Benny Smyth
13-07-2015, 09:45 AM
Well, at least I thought it was interesting.
On the QA Par38 uplighters that I use for my plinths, there are little rubber feet that hold them up for when you sit them on the floor. Well, at least there used to be. With them being ADJ lights, I think the feet are designed in the same way that the boosters on a space shuttle are - they're supposed to come off at a certain point!
So yesterday, after Googling around and being unsuccessful with trying to find self adhesive rubber feet, I trundled around Homebase to try and find an alternative (with my last resort being buying four new uplighters). I've bought something that I think may work out nicely as an alternative (here's hoping), but it did get me to thinking about the double standards of cutting corners.
Now there have been many examples, not just on this forum but in many other places too, where we see or hear a DJ ask for a much cheaper alternative solution to what they want/want to achieve. Now, from a business point of view this makes plenty of sense. Why spend lots of money if you can get the same result whilst spending considerably less? To use my situation as an example, it does make more sense to try and make some rubber feet alternative for less than a tenner over spending nearly £300 on new lights.
But wait! Hold the phone! Do we not get frustrated on a regular basis when a client tries to haggle down the price? Do we not get annoyed when they won't pay what we would consider to be a reasonable fee for our respective services, only for the client to try and save some money and book a disco for £70 (I would have said £60, but I have accounted for the cost of inflation ;) )?
Now I know the example I have used with my uplighters is minor, but I believe that my point is clear: can we reasonably expect clients (past, present and potential) to pay full price for something when we, as businessmen, do our best to sometimes find the cheapest alternative? Surely if we want something like a LiteConsole (for example), we should just buy the LiteConsole and not spend time in the tool shed making our own alternative, or buying that crappy cheaper one that was at BPM last year? Or is it perfectly fine to (for want of a better phrase) 'cut corners' and still charge what we charge?
Oh, and if anybody replies with anything to the effect of "Oh...well...clients pay for you and not your kit", there will be a £50 penalty to be donated to the MDD beer and pizza fund. :p
On the QA Par38 uplighters that I use for my plinths, there are little rubber feet that hold them up for when you sit them on the floor. Well, at least there used to be. With them being ADJ lights, I think the feet are designed in the same way that the boosters on a space shuttle are - they're supposed to come off at a certain point!
So yesterday, after Googling around and being unsuccessful with trying to find self adhesive rubber feet, I trundled around Homebase to try and find an alternative (with my last resort being buying four new uplighters). I've bought something that I think may work out nicely as an alternative (here's hoping), but it did get me to thinking about the double standards of cutting corners.
Now there have been many examples, not just on this forum but in many other places too, where we see or hear a DJ ask for a much cheaper alternative solution to what they want/want to achieve. Now, from a business point of view this makes plenty of sense. Why spend lots of money if you can get the same result whilst spending considerably less? To use my situation as an example, it does make more sense to try and make some rubber feet alternative for less than a tenner over spending nearly £300 on new lights.
But wait! Hold the phone! Do we not get frustrated on a regular basis when a client tries to haggle down the price? Do we not get annoyed when they won't pay what we would consider to be a reasonable fee for our respective services, only for the client to try and save some money and book a disco for £70 (I would have said £60, but I have accounted for the cost of inflation ;) )?
Now I know the example I have used with my uplighters is minor, but I believe that my point is clear: can we reasonably expect clients (past, present and potential) to pay full price for something when we, as businessmen, do our best to sometimes find the cheapest alternative? Surely if we want something like a LiteConsole (for example), we should just buy the LiteConsole and not spend time in the tool shed making our own alternative, or buying that crappy cheaper one that was at BPM last year? Or is it perfectly fine to (for want of a better phrase) 'cut corners' and still charge what we charge?
Oh, and if anybody replies with anything to the effect of "Oh...well...clients pay for you and not your kit", there will be a £50 penalty to be donated to the MDD beer and pizza fund. :p