Stupid cheap

Much to my annoyance and I’m sure my Father’s ever-loving delight, I have become a bit of a tightwad in my advancing years.  All those stern lectures about money not growing on trees in my youth are coming home to roost.  Yes Daddy, it does make a difference when it’s your own money you are spending.  Especially when you are launching your own business (Pam Tierney Voice Over) and the paycheck’s aren’t coming in every 2 weeks from the MAN.  Couple that with a strong feeling of “I can do that” and “How hard would it be to just to it myself” and you have a recipe for a lot of trains coming off tracks.  Bunnies being chased down rabbit holes.  Distractions that take away from building business and investing in success.

This was brought home to me recently when I was redoing my commercial demo (did I mention I was starting a business?) and the rates for local studios rental were higher than I wanted to pay.  I needed a studio with Source Connect so I could link with my producer, Nancy Wolfson, in LA.  After striking out with local talent private studios, I figured I’d just purchase the software myself and use my own private studio thus acting as my own engineer as well as talent.  Genius, right?  After all, I engineer my own auditions all the time.  Multitasking isn’t always the best idea, especially in an already stressful situation that a demo recording usually is.  Fortunately cooler heads prevailed and I was strongly advised to not wear both hats.  I was able to negotiate a better rate for the studio, the demo recording went off without a hitch, and I could concentrate on performance alone.  Which is what the client will be evaluating when they look to hire me, not whether or not I used my own studio, saved money on rental or engineered it myself.

Just because I can do something doesn’t mean I should be doing something.  Sometimes I need to get out of my own way and let the pros do what they do best.  Being frugal is a smart thing, just don’t be stupid cheap.