How do I become a studio tyrant?

Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2003 11:46 pm

I'm a nice guy. I'm very happy and accomodating by nature. I love helping people and will go out of my way for them. If someone makes a mess I may mention my unhappiness, but I'll tell them not to worry about it, and I'll clean it myself. Sometimes this leads to a bigger mess as things pile up. I rarely ever get angry, and can't even remember the last time I snapped at someone.

Maybe you see where I'm going with this. I'm often criticised by friends for being TOO nice. Although I'm a good leader when I'm confident, I'll usually bow out of my leadership to someone that I believe can handle the task equally well, or maybe better than I can.

In the world of film it seems like you can easily get lost at sea if you don't stick up for yourself. So how do I become a believable dictator?

For example, a friend of mine in the recording area of our store will see something lying in the rec room that some thoughtless arse decided to leave on the counter. Immediately he'll take the item, throw it right out of the room into the middle of the store, and yell "CLEAN UP YOUR FUCKING MESS!"

It seems right when he does it, but I can't even imagine myself doing something like that.

In fact he's a very nice guy, and he's able to do things like that on a business level without making it personal. So although people might think "What got into him?" They don't ever seem to think "That guy's an ass, I don't want to deal with him."

In fact, they usually think twice about messing up anything after that, AND they still enjoy dealing with him.

For some reason I can't seem to bring myself to do things like that.

I've been told (by him among MANY other people) that until I drop the nice guy routine, 95% of the world's population will exploit my kindness whether they mean to or not.

I'm tired of being an underling.

Any suggestions?

Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2003 9:21 pm

Hello,
Tell us more about where you work and what your ambitions are.
Regards,
mIchAEl

Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2003 8:55 pm

Simple, post a list of rules and set an hourly rate for your janitorial staff.(you)

People pay a little more attention when you put a price on it.

Also reserve the right to end a relationship, if.... the artist isn't ready, and is wasting your time. Damage to your equipment, non-payment.

Put a time limit on overdue payments. Attach penalties up to destruction of the sessions.

I've seen all of the above tactics used in one form or the other in commercial studios.

If you let people know up front, they have a good idea about what expectations are.
But if you are casual about it, they will be casual also.

I know on studio owner who has a lot of Punk/metel/gothic clients, he has a post-session checklist. Gives the client the option of cleaning it up or paying. Then he hires his pre-teen son for the cleanup.

Cool

Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2003 10:02 pm

Apprentice,

Read "Erroneous zones" & "Pulling your own strings" by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

The guys site

the site looks like a BS take your money super religious site but its not. The guy just helps people find structure to their lives.

Extreme

:s:

This topic sponsored by: