I don’t know if this is the right thread to post this, but thought I’d share.
I own/book a small music venue (250 capacity), I do a good job, I feel we improve year after year, and the usual buzz on the streets is “you guys are selling out shows left and right!”
There’s a larger venue in town that is more of a Broadway/Theater type place. They’ve had plans to expand for a while now and are going to be opening a few new rooms, one is a 1300 capacity club.
For a while I had heard “_______ has an eye on you”. That’s nice to hear, but I didn’t really put any stock into it. Then Covid happened, and it was the last thing on my mind.
I had become acquainted with the VP through another project of mine and could kind of tell he was listening intently to what I had to say. At the end of last March I got a call from him asking if I would be able to sit down with him and the CEO. I said “sure, let’s do it”.
At lunch they tell me all about their future projects well before they are launched, and make it clear they have interest in me being a part of it. They wanted to make sure I have partners, so if I did come onboard the business would still be there etc. The initial plan is for me to book the top floor of the 3 story club they are renovating while they do construction.
I am told “your offer is coming tomorrow” at one point, i have already sent in my vaccination records, my resume, passed a sled check and have an employee benefits handbook. A week or so goes by, no offer. Finally after a few weeks of radio silence the VP tells me they’ve scrapped that plan bc the renovations to got too expensive to get it up to their standards. Fair enough, I get it. It sucks, but I get it.
I’m then left with the impression I’ll be coming onboard when the project is closer to completion. Prob next summer/Fall. At this point I tell my partners, bc it’s only fair they know. It goes over like a pile of bricks.
A few months go by and I realize im kind of over my place/ownership and reach out to the bigger venue with an idea: they have a 400 capacity room they never use, and also a 1200 capacity ampitheater which was under utilized the previous year. What if I came on board to help with those, and get into the ecosystem so we can use that as a jumping off point for the future? The Vice President likes it, him and HR draft up a proposal for the CEO.
They turn it into the CEO, she calls me a week later asking me to meet with her. I meet with her, it goes well. She then basically parades me around the office, introducing me to the new HR person (the old one had gotten promoted). She leads with stuff like “well that should be the first person you book”. Very leading stuff.
She asks me to email her with an expected salary range and a proposed amount of shows/deliverables and stuff like that. Very weird, but ok I’m a small club owner, not a suit, so I do.
About a week later she then asks me to draft a projected income/expense report. Very weird. I bust ass, but draft several scenarios/offers, compile them into s report showing them a projected profit of over half a million dollars a year. I miss quality time with my wife and young daughter to just this out before I go on a trip for my stepsons bday.
I turn it in, no response until I reach back out. The reply is basically “we’re not going to hire you”.
Today I meet with another club that is also 1200 capacity about coming onboard and I look forward to tagging them in every sellout I book. Bc screw them, corporations don’t care about people, a $30 million dollar “non-profit”, couldn’t be bothered to try to program their under utilized rooms and pay me $70k to do it.
P.s. Also my projected income didn’t even include ticket fees (which go straight to them bc they have their own ticketing system) or alcohol sales or merch rates.