,600 --> 00:47:32,100
truly want to hire the best
possible people I can.

874
00:47:32,100 --> 00:47:34,900
Yeah.
So you know these ideas are

875
00:47:34,900 --> 00:47:36,300
great.
And if you're going to be saying

876
00:47:36,300 --> 00:47:39,100
numbers game, do you mean like
they want the lowest?

877
00:47:39,200 --> 00:47:42,200
Price that will not necessarily
no no I mean a numbers game like

878
00:47:42,200 --> 00:47:44,600
I need 250 people for a Stadium
built.

879
00:47:44,600 --> 00:47:45,800
Yeah.
You get them wherever you, get

880
00:47:45,800 --> 00:47:46,600
them.
Yeah.

881
00:47:46,600 --> 00:47:49,600
Local know if you can so it's
like well we do what we do, our

882
00:47:49,600 --> 00:47:53,400
best to make it work.
No, I get it, I get it.

883
00:47:53,900 --> 00:47:55,900
You know, and again, I don't
know, I don't know your

884
00:47:55,900 --> 00:47:58,500
business.
So I'm just throwing ideas out

885
00:47:58,500 --> 00:48:01,900
there that just pop into my head
and say, hey, let's go grow this

886
00:48:01,900 --> 00:48:06,300
thing.
You know, what's so other than

887
00:48:06,300 --> 00:48:12,800
just the the crazy amount of
demand And maybe, you know, some

888
00:48:12,800 --> 00:48:16,500
of the attrition that's happened
in the labor market or whatever,

889
00:48:16,900 --> 00:48:19,800
what are some things that have
really changed since covid?

890
00:48:21,800 --> 00:48:23,100
What are some things have really
changed?

891
00:48:23,100 --> 00:48:26,100
Yeah.
Like I mentioned before, I

892
00:48:26,107 --> 00:48:31,400
think, I think the biggest
change that I've seen is is the

893
00:48:31,400 --> 00:48:34,600
fact that the labor has an upper
hand now that they are demanding

894
00:48:34,600 --> 00:48:40,200
more demanding, more money,
they're demanding more as far as

895
00:48:40,200 --> 00:48:44,700
benefits, but that should be
your job harder, right?

896
00:48:44,700 --> 00:48:47,600
Because across the board.
It's changed like whether

897
00:48:47,700 --> 00:48:50,300
somebody's getting those labor
people directly or they're

898
00:48:50,300 --> 00:48:52,300
getting them through you.
The price has gone up.

899
00:48:52,800 --> 00:48:55,900
The price has gone up their
Landing better, you know, higher

900
00:48:55,900 --> 00:48:58,200
minimums.
When I first started it was for

901
00:48:58,200 --> 00:49:00,400
our minimum.
Well, I'll the god.

902
00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:02,800
They it's pretty much standard
is a five hour minimum.

903
00:49:02,800 --> 00:49:05,100
So you got five and ten, our
work minimums.

904
00:49:05,900 --> 00:49:08,700
Yeah.
Commanding over to their

905
00:49:08,700 --> 00:49:11,100
demanding over time after
midnight.

906
00:49:11,100 --> 00:49:14,900
Just just a demands from the
labor perspective has changed a

907
00:49:14,900 --> 00:49:15,800
lot.
Yeah.

908
00:49:15,800 --> 00:49:18,200
People are not as willing to
work for a lot of the things

909
00:49:18,200 --> 00:49:21,300
that they work for prior to
covid, which has makes my job a

910
00:49:21,300 --> 00:49:21,800
challenge.
Absolutely.

911
00:49:21,800 --> 00:49:24,400
Yeah.
Your huh?

912
00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:27,200
And then I've got a lot of
clients that aren't willing to

913
00:49:27,200 --> 00:49:31,000
necessarily meet those demands
and so that affects my ability

914
00:49:31,000 --> 00:49:33,600
to provide them with Quality
Labor, right?

915
00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:36,400
Yeah.
So when a client comes to you,

916
00:49:36,400 --> 00:49:39,400
are they basically dictating the
price to like are they saying we

917
00:49:39,400 --> 00:49:45,400
need 100 people at X dollars.
Yeah, I mean it's all

918
00:49:45,400 --> 00:49:48,000
negotiable.
So, you know, I have my standard

919
00:49:48,000 --> 00:49:50,600
my general rates, but if they're
say, this is what willing to

920
00:49:50,600 --> 00:49:53,200
pay, okay?
Well I've got to figure out how

921
00:49:53,200 --> 00:49:56,700
I can pay x amount based on what
they're paying me, make it all

922
00:49:56,700 --> 00:50:00,300
work so that I can keep myself
in business and make a problem.

923
00:50:00,400 --> 00:50:03,600
Yeah, the living.
Yeah, interesting.

924
00:50:03,600 --> 00:50:06,800
I mean it sounds like a really
interesting but difficult

925
00:50:06,800 --> 00:50:08,800
business.
I mean every business I guess

926
00:50:08,800 --> 00:50:11,800
from the outside looks like, hey
Mick, he's just taking money out

927
00:50:11,800 --> 00:50:13,900
of these guys Pockets.
He's not doing any work.

928
00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:16,000
Work.
But at the end of the day it

929
00:50:16,000 --> 00:50:21,100
sounds like your jobs really
tough actually and you know, you

930
00:50:21,100 --> 00:50:25,700
have to you have to make to
sales for every sale because

931
00:50:25,700 --> 00:50:28,200
first of all you got to sell the
laborer on coming to work with

932
00:50:28,200 --> 00:50:32,600
you and then you got to sell the
buyer on buying those laborers

933
00:50:32,600 --> 00:50:35,700
from you and then you got to do
all the background stuff with

934
00:50:35,700 --> 00:50:38,800
collecting and paying out the
taxes and all the regulatory

935
00:50:38,800 --> 00:50:41,400
stuff and insurances.
Are you doing health insurance

936
00:50:41,400 --> 00:50:43,900
to or when you say insurance, is
it liability?

937
00:50:44,100 --> 00:50:46,200
Terrence there's liability for
now.

938
00:50:46,200 --> 00:50:49,500
Health insurance will come to
get to that point.

939
00:50:49,500 --> 00:50:52,800
But that is, that is a something
we would like to offer is health

940
00:50:52,800 --> 00:50:55,000
insurance.
It's more challenging obviously

941
00:50:55,000 --> 00:50:59,400
when it's not full time people
but I know there are systems out

942
00:50:59,400 --> 00:51:03,600
there that work but yeah, it's
amazing to me that health

943
00:51:03,600 --> 00:51:06,600
insurance isn't more important.
Like you know, whenever we've

944
00:51:06,600 --> 00:51:10,800
given people the option to
either be an employee and have

945
00:51:10,800 --> 00:51:15,900
taxes taken out a W-2 or being a
10 99, a lot of times they take

946
00:51:15,900 --> 00:51:19,500
the 1099 approach because
they're either shorting the

947
00:51:19,500 --> 00:51:21,500
government on taxes or
something.

948
00:51:21,500 --> 00:51:24,300
But even that's changing, you
know, like internationally.

949
00:51:24,300 --> 00:51:27,700
I know that's become a big issue
lately, where, you know, we used

950
00:51:27,700 --> 00:51:29,800
to, if we had contractors, who
worked for us.

951
00:51:29,800 --> 00:51:34,200
In other countries, we paid them
and, you know, they're

952
00:51:34,200 --> 00:51:36,100
responsible for their own taxes,
right?

953
00:51:36,100 --> 00:51:40,300
But now, what's happened is,
governments are forcing you to

954
00:51:40,300 --> 00:51:45,500
have them sign a form that
similar. 1099 where their

955
00:51:45,500 --> 00:51:50,000
government basically gets, you
know, gets a notice saying, hey

956
00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:53,500
this person's being paid by a
foreign entity and they're not

957
00:51:53,500 --> 00:51:58,200
paying taxes.
So, you know, darn government.

958
00:51:58,200 --> 00:52:00,100
Always figures it out sooner or
later, right.

959
00:52:01,100 --> 00:52:03,100
Now, I think the biggest thing
is in your right.

960
00:52:03,100 --> 00:52:06,000
You mentioned that, you know,
people feel like labor providers

961
00:52:06,000 --> 00:52:09,000
might just be trying to take
advantage of a laborers, but I

962
00:52:09,008 --> 00:52:12,900
don't see it that way.
I see it as myself is much much

963
00:52:12,900 --> 00:52:19,000
like the Union My job is to just
be a liaison between the labor

964
00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:22,900
and the production company or
the the producer or whatever

965
00:52:23,800 --> 00:52:26,000
because it's necessary.
I mean if you're going to if

966
00:52:26,000 --> 00:52:30,000
you're at or for example you're
going all across the country.

967
00:52:30,400 --> 00:52:32,800
I mean just the amount of time
and effort it would take to hire

968
00:52:32,800 --> 00:52:36,000
people and all these different
local markets and that's face

969
00:52:36,000 --> 00:52:38,100
and not everybody wants to use
the union.

970
00:52:38,100 --> 00:52:41,500
It's just what it is.
Okay that way for as long as

971
00:52:41,500 --> 00:52:43,600
I've been in the business I'm
sure it's been out of the late.

972
00:52:44,000 --> 00:52:48,200
Since the beginning, Lettin my
eyes, it's about taking care of

973
00:52:48,207 --> 00:52:51,500
the laborer first and foremost
because if we don't take care of

974
00:52:51,500 --> 00:52:53,800
the laborer they're not going to
take you know who's going to put

975
00:52:53,800 --> 00:52:56,300
the show together.
Yeah, the end of the day and

976
00:52:56,300 --> 00:52:58,500
that's where my job.
I feel like my job and

977
00:52:58,500 --> 00:53:03,900
responsibility is to to provide
as much value for the labourer

978
00:53:04,500 --> 00:53:06,900
so that they can then provide
value to the clients.

979
00:53:07,100 --> 00:53:09,500
Yeah, it's that.
That's, I mean, obviously, if

980
00:53:09,500 --> 00:53:11,900
you keep your people happy,
they're going to keep your

981
00:53:11,900 --> 00:53:15,500
clients happy and Nobody wins at
that point.

982
00:53:15,600 --> 00:53:19,000
Do you have any intentions or
desires or thoughts to expand

983
00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:21,500
into like more specialized
labor?

984
00:53:23,000 --> 00:53:27,300
As far as like whether it's
lighting operators video

985
00:53:27,300 --> 00:53:33,400
directors of years, I've had
ideas on that and in fact on the

986
00:53:33,400 --> 00:53:36,100
on the audiovisual side, we do
provide operators.

987
00:53:36,100 --> 00:53:39,500
Okay, so people, we do provide
all that, I thought about maybe

988
00:53:39,500 --> 00:53:41,900
getting into more specialized
like headhunting.

989
00:53:42,400 --> 00:53:45,900
If the companies looking for
something specific for a tour, I

990
00:53:45,900 --> 00:53:50,500
can use my network to maybe find
them a lighting designer, or an

991
00:53:50,500 --> 00:53:54,200
audio engineer or something.
Like Maybe doing that on a

992
00:53:54,207 --> 00:53:57,600
contractual basis but we already
do.

993
00:53:57,600 --> 00:54:03,100
We do provide Specialists, we do
that cool interest up.

994
00:54:04,000 --> 00:54:06,400
Well, I mean it sounds sounds
like a great business.

995
00:54:06,400 --> 00:54:11,000
Sounds like a lot of work and I
mean I knew it was but I didn't

996
00:54:11,000 --> 00:54:15,300
really know that much about it.
So have I missing it missed

997
00:54:15,300 --> 00:54:19,600
anything that That we should be
sharing here or should be

998
00:54:19,600 --> 00:54:22,700
talking about.
I think we pretty much covered

999
00:54:22,700 --> 00:54:24,400
it.
Yeah, I mean, it sounds like it.

1000
00:54:24,400 --> 00:54:27,000
It sounds like, it sounds like
you're onto something really

1001
00:54:27,000 --> 00:54:29,600
good.
And, and I didn't realize your

1002
00:54:29,600 --> 00:54:32,400
business was only a month old,
even though you've been in the

1003
00:54:32,400 --> 00:54:35,600
industry for 10 years, you
obviously know what you're

1004
00:54:35,600 --> 00:54:38,200
doing.
So you know to go out and start

1005
00:54:38,200 --> 00:54:40,900
your own business, like your
site didn't look brand-new to me

1006
00:54:40,900 --> 00:54:45,000
it looked like you kind of have
been in business a while and and

1007
00:54:45,000 --> 00:54:49,500
know your shit.
So yeah, I mean best of luck to

1008
00:54:49,500 --> 00:54:51,300
you.
Well thank you.

1009
00:54:51,300 --> 00:54:54,100
I appreciate your time and I
appreciate being on your show,

1010
00:54:54,200 --> 00:54:59,100
ya know?
And and I you know, keep in

1011
00:54:59,100 --> 00:55:00,700
touch.
You know, keep me updated with

1012
00:55:00,700 --> 00:55:02,300
what's going on.
If I can ever help with

1013
00:55:02,300 --> 00:55:03,600
anything.
You know, I've got a pretty big

1014
00:55:03,600 --> 00:55:06,900
network of people as well.
So how do people get in touch

1015
00:55:06,900 --> 00:55:10,500
with you, if either a, they're
looking for labor or be there,

1016
00:55:10,500 --> 00:55:14,800
looking to join the industry or
become a laborer, just go to my

1017
00:55:14,800 --> 00:55:18,800
website.
Gig life llc.com You can contact

1018
00:55:18,800 --> 00:55:21,700
me if you're looking for labor
and if you want to get on the

1019
00:55:21,700 --> 00:55:26,300
roster to work with us, then
there's also a link as well.

1020
00:55:26,400 --> 00:55:29,700
So just so you just got a lot of
form and that gets you still

1021
00:55:29,700 --> 00:55:31,100
gotta perform.
Yep.

1022
00:55:31,100 --> 00:55:33,900
You put your city, your state,
you live in your email phone

1023
00:55:33,900 --> 00:55:37,100
number and your Specialties and
if we get something around your

1024
00:55:37,100 --> 00:55:39,300
way, will give you a call.
Very cool.

1025
00:55:39,600 --> 00:55:44,000
Well I appreciate you and best
of luck in your new business and

1026
00:55:44,300 --> 00:55:47,300
like I said, keep in touch.
All right, appreciate you man

1027
00:55:47,300 --> 00:55:48,600
up.
Thanks.

#186 - Mickey Williams / Gig Life

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