Just for fun...for now /evilgrin

[iekobrid]

Well, beleive me, I would LOVE to go into a partnership with Bobby. He's VERY good at business stuff. And he's a really good engineer too. He really knows how to make literally anything sound good. My problem with that though is that right now he wants to stay in this building. I would want two suites, so we could be recording two bands at the same time. Doubling the income. I mean...if we're both recording bands at the same time in two seperate suites, we'll double the income of the studio. Right? Plus our booking would be much more relaxed and easier to do, to me anyway, since we wouldn't have to tell bands "well, the next two weeks are booked up", instead, we could be like "ok, which engineer do you want, Mike or Bobby?" and base booking around that instead. We're both really good at what we do, we blow the competition out of the water with our production quality, and these are studios with 3 and 4 times the amount of money dumped into the equipment than we have. I think we would kill the competition if we had two suites.

Hmm....

Obviously I don't know what Bobby's credit situation is (or yours, for that matter), but if I were a loan officer, I would be far less likely to approve a loan if it were just for you to open your own new independent business than if it were for the you to buy in as co-owner of a chain of parallel locations of the same business. Especially if you make all the points you made above.

Were you to open your own shop, it would have roughly the same advantages and disadvantages of the one that currently employs you, plus create new and/or increased disadvantages for both business. Here are the pros and cons of the options on the table:

#1 - Status quo

PROS
* 2 of the best engineers in town
* [at least] 1 really good business manager
* established name / reputation
* established location

CONS
* limited physical facility = limited booking capacity = potential clients lost to competitors of inferior quality


#2 - Going solo

PROS
* 1 of the best engineers in town

CONS
* start up costs
* untested business manager
* unestablished name (the studio itself, not you personally)
* limited physical facility = limited booking capacity = potential clients lost to competitors of inferior quality ~AND~ competitors of equal quality (Bobby)



#3 - Looney Bin West

PROS
* 2 of the best engineers in town
* [at least] 1 really good business manager
* established name / reputation
* established location (sharing clients with the new location)
* increased physical facility = increased booking capacity = blowing away the competition (instead of increasing the competition)

CONS
* start up costs


So instead of trying to talk Bobby into a wholesale move to a new two-suite location, maybe you see if he's interested in co-owning a pair of one-suite locations? Unless, you know, he's already completely sick of hearing about it.

 

[006]

Well, how would he really benefit from me using his studio's name? I mean, if I named my studio Looney Bin West (good name actually, hehe), how does he benefit from it in a partnership? I would really like to have a two suite studio. That would be the best option. Being able to work on two bands at the same time. It would help a lot for booking times. Right now we get booked up at least a month in advance because we only have one suite here. If there was another suite, that would open up so many possibilities. I mean, he could record one session, and then have another band coming in immediately aftewards, he could send the session to me and I could mix and/or master it for him while he's starting on the next band, or vice versa, things like that.

One thing is, from the old studio, I have a TON of experience with radio and television services. I can offer a studio musician pool. I can offer custom scoring for radio and television or independent artists (singers that need backing music, etc.). I can offer video editing, scoring, foley and ADR. He has the capabilities to do that with Vegas...but he doesn't want to get into any of that. I use to work at a local radio station here in town, and I have a lot of contacts there. When I left, it was to go work at a studio, and the guys at the radio station were telling me to leave contact info so they could advertise me out to the businesses that were recording ads and stuff for the radio. I've talked to Bobby about it, a bunch of fairly simple and really easy sessions that pay, and he refuses to get into that.

That's some of the stuff I would be offering at *my* studio. Which would also make me a higher contender since everybody else won't offer those things. That automatically puts me above the rest, just with the extra services I will be offering.

Anyway, like I said, I don't see how Bobby would benefit from a partnership where I would be using his studio name. Care to explain that? Thanks for the ideas.

~006

 

[iekobrid]

The suggestion was partially based on an (erroneous?) assumption I made. When you said that Bobby wouldn't go for the idea of you two being partners in a larger, relocated Looney Bin, or at least not be interested in doing it any time soon, I took that to mean:

1) you felt the plan would result in a revenue increase significant enough to offset both the relocation costs and his new partner's share of the profits, and thus would be financially advantageous for Bobby, but...

2) ...there's some sort of non-financial reason(s) why he isn't interested in that plan, such as the current location being in a nicer area/neighborhood than a larger one could be (either because of prohibitive facility costs or zoning restrictions), or the current location is a really easy commute from his house, or the current location is right across the street from the only deli in town that makes meatball subs just the way he likes them, or so on and so forth.


So, if I'm correct in assuming that taking you on as a partner in a new single-location/two-suite studio venture would mean more income for Bobby (personally, not just for the business), and that the reason he doesn't want to move really is simply because he does not want to move, then taking you on as a partner in a two-location/two-suite venture should be roughly just as financially advantageous to both of you, and without requiring him to relocate.


On top of that, I imagine it would be to Bobby's advantage not to have to compete against you. Instead of it being You vs Bobby & Everybody Else and/or Bobby vs You & Everybody Else, it would be You & Bobby vs Everybody Else. Working together beats working against each other any business day of the week.


[Bear in mind that the two-location suggestion involves a partnership in more than just name. It wouldn't be a case of you paying a franchise fee to open your own business under his banner, but rather you buying in as a partner of his business, which then uses those funds to expand. You would be part (if not equal) owner of the original location and he would be part (if not equal) owner of the new location, co-mingling expenses and profits to whatever degree makes the best business sense.]

 

[006]

Well, here's the skinny on him. He lives 45 minutes away from the studio. I live 5 minutes away. It's not exactly in a good area. Anybody can walk up, break in, loot the place, and be gone, and not one witness would be in site. It's a business park, mostly cement sculpture places and car shops, and they all close at 5 or 6pm, whereas we're open until 1am. MY studio would be located in a nicer area, at least with more lights around, and in a nicer part of town that just doesn't really attract things like that. His studio is also not the easiest to get to. It's only easy for me because I have lived in this area of town for 16 years. I know it like the back of my hand. We've had to start at 10 and 11am when the session was suppose to start at 9am so many time I've lost count, due to the fact that clients don't know the area and get lost very easily. Albeit, the studio is literally right off of a major exit on a major highway, it's still kind of confusing unless you are familiar with the area. Which, yes, is true for any location, but for some reason his is kind of secluded, hard to really explain.

He's definitely financially capable of doing this. He just doesn't want to take on that much, business wise, just yet. He wants me to be a partner. He wants me to be the literal main guy behind the Looney Bin. But like I said, not for a few more years, and even then, it's still his studio. He's aiming for the day when he doesn't even have to come in anymore. Where I have a key to the building and I just do the work and he doesn't even have to worry about a thing. A few years down the road. I've wanted my own studio for about 5 or so years now. I'm pretty sure a couple more won't kill me, but it sure feels like it.

I didn't realize those points when I was thinking about that earlier. How it would still be me and him against the competition. Only we'd be covering more area in the city, making an even bigger threat to the other studios. That's a pretty nice thought. And the use of his studio's name would help me out, people recognize the Looney Bin before the recognize me. I'm more of one of those people that clients remember my face rather than a name. I just don't talk much in person, I guess thats why. It's funny at shows I'll go to and I've recorded the band before. They'll see me and go "oh shit, whats up Mike", but if I call them to see if they want a session anytime soon, they go, "who is this again?" lol...Anyway, I'm still trying to figure out where to get the money for this anyway.

It turns out that my girlfriend's uncle is one of these guys that is rich. His business is business. He buys companies, and sells the shit out of them, you should see his house and all of his cars, lol, it's absurd. And, coincidentally her mom's boyfriend is really good with business plans and stuff like that. Her uncle use to also be really big into that free money from the government stuff, like the guy you see on tv with the question mark suit screaming about "free money!", he use to get into that crap big time. That's apparently how he got the money to buy his first business back in the day. I really need to get together with those two guys and see what I can come up with.

This is still so far from even being seriously considered. Right now I'm at $27,000 and that's just equipment, not including cables, mic stands, a building, conversion costs, acoustic treatment, furniture, paint, etc., or even the monthly bills of running a place (electricity, water, a/c...). I can probably actually get approved for the loan to get the equipment myself. But I wouldn't be able to get the money for a building. That is if I went for loans. I really want to stay away from those though, I don't want to have to owe money. I hate that shit.

Sigh, I really need to sit down and go over every angle of this. And get the costs for everything, not just the equipment. Yanno?

~006