Are my gig rates high enough?

Repeat venues mean known load-in, known payment habits, and less risk. A “great fee” at a venue that always pays late or burns three hours of unpaid setup may be a bad deal.

Late call times burn reputation and future bookings. Traffic-aware “leave by” planning is part of running the business, not a soft skill.

Inventory with purchase prices (and serials when you have them) helps replacement and loss records. Purchase data helps your preparer with write-offs or depreciation. Knowing what you brought last time stops duplicate spending.

Don’t use the face fee alone. Work through a simple checklist:

1. Effective hourly (gross): Fee ÷ all hours the date actually took—travel, load-in, soundcheck, show, load-out, and admin (texts, contracts, parking hunts).
2. Effective hourly (net): Start from the fee, subtract mileage (using your chosen method), parking/tolls, paid substitutes, and other direct costs. Divide by those same hours.
3. Compare apples to apples: Club tip jars ≠ corporate guaranteed fees ≠ wedding packages. Maintain rate cards per category.
4. Reliability discount: Slow payers and flaky holds are worth less than on-time clients—even at the same sticker number.
5. Seasonality: Peak months should fund slow months (living expenses *and* tax reserves). If peak still can’t fund the year, rates or volume need to move.
6. Market check: What do comparable players in your market charge for the same use case—and are they booked?
7. Raise with evidence: When net effective rate stalls below your target after costs, raise the rate card or cut low-net work.

Example: A $400 local gig with 3 hours of music, 2 hours of drive/load, $40 of mileage-equivalent cost, and no tips is not a $400 win—it’s closer to $360 for five hours before tax set-aside.

Yes—calendar feed / subscription patterns so bookings can appear alongside personal calendars, and you can bring external calendars in. Setup lives in the app.

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