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Originally Posted by starseed  I'm looking up and down statistics and apartment prices and maps right at the moment, so any thoughts further thoughts would be greatly appreciated. The picture I'm getting is still pretty vague.
Single bedroom apartments in that area seem to run from 700-1300 (and up), if that gives you an idea of the relative economy. |
Basic accounting says that your housing should be approximately 25% of your salary. I don't know that I could do it on 35k personally, (that's approx 673/week, after taxes thats MAYBE 400 bucks..which puts your rent budget at risk), but you have to consider the whole package. Studio managing is not mastering & mixing, it's an entirely additional job.
Health benefits are extremely costly, both to the employee and the employer right now in the USA. Is any other person getting benefits from the studio? That's your benchmark. Answers might be far and wide: 1: No, no one is (so much for benefits); 2: Yes, the owner is (unlikely for you); 3: yes, the owner, the former manager and the lead engineer all did (you have a good chance).
So... without even looking at how much money the studio normally makes, what a studio manager should earn from just managing, I'd try to get closer to 40k as a starting point with *some* portion of health insurance, say, major medical; and larger percentages of the work you bring in, aggressively, lets say 25-30%, but that all depends on how much weight you carry and how much $$ you can bring with you. If your book is worth 100k a year, that's something. If it's 10k a year, that's another.
Ask the owner:
1) what is a studio manager job who does not add revenue worth to the company?
2) What would an engineer who brings revenue worth to the company?
3)What is the burden (cost of doing business) for new projects? ie, it costs the studio X % for every dollar earned to cover electricity, equipment leasing & maintenance, rent, etc. Take out the operating costs of each dollar you can generate.
Of the net profit that is remaining, how much should be yours, and how much should be the studios?
The key here is making it a win-win situation for both you and the studio owner.
Hope this helps!
JvB