We recently connected with Scott Stafford and have shared our conversation below.

Scott, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I believe that any individual who’s crazy enough to want to live a freelance lifestyle understands the risk(s) they’re constantly taking – the never ending uncertainty.

12 years ago, I was working for a large entertainment theme park here in Southern California as a Sound Engineer when one day I just decided I was done with the rat race of the politics, scheduling and everything else I was no longer enjoying about the job. It was around that time that I was considering going full time freelance. I’d had other friends successfully doing it, and I admit I was a bit jealous.

Freelancing seemed like a frightening step to take, especially in the live production industry, but I knew with my faith and supportive wife behind me that I’d be able to make it. As any freelancer knows, it always starts off slow and that’s where the doubt really creeps in. I was maybe working 3 or 4 gigs a month and wasn’t picking up steam nearly as quickly as I’d hoped. Freelancing is a learning process, and it takes some time to learn the process.

Fast forward a few years, and I’ve started to build a network and things are looking good. I’m mixing music at a local club, I’m gigging with bands at weddings and corporate events and then boom. The pandemic hits.

This is where my second biggest risk comes – do I stay in the industry, or do I move to something like IT? IT is arguably a cousin of the production industry. As the world kept shutting down, uncertainty kept creeping in with no one knowing how long the world would be “shut down” for. I decided it was worth the risk, and kept with my career. I spent the pandemic learning about how Radio Frequencies work (often thought of as a black magic in our industry) from a now friend of mine. I was also watching any YouTube video I could get my hands on training wise that related to the industry.

Finally, the world starts coming back online, but not quick enough, That’s when I got plugged in with a couple companies who do primarily corporate work and it’s been like that ever since. I don’t do a lot of live music these days, but the corporate audio world certainly keeps me busy!

Scott, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Scott Stafford, and I am a freelance sound engineer based in Southern California. For those that don’t know what a sound engineer is, it just means that I work in the event production industry – think: Concerts, corporate meetings, etc. Its a fun and challenging lifestyle, and I have yet to grow tired of it.

I started doing this when I was 14 volunteering for a local mega Church. I spent about 10 years working for the Church before I was offered a job at a local theme park, where I spent 3 years (to the date!) doing a load of different shows around the park. From there, I left and started freelancing and have been doing that ever since. I used to do a lot of live music, but now I stick mostly to the corporate circuit doing large conventions and meeting events.

My “services” that I provide is the use of my ears and technical abilities. I spend the event making the presenters on stage sound as good as possible – which is sometimes a great challenge depending on the room. With today’s technology comes a lot of responsibility to be technical savvy, because everything is done digitally these days. So most of my shows require network skills as well, which I’ve had to become more knowledge about over the last few years as my career has grown.

Ultimately, I’m proud of how far I’ve gotten my career. Freelancing isn’t easy, and there’s always uncertainty – when’s the next gig? Gigs getting canceled last minute, late invoices, etc. I’ve come from a kid who pushed play on a CD player for a children’s service of 50 kids to running sound for audiences as large as 10,000 people! It’s been a wild ride, and I’m proud when I look back.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I think I kind of answered this one earlier, because freelancing is a constant story of resilience.

Even when you’re doing well, there’s still a lot of uncertainty that doesn’t happen when you’re a W2 employee for a company. I believe that creates a lot of resiliency because you absolutely need to be in order to live in the wild world of what freelancing is.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

So to start in this business doesn’t really require any sort of capital because people are usually hiring just “you” not anything else.

However, in 2021, I made the decision to invest in some wireless microphones, thinking it’d be a great passive income. It turns out that hasn’t been anywhere near the case unfortunately, but that’s life some times.

But the initial capital for this purchase was putting together a game plan of how I thought renting this gear out would go. I surveyed folks I was working for about how often they were renting gear, and who they were getting it from, ect. – market research basically. Eventually, I worked out a good deal with a manufacturer and pulled the trigger on the investment using a bank loan. It’s gone decently, but no where near how well I thought it would when I made the purchase. In 2023, I decided to make another wireless investment from the same company, but with different gear that serves a different purpose. For that one, I’d been saving up to make the purchase in full. Well, the time line got pushed up a couple months and I was still a few grand short. Thankfully, a family member of mine stands behind who I am as a small business owner and was gracious enough to support me until I could pay him back the difference.

Investing in business is always a gamble, and it turns out I’m not the best gambler, hah.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.staffordsound.com
• Instagram: StaffordSound
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottstaffordsound/