A recent pleasant contact with Scott Yee brought to my attention (again) an embarassing personal situation. I was headed to a recording session at a conventional recording studio. Scott asked me what kind of software we were using and I didn't know, or care. This was a big job for a company that sells to Lowes, and billed out at in excess of $7,000 and was part of an over $250,000.00 product introduction (Home Depot, Minards, etc.).

This made me face the reality that, over the years, I have become technologically illiterate, and can't figure what to do about it.

My company, CCI, is a Communications organization, concentrating on communication research, high end print and packaging design, large format photography, copy and film production. Increasingly, our our clients include large organizations from overseas, including Toyota, Arke Industries (Italy), Sel and Mer (Israel), and American companies. like IBM, Square D and others.

A typical day for me starts at 6:00 AM at a large University, where I oversee the design of SAS and SPSS research projects (think Gallup and Roper). At 9:00 AM I leave for the office, where I concentrate on script writing, print photography and design, strategic planning for financial institutions, etc. I bill out approximately 60 hours per week @ $150.00 per hour. I usually have an early dining room job. I do studio work about 10 hours a week and generally teach one or two collge courses.

The dilemma is, with every upgrade in arrangers, Mac operating software, PC pograms, recording equipment, video editing equipment, printing image setters, digital cameras, video equipment, etc. I'm hopelessly behind and question if I could ever catch up.

We outsource the recording facility, the video editing facility and 1/2 of the graphics creation to a network of talented freelancers. My rationale for this is that $50.00 per hour people are far faster and better at specific tasks than I am, so I concentrate on the organization and creative processs and buy out the rest.

Three of us in the office produce about $12 million in business though our network of associates. The average printing product is around $100,000.00, with lots of reprints, which generate los of printing commissions (around 20%).

Now the problem: Several years ago, I knew enough to at least understand the technology. Now, I don't, and I don't know where I'd find the time to learn. With each improvement, I get farther behind. Luckily, my son, Logan, is the techie. He's not particularly creative, but is great with AS 400's, MCIF systems (bank hardware) Avid editing systems, etc., while I'm still creating rough layouts on an old Mac that uses G-2 software.

My question is, where is the balance? Efficiency and income generation dictates concentration on the creative process, but I fear I'll soon be the "blacksmith" of the industry. Right now, I don't have the time
to do any more, but I fear that this is a dangerous slope I'm on.


Business is GREAT! Some of our projects have a five year timeline. I just feel that in five years, I won't know enough about processes to be effective.


Sorry for the tirade, but this is a serious issue for me. Any help would be appreciated.


Russ

Well, for starters you can hire this 62 year old, although I would need a little more than the standard $50 per hour you currently pay your out people...

I guess there comes a point in our lives when it's time to think about doing something new and exciting that does not involve work. For me, working 80 to 90 hours a week just don't have the appeal it had a decade ago, and I've been puttin in those hours since I was a kid.

I figgured it was time to shift gears, which I recently did by cutting back on the number of writing jobs to just a half-dozen publications instead of the 25 newspapers ana magazines I had been writing for. One particular publication uncerimonously fired me after 31 years of writing a weekly column. During my three plus decades of tenure I never missed a deadline, and when others went on vacation, I wrote their columns as well. I was pretty upset when the young upstart of an editor dumped me. Now, I'm happy as a clam. The deadline was Saturday--every Saturday, and it took 12 hours to write the column. Now I do what I want, play music for $100 per hour, or just work in the garden. If I have the entire day off, I climb aboard the sailboat, pop the cork on a bottle of Kickapoo Joy Juice, and enjoy a liesurely day on the water.

Relax Russ, take some time off and leave the particulars up to your staff--you've earned it!

Good Luck,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

Russ,
I understand completely where you are at. I've been in the information technology business too long. Over the course of the years I've had to re-learn my job at least three times because of all the advances in technology. I'm tired of it and like you I really don't care how it works as long as it does.

It's ok. It's time to relax a little, play some music and have some fun. I'll leave the new techno stuff to the younger folk.

Tom

Thanks, folks. I'm having the time of my life, so the hours and the deadlines are not the problem. I think I'm too "hands on". Most, if not all our client want to talk to me, not others. When I put my name on a product, I want it to be right.

Prior to this,I have known all of the mechanics involved in production. Now, I barely do anything but pay the bill for the new toys.

I'm going to have to concentrate on management of the process and let go of the
production, in some cases. It still bothers me how much I don't know about new software, recording and editing equipment and processes, but I'm forced to trust my son to make that happen and he does a great job.

Fran, it would be GREAT to work together sometime. My top Mac person gets $85.00 an hour. The new associate I hired to do interactive sites used to track inventory, commissions, etc. gets $135.00 per hour. The day-to day stuff (bank stuffers, posters, etc.)is done by people with pay rates of $50.00 and $65.00 per hour.

The reason I have been playing an MS-60 for over 10 years is apprehension about learning a new board. I really struggled with the MS-60, and anything new will be even more complicated. That's why Scott's report on the SD-5 and our subsequent conversation was so helpful.

I guess that if I keep the quality of the product the important thing and hire talented people I can rely on, we'll continue to do fine.

It just makes me feel uneasy and a little incompetent is some areas.

Thanks,


Russ


Russ

Russ,

Kick back and enjoy what you are doing. Let the "kids" handle the new technology. You should concentrate on taking care of the clients and making them happy. It takes special skills to deal with the client. Why waste your time learning mechanics when you are needed to take care of the Important stuff.

Russ,
here comes the dreadful and unavoidable cars versus technology comparison and parallelism:

Sit back and enjoy... even top drivers like Mario Andretti or Michael Shumacher are going to be shauferred around sitting in the back seat sometime. They won't bother, I think, so neither shouldn't you.

Hire Frank for the rest!

Thanks, guys! My concentration will have to be on the conceptual end of the business. For the near future, just that part, which I really enjoy, will take 80 plus hours per week. I think I'm having a problem losing control of production, but I really don't have the time to do anything but supervise that end of the business. I guess this is a good problem to have. It's just that not knowing every detail of how the end product is created it a position I'm not comfortable with and have never been in. Plus, I really don't want to get involved in some aspects of equipment and process details.

Now, when I get a new board, I REEEEALLLY need advice and help!

The best to you folks, always!

Russ